About the teacher training centre
LSI IH Portsmouth, established in 1985, is located in a large building right in the centre of the university district of Portsmouth, the UK’s only island city. This vibrant university town has all the delights of a location with a large student population, with a rich cultural and historical heritage.
The school is a destination for students from all over the world, and with 55 classrooms offering General English courses, IELTS and exam preparation and teacher training, it's usually a hive of activity.
Students and staff alike comment on the uniquely welcoming environment that makes LSI IH Portsmouth a wonderful place to study and work.
There is a strong teacher development ethos at the school, with a Director of Studies for Teacher Development, who is also a Distance DELTA local tutor, CELTA trainer and author of two popular IELTS course books.
What is the CELTA?
The CELTA is a TEFL qualification which prepares you to teach English as a foreign language. You don’t need any existing English language teaching experience or training. It’s usually a 4 or 5 week full time course (but you can also take it part time).
Standing up in front of a class for the first time is a daunting prospect, so you need to make sure you have the skills you need to teach effectively. The CELTA prepares you for the classroom in these ways:
- Taught sessions on methodology, lesson planning, language analysis and language skills. (In total, you’ll have 120 hours of input.)
- The opportunity to observe experienced teachers in a real-life language classroom situations – so you can see the different skills and techniques they use.
- Teaching yourself – with helpful and detailed feedback from your tutors. This practical experience is invaluable when you start your first job.
You’ll have to complete some written assignments as well, but when it’s all successfully completed you’ll be ready for your first job and first students!
Read more about the CELTA here
Early Bird Discounts
If there is an early bird discount for the course you would like, this is £150 discount if you book and pay 3 weeks before the course start date.
Full Time, Face to Face, CELTA with IH Portsmouth
LSI / IH Portsmouth has many years experience in offering English language courses and language training in the centre of Portsmouth. We are currently ranked the joint number 1 English language centre in the UK (according to the EL Gazette rankings based on the latest British Council reports).
Our tutors are all highly-experienced trainers, with a history of EFL publications, conference presentations, and hold DELTA and Masters’ qualifications in EFL.
The full-time course timetable is Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. In the mornings you and your group will have input sessions from our tutors on different aspects of teaching, and in the afternoons you will be teaching volunteer students yourself. Your tutors will give detailed and constructive feedback after every teaching session, which is a very practical way to learn. They also will help you plan your next lessons - what should work well and what to avoid.
T lesson preparation. As mentioned above, you will need to spend a significant amount of time outside of the timetabled hours working on lesson plans, assignments and so on.
A typical day:
9.00-10.20am: Input session 1: Presenting Vocabulary
10.20-10.40: Break
10.40-12.00: Input session 2: Introduction to Phonology
12.00-13.00: Lunch
13.00-15.00: Teaching Practice
15.00-15.20: Break
15.20-16.00: Feedback on teaching practice
16.00-17.00: Guided lesson planning
Throughout the course you also have assignments to complete, so you will have to plan to spend extra evenings and some weekends working on this.
All teaching on this face to face course takes place at our large school in the centre of Portsmouth. The building is large and well-equipped, with over 50 classrooms, an IT suite, a lounge area, and extensive resources for teaching on site. You can use our rooms to prepare lessons and work in, as well as our computer facilities, library, and photocopying.
Part Time CELTA with IH Portsmouth
The part time, face to face CELTA suits those people with commitments during the day.
The course lasts 10 weeks, with classes from 5.30-8.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and 10am to 4pm on Saturdays. On Saturdays you will have the input sessions from tutors along with time for guided lesson preparation, and the teaching practice and feedback is predominanty on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Tutors at this training centre
Lewis Richards
I think that the CELTA is obviously quite short, so I want my trainees to gain as many insights into teaching as I can possibly provide in that time – as many tips as I’ve picked up through teaching over the years as I can. The other thing is that teaching is such an interesting, creative and exciting job – I want to pass on that sense of enjoyment and passion to the trainees.