The subject of teacher training in ELT is often a controversial one. Most teachers do a four-week course such as a CELTA and then use that qualification to begin globetrotting. Once a teacher gets a few years' experience under his or her belt getting a job becomes easier and further qualifications are usually thought to be unnecessary, particularly by those who see their time in the ELT industry as temporary. This leads to a situation where there are a great deal of teachers in ELT whose only formal professional development is that four-week course, which was only ever intended as an introduction to the profession.
Some teachers develop by reading around the subject, watching more experienced colleagues in class and picking up ideas from workshops, but unfortunately many do not, and usually remain very mediocre teachers as a result. In my experience a lack of self-awareness is often a characteristic of such people, so they rarely realise the need for continuing professional development. On short summer courses such as those that we operate there is never time to run an effective teacher training programme - we operate across the country and the timetable is simply too crowded. However, LSC is very keen to contribute to the development of the teachers who work for us, and the Internet has opened up possibilities for disseminating information like never before, so I have put two initiatives in place. The first is a 'virtual library' where you can access magazine articles which I think will be of interest, and the second is a something I have called a 'post-CELTA teacher training course'. The idea of this is that it introduces topics about language learning and teaching which you will probably not have come across up to now. I have tried to make this as accessible as possible - it does not involve a massive time commitment and is completely free. If you do the course and answer the multiple-choice questions satisfactorily we will send you a certificate detailing the course content and confirming that you have successfully completed it. The course is not validated by any external professional body, but is certainly a worthwhile thing to do, and will almost certainly have a positive impact on your teaching.
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