Reviews of Teaching House

4.6 Rating •
264 reviews
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Description

Cambridge Assessment English approved the opening of Teaching House in 2007. With the aim to expand quality English-language teacher training in the United States, Teaching House has opened over 15 center locations and trained over 3,000 new teachers. Teaching House is now the largest provider of Cambridge CELTA courses in the world.

Ensuring the high standards of education that are set by Cambridge English, all Teaching House CELTA courses have a maximum of only 6 trainees working with each trainer. To fulfill this trainer/trainee ratio, the Teaching House staff include over 20 Cambridge English-approved teacher trainers as well as a strong support team based at our headquarters in New York.

In addition to the standard four-week CELTA course format, Teaching House has developed two new formats:

  • a 10-week part-time course run on two evenings a week and on Saturdays;
  • a part-time blended course over 14 weeks allowing people to work online during the week and do teaching practice on Saturdays.

We also offer in the USA a two week compressed teaching practice option with online content, for those who are only able to take two weeks for their teaching practice component.

Become CELTA certified – Apply TODAY!

Courses

Course Types

Combined TEFL Courses
On-site TEFL Courses
Online TEFL Courses

Course Lengths

Standard (120-140 hours)
Long Courses (150+ hours)

Certifications

Cambridge CELTA
Cambridge DELTA
TEFL / TESL / TESOL

Additional Features

Online Practicum
Part-Time Study

Locations

Canada

Toronto ON

England

London
Oxford

USA

Boston MA
Miami FL
New York NY

Teaching House has received 264 student reviews and has an overall rating of 4.57 out of 5 stars based on the following criteria.

Overall Rating
Course Content
Practice Teaching
Quality of Feedback
Lesson Plan Guidance
Instructor Competency
Job Assistance
Facilities/Resources

264 reviews of Teaching House

Review 250 of 264 Teaching House

Written by mark pressman on May 24, 2023 7:06 pm
93%
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The course taught but the tutors was always comprehensive and had lot’s of critical assessments. I always felt supported by both tutors. all of my questions were always answered. I enjoyed teaching practice the most and as time went by my confidence grew. the organization of the site could be better and it did improve ny the end. I know it’s done by CELTA people. The assignments could use a little more modeling but we all had the same opportunities to resubmit sponsorship I found that invaluable

Review 249 of 264 Teaching House

Written by JA on April 28, 2023 4:41 pm
31%
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Quality of Feedback
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Not Applicable

THOUGHTS ABOUT TEACHING HOUSE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND.

I did the part time course on Mondays (530-930p), Wednesdays (530-930p) and every other Friday (530-830p). Students were divided into 2 groups, A & B. Group A taught on Monday, Group B taught on Wednesday.

Mon: Brief review of teaching points assigned to students in Group B. Group A does their practice teaching. Group A students write their self-evaluation. Group feedback is given.

Wed: Brief review of teaching points assigned to students in Group A. Group B does their practice teaching. Group B students write their self-evaluation. Group feedback is given.

Fri: These sessions usually covered upcoming written assignments.

The course is divided into 2 segments, each with a different teacher (pre-intermediate (I had Bita Rezaei) and upper-intermediate (Adrienne Radcliff)).

Once you complete the first segment, you will have no further access to your first teacher. (I sent an email to Adrienne asking for some clarification on some vague feedback she gave, but she completely ignored my email.)

Upon course completion, I had a few questions regarding the criteria used to determine my grade. I emailed Lizzy Adams (the director of the teaching program who sent me my grade) and she replied “the criteria is the criteria. You can file an appeal if you want.” I reached out to both teachers asking from some clarification and they both completely ignored my email. After a week, I decided to escalate to Lizzy’s boss, James Peaver. Lizzy took 4 days to give me her boss’s name. Lizzy seems unable to actually answer direct questions. After an entire month of emails to Lizzy and my teachers, I notified James Peaver. He offered to set up a meeting (M-F of the following week) between me, him, and a trainer. I replied letting him know I was available anytime on Monday or Tuesday and didn’t hear back from him for a week. The only time the trainer was available to me with me was 6am my time! I decided instead to notify Cambridge directly about my concerns. They responded to me promptly but referred me back to Teaching House so it wasn’t very helpful.

The appeals process is basically a joke (they even charge you to file an appeal!)

They will hold you to strict rubrics that they don’t adhere to themselves.

The teachers are not very accessible outside of scheduled hours. One of my teachers, Bita, took 3 days to respond to a question I had about my upcoming teaching plan.

They have an elitist attitude (Don’t question the CELTA gods!)

They are very helpful up until you are paid in full, then they will ignore you or say anything to justify their actions.

They will pass just about anyone but only award 2% of students with Pass A. They need to do away with their grading system. They emphasize that it doesn’t matter if you earn a Pass, Pass A, or Pass B. If that’s the case, why not just have Pass/Fail? (I got a Pass B, btw)

There’s no accountability – A teacher no-showed, both teachers ignored emails, they did not deliver the job placement services they promised.

The website advertises a multitude of available job placement services, however, they are virtually non-existent. We were supposed to receive 3 sessions dedicated solely to job placement (according to Lizzy) but we only received one despite the fact that the teacher cancelled our last class and instructed us to log in 50 minutes later than our scheduled start time during the last 3 weeks. This was all time that could have been used to provide the promised services that we PAID for. There is NO one-to-one sessions with a job advisor. There’s basically nothing. Telling me I can teach on Cambly or Preply is not helpful. When I voiced my concerns, they tried to do some damage control by telling me I could email them my resume so they could look it over. That is not enough. They did not deliver what they promised. That’s wrong.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CELTA:

The course is mostly self-led. There is coursework on the Moodle platform that you can do at your own pace. You will be assigned “Forum assignments” that will be mostly ignored. I was the only student to complete the forum assignment but never got any feedback from my teacher, Bita.

About 80% of the “for additional reading” links referenced at the end of each lesson are broken. Moodle in general is cumbersome and could be organized better. It’s also not terribly reliable. The chat feature doesn’t always work, for example, so you will have to set up an outside group on Telegram or Text to communicate with your teacher/cohorts.

In general, I recommend the CELTA certification. But for your own good, take it somewhere other than Teaching House.

Review 248 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Lia on April 14, 2023 4:32 pm
25%
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I took DELTA Module 1 course with Teaching House. The materials had mistakes that were acknowledged by the management.

The feedback from my tutor were vague and the whole attitude and approach was sod off “check with the answers”. I wrote a long email asking the tutor to provide more detailed feedback.

The person who runs the whole DELTA course, Lizzy Adams, was always late with her replies to the emails, some were ignored had to chase up.

Lizzy Adams was also the person who conducted the exam and there was major malpractice: the answers to my question on the organisation of the answers were misleading, and most importantly the time allocated for paper 1 was initially written as 2 hours instead of an hour and half, later mid-exam was demonstratively changed.

They are the cheapest course on the marker but definitely the worst in terms of quality.

Review 247 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Mathew Russell on March 21, 2023 3:21 pm
98%
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My tutors and course organizers were very knowledgeable with English and pedagogy and the course planners were on point. I learned a lot👍

Review 246 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Jan Surer on March 7, 2023 5:55 pm
100%
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The online intensive CELTA course offered by Teaching House was a great experience.

The course was extremely well organized in its online site and in the progression of topics and teaching practice sessions. The engaging, highly skilled instructors went above and beyond in offering support for lesson planning and in modeling the kind of teaching CELTA advocates: they delivered clear, effective lessons themselves and provided detailed, balanced written and verbal feedback. I would have saved myself some time during the course if my PowerPoint preparation skills had been higher at the beginning. Still, improving my technological skills was another plus for me from the course. Besides the instructors, another highlight was my fellow trainees, especially the “small group” of trainees within the larger group; it was great getting to meet them. Finally, the course included helpful advice and resources on the job market.

The experience was definitely intensive–be prepared for an extremely full four weeks, including work on the weekends. But it was well worth it, a fantastic opportunity.

Review 245 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Savitha Bhaskar on March 6, 2023 10:23 am
100%
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I thoroughly enjoyed the course. CELTA course is well structured and organized. I learnt several new techniques like using the timeline, CCQ’s to adapt while teaching. The feedback from my peers and teachers kept me on track in the course. The lesson plan guidance with stages, activities and the error correction methods was all new to me. My instructors were very helpful, kept me motivated throughout the course and were always available when I needed them. Also the Job assistance towards the end of the course, from tutors was a great takeaway. The reference materials, books, live input materials are all a great asset to my teaching carrer. Overall, the 3 week CELTA was an excellent learning experience!

Review 244 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Nikoleta Neroeva on February 9, 2023 1:17 pm
100%
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This CELTA course has been the best experience I’ve ever had. High standards, great tutors and a lot of teaching practice.

Review 243 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Amy on December 22, 2022 8:00 pm
100%
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Instructor Competency
Job Assistance
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I am very thankful that I took this course. It was very helpful and applicable for me. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. The tutors were very kind, knowledgeable, encouraging, and helpful. The teaching practice that you receive in this course is extremely helpful. I would definitely recommend this course if you are interested in teaching ESL to adults.

Review 242 of 264 Teaching House

Written by jennifer lynn macdonald on December 21, 2022 5:24 pm
100%
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The CELTA course with Teaching House was a very rewarding experience. I learned an enormous amount from the tutors, my cohorts, and the fascinating and diverse group of students I was able to teach. They are very organized and provide you with all the tools you need to be successful. It was an enormous amount of work and worth every second. If you want to get your CELTA, Teaching House is a great choice!

Review 241 of 264 Teaching House

Written by Kyoko Kitamura on December 21, 2022 7:51 am
100%
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Not Applicable
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Taking the TH CELTA course has been life changing. I had originally signed up for an in-person course which was cancelled due to lack of participants, and was then offered a spot on an online course. I reluctantly agreed, which ended up being a fantastic decision (more on that later).

The tutors were phenomenal, bringing the entire group from the deer-in-headlights stage to “here’s my systems lesson for the day” stage in just under five weeks. The framework is rigorous, logical and extremely efficient. I teach in an area that is not English and found that the framework was so good that it could be applied to my own area of work. My big takeaway: CELTA isn’t just for future English language teachers. It’s a must-try for all educators looking to fine-tune their pedagogical skills.

For those debating online or face-to-face, a note that online teaching is a fast growing area in the education industry. I could see what I learned being translated back to in-person but perhaps not vice versa because of all the tech issues involved in online teaching. Now that I’ve experienced online, I would recommend it over in-person.

It’s a grueling course, no doubt about it. Don’t expect any time time off during the course. No weekends. Hardly enough time to sleep. I have considerable teaching experience but it was no match for the CELTA course. But it was truly worth it.

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