ICELT (In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching)

Overview

Course programmes are designed to reflect your specific needs and working context. The main aim is to develop your skills in the following areas:

• language awareness and language use in the classroom
• planning, teaching and evaluation
• assessment and evaluation.

Units of learning

Unit 1	Language knowledge and awareness
Unit 2	The background to teaching and learning English
Unit 3	Resources and materials
Unit 4	Planning and management of teaching and learning
Unit 5	Evaluation, monitoring and assessment
Unit 6	Professional development
Unit 7	Language for teachers

ICELT has replaced the Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English (COTE).

An important stepping stone in your career

ICELT is ideal if you are already teaching English in a specific context, e.g. teaching adults or young learners in the private sector, teaching within a university environment, teaching primary or secondary school learners. This qualification can help you to deepen your knowledge and develop your ability to reflect on and improve your teaching.

Based around you

Because the course is so flexible, it is difficult to describe a typical candidate. However, here are some examples:

• You may be teaching English and wish to develop your knowledge and skills
• You may have been working in a primary school for several years, and have begun to teach English without any previous ELT training
• You may be returning to language teaching after a period of time and wish to review and develop your English language skills
• You may be teaching adults in a private institute. You trained to teach at secondary level but that was many years ago
• You may have completed a pre-service teacher training course for secondary teachers a year ago
• You are currently working in a secondary school and also work in a private institute teaching adults two evenings a week
• You may have trained to teach English, but this training did not include a formally assessed teaching practice component

ICELT is also suitable if your previous training has not included a formally assessed teaching practice component.

ICELT gives you insight into the principles of effective teaching and a range of skills for teaching English in your teaching context. You will:

• gain hands-on teaching practice
• observe experienced teachers in the classroom
• complete written assignments and language tasks.

Four lessons are assessed by your course tutor. A Cambridge-approved moderator visits each course to moderate candidates' work.

Flexible

The ICELT course is offered part time and can take from a few months to over a year. Courses may be delivered either entirely face-to-face or face-to-face with distance training support. The combination of contact hours plus distance learning support must be at least 120 hours. With ICELT you will normally be assessed teaching your own classes.

A Cambridge qualification

Because it is awarded by Cambridge ESOL, part of the University of Cambridge, ICELT is internationally recognised, highly respected and a benchmark for quality.

Next steps

Find out more

Download the ICELT syllabus to find out more about the format and content of the course.

Register for the course

• Are you a practising teacher who will have had a total of at least 500 hours of relevant experience by the end of the course?
• Are you at least 18 years of age?
• Is your English at Level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) or higher? Or are you a first- language speaker of English?

If this sounds like you, find a centre that runs the course and contact them for detailed course information and information on how to register.

Modules

ICELT is divided into two modules. You can take Module 1 as a standalone module or progress to Module 2 to achieve the full ICELT qualification.

Module 1

1. Language for Teachers (Assessment component 1)

You will complete tasks designed to improve your use of English for teaching purposes. The number of tasks depends on whether you are taking Module 1 only or in combination with Module 2.

Module 2

1. Teaching (Assessment component 2)	You will plan, teach and evaluate four lessons, which are assessed by your course tutor.
2. Methodology (Assessment component 3)	You will complete four classroom-related written assignments.

Courses are moderated externally. Samples of coursework are submitted to Cambridge ESOL for further moderation at the end of the course.

Your results

You will be awarded an overall grade of Pass, Merit or Distinction as well as component grades of Pass, Merit or Distinction.

In order to gain the full ICELT qualification, you must pass in all three components of assessment. You may enter for the Language for Teachers component as a separately certificated module of the full course.