Reviews of Teaching House

4.6 Rating •
267 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.

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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 267 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

267 reviews of Teaching House

Review 30 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Nomadic Soul on July 28, 2012 3:41 pm
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I just finished the CELTA course at Teaching House NYC. Overall, I loved the course and really feel I learnt a great deal. It was by far one of the most intensive and challenging course I’ve ever taken. The $2500 tuition was well worth it and I got my money’s worth.

One of my tutors was a fella name Ben H. He’s by a long shot one of the best teachers I’ve ever had in my life. The guy really knows how to teach English. He was easy-going, funny, personable and had a wealth of knowledge. This guy is the epitome of what an English language teacher is suppose to be.

My other tutor was another British named Lizzy A. She was the antithesis of Ben. She didn’t know anything! She had the personality of a snail and couldn’t show anyone how to teach a lick of English. She was brash and outrageously incompetent. If she’s your tutor, she’ll never have one good thing to say about your lesson. She’s the kind of teacher that’ll tell you everything you’re doing wrong and nothing you’re doing right, so you don’t really know how well you’re doing.

In the end, I would most definitely recommend the CELTA course. My advice is to see who your tutors are going to be before you sign up for the course. I think the only person you should avoid teaching you at Teaching House NYC is Lizzy A. All the other tutors there are fantastic from what I’ve been hearing.

Review 29 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Claire Wuellner on July 16, 2012 8:07 am
80%
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Overall, this was a great course – I really felt like I accomplished my personal goals and got some great feedback. I learned how to plan lessons effectively and really got to put more lessons to the test. On the other hand, I feel like this course was lacking in rigorous input material, and could’ve used a content test at the end. Based on my observation, trainees who needed a lot more work on content, not planning, would have benefited from more in-depth feedback sessions.

Review 28 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Pat Tobin on May 27, 2012 4:18 pm
40%
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If I had realized what was ahead I would never have taken this course.

The intensity of the demands were fine. I am used to working hard.

If only I had been warned of the rote learning approach. The information tossed at students who are expected to behave in a fairly robotic manner.

A rigid structure does not make for a cohesive body of knowledge.

The constant evaluation of these courses requires quantitative input. The purpose of the courses is now simply to produce fodder for the quant machine.

Review 27 of 267 Teaching House

Written by J. Mann on October 25, 2011 10:51 pm
75%
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Liked:

The input sessions were well-designed.

The instructors were (for the most part) experienced, considerate, and helpful with us developing our lesson plans.

There were real language students from a half-dozen countries to practice teach.

The feedback we got on our teaching was thoughtful and helped considerably.

The course is every bit as thorough, challenging, and intense as it claims to be. Either the inner teacher in you will emerge, or it won’t.

Disliked:

From what I could gather, the course is supposed to be taught by two instructors. We had one (Abby) who stayed with us for the whole course, and the other one changed twice due to disorganization within Teaching House, which led to us having four trainers overall. This was frustrating when we were trying to develop as teachers and needed consistent feedback on our progress. There were some other clerical things about the course that were rather disorganized, which wouldn’t be a problem in a college course, but in a hyper-intense teaching course, added to the misery.

A couple of times I was asking questions of a certain instructor, whom I won’t name, while she was walking to her office, and was told to get help from a classmate. WTF? I didn’t pay an exorbitant sum of money to be blown off when I need help.

The cost is exorbitant, considering that you can fly from New York to some training centers in Europe, take the same course, and fly back for almost the same price. For $2,500, I should not have to pay to use the school’s xerox machine, or be “limited” to only two transparency sheets from the office.

The “job placement” is a joke. Instructors said they would “research” the countries we were interested in, but this consisted of a printout about what it is like to work in each country and average salaries. On the last day, our instructor asked us if any of us had brought in a resume for her to look at for improvement. Since she hadn’t mentioned this the day before, no one had. She said she would offer input if we emailed them to her. Two of us did after the course ended, and heard absolutely nothing back from her.

Overall, I would not recommend TH New York. The CELTA is excellent and I don’t regret taking it, but if (God forbid) I had to go through that grueling month again, I would do it somewhere else.

Review 26 of 267 Teaching House

Written by John Gautreau on August 18, 2011 2:14 pm
95%
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In all honesty this was the toughest month of my life, harder than my Master’s degree. But the content was well worth it. I only wish this was available when I began my teaching career, but I will use it from this time forward. A special thanks to Lizzy Adams and Sandra Kohls, two tough but wise ladies. This felt like boot camp and they were my drill sargents, but I love them nonetheless, thank you my drill sargents I hope to make you proud, you are a credit to CELTA and Cambridge!

Review 25 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Luke on August 14, 2011 7:55 pm
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I took CELTA in Los Angeles & it was veeery informative. This course doesn’t waste any time; on the second day you will already teach your first 20 minute lesson to non-native speakers. Before enrolling I didn’t know anything about how to structure an english lesson, the difference between systems and skills, how to make sure the students are actually understood what I had them saying, and a whole plethora of other teaching skills that could not possibly fit here. Now I not only understand these skills, I’m can’t wait to keep using them!!! My teachers (Sandra and Lizzy) helped me in so many ways and were very patient when I needed clarification on anything (& I needed lots of clarification lol).

If you’re going to do CELTA, here are a few tips:

BEFORE THE COURSE:

1) Actually do the optional pre-course task; they didn’t send it to you by accident.

2) Familiarize yourself with pages 13-34 of the Intensive Celta Handbook. This whole class is basically about how you teach and these pages will get you prepared for what’s coming. (I’m pretty sure that NOBODY actually looks at this book or even knows what it is beforehand, so if you do you’ll be well prepared).

ONCE YOU’RE IN THE COURSE:

1) Thoroughly learn whatever target language you are going to teach in your next lesson. You want to be the expert teacher with the simplest explanations.

2) When preparing your next lesson, first briefly outline what you’re going to do, then use the 3 forms (cover page, procedures page, & language analysis) to help you make it a proper lesson. The mistake that many people would make, including myself, was to mindlessly fill out the forms, and THEN start thinking about how to put together the lesson with the little time left over. DON’T do that. NEVER-EVER. The forms can be your best friend if you let them guide you through your lesson-planning.

Best of luck!!!

Luke Sinquefield

Review 24 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Alexandra on July 8, 2011 9:56 am
90%
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I left this course extremely satisfied. Robert, Jackie, and Abby were great teacher trainers. We taught and observed every morning and learned teaching techniques, lesson planning, job search skills, phonology, etc. in the afternoons. It was a challenging course, and to do well, you must abandon your social life during the week or risk under-performing. I got a job while I was taking the course with the help of one of my trainers and feel prepared to start teaching ESL professionally. I recommend having a solid command of English grammar – speaking English is not enough! – and having some experience teaching ESL before starting the course because those two things will make it easier. I highly recommend getting your CELTA at Teaching House.

Review 23 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Kristin on April 8, 2011 6:03 pm
73%
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I loved this course and felt it taught me a lot. The most frustrating element for me was the fact that, as stated in other reviews, the “job placement assistance” was/is basically nonexistent. A couple things here and there, but then again, I am trying to stay in NYC to teach, which they have less offers for. That all said, I had some great teachers and amazing peers and really had a lot of fun. I don’t think it was as intense as some people have said. I never really felt that overwhelmed, but I did learn a lot in a short amount of time. I definitely recommend this to anyone!

Review 22 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Cheryl on March 18, 2011 6:08 pm
98%
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I completed the course February 11, 2011. It exceeded all expectations. I learned enough in 4 weeks to go out into the world and teach. The students were enthusiastic and engaged, and enough of them showed up even during the blizzard for classes to proceed. Classes were not cancelled for snow! It is intensive–cancel all social life for the month except for 2 or 3 hours on the weekend. Robert Palisin and Abby Ward are excellent and well-trained tutors with a good sense of humor. I could complain about the copying machine breaking down, but a repair person did come promptly. I recommend Teaching House to anybody and everybody who wants to teach English to speakers of other languages.

Review 21 of 267 Teaching House

Written by Eric Snow on January 4, 2011 6:07 pm
90%
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TH offers a wonderful program with great teacher-trainers. I would recommend this program to anyone with an interest in teaching English as a second language. Beware; the “job placement” isn’t as advertised, & the usual “intensive” program is a bit stressful. TH intensive CELTA side effects include insomnia, lack of appetite, lack of time to eat, high blood pressure, choking, & seizures…..SERIOUSLY. If you have a choice you should ask to be in Sophie’s course, she’s a wonderful teacher. I’ve taught English in the past without training and now know that was a colossal mistake. If you can shell out 2,500 clams, I can’t imagine a much better program. I think I learned more in those 23 course days than a typical semester in college.

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