We wish you a very happy New Year and hope that 2013 is going to be good to you too.

We started this new year with an enthusiastic CELTA group and we're half way through the course already.  We're excited to have a guest trainer over from Berlin for a bit of added interest.  All is going well - even the teaching practice students are coming on time every day despite the changes in the weather.  The trainees are teaching people from Korea, China, Taiwan, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, Spain, Columbia, Brazil, India, Afghanistan, Thailand, Russia, Malaysia, Japan and the Philippines (I've probably forgotten some).  It's great.

We're looking forward to our next blended/ online course starting on the 4th Feb- a great mix of trainees from all sorts of backgrounds (including some experienced ESL teachers) so far, but there are a couple of places left.

The DELTA Module Two is starting on March 11th, for two weeks.  It's just the orientation course and then the DELTA local tutor team will be watching teaching in the candidates' own classes.  We're really looking forward to it.  Deadline for application is 25th!

More soon...

Next Module Two applications open April 12th 2013.  

Please contact us or International House via the Distance Delta website here.

The Distance DELTA can be completed one module at a time:

- Modules One and Three online with International House, London.  

- Module Two (Teaching Practice) Orientation course in Melbourne with MTA; September 16th to September 27th 2013 (2 weeks),

- the rest of Teaching Practice to be done in your place of work.

Please contact us at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or call 9229 3878 for more information.

We have been so busy recently, running CELTA courses at MTA that I haven't been able to update the blog- sorry.  Our latest news is that we are running a 20 hour TESOL course on 31st March/1st April.  It will cover the basics of grammar and ESL methodology.  We believe that the course will be a useful qualification for those who will teach overseas in organisations that do not require CELTA.  Also, if you already have a teaching qualification this would be a good addition.  Some of the people on the course just want to find out if ESL teaching is for them and others are treating it as a 'pre-CELTA' programme.

We have been in discussion with International House and The British Council about the possibility of running the distance DELTA in the second part of this year.  The great thing about the DELTA now is that you can do it by studying modules, so it's more flexible.  Modules One and Three will be done online with IH London, whereas Module Two (which is teaching) would be done here at MTA.  There would be an orientation course lasting two weeks around Easter 2013 and then your teaching could be observed when you like, in your own workplace with your own class.  We've already had teachers asking us when they can start, so we are hoping it all goes ahead.  We have heard that the DELTA is becoming recognised and even required (in some centres) in Australia for management positions.  Fantastic, then, that for Module Three you can specialise in ESL Management.  There's also the possibility of specialising in EAP or Young Learners for Module Three.  I'll keep you posted.

The last thing is our TECSOL course, starting in August 2012.  The Young Learners market is booming and we keep getting requests for 'teaching kids' inputs on our CELTAs.  Now that the CELTYL is no longer available we have filled the gap with our TECSOL (Teaching English to Children who Speak Other Languages) course.  The course will go for 5 weeks, with observation of an experienced teacher every morning in week one.  This course will take place in the city centre school in the mornings only (9 am - 1 pm).

There is actually one more thing: Barbara is also presenting a section of her thesis on 'Developing Thinking in English for Academic Purposes classes' at La Trobe University on 12th April.  Barbara has developed a new approach to EAP that we hope to include in our EAP workshops later in the year.  We welcome teachers from university language centres to these workshops, as well as teachers who are invloved in EAP at other institutes.  Details on our website soon!

This is my first blog after a long break since having a baby.  I thought there should be an update of MTA news.  The first thing is that we are running a pre-CELTA grammar course (or just a grammar course really) and that we are piloting an online element with it.  This means that we are getting nearer to running purely online courses in the next few months, as well as our face-to-face courses.  We are also preparing to run the online CELTA, which will hopefully be in operation on our February course next year.  The course will be mostly face-to-face, but there are some elements that we could run online.

Our other big news is that we are in the process of planning a DELTA for the second part of 2012.  Again this would be a blended model of teaching practice and some input face-to-face, with other elements online.  We are bringing in an expert DELTA tutor and colleague of many years to run the course with us. Nothing is official yet, but we've already had so many enquiries about it- word gets around Melbourne fast. 

We've started interviewing for our next CELTA (November 14th).  We're running it in the city centre again and hope to get some of the same teaching practice students back that we had before- they were so enthusiastic and very popular with the last group of trainees.

More later.....