Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults (CLTA)

The CTLA is held at AUT's Auckland city campus, requires approximately 450 hours of student study time and is delivered in a variety of part-time day or evening options, or as a full-time summer intensive course.

Participants must be available for a further minimum of three hours a week, Monday-Friday, between 8am and 4pm. The next intake is in early January (applications close next month).

CLTA is a nationally recognised university programme, and this year cost $1331.25. Next year's cost hasn't been finalised.

More stringent English language requirements for immigrants and the attractiveness of the New Zealand dollar have seen unprecedented demand for English language training from offshore students, says Heather Richards, CLTA programme co-ordinator.

Owing to this demand, English language teachers have been in short supply over the past two years. As a result, Richards says recent graduates have had no difficulty finding employment.

Some have even been offered jobs while still on the certificate level course.

The CLTA provides an introduction to the theory and practice of language teaching to adults.

Students may specialise in teaching English to speakers of other languages (Tesol) or in teaching international languages. As a preliminary qualification, the CLTA is suitable for:

* Those with little or no language teaching experience.

* Trained primary, secondary or tertiary teachers with no background in teaching languages

* Qualified New Zealand English as a second language (Esol) home tutors.

Richards expects the course to appeal to people with good language skills and an interest in people and teaching. Popular with university graduates who want to travel overseas, she says it is also attracting other professionals looking for a career change.

Graduates from CLTA have found employment in countries such as Korea, Japan, Australia, Finland and Russia as well as Auckland's private language schools, tertiary institutions and community organisations.

CLTA graduates (with specialisation in Tesol or international languages) may wish to advance to the graduate diploma programmes.

* What past students think

Jacqueline Mortimer-Hughes, 46

Quality systems manager/lecturer

AUT School of Languages, Auckland

Graduated 2002

"After 25 years as a secondary school teacher, I wanted a career change. I identified the CLTA qualification as an opportunity to teach adults, and did the course for four hours a week, between July and November.

"The ability to study in the evenings and Saturdays complemented full-time working. After completing the course, I was hired by AUT to teach adult refugees. The course teaches the methodology of teaching English as a second language.

"I found the teachers very positive and affirming. What we learnt in the class became immediately applicable. Peer appraisal was also an enjoyable part of the course. I was impressed that of the original 22 students, none dropped out."

* What employers think

Annelies Roskvist, Associate Head of School (ESOL)

School of Languages, AUT, Auckland

"The course attracts a wide variety of people, some like Jacqui who want a career change and others who want to up-skill. Many of the teachers we have employed over the past 10 years have been CLTA graduates. Some have then gone on to complete a graduate diploma in Tesol, and then a masters in applied linguistics. The course gave Jacqui an excellent grounding, through both practical and theoretical training."


Auckland University of Technology

Ph (0800) 889-900