The first International House school was set up in Cordova by John and Brita Haycraft in 1953. Apart from language courses, they also offered teacher training courses for English teachers who wanted to teach their language to foreigners. These training courses, based on applied linguistics and methodology, have contributed largely to the new developments in the world of teaching. This was the start of the International House Certificate which later became the CELTA qualification that is assessed by Cambridge English University.