Here’s showcase post number four on ELTPlanning, and it’s from Fatime Losonci. Writer of useful IELTS resources, IELTS Bootcamp trainer, helpful and supportive across social/business media platforms. A dog person, unfortunately, but we all have our flaws.
So, the floor is yours Fatime, take it away!
(Learn more about showcase posts at the end of this post)
If You’re the Smartest Person in the Room…
…you’re probably in the wrong room! :O
Because although you might occasionally feel flattered (…and frustrated too?!), you won’t be CHALLENGED enough to actually GROW.
(After all, growth is about ‘i+1’, NOT ‘i+0’, remember?)
And this is true about doing a $30 IELTS ‘teacher training course’ online too, where:
• the content revolves around FACTUAL information about e.g. IELTS (such as how many questions, how much time, blah blah) that you could easily just check on the internet for yourself
• there is zero LESSON PLANNING required, let alone assessed (or at least ‘fed’ back on)
• zero TEACHING PRACTICE –again, with expert feedback on strengths and things to consider going forwards
• zero talk of what SUB-SKILLS are and why they matter when preparing learners, especially for such a unique SKILLS ONLY exam as IELTS, but…
• loads on teaching general English SYSTEMS (i.e. grammar, or even advanced (academic) vocab),
• and you receive ample reminders of sweeping, GENERAL classroom management principles as well, that could easily apply not only to a GE (General English) teaching context, but ANY teaching context…
In contrast, an ACTUAL teacher training course WILL make you STRETCH by
• being super SPECIFIC in its content, focusing on concrete LEARNER PROBLEMS in the given context (e.g. exams, or IELTS, or even IELTS for Ss above band 5.5….)
• helping you thoroughly re-examine your current LESSON PLANNING practices, so that you leave with being able to plan more coherent, useful, targeted, effective and even fun lessons for them
• offers you the chance to put all that you are learning on the course into PRACTICE in the CLASSROOM as well, while receiving useful pointers on your teaching too
• has a relevant focus (as on the tin, i.e. if it’s an exam prep TT course, it’ll focus on EXAM SKILLS)
• …and very little on ‘teaching ENGLISH’ per se, or managing students in general (as opposed to keeping things like interaction patterns varied in a PRINCIPLED way, to best exploit them for LEARNING IELTS)
So. Do you want to GROW or just be flattered?
(If the former, click here, or DM me on LinkedIn and let’s talk! ;))
About showcase posts:
I’m offering teacher-writers-content creators (etc) the chance to showcase their work. They decide what and how they do that, meaning the content of this post is their own (minor edits, that’s all). The aim is to give more creators a voice, especially those who are either up-and-coming or without their own blog.
I’m happy to host your post if you are looking to promote your own resource. Please do check back now and again to see if anyone has asked you questions in the comments section.
Categories: General
ELT Planning 
These are really important points. Anybody can get the ‘facts’ on a test. But what teachers (and students) want to know–need to know–is what to DO about those facts. How do you get better at teaching? How do you get better at learning?
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