I’m trying to persuade our DipTESOL students to engage with some pronunciation-related research. I’ve hand-picked these five articles for their relevance to our context (well, the last one is more general), and I’ll be sharing them with our candidates this week. Thought I’d chuck them on the blog as well, as others might be interested in them. I’ve left in the reasons why I’ve chosen them for the candidates here – you might find they connect similarly to your own context. (more…)
Lesson observations – where to start?! Jeanette Barsdell, the author of ELT Lesson Observation and Feedback Handbook, was thrown in at the deep end and expected to observe a teacher on her first day as a DOS. Despite being terrified, she got some great advice, hit the ground running and developed into a competent observer. She’s written a guidance book for anyone who observes or intends to observe ELT teachers, and overall is a great resource. (more…)
I’ve written a training session about whiteboard work designed for our CELTA level teachers. After the last round of teacher observations we established that boarding new/emergent vocabulary was an area for development. This session includes some tips to help teachers develop their technique. It’s primarily aimed a less-experienced teachers – I remember this topic being covered on the CELTA but it’s something that’s easy to let slip (in my opinion!). (more…)
This is an introductory session on the phonemic chart for trainees taking the DipTESOL. I’ve designed this to supplement input given via distance learning courses, to be run in-house. It’s meant to help trainees give a basic explanation of the phonemic chart – something I was asked to do during my DipTESOL phonology interview.
The first question I was asked in my DipTESOL phonology interview was (along the lines of…): (more…)
(This is a follow-up to my post on phonology-based activities. I’m sharing it now because some of our teachers are about to begin training for the Trinity DipTESOL. Phonology/pronunciation features quite a bit on that course, so I want to offer our teachers an ideas bank to help them explore this area in class)
Here are a load of random pronunciation activities to try out in class. These activities have pretty worked well for me with students aged 9-16. This is a work in progress! I’ll add more to this list when I get more time or try new things. (more…)
In her second guest post, Nicky Salmon offers some useful tips for surviving an intensive 4-week CELTA training course.
The title might sound a bit dramatic, but a typical course is very intensive, especially if you have chosen the 4-week option.
Here are a few pieces of advice from past trainees and trainers. We ask trainees to write advice in the back of their portfolios for the next group. Below are some of their suggestions.
Advice from past trainees:
1. Eat and drink regularly. Don’t drink too much coffee or those energy drinks. It just makes you more nervous. Make time for lunch.
2.Make sure you have part of one day off at the weekend. You need to relax and do something else, even if it’s only for a few hours.
3.Spend 15-20 mins each day organising your file and all the paper you get.
4.Swap phone numbers and email addresses with your Teaching Practice (TP) team on the first day. They are your new family.
5.Read the feedback you get on a teaching practice lesson before you teach the next one.
6.Save everything on Dropbox and email lesson plans and materials to yourself. If there is a computer problem at your centre, the stress is enormous if you have to rewrite things just before you have to teach them.
7.Don’t be afraid of feedback to and from trainee colleagues after TP. It’s meant to be constructive.
8.Make sure you have a good night’s sleep on Sundays.
In this great guest post, Nicky Salmon offers some really useful tips for how to get into English language teaching. Nicky is a CELTA trainer, and will be happy to answer any of your questions or comments on this post.
The big decisions.
You have decided that you’d like to teach English to speakers of other languages. Possibly you would like to travel and teach in other countries. What next?
Step 1. Choose a course.
If you don’t already have a teaching qualification, don’t worry. There are a number of excellent Pre-Service teaching qualifications to choose from. You need a minimum of two A2 level passes or equivalent.
Choose from well-known and well-established providers.
Cambridge and Trinity College London are the most well-known, the best and the most popular. Have a long look at their web sites and read about the courses, the content and any reviews.
EFL teacher in the KSA. A blog about teaching, learning, and personal reflections.
Asking big and small questions in ELT
Environment English Lessons for Special Days
For learners of English who understand that language is not just grammar. Idioms, phrasal verbs, vocabulary, and more besides, help strengthen language skills.
Reading list summaries to help people prepare for the Cambridge Delta exam
“The mind is like a sponge, soaking up endless drops of knowledge." - Robert M. Hensel
Reflective notes, practical tips, and sample lesson plans
A teacher's journey away from safe harbor
is currently emerging
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