My third assignment at CELTA

Hi guys,

I'd like to talk about my third assignment at CELTA: the use of authentic material in language teaching. We could choose to use either a text/reading or a listening material. I chose a movie therefore listening.
I chose this because it's indeed interesting that listening has not received wider attention given that it is the language skill most often used in everyday life. More than forty percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on speaking, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing. And, although listening has been a relatively neglected skill in terms of research and how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more attention.

Some of the advantages of using authentic materials are: students get encouraged to do it for pleasure, they can produce a sense of achievement, they keep students informed of what is happening in the world and so forth. Besides, with the advent of the world wide web, teachers have at their disposal large amounts of texts, visual stimuli, newspapers, magazines, live radio and T.V., video clips and much more. There are endless lists of useful materials for the language classroom.

Learners benefit from listening materials spoken at "normal" conversational speed vs. English language learner directed listening materials which have been "altered" or "slowed" to enable "improved comprehension". All well and good, but if the learners ever need to apply that learning and listening practice in a real-life situation - they're lost. Why? Because - no - body - talks - like - this - in - real -life - in - any - language. (gasp!)

So even if you can't "throw away your course book", do realistically consider adapting more authentic materials for use in your English language learning classroom. You'll ultimately be glad you did.

See you guys,

Cheers

Flávia Chiacchia

My 10th Celta day

Hi guys,

Today I'd like to talk to you about one thing that teachers have to be careful about: how to give instructions. I mean, teachers have to make sure instructions are fully explicit - don't take anything for granted. Because as teachers are so familiar with the activity types, they often assume that certain things are obvious. How often have you explained an activity but forgotten to say explicitly "Don't show your information to your partner" - only to find students happily doing just that.
Therefore, instructions should be kept as succinct as possible and sometimes, the best way to tell students how to do something is to actually do it yourself. For example with roleplays, take a more confident/gifted student and pair up with them and do a practice-run in front of the class. Talking and talking for minutes on end can be counter-productive and time-wasting when a quick demo can illustrate the activity not only linguistically but visually.
Moreover, teachers should think how they would give short, clear instructions for a number of activities for different levels of Ss and what kind of questions they could ask afterwards to check comprehension, which we call CCI (concept check instructions). When an activity is introduced for the first time, words might not be enough for low level students. In some cases, visuals can support learners' understanding even for instructions. Of course, instructions should
always be followed by demonstration, an example. Once the students become familiar with a specific type of activity, it's easier for them to understand the instructions in the target language.

Talk to you next,

Cheerio

Flávia Chiacchia

Half course accomplished

Hi everyone,

We're all still very busy at Celta course thinking only about assignments to write and classes to be perfect !

After half the course accomplished it's time for self-evaluation and assessment sessions with tutors. We all feel proud of ourselves having got so far ! It's a great feeling, I can assure you.

The most interesting discovery throughout the course so far was the Concept Check Questions practice. I'm also reading a book on that I'd like to recommend : "Concept Questions and Time Lines" Graham Workman. Chadburn Publishing.

Last session there was a sweet surprise : "an unobserved class" (no tutors!) Don't get me wrong.
I value a lot my tutors' job and feedback (if they ever read this blog!) but I realized something I missed from all my classes at Celta : small talk with students ! Getting to know them better, talking about their every day routines creates such a rewarding bond between teachers and students. Real friendship that makes teaching - learning experience so good ! We do this every day in our schools, our jobs, and we take it for granted !

See you next time,
thanks,

Malu

My 9th CELTA day

Hi guys,

Today, I'd like to talk about one of the relevant things in teaching a second language: how to handle correction. It's recognized that the best way to do it is by student's self-correction. It means, teachers no longer have to correct students or give them answers, but rather rely on their capacity to do it themselves. Teachers can give them clues, by using body language, short questions with special intonations, gestures, etc, but never give the answers. Besides, self-correction demonstrates comprehension of and responsibility for the language. It builds awareness of the language, in turn leading to more self-sufficient speakers. It makes students more confident speakers too.
Students who can self-correct obviously understand the mistake, catch it, and make the necessary adjustments to their language production. It thus allows the teacher to gauge understanding and application of the target language. If a student can make the necessary correction to newly taught information, then it demonstrates he has absorbed the information. Next he needs to apply the target language in real conversation.
Students accept responsibility for their language production too. They rely on current skills to correct the mistake. Yet they also further hone their skills to produce the language more accurately. They become less reliant on the teacher when self-correction gets employed, which in turn develops self-sufficiency skills for use in the real world beyond the help of the teacher and classroom.
With self-correction, there also comes an increased awareness of the language. Students can better notice and correct problem areas, whether these problems result from personal weaknesses or ones connected to their L1. For example, Portuguese speakers often drop articles (a, an, and the), as well as confuse verb tenses. These sorts of mistakes occur not only with beginners, but with advanced-level students too. In fact, self-correction and increased awareness work in tandem, as consideration of one activates the other. In other words, if students focus on accuracy and correction, perhaps in an activity or exercise set by the teacher, then they monitor their speaking. This improves awareness. If students become more aware of the language, remembering the right grammar, vocabulary, and so on, then they have a greater chance to notice mistakes.

Talk to you next,

Cheerio

Flávia Chiacchia

My 8th CELTA day

Dear all,

I'd like to comment about one aspect of lesson planning which is very important in language teaching 'how to anticipate problems.' When you're making a lesson plan you have to ask yourself what problems with M, F, P might students have with the target language. In other words, M F P stands for Meaning, Form and Pronunciation. For example, meaning: how could students get confused with the meaning or misunderstand the target language? Form: how could students mix up the components and misform the structure/ tense/ pattern? Pronunciation: how could students say it wrong, with wrong stress or sounds? For example, suppose you're going to teach speaking or writing. So, we apply the Preemptive Focus on Form. Instead of letting errors dictate the discourse, this method chooses to anticipate problems and focus on the students' abilities to "uptake" a particular form. Uptake refers to the act of taking a new form and correctly incorporating it into a student's speaking and writing.
I guess that when you 'anticipate' something you both expect it and do something that will either avoid it or handle it in some way. That's what your planned lesson does. What our tutors want to see is that you can see in advance problems that may arise, and that your plans will avoid those potential problems.
On the other hand, we all know that student learning is enhanced when they are forced to confront their own misconceptions. So, it means we can take advantage of their mistakes by anticipating what they might misunderstand and work on it in a way that they will get the meaning/form/pronunciation more effectively.
So, all in all I can say that this new method of teaching proves to be very effective and makes teachers feel more confident when problems arise, which in turn maximizes time effectiveness.
Talk to you later,

Flávia Chiacchia

7th CELTA Day

Hi dudes, what's up?

Last week, I went to attend my first observation of a CELTA certificated teacher class. I decided to watch one of our tutor's class. His name's Bjarne. It was amazingly clarifying to me how important CCQs are when explaining things to students. CCQs stand for Concept Check Questions. It's a very effective way of checking students' real understanding of vocabulary, grammar or meaning. In the traditional academic teaching method teachers used to spend hours trying to explain something which when asked, 'got it' students would nod and smile but remain 'clueless'. And, when they had to put what they just learned into practice, they proved thirty seconds later by some simple mistake that they totally haven't learned at all.
Therefore, CCQs are now a relevant part of our class preparation. Let's take an example. Bjarne was teaching vocabulary which was a lead-in task for a further listening task. He asked students to find two similar words in a text. Students came up with the words 'overloaded' and 'overwhelmed'. OK, so far so good, these two words
ave similar meanings, alright. But then he asked them: are the words completely similar? Yes, (but with a different aspect). Can you be overloaded with work? Yes. Can you be overwhelmed with work? Yes. But then again, can you be overloaded with emotions? No. Can you be overwhelmed with emotions? Yes. So, that's one of the peculiarities the words that are similar in meaning but can be used in different contexts. In a traditional methodology teachers would simply explain their meanings and students would never know how or when to use them.
But, with CCQs, teachers 'never' give the meaning, but rather make them think about it or come up with it. Furthermore, I could see how asking 'Do you understand?' can be one of the least useful questions you can ever ask in an English language classroom. Why? Because if students do understand the question 'Do you understand?' they will probably just say 'Yes' anyway, just to keep you happy. And they all nod and smile, but remain 'clueless'. Now, with CCQs teachers can make sure they are really learning and the classes run as smoothly as teachers would dream to be. It's a brilliant insight someone once had to invent them!

Cheerio,

Flávia Chiacchia

My 6th CELTA day

Hi guys,

At this point of the course I think I should make an analysis of what is the most important thing I've learned so far in the fabulous CELTA course. The more I learn, the more I seem to like it, believe me, it gets into your mind as long as you get more and more aware of it.
Well, one of the most clarifying thing I've learned about this course is the importance of the learner in regards to effective teaching. The old teacher-centered approach is believed to have little or no effect, especially when they are in conflict with the learners' goals and also, it proves to be an old-fashioned way of teaching. Therefore, the new concept of learner-centredness has come to substitute it, where the learners' needs are analyzed in terms of what they need to do with the language; the functions they need to perform and the notions they need to express in different communicative situations. The focus on the social contexts of the language use is believed to be the change from the structural method of the past. In relation to classroom activities, the learner-centered approach emphasizes the learners' active participation with the teacher being a guide, consultant or orchestrator. The aim is to expose the learner to the language data so that he can pick what he wants, according to his own needs and interests. And besides, language learning must be a conscious mental process, a process of mental hypotheses formation. Another important aspect is the students' own contribution through self-correction as opposed to the traditional teacher-centered situation where the teacher is seen as an authority, a source of knowledge who does most of the work in the classroom.
Well, I think this is the most valuable aspect of the CELTA course I've learned so far.

See you next,

Cheers,

Flávia

Fourth CELTA day!

Good teaching strategies can increase students' motivation for learning a second language. So, by knowing this well, the tutors at my CELTA course gave us an assignment to prepare on language analysis.
This assignment was really helpful in giving us an idea of how to do language analysis in our lesson plans too (and all CELTA trainees must do the language analysis for every grammar and vocabulary lesson they teach, which is more than half the lessons you would be teaching during the course).
For this assignment, we were given phrases for language analysis. We have to generate context by telling a story. For example, the target statement is: I'm meeting Dave for lunch on Sunday. I'm having four days off next Easter holiday. Me and my friend Dave want to spend Easter holiday at the beach. We're spending four days in Ubatuba because he has a house there. We want to talk about it on Sunday. So, I'm meeting Dave for lunch on Sunday. Meaning: to meet a friend and have lunch together in the future. Form: I'm meeting sb. in the future (present continuous for future use). Pronunciation: a) contraction of the auxiliary I'm, you're, he's,
she's,they're b)Use of gerund: silent g /ŋ/ and pronounce /een/ instead. Well, I think the way we prepare class by separating it in parts of language focus helps us think better about the purpose of teaching a certain lexis and what is the best way to present it to the students.
Well, it's a big challenge, and I can't wait to see my grades when the tutors give back the assignments with their comments. See you next week.

Thanks,

Flávia

My third CELTA day

Hi guys again. I'm still very excited with the classes at CELTA. It's amazing how high our adrenaline goes everytime we think about the CELTA course. It's either because we know we're learning new stuff that is really effectivily teacher-wise or because we know we're going to be observed and analysed and therefore we want to do our best and it seems that our best is not enough. It's incredible, but no matter how creative or careful we are in our class preparation it seems to be always lacking something. I think it's because we have to think of every detail of our class. The timing, teacher participation (the least, the better because students are supposed to participate more), material preparation, the steps to follow, the creativity, correction, feedback, etc.
We never know if we're going to forget something in the middle. And you can bet we do. In spite of all the difficulties, we like it a lot, either because we know it will help us in our daily class preparation, or because it IS rather challenging.
Now, let me tell you about my third class. I didn't have to give any presentation, just watch my peers make theirs. And they were amazingly clarifying to me because I could learn (by seeing the other teachers' mistakes) how important it is to make the class less 'teacher centered' and instead make it the more 'students centered' as
possible. I mean, students have to be giving the task of thinking and doing their task without the teacher's interference, without giving them the answers. Well, I can tell you guys, it's a challenge worth learning for me, especially because I used to treat students like 'babies', spoonfeed them with answers and guidance. Now I have to try to trust them and never take them for granted thinking they can't do
things by themselves. It is a big challenge for me. Kudos to the CELTA team that is great!

Talk to you next class.

Flávia Chiacchia

Good teachers

Good teachers are always learning; learning from students, learning from their own trial and error, learning from peers and colleagues, learning from mentors and supervisors and learning from academic information in their fields.

Good teachers continue to learn throughout their careers. This is called 'long-life learning or ongoing professional development.

That's exactly what Celta course provides trainees : the opportunity for this professional development. I've improved a lot the way I prepare my classes, applying techniques and observing more effective results from those classes.

There's still a lot to learn ahead..

Maria Lucia Andrade

My second CELTA day!

It was such fun and pleasure to meet my friends at the second day of Celta course. Furthermore, I was expecting it to be much more stressful because my co-workers who have attended it said it would be difficult and the pressure would be hard to handle. But, my second day wasn't so stressful. It was nice to be able to work in groups and develop a good team relationship with my mates. We had to give a 25 minute class. Each member of the group was supposed to present one skill of the language and make it the most creative way possible. It was so good to see the ideas everybody had which will be applied to our daily classes in order to make them more effective. We received good grades from the tutors as well as compliments. We were given more tasks to prepare for next class though. The next class will last 40 minutes. It means that the classes are getting progressively more difficult. I wonder what the last class will be like. I just hope I get the best grades possible. I can't wait to give my next class. It will be the class warm-up presentation with new techniques I learned. I'm sure it will be great. Cheers.

Flávia Chiacchia

First impressions

I'm really happy and thrilled attending tha Celta course. It's amazing how much learning has taken place in just two sessions.
Teaching practice, peer observation and some really nice class demontrations by Celta tutors help trainees learn about themselves and how to get things done more effectively.
I've learned a lot through my own experience and reflections in my professional practice but attending the Celta training is a very good opportunity to encounter new ideas and reach a higher level of competence.
Feedback from peers and tutors is friendly and constructive.
There's hard work ahead but it's worth every minute.

Maria Lucia Andrade

My first CELTA course class

Last Friday I had my first CELTA course class. It was awesome. The
teachers that are attending the course are so good and nice to work
with. The tutors are also nice and very experienced in teaching
techniques and methods. They were nice and tried to give us an
overview of what the course will be like for the next four months and
all the work we will have to do. We must be aware of everything
involving teaching and our classes will be monitored by the tutors,
concerning posture, voice, body language, tools, materials, techniques
and timing. They will also analyze our team work efficiency our
willingness to help one another in order to be able to deliver a great
class. I know it won't be easy, but I'm looking forward to my second
CELTA course day.

Flávia Chiacchia