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