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