CELTA Application & Task Help Please!

Hi there,

i'm currently applying for a CELTA course at my local college and feeling a little bit unconfident with my answers to the pre-course tasks.

On my application form it asks me to state why i think i am ready to undertake the CELTA course. My answer for that question was as follows:

Teaching English and meeting people from all over the world is my passion in life and something I’ve always wanted to do. Teaching my native language in a foreign country would be a dream come true for me.

I feel I’m at the right age in my life now where I know what I want from life and where I want to go in my life. English has always been my favourite subject and I would feel proud and honoured if I could teach my native language to foreign students as there second language.

I’d certainly put all my effort into the course and work my most hardest to gain the qualifications I need to help take me one step closer to desired career path.

(So is that a good enough answer of if not what kind of thing should i be saying?)

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Secondly i'm given the following task and these are the answers i've given. Please tell me if my answers are good enough or not.

What problems do you think students of English might have with the language indicated below? Please use the spaces provided.

1. “ The Prime Minister has left the country.”

“ I enjoy living in the country.”
The differences between the 2 sentences are that in the first one ‘the country’ is meant as a nation for example the USA is a whole country. However in the second sentence ’the country’ is meant as a particular section or rural area of that particular nation.

2. “ My brother’s a photographer.”

“ I’m doing a photography course.”

“ She has a photographic memory.”
The pronunciation of all 3 words are different even though they are all spelt with photograph and they also have 3 different meanings.

3.“I bought a camera before I went through customs.”

The words bought and through are spelt in a very similar ways although they are pronounced completely different. For example ‘bought’ rhymes with ‘coat’ and ‘through’ rhymes with ‘shoe’

4. “I look forward to meeting you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting you.”

“Looking forward to meeting you.”

The biggest differences with these 3 sentences is the time in which the person would meet. The first sentence would be an unplanned meeting, the second sentence would be a definite meeting in the near future and the third sentence would be a meeting that would take place very soon.

(Please do let me know your thoughts on my answers and any help or advice would be very much appreciated!)

[colloquium]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi there,

i'm currently applying for a CELTA course at my local college and feeling a little bit unconfident with my answers to the pre-course tasks.

On my application form it asks me to state why i think i am ready to undertake the CELTA course. My answer for that question was as follows:

Teaching English and meeting people from all over the world is my passion in life and something I’ve always wanted to do. Teaching my native language in a foreign country would be a dream come true for me.

I feel I’m at the right age in my life now where I know what I want from life and where I want to go in my life. English has always been my favourite subject and I would feel proud and honoured if I could teach my native language to foreign students as there second language.

I’d certainly put all my effort into the course and work my most hardest to gain the qualifications I need to help take me one step closer to desired career path.

(So is that a good enough answer of if not what kind of thing should i be saying?)

I would say that you should focus more on your skills. It's good to be enthusiastic to a certain extent, but you also need to make them aware of your strengths.

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................

Secondly i'm given the following task and these are the answers i've given. Please tell me if my answers are good enough or not.

What problems do you think students of English might have with the language indicated below? Please use the spaces provided.

1. “ The Prime Minister has left the country.”

“ I enjoy living in the country.”
The differences between the 2 sentences are that in the first one ‘the country’ is meant as a nation for example the USA is a whole country. However in the second sentence ’the country’ is meant as a particular section or rural area of that particular nation.

This explanation seems good to me.

2. “ My brother’s a photographer.”

“ I’m doing a photography course.”

“ She has a photographic memory.”
The pronunciation of all 3 words are different even though they are all spelt with photograph and they also have 3 different meanings.

Think word stress. The first two are stressed on the T (phoTOGrapher/y) - whereas the 3rd is stressed on the G (photoGRAphic). The word "photograph" takes the stress at the beginning (PHOtograph).

3.“I bought a camera before I went through customs.”

The words bought and through are spelt in a very similar ways although they are pronounced completely different. For example ‘bought’ rhymes with ‘coat’ and ‘through’ rhymes with ‘shoe’

Bought has the /ɔː/ sound (an "orr" sound); through has the /uː/ sound ("oo"). There are many "ough" pronounciations in English (tough/through/though/plough/borough), so the question could certainly be looking for an explanation of that sort.

On the other hand, it could be trying to highlight the problem of confusing "bought" with "brought".

4. “I look forward to meeting you.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting you.”

“Looking forward to meeting you.”

The biggest differences with these 3 sentences is the time in which the person would meet. The first sentence would be an unplanned meeting, the second sentence would be a definite meeting in the near future and the third sentence would be a meeting that would take place very soon.

I think any of those sentences could be used to fit any of the contexts you've suggested. It could be a matter of register (the kind of language appropriate for the situation). Number 1 has rather more formal feel than 2 or 3.

(Please do let me know your thoughts on my answers and any help or advice would be very much appreciated!)

You seem to be thinking this through, and that's important because no one here will do your work for you.

I've just finished a CELTA course and I found it very helpful. My advice is to concentrate on gaining a good understanding of grammar, but also read a lot of books which focus on teaching methodology (assuming your teaching experience is limited or non-existent). And try to get some voluteer teaching work if possible. But above all, good luck. If this is what you really want to do and you find a good school you will have an amazing time. I did.

Practical English Usage by Swan is a very good reference book for the CELTA course. Learning Teaching by Schrivener is also good.

A free (PDF) book can be found at this address:

http://www.uwm.edu/~noonan/403/CEG.V1.pdf

It has quite a lot of useful information regarding grammar: however it is very grammar based, so you will not find anything to do with teaching.

[Tdol]

I agree with Colloquium about the 'look forward' group; I don't think they conform to the patterns for future arrangement here. I am not sure there would be much or any difference between the first two if they hadn't used the contraction I'm, but they do follow a pattern of formality.