CELTA

Status
Not open for further replies.

endo

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Scotland
Current Location
Scotland
Hi everyone...

This is my first post on here and not sure if this is the correct place to post, so let me know if I am wrong...

I have just begun and CELTA course and would like some support from other CELTA victims, present and past!

Is this the right board to post on?

Thank you! :up:
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Victims? What's the trouble?

I have moved the thread.
 

endo

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Scotland
Current Location
Scotland
No trouble... :) It's just very hard work! Enjoying it though.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
If it were easy, it would be pointless. ;-)
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
The good news is that usually at least one person passes on most courses.





Joke:cool:
 

shroob

Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
I'm on a CELTA course at the moment. Just finished the 2nd week, so just another 2 to go. I'm moving down to the lower-intermediates and have just recieved my T.P. points, which I'm not too happy with but I'll just have to deal with it.

What stage of the course are you at?
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Sorry, shroob, This is the right forum, but no recent fellow-victims have presented themselves - I am a former trainer. I obtained my own teaching qualification long before CELTA appeared.

Don't get too depressed by results in the first two weeks that are not as impressive as you had hoped. In the third and fourth weeks, lots of things begin to fall into place. Also, if you start with the advanced classes, you have your own insecurity about grammar to deal with. That should, hopefully be less of a problem with lower intermediate classes.
 

shroob

Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Sorry, shroob, This is the right forum, but no recent fellow-victims have presented themselves - I am a former trainer. I obtained my own teaching qualification long before CELTA appeared.

Don't get too depressed by results in the first two weeks that are not as impressive as you had hoped. In the third and fourth weeks, lots of things begin to fall into place. Also, if you start with the advanced classes, you have your own insecurity about grammar to deal with. That should, hopefully be less of a problem with lower intermediate classes.

Hi Fivejedjon, I'm not depressed by my results, quite the opposite in fact. I was just saying that the lessons I've been given to teach aren't my favourite subject, and the materials suggested don't really appeal to me. For example I'm going to teach a listening lesson on Tuesday, 40 minutes long for lower intermediates. The suggested material is a recording that's 1 minute 15 seconds long, so I'm going to have to stretch it out a bit.

My other lessons include a grammar on the use of 'will' for predictions, a speaking lesson on the topic of 'offering' then my final lesson is up to me what I teach (as long as my tutor doesn't specify an area they wish to see).

I'm more nervous about teaching the lowers, because your instructions have to be really clear.

I'm actually loving the course, I feel like you learn so much in a short space, it's intense but it's really helping my confidence.

Thanks again,
Shroob
 
Last edited:

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
My other lessons include a grammar on the use of 'will' for predictions, a speaking lesson on the topic of 'offering' then my final lesson is up to me what I teach (as long as my tutor doesn't specify an area they wish to see).

It will be fine. ;-)
 

I'm With Stupid

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Vietnam
I just taught will for predictions this weekend. It's quite easy once you have a few ideas. A couple of things I did, if you're interested:

Class survey
This was from Cutting Edge Pre Int resource book (I think). So they are each given a piece of paper with a category on it (home, travel, work, etc) and hints towards 7 developments they might expect to happen by 2020 (written in note form - e.g. "people...live on moon"). They then have to write the question for each one, and then conduct a survey with all of the other members of the class (a simple template for them to write their survey on will help). For feedback, they can then report their results to the rest of the class. "7 people think that people will live on the moon by 2020." You can also get a bit of intonation in here, after they've written the questions but before they've asked it. Simply write a couple on the board and ask them if they go up or down at the end of the sentence.

Circle Mingle
I don't know if this has an official name. Prepare some questions with will on little cards. They have to be general questions that anyone can answer (e.g. Which country will win the most medals at the 2012 Olympics? Will Barack Obama still be president in 2015? Will you marry me?). Get the students to stand in a circle, and you stand in the middle. Ask a strong student one of the questions on the card. When they've answered it, give it to that student and indicate for them to ask the next person. Keep doing that until all of the students have cards and they're all asking their question and swapping cards. You shouldn't need any verbal instructions at all for this activity, which is good for CELTA (if you can draw a circle on the floor before they stand up, that would be useful, but that might just be my school that lets you do that). It can keep going until everyone has asked and answered every question. Be prepared for students who horde cards.

Pronunciation of contracted forms
"I eat dinner" or "I'll eat dinner."
I did a few from the CD, where they have to listen and identify which was said, and then I wrote ten out and did them as a running dictation (although at this level, they have a habit of reading "I'll" as "I will" so make sure you drill it with them first and don't let them say "I will").

Presentation
This one might take a bit long for a 40 minute class. In groups, they draw a new invention and write some sentences about it using will. They then have to deliver a presentation to the class. The best way to structure it is for you to do exactly what you expect of them at the start of the lesson. You'll also need to give them a bit of presentation language. As an extra task, you could also prepare some questions that the students have the answer about each presentation (i.e. What is the name of the invention? How much does it cost?) to force them to listen to their classmates.
 

shroob

Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
I just taught will for predictions this weekend. It's quite easy once you have a few ideas. A couple of things I did, if you're interested:

Class survey
This was from Cutting Edge Pre Int resource book (I think). So they are each given a piece of paper with a category on it (home, travel, work, etc) and hints towards 7 developments they might expect to happen by 2020 (written in note form - e.g. "people...live on moon"). They then have to write the question for each one, and then conduct a survey with all of the other members of the class (a simple template for them to write their survey on will help). For feedback, they can then report their results to the rest of the class. "7 people think that people will live on the moon by 2020." You can also get a bit of intonation in here, after they've written the questions but before they've asked it. Simply write a couple on the board and ask them if they go up or down at the end of the sentence.

Circle Mingle
I don't know if this has an official name. Prepare some questions with will on little cards. They have to be general questions that anyone can answer (e.g. Which country will win the most medals at the 2012 Olympics? Will Barack Obama still be president in 2015? Will you marry me?). Get the students to stand in a circle, and you stand in the middle. Ask a strong student one of the questions on the card. When they've answered it, give it to that student and indicate for them to ask the next person. Keep doing that until all of the students have cards and they're all asking their question and swapping cards. You shouldn't need any verbal instructions at all for this activity, which is good for CELTA (if you can draw a circle on the floor before they stand up, that would be useful, but that might just be my school that lets you do that). It can keep going until everyone has asked and answered every question. Be prepared for students who horde cards.

Pronunciation of contracted forms
"I eat dinner" or "I'll eat dinner."
I did a few from the CD, where they have to listen and identify which was said, and then I wrote ten out and did them as a running dictation (although at this level, they have a habit of reading "I'll" as "I will" so make sure you drill it with them first and don't let them say "I will").

Presentation
This one might take a bit long for a 40 minute class. In groups, they draw a new invention and write some sentences about it using will. They then have to deliver a presentation to the class. The best way to structure it is for you to do exactly what you expect of them at the start of the lesson. You'll also need to give them a bit of presentation language. As an extra task, you could also prepare some questions that the students have the answer about each presentation (i.e. What is the name of the invention? How much does it cost?) to force them to listen to their classmates.

Thanks some nice ideas there! We've been given New English File for Pre-Intermediates. I think it was Cutting Edge I used when I was teaching the uppers.

How far into the CELTA course are you?
 
Last edited:

I'm With Stupid

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Vietnam
I did my CELTA this time last year. I was just talking about my class yesterday.
 

endo

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Scotland
Current Location
Scotland
Hi Shroob :)

Sorry I never got back to you! Ended up being so busy with the course!

That's me in my final week now... how about you?
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Hope it goes well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top