Minute Practical Lesson Demonstration For CELTA Interview!

[thebritishasian]

Hi everyone,

I recently applied to do a CELTA course and completed the pre-interview tasks. Thankfully my application form was successful and I've now been invited for an interview in early January 2009.

However i've been asked to give a 5 minute lesson demonstration at my interview and i really don't know where to start. It states the lesson can be on a subject of my choice for example windsurfing or how to make something etc.. and i like travelling and asian countries. So i've came up with an idea of what i would like to present for my 5 minutes however i don't think it's very good. I've chosen to teach the differences between both British & American English.

Please do let me know your thoughts and if you have any 5 minute lesson ideas or one you may have previously done yourself then i'd be greatful for any information you maybe can share with me.

Oh and here is what i have jotted down so far....
.................................................. ...............................
Hello and welcome. Before I begin please allow me to introduce myself, my name is ........ and it’s a pleasure to meet you all.

Today I am going to be giving a five minute presentation/lesson covering the subject of the differences between both British and American English. As you may know Great Britain and North America share the same language, however some words may be completely different but may still have the same meaning.

So for the next five minutes I’m going to be giving you some examples of the most common differences between both British & American English. I will then present you with some tasks which will then determine your understanding between both the British & American words.

To start off with allow me to give you each a piece of paper which basically has a list of different words both in British and American English which shows that although the words may be different they may still have the same meaning.

(Start giving out the sheets of paper with the British & American words on to each person)
.................................................. .................................................

As i don't think this is a very good topic for my 5 minute demonstration i would prefer to teach simple greetings like hello how are you? etc but i don't know where to start! please help!

[Airone]

I think yours is a great idea for a 5-minute demo lesson. I'm sure others will have more exhaustive comments, but a few things come to mind:

-CELTA teachers are big on "eliciting" words and getting students to talk. "Eliciting" often means giving hints until someone in the class guesses the word. In your demo, it wouldn't hurt to engage the audience in some way. For example, instead of giving a monologue while introducing yourself, walk in and say "HELLO". If you have a cooperative audience, they will respond, if not repeat "HELLO!" and motion for them to answer in kind. Continue accordingly, with "i am from, " "my name is", and that may be enough, as this will take up 2 minutes or so. Remember that you can't speak too slow.

-Instead of simply handing out a list, try to get the students themseves to come up with alternatives, or at least one of the words. For example you can hold your bladder and say "where do i need to go" or similar. Someone might say "toilet". You give them the thumbs up or whatever (the point is for them to talk, not you). You can write it on the board, have and next to it write "loo". Then encourage, in oversimplified language, students to decide which word comes from where.

This is quite a task they're setting you, as it is assumed CELTA candidates know zero about teaching. Not quite fair in my opinion, but you'll certainly learn a lot. Good luck!

[I'm With Stupid]

In my experience, in this sort of situation, your actual lesson plan isn't judged, it's more about your communication skills and how you cope with being in front of the class. If they cared about your lesson planning ability, then they would at least give you a skill-level to work off. Whatever you choose as your lesson, make sure you know it inside out and perform in confidently. Make sure you anticipate any questions or problems they might throw your way too, so that you're not stuck going erm..... They'll forgive a confident performance of a poor lesson plan long before they'll forgive a stuttering performance of a great lesson plan, because the lesson plan is the bit you're going on the course to learn.

It seems a bit strange to me though, that their examples were windsurfing and how to make something. That sounds like a private EFL school task, like learning to book a hotel, or learning to get through customs, rather than a CELTA one. I would've expect a CELTA example to be a particular grammatical structure or aspect of language.

[thebritishasian]

I think yours is a great idea for a 5-minute demo lesson. I'm sure others will have more exhaustive comments, but a few things come to mind:

-CELTA teachers are big on "eliciting" words and getting students to talk. "Eliciting" often means giving hints until someone in the class guesses the word. In your demo, it wouldn't hurt to engage the audience in some way. For example, instead of giving a monologue while introducing yourself, walk in and say "HELLO". If you have a cooperative audience, they will respond, if not repeat "HELLO!" and motion for them to answer in kind. Continue accordingly, with "i am from, " "my name is", and that may be enough, as this will take up 2 minutes or so. Remember that you can't speak too slow.

-Instead of simply handing out a list, try to get the students themseves to come up with alternatives, or at least one of the words. For example you can hold your bladder and say "where do i need to go" or similar. Someone might say "toilet". You give them the thumbs up or whatever (the point is for them to talk, not you). You can write it on the board, have and next to it write "loo". Then encourage, in oversimplified language, students to decide which word comes from where.

This is quite a task they're setting you, as it is assumed CELTA candidates know zero about teaching. Not quite fair in my opinion, but you'll certainly learn a lot. Good luck!

Thank you very much! You've given me a bit more confidence that i should go with my topic idea now. I've made progress so far and i'm still putting my 5 minute lesson together and changing a lot of things around from the original text i posted above.

But i totally agree that although it's only a 5 minute lesson, for people like me with no teaching experience what so ever it's quite difficult! Well thanks again and hopefully i do well in my interview.