The CELTA course was definitely an eye-opening experience for me; I hardly had any teaching experience before starting that course, but I still think it has dramatically changed my teaching attitudes. I used to follow some really useless techniques such as translating lexis into Arabic when teaching Arabic speaking students. I know now how unproductive that is; and that using realia, concept - check questions, or using synonyms is a much better approach to teaching lexis. I also spoke a lot of Arabic in the classroom because my beginner students found it hard to understand me without translation. However, speaking in English and grading language is more productive and it trains students to listen to language and comprehend it instead of having the translation instantly and not focusing on the language itself.
When I gave my students homework, I used to correct each and every error, disregarding what the aim of my lesson was, and what language the lesson focuses on. For example, I corrected spelling, punctuation and grammar in a grammar focused task. This does not help students to improve themselves and work hard; it switches off their eagerness to learn as they think they will never get the language right no matter what they do. My lessons were all teacher – centered, with no room for student interaction or participation; during feedback for instance, I gave the right answers instead of having students to pair- check, or peer- correct. In addition, during listening lessons I used to repeat the dialogues instead of replaying the tape or CD. This is wrong because students should listen to the tape as much as they want until they can comprehend the content of the conversation.
Moreover, I learned a lot of good teaching practice examples; and these are:
1- Written record helps students to study their lessons easily and effectively outside the classroom; and for those who are visual learners, written record is even better when it is similar to what they have seen on the board in class.
2- Clear, precise task instructions help students focus on the task; especially when given with the least fillers possible.
3- Gestures and mimes are a great way to convey meanings and elicit language from lower level students.
4- Friendly smiles, nomination, and maintaining eye – contact help building rapport and encourage students to interact; they also give students confidence so that they do not feel afraid of making errors.
5- A teacher’s central position in the classroom, when giving instructions, helps students to understand the task required from them.
6- A strong, well – prepared lesson plan is one of the most important elements of a successful lesson.
Some of the techniques that I learned to avoid are:
1- Using general, unspecific concept - check questions and instruction - check questions (such as: Is everything clear? Do you all understand? Is that okay?), these questions have no value and do not give the teacher any real feedback on the students’ comprehension.
2- From a student’s point of view, a teacher – centered lesson is boring, and technically, it is also unproductive.
3- A disorganized board both confuses students and raises their chance of making mistakes.
4- When a lesson is unbalanced, in terms of microteaching and macroteaching, weaker students struggle to follow the teacher; it also does not help correcting their fossilized errors.
During the CELTA course, I had a chance to discover my teaching strengths and weaknesses; I discovered that my strengths are that I put so much thought into lesson preparation and planning, and that I can grade my language to achieve the aims of my lesson without confusing students, that I can build rapport, and maintain eye – contact with students to decrease their level of distraction, setting the context in a way that makes students interested in the lesson’s topic, and finally, nomination. I never managed to remember so many names in such so little time.On the other hand, I realized my weaknesses as well; I have to work on my anxiety level, because my nervousness decreases the quality of my teaching performance, my talking speed, I should work on that by practicing slower talking outside the classroom, I also need to work on my instruction – check questions, by checking what students are required to do instead of only focusing on how they do the task (e.g. are you going to work in pairs or alone? Are you reading or writing?.. etc) I also need to choose which lexis items to ask concept – check questions about, because some of my CCQs are not necessary. Following the correct order of stages in a language presentation lesson is another crucial point to work on; I cannot jump from presenting new language to production! I have to follow the correct order of: presentation, practice, production (or P.P.P). Finally, time management has been a huge issue for me during this course. I need to make the best use of time during my class by keeping an eye on the clock and trying not to repeat myself unnecessarily when discussing a point that students seem to understand.
When I gave my students homework, I used to correct each and every error, disregarding what the aim of my lesson was, and what language the lesson focuses on. For example, I corrected spelling, punctuation and grammar in a grammar focused task. This does not help students to improve themselves and work hard; it switches off their eagerness to learn as they think they will never get the language right no matter what they do. My lessons were all teacher – centered, with no room for student interaction or participation; during feedback for instance, I gave the right answers instead of having students to pair- check, or peer- correct. In addition, during listening lessons I used to repeat the dialogues instead of replaying the tape or CD. This is wrong because students should listen to the tape as much as they want until they can comprehend the content of the conversation.
Moreover, I learned a lot of good teaching practice examples; and these are:
1- Written record helps students to study their lessons easily and effectively outside the classroom; and for those who are visual learners, written record is even better when it is similar to what they have seen on the board in class.
2- Clear, precise task instructions help students focus on the task; especially when given with the least fillers possible.
3- Gestures and mimes are a great way to convey meanings and elicit language from lower level students.
4- Friendly smiles, nomination, and maintaining eye – contact help building rapport and encourage students to interact; they also give students confidence so that they do not feel afraid of making errors.
5- A teacher’s central position in the classroom, when giving instructions, helps students to understand the task required from them.
6- A strong, well – prepared lesson plan is one of the most important elements of a successful lesson.
Some of the techniques that I learned to avoid are:
1- Using general, unspecific concept - check questions and instruction - check questions (such as: Is everything clear? Do you all understand? Is that okay?), these questions have no value and do not give the teacher any real feedback on the students’ comprehension.
2- From a student’s point of view, a teacher – centered lesson is boring, and technically, it is also unproductive.
3- A disorganized board both confuses students and raises their chance of making mistakes.
4- When a lesson is unbalanced, in terms of microteaching and macroteaching, weaker students struggle to follow the teacher; it also does not help correcting their fossilized errors.
During the CELTA course, I had a chance to discover my teaching strengths and weaknesses; I discovered that my strengths are that I put so much thought into lesson preparation and planning, and that I can grade my language to achieve the aims of my lesson without confusing students, that I can build rapport, and maintain eye – contact with students to decrease their level of distraction, setting the context in a way that makes students interested in the lesson’s topic, and finally, nomination. I never managed to remember so many names in such so little time.On the other hand, I realized my weaknesses as well; I have to work on my anxiety level, because my nervousness decreases the quality of my teaching performance, my talking speed, I should work on that by practicing slower talking outside the classroom, I also need to work on my instruction – check questions, by checking what students are required to do instead of only focusing on how they do the task (e.g. are you going to work in pairs or alone? Are you reading or writing?.. etc) I also need to choose which lexis items to ask concept – check questions about, because some of my CCQs are not necessary. Following the correct order of stages in a language presentation lesson is another crucial point to work on; I cannot jump from presenting new language to production! I have to follow the correct order of: presentation, practice, production (or P.P.P). Finally, time management has been a huge issue for me during this course. I need to make the best use of time during my class by keeping an eye on the clock and trying not to repeat myself unnecessarily when discussing a point that students seem to understand.
Note: this is my 4th assignment submission, I didn't mention how happy I am to have met a lot of great classmates, students, and tutors because it was not the space to actually acknowledge this :)
3 comments:
That's a great post- self-reflection is also one of your strengths it seems. People who criticize the CELTA despite having no previous teaching or adult language learning experience should all have to read this.
TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase
Thanks a lot, ironically i had to resubmit that! not all of it just the last paragraph because my tutor seemed to have trouble pointing out my "plans to improve in the future". Anyway I gratefully passed this assignment and the entire course, now waiting for my Cambridge certificate :)
Thanks for dropping by!
Yet more interesting information about doing a CELTA course, a great insight and positive information about the CELTA course
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