My CELTA Experience; Episode-4

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross said, "There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from." So no worries about first TP. Anyhow I learnt that I was not playing in my home ground in front of my home crowd. Third day started with a lesson given by Dorothy. MFP was discussed where special focus was on pronunciation. I realised that back in my country we are missing or at least not giving proper attention to this very important aspect of language. The input session was a perfect example of situational presentation. Some pictures were used for lead-in. The sequence of the lesson was:

• Warmer
• Set context
• illustrate meaning
• Elicit
• check meaning
• drill
• focus on form
• written consolidation

For pronunciation and specially for the stress patterns, Dorothy taught us that teacher should model it. It may be done through clap while drilling a sentence or even whistling could be used. We also learned that while using a situational presentation, that situation should be chosen which may generate other examples.

He's been to Turkey.

Now it can be varied as

He's been to Ireland. OR He's been to South Korea. 

LA sheet or Language Analysis Sheet ( an extension of lesson plan) was also introduced that day. On LA sheet we were required to write certain details of language to be taught.

 

While focussing on 'Meaning' in language we should remember three things:

i) Analyse: The language to be taught.

ii) Convey: Context and how to transfer meaning

iii) Check: CCQ's (Concept Checking Questions), which should be short and easy

On LA sheet we need to mention anticipated problems and their solutions too. In fact it is very important to remember that even the best plans can face failure because of not anticipating potential problems. In order to do that perfectly, the main thing is to know the learners. If we know them, hopefully we would overcome all the problems.

Lessons from the third day:

• Keep a plan B before entering the class.
• The more detailed a lesson plan is, the more successful the lesson would be.
• Language can't be taught in chunks. It should be taught with some context.
• With a 100 % ready lesson plan a teacher should be 200 % ready.   
• In classroom management, one of the most important aspect to remember is variety. Change groups, pairs, seating plans, teaching style, assessment and your jokes too.

In the afternoon session we had two lessons, one by Seyfullah and the other by Muhamad. SOme lessons learned from those two TPs were:

• Maintain your pace (Neither too slow nor too stormy)
• TTT should be minimized. ( I kept learning the lesson but couldn't control myself) 
• Correction work should be there, may that be at once or delayed one. 

With dreams of my next day lesson (though there was almost no sleep that night) I finished the day. See you next time with my next endeavours. Till then bye bye... ( Oh! thanks for your comments on my email. By the way you may send them on this page too)    

      

 

MY CELTA Experience; Episode-3

Second morning in CELTA was better because by then we had got answers to many of our questions. Our group of trainees, schedule and many other things. First session was about lesson planning. The main points to consider were:

Aims, aims and aims.

• While making a lesson plan, the first thing to focus is Aims.
• Keep anticipate problems in your mind and also mention them on your lesson plan.
• Skills and language frameworks are different and they should be kept in mind.

    The second input session of the day was about Needs analysis. The main points to consider was to keep in mind the VAK (Visual, auditory and Kinesthetic learning styles of our learners. While planning and designing our activities, we should keep in mind the needs of these three types. Running dictation is an example of these kinds of activities which fulfills needs of all three types of learners.

  

The First Encounter:

On first day of CELTA, we were told that unlike many other courses, CELTA is going to be more practical. Whatever we are learning and discussing in the morning input sessions, we were required to show its evidence in the afternoon output session. In fact that excited me a lot. I love to deal with the students but here I was going to face a completely new group of students, about whom my knowledge was limited to their nationality and financial background.     

On second day of the course I, along with my two other colleagues, was to teach those students. I was last of the three to enter the class and by then the students were completely drained away. These students were a bunch of youngsters that was brought forcefully to join these classes, while their class-fellows were enjoying their holidays during this unusually hot summer of Istanbul this year. The venue is very close to the airport and sound of big planes on busy Ataturk Airport compelled us to keep the windows closed. Without any air-conditioners, working in 38+ Celsius was indeed a nightmare. 

Every one looks happy; Yes, it's the final day.

Like a referee in boxing ring, Caroline called start and I came in the ring (my class that was like an oven then). Just like my normal classes I started with enthusiasm and energy but my opponents were not ready to fight. Yes, it was a speaking lesson and despite my all efforts the students were not ready to speak at all. They just wanted to run away. It was indeed one of my worst experiences in any classroom. I continued trying but forgot golden principle of CELTA,  

"These are students who need to speak, you already know English"  

My trainer, Caroline was as cool as ice. No expressions whatsoever. My group mates, Isak, Hasan, Muhamad and Seyf were trying to keep their calm but tiredness and fatigue was eminent on their faces too. Anyhow I finished the lesson somehow and the time came for feedback session. The trainer and my group-mates were present in the room and ready to discuss all the shortcomings of the lesson. 

 Lessons from TP1 (Teaching Practice No.1): 

• Reduce TTT and try to increase STT.
• More S-S interaction than T-S interaction.
• Stay back and never enter into students' comfort zone.
• Getting feedback from every single student is not necessary.
• Answers could be given as handout or could be shown through power point slide.
• Key is in planning.

This TP gave me many lessons and I decided to show my real talent in the next lesson. I realized that unlike my country where English is second language, here students feel hesitation while speaking. Even the best students in written expression will feel it difficult to speak and that too in front of a foreigner. It gave the best lesson so far,

"KNOW YOUR LEARNERS"

See you next time with another episode. Till then BYE. (Your comments are welcome)

MY CELTA Experience; Episode-2

I was thinking that there would be lot of participants of the course but there were only 14 of them. We were told that we were the lucky (later on we thought otherwise) people who could make their way out of 130 candidates. A few minutes later, four ladies appeared, who were going to be our trainers for the next four weeks. I felt that they were a bit nervous at that time. Coming from all the way from Northern Ireland and starting a course for the first time in Turkey was something that might have raised many question marks in their minds. These were, Caroline Grainger, Dorothy Glenn and Elna Coetzer. Among them I only knew Elna Coetzer before, who came to our country to arrange workshops. After formal welcome words Kristina Smith gave a brief  introduction of CELTA course, the trainers, dos and don'ts and  course timings. 

The First Session: 

                                Dorothy Glenn entered the room and started talking to us in a strange language. At first we thought that we were in a wrong class or course but later realized that it was foreign language lesson. She was teaching us a dialogue in Italian language that was intended to make us realize the problems of our learners and at the same time it taught us that even without using a single word from mother tongue you may convey the meaning. Gilato alla fragolla   was the first word I learned in Italian language. Can you guess what it could mean? It is Strawberry Ice-cream. Then 'limonata' and 'Panino con prosiutto' were a couple of other words which I can remember with their perfect pronunciation.

All the trainees started feeling a bit more confident and everyone started to respond in Italian. After that Ms. Dorothy presented many more Lexis items without using a single word in English language. Pronunciation drills were also given and we started using better pronunciation.

After finishing that phase, we were given practice of a dialogue in Italian language. We worked in pairs, groups and at the end, I even sounded Italian to myself. 

For the next few days we were all speaking Italian, atleast a few Italian words, with that exaggerated accent. It proves the point that the language teachers first need to be certain of what their students to achieve and how they could do it in the best way. 

The way is clearly not the easy one because it requires a lot of preparation and perseverance. Learners can always ask for clarification in their language, and they may even insist on that; however, good teachers should never give up, and they should maintain the belief that they can teach anyone anything.

See you soon with next episode.  

MY CELTA Experience; Episode-1

If I say that I had a dream to have CELTA certificate, it would certainly be a lie. The chance just came out of nowhere and I found myself packing up for Istanbul, since CELTA is not offered in Pakistan.

The most hateful task for me is always carrying the luggage and I had to do that in order to reach from Sabiha Gokcin Airport to Yeni Bosna in Istanbul. It took almost the same time that I spent from Islamabad to Istanbul. After having a wonderful dinner at Aksaray I managed to reach the house where I was destined to stay for the next one month. 

For the next two days I was free to dream, sleep, eat and relax without knowing the intensity of next one month's workload. I recommend every prospective candidate of CELTA to go through other participants experiences (though it may become the reason of your running away even before the start).

The venue of my training was Fatih Koleci Coban Cesme Bahcelievler. I decided to rely on my GPRS and was happy to know that it was about 1.8 KM from my residence. On first day I decided to walk to the place and managed to reach there after a walk of 15 minutes or so. On asking about the program there, the guards on the gate seemed ignorant about any such event there. Then one of them called some responsible person who gave me  the news that gave me a big shock. My CELTA course was not being arranged there but in another branch of the same college and that was bit far away. No buses or mini bus/train go to that locality. Only way is to find a taxi and try to explain the address in Turkish language. Here again the same angel (the guard) came to help me. He called a taxi driver, who could reach there after 15 minutes and during that time I was just thinking that on very first day of my course I'm late. No one should rely on technology and human factor is always more important then machines. 

To make long things short, the taxi arrived and dropped me at huge building of Fatih Koleci where Ms. Zeynep received me and directed me to a small conference hall where I was advised to sit and wait. I had decided that I will not give my full introduction to anyone and would pose that I was only a new teacher working in Turkish School in Pakistan. Then entered four to five gentlemen among whom I knew only one who hugged me and welcomed me. After that he introduced me in such words that made me think that he had been talking about someone else. 

Others included my course and group mates, Hasan, Issak, Muhammed and Seyf with whom I could survive few of my most difficult but fruitful days of my life. 

See you soon with next episode of my blog.