CELTA Assignment 1

 

James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Assignment One James Brooks Due Date: 21 July 2017 at 10.00

 

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Table of Contents Assignment One: Focus on the Learner ........................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Strengths ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Weaknesses .............................................................................................................................................. 4 Selected Materials for Learner’s Use for Improvement ........................................................................... Improvement ........................................................................... 4 References .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Grammar: Attributive Nouns (Noun Modifier/Noun Adjuncts)................. Adjuncts).......................... .................. .................. .................. .................. ............... ...... 7 Grammar: Attributive Nouns (with answers) ............................................................................................... 8 Pronunciation: T-, D-, T-to-D tongue twisters ................... ............................ .................. .................. .................. ................... ................... .................. .................. ........... .. 9 Punctuation (Explanation) .......................................................................................................................... 10 Punctuation (Practice) ................................................................................................................................ 11 Punctuation (Practice – (Practice – answers  answers in bold) ................................................................................................... 12

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Introduction José Miguel García Navarro, or José for short, is a 31-year old Spanish-speaking, monolingual preintermediate student who is interested in entering ente ring the fields of programming/IT. José started learning English in school for the last six years that he was there but had not used his knowledge of English except during the class. The exception e xception (which still holds valid) is his television watching habits, which include American TV shows (such as Walking Dead) with Spanish subtitles. As José has not studied at a university, he has never been on Erasmus or an extended period abroad and so has not used English extensively. The closest he has come is visiting his sister in London twice, each for a two-week t wo-week span. José main interests in learning English are two-fold: two -fold: primarily, for its own sake. Secondly, as many terms relating to computers, networks, and the t he internet (of both personal and professional interest) are in English, he is interested in learning technical vocabulary relating to technology. José has demonstrated his interest in learning by always attending class and has yet to be late to a lesson. For a preintermediate level, José is generally quite proficient in listening, speaking, writing, and reading. His confidence level is such that he is not hesitant to share answers or w what hat he is thinking, especially during more tactile activities, which plays to his kinesthetic learning preferences.

Strengths Vocabulary José’s vocabulary, especially in terms of telecommunications, programming, computing, and gaming, seems to be quite high. As José Jos é is interested in these fields, he is exposed to vocabulary from these fields much more than the average pre-intermediate student. His studies included programming and telecommunications classes, and his use of vocabulary, such as ‘television antennas,’ ‘receive,’ ‘configure,’ ‘modifications,’ and ‘armor ‘armor … weapons … quests…’ shows an elevated level of comfort when speaking in a non-technical context about computing.

Grammar Overall, José’s writing writing level is quite high for his level (pre-intermediate). José is able to write long text textss with very high accuracy and fluency in relatively short periods of time. While he makes occasional mistakes, there are sometimes longer, complex sentences that exceed what is expected for preintermediate students. students. For example, ‘I ‘I needed more time than the t he other students to do the programs because I liked to write the lines of code ordered, since if you were wrong, it w was as a quite difficult to find the error at the end and and lots of times you needed to start again.’ This again.’ This level of complexity, with the use of connector words and the second conditional, is not expected expect ed for pre-intermediate (A2/B1) students. Reading Through his demonstration of understanding in class, a shortage of errors er rors during reading comprehension tasks, and his level of writing, one can infer that José’s José’s reading level is also more advanced than that of his peers. José has mentioned that he does not usually have problems with

reading and listening, especially the prepared texts that the students are given in class. My direct experience with José’s reading skills was during a gist task which I set to the class to put a story in order,

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017 which he performed quickly and perfectly. Colleagues have also noted how fast José reads compared to his peers and how accurate his answers usually are.

Weaknesses Grammar José’s writing in English has many influences from Spanish (his native language). A prominent example example is

the use of the pronoun ‘of’ when using a noun-pronoun collocation (used in Spanish) rather than the more natural attributive noun (noun modifier) construction in English, English, which is ‘a noun that modifies another noun’ (McArthur, 1998). 1998). For example, José writes ‘course of programming’ rather than ‘programming course.’ Another course.’ Another example of the avoidance of the attributive noun is ‘...course of high level…’.   level…’. Pronunciation José’s pronunciation is something that he would like to work on as he feels he has an extra disadvantage being Andalusian. While I do not notice much difference, that may be the case. However, what w hat is noticeable about José’s pronunciation is his addition of a weak vowel sound between a word that ends with a consonant followed by another which begins with a consonant, especially with harder /t/ or /d/ sounds. This is more pronounced when he is not thinking about how he is saying something, but rather what he would like to say, such as responding to a more complex interview question. Punctuation José also is heavily influenced by Spanish when it comes to punctuation, especially with the Spanish tendency for long sentences that allow for several independent clauses to be joined by little more than a comma. This carries over into his writing in English: ‘There are a lot of people that make modifications for the same and they upload it to the network and you can download the as files, and install them in your game and you can add new armors, weapons, new ques quests ts and a lot of things.’ This naturally sounds ungainly in English which favours shorter, more concise sentences.

Selected Materials for Learner’s Use for Improvement  Grammar Since José tends to shy away from attributive nouns when a descriptive noun-pronoun collocation is possible (‘course of programming’ in his writing instead of ‘programming course’), I have prepared a worksheet for José which forces him to use attributive nouns with nouns rather than noun-pronoun collocations. Firstly, he is restricted to reorganise reo rganise sentences that I have constructed for him in the computing field. Pronunciation As José is a tactile learner, it is a good idea to have him practice physically when it comes to pronunciation. Rather than writing a phonemic spelling of a word/sentence, repetition after the teacher/an audio/etc. is more in line with his learning style. Therefore, I believe that the drilling of tongue twisters would be beneficial for his pronunciation to remove this weak vowel sound. I have prepared an exercise using a compilation of common tongue twisters that contain t’s, t’s, d’s, d’s, and groups of words that begin/end with /d/ and /t/ sounds.

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017 Punctuation To cut down José sentences from a Spanish length to a typical English length, I would give him an explanation from Towson University (Maryland, USA) of typical sentence structures in English (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) which show a maximum of two independent clauses joined together. Afterwards, José would have to add punctuation (commas and full stops) to individual sentences and then to a short text. Word Count: approx. 1,050

References McArthur, T. (1998). Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Oxenden, C., & Latham-Koenig, C. (2011). New English File. Oxford: Oxford Univerity Press. Redston, C., & Cunningham, G. (2013). face2face. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Smith, B., & Swan, M. (2001). Learner English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swan, M. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Grammar: Attributive Nouns (Noun Modifier/Noun Adjuncts) 1.  Each sentence has been scrambled. Arrange the words so that they are in the correct order. Do not add or remove any words. a.  Enjoy / role playing games / I . b.  I / in Granada / a programming class / taking / am . c.  digital communications / in / am / interested / I . d.  you / for tomorrow / read / the gaming competition schedule / have ? e.  It / of / the “Elder Scrolls” saga / the fifth game / is  is  .

2.  Identify attributive nouns in the following text: In the programming department, you can find the printer in the break room next to the computer room. Beware, the printer toner has often run out. If you need to replace it, go to the supply room, which is on the floor above us, and you will see several industrial printer cartridges lined up along the back wall. We are in an arms race with the human resources department to see who can use the least amount of toner possible. It is a way of promoting company policy to use as little paper as possible. 3.  Pair work: You are a programmer who works for a programming company and a new person who has been employed to be a member mem ber of your team has just arrived. Your boss has asked you to give her a tour of the company, including the software, hardware, and human resources departments. Tour guide: make sure to include information that she will need while she works (server room, testing centre, break room, etc). New Employee: make sure to ask questions related to human resources (documents that you need to t o sign [confidentiality agreement, tax information, residency permit documents]) and questions about what is contained in each room as necessary.

Reference: Self-Made. 2017.

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Grammar: Attributive Nouns (with answers) 4.  Each sentence has been scrambled. Arrange the words so that they are in the correct order. Do not add or remove any words. a.  Enjoy / role playing games / I. I enjoy role playing games. b.  I / in Granada / a programming class / taking / am. I am taking a programming class in Granada. c.  digital communications / in / am / interested / I. I am interested in digital communications. d.  you / for tomorrow / read / the competition schedule / have / ? Have you read the competition schedule for tomorrow? e.  It / of / the “Elder Scrolls” saga / the fifth game / is. It is the fifth game of the “Elder Scrolls” saga.  saga. 

5.  Identify attributive nouns in the following text: In the programming department, you can find the printer in the break room next to the computer room. Beware, the printer toner has often run out. If you need to replace it, go to the supply room, which is on the floor above us, and you will see several industrial printer cartridges lined up along the back wall. We are in an arms race with the human resources department to see who can use the least amount of toner possible. It is a way of promoting company policy to use as little paper as possible. 6.  Pair work: You are a programmer who works for a programming company and a new person who has been employed to be a member of your team has just arrived. Your boss has asked you to give her a tour of the company, including the software, hardware, and human resources departments. Tour guide: make sure to include information that she will need while she works (server room, testing centre, break room, etc). New Employee: make sure to ask questions related to human resources (documents that you need to sign [confidentiality agreement, tax information, residency permit documents]) and questions about what is contained in each room as necessary.

Feedback given during monitoring

Reference: Self-Made. 2017.

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Pronunciation: T-, D-, T-to-D tongue twisters Instructions: Repeat the following tongue twisters after the teacher. Then practice each tongue twister with a partner five times. Make sure not to add or remove any sounds (such as vowel sounds between consonants) occur naturally. 1.  A bigthat bug do bitnot a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly. 2.  Mr Tongue Twister tried to train his tongue to twist and turn, and twit and twat to learn the letter T. 3.  He says that a two twice-twisted twine twisted twice twists twice as tight as a one once-twisted twine twisted twice. But I say that a two twice-twisted twine twisted twice does not twist as tight as a one once-twisted twine twisted twice. 4.  A tree-toad loved a she-toad who lived up in a tree. He was a two-toed tree-toad, but a threetoed toad was she. The two-toed tree-toad tried to win the three-toed she-toad’s she-toad’s heart,  heart, for the two-toed tree-toad loved the ground that the three-toed tree-toad trod. But the two-toed treetoad tried in vain; he couldn’t please her whim. From her tree-toad tree-toad bower, with her three-toed power, the she-toad vetoed him.

Reference: Self-Made. 2017.

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Punctuation (Explanation) 1. A SIMPLE SENTENCE has one independent clause.  2. A COMPOUND SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined by  (for, A.  a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) so )  B.  a conjunctive

adverb (e.g. however, therefore) therefore)  C.  a semicolon alone.  Punctuation patterns 

  B.  Independent clause; conjunctive adverb, independent clause. 

clause.  A.  Independent clause, coordinating conjunction independent clause. C. Independent clause; independent clause. clause  (headed by a subordinating 3. A COMPLEX SENTENCE has one  one dependent clause conjunction or a relative pronoun ) joined to an  independent clause. clause.  Punctuation patterns  A.  Dependent clause,  independent clause  B. Independent clause dependent clause  dependent clause  C. Independent ,  nonessential dependent clause,  clause clause..  D. Independent   essential dependent clause clause..  clause

4. A COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined to one or more dependent clauses.  Punctuation Patterns follow the rules given above for compound and complex sentences (mixture of both).  Adapted from Towson University Online Writing Support 2017. https://webapps.towson.edu https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/sentences.htm /ows/sentences.htm

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Punctuation (Practice) 1.  In this exercise, you will be given give n a number of sentences, only one o off which is correctly punctuated with commas. Select the correct sentence. 1 a) I really don't like blancmange, so I never eat the stuff. b) I really don't like blancmange so, I never eat the stuff. c) I really don't like blancmange so I never eat the stuff. 2 a) Once, the storm was over we were able to set sail for the lost island. b) Once the storm was over, we were able to set sail for the lost island. c) Once the storm was over we were able to set sail for the lost island. 3 a) Jill, a talented woman in the world of business decided to run for president. b) Jill, a talented woman in the world of business, decided to run for president. c) Jill a talented woman in the world of business, decided to run for president. 4 a) Given the terrible te rrible weather conditions it is surprising that the holiday was so enjoyable. b) Given the terrible weather conditions, it is surprising, that the holiday was so enjoyable. c) Given the terrible terr ible weather conditions, it is surprising that the holiday was so enjoyable. 5 a) India, a truly beautiful interesting and exotic country, is now a popular holiday destination. b) India, a truly beautiful, interesting and exotic country, is now a popular holiday destination. c) India a truly beautiful, interesting and exotic e xotic country is now a popular holiday destination. 2.  Add commas and full stops to the following sentences. a.  The thief was wearing impractical high heels so she could not run fast. b.  We go to Blackpool for the cuisine not the weather. c.  Steven his head still spinning walked out of the office for the last time. Adapted from Bristol University Faculty of Arts 2015. 2015 . http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_41.htm 3.  Add correct punctuation and capitalisation to the following text: winston is one of the most laid-back people i know he is tall and slim with black hair and he always wears a t-shirt and black jeans his jeans have holes in them and his baseball boots are scruffy too he usually sits at the back of the class and he often seems to be asleep however when the exam results are given out he always gets an "A" i don't think hes as lazy as he appears to be Adapted from University of Victoria 2004. htt http://web.uvic.ca/lancenrd/martin/webl p://web.uvic.ca/lancenrd/martin/weblang/weblang15.htm ang/weblang15.htm

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James Brooks Assignment One: Focus on the Learner Due Date: 21 July 2017

Punctuation (Practice – answers in

ol

)

4.  In this exercise, you will be given a number of sentences, only one of which is correctly punctuated with commas. Select the correct sentence. 1 a) I really don't like blancmange, so I never eat the stuff. b) I really don't like blancmange so, I never eat the stuff. c) I really don't like blancmange so I never eat the stuff. 2 a) Once, the storm was over we were able to set sail for the lost island. b) Once the storm was over, we were able to set sail for the lost island. c) Once the storm was over we were able to set sail for the lost island. 3 a) Jill, a talented woman in the world of business decided to run for president. b) Jill, a talented woman in the world of business, decided to run for president. c) Jill a talented woman in the world of business, decided to run for president. 4 a) Given the terrible te rrible weather conditions it is surprising that the holiday was so enjoyable. b) Given the terrible weather conditions, it is surprising, that the holiday was so enjoyable. c) Given the terrible weather conditions, it is surprising that the holiday was so enjoyable. 5 a) India, a truly tr uly beautiful interesting and exotic country, is now a popular holiday destination. exot ic country, is now a popular holiday destination. b) India, a truly beautiful, interesting and exotic c) India a truly beautiful, interesting and exotic e xotic country is now a popular holiday destination. 5.  Add commas and full stops to the following sentences. a.  The thief was wearing impractical high heels, so she could not run fast. b.  We go to Blackpool for the cuisine, not the weather. c.  Steven, his head still spinning, walked out of the office for the last time. Adapted from Bristol University Faculty of Arts 2015. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_41.htm 6.  Add correct punctuation and capitalisation to the following text: Answer: Winston is one of the most laid-back people I know. He is tall and slim with black hair, and he always wears a t-shirt and black jeans. je ans. His jeans have holes in them, and his baseball boots are scruffy, too. He usually sits at the back of the class, and he often seems to be asleep. However, when the exam results are given out he always gets an "A". I don't think he's as lazy as he appears to be. Adapted from University of Victoria 2004. htt http://web.uvic.ca/lancenrd/martin/weblan p://web.uvic.ca/lancenrd/martin/weblang/weblang15.htm g/weblang15.htm

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