Celta Assignment 4

CELTA ASSIGNMENT 4: LESSONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

List a number of things that you did during the lesson? Language input and the methods used to elicit the meaning and context appeared to be crucial in ensuring a successful lesson. In my 2nd observation of a qualified teacher a variety of ways to elicit vocabulary was employed including physical gestures and picture stories. When presenting new language it seems that it is important both to be thoroughly prepared with clear contexts and communicative focus for learners and to be patient. In my early lessons and in peer lessons I noticed that the meaning of new language was given to the students too soon due to frustration or possibly impatience. A peer teaching phrasal verbs would often either tell the class the meaning and use or immediately go to the strongest student. Patient and well prepared eliciting with generative situations, concept questions and realia as used by the lesson outlined below is something I have tried to prepare in all lessons. My most recent lesson ensured I had pictures, as well as clear concept questions and marker sentences when teaching phrasal verbs with look. List a number of things that the students did during the lesson? My second QT observation students were encouraged to o Read individually and then discuss in pairs o Read individually for details and compare in groups o To interpret pictures and diagrams and look to the teacher for feedback on their assumptions o Listen to a ‘relaxation tape’ and identify follow instructions as a group. o To discuss the topics of the lesson The above list is a short illustration of stages of a QT lesson and the level of student talk time allocated. What was the balance of ‘teacher doing things’ compared with students doing things’ in the lesson? My impulse to get involved or fall into the trap of too much teacher talk time has been a feature since my initial teaching practise. My 3rd observation of a QT illustrated perfectly that when introducing a new lexical set such as bedroom furniture. Use of realia in freer practice involved the students and sequential drilling at the end of the lesson reviewed the language. The majority of the time teacher took a back seat to the students once the aim and desired outcome had been clearly informed. Note several things that you are proud of during the lesson? One of the things that sets qualified teachers apart from a trainee is their ability to acquire signposting skills and conviction. I witnessed a qualified teacher doing emotional adjectives in the present progressive and the class seemed to be in tune with her instructions from the beginning just from her intonation and confidence. I feel that as the course has progressed it is my signposting as well as a good rapport with

learners that has ensured that the students are fully involved in the activities and in the lesson as whole. The majority of my positive feedback has focused on this and I think it is this that I am most proud. At what points could you have been clearer? During my first experience teaching grammatical forms I found myself struggling to interpret the 1st and 2nd conditional without regurgitating the contents of my grammar book. The lesson was relatively successful pre intermediate with 14-15 students but any success came from my clear board plan and my concept questions. I overloaded the students with details that blurred the meaning and clouded my lesson aims. I witnessed a peer teach the same thing in my third week and although the level was the higher upper intermediate the hand outs and language were much simpler than mine.

Which parts of the lesson involved the students most completely? My 6th QT featured a very long but productive exercise which involved every student speaking to each other one by one to discuss past experiences. The students were given a handout so that they could gather information and then later in a freer practice reveal the most interesting stories they had heard. I tried to employ similar tasks that get the students speaking and trying to express a wide range of things to each other as an extension of new language. Where were the main challenges for the students? Students in freer practice exercises such as the one observed in my 6th QT are constantly under pressure to use all the vocabulary at their disposal. The exercise requires lots of listening with a variety of levels and speakers interacting, this improves comprehension and I have tried to develop exercises in my own lessons as an extension of some of my stage aims that encourage these benefits and complement any drilling. What have you learned about your planning? My planning has developed a great deal and is now analysed as overly thorough or too long, which whilst accurate seems to be misinterpreted as a long term problem. Recent lessons that have not benefited from an in-depth lesson plans such as my 8th teaching practice on future forms have suffered due to a lack of clarity in my mind but not on the page. Clear stage aims are invaluable and without them myself and my peers have lost track of their overall lesson goals and time management has also suffered. Additional materials, how they will be utilised and their function is also something that needs to be planned thoroughly as I have seen materials used by peers such as cards for collocation and pictures where simple details are overlooked. Purpose such as context and the grammatical structure of words used in collocation and even simple mistakes like definitions and words on the same colour card have all

defeated the purpose of exercises. Yet these problems could be addressed in the planning stages.

What have you learned about teaching procedures and techniques? Personally I have learned from qualified teachers to reduce my involvement in class. I learned to write clearly on the board and try to include phonetics for clarification of pronunciation especially with contractions, assimilation etc. Drilling in forms such as back chaining or syllabic indication are very important and whilst I have only introduced consistent identification and correcting in my last few lesson I think it is a technique that helps the students a great deal. Checking progress in group work especially in classes such intermediate where there may be a wide range of abilities. Finally every single lesson I have seen taught by my peers has in someway been enhanced through learning aids such as materials and resources. Although I think it is important to rely on your own personal style, sourcing things that are relevant and of interest to both the teachers life and in turn the students make the language simpler to teach. QT observation has also demonstrated the benefit of setting time frames instead of asking the students if they have finished. This sort of classroom management helps students to work quickly and concentrate on the task and maintains order throughout the different levels of ability. Most peers seem to have grasped their ability to test/teach and I have interpreted this as weakness. IQ’s and ICQ’s ensure that the whole class understands the next stage of the lesson and what a teacher expects of them. Peer feedback highlights that mine could be clearer and I intend to include them in my LP in future.

What have you learned about yourself? The course has provided with me with a clear insight of the type of teacher I am and how I can develop my strengths and work hard on my weaknesses. As a communicator I think I am very effective and I have enough charisma to set the tone of a lesson and get students involved. I have a good understanding of the value of preparation but I put too much pressure on myself when it comes to approaching lessons with goals unfamiliar to me such as grammar. My anxiety does have both advantages and disadvantages though as I am driven to prepare well and I always want to be the best teacher I can be. I List some intentions or action plans for your future teaching? o I intend to use the free time I have on the course to hopefully study and create a mastery of grammar for practical usage and implementation in the class room. o Join a professional association. o Subscribe to an English Teaching database. o Develop bullet proof well drilled lesson preparation. o Obtain experience possibly in a monolingual environment abroad.

o o o o o o o o o

Investigate further qualifications. Familiarise myself more with phonemic translation. Gain experience teaching young learners Observe colleagues in future and analyse their strengths in order to acquire them Develop o portfolio of lesson plans Join a web group such as TEFL.com Look at studying diploma level Contribute to teachers publications Practise board writing

Bibliography Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener, Macmillan