Отправлено: 24.05.10 21:53. Заголовок: ATEEL Refresher Course in TEFL 2010 - traveller's notes

revision at the end of the working day

 Отправлено: 24.05.10 22:31. Заголовок: "Classroom manag..

"Classroom management is creating conditions so that effective language learning will take place." (Scrivener and Irina Grekova)

I'm in Joanna's group - how exciting!

Already feeling immersion, after 8 hours of speaking English

Conclusion: if you can teach with New Headway, you are a really professional teacher!

 Отправлено: 25.05.10 22:17. Заголовок: phrase of the day: g..

phrase of the day: gut reaction - immediate reaction, feeling right after doing something (e.g. right after teaching )

term of the day: schemata (pl) - the knowledge the students have about the topic

question to teachers: what does ICQ stand for in terms of teaching?

quiz for teachers: choose ONE phrase which is appropriate to be said in classroom

Right you are!

Can I stop you now, please?

To my mind, ...

Conclusion: setting up tasks is a real art!

 Отправлено: 26.05.10 22:33. Заголовок: word of the day: que..

word of the day: queasy - sick and dizzy at the same time.

tip of the day: Try to avoid echoing as some students will stop listening to their peers while others may think you are correcting everything and become down-hearted (Joanna)

CCQ: does echoing mean repeating correct or incorrect students' answers?

phrase of the day: If you ask me what it is in Russian I won't tell you because I learnt this word in English (Anna, experienced BEC teacher, Russian)

Conclusion: observing lessons is easier than teaching.

 Отправлено: 27.05.10 20:57. Заголовок: notes of the day: W..

notes of the day:

Why do we (teachers) feel the need to talk a lot (in classroom)?

no one else to talk to?

worries about silence/misunderstanding

we're teachers!

we feel that students learn from listening

your option

what are the problems with excess language?

less time for students

students don't understand all we say

lack of student involvement

lack of interest

slows pace

circle of doubt (I'm a bad student)

think how TTT could be reduced

hint of the day: use tasks rather than activities with in-company classes

Conclusion: we have yet to learn!

 Отправлено: 28.05.10 22:21. Заголовок: my unassessed 10 min..

my unassessed 10 minutes were by far more more successful than than the previous 20 minutes and 2*40 assessed... unfair!

pleased to see we are doing and coping with lots of tasks from CELTA - Irina admits the level of difficulty of this course isn't lower at all.

praise of the day:"I don't think you need CELTA now, you all may go for DELTA" (Irina Grekova to the whole group today)

question to teachers: what does re-pairing mean?

quote of the day: "A communicative task is always an activity where the TL is used by the learner for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome." (Jane Willis)

book of the week



and the best teachers of Russia with Jo and Irina!

 Отправлено: 29.05.10 21:14. Заголовок: I has taken me a wee..

I has taken me a week to realize my British tutor says "Open your books TO page..."

One of Joanna's last inputs was on Concordance and Corpus where she gave us a really useful link

http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

so, I go there and type in three different variants, and here is what I've got!

001. cret Detectives. Okay, open up your activity book TO PAGE 1 Now, so now we’re going to talk about cl
002. see you later. Okay, so open your activity books TO PAGE 52. Who would like to read the instruction
003. working like busy bees. Open your activity books TO PAGE 66. Hey what is this? Now just nothing wou
004. . Not too cold but it’s not warm. Open your books TO PAGE 66. You started this morning the second co
005. kay. I’d like for you to open your activity books TO PAGE 28. I’m gonna pass by to look at your home
006. do next. ? In your activity book you’re gonna go TO PAGE 23. You have no pencils in your hands now,
007. do next. ? In your activity book you’re gonna go TO PAGE 23. You have no pencils in your hands now,
008. e our songs from our activity book. So, we all go TO PAGE 40 – let’s see – 41. Okay, we’re going to
009. e the same, but we’re going to check, okay? We go TO PAGE 43. Number one, look at the picture on the
010. ot attentive that’s the problem. Okay let’s eh go TO PAGE 5 with your red pen, everyone okay, VIP. W
011. bulary that I want us to look at too. So, open it TO PAGE 80 Yes? drawing for the weekend? No, I’m g
012. Okay. So, I’d like you to open up your books now TO PAGE 75. Okay, who would like to read the top o
013. ay. Take your Stuper, your Stuper your Super Star TO PAGE 65. Before you do this, I would like to ex
014. and that will be the crook. Okay? So now we turn TO PAGE eh, 69. Page 69. Why did you put an X on t
015. you all have these right? Good? Good. Let’s turn TO PAGE 61. ‘Kay, page 61. What do we have for num
016. ds down? Okay, good. ‘Kay so now we’re gonna turn TO PAGE 57. Okay, and on page 57, you have to find
017. have them tomorrow, okay? So I’d like you to turn TO PAGE 26 Put your agenda in your cubbyhole. Your
018. ur hand okay. Those of you who are finished, turn TO PAGE 61 and do page 61 while we’re waiting. Do
019. we can sing some songs, okay? Okay. So we’ll turn TO PAGE Thirty, thirty-nine. You wanna do all the
020. activity book – page 44, page 44, please Open up TO PAGE 44, I’d like to see if it’s done please. G
021. move! Table 2 Table 3.. Take, eh – open your Viz TO PAGE 10. I will tell you what you have to do an

whereas

001. . Excellent. Ah I, you for your group – number 11 ON PAGE 83. 11? Number 11? Very good. Eh, 14 pleas
002. ves? Let’s do page 84. M - superlatives. Number 2 ON PAGE 84. The most athletic. Very good. Uh, S, f
003. r group, M I’ll take you for your group. Number 7 ON PAGE 83. before. Excellent. Ah I, you for your
004. Kay so now we’re gonna turn to page 57. Okay, and ON PAGE 57, you have to find the appropriate word
005. r, soft drinks. Those are, those are liquids. And ON PAGE 53 you have the different verbs. All the t
006. team green team and the orange team. Okay, we are ON PAGE 49. We’re going to look at this together.
007. erybody you’ve eliminated over the speech bubbles ON PAGE 24 and 25 tomorrow. Homework is not done i
008. ne. I want you to think about what- what clothing ON PAGE one, would you wear in the winter? Can any
009. hat. Okay, so the first thing you will have to do ON PAGE 10 is The Path of Doom. You have to look a
010. hat difficult. Let’s look on page fifty fifty-two ON PAGE fifty-two they have the different sizes of
011. teen? yes. You will have one homework and that is ON PAGE 17. Well of course TV and reading. All the
012. nter, summer, fall and spring. Look at your lists ON PAGE one. I want you to think about what- what
013. now the rest. It’s not that difficult. Let’s look ON PAGE fifty fifty-two On page fifty-two they hav
014. For one chip I’m going down to the last paragraph ON PAGE 7. What were the men in the crow’s nest lo
015. give you a few minutes now to practice your poem ON PAGE 24 You have 8 lines by heart and I think I
016. f the men is the robber. Put an X on that man. So ON PAGE 24 are the people, the witnesses, the peop
017. s to V ? . The left of – yes. Excellent. Okay, So ON PAGE 49, we have picture A - picture B. Okay. W
018. ules pretty well, you should be able to get it So ON PAGE 83 let’s do number 7 Ah 1 person per group
019. pril 11th, 1912. So if you go back into the story ON PAGE 7, last column – the first paragraph of th
020. You understand tall man. Okay. Are they all tall? ON PAGE 25? No. So who do you eliminate? Hank. Oka
021. be closed Okay. Last week you studied some verbs ON PAGE 142 of Super Star. Do you remember? Samuel
022. magazine for a couple of minutes, okay? Your Viz ON PAGE 16-17. Okay, you have your Viz magazine? P
023. do that Monday. Okay, so there’s extra vocabulary ON PAGE 80. They talk about your great-grandparent
024. 2, you can practice the poem while you’re waiting ON PAGE 11, If I Die, we’re going to practice it t
025. green team. OK. Now, take out a red pen and we’re ON PAGE 42 of your Super Star. We’re going to corr
026. r movements. You don’t understand, S? Okay, we’re ON PAGE 41 and we start. Okay I’d like to hear eve
027. y. So I’ll see you after recess. Yes. Okay, we’re ON PAGE 29. one person missing. Okay page 29 every

and only

001. please. In the school. Yes. Okay – so let’s look AT PAGE 49 together. Now, we have on top some word
002. tomorrow in class. I just would like you to look AT PAGE 51 right now. Page 50 is done – we’ll do t
003. e more than one to write the recipe? No Okay look AT PAGE nineteen of the Word by word. Nineteen Not
004. ge? You did the wrong one? Sshh! Okay. Let’s look AT PAGE 28. Okay. ‘Kay, let’s look at uh, page 28.

Conclusion: open + to + page (only!)
Runglish?

 Отправлено: 30.05.10 20:13. Заголовок: Over the Weekend Ass..

Over the Weekend Assignment One: Materials Evaluation.

In approximately 1000-1500 words examine selected course book extracts as you would normally do when considering their use in the classroom.

Two options: Total English Pre-Int or Natural English Int

No one in the group knows Natural English and only I have been working with Total English. Everyone seems to like NE more though.

Conclusion: TE lessons require so much careful preparation and adapting materials, even more than I used to consider before

 Отправлено: 30.05.10 23:00. Заголовок: midnight reflections..

midnight reflections: how long does it normally take to prepare a 20-minute lesson?..

 Отправлено: 31.05.10 21:05. Заголовок: Natural English is j..

 Отправлено: 31.05.10 21:52. Заголовок: Helene, I didn't..

Helene, I didn't know that. Let's talk more about it next week

My trainer is Irina now - it's nice to see a different approach and realize that they both will lead to the same result.

Joanna has left for the UK and Liz is covering for her. Liz hasn't worked in teacher training but she was observing Joanna the whole last week and she specializes in teaching YL and is an IELTS examiner - our combination of teacher trainers seems to be a lucky one!

quote of the day: "As teachers we should see errors more positively than the society does" (Elizabeth Bearman)

hint of the day: "The main question assessed in the speaking part of IELTS is not absence of errors but how easy it is to talk to the candidate"

game of the day: Stop the bus! - cool activity that even teachers play with enthusiasm Does anyone need explanation how to play it?

Conclusion: if I didn't have to sleep at night, I would have already read all the handouts.

 Отправлено: 01.06.10 21:45. Заголовок: Feeling of the day: ..

Feeling of the day: Sleep? What's that? So funny to see the whole group yawning at inputs

Quote of the day: "Without thorough linguistic analysis you can't teach at higher levels" (Irina Grekova)

Grammar of the day: grammar of rule and grammar of choice.

Question to teachers: how many verb tenses are there in the English language in terms of linguistics (not in pedagogical books)?

Last Tuesday's answers:

ICQ stands for instructions checking questions (think of examples and importance of these)

the appropriate phrase to be said in classroom is

# Can I stop you now, please? (to attract attention after pairwork)

Right you are! is Runglish (would be Right! or You are right!)

To my mind,... is very formal and is used in the written form only.

Thanks to Joanna for this info!

Conclusion: Guided Discovery Approach isn't that easy as it seems to be

 Отправлено: 02.06.10 22:09. Заголовок: The middle of the se..

The middle of the second week of the intensive course: the teacher trainer's battery keeps dying during observation and is charged with some coffee at regular intervals

Q: What levels do we use authentic materials for?
A: Any
Q: How about grading the language?
A: We grade the tasks, not the language in texts.

Question to teachers: Should speakers on CDs always be native speakers? Why/why not?

Quiz to English language lovers (not only teachers may participate)

fill in the gaps in the following lexical chunks with suitable words:

upside ____________

the plane took _____

a __________ smoker

rancid ____________

live and __________

a hard nut to ______

Conclusion: Yes, I do make mistakes, but I see them!

 Отправлено: 03.06.10 22:43. Заголовок: Teachers do enjoy pl..

Teachers do enjoy playing with multicoloured balloons!

Questions for teachers: what's the difference between a method and an approach?

Tip of the day: don't skip paircheck, it helps to work on confidence.

Book of the week:



Conclusion: Is it really possible to not only keep it all in one head, but also apply in practice?

 Отправлено: 04.06.10 20:59. Заголовок: Elena Geiko

Quote of the day: Saturation point is reached very-very quickly in evening classes.

Question to teachers: what is the difference between audio-lingual method and CLT?

The two inputs of the last day were something I enjoyed most - Business English (I turned out to be the only one in the group who actually had experience teaching it) and exam classes (almost the only one).

The last day was more relaxed with a group photo and a small thank you party, but it didn't make the tutors less strict in their observation of the last class.

Everyone is invited to do get an A in CELTA - we now don't need to worry about the theory and can focus on lesson plans and Teaching Practice.

Photo with Liz and Irina

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Conclusion: Two weeks are definitely not enough for TP!

Waiting for our progress reports and certificates to arrive!

 Отправлено: 05.06.10 07:13. Заголовок: First wake-up though..

P.S. First wake-up thought: Do I really have to describe anything in detail in writing and give it to anyone to proofread?

 Отправлено: 06.06.10 13:25. Заголовок: Elena Geiko

Answer to May 26 question: echoing involves repeating sts' correct answers

 Отправлено: 07.06.10 11:21. Заголовок: Answer to May 27 fro..

Answer to May 27 from Joanna

We can reduce TTT by

ICQ

asking sts to clarify instructions

silent periods wich are necessary sometimes (before a speaking activity, for example)

scripting your instructions beforehand

recording yourself (really increases TTT awareness)

 Отправлено: 07.06.10 23:11. Заголовок: Answer to May 28: re..

Answer to May 28: re-pairing means changing the sts in pairs, regrouping them

 Отправлено: 12.06.10 08:30. Заголовок: Answer to June 1: Th..

Answer to June 1: There are 2 verb tenses in linguistics - Past and Present, there isn't a particular form to describe future.

What is called "tenses" in pedagogical books is regarded as "verb forms" in linguistics.

Answers to June 2: Speakers on the tape should nor be always native speakers as in real life we deal with the whole variety of accents of the English language.

Quiz answers:

# upside down
# the plane took off
# a heavy smoker
# rancid butter
# live and let live
# a hard nut to crack

Thanks to Liz for the collocations!

 Отправлено: 13.06.10 14:09. Заголовок: June 3 answer: a met..

June 3 answer: a method is practical application of an approach

 Отправлено: 14.06.10 23:04. Заголовок: June 4 answer: audio..

June 4 answer: audio-lingual method involves MEANINGLESS drill, whereas in communicative language teaching we don't drill until concept is checked.

 Отправлено: 28.06.10 09:47. Заголовок: http://i066.radikal...