CELTA at the Bell School, Cambridge

In October I attended the CELTA course in Cambridge at the Bell School. The CELTA course gives an excellent groundwork in teaching English. I already had a PGCE but the CELTA course taught you very prescribed ways of teaching lessons, for instance using pictures to elicit answers, and using controlled, semi-controlled and free practice to learn reading and listening. They use Raymond Murphy grammar books to teach grammar and there are books by Jim Scrivener that teach you how to teach English and how to teach grammar. When teaching English teachers should keep their own chatter to a minimum as it is distracting. Concept checking questions are used to make sure that the students understand and before each exercise the students are asked information checking questions. Listening and reading tasks are introduced gradually, using a short sample at first and making sure that before they are exposed to the text, students understand what questions that will be asked afterwards. I found the course very helpful and I would warmly recommend it.

Using 'Guess Who' to teach how to ask questions

The game 'Guess Who' is quite a useful game for teaching two students how to ask questions and also teaching some vocabulary related to appearances. Each student takes a picture and puts it into a frame. The other students, using their picture frames, have to deduce by power of elimination, which picture their opponent has in their frame.

Using 'Happy Families' to introduce vocabulary relating to professions

'Happy Families' is a game that uses a taylor-made pack of cards. Each card has the name of a family member such as 'Mr Bun the baker', 'Mrs Bun the baker's wife', 'Miss Bun the baker's daughter' or 'Master Bun the baker's son'. You need a minimum of three players but you can use a dummy. You deal out all the cards and then ask eachother for a specific card such as 'Do you have Mr Bun the Baker?' If the player has the card they give it to you but if they don't have the card they say 'Not at home'. Then it is that person's turn to ask. You can only ask for a card if you already hold a card in that family. Once you have collected all the cards in one family you put that set down on the table. At this point I asked my student to describe the picture. We had a baker so we discussed the words 'dough', 'kneading', 'rolling', 'pastry', 'filling', 'cake' and 'pie'. The player who puts down the most sets wins.

Trends in TEFL

Journalist Chia Suan Chong has written two articles about new tends and emerging technology in the world of TEFL and her articles can be read on the British Council's Voices Magazine. They are: Ten Trends and innovations in English Language teaching for 2018 and Ten Innovations that have changed English Language teaching.