Essay on Lessons from the Classroom

Words: 1281
Pages: 6

CELTA
K.S.

ASSIGNMENT 4: LESSONS FROM THE CLASSROOM
I decided to take CELTA course as part of my continuing professional development. I am working in a FE institution and I am training and assessing NVQs at the moment, but have wanted to move on to full time ESOL and literacy for quite some time. I also really wanted to go travelling and thought that teaching could be the answer to any cash shortages on the way. The three month-journey I put myself through with CELTA proved to me that I can actually start thinking seriously about pursuing a career in ELT and gave me confidence to kick start my travelling preparations, because I do not have to worry so much about coming back and finding myself without a job, money and career
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I had a lot of action points to work on too. From the very first TP I had problem with my assumptions about students. In my first three TPs I assumed the students would know the lexis which turned out to be at higher levels. Because of that, I spent too much time on lexis and CCQs, and consequently had to drop other parts of the lesson (for example missing out on freer activities). I learnt from Laura’s lesson, it is always better to “hope for the best, plan for the worst” and prepare yourself (especially when dealing with lexis) on some resistance from students. Well planned CCQs can save you from wasting your time during the lesson, struggling to come up with some decent definitions of the word. Another big challenge I had to face was to learn to plan the right amount of activities, as I tend to overplan a lot. I struggled with it for some time, having to drop some controlled practice stages or the free activities. I guess it is a work in progress and there is no ideal formula. You make Assignment 4: Lessons From The Classroom Karolina Szybinska CELTA P/T

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assumptions about your students, you plan and if your assumptions turn out to be wrong you need to think on your feet and adapt your lesson so the students do not miss out on anything. One thing I definitely learned that helped me with timing and planning was to always get to my main aim in the first half of the lesson (Clare mentioned: “you had clear aims and met them with