Prez Stefana Roco

CELTA
PRE-COURSE TASK

SECTION 1 Learners and teachers, and the Teaching and Learning

Contexts
A Teaching and Learning contexts
Task 1
1- In what context will you be doing the CELTA course?

I will be doing the CELTA course in these contexts:

lessons in groups;
multilingual groups;
opened groups;
part-time course;
mixed gender groups;
small classes;
learners with little or no previous formal education;
mixed ability groups;
Day classes.

2- Do you know what context you will be teaching in after you finish the
course?

I will be teaching in these contexts:

One-to-one groups/ lessons in groups;

Monolingual groups;
Opened groups;
Part-time courses;
Mixed gender groups;
Large/smaller classes;
Mixed /similar ability groups,
Day/evening classes.

B The learners cultural, linguistic and educational

backgrounds.

Adult learners

Task 2

1- Think about why you decided to teach adults.

Teaching adults is quite challenging and demanding. Most adults take a
language course because of an internal motivation and therefore have high
expectations. This implies that teachers must be ready to meet learners
prospects. Many teaching skills and abilities are implied, apart from the
knowledge about language learning. I want to learn new things and broaden
my teaching experience.
2- Think about what you, as an adult, bring to this learning situation.
I think that I can bring expectations, motivation and I may help to set goals
and contribute with the learning in general.
3- Look at your answers to questions 1 and 2 and use these ideas to
help you to write down what characterises adult learners.
What characterises adult learners is:
Internal and external motivation;
expectations;
helpful contributions to the lessons;
own reflexion;
development of learning strategies;
discipline;
anxiety and beliefs;
Knowledge about other cultures.

Finding out about learners

Task 3

1- What would you want to find out about a group of learners that you
had to teach so that you could plan your lessons?
To plan lessons for a group of learners, I would need to find out:
Names, ages, nationalities and their level of English;
Their educational background and occupation;
Hobbies or interests;
Preferred types of activities;
The relationship among students;
Expectations for the course;

2- How would you find out?

I would:
Ask direct questions, oral or written;
Ask them to complete a form;
Give them a task in pairs, in which one has the role of the
interviewer;
 Ask them to write about them;
Talk to the previous teachers or ask the head of studies;

C Motivation

Motivations for learning English

Task 4

If you were teaching a group of learners, each of whom had different

motivations for learning English, which learners would be the most
challenging in terms of motivation?

I would find difficult to motivate students who learn English

Because of pressure from the family;

To gain access to employment;
For career, status and job prospects.

D The qualities and skills of a good language teacher

Task 5

Look at the list of qualities and skills that a teacher might have. Which do
you think learners most often rate in the top five?

Learners top five list would be:

1. Is patient;
2. Knows about language and learning;
3. Respects individuality;
4. Gives clear information and feedback;
5. Is enthusiastic and inspires enthusiasm.

SECTION 2 Language Analysis and Awareness

A Grammar
Task 6
Make a list of associations you have with the word grammar. (They may
not all be negative!)
What comes up when I think of the word grammar is:

Boring explanations;
Huge amount of practice;
Turning sentences from affirmative to negative or interrogative;
 Repetition.

Task 7
Look at the following sentences and decide which are correct. Write a
correct version of the examples that are incorrect.
1. Weve been looking for you for ages.
2. Ive been to the movies last night.
Correct version: I went to the movies last night or Ive
been to the movies.
3. He often come late.
Correct version: He often comes late.

4. They were waiting by the fountain.

5. Can I have a coffee black, please?
Correct version: Can I have a black coffee, please? .

6. People with 12 items or less can queue here.

Correct version: People with 12 items or fewer can
queue here.

Task 8
Provide a list of reasons why English language teachers need to know about
grammar. In doing so, try to give some thought to the learners perspective.
Knowledge about grammar is essential because:
Teachers need to teach grammar which is accurate;
Teachers have to correct learners mistakes;
Teachers need to explain grammar to students;
Teachers should guide learners to communicate accurately,
Teachers have to communicate accurately;
Learners need correct versions of pieces of grammar;
Learners need to be given correct feedback.
Word class
Task 9
Identify the underlined words in the following dialogue. Use a grammar
reference book or a dictionary to help you with this if necessary.
A: What are you (1) looking at?
B: Well, its a (2) photograph of something very close up, but (3) I cant work
out what it is.
A: Yes, its quite (4) abstract (5), isnt it?
B: Yes. It could (6) be one of those (7) things for (8) unblocking a sink.
A: Oh, you mean (9) a plunger (10).
1. Subject personal pronoun.
2. Indefinite article.
3. Co-ordinating conjunction.
4. Adverb.
5. Adjective.
6. Modal auxiliary verb.
7. Demonstrative determiner.
8. Preposition.
9. Verb.
10.Noun.

Types of verbs
Task 10
Decide if the underlined verbs in the following sentences and questions are
lexical verbs or auxiliary verbs.
1. He watches TV for at least two hours every evening. LEXICAL
2. What are you looking for? LEXICAL
3. They arent going to come. AUXILIARY
4. What does he want? AUXILIARY
5. They havent been here before. AUXILIARY
6. He was waiting on the corner. LEXICAL
Task 11
Decide if the underlined verbs be, do and have have an auxiliary or lexical
function in the
following sentences and questions.
1. I had a bad headache yesterday. LEXICAL FUNCTION
2. When do you get up each day? AUXILIARY FUNCTION
3. How long have you been learning English? AUXILIARY FUNCTION
4. I did it without thinking. LEXICAL FUNCTION
5. We do some exercise every morning. LEXICAL FUNCTION
6. Have you had them long? LEXICAL FUNCTION
7. I was hoping for a quick answer. AUXILIARY FUNCTION
8. Are they still here? LEXICAL FUNCTION

Task 12
All of the following sentences (1-5) contain modal auxiliary verbs that are
underlined. Match the meaning of the modal verb to the definitions below
(A-E).
1. You should see a doctor as soon as you can. C- ADVICE
2. You may go now, thank you. E- PERMISSION
3. This letter must be from Frank hes the only one who hasnt
written so far. B- LOGICAL DEDUCTION
4. I cant play the piano very well. A - ABILITY
5. We could go out, but I dont know if Im in the mood. D-
POSSIBILITY
A. Ability
B. Logical deduction
C. Advice
D. Possibility
E. Permission
Verb forms
Task 13
Match the underlined verb form examples to the correct definition.
1. I worked until 7 oclock last night. PAST TENSE FORM
2. Theyve been seeing a lot of each other lately. ING FORM
3. She lives not far from here. 3RD PERSON PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE
4. You have to try harder. BASE FORM
5. It was handed to me as I was leaving. PAST PARTICIPLE FORM
Verb form
Base form
3rd person present simple tense
Past tense form
Past participle form
-ing form

Task 14
Think of the past form and the past participle forms of the following verbs.
Which are regular?
Which are not regular?
Hear heard- heard - IRREGULAR
Do did done - IRREGULAR
Help helped - REGULAR
Think thought- thought - IRREGULAR
Take took- taken - IRREGULAR
Steal stole stolen - IRREGULAR
Go went - gone - IRREGULAR
 Drink drank- drunk- IRREGULAR
Arrive arrived - REGULAR

Task 15
Identify the different elements (past, present, modal, perfect, progressive,
passive) underlined
in the following verb phrases.
1. I was hoping to see you. PROGRESSIVE
2. They might have got home by now. MODAL
3. We have tried to help. PERFECT
4. They were being questioned at length. PASSIVE
5. I saw it coming. PAST
6. This time next week you will be lying on a beach. PROGRESSIVE

Task 16
Identify the tense names of the underlined verbs in the following sentences.
You will most likely need to refer to a grammar reference book to help you.
1. I am having a really good time. PRESENT CONTINUOUS
2. We stopped doing that years ago. PAST SIMPLE
3. She lives somewhere near here. PRESENT SIMPLE
4. We had been for a drink before we met him. PAST PERFECT
5. These computers are made in China. PASSIVE VOICE
6. You will have been here for 2 days by then. FUTURE PERFECT
7. It happened as I was driving home. PAST SIMPLE PAST
CONTINUOUS
8. I have been feeling unwell for a while. PRESENT PERFECT
CONTINUOUS.
 Grammar and meaning
Task 17
The following examples of language contain different tenses which are
underlined. The name of the tense is also given. Decide what the time
reference of each example is and remember that the time reference may
not match the tense name.

Examples Tense Time reference

1. The sun was shining brightly in the Past progressive Past
sky.
2. Theyll have finished work on the Future perfect Future
bridge by then.
3. Shes been working in the garden all Present perfect continuous Past up to
morning. present
4. Have you got a minute? I was Past continuous Present
wondering whether we could have a
word.
5. They own most of the land around Present simple Present
here.

Present progressive
Task 18

What auxiliary verb is used to create the present progressive? BE

What is the form of the lexical verb of the present progressive?
BASE FORM+ ING

Task 19
Look at the following mini-dialogues below and decide the time reference or
use of the underlined examples of the present progressive.
A: How about going to a movie this evening?
B: I cant. Im meeting Judy for a drink.
A: Wheres Tony?
B: I dont know where hes got to.
 A: Hes always running late.
A: It was late at night and dark and I was on my way back to the
hotel. Suddenly, I find Im walking down the street all on my own and
I can hear the sound of footsteps...

Examples Time reference

Im meeting Future
Hes always running Present
Im walking Past

Task 20
What is the problem with the following examples?
1. Hes having a brother and a sister.
2. Im liking this ice cream.
3. What are you thinking of your new job?
4. This sauce is lacking salt.

1. ing forms in verbs refer to fixed plans or personal arrangements. In

this case, having a .brother is not a personal plan or an arrangement.
The verb Have is also a stative verb, it does not take the ing form.
2. Like is a stative verb, therefore it cannot take ing form.
3. Think is a stative verb, it cannot take ing form. Apart from that, the
question is about opinion, so the verb cannot take an ing form.
4. The verb Lack is also a stative verb.
Stative verbs do not usually take ing forms. In some cases a verb can be
both stative and dynamic, eg. Think.

B Vocabulary
Task 21
Make a list of what extra information dictionaries can provide about words
apart from the
meaning. It would be a good idea to refer to a dictionary to help you.

Apart from meaning/s, a dictionary provides:

Pronunciation/s
Register
 Collocations
Translations
Synonyms
Antonyms
Part of speech
Examples
Plural forms

Task 22
In the following sentences, there is a vocabulary error of some kind. Identify
and describe the problem.
1. Hes the highest person in the family by more than 2 centimetres.
The word highest refers to elevation, not to a persons
height. The correct word should be tallest.
2. I think Ill go to bed now. Im feeling a little enervated.
The word enervated is an adjective. It cannot take a
quantifier.
3. It is an extremely good essay. The ideas in it are original and
pretentious.
pretentious has a negative connotation, and it is too formal.
4. Her grandfather gave her a loving slap on her face.
Slap is hit someone strongly.
5. Every day I like to go footing after work. Its good exercise and it
helps me to relax.
In British English, it is commonly used an infinitive after like
to talk about actions which happen occasionally.

Task 23
In the following sentences, you can find the following examples of
collocations: 2 verb-noun collocations; 1 verb-preposition collocation; 1
adjective-noun collocation; 3 adverb-adjective collocations.
Underline and identify these different examples. Note: some sentences
contain more than one collocation.
1. Not only was he nice, but he was also strikingly handsome. Adverb-
adjective collocation.
2. After he got up, he made his bed (1) and did some housework (2).
(1). Verb-noun; (2) verb-noun.
3. It was absolutely fabulous! Adverb- adjective collocation.
 4. They both really depend on each other. Verb-preposition
collocation.
5. Their farewell at the airport was highly emotional. Adverb-adjective
collocation.
6. She was caught in a vicious circle. Adjective-noun collocation.

C Phonology
Task 24
Match the terms 1-3 with the definitions A-C.
1. Stress
2. Phoneme
3. Intonation
A. the music of our voices. 3. Intonation.
B. giving emphasis to one syllable. 1. Stress.
C. an individual sound. 2. Phoneme.

Task 25
Match the problems 1-3 with the outcomes A-C.
1. An individual sound is mispronounced
2. A request is made with very flat intonation
3. The wrong syllable is stressed in a word

A. the word is incomprehensible. 3.

B. the listener might understand bin when the speaker wanted to say pin.
1.
C. the speaker can sound arrogant and demanding. 2.
Task 26
What are these words?

1. There/their 2. South 3. Language 4.peaceful

5.young
6. call 7.search 8.equation 9.sugar
Task 27
Where does the stress fall on the following words?
1. Guarantee 2. Cavalry
3. Mechanisation 4. Language
5. Retreat 6. Speculative
7. Success 8. Balance
9. Identity 10. Articulate (adjective)

Task 28
1. Mark the main stress on the words in the following 'word family'. Why
do you think non-native speakers often experience problems with these
words?
Photograph photography photographer
photographic
Non-native speakers often tend to stress the wrong syllables in
these words, may be because of the length of the words and the
similarity among them, or because the pronunciation of these words
in their mother tongue is different.
2. Mark the stress in the following pairs of words. Can you identify a
pattern?
-to record / a record
-to increase / an increase
-to present / a present
-to import / an import
Verbs take the stress in the second syllable and nouns in the first
syllable.

Task 29
Underline the / / in the following words:
Mother forget announce tonight notable mention
patrol indicative

Section 3 Language Skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing

A Ways of reading
Task 30
Think of all the texts you have read so far today and comment on the
way in which you have read these texts.
I have read all the texts in this document in a very detailed way, just
to make sure that I have understood what to do and, therefore, complete
the activities accordingly.

Task 31
Below are some different text types. Think about which of the above
reading sub-skills we would use to read these texts.
1. An academic article we need to read for an essay we are writing.
Reading to infer.
2. A telephone directory. Scanning.
3. The editorial of a newspaper on a topic we care about a lot. Intensive
reading.
4. An advertisement for a job that might be suitable. Skimming.
 Task 32

When people read in a language that is not their first language, they
often forget to use appropriate language skills and will read all texts in a
great deal of detail. They are also likely to overuse bilingual dictionaries,
pausing in their reading every time they find a word they do not
understand.

What problems are there with this way of reading?

Reading in this way often leads to misunderstand the overall meaning
of a text, what usually ends in frustration. It stops the pace of reading and
hinders the development of the reading strategies and skills.

B Listening
Ways of listening
Task 33
Make a list of reasons why you think non-native speakers might find
listening more challenging than reading.
Non-native speakers may have problems concerning:
Pronunciation
Pace
Rhythm
Intonation
Word stress
Interest in the topic

Task 34
Think of three different situations in which you listened today. Make a
note of who you were listening to, your motivation for listening and describe
how you listened.
I was chatting with a friend about her trip to Italy. She was describing
what she ate there; she talked about the flavours and smells of a
dish. I listened attentively because I like to know about other cultures.
Now I can remember all what she said about that dish.
 I was at home, working at the computer and drinking some tea. The
TV was on and people in a TV programme were gossiping. I was
concentrated on my work and I dont remember what they were
talking about.
At school, I was listening to one of my students who told the group
about her new-born sister. She was very excited and happy and was
describing how she felt about the baby. I listened attentively. I felt
happy for her.

Task 35
Match the above listening sub-skills to the following listening texts.
1. A lecture for a course you are taking at university. Listening to infer
meaning.
2. A sales pitch for a computer that doesnt really interest you. However,
you are at work and you cant just walk out. Skim listening.
3. Announcements at a train station when you are waiting to hear the time
of the next train to your destination. Scan listening.
4. Instructions from your boss for a new task that is critical for your job.
Intensive listening.
5. An interview with someone who is famous and whose political opinion you
would like to find out about. Listening to infer meaning.
6. A radio programme on a topic that is mildly interesting for you. Skim
listening.
C Speaking
Task 36
Think about this disparity between 2 years study of a language and a
lack of ability to speak. Why do you think this happens?
Students are usually exposed to grammar-focused activities at early
stages of learning. Most of the activities are founded by grammar-
focused teaching and learning approaches. It may be because knowing
the grammar will make them feel safer. However, students need to be
provided with activities which help to develop all the macro skills in the
same proportion.

Task 37
Look at the following examples of learner language and decide whether
the student has managed to communicate successfully or not.
1. Could I please have a .? (Learner gesticulates, indicating he is
unsure of the word).
The student is not communicating at all.
2. You come my house tonight? (said with rising intonation)
The student is understood.
3. Yesterday good time. Next week we see, no? (learner smiles)
The student is able to communicate.
4. A: How long have you been in New Zealand? B: I stay here 5 weeks
The student is communicating successfully.

Task 38
Decide if the following descriptions of conversations are transactional or
interactional.
1. You ask a colleague if s/he would mind helping you with something.
Transactional.
2. You offer to collect your neighbours mail while s/he is away on holiday.
Interactional.
3. You comment on the weather to an acquaintance at a bus stop.
Interactional.
4. You visit a friend and spend time admiring and talking about his/her
garden. Interactional.
5. You participate in a university group tutorial that is useful for an essay
you are writing. Transactional.
6. You go out with your boss and other colleagues for a drink and a chat
after work. Interactional.

Task 39
Make a list of reasons why you think speaking fluency practice could
help learners language development.
It helps to automatize the stored knowledge.
Students get used to being exposed when talking.
It keeps students engaged in the lessons.
Students practice pronunciation and intonation.
Students are pressed to reformulate the language if the message
is not understood.

D Writing
Task 40
Which of the following characteristics would you associate with spoken
language (S) and which with written language (W).
1. Includes gesture and facial expression to back up the message. S.
2. Uses punctuation to make the content easier to understand. W.
3. Includes hesitation devices and fillers such as yeah, umm, ah etc.
S.
4. The communicator usually gets immediate feedback from the person
they are communicating with. S.
5. Is usually pre-prepared, although e-mail and text messages often are
not. W.
6. Uses pauses, stress and intonation to show where ideas begin and
end. S
7. Is spontaneous and planning usually takes place in the moment of
communicating. S.
8. Suggests that meaning is static in the communication, although open
to interpretation. W.
9. The communicator may never find out what the person he is
communicating with thinks of his message. W.
10. Includes headlines, different type sizes and colours to enhance the
content. W.
11. Is usually smooth-flowing. S.
12. Involves negotiation of meaning between the communicator and the
person they are communicating with. S.

Task 41
Look at the learner errors in the sentences below. Identify the mistakes
and try to decide why the learner made these mistakes.
1. She through the ball hard so it hurt when I court it.
Wrong word. The learner might have confused the preposition with
the verb threw because of the similar pronunciation of the two
words.
2. My brther livs in Swedn.
 Spelling. The learner wrote the sentence in the same way he
pronounces it.
3. However, hard I try it never works.
Punctuation. The learner separated the phrase with a comma
because however usually takes a comma.
4. first of all he invited me to sit down after that he offered me a coffee I
was very surprised by his politeness.
Punctuation. The learner doesnt know the punctuation rules.

Task 42

1. Look at the samples of learners writing below and identify the

difficulties encountered by these learners and other learners whose
first language do not have a Roman script.

2. Suggest some activities that teachers can use to help students to

develop basic writing skills.

1. Learners who do not have roman script usually have problems

related to:
-punctuation, because their first language might not need
punctuation marks to identify where a sentence starts and finishes,
as in sentence A; or over-use of stops, as in letter B;
-letter shapes, the r is similar to a v in letter A;
-spelling, because the first language does not contain vowels, as in
letter B;
-lower and upper
case.

2. The most efficient

way of learning how
to write is
practising. Teachers
should offer
learners a variety of
tasks for students to
practise. Some of
them might include:
guiding students to
become aware of
their own mistakes
and requiring them
to reformulate their
utterance;
correcting other
students pieces of
 writing; comparing and contrasting their own writings with other
students writings; providing them with controlled exercises to write
from left to right; giving them opportunities to read authentic texts.

Section 4 Planning and Resources

A Planning and preparation

Task 43
Below are some extracts from lesson plans. Decide which part of the
lesson plan (1-7 above) they may come from.

a. Id like to smile more and create a better rapport today. Personal

aim.
b. Students - students in pairs. Interaction pattern.
c. By the end of the lesson students will be able to use a range of
adjectives to describe someones personality. Lesson aim.
d. Teacher hands out text and gives a different set of questions to
each group. Stage.
e. Some students may find the pronunciation of several words quite
difficult. I must make sure I use lots of repetition. Anticipated
problems and solutions.
f. To get students interested in the topic of the listening text. Stage
aim.

B Resources

Task 44
In your teaching situation you will have some resources available to
you. The range will vary and depend on where you are teaching.
Below is a list of possible resources you may be able to use. Match
them to their uses.

1. F
2. G
3. B
4. E
5. I
6. H
7. D
8. C
9. A
 Section 5 Developing Teaching Skills and Professionalism

Task 45
Below are some instructions given by teachers. In each case the group of
learners had difficulty following the instructions. For each one write:
Why do you think the difficulty occurred?
How could you give the same instruction in a more effective way?
1. Jot that down.
- It could have been complicated for learners to understand the
phrasal verb. The instruction should have been write that down.
2. I wonder if youd mind just looking at question number 4 and then if you
could just answer it.
-The difficult part is the hesitant instruction shown by the use of if,
wonder, would mind, if you could. Teacher/s should have said
Please, read question 4 and answer it.
3. Id like you to read the text on page 4 and answer the first three, then
compare your answers with the person next to you. After that write a short
summary of the story and discuss this with your partner.
-There are too many activities together. The instruction should have
been broken down into different steps. For example:
1) Read the text on page 4 and answer question 1, 2, and 3.
2) Compare your answers with the person next to you.
3) Write a short summary of the story. Then, discuss the summaries
with your partner.
4. Look at the question at the bottom of the page and think about an
answer.
-The problems have to do with the words selected for the instruction:
look, and think about. If an appropriate answer is required the person
should READ the question and then they should ANSWER it, not think
about it. Teachers could have said Read the question at the bottom
of the page and answer it.

Task 46
Imagine you are the teacher of the students who made the comments
below. How would you respond to them?
1. I dont want to work in a group because I will only learn mistakes from
other students.
You will learn mistakes from other students and other students will learn
mistakes from you. Mistakes are the first step to learn something.
2. I wish you could translate more words into my language.
I think you dont need more translation. You will keep on learning words
in the same way you have learnt what you already know.
3. Please dont ask me to work with that student. I dont like people from
her country.
I accept what you think and how you feel, but remember that we are all
the same and here in class we are a group of PEOPLE. Think of how you
may feel if someone says that about you. TODAY I will accept that you
work with someone else but think about it at home. Next class you would
probably need to work with that student.
4. Could we just talk in class and not use any books?
We will be doing both things depending on what you need. We will be
doing things that help you learn English.

Task 47
Below is a description of an activity you might use in a language learning
classroom. Read it and describe:
1) How you would arrange the classroom to carry out the activity (position of
desks, chairs, students and teacher)
2) What resources you could use to make the activity more effective
(pictures, real objects, handouts, music, etc.)
3) Any problems about the organisation of the activity that you could
anticipate.
Information gap role play
Half of the students will play the role of assistants working at an information
desk. They will have information about a range of computer courses at
different prices and with different numbers of hours and different times. The
rest of the students will be given the task of finding the most suitable course
for the character they have been given. The students have 20 minutes to
ask the assistants about their courses and agree a transaction.
1) Position of desks:
 2) Res
ourc
es:
- Lapt
ops or copybooks with the information about the courses;
- Handouts with information;
- Posters to decorate;
- Jazz music;
- Students chart to complete during task.
- Teachers chart.

3) Possible problems:
- Very few students;
- Students deny being at the information desks,
- Students run out of time;
- Students have difficulties with the language.

Task 48
You notice that your students have been confusing certain areas of
language. You decide to have a lesson focusing on these different areas.
Describe how you would make the differences clear to your students. Try to
avoid long explanations and use as many different ways as possible
(pictures, stories, diagrams, miming, etc).
Different meanings
1. Slim / thin: using photos with comments on it.
2. To wink / to blink: miming the action and asking students to copy.
3. I used to get up early / I am used to getting up early: giving
examples including dates.
4. Nervous / upset: miming the action. Showing pictures. Recalling
feelings.
5. 4 weeks ago / 4 weeks before: drawing a timeline on blackboard.
Different pronunciation
6. I do it / Ill do it: counting words. Ask students to model the sounds.
 7. Read (present tense) / read (past tense): writing the phonemes on
the black board.
8. Put / putt: writing the phonemes on blackboard and guiding the
students to repeat the /u/ and //.
9. Record (noun) / record (verb): underlying the stressed syllable.
10. Live (verb) / live (something happening now): helping students to
mime the sounds. Writing or signalling the sounds /i/ and /ai/.

Task 49
Below are descriptions of two activities used by teachers. In 1 the teacher
was trying to develop students reading skills; in 2 the teacher was trying to
develop the students speaking skills. Neither activity was very successful.
Read the descriptions and:
explain why you think the activities were not very successful in developing
the students reading/speaking skills
describe two activities (one for reading, one for speaking) that you think
would develop those skills.

1. Reading
The teacher explained that the text was about looking after the
environment. The text was handed out and each student was asked in turn
to read parts of the text aloud. They were all able to do this. Then the
teacher asked some questions about the content of the text. Only one or
two students were able to give an answer. One student said that he hadnt
understood anything in the text and most of the other students agreed.

2. Speaking
The teacher wrote the topic Living in the city on the board and said this
would be the topic of todays discussion. The class were asked to give their
opinions. One student said he didnt like living in the city and another
student said he did. These two students had a brief discussion while the
other students listened. The teacher asked some of the other students their
opinion, but none responded with more than the fact that they
agreed/disagreed. The teacher decided to abandon the discussion. The
students said they would be happy to write something about it for
homework.
Students didnt read to understand. They only read to practice reading out
loud.
The teacher should have given students strategies. For example:
Before reading: guide student to discover the context of the text,
asking them to look at the photos or read the title.
While-reading strategies: Ask them to find important words, problems
and or solutions
Post read strategies: Provide the students with printed question, and
or comprehension.
The teacher give the student a broad concept without guide them in the
activity. It would have been a good idea to play the devils advocate game
or, to ask them to ask all of them to read a list of pros and cons about living
in the city.

C Professionalism

Task 50
Consider how the following form part of a teachers professionalism:
confidentiality setting standards punctuality course
planning/review record keeping assessment curriculum
development pastoral care
team work relationship with students cultural awareness
self-development school/college policies and rules (including
equal opportunities and health and safety) membership
of/contribution to professional bodies ESOL and teacher training research
and development world-wide