Celentano Ivano CELTA Course

10th July 2015

FOCUS ON THE LEARNERS ASSIGNMENT 2

1. Learners background
The learner I observed is called Antonio Succi, he is an Italian IT technician
who retired a couple of years ago. He comes from Milan and he graduated in
Informatics at the Politecnico di Milano where he first learnt English. During his
life he has worked for several international companies mostly settled in the UK
and in the USA. He is now collaborating with a voluntary association which help
unemployed people to find a new working place. This association may ask him
to go back to England and for this reason he is willing to enhance his English
attending this course. He loves dynamic classes which deal with real life topics
and problems.

2. Learners strengths
The long periods of his life spent in English speaking countries has given him
fluency in speaking and a quite formal approach to writing, this probably
because at work he was required to write constant reports of his weekly
activities. Even if the structure of his linguistic production is not always correct
on a grammatical level he can clearly be understood also when he is
expressing difficult concepts.

3. Error analysis grid

See the grid in attached to this document.

4. Statement of choice of lesson topic and rationale.

I have chosen to dedicate my lesson to an in-depth revision of definite articles
because the student tends to overuse the definite article even when it is not
needed. This at an upper intermediate level, may lead to a crucial lack of
accuracy. In this case a teacher must avoid the possibility of fossilization of
this error.

5. Choice and justification for teaching materials.

a) Among the various controlled practice tasks that course books devote to the
use of definite and indefinite articles I found an interesting fill the gap activity
concerning finding a job and the age of retirement. I think this task can be very
motivating for Antonio for several reasons among which the fact that he
collaborates in an association which has exactly the aim of helping unemployed
in looking for a new job. Another important factor which makes me think that
the text can stimulate the interest of my student is that he is currently
experiencing the first years after the retirement. Concerning the level, the
exercise is part of the collection of exercises for the FCE exam preparation

Celentano Ivano CELTA Course

10th July 2015

course book I therefore think the level can be suitable for Antonio1.
b) Thinking of a suitable free practice activity I could ask him to talk about his
working life among different international companies around the globe and let
him describe the structures, the branches and the different offices around the
world.
This task gives Antonio practice of free language production through a
conversation on a well-known topic. The vocabulary he is expected to use is
something he already knows and masters well.
For this reason, he can be concentrated on the accuracy of his production
which will definitely include a frequent use of articles, mainly because he will
be discussing about specific offices and specific group of people.
An alternative to a speaking activity can be to write a text on the same topic
and imagine to write an article for an English newspaper describing the
structure, the branches and the different offices around the world with the aim
to promote the solidity and the reliability of the company he worked in for
many year before retiring.
This second option can also help his personal monitoring, giving him the
possibility to correct his own mistakes while re-reading the text.

Bibliography
Haines, Stewart (2008) First certificate Masterclass. Student's book. OUP.
Oxford p. 156
Parrott M. (2013) Grammar for English language teachers. 2nd ed. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge.

1 The task has been taken from:Haines, Stewart (2008) First certificate Masterclass. Student's
book. OUP. Oxford p. 156