CELTA Pre-Course Task

Task 1

Zane Akmene

1. I will be doing Celta in multilingual groups; lessons will be taught in groups. I presume participants are from different countries, like United Kingdom, Latvia and Russia. Although all of us are having different backgrounds, probably different interests and hobbies, we share the main purpose for taking Celta course to obtain a certificate in order to be able to teach English. It will be full-time course of small open group with classes taught during the day. I think we will be a group of mixed abilities as some of us (according to the names of e-mail addressees) are native English speakers, and maybe a group of mixed gender. One of our teachers will certainly be with English speaking background. 2. I dont know yet in what context Ill be teaching in. Task 2 1. Adults generally are more motivated to learn than children or adolescents. They usually have more serious attitude towards learning because they want to learn a language or they have a reason for studying. They are not forced or obligated to study English as some children or younger learners are. Usually adults dont challenge teachers in a bad way. 2. As an adult I have to take responsibility of my teaching methods and make sure students learn what they expect to learn in a reasonable time and using reasonable resources. 3. Adult learners: have more serious attitude are motivated to learn are responsible have high/higher expectations adults dont make trouble in the class Task 3 1. I would like to find out the main reason why they want to study English, which country they are from or what is their mother tongue, what kind of previous English language learning experience they have and what would be their expectations from the course. 2. I would try to find out by introducing myself at the beginning of the first class and asking students to introduce themselves and respond to those questions why they want to study, where they from, etc. Task 4 I think the most challenging learners would be the ones who study English because of pressure from family because they are not doing it from their own will. Maybe people, whose reason for studying is to be able to socialise with neighbours or to help their children with schooling, also would be challenging because in my opinion its kind of small motivation for studying new language. Task 5 builds rapport is approachable is enthusiastic and inspires enthusiasm is sensitive to the culture and backgrounds of the learners 1

 Task 6

gives clear information and feedback

Association with the word grammar: lots of homework boring lots of practising rules and exceptions Task 7 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Task 8 Reasons why English language teachers need to know about grammar: Task 9 1. you pronoun 2. a article 3. but conjunction 4. quite adverb 5. abstract adjective 6. could modal verb 7. those pronoun 8. for preposition 9. mean verb 10. plunger noun1 They need to be able to correct learners when necessary. To show a good example. To use the language appropriately. Correct I was to the movies last night. He often comes late. Correct Can I have black coffee, please? Correct

Swan, M. Practical English Usage (OUP)

Task 10 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. watches - lexical looking lexical are - auxiliary does auxiliary have auxiliary waiting lexical

Task 11 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. had lexical do auxiliary have auxiliary did lexical do lexical had lexical was auxiliary are lexical

Task 12 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. should advice may permission must logical deduction cant ability could possibility

Task 13 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. worked past tense form seeing -ing form lives 3rd person present simple tense try base form handed past participle form

Task 14 Regular help, arrive Irregular hear, think, go, do, take, drink, steal Task 15 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. was hoping past progressive might have got modal perfect have tried present perfect were being questioned past progressive passive saw past you will be lying future progressive

Task 16 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. am having present progressive stopped - past simple lives- present simple had been past perfect are made present simple passive 3

6. will have been future perfect 7. happened past simple, was driving past progressive 8. have been feeling present perfect progressive1 Task 17 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. reference the past reference- the future reference the past reference the present reference the present

Task 18 Auxiliary verb be is used to create the present progressive The form of the lexical verb of the present progressive is ing form.

Task 19 Im meeting time reference is the future, person B will meet Judy in the evening. Hes always running late time reference is the present, Tony is expected to be late; this structure is used to talk about things which happen very often. Im walking time reference is the past, person is telling what had happened on the way back to the hotel.

Task 20 Present simple should be used instead of present progressive: 1. He has a brother and a sister. 2. I like this ice cream. 3. What do you think of your new job? 4. This sauce lacks salt. Task 21 Dictionaries can provide: Meaning or meanings of the word Pronunciation Grammatical class Sometimes examples are given to show the word in the context Task 22 1. The highest should be substituted with the tallest, because high does not go together with people. 2. Enervated should be substituted with tired, because enervated is more formal word than tired and it sounds strange in an everyday situation. 3. Pretentious should be substituted with clever because word pretentious has more negative meaning than clever. 4. Slap should be substituted with smack as in this case it means to kiss someone loudly. 5. Footing should be substituted with jogging as it is more suitable for an everyday situation. 6.
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Swan, M. Practical English Usage (OUP)

Task 23 1. Not only he was nice, but he was also strikingly handsome (adverb-adjective collocation). 2. After he got up (verb-preposition), he made his bed (verb-noun) and did some housework (verb-noun). 3. It was absolutely fabulous! (adverb-adjective) 4. They both really depend on (verb-preposition) each other. 5. Their farewell at the airport was highly emotional (adverb-adjective). 6. She was caught in (verb-preposition) a vicious circle (adjective-noun). Task 24 1. B 2. C 3. A Task 25 1. B 2. C 3. A Task 26 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. their south language peaceful young call search equation sugar

Task 27 1. guarantee 2. cavalry 3. mechanisation 8. balance 4. language 5. retreat

6. speculative 7. success Task 28 1.

9. identity

10. articulate

Photograph photography photographer photographic These words are very similar and its very easy to confuse them. to record/a record to increase/an increase

2.

to present/a present to import/an import Verb has a stress on the second syllable, noun on the first syllable. Task 29 Mother forget announce tonight notable mention patrol indicative

Task 30 Newspapers, magazines, information in the internet I selectively read these kinds of texts. Firstly I read the headings and if it interests me I read some more of it or the whole text. Books and other readings I am interested in I read them through. Academic literature, study materials I read in order to understand the text; if necessary I read the same text twice or more. Information boards, bus tables, etc I scan these texts in order to find what I need.

Task 31 1. 2. 3. 4. Reading to infer Scan reading Intensive/detailed reading Skim/gist reading

Task 32 Reading in a language that is not first language and using bilingual dictionary is very time consuming. Sometimes it can also cause interpretation problems, for instance, the first meaning in the dictionary doesnt mean its the right one, maybe its an idiom or the word has totally different meaning. Its much better trying to understand the text in the context. Task 33 There might be lot of unknown words Background noise Different dialects Person/people talking might speak in a very unclear manner or very fast Sometimes its impossible to listen again if something is unclear

Task 34 1. I listened to my doctor who examined me. I listened very carefully and paid attention to all the details because my health is very important to me. 2. News on the radio I listened using selective method, paying attention only to the news that I am interested in. There wasnt any motivation to listen carefully because I heard news on the radio by chance. It wasnt my intention to hear the news. 3. Talking on the phone with the friend while doing a grocery shopping I listen to my friend because I was interested in what she said, but its possible I missed some details because I was doing other things at the same time. Task 35 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Intensive listening Skim/gist listening Scan listening Intensive listening Listening to infer meaning Listening to infer meaning

Task 36 In my opinion it happens because there is a lack of practising speaking skills. From my own experience I can say that I learnt speaking foreign languages through practise. If teaching is focused on grammar or/and reading/listening then its very hard to develop speaking skills. Practising speaking is essential part of learning a foreign language. Task 37 1. If the other person understands or guesses the learners indication/gesticulation, then communication is successful because in this situation the other person could name the thing learner is asking for and next time student will probably know what the word is. 2. Communication is successful because the question can be understood from the intonation and the meaning is understandable. 3. Communication is successful because student smiles at the end of the question which indicates that word no (used at the end of the question) is waiting for positive answer or its an invitation for another meeting. 4. In this case communication fails, because its hard to understand meaning of the answer. Task 38 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. transactional transactional interactional interactional transactional interactional

Task 39 Speaking activities provide chances to practise real-life speaking in the safety of the classroom. Speaking activities provide feedback for both teacher and students. As more students have opportunities to activate the various elements of language they have stored in their brains, the more automatic their use of these elements become.1

Task 40 1. S 2. W 3. S 4. S 5. W 6. S 7. S 8. W 9. W 10. W 11. W

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Harmer, J. How to Teach English new edition (Longman)

12. S Task 41 1. She threw the ball hard so it hurt when I caught it. Learner is not familiar with the correct verb forms 2. My brother lives in Sweden. Words are spelled the same way they are pronounced. 3. However hard I try, it never works. Comma had been put in a wrong place. 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 and capital letter at the beginning of the sentence were missing.

Task 42 1. I think in both postcards the writers have problem with uniting letters together in a one word. It seems like every letter (in a postcard B) or some letters (postcard A) have been written separately. This kind of writing probably is time consuming. The writing is also very narrow and sometime its difficult to separate capital letters from the small letters. 2. Special classes or sessions may have to be arranged to help students who are having problems with English script. They can be shown examples of certain letters, and the teacher can demonstrate the strokes necessary for making those shapes.1 Task 43 a. b. c. d. e. f. Personal aim/Interaction pattern Stage Lesson aims/learning outcomes Procedure Anticipated problems and solutions Stage aim

Task 44 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. f g b e i h d c a

Task 45 1. I think in this sentence the teacher mispronounced the first word and students didnt understand. The teacher wanted to say Put that down! This imperative should be pronounced clearly. 2. The sentence doesnt indicate on which page/which book (student book or work book) student should look at that specific question. In my opinion
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Harmer, J. How to Teach English new edition (Longman)

beginning of the sentence I wonder if youd mind is not necessary. More clear and specific would be: Could you look at question number 4 on page 78 and then answer it, please! 3. In this instruction there is too much information given at a time. Its also not indicated what three (questions) students should answer. I think in this case it would be useful to write down short instruction on the whiteboard: Read text (page 4) Answer questions 1-3 (page 4) and compare answers Write short summary and discuss 4. Neither the number of question nor the number of page is indicated in this instruction. Instruction should be more specific: Look at the question number 2 at the bottom of the page 64 and think about an answer. Task 46 1. I would discuss the advantages of group work with the students, like: In pairs and groups, students tend to participate more actively, and they also have more chance to experiment with the language. Many more of students will be doing the activity than if the teacher was working with the whole class. Both pairwork and groupwork give the students chances for greater independence. Groupwork gives the teacher more opportunity to focus attention on particular students.1 2. I would reply: Well, its more useful if you translate the words you dont know using the dictionary. That way you will learn meaning/s, pronunciation and you will more likely to remember them. 3. It could be the best way to find out the good things about people from her country. You will probably be surprised how many there are actually. And by cooperating with her you can show that people from your country are great and tolerant. 4. Im very happy you like speaking activities and we will try to speak in the class as much as possible but we also have to develop other language skills like reading and writing thats why its necessary to use books. Task 47 Classroom arrangement: I would make a line with the desks where the assistants would sit, the rest of the students customers (also the teacher) would be able to move around in order to find the right assistant. I would give each student a handout with information (and maybe with a little picture on each handout where a person is sitting at the computer and studying). Assistants would have information about courses they are providing and customers information about what kind of role they are playing and what kind of courses they are looking for. Anticipated problems: Some of students - customers would find the information very quickly and they would be inactive for the rest of the time. Confusion could occur before students understand what they are supposed to do in this activity or how they have to do it. Instruction which says that each customer should speak with every assistant would help to organise activity better.

Harmer, J. How to Teach English new edition (Longman)

Task 48 Different meanings 1. I would give examples with explanations: She looks very slim and fit. Slim used in a positive way when a person looks healthy and fit. She looks very thin and unhealthy. Thin used more in a negative way than word slim when a person is too slim / maybe even underweight. 2. I would show the difference with my eyes by winking and blinking. 3. I would try to explain the difference by adding some words to these sentences: I used to get up early when I studied at university. I am used to getting up early every week day. 4. I would try to use examples and some pictures which show the difference between nervous and upset: I am very nervous because I am having exam tomorrow. I am very upset because I got low grade at English exam. 5. I would draw a diagram to show the difference between ago and before:
I passed my final exam 4 weeks before. (the graduation)

PAST

| 4 weeks ago

I graduated school 4 weeks ago.

NOW1

Different pronunciation 6. I would pronounce these two sentences and repeat them. 7. Read (present tense) [ri:d] / read (past tense) [red]. I would write the pronunciation on the whiteboard and also pronounce the words. 8. Put - [put] / putt [p^t]. I would write the pronunciation on the whiteboard and also pronounce the words. 9. I would pronounce these two words by stressing the right syllable and also use them in a context to show the difference. 10. Live (verb) [liv] / live (something happening now) [laiv]. Task 49 In think that reading task wasnt successful because students had to read aloud by taking turns. Probably most of them didnt pay attention when they had finished reading their part of the text. I think reading activity would be more effective if they could read silently the whole text, afterwards discuss the words/phrases which are unclear and only then answer the questions about the text. The speaking task wasnt successful because the given topic was too narrow. The teacher could add: Reasons why you like/dislike living in the city. In my opinion the speaking activity would be more productive if students worked in pairs; or they were divided into two parts (one part who liked living in the city and another who disliked) and each student had to tell why he liked or disliked living in the city.

Task 50 I think the most important things that form teachers professionalism are: course planning/review following the school/college policies and rules (including equal opportunities and health and safety) punctuality (teacher has to show a good example if he/she wants to gain respect from students) self-development
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Swan, M. Practical English Usage (OUP)

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Of course other things arent less important: confidentiality relationship with students I consider this as very important part of professionalism setting standards record keeping cultural awareness assessment team work curriculum development ESOL and teacher training research and development world-wide I think less important are membership of/contribution to professional bodies pastoral care

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