Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

A guide to Teaching Practice grading
Please read carefully

You are required to teach a total of 6 assessed hours, working with adult learners at
two or three different levels.
By the end of the 6 hours of assessed Teaching Practice, successful PASS LEVEL
candidates can convincingly and consistently prepare and plan for the effective
teaching of adult ESOL learners (14 criteria) and demonstrate professional
competence as teachers (28 criteria). The full list of criteria can be found in the
CELTA/5 as well as the Syllabus and Assessment Criteria Handbook
As you can see, there is a lot you need to demonstrate you can do to achieve a
PASS! ! ! !
These are the criteria your tutor will refer to in order to grade the individual lesson,
and at the end of the course, to give you an overall grade.
It is obviously unrealistic and unfair to consider all of the above criteria for every
lesson, particularly at the very early stages of the course. Dont worry, we have
broken the criteria into BLOCKS 1, 2 and 3. Read on..
That is why lessons are graded FOR THIS STAGE OF THE COURSE
Possible
grades
Interpretation
AT
STANDARD
You have demonstrated successful achievement of all or most of the

Teaching Practice criteria specified for THIS STAGE OF THE
COURSE.
ABOVE
STANDARD
You have demonstrated successful achievement of all or most of the

Teaching Practice criteria specified for THIS STAGE OF THE
COURSE at a significantly higher standard than that required.
BELOW
STANDARD
Your teaching reveals some fundamental problem area(s) which will

need real attention. Your tutor will specify what these are and
suggest ways of overcoming them.
Dont worry if you get an occasional Below Standard. Make sure you can see why
your lesson was not at standard and try to take your tutors comments on board. We
all have off-days!!!
Also, dont be tempted to think that once you get an above Standard that you
will get these for the rest of the course, and that any subsequent at standard is
a sign that youre flagging : Lessons are graded individually according to the criteria
FOR THE STAGE OF THE COURSE.
A word of advice: resist the temptation of comparing yourself to others and worrying
unduly about your final grade. Do your best, and well do our best to guide you
towards being an effective teacher.
TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009
Teaching Practice Block One

(First 2 or 3 lessons)
During this block, the main teaching criteria we will be concentrating on are basic
aspects of classroom management, and initial awareness of the teachers roles in a
learner-centred classroom.
In terms of planning your lessons, you will be given all the guidance you require. You
will not be producing formally assessed written plans yet, but will need to keep notes
on what youre going to teach.
You should aim to do the following:
Refers to these criteria
When teaching the TP students, aim to be sensitive to cultural and other factors
such as gender, age, religion, disabilities. Try to find out about your TP students
though observation, whilst teaching, and if necessary, by asking your tutor.
Basically try not to upset anyone!
Smile, look at the learners when you talk, spread your attention to involve
everyone, look enthusiastic about what youre doing. Dont be shy!
Make sure that what you say to learners doesnt require language which is too
complicated (i.e. no slang or idiomatic stuff) but also not unnaturally simple
(e.g. You, book, open, page 25, ok?)
Give learners handouts, worksheets, photocopies which are well presented and,
where appropriate, acknowledge the copyright source.
Set up the classroom in such a way that learners and teacher can communicate
efficiently. Make sure everyone can see you and / or any visual aids you use
when this is relevant. Try different set ups if appropriate.
Have a go at efficiently putting students into pairs, groups, new pairs, new
groups depending on the type of activity.
Give clear instructions and check them, use a variety of ways to give instructions
Stick to the time you have been allocated for you part of the lesson. This may
mean not being able to finish what you had planned, but it is unfair to other
candidates if you eat into their time
Put copies of materials, self evaluations, tutors written feedback , and if
appropriate, lesson plans in your portfolio. Fill in your CELTA/5 and get your tutor
to initialise
Actively listen to your peers and tutors comments on your lessons and reflect
on your teaching strengths and weaknesses.
During TP, observe your peers and complete the relevant observation tasks; after
TP give your opinions about your own and your peers lessons with a view to
creating a positive learning environment for all.
1b
1d
2a
4d
5a
5b
5f
5k
5l
5m
5n
Teaching Practice Block Two
(middle 3 hours of teaching,
approximately)
During this block, you may still be consolidating the criteria from the last block, but
you tutors will gradually incorporate more critera to include a number of aspects
related to planning and teaching language and skills lessons.
In terms of planning your lessons, you will be producing plans for every lesson you
teach, including aims, stages, anticipated problems and your personal development
aims.
During this stage you will still be given plenty of guidance and you are encouraged to
seek the tutors advice whenever you are in doubt.
FOR ALL LESSON TYPES
Make sure the topic, subject or language point you bring to class is something
the students actually need and/or are interested in. Think of their level,
backgrounds, ages, etc
At the planning stage, think about including in your lesson a variety of
appropriate tasks, materials and teaching aids to make the lesson interesting
and useful for students.
Dont forget to consult your TP group members at the planning stage. Be
generous with your suggestions. Be co-operative.
Use board, cassette recorder, OHP, books, dictionaries, photocopies as effective
aids to your teaching. Think about whether you really need them, and if you do,
how best to use them to help the students.
Remember to give students answers to activities, and use a variety of means to
give answers (not just going through the answers with the whole class). Praise
students for good work.
Whilst students are working on a task, monitor them so you know how well and
how much theyre doing, and can make informed decisions as to what to do at
the end of the task
Use time limits and enthusiasm to inject pace into activities when appropriate.
Dont be afraid of quiet and slower moments, as they too are necessary. Go for
variety
RECEPTIVE SKILLS LESSONS
Aim to develop students receptive skills, not test them. Include tasks to develop
listening / reading for gist, specific information, detailed information and inferring
meaning as appropriate.
Set manageable tasks to help develop reading or listening skills
Give students time to understand the task, set a realistic time limit and allow
students to check answers in pairs after each reading / listening
LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSONS PRESENTATION AND PRACTICE
Make sure the language is set in a realistic, clear and interesting context
Make sure your models of new language (i.e. how you say the target language)
are accurate and appropriate ( i.e. error-free and natural, not contrived)
Elicit as much as possible (as opposed to telling or lecturing students), ask
questions to check meaning (as opposed to explaining meaning)
Make sure students actually get to practice new language, for accuracy or fluency
as appropriate. Where possible, give students a range of suitable activities which
will allow them to practice appropriately
1a
and
1c
4c
4m
5e
5h
5j
5i
3a
3a
3a
2c
2d
5g
2g
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS LESSON SPEAKING OR WRITING

Set interesting and stimulating tasks that will make students have something to
say or write
Dont butt in with comments or corrections, as this hampers fluency. Allow
students time and space to develop fluency
Allow preparation time and provide clear guidelines as well as a sense of
audience to help our students develop writing skills
Start to sensitively correct errors on the spot during accuracy activities and at the
end of the activity during fluency activities
3b
3b
3c
2b
Teaching Practice Block Three

(last 1 or 2 lessons)
At this stage of the course, all criteria are in place. The last criteria to be introduced
are bigger picture issues such as considering the outcome and the problems you
may encounter during the lesson, as well as strategies you can adopt to respond to
situations as they arise in class. You may well be working on criteria from previous
blocks to improve or consolidate your teaching, and thats fine.
You will be expected to be mostly autonomous in terms of planning your lesson, and
to seek the advice of your teaching practice group if you have any doubts. However,
your tutors will be there to help if you need it.
If a lesson doesnt go quite as well as youd planned, make sure you write that in
your self-assessment: you cant turn back the clock but you can demonstrate to
yourself and to your tutor that you know what didnt go well, why and what you will /
would do next time. This is a very important part of your development as a teacher.
Observation Tasks:
From pages 5 to 14 you will find a range of Observation Tasks for different lesson
types and stages of the course.
These serve 2 important purposes:
a) They are a guide to what to look out for whilst your peers are teaching. If
everyone completes the observation tasks, the feedback session following Teaching
Practice will be much more focused. It is incredible how quickly you forget details
from the lessons you observe unless you make notes.
b) They are extremely valuable when you are planning your lessons. Make
sure you refer to the appropriate observation task when planning your lessons,
because the very questions that are asked on the observation tasks are precisely
what your tutors and peers will be looking for.
These tasks are not assessed so you dont need to file them anywhere.
Please do not photocopy the

tasks. Refer to them and make notes
on separate blank sheets of paper. Can
you imagine how many photocopies
would be needed if each of you made
a copy of a task for every single lesson
you observed?????
While your peers teach look out for these things and make some notes on a separate sheet of paper
Rapport
How did they establish rapport?

Did they use the learners names appropriately?
Did they make good use of eye-contact?
Teacher Talking Time, grading language
Note examples of excessive TTT but also of concise and helpful TTT
Note any examples of poorly graded language .and language that was appropriately graded
Instructions: giving and checking
Note any unclear instructions, and note examples of clear instructions.

Were instructions checked? How?
Classroom management
Was the furniture laid-out to suit the activity?

What interaction patterns were used? Were they appropriate?
How were late-comers integrated?
Teacher role
Did the teacher get the whole class attention when necessary? How?
Did the teacher let the learners get on with tasks? Did s/he monitor or intervene?
Lesson type : Reading

Not all of the things below need to be part of a reading lesson. They are here to help you think about what
you are watching. While you observe your peer teach this kind of lesson, make some notes on a separate
sheet of paper.
Staging :
Which of these stages can you identify? Make notes on what was done at each stage and any problems that arose.
Lead-in (setting a context)

Pre-reading, e.g. raising interest, expectations, prediction
Reading Were the tasks clear, appropriate? Did Students know why they were reading for each task? Were
time limits set? Did students get opportunities to check answers in pairs/small groups after each reading?
Post reading - Text exploitation how was this done?
Learner involvement :
Comment on the degree of learner interest, motivation and involvement for each stage.
Student centredness :
Were the learners given adequate time / space to complete the tasks?
Was there time for paired feedback?
Was there any unnecessary TTT?
Did the teacher monitor whilst students compared answers? Was there evidence of this?
Post-reading response to the text :
Did the extension activity follow on logically from the text?

Was there adequate time for it?
Lesson type : Listening

Not all of the things below need to be part of a listening lesson. They are here to help you think about
what you are watching. While you observe your peer teach this kind opf lesson, make some notes on a
separate sheet of paper.
Staging :
Which of these stages can you identify? Make notes on what was done at each stage and any problems that arose.
Lead-in (setting a context)

Pre-listening e.g. raising interest, expectations, prediction
Listening - Were the tasks clear, appropriate? Did Students know why they were listening? Did students get
opportunities to check answers in pairs/small groups after each listening task?
Post listening - Text exploitation. How was this done?
Learner involvement :
Comment on the degree of learner interest, motivation and involvement.
Student centredness :
Were the learners given adequate time / space to complete the tasks?
Was there time for paired f/b?
Was there any unnecessary TTT?
Did the teacher monitor whilst students compared answers? Was there evidence of this?
Response to the text :
Did the extension activity follow on logically from the text?

Was there adequate time for it?
Lesson type: Language Presentation (Grammar, Vocabulary,

functional language)
This task can be done for Situational Presentation (Gypsy Jean Model) or Guided discovery
If the presentation is language through text, use the relevant Receptive Skills Task together
with this one.
Were the following things were done? If so, were they in this order?
Context built to convey the meaning and create need for the target language .
TL elicited (not fed or explained)
Meaning checked.
Form checked.
Pronunciation issues handled.
Target Language practised. (controlled practice)
Target Language practised. (semi- controlled practice)
Target Language practised. (freer practice)
Learners monitored.
How was feedback on tasks handled?
Correction how much, when?
The learners motivated and involved.
Was the lesson pacy, but not rushed?
Was TTT excessive at any point? Any other comments?
Lesson type: Speaking Practice

Comment on the following points:
What kind of interaction patterns were used?
Were activities set up so that all learners speaking time was maximised?
Was TTT excessive at any point?

Was monitoring effective? What evidence was there of this?
How was correction handled?
Was there sufficient variety of activities? Were any activities personalised?
Was the class time efficiently used?
Were learners motivated and involved?
Was the lesson pacy, without rushing the learners?
Any other comments
You should complete the relevant Block 2 Observation task and in addition, comment on the
questions below.
Lesson type: _____________________________

Think about any problems that arise during the lesson.
-
How well did the teacher handle it? Evidence?
Could it have been anticipated?
Comment on the materials selected (either developed or from the textbook). Think about;
-
Grading
Time taken by learners to do the tasks
Level of interest and involvement
What did the learners learn or practise in the lesson?

-
Did they need to learn or practise this?
How satisfied were they at the end of the lesson?
Was there evidence of good planning, staging and timing? What?

Did you feel the teacher taught the learners or the plan?
In what ways was the lesson learner centred?
Comment on the correction given (or not given!) during the lesson.
10
TEACHERS NAME
Aim of Lesson
What was it?

Was it fulfilled?
Establishing Context
How was it elicited from the

students ?
Instructions
Write a few examples of

instructions given
Checking meaning
How was it checked that the

SS understood vocab and/or
TL?
Correction
Which
techniques
were used?
Monitoring
Passive? (collecting notes for

use later or just listening)
Active? (joining in)
Feedback
How was it done?
What else did you learn

from the lesson?
11
Observation of Experienced Teachers
Listening /
Reading
Comments
Type of tasks set: are they gist

or detailed? When set?
How were answers checked?
What did students do before and

after listening/reading
Were any words pre-taught?

How?
How else was problem

vocabulary dealt with?
Error and Correction

Make some notes on when and
how errors were dealt with.
Comments
Grammar
Comments
How was meaning conveyed and

checked?
How was form highlighted?
How was the language

practised?
12
TEACHING PRACTICE PLANNING POINTS FOR FIRST FEW LESSONS

On a CELTA course you will each teach a total of 6 hours, broken down into a number of
lessons, ranging from a minimum of 20 minutes to a maximum of 60. This depends on the
number of candidates teaching.
For the first few of lessons, we want you to follow these TP planning points as closely as
possible. They are intended as a guide to how a lesson (or part of a lesson) is put together in
the teaching approach which CELTA is all about: the communicative approach to language
teaching.
We will be working from a coursebook, and these planning points will help you to use the
coursebook with your students.
Although it is a simplification, we are basically working with 3 types of lesson: Receptive skills
(reading or listening); Productive skills (speaking or writing); and language focus (vocabulary,
functions or grammar). In real life (and on the course!) we often combine elements from these
when putting together a 2-hour lesson.
Lesson Type 1: Receptive Skills (Reading or Listening)
Overall Lesson Aims: to help students develop better reading / listening skills through
practice. (You will need to use more specific terminology when you start writing lesson plans)
Learner training aims: to raise students awareness of the different subskills involved in
reading / listening, and the importance of developing these through practice.
Materials: A listening or reading passage from the coursebook (your tutor will tell you
which). You will also probably need to produce your own visuals / handouts to supplement the
coursebook materials. Check with your tutor.
Timing: 30 to 40 minutes
Procedure: There are 3 basic stages to this type of lesson: pre-reading/listening; reading /
listening; post-reading /listening.
A) PRE-LISTENING / READING
Set the topic. Every text we use in class has a topic. Before the students read or listen, its a
good idea to encourage them to start thinking about it and to discuss ideas in pairs / groups.
This can be done with pictures, questions or statements to discuss. Dont dominate this part
of the lesson, hand it over to students and you monitor (listen and watch without getting
involved). You can get an initial idea of their knowledge of vocabulary for this specific topic,
for example. Dont spend more than 5 minutes on this. Stop the students and ask for some
brief comments form some (not all) of the students. Alternatively, if you have been monitoring
well, you can praise the students for their good work and tell them one or two interesting
things you heard
Prediction. The activity described above can be all you need to do in terms of prediction.
Sometimes, though, you may want students to think about something more specific that they
will read or listen to. In order to encourage this, you may need to set some specific task, for
example give them the headline and ask them to predict what the text is about; or give them
some key words from the text and they predict. Again, a few minutes is enough. Elicit some
ideas, or encourage pairs / groups to exchange ideas.
Pre-teaching vocabulary (if necessary). This can be done in different ways. Most
commonly, we get students to work in pairs or groups and match the unknown vocabulary to
synonyms or pictures or definitions. However, the unknown words need to be in context.
Otherwise its just a guessing game. To do this, take each word and write a sentence which
includes the word. The aim of pre-teaching vocabulary is to deal with the meaning of unknown
words contained in the text which might impede students ability to answer the questions we
13
set them (see below). Coursebooks dont always include vocabulary to be pre-taught so its
important when preparing lessons to go through the text and identify any vocabulary which
we think our students might not know. If we think they can do the reading / listening tasks we
set without understanding these words, then we neednt pre-teach. We can deal with the
vocabulary after the reading / listening tasks. More on this later.
READING / LISTENING
1st Reading (or listening). When students read / listen to a text for the first time, what we
want to encourage them to do is get an overall idea of the text. We call this gist.
Unfortunately, not all coursebooks include gist questions, so it may be necessary to write
these yourself. The procedure in class is to give students the question BEFORE they read /
listen, so they know WHY they are reading / listening.
With reading passages you need to set students a short time limit to answer the gist question,
otherwise the tendency is for students to read word-for-word-ever-so-slowly-and-stop-everytime-they-dont-understand-a-word-and-ask-you. This is not efficient reading, and students
will never improve the subskill of reading quickly to get the gist of a text unless we provide
the conditions / incentive to do so. With listening, a time limit is obviously not needed! So,
once they have the TASK, play the CD (right to the end without stopping) or tell students to
start reading (individually and silently). After they have read / listened, tell students to
compare their answers in pairs. You monitor and then establish answers (see classroom
management tips).
2nd Reading (or listening). Now that students have a global view of the text, we are ready
to encourage our learners to pay attention to more detailed information in the text. So, again,
we give them a task (often, but not always, this will be some questions to answer) and a little
time to read the TASK. Then get students to listen / read again (longer time limit this time).
After they have read / listened, tell students to compare their answers in pairs. You monitor
and then establish answers (see classroom management tips).
Vocabulary. Sometimes we may decide to set a third task, which involves developing and
practising the subskill of inferring the meaning of unknown vocabulary from context. If your
lesson was a listening, you could copy the tapescript. What you do is select up to 6 or 7 items
of vocabulary and devise a task to encourage students to read the text around these items of
vocabulary and try to work out the meaning. One way of doing this is to give students a list of
definitions and ask them to find items of vocabulary which match these definitions;
alternatively you could underline the items of vocabulary and give students a worksheet with
3 options for each one, and they must choose. Much will depend on the level of the class and
the difficulty of the vocabulary.
Timing: Its hard to put an exact timing on the reading / listening stages, as a lot will depend
on how well the students did the task. Anything between 5 and 10 minutes for each task is
possible, as you need to include setting up the class, giving and checking instructions, letting
students read / listen and then compare answers.
POST-READING / LISTENING
We have two options here: a communicative activity or a focus on language. In a 40 minute
lesson slot you wont have time to do any focus on language. Depending on how easy /
difficult the class found the listening / reading tasks, you may not even have time to do a
communicative activity either (but prepare one so you dont get left with time to fill and
nothing to do). An example of a communicative task would be to put students into pairs /
groups and give them some questions to encourage them to exchange their opinions on the
topic the text was about. The aim is to allow them to respond to the content of what theyve
read / listened to. Whilst theyre discussing, you should monitor discreetly and make notes on
any errors you hear.
When you teach 60 minutes you should be able to include a focus on language, and we
encourage you to do this, as integrating skills work and language work is pedagogically very
sound: one of the main reasons for developing receptive skills is to help our students become
more independent learners and acquire new language. Texts are an excellent source of new
language.
14
Classroom management tips:

Instructions: the aim of instruction giving is to ensure all students know exactly what to do,
who they are working with (interaction) and how long they have. Therefore clarity is essential.
We are not giving students listening practice here! We recommend that you script your
instructions and practice giving them (either in your TP group, family, friends or (why not?) in
front of a mirror!)
Golden handout rule: Give instructions (including timing and interaction), check
instructions, give out handouts. In that order! Let students see the handout while you give
instructions.
Teacher Role: When students are listening, sit down and keep out of the way.
When students are reading, keep out of the way but watch them closely from a distance.
When students are comparing answers to the listening / reading tasks, monitor closely (i.e.
listen and watch, but avoid eye contact so as not to get dragged in). Avoid answering
questions from needy students encourage students to consult each other if they have
queries.
Feedback: Before moving on from one task to the next, make sure that correct answers have
been established. When establishing answers as a class, avoid the lengthy (and potentially
distracting) lets-all-go-through-the-answers-one-by-one-as-a-classshall-we approach.
There are more efficient ways of giving correct answers to reading and listening task,
including: handouts, writing on the board, overhead projector. Which way you use will depend
on the length and complexity of the answers. Check with your tutor if you arent sure.
Lesson Type 2a: Language Focus (Vocabulary)
Overall Lesson Aims: to present (or revise) and practise a number of vocabulary items
(please note: on your plan you need to be as specific as possible with this, for example
adjectives to describe personality)
Materials: Youll probably be teaching a lexical set from the coursebook, and youll need to
think about finding things like visuals and real objects and consider ways of conveying the
meaning through gesture, mime, etc. The only trapdoor to avoid is explaining, as this is not
the best way of conveying meaning effectively to learners, especially at lower levels.
When planning, you should consult a learners dictionary and /or the coursebook, as they
often contain examples of the vocabulary in context as well as appropriately graded
definitions.
Timing: 40 minutes
Procedure:
Set the scene / introduce topic: it is highly unlikely that you will be presenting a list of
unrelated and random vocabulary, so it makes sense to introduce the topic. This can be done
by showing some pictures, for example, and asking students to work together and discuss
what they can see. You could also ask them to brainstorm any vocabulary they associate with
the pictures. Set a time limit of no more than 5 minutes, and monitor the students discreetly
while theyre working. Dont get involved and dont answer questions (avoid eye contact, and
if asked, indicate that well discuss it later and students should work together). Get students
to exchange lists, keep monitoring.
Presentation (type 1). At lower levels, youll probably have a limited set of vocabulary, and
you may decide to teach the items through visuals, objects, or brief definitions. Other options
are synonyms and antonyms (opposites). Translation is not an option on CELTA.
(Meaning) What we want to encourage here is an approach that involves all the students so
that you are sure everyone is getting the meaning. Rather that telling students what the
vocabulary is, and explaining it (which is boring, doesnt engage students and might be lost
on some of them), what we do is to see if anyone knows the vocabulary: elicit it. e.g. show a
picture and ask, Whats this? If nobody knows, youll need to tell them, but if someone does,
then praise them and involve the rest of the class (get them to repeat, for example). Other
options, then, are, whats the opposite of X?, what do you call that object we use to open a
bottle of wine?, depending on what you are teaching.
15
Avoid asking, for example, whats a corkscrew?, or writing a word on the board and asking,
do you understand?. More on why these are not effective as the course progresses.
You will also want to ensure that you check the meaning of the vocabulary (so that, for
example, you get evidence back from students that they havent mistaken a bookshop for a
library). More on checking meaning as the course progresses.
(pronunciation) Once you have elicited the vocabulary, get students to repeat the words,
concentrating on correct pronunciation. This is called a drill.
(form) Re-elicit the words from students, and write them one by one on the board. Allow
students to copy them if they wish. More on form as the course progresses.
Timing: again, not easy to pin down an exact amount of time, but 10 to a maximum of 15
minutes as a rule of thumb.
Presentation (type 2) At higher levels, we are often expanding students existing
knowledge, and we may deal with more than just a limited set of lexical items. (Meaning)
Coursebooks at this level often have a wordbox containing up to 30 items of vocabulary, and
it would take too long to go through each one in the way we described above. Options here
include asking students to work in pairs / groups, giving them a reasonable time limit (5 to 8
minutes) and work on meaning by, for example, classifying the words, or matching words to
synonyms, antonyms, definitions, pictures, etc. This involves a much more learner-centred
approach, with the teacher monitoring and noting problem areas to deal with later with the
whole class.
Ideally we want to avoid giving students lists of words which are decontextualised (see note
on pre-teaching vocabulary for receptive skills), so some work on the teachers part during
preparation is a good idea.
(Pronunciation) It would be unrealistic and boring to drill 30 words, so we need to be
selective. If you monitor the meaning stage closely, you can hear which words students are
mispronouncing. Make a note, and drill these.
(form) Students already have the spelling, the coursebook might have an activity to cover
other aspects of form (word formation, irregularities, etc). They can do this in pairs, you
monitor and do feedback (see feedback under classroom management tips)
Controlled practice. There are many types of controlled practice, written and oral.
Coursebooks tend to have plenty of activities which involve controlled practice. They are
designed to give students the chance to manipulate aspects of form and / or meaning in a
right-or-wrong approach.
Examples include gapfills, correcting sentences which contain errors, choosing between two
or more options. These activities are best set up as pair or group work (rather than individual
work, which tends to make the activity feel like an exam!), so in a learner-centred approach
with the teacher monitoring. Timings vary depending on the number of items and the
complexity of the activity, but around 5 to 8 minutes is normal. Encourage students to check
their answers with other pairs, and finally establish answers as a class (see feedback under
classroom management tips for ideas). You may want / need to do more than one controlled
practice activity. However, try and ensure the students get a chance to do some freer practice
as well.
Freer practice. This is a type of activity which some coursebooks tend to either overlook or
design activities which dont really encourage freer practice. Freer practice can be written, but
for our purposes will normally be oral. The aim of these activities is to give students an
opportunity to use newly taught language without the constraints of controlled practice.
Fluency, personalisation and meaning are important here. When we plan freer activities we
need to think about encouraging lots of speaking. Options include role plays, simulations, but
also some questions for students to discuss. The important thing is to put the students into
groups or pairs, make sure the task is clear (see golden handout rule), and let them talk. You
monitor and do not get involved in the discussions. You should note errors for correction.
Timings can be from 5 to 10 minutes.
Error correction: After a freer activity, students will expect some sort of comment on their
performance. If we do no error correction, students might be justified in thinking that freer
activities are just for fun and have no learning value. Therefore, try and allow yourself 5 to 10
16
minutes to go over some errors. A good approach would be as follows: get students attention.
Tell them you are going to write some sentences on the board. In pairs, they discuss the
problem and think of a solution. The idea is to give tem some processing time, so make sure
they discuss as you are writing. Stop and say, are you discussing? if you hear silence. When
youve finished writing, allow another minute or so, then elicit ideas for each sentence.
Students can often correct these, particularly if they were just slips.
Lesson Type 2b: Language Focus (Grammar)

Overall Lesson Aims: to present (or revise) and practise a grammatical structure (or
structrures) youll need to specify which and its use.
Materials: as with the vocabulary lesson, you will probably be using materials from a
coursebook, with some adaptation / supplementing needed.
Procedure: The overall shape and sequence of the lesson is very much like the vocabulary
lesson: presentation (meaning, pronunciation, form); controlled practice; freer practice.
The presentation part will either be a teacher-led situational presentation (and you will
get a model of this in the first few days of the course), or you will use an approach known as
guided discovery. This is common in coursebooks. Students are encouraged to work in pairs
or groups and answer questions related to isolated examples of the contextualised grammar
structure(s) so as to arrive at rules of meaning and / or form. The procedure for these tasks is
the same as you would use for a controlled activity, i.e. tell students to look at the
sentence(s), work in pairs and answer the question. You monitor, swop students to encourage
peer help, and establish answers. This is a more learner-centred approach and arguably more
adult than the situational presentation.
In many coursebooks, guided discovery activities focussing on grammar (or indeed
vocabulary) often come after a text, so that students first develop their receptive skills and
then pay attention to language (selected by coursebook authors) in context. This is known as
teaching language through text.
Lesson Type 3: Productive skills (Speaking or Writing)
Overall Lesson Aims: To develop students accuracy and / or fluency in speaking (or wrting).
Timing: 40 minutes (but you could do 60 minutes for a writing activity)
Procedure:
Start by setting the scene / context (visuals, short anecdote, questions). Allow 5 minutes,
not much longer for this. Get some brief feedback.
Next, you might want to revise / check / possibly present some useful vocabulary or
expressions for the speaking or writing activities. See vocabulary lesson for ideas on how to
do this.
In a speaking lesson, you will probably find you give students a series of activities similar to
the ones described in the practice section of the language focus lesson, although various
types of games (with a language purpose) are another option. Your tutor will give you ideas.
All of these activities will involve efficient setting up (pairs, instructions, etc), and allowing
students to talk while you monitor.
40 minutes can be along time to spend on just talking so you will need to plan 3 or 4
activities of up to 10 minutes each which are connected and make sure you give students
feedback on their performance after each activity (error correction)
17
A writing lesson might have this kind of structure:

Setting context and introducing the task (letter to a friend, brief guide of what to do see in
Milan). A couple of minutes is enough.
Eliciting ideas (brainstorming) of what to include (start them off in pairs, groups, then
comparing as a class). 5 minutes or a little longer.
Focusing on an aspect of language, such as useful expressions commonly used for the type of
writing, or differences between formal and informal letters (for example). This can be done as
a mini guided discovery, followed by a controlled practice activity to practice this particular
aspect of language. This section can take 10 minutes or more depending on how much
language you are focusing on.
Students then get into pairs or groups and write a draft. This needs to be learner-centred and
you monitor. You may need to offer a little help occasionally but resist the temptation of
butting in. This stage can take anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes depending on the type
of writing you set.
Make sure you allow yourself time for students to read each others work. You can ask pairs to
grade their peers writing (on achievement as well as accuracy). Round up the lesson by
taking in the writing and offering to mark it if they want.
Presenting language through text: suggested

staging.
This is basically a receptive skills lesson followed by a focus on some language (in this case
grammar) contained in the text. You may not be able to do all of the steps described below. It
depends on time. You may split a lesson like this into two 40 minute lessons consult your
tutor if in doubt.
Receptive skills part

Pre-reading / listening
Lead in / introduce topic
Prediction task
Pre-teach vocabulary
(NB, you might not want / need to do all of above)
Reading / listening
First reading / listening task for overall understanding (gist) or to check predictions.
Second reading /listening task for more detailed information
(N.B. dont forget the basics: task before text, allow time to process information, predict as
necessary; encourage students to compare answers in pairs after each reading or listening
before you establish answers)
speaking or writing (post listening / reading) - only if time!
Focus on language part

Students read the text or the tapescript and underline examples of the Target
Language
18
Students do a task to establish / check the meaning of the Target Language.

Teacher can now drill the TL (but make sure students arent reading it!)
Teacher can also design a task to guide students to any features of form that are
relevant
Practice
Controlled
Semi-controlled
Freer practice
NB: it may not be possible or appropriate to do all types of practice. You need to select as
appropriate.
The above is not intended as a hard and fast rule of how to teach through text. It is a tried
and tested formula that can work well.
Planning Checklists
These checklists are intended to help you plan your lessons. The stages that are given
are not there to be followed slavishly, but rather are intended as a guide to help you.
You may of course not actually be teaching a whole lesson but just a part of a lesson.
You will therefore be told or asked to decide which stages to include.
Likewise the questions to ask yourself are intended as a guide to the kinds of things
you should be thinking about before the lesson starts, rather than an exhaustive
prescription of what you have to do.
Please note that your lessons will be vary in length from 30 to 60 minutes, so it is
unlikely and inappropriate to try and cram in all the stages! The Lesson Plan
checklists show you a possible procedure for a whole lesson.
We strongly suggest you follow this procedure for planning lessons and writing lesson
plans:
The very first thing you need to do is to identify the overall lesson aim.
You should choose the appropriate Lesson Plan Checklist and Observation Task.
Finally, look at the material you have and decide if its ok as it is or needs adapting.
Not all coursebooks follow the approach we are working on, so look at the material
critically and compare it to the models.
In other words, never start writing the lesson plan stages until you're sure what kind of
lesson you'll be teaching!
Dont forget you Language Analysis Sheet.there are two kinds, depending on the main
aim of your lesson.
19
20
Planning Checklist : Receptive Skills (Reading and Listening)

Menu of possible lesson stages (i.e. not all stages are necessary, the
type of text may lend itself to some activity types over others)
Warmer (optional)
Lead in : pre-reading / listening communication activity on the theme
Prediction task
Pre-teach vocabulary
Gist comprehension task
Paired and then plenary feedback
Detailed comprehension task
Paired and then plenary feedback
Focus on language in the text (third reading / listening?)
OR
Post text communicative activity : reaction to the text and/or

extension of the theme
Ask yourself the following questions
Are your aims clear in your own mind ? Are you just developing / practising skills,
or do you intend to focus on language as well ?
Do you plan to guide the students to an understanding of the text or are you
simply testing their comprehension ? (the former is more motivating)
What vocabulary (if any) is essential for the successful completion of the task ?
How will you check / convey meaning ?
Have you planned a stage that gets them involved in the theme of the text and
draws on their existing knowledge of the subject ?
Do(es) your gist question(s) require a general understanding of the whole text ?
Are your (or the books) detailed questions stimulating, or are they just typical
excercises for the sake of it ?
Do you know the answers to your comprehension questions ? !

Are you going to set your tasks before they read/hear the text (you should !) ?
Are you going to give them a chance to exchange ideas / questions about what
they have heard / read in pairs before you ask them as a class ? (ie paired f/b,
then plenary)? You should!
How are you going to allow them to give a personal response / opinion on the
subject or theme of the text ? Why not?
21
Have you yourself listened to the material? This is very important! Do you know
where the listening extract is (track number)
Planning Checklist : Vocabulary

Menu of Possible Stages
Warmer / Lead-in / Brainstorming
Focus on meaning (including elicitation and checking), i.e

presentation and checking of meaning.
Focus on Pronunciation (difficult sounds, word stress), make sure all

students get a chance to say the new vocabulary items
Focus on form (including word-building)
Controlled practice
Freer practice
You should ask yourselves the following questions:

Are you clear on what you want to have achieved by the end of the lesson?
Are the words you have chosen to teach useful or the students and/or
connected to each other in any way (e.g. Same topic, same type of word,
antonyms...)?
Have you chosen an appropriate number of vocabulary items (ie. Youre
not overloading them)?
Have you thought about how you can find out what the students already
know before you start teaching it to them?
Have you thought about how to convey and check meaning?
What information you are going to put on the whiteboard (e.g. type of
word)?
Is it useful to drill the word?
How do you intend to get the students practising the new vocabulary? Are
your tasks meaningful / realistic ? Do they encourage use of the new
words?
Have you thought carefully about how you are going to set up and monitor
group and pair work?
Will the students have kept a record of the new words?
22
Planning Checklist :
Grammar presentation and Practice
Menu of lesson Stages : you should think about including these,
depending on what your aims are(i.e. are you presenting or practising
language, or both ?)
Situational Presentation
Warmer (optional)
Lead-in / Context (creating a need for the language)
Elicit or give structure
Check meaning of TL
Focus on pronunciation (drill)
Highlight Form of TL
Controlled practice
Freer Practice
Recycle in later lessons
You should also ask yourself the following questions
Are your aims clear in your own mind ?

Are they appropriate for the level and interest of your class ?
If this is consolidation of the TL, how do you plan to use the students existing
knowledge ?
If you expect the TL to be new, how do you plan to make meaning clear and to
check they have understood ?
Are you sure you are not spoon-feeding them and that there is enough focus on
the learner?
In terms of practice, is the emphasis firmly on communicative oral practice ?
Is your freer practice activity going to help them use the TL in the real world ?
Have you thought carefully about how you are going to set up group and pair
work ?
Are you clear in your own mind about what you are going to do while the
students work in groups and pairs ?
Have you planned your feedback and correction so that it both encourages
students and helps them with accurate production of the TL ?
Dont forget that this is just one model for presenting language. Other possibilities
include:
Language through text (see page 17)
Guided Discovery (very common in coursebooks)
Test-Teach-Test: start with a controlled practice activity (to see what they
know / dont know), clarify aspects of meaning, pronunciation and form, give
more practice to see if theyve improved.
23
Youll learn more about these as the course goes on.
Planning Checklist : Writing

Menu of possible lesson stages
Warmer (optional)
Lead-in to theme
Brainstorming language for use
Analysing model text for layout, style and language
Set task
Brainstorm ideas
First draft stage
Editing stage
Students read finished pieces of writing
Students respond to texts
Feedback on content, style, language etc..
Ask yourself the following questions
Are your aims specific enough : what type of writing are you practising,
are you giving guidance on language use and providing a model... ?
How do you plan to generate a sense of audience (i.e. make the students
feel that they are writing to somebody or for something ?
Have you properly analysed the stylistic and linguistic features of the text ?
How are you going to prepare them properly for the writing task, in terms
of a model and language ?
Do you have a pre-writing stage that actually gets them interested in the
theme ?
Have you thought about how youre actually going to get them
started (often a difficult thing to do) ?
People write at different speeds. How are you going to deal with early
finishers ?
What are you going to do while they are writing ?
How and when are you going to correct the students work ?
What activity are you going to do that enables the students to respond to
what their classmates have written ?
24
Planning Checklist: Speaking Practice

The key here is to include a variety of linked activities based around a central
theme.
When planning ask yourself the following questions:
Are my aims fluency only, or do I want the Ss to produce specific TL,

'target language' (grammar or vocabulary)?
If the latter, then have I allowed Ss to use the TL more freely (less
correction, more variation) as well as accurate controlled production of
that language (e.g. drilling, correction)?
Have I provided a suitable context?
Is there sufficient variety of a relevant, interesting tasks and interaction
patterns that suit the linguistic abilities of the students and that generate
lots of realistic examples of any TL?
How can I ensure that all students are involved and participating? Have I
provided lots of pair/group work and kept open whole class discussions to
an absolute minimum to encourage higher STT, 'student talking time'?
Will the pace be about right or too slow ?
How am I going to generate ideas for and interest in the task? Have I
incorporated visuals or any other resources to stimulate interest ?Is a
brainstorming session and/or a preparatory stage necessary / a good
idea ? What help am I going to give them in terms of prompts and ideas?
Do I need to pre-teach any vocabulary, or can I feed it in while
monitoring?
How am I going to change the groups and pairs quickly and efficiently ?
Are there any particular students I want to split up or have working
together ?
What types of errors am I going to listen for and what vocabulary could I
contribute while they are speaking? Can I do this without taking over or
interrupting the flow of a freer speaking activity?
How can I deal with early finishers during longer speaking stages ?
At what stages will I provide feedback and do I have an OHT or paper to
make notes of errors for a short focus on accuracy/vocabulary at the end?
25
Guidelines for the tutorial: Progress Record 2 .

About halfway through the course (exact date to be confirmed) you will have an
individual tutorial with one of the tutors (whoever has been your tutor for the first 3
hours of teaching practice).
It is an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the progress youve made so far, and to
look ahead to the second half of the course. The tutorial typically lasts between 10
minutes and 20 minutes.
By the end of the tutorial, you will know without a shadow of a doubt whether youre
passing the course, and if not, why and what you can do. You will discuss and agree
with the tutor what areas you need to concentrate on for the remainder of the
course.
In order for the tutorial to be meaningful, we recommend that you spend some time
thinking about your progress on the course so far.
Do the following:
1. Prepare! Take your file home if you are 100% sure you wont leave it behind!
Otherwise take copies of tutor feedback on all your lessons to date.
2. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses from the feedback forms.
3. Read pages 24 to 29 of CELTA/5. This is a plain English version of the
criteria. As you read it, give yourself a score (weak, ok, strong). If youre not
sure, put a ?
4. Now youre ready to fill in the official document for your tutorial. Read page 12
for instructions.
5. Fill in the grids 13-15.
6. Look at page 16. you dont have to write anything, but do if there are any
issues you think need to be discussed with the tutor.
7. Give yourself an overall grade for this stage of the course (page 17)
8. List the action points you need to work on for the rest of the course.
Index
Guide to Teaching Practice Grading
Observation Task for Day One
Observation Task for Block One
Observation Tasks for Block Two
Observation Task for Block Three
Observation Tasks for experienced teachers
Teaching Practice Lesson Planning Points for First Few Days
Lesson Planning Checklists
Guidelines for the mid-course tutorial
14
5
6
6-9
9
10 - 11
12 - 17
18 23
24
26

Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

A guide to Teaching Practice grading

Please read carefully

You have demonstrated successful achievement of all or most of the

You have demonstrated successful achievement of all or most of the

Your teaching reveals some fundamental problem area(s) which will

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Teaching Practice Block One

Refers to these criteria

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Teaching Practice Block Two

(middle 3 hours of teaching,

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

PRODUCTIVE SKILLS LESSON SPEAKING OR WRITING

Teaching Practice Block Three

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Please do not photocopy the

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

How did they establish rapport?

Teacher Talking Time, grading language

Instructions: giving and checking

Note any unclear instructions, and note examples of clear instructions.

Was the furniture laid-out to suit the activity?

Lesson type : Reading

Lead-in (setting a context)

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Post-reading response to the text :

Did the extension activity follow on logically from the text?

Lesson type : Listening

separate sheet of paper.

Lead-in (setting a context)

Comment on the degree of learner interest, motivation and involvement.

Response to the text :

Did the extension activity follow on logically from the text?

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Lesson type: Language Presentation (Grammar, Vocabulary,

TL elicited (not fed or explained)

Pronunciation issues handled.

Target Language practised. (controlled practice)

Target Language practised. (semi- controlled practice)

Target Language practised. (freer practice)

How was feedback on tasks handled?

Correction how much, when?

The learners motivated and involved.

Was the lesson pacy, but not rushed?

Was TTT excessive at any point? Any other comments?

Lesson type: Speaking Practice

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

Was TTT excessive at any point?

Any other comments

Lesson type: _____________________________

How well did the teacher handle it? Evidence?

Could it have been anticipated?

Level of interest and involvement

What did the learners learn or practise in the lesson?

Did they need to learn or practise this?

How satisfied were they at the end of the lesson?

Was there evidence of good planning, staging and timing? What?

TeacherTraining.it. CELTA Teaching Practice Handbook 2009

What was it?

How was it elicited from the

Write a few examples of

How was it checked that the

Passive? (collecting notes for