ICQs

ICQs, not to be confused with CCQs, stand for Instruction Checking Questions and are an important skill to master for any teacher. The concept for ICQs is that once you have set up an activity, you check whether the students understand the instructions for what they have to do next.

What would be some good ICQs f you were setting up an activity where students have to talk to their partner about their weekend for 2 minutes? Covering details in your ICQs are important. For example, “How long will you talk for?”, “What will you talk about?”, and “Who will you talk to?” This is about as basic as it can get. Make sure to only have around 2-3 ICQs per task as students can get flustered with having to answer many questions they may already know all the answers to. Pick and choose the most difficult concepts and remember that it isn’t important to cover all the little details of an activity. If you have set your activity up well, then there should be almost no need for ICQs, right?

You want to do ICQs right before an activity starts. If students do not understand your ICQs or seem confused about the activity, go over and demonstrate it one more time. There is nothing wrong with repeating your instructions and it is much better than starting an activity with confused students. For your CELTA, you will want to pre-plan your ICQs and look for intended responses. Even today I still plan a lot of my ICQs for more difficult activities. You will find over time that some particular ways of wording your ICQs work really well with certain groups of students.

Here are some example ICQs that I use almost daily.

How much time do you have for the activity?

Who will you talk to? How many people will you talk to?

What will do you when you’re finished? What will you do after ____?

Are you writing? Are you talking? 

What language will you use? What will you say?

How many questions are there? 

ICQs should be tailored for the task you are doing. It may seem like a strange concept to begin with which is why it is a good idea to pre-prepare them for each task in the beginning. Eventually, it will become a natural skill. Practice makes perfect!

Sam

Error Correction

Error correction is a key tool for the teachers to master and is paramount for their student’s development. Showing error correction skills well on your CELTA course can put you in contention for a higher grade. Let’s look at why, when, and how we use error correction in the class.

Why to Use: Error correction is one of the best ways to make sure students are responding to what you are teaching. How do you know they are confidently using what you have taught them? Are your students getting a bit too confident with themselves? Show them that they still have a way to go with error correction.

When to Use: Use error correction at the end of a controlled practice or freer activity. Monitor the students and take notes of mistakes. Write them on the board before the activity finishes. Or, you could pre-write mistakes on the board before class and cover them with a projector screen or something else (Great for teachers who are just starting out and feel stressed to multi-task).

How to Use: There are two main ways to use error correction. You could prepare potential errors that students may make during class and use them as an activity or bring them up after an activity as an error correction task. Alternatively, you could monitor the students during an activity and take notes of mistakes that students are saying. For the actual error correction session, try to elicit the corrections as much as possible. Get students to come up to the board and fix the mistakes themselves. If students cannot fix their own mistakes, refer back to notes you had them take earlier when you introduced the new language, or simply go over it again briefly. Get them to take notes and get them to try to write some new examples.

Remember, error correction doesn’t have to be just about words or grammar. Take note of phonetic mistakes and use error correction to drill difficult sounds. Analysis a piece of writing or a listening track. Give them similar questions to follow up on their mistakes to see if they can get it right the second time around.

Do you have any unique methods of doing error correction?

Let me know!

Sam

Past Simple Lesson Plan – Pre-Intermediate, PPP

Past Simple Lesson Plan – Pre-Intermediate, PPP

This lesson, and all other lessons in the series, will cover the core of lesson, namely the PPP section. Before getting into the details of the  PPP style lesson plan, I will first cover the context of the lesson, target language that will be used, model sentencing and function, use, meaning or concept of the simple present. Finally, there will be anticipated problems and solutions for the lesson as well. This should make a good cover page to see if this is the kind of lesson plan you are looking for, as well as helping those on their CELTA who may struggle with filling in this section of the lesson plan. This sounds like a lot, but it is what is required of those on the CELTA course. Anyway, without further ado…

Context of the Lesson: To introduce the past simple as a state and past action as well as compare to the present simple.

Target Language: He was a king. Subject+be past+article+noun. Did you watch TV yesterday? Auxiliary do past+subject+present simple verb+noun+time modifier.

Model Sentence: He was a king. Subject+be past+article+noun. Did you watch TV yesterday? Auxiliary do past+subject+present simple verb+noun+time modifier.

Function/Use AND/OR Meaning/Concept: Past simple is used to cover finished events in the past and also past states/conditions.

Anticipated Problems: Students may have trouble forming questions with the past simple as they include present simple verbs in their form.

Solutions: One form activity and specific drilling of questions.

 

Presentation

Words to pre-teach: Yesterday, short, and long.

Draw a timeline on the board and elicit the present simple. Give one example. Mark on the timeline the position of now and mark a time before now. Use the same example as before. Eg, I watch TV everyday and I watched TV yesterday. Follow up with some CCQs.

“Is it finished?”, “Am I watching TV now?”

Draw another timeline and write on the board, “He was a king from 1450-1480”. This time, when you mark a time on the timeline, draw a circle and state that this is a long time. Ask some CCQs such as, “Was he a king in 1451, 1481?”, etc. State that these two timelines are the present simple.

Now it is important to show that there are two types of verbs, irregular and regular. Draw a table on the board with two columns. One for present simple and the other for past simple. Start by eliciting verbs students already know and write them in the present simple column. Then, invite students to come and write the past simple version of the word on the board. Give students two pens to use. One for irregular and one for regular and see if they can work out which words go in each category. Fill in the words they don’t know by yourself.

*Now would be a good time to cover spelling rules. Eg, short verbs with single vowel followed by single consonant. Stop – Stopped

Next, include some function words that students may not know and may be useful for the past simple. Eg, yesterday, ten years ago, last week, last Monday, in Elementary school, in Japan, etc. Use a calendar for this and start from small units and expand.

 

Practice

Use flashcards to elicit the present simple and contrast with the past simple. Eg, I go to school. I went to school yesterday. Make sure to cover questions, negative, and positive sentences. Show of your drilling skills as you start by choral drilling, groups, lines, and then individuals.

Spelling bee time! Have the present simple versions of the past simple words you want to teach on the board. Have students go into pairs and ask each other how to spell certain words. One student says the present simple and the other spells the past simple. Get students to put their hands up and ask you how to spell any words they might not be sure off. Remember to ICQ this.

Quiz – Prepare a gap fill for the students to do as a quiz. You could write one yourself or find a piece of reading and blank out text with white out when you photocopy it for the students. Or, if you have a textbook with a past simple/present simple reading, that’s just fantastic then, isn’t it! A good comparative reading where students have to look around for function words to determine whether the answer is in the present simple of past simple would be the best.

Have students go together in pairs and get them to take turns at reading to each other. This adds a speaking and listening element to a reading task and the students can help each other out as they work together.

Pair Work – Prepare some A4 paper and character information cards for your students. On the character cards, include past simple and present simple sentences. Demonstrate the activity on the board. Draw a timeline and then have one student come up to the front of the class with you. Read the information on the character card and have the student write a full sentence on the timeline. For the present simple sentences, get them to write in a box near the timeline.  Students do the activity in pairs, switch cards and change pairs as many times as you think is required.

 

Production

Classroom Timeline – Using the entire whiteboard, draw a timeline and elicit some important dates. You could have the timeline as long as the oldest person in the classroom. Set up some rules for the activity. Eg, you can only write about other people, etc. ICQ these before the activity starts. Have students mingle among each other and get them to write other people’s information on the timeline. Students have to pay attention to where people have already written and may have to ask some follow up questions. Eg, “When did Mary go to France in 2010?” Set a timer for the students and let them go!

Once the activity is finished, follow up with some feedback. Ask students questions about the timeline. Next, hand out an example of the writing you would like students to do. Give them a pre-task question and some time to read. Eg, “How many people did I write about?”

Set-up the task by giving them a goal. Linking it to the pre-task question is always good. For example, take five people from the timeline and write about them. Students will have to refer to the timeline on the board and compare lifestyles with other people. As students are writing, go around the class and take notes of errors.

Do error feedback after the activity and then get the students to share stories.

 

 

 

CCQs

CCQ is one of the many acronyms you will be familiarized with during your time on CELTA. They stand for Concept Checking Questions and are one of the most important skills you will learn on your CELTA course.

What are they? Well, not to be confused with ICQs, CCQs are specifically for checking the meaning of words, grammar points, idioms, etc. For elementary/pre-intermediate they should be kept as simple as possible – Yes/No questions. Intermediate and advanced students can handle more complex questions types – If clauses work well for particularly complex grammar structures. We will look at some examples below.

And why do we use them? Have you ever tried to explain a new word to a student and they just nod away as if they understand? Five minutes later, you realize that they didn’t actually understand what you were teaching them at all. In terms of lesson staging, it’s important that students learn new words at a particular time in the lesson. Failing to do so can make a potentially good lesson fail dramatically. CCQs are more like a safety net for you and your students. Remember, most students won’t tell you they don’t understand, so it’s up to us as teachers to use language the students are already familiar with to check concepts of newer items.

Ok, how do we use them? CCQs should be done immediately after you have introduced a new word. Usually, a new word is covered in this sequence: Meaning, Form and Pronunciation, or MFP. So, CCQs would be done before you get into the form of a word or the structure of a grammar form. Let’s examine some examples of several different types of things we can concept check in the class. Eg, words, grammar and idioms.

Example 1, Concrete Nouns: Let’s use the word “Polar bear”. The easiest way to introduce the word is to show a picture. CCQs for this word could be… “Is it white?”, “Does it live in cold places?”, “What do they eat?”, “Can they be brown?”, “Do they like hot places?”, etc.

Example 2, Conceptual Words: How about, “Freedom”? You could show two pictures as a comparison. Eg, one person in jail and one person in an open field. “Can this person go anywhere?… Yes, because he is free, he has freedom”. Confirming after each question is a good way to convey a concept. More questions include; “How about this person?”, “Does he have to listen to instructions?”, “Can he do what he wants?”, “What countries are famous for freedom?”, “What countries are not?”, etc.

Example 3, Grammar: Let’s use the present continuous. Timelines are great for tenses. Write your target sentence on the board. Eg, “I am teaching”. Use the clock to elicit times. “Did I teach at 3am?” – No. Point to a particular time on the board and say, “Can I say, “I am teaching?” – No. “Will I teach tonight at 9pm?” – No. “Can I say it?” – No. Students may not know these answers. Give them time to answer, but fill them in with the answer as you go. As you do this, they are building a concept of the grammar point. Do some gestures and ask, “What am I doing?” Students may not use the present continuous yet, but that’s OK. State, I am ~ing now. Highlight now on the timeline. “We use ~ing for NOW”. Usually, a grammar point can have a particular key word that associates well with it. Find these words and teach them to your students. Eg, ~ing and now.

Your CCQs will be done during the meaning phase of MFP. We will look at form in another article.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have about CCQs. I remember struggling to understand the concept and what questions to ask. I would be happy to give more examples and add them to the list if you have any challenging concepts for me to try and tackle!

– Sam

The Cambridge CELTA course: an overview

What is the CELTA really like? (Week 1 and 2)

Good overview of the first two weeks of CELTA!

Girl About Rome

For anyone who’s serious about teaching English some form of teacher-training course is imperative. The Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) is the most revered in the profession and most countries (outside of Asia) will ask for this as a minimum, plus a degree. The CELTA is an entry-level course designed to make you a teacher in 4 weeks and even though it specifies that it is for teaching adults, the equivalent qualification for Young Learners is nowhere near as prevalent and so every institution will accept the CELTA.

I applied and was accepted to the CELTA course at West London College Ealing campus in July 2012. £1000 later and I was still unsure as to what exactly the CELTA entailed. Sure, there’s a bit of information floating about on forums, but most just tell you about how intense it is and warns you against that inevitable breakdown…

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Present Simple Lesson Plan – Pre-Int, PPP

First of in the CELTA Lesson Plan Series is the simple present for pre-intermediate learners! This lesson, and all other lessons in the series, will cover the core of lesson, namely the PPP section. Before getting into the details of the  PPP style lesson plan, I will first cover the context of the lesson, target language that will be used, model sentencing and function, use, meaning or concept of the simple present. Finally, there will be anticipated problems and solutions for the lesson as well. This should make a good cover page to see if this is the kind of lesson plan you are looking for, as well as helping those on their CELTA who may struggle with filling in this section of the lesson plan. This sounds like a lot, but it is what is required of those on the CELTA course. Anyway, without further ado…

Context of the Lesson: To introduce and practice the present simple. The use of the present simple in this lesson will be restricted to “habits”. Students will discuss schedules and will write an email about their schedules.

Target Language: I watch TV everyday. John doesn’t eat breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. Do you exercise once a week? What do you do on Mondays?

Model Sentence: I watch TV on Friday. Subject + Verb (Basic Form) + Noun + On  (Preposition) + Day (noun).

Function/Use AND/OR Meaning/Concept: The present simple has many meanings and uses. In this lesson, it will be taught and used as a way to express habits. This will be the only meaning covered in this lesson.

Anticipated Problems: Students may have learnt a different meaning/use of the present simple which may cause confusion. Third person participle may be new for some students and frequency words, which have varying patterns, may also be confusing.

Solutions: Explain that there are several variations of the present simple. Briefly cover third person participle. List frequency words on the board for students to take notes.

 

Presentation

This section should be as short and sweet as possible. You need to convey your concept/concepts to the students as quickly and as concisely as you can. Here is one of the easiest ways I know to convey the present simple as a habit.

Draw a weekly schedule on the board as you elicit days of the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write a gap fill question on the board – I _______ TV on Friday.

watch – watched – watching

Students may know the answer. Circle watch. Fill in “I watch TV on Friday” on the schedule. State that this is the present simple and that this is your schedule. Say, “We can use the present simple for schedules”. Follow up with some CCQ questions. Use dates and ask questions like, did I watch TV on Friday the 24th? Will I watch TV tomorrow? Do I watch TV on Friday every week?  Give 3 or 4 more examples.

Next, present any language you think may be new to the students for the remainder of the lesson. Because we are talking about schedules, you could pre-teach language such as, walk the dog, take a bath, cook dinner, take a shower, drive to work, catch a train, etc. Remember. Meaning, Form, Pronunciation. MFP! It’s very important to follow this format to score high on your CELTA course. For example if I was to introduce “walk the dog”, I would show a picture of a dog. State that it is my dog and ask, “what do we do every day?” while gesturing. Students may know it or not, but that’s fine. Introduce the phrase and write it on the board. Write the form below the phrase and highlight “The”. Tell them that this “the” is special. You have to remember these kinds of phrases. Ask what do you say for two dogs? Introduce “walk the dogs”. Drill the phrase. Next word/phrase.

Using the words you have pre-taught, introduce some functional language such as on Friday, every day, twice a week, etc. *You should be specific about exactly what you will introduce on your lesson plan and their form in the target language section.

 

Practice

Use the schedule on the board to drill the target language you just presented and additional functional language. Start with simple present + days only. Begin to include more frequency words and more difficult words that may have just been pre-taught. *Make sure to drill chorally, in groups and individually. Also, cover negatives, questions and various pronouns/subjects.

Live Listening

Find a timetable like the one below from a textbook or the internet, or you could make one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask students to listen to your schedule. Tell them to fill in the template. Repeat if necessary. Briefly review the third person “S” for the next activity. After students listen to your timetable, put students into pairs. Demonstrate how to report information back to each other and ask questions. Write the target language up on the board before starting the activity. Students report the schedule back to each other. *Once students are about halfway into the activity, erase the target language on the board to test their confidence with the target language.

Draw timetable on the board (OHT/Smartboards work well, too) and ask students to fill in the answers on the board.

Quiz

Using the answers on the board, ask students to write 5-10 sentences about the schedule. Do an example on the board. You could have students write on scrap paper or a print that you prepared.

Have students switch papers and check each other’s answers.

Feedback as a class. Go over any mistakes.

 

Production

Pair Work

Prepare another worksheet with a timetable. However, have this print include two timetables so they can write down the information that their partners tell them. Give them a goal. Eg, write a minimum of ten things, or write 3 things about your house, work, and a hobby.

Have students ask each other questions regarding their schedule. Encourage students to ask extra questions by setting goals such as, “Find out 3 things your partner doesn’t do during the week”. Or, “What things do they do every week/not every week? Demonstrate before starting the activity.

Mingle

Demonstrate the activity in front of the class. After students have finished writing down their partner’s schedule. Students stand up and talk to other people in the class about themselves while giving extra information about their partner. 

Set goals and do ICQs for the activity. Eg, Who will you talk about? How many people will you talk to?

Feedback as a class.

Writing

Finally, set up a writing activity for the students. I suggest an email to a friend comparing people’s schedules within the class. Prepare an example and either hand it out, make an OHT, or use a smart screen/projector. Highlight any major points within the writing. For example, circle comparisons.

Give students a designated time to write and once they are finished, share emails with each other. You could cold call some students after as feedback.

Finish the class with some kind of cool down. And that’s that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

CELTA Lesson Plan Series Coming Soon!

Just a quick update.

I am currently working on a large series of lesson plans for students on their CELTA. I hope to cover all tenses and their major uses across both pre intermediate and advance levels. Hopefully students who are stuck for ideas can come and find some inspiration and get an idea for what makes a good lesson plan – especially in those early stages.

There is a lot of work involved and so I am still not sure how to present the lesson plans in the best possible way. I’m thinking about a brief page description with a more detailed word file at the end of it for people to download. However, I’m not sure how much information to give people. What if people end up just copying my entire lesson plans? Surely that cannot be good for the course and the students involved. On the flip side, I made this site to assist people on their CELTA and it could be the best possible thing I do on here.

Anyway, a lot of things running through my head right now. I also had to deal with potential copyright issues as well. Guess I won’t be scanning text books and using their activities. All original content to come!

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Sam

CELTA Series Part 4 – The Final Two Weeks

Awesome! I look forward to watching the rest of these… Your CELTA buddies are so helpful during the course! There was this one old lady who clashed with everyone else though… D:

Grace Goes Global

We’ve made it to the home stretch, people! Once you make it through those first two weeks it’s almost (almost) a breeze. This video focuses on how your fellow trainees can help you in your journey and preparing for the future. If you are lucky enough to have a great group and trainers then wrapping up the CELTA is actually a bittersweet event. By the time you can smell that finish line you are beginning to see what a truly unique experience you are having and can finally see that everything will get done in its time. 

Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3

How to Finish Strong

Breakdown

•  The final two weeks are easier because you know what is expected of you and how to manage your time.
• If you make friends with your fellow trainees it will make your life so much better!
• More down time…

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Positioning in the Clasroom

Who would have thought that where you stand in the class can affect how everything flows. Even sitting down can have a profound effect on the atmosphere of the class. Have you ever set-up an activity and proceeded to tell them to get to it only to have them give you a great blank stare?

I certainly have, and it is most likely because I didn’t leave the front of the class to hand over control to the students. Let’s take a look at the various places you could position yourself in the classroom and how it effects the class.

1. You could stand in front of everyone at the front of the class. This is when you want attention from the class. You make announcements here, give instructions and drill students. It’s a place that should be associated with you being a focal point.

2. You could stand to the side of the class. This is a good place in the class to walk students through an activity. For example, a low level class giving speeches or a running dialogue to a movie or slide show.

3. You could stand at the back of the class. This is if you want your students to feel as if they’re leading the class. Students could be writing on the board for an activity, or even leading one. You should go to the back when you feel the need to hand over control of the class to the students.

4. Or you could sit down in and around all of these positions! Sitting down provides a more personal approach to teaching. It can also be quite stealthy. In adult classes for example, I like to sit down at the front of the class to show that I am a peer and we are working together. Other times, I like sit around the side and back of the class so that I blend into the class. Especially for younger learners, not knowing where the teacher is allows them to open up a bit more.

That’s all for today – If I remember correctly, you can score specifically in this are on CELTA which improves your chances of getting a B/A pass. Keep it in the back of your mind at all times!

Ciao!