CELTA HOME BASED SELECTION TASK: NAME _____________________________________________________________ AIMS OF THE TASK: to make an initial assessment of applicants aptitude

e to successfully undertake the course. to enable applicants to think about some of the areas covered within a CELTA course. Please complete the task as well as you can. To do this effectively, we strongly recommend that you refer to a teachers handbook or grammar book, e.g. Practical English Usage, Michael Swan (OUP) or An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage, Geoffrey Leach (Edward Arnold). Any local library should have available a small selection of English Language grammar books. The task is divided into 3 parts: A - Language Correction B - Approaches to Teaching and Learning C - Learning English A. Correcting student mistakes Each of the following sentences contains a mistake. The mistake could be a grammatical one or an error of style. For each one: form explain briefly why the corrected version is preferable. underline the mistake and state what type of mistake it is write the correct version and name the part of speech or grammatical

1. I need some advices. I need some advice. Advice is an uncountable noun so cannot be in plural form.

2. I am watching TV every night. I have been watching TV every night. I am watching is present continuous tense. I have been watching is present perfect continuous tense.

3. A: Have you seen John recently? B: Yes, I have seen him last week. Yes, I saw him last week. I have seen him is present perfect tense. Last week is simple past tense. Tenses need to be the same in the sentence.

4. (In a shop) A: Morning, mate. What can I get you? B: I wonder if you would mind giving me a packet of Benson & Hedges. I wonder if you would mind getting me a packet of Benson & Hedges.

5. I not come to college everyday. I only come on Mondays and Fridays. I do not go to college everyday. I only go on Mondays and Fridays. Come is used to describe a movement to the place where the speaker or hearer is. Go is used to describe a movement away from the position the speaker or hearer is. The speaker moves to college, they are not at the college all the time.

B. Approaches to Teaching and Learning. Imagine you are teaching a group of students at beginner level. What problems might your students have in understanding and pronouncing these sentences? Ive got : a new watch. : a brother. : a stomach-ache.

Watch has two meanings. Pronouncing w, w at the end of the word is softer than when it is at the start. Tch, t is silent. It can be used as slang to mean a friend. It is pronounced different to how it is spelt bruther. Pronouncing ach and ache. Ch and che sound different if they are at the beginning of a word to when it is at the end. Outline how you could teach these.
A new watch: Watch is a time piece typically worn on the wrist. Tch at the end of the word is pronounced ch. I would give some other examples, hatch, catch, snatch. I would draw a picture of a watch also. A brother: Brother is pronounced bruhthur. Other is pronounced uhthur I would draw a picture of a family with a brother in it. A stomach-ache: I would draw a person with a face expressing pain and an arrow to the stomach area. Stomach is pronounced stumuhk and ache is pronounced eyk. Similar to cake which is pronounced keyk, lake pronounced leyk.

C. Learning English Students generally have a number of problems learning English. If possible, using your own experience of learning a language or helping people to learn English, write about 200 words, outlining what you consider to be three major problems in each of the following areas: Grammar Pronunciation Vocabulary Grammar English has 12 basic tenses with small differences that could be difficult to differentiate to English learners. English has several modal auxiliary verbs which have a number of uses. Eg must English has two forms of article, the (definite article), a or an (indefinite article). English nouns can be used without an article, zero article. Pronunciation English have sounds that are not present in other languages and so learners may have difficulties in pronouncing them. Pronouncing groups of consonants and vowels. There are fourteen different vowel sounds and they are spelt in different ways. English is stressed timed, most other languages are syllable timed. Students may have problems with the rhythm. Vocabulary Phrasel verbs have several meanings and different syntactic patterns. Students will find collocations difficult. Prepositions are used in many different ways and contexts, it is difficult to remember the meaning of each one, for example, on, of and at.