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CELTA

Assignment 4: Lessons From the Classroom

Dominic Brecken
Submission Due Date:11/06/2019
Word Count:975

1) Teaching Strengths.

One aspect of my teaching which has been noted in feedback as a strong point is
good lesson planning. I am able to construct a detailed lesson plan that follows the
logical staging required of both PPP and TTT frameworks; although it has been
essential to my development to be able to observe the practical application of the
above by both my tutors and peers, as prior to observation these frameworks
seemed somewhat theoretical and confusing. One of my peers in particular has
consistently demonstrated the effective delivery of a well planned lesson and I feel
that I have learned a lot from her, especially regarding the clear sequencing of
discrete lesson stages.
I also feel I have made good use of the creative latitude allowed within lesson
planning and have produced some well designed, student centred tasks which
were relevant to the target language and allowed the students to engage in useful
fluency practice. An example of this is a paired question task from lesson 8 which
was noted in feedback as being well thought out and carefully constructed. I spent
a good deal of time grading and modelling the questions to ensure that they were
appropriate for the level, were interesting enough to generate discussion and
concerned the relevant language points.
Finally, the one area of my teaching practice that I am particularly pleased with is
that I was able to establish a good rapport with the students and that I managed to
achieve this quite quickly. This aspect was mentioned fairly regularly by both my
tutors and this was was very encouraging, particularly as I saw how having a good
relationship with the students worked well for them.
Prior to the start of the course this was an area that worried me quite considerably,
so the fact that I was able to engage with the students in a natural, friendly
manner and with humour, when appropriate, was very important to me personally
and also in supporting other aspects of my teaching such as monitoring and
feedback.
Being able to communicate naturally with the students provided me with a certain
degree of confidence and made what for me is often a quite stressful experience a
lot more manageable.

2) Areas for development.


One of my main areas of concern is inconsistent use of CCQs and the fact that
these have been, with varying degrees, an issue from the first lesson to the last.
Indeed, the NS grade for my last lesson was, I believe, mainly due to the complete
omission of CCQs, despite that fact that they had been included in the lesson plan.
Although this problem isn't something concrete, I feel I have to attribute omissions
such as this to feeling nervous which, on occasion, is still be a problem for me and
which in turn tends to make me hurry the delivery of my lessons. I believe
however, that this isn't an insurmountable issue as I fully understand the need for
coherent and consistent concept checks and have included them successfully on
other occasions.
I also need to make sure that my contextualisation of target language is clear and
consistent in particular when considering appropriate use of visuals for elicitation.
It has been mentioned during tutor and peer feedback that some of my images did
not successfully demonstrate the word or concept I was trying to get across. I
relied too heavily on my own ideas about the image and did not think closely
enough about how the image might have been interpreted by the students.
If this point is coupled with not very particularly effective CCQs, it is obvious that
more care needs to be taken in order to ensure students comprehend the desired
language.
Another area that needs strengthening is task demonstration. I have seen plenty of
good examples of clear task set up demonstrated by my peers and understand
how this is done effectively and its importance not only for student comprehension
but also for reducing TTT. On several occasions I have relied on verbal instructions
to demonstrate tasks and also failed to follow the correct sequence when handing
out materials which should always be given out after the demonstration and not
before or during.
In summary, I have shown that I can plan a coherent, logically staged lesson which
is student centred and effective in delivering the target language, and I understand
very well the reasoning behind following the prescribed procedures.
My main issue is in making sure that the lesson plan is adhered to and that
important elements such as CCQs, drilling, task set up and contextualisation of
language are consistent and clear.

3) Action plan.
Area for development Development strategy
CCQs  Watch video segments dealing with CCQs.

 Continue to observe recorded lessons.

 Read published material concerning CCQs.

 Practice constructing CCQs.

Contextualisation  Practice using appropriate visuals for elicitation with


family and friends.

 Continue to observe recorded lessons, making notes


and referring back to published material.
Task set up  Watch online material concerning setting up and
running activities.

 Study material dealing with task set up. In


particular; Scrivener (2011, pp. 37-53).
Overall teaching  Aim to secure some classroom observation time.

 Continue to read recommended course books and


other material.

 Make use of the advice found in online EFL


communities and forums.

In the longer term:

 I intend to develop my teaching practice by absorbing as much published


material as possible, in particular concentrating on the different approaches
to language teaching that are in use worldwide.

 I am also going to make it a priority to continue to learn another language, in


my case, Spanish, as I feel very strongly that in order to become an effective
language teacher I have to know what methods are effective for me as a
leaner.

 Finally I hope to continue my teaching education by completing further


courses when I feel I have gained appropriate experience.

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