CELTA Assignment Cover Sheet

To be completed by CELTA candidate

Submitted by: Duaa Rabeha

Assignment title: Focus On Learner

Assignment number: 1

Number of words: 994 words

Submitted on (date): 1/7/2021

This assignment is my original work and I have acknowledged all sources.

Full name: Duaa Rabeha

To be completed by CELTA tutor

Overall grade: PASS Anela Karic

I have read the assignment and agree with the grade. Bita Rezaei 11.01.2021
General comments: This assignment meets the pass criteria. Excellent job on the learner profile!
Very detailed analysis of all language examples included. Good choice of remedial practice but the
second one seems to be from a young learners source-although appropriate, aim for materials for
adult learners. You can also add appropriate references for your classroom evidence to support.

International House London Teacher Training

A MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE WORLD ORGANISATION

A. Learner Profile.
Zahraa Abdullah is a Bahraini lady, her first language is Arabic, currently learning Persian
and she has an elementary level of English. Zahraa studied Education at University, she
used to teach Arabic subjects, she didn’t retain much of learning English at school and
university. Zahraa took free English classes few years ago which she enjoyed a lot, she
resumed her English learning recently to elevate her level and skills, she enjoys current
English classes as well.
The reasons for learning English according to Jim Scrivener are a combination of intrinsic
and extrinsic motivations. Zahraa has this combination, she likes to follow news on
English channels, she believes that she needs English at hospitals, for self-development
and for travelling. However, the importance of speaking English now a days and avoiding
turning red with embarrassment of not understanding this language are the main reasons
motivating her to learn English. This learner needs more exposure to English in order to
gain more language and productive skills
Howard Gardener has suggested that people could have more than seven intelligences.
Zahraa has visual, verbal-linguistic learning style and interpersonal intelligence as she
enjoys visual activities, gets engaged rapidly while working in groups and participates
enough, but she dislikes grammar work, individual and difficult homework.
As Zahraa used to be a teacher, it means that she is a good speaker, listener and
observer, this background strongly affects her learning at the moment. Her previous
experience in learning English was wonderful as she described it during the questionnaire,
which has affected her current learning process positively. Her learning style demands
more visual activities, examples and written texts, if not, the learning process will not be
interesting for such a learner like her. very detailed profile  nice references too.
Reading
During the interview she said: “I like reading a lot” and during my reading lesson on
13/12/2020, Zahraa finished reading the text “Why haven’t scientists invented it yet?”
quickly and confidently answered all questions, I can tell that this student is most
successful in reading. 
Listening
During Hasan’s listening lesson and during my listening lesson on 20/21/2020 she had a
slow response and interaction. This receptive skill is quite challenging for her maybe
because she does not have enough exposure to English speakers, I can tell that she is
strong in getting the general idea of what she is listening to, but a bit weak in catching up
details from the first try. 
Speaking
Zahraa needs to improve speaking but she never holds herself back from it, she makes
regular mistakes corresponding both to the level and to being an Arabic language

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speaker, even though she gets her sentence structure wrong she can make herself
understood. She answers rapidly with no fears but with struggles in fluency as she makes
short stops between words. 
Writing
Zahraa has never tried to write before and finds writing in English difficult as she can’t
write her exact ideas easily with the lack of opening and closing words or phrases. 
Pronunciation
Arabic learners tend to struggle with /p/ sound since it does not exist in the Arabic
phonology, she pronouns /b/ instead of /p/ in the word shopping, that’s why she needs to
work on articulating some letters that don’t exist in her first language correctly. She also
confuses the vowel sound /ɔː/ with /ɒ/ as /mɒl / instead of /mɔːl/ in the word mall. I
noticed that she always omits the /t/ in the word (don’t) too. 
Grammar
Zahraa is weak in grammar, she doesn’t use “verb to be” in sentences which is a
construction in English that doesn’t exist in Arabic. During the interview, she said: my
mother language Arabic. She uses the present simple tense instead of present
progressive: now I study English and Persian. She struggles to ask questions: you tell me?
Instead of: can you tell me? you know? Instead of: do you know? 
Lexis
Zahraa struggles with linking words and choosing the correct vocabulary that best suits
the context, for example she wanted to say (I need more exercise speaking, somebody
discuss and teach with me). 

B. Activities.
Pronunciation
Pronouncing /b/ instead of /p/
I have decided to focus on this problem because correct pronunciation is important
problem that Zahraa is facing, and focusing on such aspect is necessary for her to stop
mispronouncing letters and to gain fluency.
Practice 1, on both pages: 75,79 from the book Ship or Sheep? - by Ann Baker- with
cartoons by Leslie Marshall- is a good one to help Zahra.
This activity set will allow Zahraa to listen, repeat and practice the sounds, it is culturally
suitable, meaningful and engaging since it includes pictures -as she would benefit from it
for being a visual learner- and practices both listening and drilling as the aim of this
activity is to differentiate /p/ from /b/. Putting fingers both on lips and front of the neck

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when pronouncing to clarify the difference of uttering is an important addition to this
practice. 

Grammar
Verb to be omission in sentences.
I have decided to focus on verb to be omission because Arabic speakers leave them out in
their language production, which is a serious grammatical problem in English, working on
it will prevent Zahraa from a low quality of spoken and written contexts.
I will use the activity attached from Worksheets PDF | Teaching Resources and Lesson Plans
after trying to elicit when do we use be, it is a gap-fill activity which is appropriate for
Zahraa as it gives her examples of how to use be verbs in every day sentences. This
activity is graded as elementary level and aims to show the student when verbs to be are
used, practices the usage with small reading paragraph, sentences and some reference
from the box, which allows her to produce and apply it effectively. Zahraa is interpersonal
learner, so probably, I will add a group component to the activity set and ask them to talk
about themselves using verb to be.1 

1
The practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer. Third Edition. Longman.
Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener. Second Edition published by MACMILLAN. Chapter 4.
Learner English by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith. Cambridge University Press 2001.{Arabic Speakers},
from page 195 up to 201
Ship or Sheep? By Ann Baker. Cambridge University Press 2002. Section B: Vocabulary 24,25.

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Appendix 1. Pronouncing /p/

Appendix 2. Using Verb to be.

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

2
Ship or Sheep? By Ann Baker. Cambridge University Press 2002. Section B: Vocabulary 24,25.
Grammar activity is retrieved from:
am is are Grammar - Free Printables - Worksheets PDF on August 8,2019 and
Write the full forms. (am is are) - Worksheets PDF on April 18,2020. 

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