TEFL/TESOL Certification Course

Paris, France Summer 2013 Christina Lantero

University

• Located in the 5th Arrondissement, next to the Church de Val du Grace and a few blocks from the Luxembourg Gardens • Classes held at The American University of Paris five days a week from 9am-5pm • United TEFL rented out the classrooms during the summer months

Housing

• Independent housing: 3 students • Recommended Housing by program

Course Work Info:

TESOL/TEFL Language : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages or Teaching English as a Foreign • 120 hour TEFL/TESOL certification through TEFL International Paris, France • Planned curriculum, chapters, and lessons • Prepared extra-activity material • Taught interactive communicative EFL classes to adults and teens • Evaluated peer/experienced teacher performance • Selected course books • Studied methodology and English grammar

Teaching Experience

• EFL Instructor at TEFL International Paris, France • Taught EFL classes to adults and teens: in person and online • Prepared comprehensive and Level appropriate lesson plans for single, double and group lessons

Course Schedule

• 4 week course • Week 1: mainly observation; grammar review; learning lesson formats (ESA); learning techniques, textbook review; language simulation • Week 2-4: Observation, teaching, continuation of instruction on how to teach EFL learners

Class Make-up

• Three female university students from Ireland • One 28 yr. old male from UK; previous occupation: restaurant manager • One 30 yr. old female from UK; Previous occupation: nurse • One 50+ yr. old female from Australia (resident of France) previous occupation: unknown • One female university student from U.S.A.

• One 24 yr. old female from U.S.A.; occupation: middle school band/music teacher • Instructor: 50+ yr. old Female from Ukraine; spoke 5 languages total

Teaching TESOL/TEFL Students

• Using lots of gestures • Conscious of personal regional accent and dialect differences • Awareness of cultural differences • Be flexible with all lesson plans and over plan all lesson • Engage, Study and Activate • Build off of prior/background knowledge

Teaching Beginning Students

• Thought this would be the hardest!

• Struggles: differences in cultural backgrounds, not knowing whether information was completely new or student was still processing, many exceptions to the rule • Strengths: using gestures, speaking slowly and clearly, incorporating creativity into the lessons **Keep in mind the types of students you have (motivation levels)

Lessons for beginning students:

  Present Simple Tense for: “work”, “live” and “have” (75min lesson) Regular Past Simple Tense (45-60 min)         Materials: Video clips Posters White boards Agendas Stories News articles Workbook pages

Teaching Intermediate Students

• Hardest in reality for me!

• Struggles: range in learning levels, accommodating all students, knowing all of the gaps in student learning prior to lessons • Strengths: flexibility, creativity, supplemental materials

Lessons for Intermediates

   Types of Questions: who, what, where when, how Different types of verb tenses:   Present: simple (perfect or passive), continuous Past: simple (perfect, continuous (perfect or passive) Debates/Controversial Issues         Materials Video clips Articles Graphic Organizers Workbook pages Song lyrics Whiteboard Audio tapes

Teaching Advanced Students

• Struggles: creating lesson plans that still challenge, building academic vocabulary, accent and pronunciation differences • Strengths: creativity with lesson plans, pacing, gestures, diversity of materials, flexibility of class sizes, tailoring materials to students’ interests

Lessons for Advanced

     Grammar and accent identification and correction Study on strong adjectives Academic writing styles Current Issues in Media: self-esteem Lots of discussion and critical thinking!

      Materials: Newspaper articles Video clips Jeopardy game Magazines Poster supplies

Teaching Online Students

Strengths: adapting lesson plans, patience, pacing, and creativity Struggles: technology, ability to use and provide materials, student use of online translators, moving around the classroom and allowing partner/group work

What I learned about English during the course...

• phonemic alphabet/symbols • reviewed all grammatical rules • more about intonation and stress • Differences in regional and standard English (between U.S. UK, Ireland, and Australia!) •

Spoken and Written!

• Manner/Place of Articulation

What I learned about teaching during the course:

• ESA model of lesson planning • Flexibility • Online teaching strategies • Time management skills • The many roles of a teacher • TTT vs. STT • How to supplement materials along with the textbook and workbook curriculum • How to differentiate to accommodate all learner • Importance of wait time • Creativity, prep, and positive feedback go a long way!

• How to combine textbooks and workbooks • How to create unit plans for multiple lessons

What I learned about diversity and culture:

• Respect • Sensitivity to all students backgrounds and learning styles • Feelings of being completely immersed in a new culture and language • Blog entries and observations written about living in a different culture

Future Implementation:

• English and grammatical • Creative planning with Supplementary materials • Differentiation • Multi-cultural education • Sensitivity to all students backgrounds and ELL students • ESA lesson formatting • Professionalism in the work place • Flexibility and Time management!

Questions or Comments?

Thank-you for listening!