4 Weeks TESOL

Certain aspects of english, especially tenses, I had not covered before. Neither had I any previous experience of the work covered in Unit 13, teaching pronunciation and phonology. The latter should be very useful to me, as I have so far had little experience of teaching pronunciation to non-english speakers. The layout of the course units, interchanging the technical and the practical is more digestible that a block of technical units, which I found harder. Having taught before (but not EFL) I found it useful to have some approaches and techniques confirmed. For example, the classic format for many lessons, Introduction, Development and Conclusion, is to some extent reflected in ESA. However the terms ‘Engage’ and ‘Activate’ say much more than the traditional approach and are therefore more useful. That said, I note that this course teaches that ESA is not the only lesson layout and I agree with that. Students appreciate some variety in their diet of lessons. The whole DVD unit (10) was very useful, in addition to the change of approach, which is always welcome. I had been previously unaware (Unit 15) of the different external assessments available. It is useful to have that included in the course material. In contrast I have experience of the items of equipment (Unit 17) and many of my views were confirmed. I was not aware though of the Learner’s english-english dictionaries at three levels. It seems very important for students to progress past their dictionaries of translation. I will recommend these. I intend to use what I have learned here in the ‘english Corner’ in my church. They cater for about 30 migrants in three multilingual classes of different levels. The students do not have to be members of the congregation, or make a commitment and the tuition is free. The present teachers, all volunteers, have completed this course and I have been acting as assistant to them. So I would like to take on more.