Four 25-hour-long, practical SELF-STUDY modules for ELT teachers who want to become better at teaching IELTS by focusing on SUB-SKILLS
The Course
- is an intensive, practical, and super TRANSFORMATIVE teacher training program
- aimed at CELTA and Delta graduates
- who want to learn PRACTICAL skills teaching strategies without writing long essays
- but want a course with the same level of academic rigor as far as AWARENESS raising is concerned
- and would like to deepen their understanding of why teaching skills well matters, and would welcome some help and inspiration figuring out HOW to go about it
You
- have the Cambridge CELTA or equivalent
- have around 1 year post-CELTA teaching EXPERIENCE (–recommended)
- speak English on a C1+ level
- are already teaching IELTS or plan to
- want to become excellent at teaching SKILLS (as opposed to just grammar and vocabulary)
Perhaps You
- teach teens and adults, and mostly HIGHER levels (CEFR B1+)
- want to specialize in teaching EAP, or other (e.g. Cambridge) EXAMS, using a ‘SKILLS FIRST’ approach
- consider doing the Cambridge Delta or equivalent, or an MA ELT/TESOL at some point in the future, OR already have an MA or the Delta but want fresh tips and access to a comprehensive SKILLS TEACHING MATERIALS BANK
- need PRACTICAL, immediately applicable tips for your classroom
- want to become more CONFIDENT to better position yourself in the market
And Maybe You Noticed That …
- there is a lot of IELTS content on the internet for candidates, some of which is quite repetitive and GENERIC
- course books often lack DEPTH when it comes to building SUB-SKILL AWARENESS because they focus more on teaching language, such as academic vocabulary in isolation, or advanced grammar structures, often without explicitly tying these to their concrete use in the exam
- ‘skills’ activities are only used as ‘CARRIERS’ of a language point, for example as a reading or listening task to present a new language point, or a writing or speaking task to practice it
- skills teaching is often limited to just TESTING the skill without raising much awareness of the processes involved, or
- limited to teaching the bare BASICS of it, as taught on the CELTA (such as ‘skimming’, ‘scanning’, or ‘reading for detail’ in reading)
or that
- the IELTS teacher training courses available tend to give more of a brief STRUCTURAL OVERVIEW of the exam as opposed to dealing with the specific problems learners have in each test, and how to help them with these
- many of these courses are mostly only INFORMATIVE, which means that you are left to your own devices regarding your actual classroom progress, without clear expert FEEDBACK on your lesson plans and teaching, or accountability as you go along
- the books assigned on more prestigious teacher training courses can be quite THEORY-HEAVY, and often lack practical ideas rooted in sound classroom rationale and real learner needs
- candidates on these courses are expected to come up with their own activities, and sometimes a little INSPIRATION – in the form of practical worksheets, for example– can go a long way in helping them create their own materials
- even if often it is not a matter of a lack of candidate motivation or a willingness to do the work on these courses, but a general LACK OF FOCUS on in-depth (sub-)skills teaching
The Course Might Be Ideal If You
- mostly teach (or plan to teach) HIGHER LEVELS (i.e. band 6+)
- want to learn how to teach listening, reading, writing and speaking SUB-SKILLS specific to the IELTS exam, to be able to better help your learners get the results they need while standing out from your competition on the market
- would like to learn how to GIVE FEEDBACK to your learners on their IELTS writing skills
- feel that you need to improve your LESSON PLANNING
- are interested in the benefits of BESPOKE course creation, its positive impact on getting new students and keeping your existing ones happy and progressing
…but NOT if you want…
- a GENERIC overview of the basic structure of the exam (e.g. about the length of each test) –You already know what is in the test (or are happy to read around and find out on www.ielts.org)
- a quick SUPERFICIAL training with lots of general test-taking ADVICE (such as which writing task to do first, why it is important that candidates check their answers for typos after each listening task, how much time to leave to transfer answers onto the answer sheet, why it’s important to show up to the speaking exam with a photo ID, or to take enough water with you for the tests, blah blah blah…)
- a course about teaching academic GRAMMAR or VOCABULARY in ISOLATION, i.e. without clearly linking any new language taught to concrete IELTS tasks, for example how to use hedging in speaking Part 3 to A, gain time, B, sound more advanced, C, increase your coherence and cohesion band score
- a general teacher training course focusing on BASIC CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES (such as variety of interaction patterns, appropriate timing of stages, settler and stirrer activities, or other methods and games more suited to a general English classroom)
- a thorough overview of all the possible (academic) TOPICS that might be covered in the exam
#showmehow
#skillsfirst
#skillsmatter
#IELTSTeacherTrainer
#TeachingIELTSafterCELTA