CELTA Course, Day 7 & 8 (30-31. May)

Ugh, I forgot to make a post for yesterday. Sorry.

30. May:

Well, I remembered I needed to choose a student that day to interview for our Focus on the Learner assignment (due on Monday for my group members). I selected a student, approached her and we agreed to have the interview on Thursday morning, before the lessons.

I had an overall plan ready for my lesson today, just it was a bit fuzzy, and I needed extra guidance. I got it and felt much better about my lesson. Just that I worked on getting all the handouts and the display for about 5 hours after I returned to my apartment (around 19:30). Good thing I had already started!

31. May (today):

I taught my 3rd observed class. Since it was about theater (and The Phantom of the Opera was mentioned in the reading text), I decided to open the class with a snip-bit of that famous song--myself. I got their attention! The rest of the class went well, except for a few things here and there. Just more things I need to work on. Typical, really. I'm still glad I had that lesson.

Now, what do I have on my plate now?

- my 4th observed lesson that I need to prepare (I've got some questions about that one already)

- my interview with 1 of my students for my assignment that's due on Monday.

- my Skills assignment that's due on Wednesday

- my 5th observed lesson I will give on Tuesday--with the other class.

(After this week, we will switch classes--and levels. My group taught lower intermediate from the beginning until now. Next week, we'll switch to the other class and teach the upper intermediate students for the rest of the course. That's how the course generally goes.)

. . .  Ok, so 2 classes and 2 assignments within a week's time (give or take).

No pressure, no pressure at all. . . .

CELTA Course, Day 5 & 6 (24-25. May)

Whoa, whoops!

Sorry about that. I honestly didn't even notice that I didn't post anything for the last 2 days. I'll see if I can remember what happened:

24. May (Tues.)

I taught my grammar class (2nd observed class). I thought it was a disaster. I got lost a few times and just went with it. It seemed to me that I wasn't keeping good track of the time. In the freer practice, the students weren't using the correct target language--because I didn't prepare it well enough for them to do so. When it was time to stop, they didn't want to (which could be a good sign?), so I touched each one on the shoulder to get their attention and gently tell them to return to their seats. That worked.

During feedback, all I was told was that I had a good class, lots of good visuals, and that I was keeping good track of time. Really? Kinda goes to show how different perspectives can be.

We had 2 input sessions (lectures) in the afternoon (just like we do every day). Afterwards, I and 3 others had to observe an experienced teacher's class. It was 90 minutes long. The teacher's voice was engaging, and his way of speaking was entertaining, but I was fighting sleep. 

Oh well, now off to put the last-minute details to my 1st assignment before I turned it in the following morning.

25. May (Wed.)

We didn't have to come in by 9:30 because there were no teaching practices. We only had 2 input sessions (lectures), turn in our 1st assignment, observe another experienced teacher, and we were done! The first thing we did was turn in our assignments. I had to resubmit it, due to several small errors here and there. The good thing is that you could technically pass the course even if you had to resubmit all your assignments--as long as you passed 3 out of 4. I hope this will be my only re-submission.

Seeing we started our input sessions at 11 and finished by 14, and we needed to be back to observe by 17:15, we all enjoyed a really long lunch break.

My group observed another experienced teacher who was livelier than the one we observed the day before. Her class's dynamics were much more energetic. Time passed by quicker--and I got a few great ideas. It was after the observation that we received our assignments back. Most of us had to fix a few things and resubmit it. Apparently, that's normal. Good to know. Many have done the course before; it's comforting to know that those who passed also went through not-so-glorious moments like these.

As for today, it's a national holiday in Poland (Corpus Christi), so no classes. According to Polish ways, we'll be off tomorrow as well (might as well get a long holiday when you can, right?). This means a little bit of rest/fun and more time to prepare for our 3rd teaching practice. Well, I needed to have mine by Tuesday, not Monday. Although, this teaching practice now required a FULL, up to 5-page lesson plan, not just the procedure page we filled out before. Ah, this long weekend also gives us more time to start and develop our 2nd assignment (due June 8th).

Yeap, it's a long weekend in Krakow, but I need to stay focused. I'm doing this for my future, after all.

CELTA Course, Day 4 (23. May)

It's actually 00:24 Tuesday morning as I type this.

My weekend was lovely. Sabbath was a real blessing, seeing friends at church I didn't expect to find. Truly an immense blessing.

Sunday, I was able to finish everything, except look at my 2nd observed teaching practice notes. That was done today in the afternoon.

The unobserved class was very relaxed. At least, that how I carried it out. I forgot one activity I really wanted to do, but other than that, I think it went well. At least I was able to relax a little in class.

I've been preparing for my 2nd observed teaching practice. I spent about 3 hours at the British Council after we were done for the day. After coming back home and taking a shower, I spent about 2 more hours preparing/making handouts/getting everything in order. I plan to get up early, go to the British Council earlier than before, and get the final touches set and ready for my grammar class in the morning.

CELTA Course, Day 3 (20. May)

I taught my 1st CELTA class!

I was very nervous this morning as I walked to the British Council.

 After going through my lesson and story a few times, and letting go, I started to relax--although not completely.

I forgot a lot of stuff (i.e., asking instruction concept questions/ICQs, sticking with the time limits, getting everyone's attention, remembering to use each student's name, etc.), but I also did a lot of stuff pretty well. I was able to catch myself doing something I shouldn't, then change it into the way I should have done it from the beginning. This means I'm getting it, remembering it, and able to remind myself as I'm doing the tasks! Hey, baby steps are victory dances in themselves!

Besides, the students themselves were great. They helped me feel comfortable (then again, we met and interviewed each other yesterday morning, so that helped).

We had a session on how to teach reading and listening skills. We had another session to get us prepared on researching and analyzing the target language (for our 1st assignment, which will be due on Wednesday). Sounds hard? It kinda is--if you don't have a good hold on grammar. Mine is ok.

So, basically, I have the following to do during the weekend:

1. An exercise sheet that should take 5 minutes.
2. Prepare for my unobserved lesson for Monday morning (since we are so few, then each of us will teach an unobserved class. I guess this is just so we can get more comfortable/confident in our respective classrooms. Hey, instead of teaching 8 lessons, we teach 10? The more practice, the better!).
3. Start getting my lesson together for my 2nd teaching practice, which will be Tuesday morning.

I'm not planning to post any diary entries during the weekend. All I'd like to do is go to church tomorrow and explore a bit of Krakow. We'll see how they go.

CELTA Course, Day 2 (19. May)

I just observed a fellow group-member's class (we were all divided into 2 groups). My team is teaching the lower-intermediate for the first 2 weeks of this course. On the 3rd week, we'll switch to the other class and teach the upper-intermediate for the other half of the course.

Fellow group-member did a good job. Then again, he has teaching experience, so it wasn't too difficult for him.

I started getting ready for my class tomorrow morning. I have all of my materials/handouts finished, I just need to practice my instructions/delivery.

Even though I've (kind of) done this before, I am stressed. I can see that the CELTA method is WAY more structured than what I'm used to. There are a few things that are somewhat familiar, at least subconsciously but never really thought about until it was pointed out to me/us in these lectures.

I see I came to the right place.

I need to remember, this is my 1st time using the CELTA method, so I'm bound to make some mistakes of some sort along the way tomorrow morning. That's ok. Through trial and error is how we learn, right? Besides, if I knew everything, my presence in this course would be pointless. I'm here 'cause there are things I need to learn--and unlearn.

CELTA Course, Day 1 (18.May)

WELCOME TO MY CELTA DIARY!

Today was my 1st day at the CELTA course. Since it's late and I'm near exhaustion, I'll keep my thoughts to these bullet points:

1. Wow, we're such a small class! I expected 12, but we are 6!
2. We 6 come from very different backgrounds:
• 2 Brits
• 2 Poles (1 born & raised, 1 born & emigrated to Canada at age 6)
• 1 Uzbek
• yours truly
3. We have 3 trainers (I'll call them "B," "D," & "M" to respect their privacy).
• They have a lot to tell us ('cause there's A TON of information to share!)
• They really know their stuff (how long have they been training EFL-teachers-to-be?).
• If there's anything they want us to remember, it's that they are here for us! They want to help us do a great job and succeed!
• They are very communicative. They will tell us what we need to know several times, just to be sure we got it--and then tell us again to be extra sure.
4. I need to buy a binder and enough clear plastic paper sleeves to best organize all the materials/handouts they will give out. There have already been 14 sheets of paper today alone (some with info on both sides)!
5. Organization is paramount.
6. Taking good notes is also a plus.
7. Procrastination must go into exile this month.

Next big step: CELTA course.

Where: Kraków

When: 18. May - 16. June

I'm going to try to keep a diary of my CELTA experience here.
I'll be ambitious and shoot for a day-by-day record, even if it's only a 1-sentence entry.

Time to buckle in and hold on tight . . .

. . . I'm going in.