|
Online teacher training material
What’s available online by way of teacher training materials? Those surveyed include the sort that would be time-savers for trainers, especially those running the internationally-recognised Celta or Delta, plus the increasingly popular Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) and Skills for Life (SfL) exams. All materials are freely downloadable to use either as assignments or takeaway task-reading.
Available on the Cambridge Esol site are the official Celta pre-course task booklet and answer key, both of which can be downloaded at: www.cambridgeEsol.org/teaching/Celta.htm. Steve Darn, an experienced Celta trainer in Turkey and assessor of Celta courses worldwide, enthuses about this: ‘We find it very useful for preparing candidates for Celta as it lightens the workload on the course and it gives the candidates an idea of what they're in for. It's optional, not assessed, and we send it to candidates as soon as they register.’ Also on this site at www.cambridgeEsol.org/TKT/index.htm are resources to assist trainers on courses leading to the TKT modules 1-3. One excellent example for module two is titled ‘Matching lessons to learners’ which encourages trainees to consider what kinds of lessons and aims are appropriate for what kinds of learners.
Phil Quirk’s personal ELT site at www.philseflsupport.com/index.htm hosts a complete guide to the Delta. Especially helpful are the links to suggestions for the use of e-journals (online versions of periodicals) as well as information, articles and related tasks for all Delta input sessions. Also available are details on the use of mentoring and discussion boards on the WebDelta. This huge site is easy to navigate and, concerns itself with both forms of the Delta. iI's all there, plus, if it’s ELT management, lesson planning, testing or syllabus design that you need help with in your role as a trainer, then you simply need look no further.
Another site hosting an abundance of training material is www.sflqi.org.uk/pdtraining/pd_modules.htm where trainers can find detailed session plans, a range of activities and support materials, suggestions for assessment and signposting to additional resources and background reading. These materials will provide an extremely useful resource for teacher trainers to select from and integrate into professional development programmes relating to the SfL exams for Esol students in the UK. Although the site states: ‘The modules are arranged in small 'bite-size' chunks to suit busy teachers’, they tend to come in the form of rather long, detailed files. A variety of aspects of the SfL at all levels are catered for and available in pdf format. Materials there include ‘Raising awareness of refugees and asylum seekers’ and ‘Grammar for supporting learners.’
There are many useful bits and pieces on the British Council website www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ training/training.shtml which hosts ideas, materials and session plans to exploit for teacher training and development, including links to detailed session plans such as ‘Developing speaking skills with intermediate and advanced learners’. This particular one focuses on different types of speaking activities that can be done in class with higher level students, teenagers and adults, and at ways of preparing students for them. Other sessions there include ‘Culture in the classroom,’ ‘Using stories’ and ‘Teaching mixed ability classes.’ As a trainer with a particular interest in developing an awareness among writing teachers of learner diaries, I was delighted to be able to download NiK Peachey’s excellent article on the what, how and why of this oft- ignored topic. Although it’s not made clear exactly for whom the material on this site was originally designed, it would appear to be of most value for courses working at the Celta and above.
So there we are! Four excellent sites for trainers that are absolutely bursting with material to be swiftly downloaded, adapted as necessary, and placed before those ever-eager groups of trainees the world over. What are you waiting for?
While tutoring mainly on distance training courses based in the UK, Wayne Trotman is, when time away from following the fortunes of the England cricket team permits, a very occasional Celta tutor. Email: waynetrotman@gmail.com
|
