150-Hour TEFL certification course
PRE-COURSE MODULE
YOUR GATEWAY TO TEFL
UNIT 0.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE CIEE TEFL COURSE
0.1.3 THE ESSENTIALS: UNIT ACTIVITIES
Learning outcome
• You will be familiar with all the different types of unit activities.
You remember that the learning plan for this course is made up of different types of activities, right? In
this presentation, we’ll run through the variety of activities you’ll encounter.
KNOWLEDGE INPUTS
First, we’ll look at the types of activities that make up the “knowledge input” of this course. These activities
are designed to do more than just give you information to remember. You constantly engage with and
process the presented concepts - and apply them to real-life teaching situations.
The essentials
Each unit includes presentations called The essentials.
These presentations contain the basic content of each unit, as well as activities such as think about
points, write it down questions, short quizzes, and other interactive activities that keep you engaged with
the material.
Don’t worry - we won’t let you switch to off-mode when you’re studying! You’ll constantly be considering
and applying what you’re learning to teaching scenarios.
The essentials area is the first place you should head when reviewing and revising units and modules. At
the end of each unit, you’ll see downloadable PDF versions of the presentations.
How it’s done
How it’s done is a series of audiovisual presentations and short, illustrated audioclips that show various
teaching techniques and examples of classroom practices.
These presentations will show you how the theory you just learned about in The essentials translates
into good classroom practice.
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150-Hour TEFL certification course
Off to class
While How it’s done audiovisuals demonstrate specific aspects of classroom practice, Off to class video
clips show real EFL classes that have been chosen to demonstrate and analyze different types of
teaching techniques and styles.
Together, How it’s done and Off to class are invaluable resources that assist in your development as an
EFL teacher.
Classroom chatter
Classroom chatter audioclips give you an opportunity to listen to virtual TEFL tutors and TEFL students
discuss key issues from the unit.
They often answer common questions that arise during the unit.
Summing up and Cultural roundup
Each unit winds down with summaries, the Summing up and Cultural roundup sections, just before the
end-of-unit assessed quiz. The Summing up section summarizes all the main points of the unit, while the
Cultural roundup touches on the main cultural aspects of TEFL covered in the unit.
All summaries are available as downloadable documents. Downloading and adding your notes to these
summaries is a great way to have a personalized record of the key points of the course. These
documents are also available at the start of each unit for those of you who prefer to annotate as you
move through the unit.
We’ll discuss more about how these Summing up documents can be used in a later Study techniques
presentation.
In addition, all The essentials presentations are included as PDFs on the Summing up pages. So you
can download and keep all key information from the unit if desired.
YOUR TURN
We’ve looked at all the activities that involve input from our side. Each of these will involve some input
from you, too. (There’s no idly sitting back and just watching here!).
Next, we’ll take a look at some activities that will involve you being even more proactive. These require
some response on your part that you’ll share with your peers and/or your class tutor.
Checkpoint
Checkpoint is a series of quick quizzes that focus on key points in a unit. Units can have more than one
Checkpoint quiz.
These quizzes are not part of the formal assessment- they’re meant to let you see how well you’re doing
with your learning. The quizzes will not only test how well you remember material, but also gauge how
well you can apply the concepts you’re learning to teaching situations.
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150-Hour TEFL certification course
For practice, you’ll take a Checkpoint quiz after this presentation!
* Note that in Canvas, Multiple Answers questions award a fraction of the points available for each correct
answer selection and subtracts an equivalent fraction for each incorrect answer selection.
Over to you
In Over to you sections of the course, you’ll need to complete a task.
These tasks usually ask you to think about and answer some longer questions, and then compare your
answer with an example we provide. These activities are not assessed, so it’s up to you how much time
you want to spend on them.
Let’s discuss
Let’s discuss is a series of discussion board activities that you complete with the rest of your class and
your class tutor. There are one to three class discussion topics in each module. You’ll need to contribute
at least once to the discussion boards before the Sunday night deadline for each module.
In this course, we really value the opportunity that you have to learn together. So as to encourage real
dialogue in these forums, we ask you to come back to them by the Wednesday after the Sunday deadline
and make sure you’ve responded to some of the posts left by your peers. By the end of the week, you
should then make sure you’ve replied to any responses left to your initial posts.
Discussion board activities are not assessed formally, but your class tutor will monitor them to make sure
that you’re fully contributing.
Module graded assignment
Each of the first seven modules includes a Module graded assignment for you to complete. These are
designed to test your understanding of the material and how you’d apply your knowledge in real life.
These assignments are graded by your tutor, and thus are part of your formal assessment. Together,
these seven Module graded assignments make up 25 percent of your final grade.
Peer review
Each week, you’ll also have the chance to review your peers’ assignments before your tutor grades them.
You’ll give your peers feedback and practice giving grades based on a rubric.
Make sure to leave thoughtful comments for your peers to help them out as much as you can. Let them
know what you liked and didn’t like about their assignment, and why.
Make the grade
Each unit ends with a Make the grade quiz. Each quiz tests all of the key material of the unit. These
quizzes are part of the formal assessment and collectively account for 25 percent of your final grade.
You’ll only have one chance to take each Make the grade quiz, so make sure you understand each key
point of the unit before attempting these quizzes.
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150-Hour TEFL certification course
* As with the practice quizzes, Multiple Answers questions award a fraction of the points available for
each correct answer selection and subtracts an equivalent fraction for each incorrect answer selection.
Find out more
You’ll see a Find out more page at the end of each unit. These pages list helpful references, online
readings and teaching materials, and videos you can watch.
Studying these materials is not required, and it’s not part of your estimated study time per unit. But if
you’re particularly interested in something in a unit, it’s a great idea to follow up with some of the Find out
more resources.
Tutorials
Last, but not least, you’ll have a tutorial with your class tutor each week. It will cover the material in the
current module and is a time to follow up on your graded assignments and discussion board activities
Tutorials are a great way to have your questions answered. Attendance is not required for your grade, but
you won’t attain a top mark for this course unless you regularly attend.
LET’S REVIEW
The course is made up of the following types of activities:
• The essentials
• How it’s done
• Off to class
• Classroom chatter
• Summing up
• Cultural roundup
• Checkpoint
• Over to you
• Let’s discuss
• Graded assignments
• Make the grade quizzes
• Find out more
• Tutorials
