Suggested Course Content for the Development of a 150 Hour

Bespoke, Accredited, Advanced Classroom-Based TEFL Course

for Major Education
16.08.2019

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome, and some points about the course (e.g. wholly practical, written in British English)

Module 1: The TEFL Arena

• Some specific characteristics of the English language (e.g. its simple inflection)

• Frequently used terms in English language teaching (ELT) (e.g. TESOL, TEFL, L1)

• A brief history of ELT methods - briefly (e.g. Grammar-Translation, The Direct Method,
etc.)

• Most recent methods and Approaches - briefly (e.g. Audiolingualism, PPP, TBL, The
Lexical Approach, Principled Eclecticism, CLT)

• Total focus on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in this course. What CLT is.

• L1 and L2 Learning – what these mean

• Second language acquisition (SLA): Key differences between learning a first and a
foreign/second language

• Key Influences on L2 Learning (e.g. motivation, age, autonomy, culture, 1-to-1 versus
pair-work versus group-work, learning styles etc.)

• Effective L2 learning strategies (e.g. risk-taking, etc.)

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Module 2: The TEFL Teacher

• What makes a competent and effective Teacher? Follows a Code of Practice (we will
supply you with the ACCREDITAT Code of Practice for Teachers); possesses many
attributes.

• The learning world: A competent and effective Teacher facilitates language learning
and acquisition both inside and outside the classroom (materials available to the
students and how to use them; self-access centre; authentic materials)

• Students’ and the Teachers’ expectations of each other (e.g. using a coursebook,
previous learning experiences, learning preferences, needs vs. wants) may differ.
Teachers cannot assume that their expectations of the classroom will be the same as
the learners' expectations. It is important that Teachers are aware of the environment
in which they are working and that they don’t judge the students on the basis of the
Teacher’s own cultural background and educational experiences.

• There’s more to the Teacher role than you might think (e.g. controller, monitor,
prompter/editor, resource/tutor, organiser/task-setter, motivator)

• Peer-Observations: improving your skills by observing other Teachers

• Co-Teaching: working with other Teachers in the same classroom. Skills and attributes
needed for successful co-teaching

• What’s a syllabus?

• Getting to grips with the school syllabus

• Choosing materials, adapting materials and creating materials (time constraints, pros
and cons, etc.)

• Learner Levels: CEFR Levels and English Profile facility. Common Labels (e.g. Beginner)

• Cambridge English Language Assessment Scales

• Real beginners versus false beginners

• Practical tips for teaching Beginner/Elementary level

• Example Lesson Plan: This activity will help them to reflect on lesson planning per se,
not just for beginner/elementary students. It’s important we keep lesson planning and
the 5 Step Lesson Plan in the Trainees’ minds from time to time until we reach the full
lesson planning and delivery session in Module 7. We will remind them again about
the 5 step Lesson Plan in Module 6: Teaching the Skills.

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Module 3: The Learners
• Motivation: intrinsic versus extrinsic; integrative versus instrumental; resultative

• Key elements of motivation

• Relationship between motivation and language learning

• Recognising a motivated learner

• How to influence and drive learner motivation (e.g. personalisation, authentic

materials, realia, competition, gamification etc.)

• Warmers

• How to spot an effective learner in your classroom

• Learner Styles

• VAK Learner Style (and activities/warmers/suggestions for each style)

• Additional Learning Styles, e.g. Kolb

• Different learning strategies

• What style of learner are you? Avoid limiting learners based on your own learning
preferences. Experiment with a variety of activities which will in turn appeal to a
variety of learning styles.

• Learner autonomy – what it is and how to increase it, e.g. self and peer assessment

• The Plateau Effect: what this is; what to do to help get any of your students off their
plateau and move onwards and upwards

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Module 4: Understanding Critical Language Elements
• Phonological awareness

• Phonemic awareness

• Pronunciation

• Vowels, consonants, syllables

• Stress at word and sentence level

• Intonation

• Rhythm

• Linking

• Effective pronunciation teaching techniques

• The Phonemic Chart

• Moving students’ pronunciation from the brain to the mouth

• Lexis and vocabulary

• Selecting appropriate and relevant vocabulary when teaching (utilising the English
Vocabulary Profile)

• Unusual Language (e.g. bits and chunks; metaphors, similes)

• Vocabulary activities and exercises (how to recycle vocabulary in warmers and how to
present vocabulary)

• Connotation and denotation

• Appropriacy

• Word formation

• Word relationships

• Phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations

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• Language functions

• Examples of functions

• Exponents

• Functions in CLT

• Language analysis; analysing language items before and during class

• Form, meaning and use

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Module 5: Grammar: Key Elements
• What do we mean by the term ‘grammar’?

• Key reasons for teaching it

• Myths about teaching grammar

• Prescriptive and descriptive approaches

• Word classes (9 parts of speech)

• Verb tenses and verb tense chart

• Conditional forms

• Main parts of a sentence

• Modals

• Voice, mood and theme

• Cohesion

• Register

• How to teach grammar (to young learners; teenagers; adults)

• Making an effective grammar presentation

• Inductive and deductive presentations

• Different modes of presenting grammar to learners (e.g. timelines)

• Drilling (different drills, pros and cons of drilling)

• Some practical grammar activities

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Module 6: Teaching the Skills
Once again, the Trainees meet up with the 5 Step Lesson Plan, to help prepare them for
planning and presenting lesson plans in Module 7.

1. Teaching listening

• Key points

• Helping students to overcome barriers to listening

• Listening sub-skills

• How to structure an effective listening lesson

• Effective listening strategies, exercises and activities

2. Teaching speaking

• Key points

• Key features of spoken English

• Stimulating learner speaking

• Recognising a ‘good’ speaker

• How to structure an effective speaking lesson

• Effective speaking strategies, exercises and activities

3. Teaching writing

• Key points

• The mechanics

• Punctuation and spelling issues

• Different types of writing

• Writing approaches and processes (process vs. product)

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 • Macro and micro skills a learner must develop to be effective

• How to structure an effective writing lesson

• Effective writing strategies, exercises and activities

4. Teaching reading

• Key points

• Reading sub-skills

• Who does the reading?

• How to structure an effective reading lesson

• Effective reading strategies, exercises and activities

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Module 7: Planning and Presenting Language Activities
• Lesson planning: the most important skill of all?

• Lesson objectives and goals (smart objectives)

• Various lesson objectives

• Purpose and principles of lesson planning

• Deciding what to present for learning

• Logical and sequenced planning

• Main components of a lesson plan

• 5 Step Lesson Plan and explanation of the 5 key steps

• Full example of the 5 Step Lesson Plan in action, plus lesson worksheets

• Controlled and uncontrolled (free) exercises/activities

• Evaluate—check—reflect before delivering your lesson plan

• Following and adapting your lesson plan in real time, if necessary

• Planning time

• Post-lesson evaluation and reflection (plus evaluation template for self-evaluation)

• Future lesson planning

• Needs analysis

• Lesson plan scenarios/ideas on which the Trainees can base their lesson plan and
lesson delivery

• Lesson plan preparation and presentation, i.e. Trainees preparing their lesson plan for
delivery and delivering it – this will be assessed by the Teacher and form part of their
overall assessment mark.

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Module 8: Critical Teaching Skills
• Paralinguistics: aspects of spoken communication that do not involve words. This term
encompasses such elements as:
- body language
- gestures and mime
- facial expressions
- tone and pitch of voice. All of these elements will be explored.

• Learner interaction patterns: the ways in which learners can be grouped in the classroom

• Strategies to ensure effective pair- and group- work

• Using the board effectively

• Capturing emergent language

• Eliciting

• Concept checking

• Giving instructions

• Teacher Talking Time (TTT)

• Questioning strategies

• Feedback and correction:

- What is feedback?
- Importance of constructive feedback
- Different types of feedback
- Correction: error types (oral and written) and what and how to correct effectively

• Fossilisation

• Testing and assessment explained:

- Key principles of assessment (validity, reliability, construct, washback, fairness, sufficiency,
flexibility, practicability)
- Standardisation
- What language skills to test (discrete point)
- Importance of regular assessment and testing
- Summative and formative tests
- Multiple choice—how to write valid questions

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Module 9: More Critical Teaching Skills
• Supplementary materials: worksheets, workcards and flashcards

• Practical tips for developing your own material

• Visual aids and realia

• Classroom space:
- Proxemics
- Optimising the physical space
- Seating arrangements

• Teaching large multi-level classes

• Effective planning and grouping strategies

• Classroom discipline:
- Teacher attitudes to discipline
- Key issues affecting student behavior
- Strategies for minimising/preventing discipline issues

• Classroom dynamics: how to create a productive classroom environment

• Pacing

• Cross-cultural aspects in the classroom and handling cultural issues

• Professional responsibilities in the workplace: following rules, policies and procedures;

being aware that others may be watching you outside the classroom (e.g. parents of your
students)

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Module 10 - Teaching Young Learners
As you will know, when running your business it’s important to increase your TEFL portfolio
(in the future) e.g. offering other TEFL courses, e.g. Teaching English to Young Learners
and/or Teaching Business English. When Trainees graduate and wish to study further, they
almost always return to the same TEFL Provider – so long as they have been happy with their
initial course.

So, this Module has 2 aims:

1. An Introduction to Teaching English to Young Learners

2. To plant a seed in your Trainees’ minds that you also have another full-blown course -
Teaching English to Young Learners, which they may wish to study (assuming you already
have this additional course).

Young Learners are a special case and deserve a Module all to themselves. Note that It’s
impossible to cover everything about teaching Young Learners in one single Module. So, we
will focus on the key issues. Note that much of the information and activities in the previous
Modules will be of great benefit when teaching Young Learners.

• Who are Young Learners?

• Key learning principles

• General differences between younger Young Learners and older Young Learners

• Affective factors in L2 learning

• Fossilisation in L2 learning

• How to approach teaching grammar and lexis

• How to approach skills learning: teaching listening, speaking, reading and writing

• Phonological and phonemic awareness

• Total physical response

• Assessing Young Learners:

- Self- and peer-assessment
- Portfolios
- Project work
- Dialogue journals

• Stories:
- What makes a good story? Key factors
- Choosing a good storybook: key considerations

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- A storybook plan for your Trainees to follow
- Activities based on/deriving from a good story book

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Conclusion

• What now?
- Reflection on some types of language programme jobs available. Is this type of
programme for you?
- Researching the programme

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD): This is paramount. CPD is a lifelong process

of you nurturing, shaping and improving your knowledge, ability, skills and habits in EFL to
ensure your maximum effectiveness and adaptability. It’s a way of life.
- The benefits of CPD
- Recommended Reading:
- Practical English Usage (Swan, M.)
- English Grammar in Use (Raymond Murphy)
- How to Teach English (Harmer, J.)
- How Languages are Learned (Lightbown, P. and Spada, N.)

• Work Opportunities:
- Opportunities in some countries
- Critical questions you must ask before accepting a post
- Some Internet TEFL/TESOL job sites
- Increasing what you can offer, e.g. Teaching English to Young Learners, Teaching Business
English, Teaching English Online etc.

End of Suggested Course Content

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