Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA)

Application Form

PERSONAL DETAILS

Surname: Elayan First and other names: Shaimaa Title: Miss

Email address: [email protected]

Do you require a visa to study in the UK?

☐ YES

☐ NO

We are asking you to tell us about your personal situation, particularly if you have a disability, long term condition,
or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. This information is important to ensure that appropriate reasonable
adjustments are made so that you reach your fullest potential on your course. It will not affect the department's
view of your application, but it will allow us to send you relevant information.

Do you have a disability, long term condition or specific learning difficulty?

☐ YES

☐ NO

☐ Prefer not to say

If yes, please provide details.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

School/College/University Qualifications Obtained Dates

School: Madani Girls School GCSE- 7 2016- 2021

Federation
A Levels- 3 2021-2023
Collage: Nottingham Girls
Academy

Other Relevant Qualifications/Training Courses

Knowledge of Languages (please indicate level of ability). If English is not your first English, please
provide details of your English level including qualifications.

English is my first language. I'm also knowledgeable in Arabic with a qualification in GCSE.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE including any voluntary or informal experience

I have experience working as a private tutor for primary and secondary school kids, which
established my ability to manage my time equivalent to that of theirs and therefore become
more organised. I was able to be an assistant teacher at an Arabic school, and these shifts have
been evident. I had the opportunity to enhance my communication skills as I was constantly
helping and aiding students with their work or issues that occurred, this established my
confidence when interacting with both students and staff. While gaining this experience, I
became well-versed in the duties

OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE including voluntary

My experience as a retail assistant taught me how to collaborate with coworkers in a retail setting
by accomplishing our assigned tasks to a high degree, which enabled me to address difficulties as a
team and come up with solutions. I frequently interacted with consumers, which helped me better
comprehend the realities of many encounters that can take place, both positive and bad. I became
more tolerant and empathic with these circumstances since I had to act like a professional while
handling them.
PERSONAL STATEMENT

Please outline (i) why you want to do the course and (ii) why you feel you would be a successful teacher of
English to Speakers of Other Languages. (200 – 300 words)

The reason why I want to participate in this course is: It may be a bit cliche but I’ve always wanted
to be a teacher ever since I was young but I never knew exactly what I wanted to teach. Once I
realised I really enjoyed and excelled in English, despite being more interested in language, I chose
to take the route of English literature in collage as the choice of language was unavailable. Even so,
I continued to have a strong appreciation for literature, which enhanced my capacity to evaluate
and comprehend the meaning of the works of several authors and poets. Consequently, since I was
denied the chance to study the English language, I sincerely think that enrolling in this course
fulfilled all of my requirements and presented me with a wealth of experiences and possibilities to
advance in my career as a teacher and English language learner. Moreover, I’ve had a few
experiences of tutoring kids privately but not adults, so through this course I can gain the ability to
teach adults which can be terrifying but also exciting as it builds confidence and experience. I
believe that I would be a successful teacher due to my profound capability to handle stressful
situations and the ability to work with students by carefully yet moderately helping and
strengthening their education. My tenacity and passion for the English language, which I like
studying and analysing in-depth, are major contributors to my potential success as a teacher. I
hope that by sharing my enthusiasm for the language with my pupils, I may pique their interest in
what I am teaching. Even though I am very passionate about this course, I may not have all the
experience or qualifications needed to teach English. However, since this course is designed to
improve and overcome this shortcoming, I am sure that the CELTA course will help me become a
dedicated and knowledgeable teacher.
Signature: Date: 24/11/23
These tasks are to establish whether you would be likely to complete the CELTA course successfully
by assessing your language awareness, ability to source information and your level of written English.
The completion of these tasks is a Cambridge requirement for participation on CELTA courses.

Please complete the tasks and submit them with your application. Because the task responses are
taken into consideration when making a decision about your application, we strongly advise you to
use the reference books or websites listed below to help you and spend some time on these tasks
(we would estimate at least 3 hours). At the interview you will asked to discuss some of these ideas
further so have a copy of your completed tasks with you.

Suggested books are:

Grammar

An A - Z of English Grammar & Usage - Geoffrey Leech (Nelson)

A Basic English Grammar - John Eastwood & Ronald Mackin (OUP)

Oxford Guide to English Grammar - John Eastwood (OUP)

Practical English Usage (new edition) - Michael Swan (OUP)

Pronunciation

Sound Foundations - Adrian Underhill (Macmillan)

Methodology

The Practice of English Language Teaching – Jeremy Harmer (Longman)

Learning Teaching – Scrivener (Macmillan)

Suggested websites are:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

http://www.onestopenglish.com/

http://esl.about.com/od/englishgrammar/
Task 1 – Naming parts of speech

Identify the underlined and numbered parts of speech in the following text.

Example: trail – singular countable noun

The narrow Example trail winds above a tangled forest, as 1 ancient temple buildings emerge from the

mist. 2 As I round the corner, a Lama 3 appears and welcomes 4 me to the monastery, then

introduces dozens of eager monks 5 who are to be 6 my students over the next week.

7
The life of a monk is difficult; 8 food and housing are simple, study hours are long, the daily life is

hard and wake-up time is 4.30am. In the evening we hold English classes 9 for the novices. They sit

on the temple floor, 10 attentively taking notes from the board.

(Adapted from Hernadi, I. (2013) “Letter from Bhutan: a monk’s life” available on

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/16/letter-from-bhutan-monks-life accessed on 14 May 2013)

1. ancient- adjective

2. as-conjunction and an adverb

3. appears - present verb

4. me- object pronoun

5. who- interrogative pronoun

6. my- possessive pronoun

7. the- definite article

8. food- uncountable noun

9. for-preposition relation

10. attentively- Adverb of manner

Task 2 – Correcting learners’ mistakes - grammar

Each of the utterances below contains one mistake. In each case:

a. give the corrected version.
b. write in simple language, as if you were speaking to a student of English, how you would
make the correction clear.

Example: Can you give me some advices?

a. Can you give me some advice?
b. Advice is an uncountable noun. This means it has no plural form. So we can’t say “advices”.
We have to say advice.

1. He gave she a present.

- He gave her a present.

- Her is an objective pronoun. This is because it is used as the object of the verb. So we can’t
use ‘she’ which is a subject pronoun. We have to say ‘her’
2. Did you went on the trip last Friday?

- Did you go on the trip last Friday?

- Go is an auxiliary verb. We can’t use the first form verb with ‘did’ as it’s the past tense of ‘do’.
So the present form of the ‘go’ is ‘go’. Thus we can’t use went which is the past tense of go.

3. I have stopped to play squash because of my injury

- I have stopped playing squash because of my injury.

- Playing is an uncountable noun. In this case, the sentence is used in the past tense. So we
can't use ‘to play’. We have to say ‘playing.’

4. Sally works hardly.

- Sally works hard

- ‘Hard’ is an adverb of manner. The adverb hard is used to modify a verb. So we can’t say
hardly. We have to say ‘hard’

5. I’m giving my niece purple, new, amazing gloves for her birthday.

- I'm going to give my niece purple, new, amazing gloves for her birthday.
- ‘Going to give’ is future tense. This makes it align with the independent clause. So we can’t
say ‘giving’. We say ‘going to give.’
6. I want to learn English because I’m going to English classes.
 - I want to learn English so I’m going to English classes
- ‘So’ is a conjunction. It is used when talking about results or purpose, whereas ‘because’ is
used for giving reason. So in this case we can’t use ‘because.’ We have to say ‘So.’

7. If he asked, I would have helped him.

- If he had asked, I would have helped him.

- Had is a past verb. Because there's an ‘if’ clause it means its past particles and the
independent clause has ‘would’ then it’s a must to use ‘had’ in the dependent clause.

Task 3 – Helping learners understand differences in meaning – vocabulary

Comment on the differences in meaning/use between the following pairs of words. In each case, try
to contextualise the language by putting it in an example sentence.

1. lend/borrow

- 'Borrow' means to take something from another person, knowing you will give it back to
them. Example- ‘Can I please borrow your pencil?’
- 'Lend' means to give something to another person expecting to get it back. Example- ‘Here's
the book I said I would lend you.’
2. earn/win

- 'Earn' means achieving/having something in return for your hard work and effort. For
example- ‘She earns a good salary.’
- 'Win' means gaining something you want through personal effort and usually in competition
with others. Example- ‘He won the competition fair and square.’
3. economic/economical

- ‘Economic’ refers to anything economy-related or the production of goods and services.

Example- ‘She served on the council for economic development.’
- ‘Economical’ has something to do with avoiding waste. Example- ‘The store brand is the
economical choice.’
4. slim/skinny

- ‘Skinny’ refers to someone's weight which is usually through negative connotations, implying
that a person is underweight or unhealthy. Example- ‘He is very skinny, it looks unhealthy.’
- ‘Slim’ is a more positive term and is often used to describe a healthy body shape. Example-
‘The girls were tall and slim.’
Task 4 – Distinguishing different sounds – pronunciation

In the following groups of words, highlight the word which includes a different underlined sound.

Example: nothing enough mouse must

1. shoes trousers through few

2. won’t want borrow body

3. worn shirt dirty worst

4. many already friends secret

5. mouth how slowly round

Task 5 – Planning a lesson

Below are different stages in an English language lesson that aims to develop reading and speaking
skills. The lesson centres on a written text that discusses The Greenhouse Effect. However, the order
of activities is illogical. Order the activities to make the lesson flow. Write a brief rationale explaining
why you have chosen your particular order.
Example: I have placed activity X after activity Z because students will need to understand that
language before moving on to the next task.
Activities:
a) The teacher gives students a task that checks detailed understanding of the text.
b) Students talk about what they know about the greenhouse effect and how it affects the planet.
c) The teacher gives students a task that checks general, overall understanding of the text.
d) Students discuss their ideas of how the greenhouse effect could be reduced in their countries.
e) The teacher clarifies the meaning of important vocabulary items in the text.

Rationale:

b) Students talk about what they know about the greenhouse effect and how it affects the planet- I
have placed activity b first since it is crucial to gauge the student's level of comprehension of the
subject at the beginning of the class. By doing this, you can be sure that students are aware of the
information they already know and can learn what they don't throughout the lesson.

a) The teacher gives students a task that checks detailed understanding of the text- I have arranged
exercise A after activity B because, having discussed what they already know, they may now fully
comprehend the text and discover what they are missing, expanding their knowledge on the subject.

e) The teacher clarifies the meaning of important vocabulary items in the text- I have placed activity
E after activity A because it's crucial that the students learn the meaning of key vocabulary words
after comprehending the texts. This ensures they understand the subject matter completely.

d) Students discuss their ideas of how the greenhouse effect could be reduced in their countries- I
have placed activity D after activity E because, now that they have a firm understanding of the text
on the greenhouse effect, they may start deducing how to lessen it through discussion of their own
theories as they have the knowledge and cable of doing so.

c) The teacher gives students a task that checks general, overall understanding of the text- Finally,
I've positioned exercise C at the end since it serves as a general comprehension check for the
students, evaluating what they retained and learned during the course. Also, making them aware
(and the teachers) of their progress on the topic in the lesson.

Task 6 - Learning English

Write about the difficulties you think non-native speakers may have in learning English. You can
draw on your own experience of learning and/or any experience you have helping others to learn a
language. (500 – 600 words)

There are multiple difficulties that non-native speakers may face when learning the English
language, especially when considering the fact that English is very complex. This makes it difficult
for non-native speakers to master all its nuances. Many factors, including pronunciation—English
having more vowel sounds than other languages—and complicated consonant clusters, like str and
ngth in the word strength, are among the challenges. Furthermore, spelling can be very difficult
for non-native speakers, particularly when it comes to terms like "no," "know," "sow," and others
that sound the same but have distinct meanings. Due to the vast vocabulary that the English
language contains, vocabulary can be seen as a barrier for non-native speakers learning the
language. While this isn't a major issue when speaking, it can be problematic if they wish to
pursue a career that requires professional speaking or writing. I believe the hardest aspect of
learning languages that are not your native ones, is learning how to learn them effectively. This is
especially true while learning a language for the first time since it makes it more difficult to adjust.
Since I was raised in a non-English speaking family, I am aware of how demanding and challenging
learning the language can be, particularly when those around you are unable to support or help.
Considering my parents do not speak English, I was held behind in school and found it difficult to
catch up with students in my class who clearly were ahead of me. One of the issues that made the
studying process exceptionally challenging and bothered me to absorb new knowledge was the
fact that I was more knowledgable in my home language- Arabic. Therefore, having no prior
 language-learning experience, I found it challenging to keep up with lessons in school. I worked
hard and put a lot of effort into improving my knowledge, despite my early lack of proficiency and
knowing that my parents desired me to learn the language. Many English terms had connotations
that I was unable to connect with, which led to a great deal of uncertainty regarding the variety of
meanings one word may have. These issues also impacted my speech when I had trouble
distinguishing between terms like "effect" and "affect."It is worth mentioning that having a class
that had a few students from ethnic backgrounds and learning the language second base helped.
As the years passed, I started feeling more certain and stopped fearing making a mistake. I also
grew more accustomed to the language and became fluent in all areas, including speaking, writing,
and listening. Regarding having both parents who don't speak the English language, they both
struggled when speaking was concerned which affected their way of life by making it difficult to
communicate and solve problems when they arose. This prompted my sisters and I to either
interpret for them or teach them a few words; my father in particular had a very hard time
understanding. I made an effort to devote all of my time to teaching my father the fundamental
terms and phrases that would come in useful if he ever needed to speak English as I can not
always be there to assist with translation. There was a time when it took him several hours to
eventually understand what I was trying to explain, which was the variations between phrases that
sounded the same (something I think can be quite difficult for non-native speakers). This taught
me patience and empathy when teaching a non-native speaker. Furthermore, I had the experience
of teaching my mother, who, despite it being her first time, picked up the language rather quickly
and showed rapid development. This helped me to understand that every non-native speaker has
distinct challenges and language-learning capacities. In addition, I had the opportunity to tutor my
cousin in my native country by preparing for her Gramma exam. This was challenging for me
because I was inexperienced and didn't know how to effectively communicate the material by
sending the message across.

Where did you find out about this course?

Eg (University of Leicester website, poster, Facebook Group, recommendation, Google search etc).
Please give us as much detail as possible, as we’d love to know how people are accessing the
programme.
 I found out about this course through my mother's friend whose daughter has completed the Celta
course before.

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