February 2012

Diary of a Certificate IV in TESOL student – Week 7

Ian’s class had another eventful TESOL week.

I began the week by observing Andrea’s Upper-Intermediate class. The lesson was on ‘Addictions’ which created debate, discussions and questions among the students. There were wide-ranging views on each of their addictions. It was a great topic as students were interested and were open to contributing their thoughts.

‘I wish and I hope’ was the topic of Tuesday’s lecture. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, as a native-speaker, deciding when to use ‘I wish or I hope’ is instinctive, not much thought goes behind it. Though, when Patricia was explaining the differences on when to use either, a non-native-speaker must become incredibly confused. The class was given some useful worksheets and ways in which to explain the varied usages of ‘I wish and I hope’. After the lecture, Ian allowed us to focus on finishing our teaching lesson plans. Personally,it was of great benefit as I had my teaching lesson the day after (Wednesday).

I had a bitter-sweet feeling post-teaching lesson number five. I recognised that I had made some improvements from my previous teaching lessons but not as much as I expected or would have liked. The theme of the lesson was ‘Employment History’. Students were to describe their work history (creativity was encouraged) while using either the Present Perfect or the Past Simple. Despite some minor hiccups, my students were so patient and helpful in making the lesson go as smoothly as it could have. Patricia was my superviser and after the lesson she outlined the positives and negatives of my teaching which are always helpful.

For the Thursday lecture, Ian gave a class on ‘Comparatives and Superlatives’: Cars are faster than pushbikes and planes are the quickest mode of transport. Ian provided us with worksheets to explain how to transform an adjective into a comparative structure. After the lecture, Ian ran through ‘Timetabling’ and the ‘Principles of Testing’. We then dedicated the last hour of the lesson to work on our third and final assessment of the course. At that stage of the evening I was close to being brain-dead!  My teaching lesson took more out of me than I had expected! However, with some brainstorming help from Carla, I managed to get some productive work done to finish week seven of Certificate IV in TESOL.

On a final note, congratulations to Jenny and Wenny in completing the TESOL course, they had a graduation ceremony on Friday and have now departed Greenwich College. Ian’s TESOL class wishes them all the best in their future teaching endevours!

 Rod

Former Greenwich College teacher writes ESL/EFL textbook series

Congratulations to Sue Jones, who worked at Greenwich College between 2006 and 2009 . Sue has recently launched a fantastic new series of textbook  series.

Sue was one of our most popular teachers at Greenwich, and taught on a variety of program, including General English, IELTS preparation and the Certificate IV in TESOL.

She has written a new series of textbooks called “All Ways “. We know that teachers and students from all over the world will enjoy using these textbooks. Sue always delivered dynamic and engaging lessons at Greenwich and her books will be very popular.

Sue joins the list of Greenwich teachers who have published ESL/EFL materials. Our Director of Studies, Sasha Wajnryb, co-wrote/co-edited the IELTS in Context textbook series which are used in our IELTS Preparation classes. One of our English for Business teachers, Nadia Bentuoa, has written a textbook/e-book called “Learn How the Locals Speak“.

Diary of a Certificate IV in TESOL student – Week 6

Rod teaches English Club

Week six of the Cert IV in TESOL kicked-off on Valentine’s Day, the TESOL students brought and consumed their fair share of chocolate that day.

My first task on Tuesday was to observe Olga’s Intermediate class. The theme of the lesson was ‘Opinions’. Students were given a text / statement and were to form and articulate an opinion. The frustration was clearly evident in the students’ faces as they grappled to fully and concisely express their views in English. Olga then taught the students some useful functional English expressions so that the students could easily express their opinions.

This frustration is something I can relate to. I have experienced the same frustration when trying to communicate in Spanish or Portuguese. Expressing an opinion in a non-native language is probably one of the most difficult and at times disheartening parts in learning a new language.

After our lecture on ‘Reported Speech’, Ian’s class concentrated on finalising our preparation for our individual teaching lessons for the week. I had my lesson on the Wednesday, I used Tuesday to confirm some last minute queries with Ian and he did a final edit on my lesson plan.

I had mixed feelings approaching my third teaching lesson at Greenwich. I was somewhat nervous but largely excited in implementing all the skills and techniques I learnt during the previous five weeks. It was an Intermediate class, the theme of the lesson was ‘Life Changes’ and the target language was ‘used to’ while describing the changes in their lives since leaving school. Among others, my main habitual weakness is my high TTT (teaching talking time). I did make a conscious effort to lower it, but once again, it was a little too high. The students were aware of my inexperience but they were nonetheless, very cooperative during, and appreciative of, the lesson. One of the bonuses of the lesson was having Ian (my TESOL teacher) supervise me. He already knew my strengths and weaknesses, having him assess me was invaluable.

Ian took our Thursday lecture (Patricia and Vici are our usual lecturers). Ian gave an interesting lesson on Relative Clauses. I was completely oblivious to the fact that a couple of commas in a sentence could reveal so much information. It took a bit of time to grasp the ideas but it was one of the more interesting classes that I’ve had at Greenwich.

After the lecture we had a class discussion about each of the individual teaching lessons we had that week. This is always a good activity as we’re able to relate to one another as we’re completing the course simultaneously. Being made aware of your classmates’ own challenges helps to put your own difficulties into perspective which inadvertently, gives you confidence knowing that you’re not the only one having trouble executing that ‘utopian’ lesson (which will never occur).

Rod

A very TECSOL caterpillar!

Amanda's Very Hungry Caterpillar

One of our TECSOL graduates, Amanda, recently made an amazing model of the famous children’s story – The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Amanda will use this model as she teaches children in her class.

Amanda and her friend Paula are primary school teachers from Spain. They came to Australia to study our Certificate IV in TECSOL using a Spanish government scholarship.

Amanda says that the skills she learnt at Greenwich College have very useful – “I have already used TECSOL skills! Children have loved it!”

IELTS Preparation students sit University of Cambridge IELTS Pretests

This week, our day and evening IELTS Preparation students completed official IELTS Pretests. IELTS Pretests are designed by the University of Cambridge. They are an important step in the production of IELTS tests.

Greenwich College is an official Pretesting centre and we regularly offer Pretests to our IELTS Preparation students. These Pretests are held under test conditions and are a fantastic opportunity to practise doing a University of Cambridge exam. The University of Cambridge marks the tests and sends the results back to Greenwich.

Writing a good résumé

Whether you’re looking for a part time job or are hoping to find permanent work in Australia, making sure you have a strong résumé is key. Australian employers and recruitment companies have particular expectations as to what they expect to see in a résumé, and it is often very different to what you might expect in your home country.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when putting together your résumé.

The Australian résumé

In Australia, a résumé (also sometimes called a CV) is meant to give an employer an idea of your professional qualifications as well as how you would fit in with their team and work culture. That means that you should generally do more than just provide a list of the jobs and the experience you’ve had.

• Include your contact details such as your address, phone number or email.
• Include your education and qualifications.
• DON’T include a photograph or information on your physical attributes (i.e. your height or weight) unless it’s specifically requested and relevant to the job you’re applying for, such as in entertainment.
• The standard résumé in Australia is around 2-4 pages depending on the amount of experience you’ve had. This might be a bit longer than in some other countries such as the US.
• Include a list of the relevant skills and qualifications for the job you are applying for – don’t include experience that would be confusing for your employer.
• It might be a good idea to include a list of 1 or 2 references that the employer can contact. Be sure these references are relevant to your professional experience (your mother or flatmate won’t cut it).
• Most professional job applications will require a cover letter. Your cover letter should be short (250-300 words) and highlight why are you applying for the role and why you think you will be a suitable employee to the organisation. Don’t just re-hash what’s on your resume.
• Providing clear examples is a great way to demonstrate your achievements.

And of course, be sure to check your English – accurate spelling and grammar are important, even if it’s not essential for the role. It’ll be worth getting someone to review your résumé before you submit it to check for any errors and to get some additional pointers – your Greenwich College teacher will be happy to help.

Read more about finding a job in Sydney.

What tips do you have for a good resume? How did you find a job in Australia?

English for Business’ billion dollar presentation

Reflections of TESOL graduates

On their last day, some of our graduating trainees from the Certificate IV (TESOL) program reflect on their experiences on the course….

Certificate IV (TESOL) graduates Rachel, Paula & Rita enjoy their last day with classmates.

Paula:

Being a TESOL student was one of the best experiences of my life. I really enjoyed it and the participation gave me a sense of happiness. Every single skill made me more confident. Now I know how to prepare good lessons, design materials or make students happy. Knowing the methodology of teaching English, I am able to assess other teachers (by the way, I really love that). While learning, I realised how useful all knowledge can be outside the classroom. TESOL is not only about teaching techniques, but also about self-development, confidence and enjoyment.

Even if I am conscious of what my weaknesses are, I believe that I am now a good English teacher. Small mistakes do not mean that I am not able to teach. They are just an effect of my lack of experience. Thanks to the TESOL course I know that they are just mistakes, not errors. My trainer Ian made me more confident and enthusiastic. He gave me his motivation and now I am sure that being in love with challenges like teaching is a great way to achieve fulfilment.

In the near future I am going to keep teaching. My plan is to show my students that being a good teacher means being well-prepared, showing enthusiasm and respect. I strongly believe that hard work is the key to success.

Teaching English is like a disease. When I started the TESOL course at Greenwich College 8 weeks ago just one person in the room was ill…my trainer, Ian. Now after 8 weeks the ‘virus’ has spread and all of my classmates have caught it. And I am happy to be very ‘ill’ as well.

Paula Korczynska, Cert IV (TESOL) – Poland

 

Rita:

I cannot believe I’m graduating today. I still remember my first week in TESOL. The first and second weeks were the hardest for me. I told one of my senior trainees how worried I was at the time and he told me to relax and have fun. I had very good seniors in my class who encouraged me, and also my trainer, who kept giving positive reinforcement. I changed my mind and told myself, “You’re not that bad…you can do it…just focus on what the trainer says, and study hard”. Thanks to my classmates, my trainer, and myself, I can now graduate. I’m so proud of myself!!

I really enjoyed teaching my lessons in English Club and now I want to teach more. I like the feeling when I stand in front of the class. My English skills have improved and I feel more confident when I talk to people.

Now I know what I have to do. I have a good teaching persona, I’ve learned many teaching techniques and now I believe I can be a good teacher… I AM a good teacher!

I will keep learning and studying after this TESOL course and continue to develop my teaching skills. One quote that I really like is, ”By learning you will teach; by teaching you will understand”. I will use this as my motto.

Now, with the experience I have, I know how to teach English, and I will try to be a better teacher in my future.

Ritayanti, Cert IV (TESOL) – Indonesia

  

Rachel:

Taking the TESOL course at Greenwich College was the best of all the decisions that I’ve made in Australia. I have a couple of reasons why I choose it as the best.

First of all, TESOL is more than just improving teaching skills. It also changes your personality. When I came here I was surprised when the TESOL trainer always encouraged us to behave more actively and wanted us to be confident. It was really hard for me to be confident speaking in front of many people and even teaching. However, as the course went on, I felt more relaxed and had confidence in myself. Before the TESOL course I could hesitate to talk about something in English. However, TESOL has encouraged me to speak as much as I can. Through the trainer’s encouragement, I could be confident as a speaker and as a teacher. TESOL made me realise how important it is to allow students to talk in the classroom. Before taking the course I used to teach without giving students opportunities to talk. Now I understand that if students do pairwork or groupwork they get the chance to express what they are thinking and use the language.

Secondly, in the TESOL course I could pick up many English expressions and grammar rules. Honestly, it was difficult for me to teach and explain English grammar. It was my biggest weakness, but through this course I am beginning to understand grammar more and I will keep learning and do my best. Imagine how much I can improve in the future!

TESOL is a busy course but lots of fun. It has helped me to be a more confident person in my life. If someone asked me about this course at Greenwich College, I would definitely recommend it, as well as the trainers who are the best in terms of teaching and making us realise how important being confident is.

Park YeJee, [Rachel], Cert IV (TESOL) – Korea

Diary of a Certificate IV in TESOL student – Week 5

The conclusion of week five was the halfway point of our Certificate IV in TESOL course at Greenwich College. It was a relatively busy week for me at Greenwich, I was there on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Two tenses were covered in our Tuesday Lecture – the present perfect and the past simple. After the lecture, Carla gave us a summary on how she thought her recent lesson had been received. I have been enjoying listening to my classmates’ views on each of their lessons. As experienced teachers in Chile, the girls are definitely a lot tougher on themselves than I am. They’re perpetually striving to improve in the minutest ways.

I didn’t have time on Tuesday, so I did my weekly observation class on the Wednesday. After some organising by Ian, I was allocated to Justin’s Upper Intermediate class. I was eagerly anticipating one of Justin’s lessons – Sasha’s sister, Laura, who did the Cert IV in TESOL a few years ago, is a big fan of Justin’s teaching skills and she told me that I must watch him in action. I enjoyed the ‘Spelling Game’ warmer that he started with, the students really engaged in the task which set a solid platform for the remainder of the class. Ian starts our TESOL classes with a warmer at the beginning of each class too – I love them! We are all ready to put our ‘study caps’ on after the warmer, and I like the transition from fun to serious. Overall, Wednesday was a great observation day  – Alejandra, who was teaching that afternoon, was kind (and confident!) enough to allow me to observe her second Greenwich lesson. This was an unexpected bonus for me.

On Thursday I had my first individual lesson. Despite only having four students, which initially made me nervous, the class went as smoothly as I could have expected. It was an Elementary class and the aim of the lesson was to teach students irregular verbs in the past simple tense while describing what they did on the weekend just past. The students were great in helping me with the flow of the class, after all it is a collaboration between teacher and student that contributes to a good lesson. I imagine the low numbers would have been difficult for them as well, as it means they have to contribute to the class a lot more. Gemma supervised my lesson, she offered some useful feedback on what I need to concentrate on for my future lessons. As had occurred the week before, the TTT-STT (Teacher Talking Time and Student Talking Time) ratio was lopsided. Apart from my overly high TTT, I was satisfied with how I did.  

Vici took our Thursday lecture, the class was on Prepositions (in, on & at). In groups we played a board game with the purpose of practicing using prepositions. I’m relishing the lecture part of the course; it allows TESOL students who would otherwise not engage with one another to work together in a very friendly, energetic environment. After the lecture, we had our second quiz. Admittedly, we were a little nervous about it. Thankfully, it wasn’t as difficult as we had expected (having no curveball questions helps). As Ian was unwell on Thursday, Patricia was our “special guest” teacher for the evening.  Once we finished the protracted warmer (Marietta and I had difficulty getting the clues) we had a discussion on each of our individual lessons.

Our Saturday class began with Ian returning our exams. We had a quick look at them before we had to hand them back to him. Saturday was also the due date for our second assessment. The task was to devise a 90-minute lesson. I found the task both challenging and satisfying, it required me to use my uncreative mind and find ideas for activities from textbooks. We all received a C for competent which was great! Toward the end of the lesson, Ian wrote a somewhat provocative statement on the board: ‘women are much more honest than men”. No debate ensued, neither Ian nor I were willing to argue the contrary given that we were outnumbered! We also took an ‘honesty test’. I received the lowest score out of the four students. Obviously the testing system is entirely flawed!

 Rod

IELTS Writing

Writing a 250 word essay in such a short space of time can be very difficult, especially because we have to impress the examiner with our argument, structure, vocabulary and grammar. Below is an excellent student sample. There are a few mistakes but this candidate would score very highly. Read the text below and comment why you think this essay would score well? For example, I think the structure of this essay is excellent. It has 5 paragraphs – introduction, body & conclusion.

Statistics show that Australians are getting fatter. To prevent this national health problem from getting worse, the Australian government should put a tax on fatty fast foods to fund our health care system.

To what extent to do you agree?

Obesity causes several diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and stroke, that represent a serious economical burden for the society. Some people believe that taxing fatty fast foods will provide money that can be destinated to the health system. This solution, however, is to bring more disadvantages than benefits.

To start with, just putting a tax on unhealthy food does not eradicate the issue of obesity. On the contrary, it will lead to a disperception of this problem. In fact, people will keep on following a potentially dangerous lifestyle feeling not only free of doing such a thing, but also justified because of the tax they are paying. This carefree point of view will possibly be seen as an easy and responsibility-free solution by countless people and the money gathered with the tax on fatty food will probably not be enough to cover all the consequences.

On the other hand, people are well aware that eating too much sugar and fat is bad for their health and can predispose them to obesity. In this point of view, a person with unhealthy alimentation is forced to pre-pay the consequences in a financial way. So when these people are suffering from obesity-related pathologies, they will have already paid for their health care costs.

Nevertheless, a fat-rich diet does not guarantee obesity. If people eat unhealthy food in moderation and they associate it with regular physical exercise, most of them will not be affected by overweight issues. Thus, it is ethically unfair to make them pay in advance for something that is only a potential future problem.

For the above-mentioned reasons, I would not agree with a tax on fast foods to ensure money for the health care system. Indeed, I do believe that it is an easy, responsibility-free and punishing way to solve the complex and severe issue of obesity and its financial and economical consequences.

 By Giulia Rinaldi