A lot of people thinking of doing the CELTA course, or already accepted on a CELTA course feel that their language awareness (i.e. the detailed knowledge of how the system and structure of the English language works) will let them down, and will therefore jeopardise their success on the course.
Though you speak English well, you may well find it hard to explain language points to someone who asks you how it works. (This is a bit like riding a bicycle, or any other skill that you don’t have to think about consciously.)
What would you say to a student who asked you:
- What’s the difference between try to listen and try listening?
- Is it all right to say if I was, or should this be if I were…? Who decides what is correct?
- What’s the difference between sensible and sensitive?
- What’s the difference between the last sound in meat and mead? Is it important?
- What about my accent? Does everyone have an accent? Will it affect how I teach?
Especially if you haven’t studied foreign languages at school, you may well benefit from the Language Awareness course, which is designed to help boost your confidence in answering questions like these. You’ll deepen your knowledge of the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation systems operating in English, and you’ll meet other prospective teachers in the same position as you.
This course is intended for prospective trainees on CELTA, Trinity Cert TESOL, or other similar pre-service training programmes for language teachers.
The four core seminars are taught live online, so you’ll benefit from contact with an expert tutor. As well as analysing language, you’ll be exposed to typical practice material for students and briefly discuss how to implement such activities successfully.
Course objectives:
- to provide an introduction to terminology used to describe language
- to help participants analyse language items
- to expose participants to some typical practice material
The course is taught by distance learning, and takes place over 6 face-to-face sessions with your tutor on Zoom. Each live session is an hour, with some optional further study using our materials.
There are six online seminars:
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- An introduction to analysing language
- Verb tenses in English
- The noun phrase (introduction to lexis)
- Phonology
- Aspect (progressive and perfect)
- Modality / conditionals in English
Language requirement: min. C1
To enrol online, please:
- complete and submit the Application Form
- pay the deposit of £50 so that we can hold your place
- pay the remainder of your fees 21 days prior to the course start date
