This is a series of posts on the ins and outs of becoming a Celta trainer. You can find the previous posts here: part one, part two, part three. Pre-course? The purpose of the pre-course training phase is to familiarise you with the bulk of administrative and regulatory documentation produced by Cambridge Assessment and your […]
Tag: celta
So you want to be a Celta trainer? Part 3: Ready…?
This is part three of a series of posts on the ins and outs of training to be a Celta trainer. You can find part one and part two by clicking on those blue links you have just read past. Go ahead and catch up; we’ll wait for you. The training plan? So, you have […]
So you want to be a Celta trainer? Part 2: getting your feet in the starting blocks…
This is part two in a series of posts describing and giving advice on the process of training to become a Celta trainer. You can catch up with Part 1 here. The training process? How you are trained will be the same whichever centre you train at. There will be a difference in how this […]
So you want to be a Celta trainer? Part 1: getting to the starting line
Who says so? You do. You have been asking for help and advice on social media about the ins and outs of getting trained up as a Celta trainer. This gave me the impetus to collect what I know and what I think about this area in a series of blog posts. This is for […]
Unplugged Radio Episode 6 – The Whites Of Their Eyes
Hello! Welcome to Teacher Training Unplugged Radio – my name is Anthony Gaughan. (if you can’t see the podcast player above, click this link for the audio.) There has been quite a long gap between episodes as Christmas and New Year got in the way. I had to do something to convince Father Christmas that […]
Celta Hamburg Podcast Episode 2
I just made a short podcast for my current Celta trainees up here in Hamburg, where I talk a bit about our general approach to training, teacher talk, language grading, task-setting, work management (less generally interesting unless you are on the course) and tips for passing the Focus on the Learner assignment (these tips may […]
Mr. Gaughan goes to (IH) London
Back in September, I was honoured to be invited by Varinder Unlu to give a short talk for her colleagues at International House London about unplugging teacher training. IH London record these sessions and so – thanks to their efforts and the magic of the internet – I can share this with you all! Huge […]
3 things beginning with E
I spend almost all of my professional life doing one of two things: observing the work of trainee teachers on Celta initial teacher training courses, or observing the work of Celta tutors in my role as an appointed Assessor for the Celta award. Both of these jobs present various challenges and raise many questions, but […]
Parachute training for teachers
Have you ever learnt to sky-dive?
If you have, you may recall receiving this instruction…
“Immediately after you pull the rip cord, shout out at the top of your lungs ONE THOUSAND, TWO THOUSAND, THREE THOUSAND – CHECK!!!!
When you shout CHECK!, tilt your head back and look above your head.
If you see your parachute canopy opening, relax and enjoy the ride.
If you don’t, reach for your reserve rip cord and pull it.
Repeat.
If you see your parachute canopy opening, relax and enjoy the ride.
If you don’t, relax anyway, because it will all be over before you know it.”
Macabre as the punchline is, there is actually a great deal of sense in this short lesson – both for novice sky-divers and for teachers of all levels of experience.
What makes a lesson GREAT? Part 1 (and a postscript)
This was the question posed by Mike Harrison on the IATEFL facebook page recently. Considering the space constraints of commenting on a platform like that, and given my Faible for whimsical responses to serious questions, I replied thus: If you are familiar with acrostics, a form of poetry where the first letters in each line […]