CELTA Week Two: From Rise to Fall

Second week at CELT Athens is over - and, yes, I am still alive!

Before writing about my TP3 and TP4, I would like to make clear that the purpose of this blog is neither to teach nor to preach others on how to go through the CELTA course. This is just me sharing my experiences as a CELTA trainee in case someone finds it an interesting read. For potential candidates, it is always better to read information written from someone that is going through this process than an administrator.

TP3 was a success, a great one. My aims where achieved, both the learning and the personal ones, and I managed to improve almost every weakness that I had up to that moment. Thinking back on it, a successful TP requires three important things: a devoted tutor, supportive fellow trainees, and ones own willingness to follow suggestions, recommendations, and advice. It is for that reason that I want to thank my fellow trainees whose help has been invaluable and the universe for sending in my way my wonderful tutor, Bita Rezaei; she is a good reason for anyone to travel to another country to get trained by her.

As for the third ingredient of the success recipe, there is no guide that can teach anyone how to absorb, internalise, and put in practice the things that s/he has learned. All one needs is to fully devote him/herself on the entire process, which, in turn, means that s/he must love it. 

When I started planning my TP3, I knew that it was going to be a very good one because I had fun even at the planning stage. I completed the plan, did some studying, and a couple of hours later I revised it. Same thing with the material, same thing with the activities, etc. It is very important for anyone to be able to detach oneself from the thing s/he works on and then go back and review it, afresh. It is after close attention to the detail that sets the ground for a successful TP.

And right after this great experience, TP4 was a complete failure. I will not commend on that because every minute of this lesson was an example to avoid. The reason? No reason. I know the procedure, I know the steps, I know how to plan, and I definitely know how to stand before students. I just had a bad day, which... happens I think to us all. The only word of advice, though: It is ok to fail every once in a while, it is ok to have a bad day, and it is ok to show weakness. After all, we are teachers: what we teach is that making mistakes is the best way towards knowledge, improvement, and development. 

Pre-CELTA thoughts

(Image Source: http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.gr/2012/03/teachers-summit-highlights-need-for.html)

Hello world!

My name is Angelos Bollas and I am about to start a CELTA course at CELT International Teacher Development Centre.

Even though I have been working for 8 years as an on and offline English Language Teacher in Greece and the UK, I realised that I was in need of formal teacher training. Not only have I faced difficulties in my job all these years, but also I have just come up with a very serious issue: when I decided to start a blog about language education, I had nothing to write about. or so I thought.

For the last two weeks, I have been preparing for my CELTA course. Other than grammar revisions and clarifications, I have started studying books and journals on methodology, classroom management, teacher development, and so many other issues the names of which I did not know even though I was "using" some of them.

At first, I thought really weird about it; yet, now, I believe that it is only natural that this would happen. Being too involved with something, does not allow room for reflection, not to mention evaluation. It is the same thing that native speakers face when they are asked to explain a language issue. Most of my native-speaker friends (who are not teachers) cannot define the term "Present Simple." The same happened with me when I asked my self to describe my way of teaching. "My way of teaching is my way of teaching and in order for anyone to find out more about it, s/he should attend one of my classes," this is what I believed.

However, reading through various ELT methodology books, I realised that my inability to describe/define my teaching practice was because it was nothing well thought or consistent for that matter. It is quite important for me to pause for a while and let other observe and comment on my job. After all, this is the only way to ensure that one improves in the field that s/he is passionate about. 

Needless to say that I am very pleased with my choice to go through teacher training after having spent some years in actual classroom teaching. I think that my professional experience will give me plenty food for thought and reflection. 

6 days are left.. I wish me good luck!