The talk by Ruth Hamilton caused a lot of debate around what teachers need to be able to do when starting to teach.
Actually it was quite interesting to hear different opinions around what a teacher has to be able to do or maybe should know. Some participants argued that teachers should know grammar and should be able to explain it to their learners which is true. Some other people argued that grammar was not as important as being able to understand what your learners are trying to say and helping them with the vocabulary. This is also true. But I think that a teacher should be able to do both not just one, and it quite difficult to give preference to one over the other.
The results of research carried out by Ruth were quite interesting. In reply to 'What are the needs of a newly qualified teacher?' teachers said that it was support they needed most. In contrast teacher trainers and employers didn't find it as important and said that classroom management was very imprortand for new teachers. Surprisingly teachers themselves didn't find it as important. The research also discovered that the teachers didn't mention the importance of basic teaching skills as important. However, trainers and employers found them very important.
It was found out that teachers out of the CELTA course were not adequately prepared for teaching different class types such as young learners and didn't know what the reality of the job was.
I am not sure about the first two points but maybe the reality of the job should be added to the outline of the CELTA course.
No comments:
Post a Comment