Reading and Listening Sub-Skills

When you are teaching reading or listening, there are sub-skills that you will be focusing on teaching your students. These are:

Gist/skimming

• Short time, read quickly
• Don't need to read every word
• Get a general understanding of the text
• Give task before they read or listen so they can look for it

Specific information/scanning

• Answers are easy to find
• Don't need to think about the meaning
• The words in the questions are similar/related to the words in the text

Detail (comprehension)

• Requires students to think a bit 
• Need to understand the text and context to answer the questions
• Need to read more slowly and carefully

Guessing meaning from context

• Includes some new words
• Read text then use what they've learnt to answer questions
• Afterwards use CCQs and drill to check that they have understood the meaning and pronunciation

Reading for inference (reading between the lines)

• Need a deep understanding of the text
• The answers can't be specifically found in a particular sentence or part of the text
• Requires the students to make assumptions based on what they have read

Drilling

Drilling is another method that you will use in lessons. This is to help the students to pronounce the lexis.

How to drill:

When planning- 

• Have the word or sentence on the board
• Have the phonemes below potential problem words
• Show circles above parts of the word or sentence that are stressed (but let these come up after you have drilled)

During the lesson-

• Model the word or sentence
• Ask everybody or particular people to say it, you can do this numerous times 
• You can ask them where the stress is and then show it on the board

Eliciting

Eliciting is a way to obtain the answer from students without giving them the answer. You can elicit by:

• Including a picture and asking them what they think the picture is of
• Using the meaning of a word and asking 'what do we call...'

You can use elicting at the beginning of a lesson to set the context but you can also use it to introduce new words and phrases.

Elicting is used to teach lexis alonside CCQs and drilling.

Language Analysis: Skills Lesson- Vocabulary

When doing CELTA, part of the lesson plan that you have to complete is a language analysis. The structure of this differs depending on whether you are teaching a skills lesson (vocabulary analysis), a grammar lesson (analysis of the grammar) or a functional skills lesson. 

The aim of the language analysis is to identify any potential difficulties the students might have and to plan how you will avoid these issues.

Here is a short example of a vocabulary language analysis:

Words or phrases and what type of speech	How you will show the meaning and check it	Pronunciation, stress and any issues	Problems the Ss might have with meaning, pronunciation or form and how to tackle them
Recipe (noun)	Show a recipe Say each step CCQs	O /ˈresəpi/	P1: Ss might pronounce the i as an ɪ sound S1: Show the phonetic structure on the board and drill pronunciation P2: Ss might not pronounce the ‘I’ sound at the end S2: Show the stress on the board and drill pronunciation

Lesson Planning with Examples

Lesson plans are hugely important for both CELTA and teaching in general. For English Language teaching, the lesson plan differs depending on the type of lesson that you are teaching. There are two main types of lessons- a skills lesson or a grammar lesson. Skills lessons involve going over listening, reading, speaking or writing. Your lesson plan will vary but here are some example structures.

Plan for a skills lesson:

1. Lead-in: This is what sets the topic of the lesson and engages the students.

2. Lexis: This is where you introduce any key vocabulary that you are going to use.

3. Skill 1 e.g. reading

4. Skill 2 e.g. speaking

5. Skills 1 and 2

Plan for a grammar lesson:

1. Lead-in

2. Skill to introduce students to the grammar point/s

3. Form and meaning: to show students how the grammar point is used and what it means

4. Pronunciation of the grammar point in context

5. Controlled practice: a set task to use the grammar in

6. Free practice: a task where students can create their own answers

Some Key Vocabulary for English Language Teaching

When you start CELTA, there are some key terms that will become drilled into your head. These are things that you need to consider when planning each lesson and they are essential for crafting a great lesson. Here are some essential terms to know for teaching English.

Teacher Talking Time or TTT

This is the amount of time the teacher (you) spends talking throughout the lesson. This should not be too high, in order to allow students to practice the skill or grammar point you are focusing on. 

Student Talking Time or STT

In your lesson plan, you should allow for activities that allow your students to practise, as well as during input, that they have time to talk.

Concept Check Questions or CCQs

CCQs are a very important part of teaching English. These are questions you use to check that the students have understood the meaning of a word. 

Instruction Check Questions or ICQs

ICQs are questions you use to check if the students have understood the instructions for a task. For example, 'are you going to read quickly or slowly?', depending on the skill you are practicing will alter the answer. 

Drilling

Lessons include drilling, which is where you say a word or phrase and then afterwards the students copy you. You can ask everyone to copy, as well as individual students to ensure that they have understood the pronunciation correctly.