Course Components

Cert TESOL Course Components

Phonology

You will learn about the sounds that make up spoken English and the important features of individual sounds and connected speech. Knowing how sounds are made helps teachers to understand and correct learners’ pronunciation.

Grammar

You will look closely at the way English is constructed as a language system. As a native speaker, you know that ‘I live in London’ and ‘I’m living in London’ are not quite the same in meaning. You probably couldn’t explain the difference easily to learners. We will show you how to analyse language so that you can.

Teaching Practice

You will learn how to plan lessons and develop a range of teaching skills. You will then use these skills in the afternoon, from week 2 onwards, by teaching real students at two different levels. You will have plenty of guidance from your trainer who will observe you teaching and help you improve.

The Unknown Language

You will attend a short course (one hour a day for four days) in a language that you do not know. The teacher will use the techniques that you are learning during input sessions when teaching you. This way you will know how they work from a student’s point of view.

The Learner Profile

Many teachers find one-to-one teaching makes up a sizeable percentage of their workload. You will work closely with a learner to assess individual needs and weaknesses. A one hour lesson will then be planned and taught unobserved. You will then make suggestions for future language development.

Methodology

You will learn about different approaches in English language teaching, both current and traditional. Only by gaining awareness of the development of the major schools of thought concerned with language learning, can you make principled judgements about your own teaching and develop your own personal style.