ERIC ED404844: The Teacher Trainer: A Practical Journal Mainly for Modern Language Teacher Trainers, 1993.

126 Pages·1993·3.8 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 404 844
FL 021 837
AUTHOR
Woodward, Tessa, Ed.
TITLE
The Teacher Trainer: A Practical Journal Mainly for
Modern Language Teacher Trainers, 1993.
REPORT NO
ISSN-0951-7626
PUB DATE
93
NOTE
125p.
PUB TYPE
Collected Works
Serials (022)
JOURNAL CIT
Teacher Trainer; v7 n1-3 Spr-Aut 1995
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Class Activities; Classroom Techniques; Educational
Objectives; Educational Strategies; English (Second
Language); Foreign Countries; Higher Education;
Instructional Materials; *Language Teachers; *Student
Attitudes; *Student Teaching; *Teacher Education;
*Teacher Education Curriculum
ABSTRACT
This document consists of the three issues of "The
Teacher Trainer" published in 1993. Articles include: "Why I Left
an
RSA Diploma Course"; "Two Anxiety Dreams Experienced During the RSA
Diploma in TEFLA Course"; "Why Do an RSA Diploma Training Course?";
"Training for Medical General Practice: Assessment Techniques and
What We Can Borrow for EFL Teacher-Training"; "'Lead Us Not Into
on-Training Bus Drivers"; "Using Activity Cards on
Training Courses for Language-Teacher:" "nn -It- Yourself Language
Classes for Non-Native-Speaker Trainees"; "DonIl Go See for
Yourself-Let the Trainees Tell You"; "The Action Plan Cycle: A Way of
Integrating the Classroom and Training Course Sessions"; " A Fear
Clinic"; "Models of Teaching Practice and Feedback for Teacher
Training in TEFL"; "From Behind the Barricades"; "How Do You Think It
Went?: A Task-Based Approach to Feedback"; "Training EFL Teachers for
Multicultural Schools"; "A Training Game: What Is a Language?";
"Transacting TEFL"; "Professional Self Management in FLTT"; "The
Price of Change"; "Teaching Is Teacher Training"; "Why Train?";
"Trainee Interaction on Participant-Centred Postgraduate Courses";
"Video, Fear and Loathing: Self- Viewing in Teacher Training";
"Finding the Centre"; "Reflection and Feedback on a PGCE Course";
"Reading Mazes"; TEFL Auction"; "The 'Ghost' Instrument"; and "On
Form." (MSE)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
T 11 If
TEACHER
TRAINER
A Practical Journal mainly for modern language teacher trainers
Number one
Volume seven
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED-BY
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
r
CENTER (ERIC)
his document has been reproduced as
received I rom the person or organrzation
originating it.
O Minor changes have been mane to trnprOse
rect,OduCt ton Quality.
Points of view or opinions stated in this docu-
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
ment do not necessarily represent official
OERI positron or
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)...
pOliCy.
INSIDE
Page
Three trainee voices
5
Training for medical
general practice
- Assessment techniques
and what we can borrow
10
for EFL teacher-training
Don't go see for yourself -
let the trainees tell you.
25
A fear clinic
29
Quel professeur etes-vous?
30
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
ELT: the professional choice
CAMB RID CIE
Cambridge Teacher Training and
Development
Series Editors: Ruth Gairns and Marion Williams
Three new titles available in early 1993:
Tasks for Language Teachers
A resource book for training and development
Martin Parrott
This is a practical resource book for teacher trainers
and teachers of English and other languages. It
Discussion Tasks and
provides 40 Tasks, of two types
for training seminars and
Classroom-based Tasks
development groups.
Classroom Observation Tasks
and trainers
A resource book for language teachers
, --
Ruth Wajnryb
about
use observation to learn
how to
shows
This book
of tasks
language teaching. It does this by providing a range
which guide the user through the process of observing,
of
analysing and reflecting, and which develop the skills
observation.
Literature and Language Teaching
A guide for teachers and trainers
Gillian Lazar
and trainers
Literature and Language Teaching is for teachers
classroom.
who want to incorporate literature into the language
with groups of
It can be used as a resource by trainers working
working
teachers. by teacher development groups or by teachers
on 'their own.
AVAjLABLE
BEST COPY
I
For further information, please contact:
L A
k
A
1k.
ELT' Marketing, Cambridge University Press,
Or
UK.
IP
The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge C132 ZRLI,
TELEPHONE: [phone]/
THE MACMILLAN BUSINESS
ENGLISH PROGRAMME
for high-productivity language training
by IAN BADGER and PETE MENZIES
Multi-level
Versatile
International
A real alternative to a general English course
Elementary level available March
New features include:
larger extent - now 96 pages
Course Index - a new section at the
end of the magazine
Write to the address below for subscription details
Please send me details on (tick relevant boxes below):
Name
The Macmillan Business English Programme
in a language school
I work:
Address
as an in-company trainer
in a Business school/college
other
subscription form
Modern English Teacher
I wish to receive Macmillan ELT 1993 Catalogue
150th YEAR
RG21 2XS
To: Macmillan ELT (Promotions), Houndmills, Basingstoke,
[phone]
Fax
MACMILLAN
4
THE
TEACHER
TRAINER
SPRING 1993
NUMBER ONE
VOLUME SEVEN
Published three times a year.
CHIEF EDITOR: Tessa Woodward
GUEST EDITOR: Mario Rinvolucri
DO-IT-YOURSELF LANGUAGE CLASSES FOR NON-
LETTER FROM TESSA
3
NATIVE SPEAKER TRAINEES
21
Tony Luxon
GUEST EDITORIAL
3
THE
FOR YOURSELF
LET
DON'T GO
-
SEE
Subscriptions Information
5
TRAINEES TELL YOU
25
Judith Wilson
THREE TRAINEE VOICES
David Tendler, Julie Colton and
5" THE ACTION PLAN CYCLE
Wilson
- John
26
Sheila Estaire
TRAINING FOR MEDICAL GENERAL PRACTICE
A FEAR CLINIC
Assessment techniques and what we
can
29
Patrick Philpott
borrow for EFL teacher-training
Tessa Woodward
10
MODELS OF TEACHING PRACTICE AND FEEDBACK
FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN TEFL
"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION" OR TRAINING
Gosia Barker and Simon Hamilton
31
BUS-DRIVERS
14
Mario Rinvolucri
A NEW TEACHER TRAINING RESEARCH DATABASE 35
USING ACTIVITY CARDS ON TRAINING COURSES
HAVE YOU READ ...? QUEL PROFESSEUR ETES
FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS
VOUS? - PROFILS DE
Martin Cortazzi
15
L'ENSEIGNANT DE FLE
36
38
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
PUBLISHED BY:
England
Pilgrims Language Courses, 8 Vernon Place, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3HG.,
[phone] from within UK.
Tel:
The University of Kent Printing Unit, Canterbury, Kent, England.
PRINTED:
For all enquiries concerning subscriptions, advertising and contributions,
please contact the Editor.
Views expressed in the articles are not necessarily those of the Editor, or
of Pilgrims Language Courses.
THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vol.7, No.1 Spring 1993
Page 2
OMR A L
Fr,
ABOUT THIS ISSUE
Letter from Tessa Woodward
Guest Editorial
Dear Readers,
speak in the name of all
I know
Tessa,
I
those who have read and written for THE
was just finishing off the last issue
I
TEACHER TRAINER over the past years when I
was falling quite ill.
when
realised
I
I
This is
beg you to come back to health.
Rather than risk a patchy new volume
I
our forum, the forum of the EFL teacher
decided to act quickly and set up a system
training community, but you are its gentle,
of guest editorship.
Gather strength and
far-seeing architect.
From many places, in many
come back quick.
thought of was Mario
The first person
I
we love
in many different ways,
voices,
It was Mario who first thought
Rinvolucri.
you.
that a newsletter for
trainers
teacher
would be a good idea and Mario who first
Issue One, Volume seven, opens with three
-
asked me to get it off the ground.
It
trainees describing their feelings about
seemed to me fitting that he should have
It is hard to
their RSA Dip TEFLA courses.
the chance, six years on, to work on his
come out and speak publicly about your
I am really delighted that Mario has
idea!
course, especially when a large part of
agreed to take it on.
It can
what you have to say is negative.
feel like washing dirty linen in public.
I hope to be back some issues from now.
In
warm thank you to
the three
ex-
a
-So
hope you'll enjoy all the
the meantime I
courage and
who have
had
trainees
the
old hallmarks of The Teacher Trainer, plus
energy to talk to us trainers about what
some new energy and sparkle.
Mostly unhappy trainees
they experienced.
slink away into the night.
Tessa Woodward
Chief Editor.
The Journal regularly brings you accounts
of the way trainers in fields far-removed
from EFL go about their work and this issue
In the first
carries two such articles.
which
Tessa Woodward outlines the ways in
trainee
assess
practitioners
general
The
doctors assigned to their practices.
techniques used include manning and rating,
statements.
audit of work and attitude
Tessa prepared this article for the French
Tesol Newsletter and we are grateful to
In her
them for letting us re-publish it.
closing remarks Tessa writes: "Perhaps the
just
most important point of all for me is
that
the inspiration and feeling of breadth
trainer in a
comes from listening to a
Im-A
completely different field."
I4INISOLLI
till
°Min
In the second article Mario Rinvolucri
1111111
1/111111P4
1
describes a bus trip that got him thinking
W
do
"91.
14.
yr-
hard about why language teacher trainers
r
rooms.
their training
what they do
in
!
teach
Maybe London Transport has things to
us.
Martin
In his article on Activity Cards,
Cortazzi offers you five, firm stimulating
training session outlines aimed at getting
6
Page 3
THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vol.7, No.1 Spring 1993
students thinking
in depth about
these
The Review section this time brings you a
areas:
questionnaire
from
French-as-a,
fun
a
learning vocabulary
foreign language teacher training book.
learning language
meeting a strange culture
The Publications received column
is jam
quickly explaining the meaning
of
packed this time.
Lots of titles held over
semantically over-lapping words to a
due to lack of space from the last issue as
class
well as plenty of new ones.
learner strategies
Mario Rinvolucri
The next two pieces describe experiences
Guest Editor
with trainees from beyond the greedy part
whit South China and
of the world,
to
Tony Luxon reports on the way
Mozambique.
secondary trainees
in-service school
managed to teach each other English with
I suspect
minimal help from the trainer.
the Luxon model could be applied in many
the world and
parts
many
of
inset
in
Judith Wilson tells
training situations.
us that going to personally see Mozambican
teachers in action in their home teaching
situation was a lot less useful than really
listening to their view of their teaching
their mapping of
situation,
(Who
it.
knows, the same could be true of observing
trainees' lesson?)
In her article Action Plan Cycle Sheila
Estaire tackles the problem of turning the
INSEARCH
!inert ideas' of the training room into
LANGUAGE.CENTRE
reality in the trainee's own classroom.
plan
of
practical
She offers
clear,
a
4mmamm.-
trainer action!
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY
From Southern Spain Patrick Philpott writes
about how he has run FEAR workshops with
INTERNATIONAL
Among the things he
in-service trainees.
ENGLISH
found his trainees feared most were:
LANGUAGE TESTING
their own language deficit
methodological incompetence
SYSTEM
failure to motivate students
not achieving objectives
Prepare For IELTS (Module C & Gen-
difficult "know-all" students
eral Training) and the new Prepare
losing control
For IELTS 2 (Modules A & B) are
indispensable volumes of practice
materials for students in their final
Patrick's article on fear links back to the
preparation for the IELTS test.
Julie
Colton
that
nightmares
two
experienced while doing the RSA Dip TEFLA
six reading prac-
Each book contains
(Page 6).
six
tice tests with answers and notes
writing practice tests with model
In the final article of this issue Gosia
listening tests with answers
essays
Barker and Simon Hamilton discuss ways they
and accompanying cassette interview
training people from an
found of
Irish
information about
practice exercises
state school background in the perhaps more
study hints.
the test
humanistic ways of EFL.
Available from
IlC
Insearch Language Centre,
like to search a new teacher
Would you
Level 3, Prince Centre, 8 Quay Street,
training database'? Would you like to input
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
or by faxing your order to [phone].
your research to the database? Have a look
IUITISI
at Page 35.
UNIVERSITY
411111)
OP TECHNOLOGY
STONE Y
Book A524.95
Cassette A$10.95*
'Freight not included in the price
UTS-2WW
THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vol.7, No.1 Spring 1993
THREE TRAINEE VOICES
Many trainees are no doubt happy with the
A number, though, are not
courses they do.
and the three voices presented here bring
you negative feedback on a UK based in-
service teacher training diploma course,
the RSA Diploma in TEFLA.
It's
Please support "The Teacher Trainer"!
the only publication existing solely as a
left his
David Tendler explains why he
teacher
modern
the
language
for
forum
course early on, while Julie Colton gives
trainer.
some idea of the sort of strain she was
under during the course, though she mostly
The cost for three issues a year is:-
John Wilson explains
enjoyed it a lot.
why, for him, his year on the RSA Diploma
£15.00
Individuals
including postage
course "will remain in my memory as one of
Organisations£20.00
including postage
the most thankless and pointless years of
my life".
The journal is for a specialist audience
will
circulation
figures be
so
and
in letting you hear these three
My aim
considerably lower than for more general
voices is not to attack a particular course
The costs of producing
teaching magazines.
but more generally to question how easy it
a journal do not, however, sink appreciably
is for our trainees to question us,
the
We
just because the circulation is small.
Their aim is to get through
gate-keepers.
settled on the
figure
therefore,
have,
the gate: how much can we properly hear the
above ...
muffled sound of their voices?
UK Subscribers please send your cheques,
Guest Editor
made payable to "Pilgrims", to the Editor.
Subscribers outside the UK please ask any
bank that has dealings abroad, to send to
WHY I LEFT AN RSA
the Editor, a sterling bank draft drawn on
The draft should be made out
aUN batik.
DIPLOMA COURSE
to Pilgrims and sent to the Editor -
8 Vernon Place, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3HG
by David Tend ler
We would ask all subscribers please to fill
out the following form and send it along
draft
bank
cheque
with
or
their
(UK)
My background is ten years secondary school
(outside UK).
a half years
teaching and two and
ELT
came to the RSA
(adults) experience.
I
Visa, Mastercard or
You may now pay by
wishing
Diploma develop
course
to my
Eurocard.
techniques in ELT classroom teaching and
theories
more
about
also
learn
to of
that the Cert.
TEFL
teaching. felt
I
NAME
course, for which I had obtained an overall
written
my
although
final
grade,
B
ADDRESS
assignment was grade A, had introduced me
wished to
to some exciting ideas which I
had been refused a Diploma
develop.
I
place in September 1991 when I had only a
was finally
temporary part-time job.
I
offered a place in September 1992 when
I
OCCUPATION
had a permanent full-time (25 hours) job.
I would like to:-
left the course after five weeks as
I
I
subscribe to "The Teacher Trainer"
rush
(a)
the
considered
to
be
to
a
it
my cheque/bank draft is enclosed.
qualification rather than a time for real
contribute an article about
To my mind the course
(b)
teacher development.
principle
main
of
good
betrayed
the
language teaching: in ELT we are encouraged
to create a supportive relaxed and creative
learning environment on the basis that this
Page 5
THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vol.7, No.1 Spring 1993
THREE TRAINEE VOICES cont'd
To receive a certificate at the end of a
course whose philosophy is concerned with
precisely those principles is for me an
irreconcilable contradiction.
said at interview and repeated on
As
promotes effective learning. The students'
I
came to the course primarily
Thursday,
needs and learning circumstances are taken
I
was genuinely interested in the
because I
into account when we plan the curriculum.
whole subject area and wanted to gain fresh
motivation with
teaching
first evening we were told that
On the
regard
to my
I have come to the conclusion
technique.
teaching practice
had
marked
to
be at
that I can best do this by setting my own
diploma standard which meant we might fail
learning agenda based around the book list
When we were handed our
the first TP.
and handouts so far received.
first written assignment we were told it
had to be marked at diploma standard, so we
were given some help with it.
Even so
I
spent ten hours on it as I
wanted to do
some reading about the topic
not just 'do
There were to be seven
the assignment'.
more home assignments during the
year,
three more that term.
They, together with
six timed essays in class were to form 40%
Two three-hour exam
of the written exam.
papers
questions
with six
formed
the
remaining 60%.
By week four we were already a
lesson
in our ambitious schedule.
behind
The
put
lesson
was
free 'voluntary
a
in
slot
normally
attendance'
reserved
for
Group work and discussions
guest speakers.
were of necessity brief and in my opinion
TWO ANXIETY DREAMS
Heavy reliance was put on
inconclusive.
handouts, which led to more work at home
EXPERIENCED DURING
On top of all the above
digesting them.
THE RSA DIPLOMA IN
was the matter of a comprehensive booklist
- fine in itself, and very interesting, but
TEFLA COURSE
there was little time to
investigate it
We also had to carry out lesson
seriously.
observations and report briefly on them.
by Julie Colton
Despite maximum back-up at home,
could
I
not find enough time to prepare my normal
In the first dream, I was fighting my way
school lessons as I wished.
horseback,
forest on
a thick
through
was already
knowing all the time that
I began to feel that lip-service was being
I
The harder I
late for my observed lesson.
paid to the important teaching principles
tried to get through the undergrowth and
I also felt that, due to
mentioned above.
over all the fallen tree trunks in my path,
lack of time for discussion, my teaching
Finally,
the slower my progress became.
could
exploited
experience not
or
be
I
ended up in a pond which was clogged up
I also began to notice that it was
shared.
with weeds and I knew that I was not going
being assumed that we knew a lot of the
to make it to the lesson on time
finer points of English grammar (eg modals,
aspect) and methods, so that the emphasis
In the second dream, I had made it to the
with
was techniques
the
class
of
in
classroom and was standing at- the board
teaching those points rather than the finer
the
on
examples
attempting
write
to
An eighty minute slot
points themselves.
kept making mistakes but
whiteboard.
per topic was hopelessly insufficient in
I
tried to rub them out using the
many cases and led to more research at
when
I
board wipe, it put black ink onto the board
home.
I knew that I was
instead of cleaning it.
got more
more
being observed
and
and
EXTRACTS FROM DAVID'S LETTER TO THE HEAD OF
desperate but there was nothing I could
DEPARTMENT ON LEAVING THE COURSE:
do
.
I have decided that a course which leaves
(Julie achieved a distinction, despite her
such little time for learner contribution
dream life!)
and initiative is not the course for me.
() THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vol.7, No.1 Spring 1993
Page 6
COURSE ?
WHY DO AN RSA DIPLOMA
by John Wilson
of transformational grammar) had been one
At the time of starting the RSA Diploma
the
strengths when
doing
major
my
of
I was 37 years old.
course (October, 1990)
linguistics MA (which, incidentally, I did
been
had
in
job
teaching
first
My
not scrape through, but came joint top out
Barcelona, some twenty years previously,
of a group of 16 MA students!)
and I have been teaching, on and off, ever
In addition to a
since, mainly in EFL.
had not marked this
My main tutor (who
in
Cambridge first degree and M.
Litt.
a
showed
work)
of
piece
particular
English and
PGCE
in
have
a
English
I
creditable degree of sympathy, with just a
MA
an
in
and
(Garnett)
Communications
touch of exasperation, and gave her own
(Bangor) .
linguistics
applied
time, as well as putting me in touch with
have
in 1990 the school
Nevertheless,
I
to try to help me
the course moderator,
been working for since returning to England
One
through this very trying experience.
in 1989 sent me on a one-year in-service
apparently
the
was
difficulty
major
RSA Diploma course.
unquestioning acceptance by the tutors of
phrase structure grammar, as laid out by
Although I was not altogether delighted at
Randolph Quirk et al., with very little
agreed to
being asked to do this,
it,
I
the problems which phrase
awareness of
mainly because I could see that there was
and
structure analysis might give rise to,
applied
a tremendous rift between EFL and
virtual complete ignorance of alternative
I wanted to know what it
linguistics, and
analyses, particularly those deriving from
draw my
was that caused this antagonism and
the Chomskyan school.
was
whether
it
about
conclusions
own
justified.
abandoned
In view of the difficulties,
I
instead
the idea of an Easter holiday, and
The first term passed with only one or two
(on
concentrated on writing my project
There was a lot that
minor shocks.
I
students).
teaching English to Japanese
disagreed with, or felt was rather garbled
hit
This went well, and I found that I had
say misspelt
or
to
(not
and confusing
that
presentation
of
formula
on
a
linguistically ill-informed!) but some of
guaranteed the acceptability of my written
The crunch
the material was useful to me.
Unfortunately, my
work from this point on.
when
came at the start of the second term,
unfamiliar to
way of doing things was so
had handed in the
the two assignments
I
that
the established RSA school of thought
term before were returned to me - failed.
twice
all my written work ended up about
to
had
since
length,
specified
I
the
My first reaction was, "if they don't like
carefully.
very
step
every
explain
right that
my assignments, then it's only
Obviously, this meant a lot of extra work,
they should know about the aspects of their
but at least the tutors were accepting my
all my
course which I dislike," so I dumped
basic approach (once I had explained it in
negative reactions on my tutor, after first
trying
terms accessible to them), and not
consulting with the director of studies at
to force me to change my approach.
worked (who had been
the school where
I
very keen for me to do the RSA) on
the
accessible'
Since the comment about 'terms
It
suitability of such a course of action.
arrogant,
to the RSA tutors sounds rather
that the tutor
was no help at this stage
My
example.
give
an
better
had
relayed to me the dictum of the course
I
assignment on language analysis had been on
director: "If this chap's going to cause
auxiliaries.
the theme of teaching modal
trouble he'll find himself off the course."
is
Central to my approach to teaching these
Apparently, the right to criticise was only
which
'subject raising',
the concept of
one-way!
of
postulates that the underlying structure
'He seems to be unhappy',
sentences like,
language
on
assignment
the
rewrote
I
something like '[[he
may be represented as
This time it
analysis and resubmitted it.
is
[he
'[seems
(or,
is unhappy] seems]'
contained some
was not only failed but also
the basic
In other words,
unhappy]').
'Your
language
(eg
hostile
extremely
for
proposition, 'He is unhappy,' is marked
materials and preparation are inadequate')
be
can
analysis
similar
A
'seeming'.
- the
in a totally unsupportive context
is
'He
Thus,
auxiliaries.
applied to
creates
that actually
language
of
sort
coming,' may be analysed as containing the
failure, rather than simply diagnosing it.
'He comes,' marked
underlying structure,
Yet language analysis (mainly in the form
Page 7
In
THE TEACHER TRAINER, Vo1.7, No.1 Spring 1993