Newsletter 2022#03

Good morning

Hope that you've had a good week and that 2022 is treating you well so far.

This week's something old and new are aimed at you if you're a CELTA trainee (or a CELTA trainer - feel free to pass these things on!), but if you're already in the classroom, don't miss the final section for two great CPD tips.

Something old

The four written CELTA assignments aren't the most important part of the course - teaching practice is - but they still have to be done and they can cause quite a bit of stress on top of what's already (often) a high pressure environment. Last year, I put together a FREE library of online resources to help trainees with the assignments. This includes a video walkthrough for each assignment and links to other (free) useful reading  material on the net. All of these are solid, reliable references and this is especially useful if you're doing a fully online course and can't access the physical books in your school's library. You might also find some of these links interesting even if you're not doing CELTA assignments! Check it out.

Something new

Continuing with the topic of assignments, one of the things that trainees often ask is 'What happens if I fail an assignment?' so this week's new video is all about that. Feel free to share it and I hope it's reassuring :)

Something borrowed

Finally, I thought that I'd balance this week's offering out with a heads up about a couple of fantastic webinars coming up very soon - something for you more experienced teachers, now.

The big ELT publishing houses have useful professional development sessions so it's worth keeping an eye on their sites. Obviously, the underlying agenda is to sell books, but these sessions often have big name authors giving interesting talks. Macmillan, for example, has regular free events and you can find out all about them here.  On Thursday this week (Jan 27th)  Kieran Donaghy is talking about 'Bringing lesson outcomes to life'. It's about why outcomes are important, identifying them and practical ways to develop them. Looks good.

Also this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (25th and 26th) this time from Cambridge University Press, there's a webinar on 'Grammar teaching - explanation or (guided) discovery' by the one and only Scott Thornbury. How's that for an abundance of riches?!

OK - that's it for today. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and I'll see you next week.

Best

Jo