Hilal Hastaoglu » teaching practice

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teaching practice

*** My L@sT Te@chiNg Pr@ctiCe! ***

Monday, March 12th, 2007

 

Remember my first teaching practice? Aaah*&^%$%^&?
http://www.eslbase.com/diaries/hilalhastaoglu-2007-01-my-first-teaching-practice

Well, yesterday I had my last TP! It didn’t go as Aaah^&%$! Instead, I felt very comfortable! I can’t believe how much I developed my teaching skills. Monitoring, concept questions, drilling etc. My first TP was for 20 min. and this one was 60 min.! Oh, I think I never told any of you about the teaching practices during the CELTA, have I? Well, it goes like this;

You teach 9 times to students + you get 2 microteaching (each 10 min.) to your peers.

1st lesson: 20 min. to elementary students
2nd till 5th: 40 min. elementary

6th till 8th lesson: 40 min. intermediate

9th lesson: last lesson, 60 min. intermediate

Anyway, where was I? Yes, comparing my first TP to my last one. BIG DIFFERENCE. I learned so many teaching tactics, approaches, strategies, methods, styles… whatever you want to call them.

¨ I feel confident when I’m teaching.
¨ I don’t worry about questions coming from students anymore.
¨ I enjoy teaching grammar.
¨ I can categorize students into their learning styles (and I thought you need to be a psychologist to be able to do that). In addition to that, I learned that I am a kinaesthetic, visual, auditory and a interpersonal learner.
¨ When I’m teaching, I don’t see blank faces anymore.
¨ I learned to listen (yes, I know that is unbelievable).
¨ I know what “synonym” means!
¨ I can handle criticism!
¨ I don’t need pink stuff to help me overcome stress! (I wonder if any of my tutors and colleagues realised that I don’t bring my pink folder, pink pen, pink pencil, pink eraser to class anymore)

Posted in celta, microteaching, first day of TP, 60 minute, 40 minute lesson, minute, teaching practice, English, students, elementary, lesson plan, intermediate, development | 3 Comments »

ZzZzzz…..(Sleep) vs. (CELTA)….9am - 7pm

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

I was supposed to prepare for my CELTA Teaching Practice and one of my assignments due the next day. However, I forgot all about it and spent hours watching TV and thinking about the Eurovision contest. It was something like 1:00am when I remembered I have class the next day. “Oh My God!!!” was the only sentence I said to my self for at least an hour. The time was 2:00am and I still hadn’t prepared a word for my lesson plan or assignment! I sat down in front of the computer and started working on it. Finally, I had finished everything at around 7 am (writing my lesson plan, preparing the activities, finding visuals I may need, thinking and searching for the stress on the new vocabulary I was to introduce, preparing activities and their answer keys, writing out my assignment etc.). My class was to begin at 9 am. So, I left the house at 8am and was there on time!

Note: That day ended at 7pm; I managed not to fall asleep or look tired for 10 hours!

P.S. I got an Above Standard for that lesson and a pass on my assignment!

P.P.S. This may happen to you as well. What I kept on telling my self all night was “You’re young and you have energy”! So try to convince your self when you are at a crisis. However, don’t forget your health comes first, so don’t push your luck.

Posted in teaching practice, forgot, celta, lesson plan, plan, English, assignment, sleep | 2 Comments »

*** Human Mind VS. Language ***

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

When I was 5, we had Chinese neighbours. I would sneak out of our house and visit them daily! Whenever I was missing, my mom knew exactly where I was. However, just a few months ago I was teaching English to 2 boys and they had a private Chinese teacher. She didn’t know a word of English and I didn’t know a word of Chinese. I was starting to think that we will have a huge communication problem. Yet, as she spoke, I understood what she was saying! Ahhhh &^%$ was my first reaction!

I felt like Doctor Dolittle, a physician who rediscovers a very special gift he has suppressed ever since he was a young boy - the ability to understand and talk to animals (Dr. Dolittle - Directed by Betty Thomas).

Conclusion: The human mind is like a memory bank which stores almost everything! I guess my experience proves some theories of language learning/teaching wrong. Language is not always about loads of practice; instead it is about forming the right base to give opportunity for improvement.

P.S. I understand Chinese!

Posted in ITI, celta, first language, teaching practice, English, mind, memory, istanbul | 4 Comments »

*** My FiRsT TeAchiNg PRaCTiCe!!! ***

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

My first day of Teaching was like AAaaaaaAaaAaAaaaaah!!$^3% *&^%9$£5%^;7;* (*&2^%$£$%*(*&^%$£$%^&*&^%

I think that explains it all.

If you got anything to say, go ahead!

Posted in celta, first day of TP, ITI, TP, teaching practice, istanbul | 15 Comments »