Pre-Course Study: Phonology
Today’s task (phonology) was even quicker than yesterday’s. The second part of the study pack from ULT sets out the system of phonemic transcription used on the course. Although the consonants were all as I expected, some of the vowel symbols were a bit different from ones I’ve used before. This provided a good excuse to use my new multicoloured pens (hooray!) to make a list of the vowel and diphthong symbols, now stuck in the front of my new bright green folder for easy reference. (I am convinced that having multicoloured pens, folders, paper, dividers, socks, and anything else available in rainbow, really does help with studying. If not with the actual learning process, then at least with cheering you up on a Monday morning 
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ULT were very specific about the stationery requirements for the course. They told us the number and size of ringbinders we would require, as well as the number of file dividers we’d need for each one. I was slightly alarmed, at first, by such precision, but I guess it’s just because we won’t have much time whilst doing the course, so they probably want to make sure that we won’t be wasting any thinking about how to organise our notes.
Almost everybody I know seems to know someone who’s done an intensive TEFL course in the past. And all of them have said that the volume of work means it really does take up all your time: apparently it’s not possible to think about anything else whilst the course is on. Maybe I’m slightly worried about that. I’m not always very good at concentrating on the same thing without a break – when I’m meant to be doing something specific, I suddenly remember the five hundred or so interesting things that I somehow forgot all about when I had nothing to do…
I chose this particular course for various reasons (not least its being in the vicinity of my parents’ house, who have kindly agreed to let me move back home whilst I study). The thing that first made me like it was reading on the website that as part of the course you get given two or three Russian lessons, to experience what it’s like to learn a completely new language from scratch and without speaking anything else in the classroom. I was futher swayed by the free open day/seminar that ULT do about once a month, to let you get a feel for the course before you decide whether or not to sign up. As you can tell, I liked it! The Trinity TESOL certificate also appeals because it covers teaching children as well as adults, whereas I am told that Cambridge CELTA only covers adults. However, both courses look good to me, and it seems that they’re generally accepted as equivalent.
