TITC courses have a very practical emphasis and deal primarily with the real skills and knowledge needed by teachers in the classroom. Whilst the course timetable may vary slightly from location to location, the content will always remain the same.
The TEFL course is divided into six main areas:
1. Teaching Practice
The most practical and fundamental area of any TEFL/TESOL course. Course trainees teach real students of English and put into practice the skills learnt on the course.
2. Foreign Language Experience
The trainees receive training in an unknown foreign language to reflect on the experience of being a learner, and how this might direct their own teaching.
3. Language Awareness
a) Grammar. Covers word classes, simple sentence elements, complex sentences and clauses, verb time and tense, aspect and conditionals and modals, phrasals and voice.
b) Phonology. Covers phonemics, word stress and intonation, sentence stress and intonation, rhythm and intonation, and connected speech.
4. Student Profile
Trainees work with individual students on rapport-building, error analysis and correction and addressing individual student needs. Three meetings with the student are required including transcription and error analysis of audio and written samples, culminating in a 60-minute session observed by a trainer.
"I'm very happy with my choice of TEFL school. The course is well structured, and the accommodation / facilities are well located. The team of friendly staff make for a pleasant atmosphere….I like the fact that English language students come to the training centre daily to be taught, and that they are of a wide range of abilities. "
Simon Godwin
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5. Teaching Techniques.
This component of the course covers areas such as:
- Lesson planning
- Classroom management
- Establishing rapport
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Discipline in the classroom
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Managing equipment and teaching aids
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Creating materials
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Correction techniques
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Evaluation and testing
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Teaching vocabulary
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Teaching grammar
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Teaching receptive skills (reading and listening)
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Teaching productive skills (speaking and writing)
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Games in the classroom
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Songs in the classroom
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Teaching beginner students
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Teaching individual students
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Teaching business English
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Teaching young learners
6. Materials Project
All trainees must develop two sets of materials used during the teaching practice. Each set must be durable, capable of being used for more than one lesson context and easily portable. The materials may include visuals, realia, audio or video tape, cue cards and class handouts, but may not be photocopied from published sources. Trainees are required to adapt from commercial sources, or develop original materials. The summation of this project is a presentation to the trainers on how the materials were used, how they could be improved and how they might be used in another context. |
