Page 12 - elgazette/ELG1812

TRAINING NEWS .

The future of the four week course

up for debate at IH London event

By Matt Salusbury the four-week ‘model has served
us well for many years’. Yet, while
With the profile of the trainee the ‘input has remained essentially IH LONDON
and the contexts they work in the same’, the trainees’ ‘origins
changing dramatically, what is the and destinations’ have ‘changed
future of training? dramatically.’ Ben asked how the
Opening the two day London introductory certificate model
conference, Brita Haycraft, co- could ‘be changed to reflect this.’
founder with her husband John of As a Celta assessor, Jess is always
International House, remembered talking to other trainers about
how the language school they had ‘what they are doing. They have
started quickly blossomed into a quite a lot of flexibility afforded to
centre for teacher training. them – you decide the timetable’
‘Very soon we had to get an and have a lot of discretion on
office just for the teacher training,’ what the input is.
she told the 150 teachers and But are they meeting the needs
trainers from Europe and beyond. of today’s trainees?
But what is the future of The opening session of the
teacher training now: that was the conference assembled a panel Danny Norrington-Davies gives the second day plenary
question the two day event set out of teachers at various stages of from writing classes to business the conference overall and raised
to answer. their career to try and answer this English to Ielts prep courses. questions for delegates’ future
The four-week course, the question. Given the varying contexts Celta consideration.
standard entry qualification Olwethu Pissot – a teacher trainees can expect to be thrown Throughout the conference,
designed, originally, for native from South Africa who did an into ‘should we be perfecting their the question was: is the four week
speaker graduates, has been IH Celta as part of her MA Tesol ability to flexible?’ he asked. course still fit for purpose and,
Celta and Delta trainer Iffy if not, how can we adapt it the
Jamil finds that one of the biggest needs of today’s trainees and the
tasks is to manage trainees’ stress. contexts they work in?
Iffy’s courses ‘seriously reduce Danny Norrington-Davies
input – down to 40 minutes,’ summed up the general feeling.
followed by answering trainees’ ‘We aren’t going to reinvent the
questions. He adds, ‘what I’m wheel,’ he said in his plenary
discovering (is that) less is more.’ session, ‘but we will see what we
The second day included can do with the wheel.’
plenaries by Danny Norrington- Jason White, IH London’s
Davies and Gabriel Diaz Maggioli, interim director of education,
as well as workshops and talks told the Gazette they ‘want to
IH LONDON from well-known names. continue the discussion’. IH
London is planning a series of
The conference concluded with
a closing panel featuring Adrian
follow-up evening events on
around for decades. Teacher at King’s College London, now Underhill, Fiona Dunlop, Jason teacher training, starting on 24
training at International House gives online English instruction Anderson and Marie Willoughby, January with a presentation by
(IH) started 56 years ago, the to young Syrian refugees. Her four chaired by Gabriel Diaz Maggioli, Jacqueline Douglas on survey-
Trinity Tesol certificate is 40 years week course was not a perfect which summarised their views of inspired Celta innovation.
old, the Cambridge Celta entry- fit for her new teaching context.
level Tefl, which replaced the ‘Being in an online environment
old RSA PrepCert, celebrates its is completely different… How IH LONDON
thirtieth birthday this year. can you do pair work? How do you
But the people who are taking monitor students? How could you
such courses, and the contexts incorporate some online teacher
they are teaching in, have training’ into Celta?
changed beyond recognition. IH Another delegate, Erin
London’s assistant director of Vickerman, who took the
training Jess Andrews pointed out intensive Delta at IH, described
that fifty years ago virtually all its Module 3 as ‘the biggest box
the International House trainees to tick in the land of box ticking
were native speakers. This ‘has exercises’. Of the Delta, she asked
now dropped to around 50-60 per the audience ‘Which bits feel
cent,’ she told the Gazette. more like a box to tick than… a
A similar opinion was expressed transformative experience? How
by Ben Beaumont, Tesol would you redesign those parts?’
qualifications manager at Trinity Recent Celta graduate Dale Brita Haycraft,
College London. He noted that found himself teaching everything co-founder of International House

12 November/December 2018

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