Living the CELTA Experience

Hello, everyone! Long time no see you. 

I missed posting new stuff here! But here I am, trying to keep up with this project that I like so much. As you may know, my moto is Living, Exchanging, and Learning! Today's post is to share with you a bit of what I've learned from having the CELTA course in London and how I felt living there for a month. 

As I haven't written like this for a while, I'm deeply sorry if there are too many mistakes, but the love invested in this post is huge! I'd like to dedicate this post to everyone who made this dream possible! My biggest THANK YOU!

CELTA is a course from Cambridge designed to provide people who have never taught English for adults to acquire the essential skills to do so. Overtime, it became one of the most recognized certifications worldwide for the ELT community. 

The CELTA course has always been a dream to me. Since graduation, I've planned to have it in a specific way: in London and the full-time version, which's a whole month. Once this way demands a lot of money and time, I kept postponing this dream for years! Well, as Churchill would say, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” And so, I finally checked one more dream on my bucket list!

Last January I spent the whole month living in London and having the CELTA course at Stafford International House, being the pioneer of a study program organized by YOU Academy. Together with Helena, an old friend who was also a CELTA trainee, I lived what I believe to be one of the best/hardest experiences in my life.

I knew the course was very intense, mainly the full-time one. And it was! In addition to the fact that the weather was extremely cold and I was apart from family and friends, I'd say the experience was even more intense that having it in Brazil, but also really worth it. 

The reasons why I decided to have this course abroad involve mainly the idea of being immersed into the English language. Besides, I knew that by having the course in London, a very cosmopolitan city, I would be in touch with the most different cultures and approaches while teaching multilingual groups. Another reason was that I liked the idea of having peers from different countries. This actually ended up being a very useful thing too, because we could rely on each other and ask for help during our lessons planning. All of these situations implicates in challenges and stepping out the comfort zone. Oh, I how much adaptations I had to go through....but again, really worth it. 

London is also known as being very expensive. However, it was a (nice) surprise to know that students are very much encouraged to live schooling experiences there. For example, at Stafford House the meals were very cheap (and good, for my taste!). Having lunch there the five days of the week was just £20, and if you have three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) it would cost no more than £40 a week. Another interesting fact (that I unfortunately discovered just after coming back) is that students have discounts in may gift shops downtown. Isn't it amazing?

Well, back to the course, we were 12 trainee teachers (that's how they called us, CELTA applicants) from various places: Brazil, Italy, Scotland and British. 

My beloved peers and tutors in our last day!

During the mornings, we all have input sessions, that were classes our two tutors (one British and the other French) would teach us techniques and approaches to helping speakers of other languages to learn proper English. In the afternoons, right after lunch that was about 1h, we would have the ALPs (Assisted Lesson Planning), a moment to discuss what we were planning to teach with our tutors, always one day before actually teaching. That was a crucial moment to rethink and replan details to deliver interesting and well-structured classes the following day. After the ALPs, classes started, and then we would teach real students coming from very different places, and consequently, different cultural and social backgrounds. We had students from Croatia, Japan, China, Korea, Africa, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, and many others. That was for sure the biggest challenge to face: how to teach English to people that were so different among themselves! The time for classes varied during the course: some were of 20, others of 40 and still others of 60 minutes, always sharing the teaching moment with other trainees. Oh, and we started teaching at day 1! After the taught classes, we have a feedback section, in which our peers would comment on the delivered classes and so would our tutor.

There is no test for the course, but many actions are evaluated. The teaching practice, the lesson plans and the assignments. The tutors made clear the the thing we should care the most were the teaching practices, but for me, the assignment were quite hard to cope with. We had 4 assignment, basically one per week. Based on general guidelines, we had to write an assignment on skills lessons, another on language lessons, a third one with the focus on the students, and the last was a self-reflection about the whole process in which we were also expected to write about our future teaching development plans.

Every Friday, most of the trainees would stop by a local pub for pints just to celebrate one more week of CELTA! That has always been a great reason to celebrate, specially because some of us considered breaking off the course. 

Wow...I've written a long post, but I'd spend hours talking about this wonderful experience that definitely added a lot to both my professional and personal life. As I believe such long post might not be so interesting, I decided to post below a LIVE Helena and I delivered last week, talking a bit more about our journey. It's in Portuguese though. 

I am now a CELTA holder, full of pride, love, and respect to the professionals and students who dare to have it! 

I hope you liked this post! See you soon =)

O Banco do Passageiro na Frente e a Vida

Hoje era um dia comum. Era um passeio em família num belo domingo de céu azul límpido. Mas claro que não poderia ser só isso. Uma viagem psicológica no meu interior deu início mesmo antes do passeio realmente começar. Num gesto educado, perguntei "A senhora quer ir na frente?". Ela, mais educada ainda disse: "Não, poder ir." Alí eu comecei a filosofar e teorizar sobre o que o banco do passageiro na frente do carro significa em nossa vida.

Quando criança, nunca tivemos carro. Tampouco sabíamos que pessoas "brigavam" para ocupar o assento da frente ao lado do motorista. Comecei a pensar que esse assento, como muitas coisas na vida, dão a falsa sensação de empoderamento, de ser especial, de estar acima da lei. Mas por que as pessoas fazem tanta questão de sentar-se no banco da frente? Por que as pessoas ofereciam esse assento como se tivessem ofertando uma vaga no primeiro banco da Basílica de São Pedro para ver o Papa de perto? Nesse devaneio, comecei a questionar se esse assento era realmente melhor do que o de trás. Muitas vezes eu preferi sentar no de trás para conseguir ver a paisagem melhor, para conversar sem atrapalhar o motorista (ou pra atrapalha-lo), para dormir, para vomitar depois de uma bebedeira sem medida, ou simplesmente pelo prazer de não ter a obrigação de ter que prestar atenção no caminho, ou de ter a obrigação de ser o copiloto num caminho que talvez eu percorresse apenas uma única vez na vida.

Pois bem, mas o que tem isso a ver com a vida, então? Durante o passeio de quase duas horas tive alguns momentos para refletir no porque aquela situação corriqueira tinha me inquietado. Pensei e continuo pensando, com a conclusão (temporária) de que na vida também somos assim. Queremos ser o melhor filho, o melhor pai, o melhor marido, o melhor funcionário, o melhor professor, o melhor aluno, o melhor eleitor, o melhor tudo, ou seja, queremos sempre estar à frente, no "assento" que muitas vezes causa intriga e discórdia  Não vejo problemas em querermos ser o melhores, desde que esse tal "melhor" seja para nós mesmo, e não para essa pseudo-competição social inútil. Vejo muitas pessoas (eu, inclusive) querendo ocupar esse assento pelos motivos errados, sem se dar conta que o que realmente importa é o que se aproveita do caminho percorrido para merece-lo. Nesse insano desejo de ocupar o assento da frente na vida esquecemos que estar atrás nos abre centenas de possibilidades mil vezes mais benéficas do que na frente. E mais, esquecemos que, se não aproveitarmos essas oportunidades do caminho, até chegaremos a ocupar o banco do passageiro e até mesmo o banco do motorista no carro da vida, mas seremos corremos grande risco de sermos vazios e sem esperança, sem qualquer chance de contribuir para um mundo melhor. Pior, poderemos perder o prazer do "quero SER mais". 

Breaking the Mirror of Common Sense

Are you tired of those predictable TV series? There’s nothing as boring as investing time watching something you don’t need to finish to know the end. Going totally in the opposite direction, Netflix made available Black Mirror, a TV series written by Charlie Brooker, a British satirist and broadcaster who is definitely not afraid of thinking out of the box.

Black Mirror shows another extent to what this kind of program can be like. On the series, episodes are short, each bringing different characters (played by famous and amateur actors), fascinating and curious plots, distinct scenarios etc. The fact that there’s no fix hero to be proud of and cheer for neither any villain to admire the entire series, might make you be in two minds as choosing it as catchy or not. Thus, some viewers tend to classify the program as dull and not worth watching at all, while real followers will spread their excitement to everyone else. With plots that unfold stories regarding real princesses liver or futuristic but totally-possible-to-happen situations, Black Mirror is certainly thought-provoking to those who seek to watch all episodes.

All in all, if you’re looking forward to escaping the typical common sense ideas portrayed in TV series, Black Mirror is a program you must watch. Follow it and be ready to take your friends up on the issue. You will surely have a lot to comment about.

Do you eat "Chickpeas"?

Have you ever eaten "Chickpeas"? Well, this might sound a little strange if you don't know what this word means. 

I myself didn't know the meaning until very recent. Actually, one of my students asked me for this word while describing her curious gastronomic weekend, when she ate "Puchero" (another new word for me), a Spanish recipe that takes chickpeas as an ingredient.

Chickpea, known as "grão de bico" in Portuguese, is a very typical legume used in different countries and easily found in the Brazilian cuisine. Brazil isn’t the main producer, though. This legume also considered a grain is rich in proteins and is said to be one of the earliest grains to be cultivated in human history.

My family has used this ingredient in many occasions and for different recipes. Although you can find various recipes available on the internet, I selected a list BBC has gathered for your to enjoy this peculiar but rich ingredient. Click here and enjoy.

Mas tenho que ler em inglês?

By Marilia Meneghini

“TENHO que ler um livro que está em Inglês, mas me dá uma preguiça/ não gosto de ler/ acho que não vou entender nada...”

Já aconteceu isso com você? Se sim, o que fazer para preparar esse trabalho que o Professor (a) passou de forma bacana e divertida? Tenho algumas dicas que fará vocês se divertirem enquanto estudam. Vejam:

1-    Qual seu livro preferido em Português? Todos têm algum livro que adora e que já leu mais de uma vez em Português, tipo Harry Potter. Porque não ler ele In English? Se você já conhece a história na sua língua nativa fica mais fácil compreender a Língua Inglesa. Além do mais, você pode combinar com um grupo de amigos para eles lerem o mesmo livro e depois irem à algum lugar, e com um delicious coffee brake, conversarem sobre a história. 

2-    Leiam aos poucos e joguem. Não precisa ler o livro inteiro de uma vez, leiam 1 ou 2 capítulos, por vez. Combine com seus amigos de todos lerem o mesmo capítulo e o que acham de montar uma gincana com os capítulos lidos? Separem-se em grupos e montem várias perguntas. Dividam-se em dois grupos (azul e vermelho, por exemplo), depois fica um de frente para o outro, quem apertar a campainha primeiro responde. Se estiver certo ganha um bombom ou se estiver errado porque não uma torta na cara? Hhahahahha... vocês verão que será muuuuuiiiiito divertido e sem perceber, logo o livro vai ter terminado.

3-    Prefere algo rápido e curto, mas divertido? Gibis são a resposta. Eu adoro gibi e quando começo não quero terminar. Os gibis em inglês são simples, você pode ler em alguns minutinhos antes de começar a aula ou no momento em que está indo para aula.

4-    Mexa-se. Já leram o Gibi? Façam um pequeno teatro em sala de aula do que vocês leram. Primeiro encenem lendo as frases depois tentem sem olhar, e se esquecer, improvise. A improvisação teatral estimula a capacidade de fazer algo diante do inesperado. E o teatro é uma técnica que desenvolve a autoconfiança de falar em público, tira a vergonha e melhora a autoestima.

5-    Procure escolas que estimulem estas diferentes práticas de leitura com foco no prazer pela leitura. Muitas escolas impõem uma leitura dizendo que haverão provas sobre o livro. Isso é arcaico e nem sempre faz com que você desenvolva o verdadeiro prazer pela leitura para poder desfrutar dos fantásticos benefícios que esta ação proporciona.

Independente da técnica que você utilizar (e existem milhares), o segredo é variar as formas de leitura e os tipos de texto lido. Desta forma, seu vocabulário de expandirá de forma mais rápida e ampla. Se você não é um havido leitor, tenha em mente de que, como tudo na vida, trata-se de uma questão de iniciativa e hábito. Uma vez que você começa, não para mais.ENJOY!

Where is “OK” from?

By Lucas Silva

There have been numerous attempts to explain the origin of this expression, but most of them are just rumors. Based on the Oxford Dictionary (OD) it comes from the Scots expression ”och aye”, the Greek “ola kala” (“it is good”). According to the OD, the oldest written references result from its use as a slogan by the Democratic party during the American Presidential election in 1840, a long time ago.

As I said, there are many theories about its origins, according to History Channel online it was first mentioned in 1839 by two of the Boston Morning post on March 23^th. It appeared to be shortening of “oll Korrect”, the humorous misspelling of “all correct”. In fact it was a sarcastic jabs at a Providence newspaper, according to Allan Metcalf, author of the “Ok”.

Although Allen Walker Read, a Columbia University English professor, uncovered OK’s true origins in the 1960s, its origin could be traced back to a newspaper editor’s off-hand quip in 1839, and while “Ok” became part of the popular lexicon, its origins were disputed for more than a century.

How has it become so popular? BBC explains that both in speech and in writing OK stands out clearly, easily distinguished from other words, and yet it uses simple sounds that are familiar to a multitude of languages.

It’s easy to note that every language has an O vowel, a K consonant, and an A vowel. So OK is a very distinctive combination of very familiar elements. And that's one reason why it's so successful.

The origin of this expression is still unclear, then here goes some “origins” form other countries:

International OKs:

ü   Native American Choctaw: “Okeh” - it is so;

ü   Scottish: “Och aye” - oh yes;

ü   Greek: “Ola kala” - all is right;

ü   German: “ohne Korrektur” - without [need for] correction;

ü   Finnish: “Oikea” – correct;

ü   Mandinka: “O ke” - that's it.

Main Sources: BBC, HISTORY Channel, Oxford Dictionaries.

___________

Note: Lucas has been my student for a long time. This post is the result of an inquiry research based on a question that came up while one of our classes. Well, it is so interesting that it ended up here! We hope you enjoy it.

Children Looking After Animals

To have or not to have? That is the question that many families ask themselves when children ask for a pet. While it may be true that animals at home can be dangerous and messy, it is undeniable that they can also have a positive impact on children’s personality and physical development.

Since kids do not have much control when interacting with small animals, parents are usually concerned about the risks of having pets without a full-time adult supervision claiming that a sudden attack may happen and maybe be lethal. Equally worrying is the fact that these little creatures are able to turn a room upside down in the blink of an eye, requiring a lot of attention and care every single day and time in order to keep the house at least a bit organized or available to receive guests in an adequate way.

Conversely, pets may become one of the best investments a family can make in a lifetime. People who have chosen to have pets can easily affirm that their kids had become even-tempered, sensitive, responsible and lovely. Not only do these kids seem to be really polite, but they also show great physical characteristics. In other words, children whose houses are pet-friendly, are more physically active and tend to enjoy interaction with the real world much more significantly.

Concluding, considering there will always be pros and cons surrounding this issue and that there won’t be a right answer, I strongly recommend families to have pets because in spite of the disadvantages, the positive aspects are richer and much more beneficial to children.

What is your opinion about it?

Dependent Prepositions

Many of you don't know, but I have recently applied myself to a CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) preparatory course to try my hand at taking the exam by the end of this year. I always wanted to take these proficiency exams in order to keep up with my studies English language and to give a deeper and proper orientation to my students who are usually curious about them. Well, the time has finally come. 

Throughout this experience I intend to share some of my acquired knowledge, worries, fears, etc. This first post is to talk a little about Dependent Preposition...also known as "Hell" (JK).

As learners of English, prepositions are usually a tough part...also for native speakers. Surprise was when I faced the dependent prepositions in the CAE course. The blog You English Lessons Blog defines dependent preposition like:

In the English language, there are many verbs, nouns and adjectives which are followed by specific prepositions.  The prepositions are called dependent because their choice depends on the particular word and its meaning.

Although the prepositions depend on particular words, it does not mean you are free to change them as you wish. If they are dependent, it means they will always be together, they depend on each other, okay?

And then it pops up into our minds: How can we learn them by heart? Easy. Apply the same techniques used to study regular and irregular verbs: MEMORIZATION & PRACTICE!

Trying to make the way easier and softer, I'll share with you a list extracted from the Complete Guide to the TOEIC Test with the most common dependent prepositions. I thank Silvia, my teacher and tutor, for having shared it with me last week because it's old, but gold though. The PDF with a better quality is available by the end of this post.

A really cool way to check and confirm your "guesses" is to assess the Cambridge Dictionary because it brings examples where the dependent prepositions are in bold. For learners, it's a good idea to get the list above and try to create meaningful sentences applying each of them.

Remember: when you use verbs after prepositions, they must come in the -ing form. 
E.g.:

I'm not afraid of speaking in public.

They are interested in working in groups.

Would you like to practice? Click here and try the exercises to put into practice what you've learned about Dependent Prepositions.

If you want the list presented in this post in PDF with a better quality, click here.

Any contributions, don't hesitate to write to contato@teacherpedrobrandao.com.br or simply to leave a comment.