CELTA Pre-course Task

Task 1

1. I will be completing the CELTA course on a full-time basis alongside people with similar
qualifications to myself. Given the nature of the course, it will be a monolingual group with
discussions taking place only in English.

2. Following my graduation from the CELTA, I will be teaching English in Japan to various
groups of learners, although at any one time, I will only be dealing with one age group and one
ability. It will be small classes of a maximum of six people on a part-time course.

Task 2

1. I have previously found teaching adults extremely rewarding. Discussing the differences
between languages with students who are interested enough to constantly ask engaging
questions is more appealing than teaching children, who may have little interest in the subject.

2. As an adult learner of languages myself, I also feel as though I can relate to adult students
trying to learn a language around other obstacles (work, family etc) and feel I can offer learning
techniques that I myself have found useful in this challenging aspect.

3. People who are often busy trying to fit in language-learning around other responsibilities.
People who are keen to learn, motivated and driven to do so, and generally have a purpose in
mind for their language skills.

Task 3

1. It would be advantageous to know their first language as this may influence learning speed -
some languages have more in common with each other than others.

2. This is information that can be gleaned from a pre-course survey filled out by the student. It
might also be beneficial to judge language ability on the first lesson and then plan accordingly.

Task 4

I think people with different motivations would present different challenges in learning English.
Those with an obligation to do so (because of pressure from family or the government) might be
less motivated than others because they are being forced into it. Those doing it for status or job
prospects, meanwhile, might already lead busy lives that leave little time for revising.

Task 5

Has a sense of humour

Is approachable
Does not complicate things unnecessarily
Is patient
Inspires confidence

Task 6

Confidence
Systematic
Rules
Time-saving
Useful
Maddening!
Divisive

Task 7

We've been looking for you for ages (correct)

I went to the movies last night.
He often comes late.
They were waiting by the fountain (correct)
Can I have a black coffee, please?
People with 12 items or fewer can queue here.

Task 8

I think that English teachers need to know about grammar because, speaking as a learner
myself, there are times when 'this is just how it works' doesn't cut it as an answer. Knowing
about grammar and being able to explain the rules can help learners to stop making mistakes
that might take a long time to work out instinctively. Explaining grammar can help to eliminate a
great deal of frustration for the learner, rather than just correcting them over and over again.

Task 9

You - subject pronoun

a - indefinite article
but - adverbial
quite - adverbial
abstract - adjective
could - auxiliary verb
those - demonstrative determiner
for - preposition
mean - lexical verb
plunger - noun
Task 10

Watches - lexical
Looking - lexical
Are - auxiliary
does - auxiliary
have - auxiliary
waiting - lexical

Task 11

I had a bad headache (had, lexical)

When do you get up (do, auxiliary)
How long have you been learning? (have, auxiliary)
I did it without thinking (did, lexical)
We do some exercise (do, lexical)
Have you had them long? (had, lexical)
I was hoping (was, auxiliary)
Are they here? (are, lexical)

Task 12

1. Should - advice
2. May - permission
3. must - logical deduction
4. can't - ability
5. could - possibility

Task 13

1. I worked - past tense form

2. They've been seeing - -ing form
3. She lives - 3rd person present simple tense
4. You have to try - infinitive/base form
5. It was handed - past participle form

Task 14

Hear
Past: heard. Past participle: heard
Do
Past: did. Past participle: done
Help
Past: helped. Past participle: helped
Think
Past: Thought. Past participle: thought.
Steal
Past: stole. Past participle: stolen
Go
Past: went. Past participle: gone
Drink
Past: drank. Past participle: drunk
Arrive
Past: Arrived. Past participle: arrived.

Task 15

1. I was hoping to see you (past progressive)

2. They might have got home by now (modal perfect)
3. We have tried to help (present perfect)
4. They were being questioned at length (Past progressive passive)
5. I saw it coming (Past simple)
6. This time next week you will be lying on a beach (modal progressive)

Task 16

1. I am having a really good time (present progressive OR continuous)

2. We stopped doing that years ago (simple past)
3. She lives somewhere near here (present simple)
4. We had been for a drink before we met him (past perfect)
5. These computers are made in China (present passive)
6. You will have been here for 2 days by then (future perfect)
7. It happened as I was driving home (simple past, past progressive/continuous)
8. I have been feeling unwell for a while (present perfect progressive/continuous)

Task 17

1. The sun was shining brightly (Past)

2. They will have finished work (Future)
3. She has been working (Past)
4. I was wondering if we could have a word (present)
5. They own most of the land (present)

Task 18

1. 'To be' is used as an auxiliary to create the present progressive.

2. -ing participle
Task 19

1. In this example, the present progressive is used to say that something will happen in the
future.
2. In the second example, the present progressive is used to describe something that is habitual
3. The event described by the present progressive is unfinished - in this case to heighten the
tension.

Task 20

All of the sentences incorrectly use the present progressive.

Task 21

Dictionaries can be used to find out...

- Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive
- To find out the word's origins
- Example phrases for contextual usage of the word
- Multiple meanings for the word
- Translations
- Synonyms

Task 22

1. He is the highest person in the family…

(In English, we always say 'taller' when describing the height of people. 'Higher' is used for
buildings)
2. I think I'll go to bed now. I'm feeling a little enervated.
'Enervated' is a very formal word. 'Tired' is more natural here.
3. It is an extremely good essay. The ideas in it are original and pretentious.
The word 'pretentious' carries very negative connotations and should not be used in this
circumstance when the speaker is trying to praise the essay.
4. Her grandfather gave her a loving slap on her face.
'Slap' carries violent connotations that do not go with the adjective 'lovingly'.
5. Every day, I like to go footing after work. It's good exercise and helps me to relax.
We say 'running' rather than 'footing', which is an interesting example of English that has
become commonly said across Europe by non-native speakers, despite not being correct.

Task 23

1. Not only was he nice, but he was also strikingly handsome. (Strikingly handsome - adverb-
adjective collocation)
2. After he got up, he made his bed and did some housework. (Got up - verb-preposition
collocation. Made his bed - verb-noun collocation)
3. It was absolutely fabulous! (Absolutely fabulous - adverb-adjective collocation)
4.They both really depend on each other. (Depend on each other - Verb-noun collocation)
5. Their farewell at the airport was highly emotional. (Highly emotional - adverb-adjective
collocation)
6. She was caught in a vicious circle. (Caught in a vicious circle - verb-noun)

Task 24

1. Stress - giving emphasis to one syllable

2. Phoneme - an individual sound
3. Intonation - the music of our voices

Task 25

1. An individual sound is mispronounced - the listener might understand 'bin' when the speaker
wanted to say 'pin'.
2. A request is made with a very flat intonation - the speaker can sound arrogant and
demanding.
3. The wrong syllable is stressed in a word - the word is incomprehensible.

Task 26

1. Day
2. South
3. Language
4. peaceful
5. young
6. cool
7. search
8. equation
9. sugar

Task 27

Guarantee
Cavalry
Mechanisation
language
Retreat
Speculative
Success
Balance
Identity
Articulate

Task 28

1. Photograph
Photography
Photographer
Photographic

2. to record/a record
to increase/an increase
to present/a present
to import/an import

Task 29

Mother
Forget
Announce
Tonight
Notable
Mention
Patrol
Indicative

Task 30

1. Various travel-related articles for my job as a travel blogger. Some of the articles are quite
tedious and I only read the headline, then picked out statistics from the text.
2. Buzzfeed article on cat names in Japan to break up the monotony of the day. Scanned
through to see if my cat's name (Mocha) was on there. It wasn't.
3. Five Kindle-pages of Harry Potter in Spanish. This was slow and detailed and interrupted
every so often when I looked up a word I didn't know.

Task 31

1. Academic article for essay - Reading to infer

2. Telephone directory - Scan reading
3. Editorial for a newspaper - Intensive/detailed reading
4. An advertisement for a possibly-suitable job - When you read to get a lot of information from a
text.
Task 32

I think the problem with the type of reading specified is that it doesn't reflect the way that we
read in our first language at all. So we don't practise picking up information in the same way. If
we did, we would get better at it.

Task 33

If they are so new to the language that they find it impossible to pick out words in a sentence (I
had this with Spanish for a good six weeks)
If they don't understand how to listen to a language since each language has its own rules for
emphasis and rhythm. (eg: In Spanish, the penultimate syllable is usually stressed. Once you
understand this, it becomes easier to hear words being spoken.)
If the person speaking is using a different accent to the one their teacher had.
If the speaker is talking too quickly.
If the speaker is using slang or jargon that they are unfamiliar with.
When we speak, we are more likely to clip words or say them differently to how they are written.
This is particularly the case in English where the rules of pronunciation are tricky.

Task 34

I listened to the following:

- A Radio 4 comedy programme, the latest in the series. This was intensive listening since
I know I enjoy the programme and wanted to laugh along.
- An interview with a musical theatre actress. I needed a quote for an article - scan
listening.
- A briefing for a piece of work in which a colleague and I talked to another member of the
team. I was skim/gist listening while she explained what we had been doing with the
project, while simultaneously checking documents.

Task 35

1. Lecture at university - intensive listening

2. A sales pitch for a computer - skim/gist listening.
3. Announcements at a train station - scan listening.
4. Instructions from boss about important task - (very) intensive listening.
5. An interview about someone famous whose political opinion you are interested in -
listening to infer meaning.
6. A radio programme on a topic that is mildly interesting for you - skim/gist listening.

Task 36

Task 37
 1. Half-successful - the learner has communicated that they want something, but not what
they want.
2. Successful. The rising intonation is indicative of a question being asked and, although
the modal auxiliary 'will' is missing, we can understand without that.
3. Successful. Although some words are missing, it is easy to infer the meaning.
4. Unsuccessful. "I stay here 5 weeks" might mean "I have been here for five weeks" or "I
will stay here for five weeks" if the learner has misunderstood the question to be 'How
long will you be in New Zealand?' It's impossible to know without clarifying.

Task 38

1. Asking a colleague for help - transactional

2. Offer to collect neighbour's mail - transactional
3. Weather comment - interactional.
4. Talking with friend about garden - interactional.
5. Participating in a university group tutorial - transactional.
6. Drinks and chat after work - interactional.

Task 39

The more fluent learners are, the more confident they will feel with the language, making it more
likely that they will practice in real-life situations.
Fluency practice also helps to improve listening skills, meaning learners will be more likely to
pick up the grammar and rules of a language from native speakers.

Task 40

1. Gesture and facial expression - S

2. Punctuation to ease understanding - W
3. Hesitation devices and fillers - S
4. Immediate feedback - S
5. Preprepared - W
6. Uses pauses, stress and intonation - S
7. Is spontaneous - S
8. Suggests meaning is static in communication, but open to interpretation - W
9. Communicator may never find out what people think of message - W
10. Includes headlines etc - W
11. Smooth-flowing - W
12. Involves negotation of meaning between the two parties - S

Task 41

1. Confusion between 'through' and 'threw'. The writer has heard the second word in spoken
language and, not having seen it written down, decided it is spelt the same way as the first one.
2. 'Brother' and 'Sweden' are misspelt.
3. There is a comma after 'however' which is common in some uses of the word, but makes the
sentence sound clunky in this instance.
4. There is no punctuation or capital letters in the sentence. I would say the learner has been
learning English primarily through speaking it.

Task 42

- Misshapen letters can be improved by handwriting practice. As a teacher, I would

encourage rounder shapes to improve legibility. I would encourage standardised spaces
between words and writing on the line.

Task 43

1. Smiling more and creating better rapport - Personal aim.

2. Students => Students in Pairs - Interaction pattern.
3. By the end of the lesson, students will use wide range of adjectives - Lesson aims
4. Teacher hands out text and gives questions to each group - Procedure
5. Some students may find pronounciation difficult, I must… - Anticipated problems &
solutions
6. To get students interested in the topic of the listening text - Stage aim.
Task 44

Task 45

1. The word 'jot' (meaning 'to write') is colloquial and very unlikely to be understood by the
students. The teacher should use the word 'write' which is likely one of the first verbs students
learn, and will therefore be easily identified.

2. The instruction isn't very clear to a non-native English speaking and can be simplified very
easily. The teacher should say 'Look at question four' while holding up four fingers.

3. This instruction should be broken down into separate requests, as the students are unlikely to
remember all the details of what they have to do.

4. The request is too vague and doesn't particularly engage with the student. The teacher
should read the question aloud for the students and make sure they understand it.
Task 46

1. I would explain that the purpose of the group work in this exercise is to develop fluency and
confidence rather than precise language learning.

2. I would explain that it is often difficult or impossible to communicate certain aspects of a

language because there isn't an equivalent in English.

3. I would encourage the student to work with the person they disliked to challenge their
prejudices and show they can learn English from anyone!

4. I would explain that learning from textbooks and learning from discussion are both techniques
that help to develop different aspects of language learning and so develop a more rounded
knowledge of English.

Task 48

1. Slim/thin - I would draw pictures of all the things that can be thin, against the one thing
that can be slim (a person)
2. Wink/blink - I would wink and blink while saying the words to reinforce meaning.
3. I used to get up early/I am used to getting up early -
4. Nervous/upset - I would use a story to set up 2 situations in which i am upset or nervous
to show the contrast.
5. 4 weeks ago/before
6. Write the sentences on the board, numbering the words and showing the conjunction.
7. Tell a story and be sure to place particular emphasis on the words.
8. Draw pictures illustrating the verb 'put' against 'putt'
9. Use mime - hold up a 'record' while saying the word. Then mime recording something
while saying the word.
10. Live (verb) vs live (happening now) - Say each pronunciation slowly and carefully while
emphasising the shape of the mouth.

Task 49 (reading)

1. The subject matter is quite complicated and not one that might encourage everyone to
join the discussion. More people might be inclined to engage in a topic such as their
favourite music or a similar subject matter - something they are more likely to feel
passionate about would be a better topic. However, the teacher could also create more
interest in the topic. Reading aloud also focuses the reader's attention on the
pronunciation of words, so it might be better to ask them to read the text to themselves
before reading it aloud.
2. A pre-reading talk between students might be a better way of raising interest in the topic
before going onto the reading.
Task 49 (speaking)

1. It is often difficult for teachers to give equal opportunities to students in language

classes, and that situation is demonstrated here.
2. While learning Spanish in a multilingual group, our teacher placed us in a big circle and
went round everyone asking for things they liked about living in Barcelona; what they
liked about Spanish culture; the words they knew about the language. This way,
everyone got a turn.