CELTA

Page 1
Assignment 2 Focus on the Learner

Trainee Name: Careemah Choong Word Count: 960 words

Part 1 (360 words)

Introductory profile of your class (size, age range, gender mix, nationality)

The class consist of 12 Thai elementary students with age ranges between 20’s to mid-50’s. There are 7 females
and 5males. They love listening to music, watching movies, reading books, playing badminton, computer games
and golf.

Learning Background and Needs: comment on language-learning background, learning styles,

motivation/reasons for study. Note how these factors affect the students’ learning. Comment on the learners’
overall communicative ability and their language/skills needs.

Background
Most of the students studies in IH .They have been previously exposed to teacher centred learning in big classes
where they listen, take notes and are tested. This is supported by Jeab’s statement as the classes are huge, it
limited students’ participation.

Learning Style
Most of the Ss are a mixture of visual kinaesthetic and interpersonal learner. Visual learners because S associate
picture to words, respond well to mind map of Ali’s lesson and the picture of Charles in Kelvin’s writing lesson.
When I used story technique during lead in stage, S used mental imagery and responded well. Kinaesthetic
learners as S love activities that enable them to move and mingle around. This is seen in both my lesson where S
move around to get the words as well as match the pictures in Kelvin lesson. Interpersonal as S work well in
group work as they are assist each other and this is prevalent in a collective society like Thailand. (Hofstede ,
2010)

Motivation/ Reason for Study

There is a different reason instrumental motivation as they have specific goal like for career advancement,
business and academically as well as integrative motivation as they want to learn English to be accepted by their
group. Most of the students want to be independent users and proficient users.

Factors that affect the learners

Due to the shift of previous learning from a passive studial method which was more TC and focused on receptive
skills to active studial method, SC. They are less fluent in productive skills .They are introvert and use L1 to
confirm instruction from a more proficient peer. Due to lack of communicative confidence S will not ask T when
in doubt.

Communicative ability
Overall communicative ability is at pre- elementary level. S had good reading skills. They perform on other
activities well when the task is modelled followed by a controlled and freer practice. However it’s hard to
decipher whether is a result of mimicking or assimilation of language. Their contextual appropriacy is generally
pertinent.

Part 2
Area 1 (Grammar)

Example of good usage:

G: Spoken - I’m divorced and have two kids.

Correct subject verb agreement

Example of error:
What the student/s said / Spoken: ____have four wheels.(describing a car )
wrote:
PLEASE SPECIFY –
WRITTEN OR SPOKEN
What is wrong? Missing subject and error in Subject verb agreement

Why did they make the L1 interference as in Thai there is no auxiliary verbs or
mistake? distinction between singular and plural .Subject is often omitted
when context is clear. Swan, 2011

Area 2 (Vocabulary)

Example of good usage:

The movie is terrible.

Able to use the word in the correct context

Example of error:
What the student/s said / Spoken: have equipment in house
wrote:
PLEASE SPECIFY –
WRITTEN OR SPOKEN
What is wrong? Semantic error due to over application or selection of wrong
word
Why did they make the Over application word acquired from work as an engineer to
mistake? other things

Area 3 (Pronunciation)
Example of good usage:

It’s a horror movie.

Great example of contextual appropriacy and the word is correctly stressed

Example of error:
What the student/s said: It’s a lace , it supposed to be race

What is wrong? Pronunciation of /r/ sound like /l/

Why did they make the Sausattayowong (2006) mentioned /r/ is pronounced differently
mistake? in Thai and Swan & Smith (2001) mentioned it’s due to
substitution of L1 pronunciation of the word in L2

Part 3 ( 550 words)

Problem Activities & Rationale
Aims: Enable the s to use the correct subject agreement in simple present
Grammar – tense.
Subject verb Remedial activity
agreement Students play spot the error game then correct sentence and correct the ones
with mistake task where students ask and answer using the present tense.
(Appendix 3). As S will visually see the subject the verbs it will be suit the
visual learners.
S discovering the rules
The activity serves as a remedial activity .S will discover and rules through
the activity in pairs. Then T will use CCQ to ensure S sufficiently
understand the grammar rules.
Reinforcement of Rules :
S given worksheet with an explanation of subject verb agreement that
focuses on simple present tenses to reinforce their understanding .Then
students will complete exercises where select the correct verb with subjects
(Appendix 1)
Controlled Practice :
This is followed by gap fill activity in (Appendix 2). It could be adapted
using a throw the ball game where S will answer and throw the ball to
another S to satisfy kinesthetic learners
Freer Practice : ( 2activities )
Students will write three sentences (two truths and a lie) using the present
simple. Then mingle and tell each other the three sentences and have the
other student guess which statement is false

This is followed by the subject and verb auction to facilitate freer practice. S
will debate and discuss the suitability of usage based on the rules. Visual
learners will see the words while kinaesthetic learner will move to match the
words and placing bets.

Rationale These activities incorporate visual and kinesthetic learning styles

to reinforce and recycle what they have learned. Students will also get a
chance to practice both of their production skills, which would increase
confidence and help use English correctly in their English speaking
environments. One key component of teaching real-world grammar is to
show students the different grammatical structures that are used in formal
versus informal settings, drawing attention in particular to the differences
inherent in writing and speaking.

Problem Activities & Rationale

Aims: To enable S to differentiate /l/ and /r/ using VA and movement. Once
Pronunciation the sound is produced correctly the S motivation will increase
due to L1
interference T will start off by using flash cards of race
If the S does not get it .T will model /r/ using Jolly Phonics mimicking the
dog “rrr”
T show and model of position of tongue pronouncing /r/

Then drill the components first to help S produce the sound

T distribute the cards and let S to produce the sounds alone. This is followed
by pair work using card games. S draw a card and produces it with the friends.
T monitors when S produces the sound.

Conduct a listening minimal pair exercise so that students can distinguish the
two sounds

Controlled practice :
-T divides S into group of 2. T displays the words adapted from Tree or Three,
the group that that slap the white board and pronounces the word according to
the sound /r/ and /l/correctly is the winner.
-A gap fill activity can follow. S then compare and discuss the answers
Freer Practice:
-S will mingle and ask each other what is the people doing in the picture
-This can be followed by a board game where S will engage and pronounce /r/
and /l/. This S centered activity will enable kinesthetic learners to throw the
dice and move pieces along the board. Visual learner will see the words.

Rationale: The students start with something familiar like auditory learning to
build confidence and then move on to visual and kinesthetic learning to help
reinforce their pronunciation. These activities are set up to encourage
independence of recognition and correct production of target sounds and to
develop students’ fluency. Students will be motivated since correct
pronunciation is needed to communicate in formal workplaces and general
conversation. Activity addresses the problem /r/ and /l/ and suits learning
style
1. She ___ four languages.
a. speak
b. speaks
2. Jane is a teacher. She ___ French.
a. teach
b. teaches
3. When the kettle ___, will you make some tea?
a. boil
b. boils
4. I always ___ the window at night because it is cold.
a. close
b. closes
5. Those shoes ___ too much.
 a. cost
b. costs
6. The food in Japan is expensive. It ___ a lot to live there.
a. cost
b. costs
7. His job is great because he ___ a lot of people.
a. meet
b. meets
8. He always ___ his car on Sundays.
a. wash
b. washes
9. My watch is broken and it ___ to be fixed again.
a. need
b. needs
10. I ___ to watch movies.
a. love
b. loves
11. I ___ to the cinema at least once a week.
a. go
b. goes
12. They never ___ tea in the morning.
a. drink
b. drinks
13. We both ___ to the radio in the morning.
a. listen
b. listens
14. He ___ a big wedding.
a. want
b. wants
15. George ___ too much so he's getting fat.
a. eat
b. eats
16. The earth ___ round the sun, doesn't it?
a. go
b. goes
17. The shops in England ___ at 9:00 in the morning.
a. open
b. opens
18. The post office ___ at 5:30 pm.
a. close
b. closes
19. Jackie ___ two children now.
a. has
b. have
20. Mr. Smith ___ too much. He always has a cigarette in his mouth.
a. smoke
 b. smokes
21. When the phone ___, please answer it.

a. ring

b. rings

Adapted from The Internet TESL Journal by Bradley , 1997 retrieved from

http://a4esl.org/q/h/lb/psv.html

Appendix 2 Gap Fill activity

1. The plane …………………………….. at 6.30. (arrive)

2. I will phone you when he …………………………. back. (come)

3. Unless we …………………………………. now we can’t be there on time.

(start)

4. The sun ………………………………… in the east. (rise)

5. The next term ……………………………… on Monday. (begin)

6. She ………………………………… an engineer. (be)

7. They ……………………………. our relatives. (be)

8. When does the train ………………………………? (depart)

9. Let’s wait till he ……………………………….. his work. (finish)

10. Please ring me up as soon as he …………………………………….

(arrive)

Answers

1. The plane arrives at 6.30.

2. I will phone you when he comes back.

3. Unless we start now we can’t be there on time.

4. The sun rises in the east.

5. The next term begins on Monday.

6. She is an engineer.

7. They are our relatives.

8. When does the train depart?

9. Let’s wait till he finishes his work.

10. Please ring me up as soon as he arrives.

Adapted from English Grammar Organization. Retrieved from

http://www.englishgrammar.org/simple-present-tense-worksheet-
2/#u2Jemv6iiAPUrJ3q.99

Appendix 3
1. They eat strawberries
They eats strawberries
2. He go to school
He goes to school
3. She studies at IH.
She study at IH.
4. The cat love to eat fish
The cat loves to eat fish
5. We wants to swim to
We want to swim
6. I like pink colour
I likes pink colour.
 Baker, Anne. Tree or Three? (1982) An Elementary Pronunciation Course. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

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http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/07/diy-spinny-spellers-and-repurposing.html

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Gerngross ,Puchta & Thornbury. (2006) Teaching Grammar Creatively

Helbling Languages

Hofstede (2010) Hofstede Cultural Centre on Thailand. Retrieved from http://geert-

hofstede.com/thailand.html

Molinsky & Bliss. The Handbook of Vocabulary Teaching Strategies .Prentice Hall ,

Swan, Michael. (2011) Learner’s English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and Other

Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

Speech Freebie (2013). Subject Verb Agreement Poster. Retrieved from

http://www.speechiefreebies.com/2013/11/subject-verb-agreement-visualposter.html

Thornbury & Watkins(2007) The Celta Course: Trainee BookCambridge University Press

Thornbury, Scott (1999) How to Teach Grammar. Pearson Education Ltd.

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