A Practical, Hands-on Course
The Spainwise Trinity Cert TESOL course is a practical, hands-on training course. You will develop your teaching skills by doing (teaching!), by observing expert teachers, by sharing experiences and by reflecting on input sessions.
The content of the different units (Teaching Skills, Language Awareness, Learner Profile, Materials Assignment and Unknown Language) is intertwined so that trainees gradually build up an increasingly clearer picture of what is required of a professional language teacher and, therefore, prepare them to fulfil their students’ expectations.
Teaching Skills
Each trainee is observed by our qualified, expert trainers for a total of six hours while they teach real students. Feedback on these classes from our trainers and the completion of a Teaching Practice Portfolio based on the experiences are integral parts of the course. The teaching slots each trainee experiences are scheduled so that the teaching practice becomes progressively more demanding and more similar to realistic employment scenarios, as trainees’ theoretical knowledge base grows. Thirty-seven practical input sessions related to real-life classroom experiences, such as lesson planning, classroom techniques, classroom management and discipline, teaching different age groups, different teaching contexts, etc. will inform this teaching practice component, as will several hours observing and commenting on experienced teachers, and completion of a Teaching Observation Journal.
Language Awareness
Teacher trainees are given a solid grounding in English grammar, lexis and phonology so that they will be knowledgeable about these subjects, have the know-how to teach and explain grammar points, vocabulary and pronunciation, and be capable of answering their students’ queries with confidence.
Learner Profile
Trainees are assigned learners for the 1:1 profile and analyse their learners’ language and skills levels. The input sessions related to the Learner profile complement other input sessions on teaching skills and language awareness, and trainees are helped with the completion of a post-class journal for their Learner Profile.
Materials Assignment
Our teacher trainers are on hand with input and planning sessions for the Materials Assignment component of the course and externally-moderated interview (conducted by the Trinity College London moderator at the end of the course).
Unknown Language
Trainees receive lessons in an unknown language, an experience which helps them empathise with problems that might be faced by their own students, and affords trainees the opportunity to reflect on the student experience (both first-hand and second-hand) and get a student’s eye view on how teachers meet students’ needs.
Fundamental to trainees’ progress is the need for well-informed, documented reflections on experiences provided by the course, whether personal or witnessed.
Professional awareness and development are ongoing themes. Trainees develop an awareness of the needs of other colleagues in the team, teaching and non-teaching, and the value of mutual support in the teaching, learning and training environment. They learn the value of professional development during and after the course, based on a constructive response to training input and feedback from tutors and peers.