Job Discussion Forums

[ksam]

Hi all,

I have a Masters in Second Language Teaching but all of my years of teaching experience have been working with younger learners (I am a Middle/High School Language Teacher).

That said, I'm interested in making the shift to teaching adults. While I'm not looking to take a Celta course at this time, I am interested in reading up on some of the literature used in the Celta course. My graduate research was primarily in the area of multilingualism and the role of the first language in language acquisition so I am quite aware of the cultural implications of language learning. What I'm looking for is more practical - a focus on grammar or reading/writing instruction.

Any suggestions?

PS - I've posted this in the Saudi forum because I'm hoping those of you working in the Kingdom might suggest the books or even resources you've found most useful in your context.

All the best,
ksam

[MsRT]

Hi,

I've done the CELTA a while back and from what I remember, there is one book that has been recommended and I found very useful for Grammar.

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan

I found it useful whenever I needed to review some grammatical terms.

Hope it helps! Take care

[veiledsentiments]

What is your target here? Are you looking to get into university teaching in the Gulf? Or are you looking to teach military cadets or oil workers?

To be honest, I found teaching university students in the Gulf to be very similar to my experience teaching 7th graders in the US in 1969... back when they were still kids at that age. What I am saying is that the methodology isn't that different. The 18-20 year olds in the Gulf will be pretty much what you have been dealing with... only probably much lower levels of English and more immature.

There are a ton of ESL/EFL methodology books out there that will be more useful than Swan's book as to teaching reading and writing. Just do a search on Amazon for teaching ESL and they give about 18,000 choices. For instance, the second one on the list is the latest edition of Marianne Celce-Murcia's book that was new when I got into the field... has both theory and practical, but pretty expensive as it is still a commonly used text.

VS

[fat_chris]

[veiledsentiments]

There is a new 4th Edition!!

I too had and used many of Larsen-Freeman's books.

VS

[fat_chris]

[veiledsentiments]

I actually met both of those ladies at a small informal state TESOL conference in Northern Virginia in the early 80s when I first got into the field... and didn't realize quite who they were in the field.

The Grammar Book is only second edition. Makes sense I guess... grammar doesn't change as much as teaching theory morphs and band wagons. (is that a verb?)

VS

[ttxor1]

Hi ksam,

I would join those who recommend Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marianne Celce-Murcia. For your CELTA lessons, you'll have an assigned page from a textbook to use, but you can supplement it. Just be as creative as you can and get plenty of feedback from fellow trainees and trainers.