CELTA | 2020

Assignment 1
Focus on the learner

Name: Siwar Bdioui

1st sub 2nd sub
Assessment Criteria
1. showing awareness of how a learner’s background, previous learning
experience and learning preferences affect learning.

2. identifying the learner’s language/skills needs.

3. correctly using terminology relating to the description of language systems

and language skills.

4. selecting appropriate material and/or resources (at least one of which must
be from published materials) to aid the learners’ language development

5. providing a rationale for using specific activities with the learners in mind.

6. finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources,

within the body of the assignment.

7. using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task.

Yes / No Date 1st marker 2nd marker

Pass

Resubmission Needed

Pass On Resubmission

Fail On Resubmission
Overall Comment

NB: If you need to resubmit an assignment, make sure you hand in the original version and the
resubmitted version. Both versions need to be in your portfolio.

This is my own work. Signed S.BDI

Aim
The aim of this assignment is to give you practical experience of examining the
learning context and to assess the needs of a group of learners.

Word limit: 750-1000 words

Step 1: During TP, observe your students engaged in different activity types (e.g. pair and group
work, following instructions, presentation of language or vocabulary, controlled or freer practice
etc.) and make notes on their preferred learning styles.

In addition, write down examples that highlight these learners’ linguistic needs and areas for
development. You will have a chance, along with the other trainees in your group, to interview
your TP students to find out more about their backgrounds, previous learning experiences and
reasons for studying English.

Finally, read the chapter in ‘Learner English’ by Michael Swan to see how this group compares
with the general profile of learners whose L1 is predominantly Turkish.

STEP 2: Based on the above write a profile of your TP group.

Reflect on the group as a whole providing examples from individual students where useful. In
addition, clearly identify your learners’ needs. You should write about the following:

 L1 and knowledge of other languages

 education (including previous English language learning experiences)
 cultural factors affecting their learning
 motivation (reasons for learning English)
 preferred learning styles

STEP 3: Choose TWO different students, Identify two areas for language development. Each area
needs to be about one of the students. One area must be a problem of grammar usage (e.g. “I
study English and I am enjoy it” – misuse of present simple vs present continuous) and another
must be a phonology issue (“tank you” – mispronunciation of /θ/). These must be specific with
clear supporting evidence from that individual student noted during your observation of TP. It’s
essential to have a minimum of 3 examples of the same problem for the same student to ensure
that these are genuine areas for development for that person rather than isolated mistakes.

STEP 4: Select an activity to address the whole class and practice each problem you’ve identified
earlier (i.e. one for grammar usage and one for phonology). One activity must be from a published
source; the other may be from the internet or created by you. Provide a clear rationale for
choosing these activities and explain, briefly, how you would use them in class. Outline any slight
changes you might make to meet the exact needs of the class. Please attach a referenced copy of
your two selected activities (or the originals on which they are based) in the appendices.

STEP 5: You need to show that you have done some research when writing your assignment. You
will need to quote at least one source in your profile or in your rationales.
Some common pitfalls
 Not covering all the areas listed in STEP 2.
 Being too general in your group profile.
 Listing 2 areas for development without giving enough examples from your observation of
specific students during TP.
 Describing activities which don’t address and practise your chosen problems.
 Not providing a clear rationale for the selection of these activities
 Describing more than 2 activities in STEP 4.
 Failing to attach copies of the activities to the assignment.
 Failing to reference the activities where necessary.
 Going over/under the word limit by more than 100 words (see below).

Very important final note: clearly, the facts outlined in your group profile are going to be very
similar for each teacher in the same TP group. However, it’s essential that there’s a range of areas
for development and suggested activities. In other words we don’t want to read a number of
identical assignments!
The assignment must be written in continuous prose. Please use the following template to write
your assignment.

PART A

First submission
Group profile:
The class that I am dealing with consists of nine students, but seven of them attend the class
normally. All of them are adults between 20 and 37 years old. All learners are from Turkey
except two guys who are originally from Iran and they are the eldest in the group. The first
language for most of this class is Turkish (apart from Souran and Souman whose 1st language is
Persian). Most of the students speak English as a second language (some students speak other
languages such as French (Okyanus), Chinese and German (Bugary) but a few of them). Our
learners have been studying English since primary school. However, they do have other learning
experiences apart from the school experience. Some of them took private classes as Okyanus.
Some others went to a language school. But the interesting thing here is that some students
consider themselves without any previous learning experience even though they have been
learning English since they were 10 years old. Our class has different students’ profiles, they do
not share the same educational background; we can find different specialities (Music technology
the case of Yight, Economics the case of Bugay, business management the case of Souman…etc)
When it comes to motivation it is evident that every single one of them has different reasons to
learn English, Okayanus, for example, is passionate about the language. Cagsu and Bugary said
that they wanted to learn English because they wanted to travel abroad and apply for Master
program. Icim wants to sit for IELTS exam that’s why she is learning English. All our students
have strong intrinsic motivation as they are eager to learn English to achieve certain set goals in
their lives but all of them share one cultural factor that pushes them to learn which is the
globalized nature of English, in other words, English is a global and international language it is
also the language of science.
One thing I appreciate in this class is that they do not use their mother tongue in class at all.
Overall the students’ level is good (except Icim that I consider her a low achiever comparing to
her group) but still there some areas of improvement that need to be addressed in term of
grammar and pronunciation mainly. Thus, these areas should be taking into consideration
bearing in mind students’ learning preferences. Most of them like games, interactive activities,
in particular the activities that involve free speaking practice. However, most of them expressed
their disinterest in writing and grammar activities as they are boring and challenging and they
are not important according to what they said.

Resubmission
Group profile:

 L1 and other languages:

 Education:
  Motivation:

 Cultural factors:

 Learning preferences:

First submission
Issue 1 – Grammar (provide 3 examples of the same problem)
Student’s name: Okyanus
Issue: dropping the ‘s’ of the third personal pronoun (simple present)
Example #1:
” he don’t have time” instead of “he doesn’t have time”
Example #2:
” he just want reward” instead of “he just wants reward”
Example #3:
”he like walking” instead of “he likes walking”

Resubmission
Issue 1 – Grammar (provide 3 examples of the same problem)
Student’s name:
Issue:
Example #1:
Example #2:
Example #3:

First submission
Issue 2 – Phonology (provide 3 examples of the same problem)
Student’s name: Icim
Issue: She mispronounces the /v/ sound instead of the /w/ sound
Example #1:
She says /vent/ instead of saying /went/
Example #2:
She says /ve/ instead of saying /we/
Example #3:
She says /vi:k/ instead of saying /wi:k/

Resubmission
Issue 2 – Phonology (provide 3 examples of the same problem)
Student’s name:
Issue:
Example #1:
Example #2:
Example #3:

PART B

First submission
Activity to address issue 1 (please write the procedure)
Preparation: script talks about Ella and Ella’s family’s daily routines.
Each sentence of the script contains the target structure will be divided into parts (subject/ verb/
object/complement) each part must be written in a piece of paper separately.
T also writes the forms of the verbs that has to do with the addressed issue in A4 paper
For example, the sentence is: Everyday Ella wake up (bare inf) at seven a.m.
A4₁ Ella A4₂ wake up A4₃ at seven a.m. A4₄ wakes up A4₅
Procedures
T sticks all the papers randomly on the wall and tells the Ss what they have to do.
T asks the students to divide themselves into two equal groups and set two lines facing the wall
in which T pasted the papers
T says the sentence but the verb in the bare inf form
Students have to be quick and find the parts of the sentence and join the parts together to form
a correct sentence with the correct form of the verb
Ss who can do it correctly, first win.

Resubmission
Activity to address issue 1 (please write the procedure)
 First submission
The aim of the activity is to allow the students to use and practice the simple present tense and
remind them of the 3rd personal pronoun ‘S’. Learners are already familiar with the simple
present tense but dropping the ‘s’ of 3rd personal pronoun is common mistake for almost the
whole class not only Okyanus. This activity will motivate the students and they will have fun as
they are going to move and compete. The majority of this group of learners hate grammar and
find it boring and challenging. Thus, a normal grammar activity will not be engaging or
interesting.

Resubmission
Aim of activity 1:

Why is it a suitable activity?

Why is it appropriate for this group of learners?

First submission
Activity to address issue 2 (please write the procedure)
Preparation: list of words containing /w/ and /v/ sounds
Handout “pronunciation journey” adapted from “Pronunciation Games” by Cambridge
Procedure: T gives a list of 4 words that contain /w/ and /v/ sounds T explains that Ss will work
in pairs one will read the words if the word contains /v/ sound the other student turns right if it
contains /w/ left to reach the next number. When students have said 4 words, they should
arrive at one destination. T gives each two students the H.O after she explains the instruction.
It has to be the same destination for all the pairs because they have the same list and same
order.
After that T gives another list that contains other words and ask the students to change their
roles. After that teacher checks with those who got wrong destination and give them individual
feedback.

Resubmission
Activity to address issue 2 (please write the procedure)

First submission
This activity aims to make the students aware that /w/ and /v/ are different sounds. This activity
is appropriate because Turkish students do not mispronounce /w/ and /v/ only, but they do
misspell them as well. Swan (2001) has explained that and said:
“Turkish /v/ is much more lightly articulated than the English equivalent, and with back
vowels is close to English /w/. The Turkish alphabet doesn’t contain the letter w, and
loan words containing w are written with v” (p.216)
 , and this explains why Turkish students like Icim mix the sounds and the letters as well and
instead of writing wait they would write vait. Thus, this activity is good for them because it
draws their attention to this issue. They are going to pronounce the word and also see the
written form so they will relate the sound with correct spelling.

Resubmission
Aim of activity 2:

Why is it a suitable activity?

Why is it appropriate for this group of learners?

Word count (750-1000): 1020

Word count for resubmission (750-1000): ______

Bibliography
Smith, B., & Swan, M. (2001). Learner English: a teachers guide to interference and other
problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hancock, M. (2002). Pronunciation games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Appendix 1 (Activity 1 and the answer keys)

 Ella (wake up) at 7 o’clock, every morning.
 The whole family (have) breakfast together.
 ,But her brother ( not have) breakfast with them.
 Because he (not wake up) early.
 Her dad (go) to work with his car.
 And he (take) her younger sister to the kindergarten.
 Her mom (leave) the house at 9 o’clock.

Key answer of activity 1

 Ella (wake up) at 7 o’clock, every morning. Answer: wakes up
 The whole family (have) breakfast together. Answer: have
 ,But her brother ( not have) breakfast with them. Answer: doesn’t have
 Because he (not wake up) early. Answer: doesn’t wake up
 Her dad (go) to work with his car. Answer: goes
 And he (take) her younger sister to the kindergarten. Answer: takes
 Her mom (leave) the house at 9 o’clock answer: leaves
On the wall (largest wall)

Ella have
go

Breakfast with them

take

The whole family

have

the house at 9 o’clock

dosen’t wake up don’t wake up

with his car

wakes up

Wake up dont’t have

breakfast together

leaves leave

but her borothe

at seven o’colock,
everymorning
goes

has

he
Younger sister to the
kindergarten
early
Her dad
he
 Her mom

Appendix 2 (Activity 2 adapted from Pronunciation games by Mark Hancock)

List one:
Waiter
Survive
Wait
Valid
List two:
Achieve
Weak
We
Went
Key answer
List one: Cairo
List two: Buenos Aires
 /v/

/w/

From Pronunciation Games by Mark Hancock O Cambrjdge University Press 1995