[kimyushin]

Hi guys!!

I am trying to enter the CELTA course offered by the British Council in Korea this coming June 17.

I had a difficult time with the pre-interview tasks.
I need help whether what I answered was right or not.

I appreciate any and all comments.

If you've done the CELTA in Seoul, could you share your experience when you took it.

It is my dream to get an A in this course. I researched only 400 out of 10,000 worldwide gets an A. I want to make my parents and my country proud. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Here are my answers:





PRE-INTERVIEW TASK

Please complete this task carefully as it is one of the factors we take into consideration when making a decision about your application. You may like to refer to a grammar book eg “English Grammar in Use”, by Raymond Murphy, published by Cambridge University Press, in preparing your answers.

THE TASK IS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS

1. Correcting a student’s mistakes

Each of the exchanges below contains a mistake.
In each case:
a) underline the mistake
b) write the corrected version in the space provided
c) write in simple terms, as if speaking to a learner of English, how you would make the correction clear.




1
a) “I’d like some informations about your courses.”
“Certainly, here’s our brochure.”

b) “I’d like some information about your courses


c) Information is non-count noun –it cannot be counted like banana, pencil or stone.
Non-count words are already plural and does not need an “s” to show its plurality.







2
a) “Have you got any money?”
“Yes, I’ve been to the bank yesterday”

b) Yes, I went to the bank yesterday.

c) “Have been” is present perfect. It means an action started in the past and continuous to the present. When present perfect is used, no specific time in the past is indicated. In the sentence above, a specific time was mentioned, “yesterday” so the correct tense should have been simple past.





3
a) “Is John ill? He’s lost a lot of weight.”
“Yes, he is rather slender these days, isn’t he?”

b) “Yes, he is rather emaciated these days, isn’t he?

c) Slender means thin but has a positive meaning. It’s synonyms are slim and well formed. However, the context of the conversation is negative –a sickness. A negative word is more appropriate. Emaciated is the correct word because means thin due to illness.






4

a) “Why didn’t you answer the telephone?”
“Because I had a bath.”

b) “Because I was taking a bath”


c) The past continuous is the correct tense because context of the sentence implies that the person was doing something while the phone was ringing. Simple past cannot catch the meaning of two past actions happening at the same time.



Helping students understand differences in meaning


a) Comment on the differences in meaning between the following pairs of sentences
b) Outline some ideas on how you might teach these differences in meaning


S1: I’m living with my parents.
S2: I live with my parents

MEANING
S1 used present continuous so it means the speaker is at the moment with his parents but wasn’t in the past and may not be with them in the future. The situation implies its temporary.

S2 used simple present so it means the speaker is permanently with his parents. The context does not
imply whether this condition had changed or will change.

TEACHING IDEAS
Present Progressive and Simple Present
First I will explain the general meaning of present progressive and simple present
Teacher Miming: Students name what action the teacher is doing
Board listing activity: Teacher ask students what they are doing at that moment in the classroom;
Then they make another list of what they always do during weekends or free time.
I will draw a time-line and use a cut-out cartoon of a man. I will move him from past, present and future and explain the differences in meaning as he moves in the time line.
*****************







S1 If I have time, I’ll help you with your homework.
S2 If I had time, I’d help you with your homework.

MEANING
S1 uses the first conditional so it implies that there is a strong possibility that the results mentioned will happen, when the conditions are met

S2 uses the third conditional and mentions a past action that has zero-possibility of happening in the present. The meaning implies what would have happened if the conditions were met, but also implies that such results will never happen because the action has already been done.

TEACHING IDEAS
I will teach the general meaning of the First Conditional and Third Conditional
Team Listing Contest: Two teams list the conditions their parents make them do before they can play or do what they want. After the game I will teach them the meaning and structure of the First Conditional from their examples.
Pair Activity: Students are paired and they list down missed opportunities they’ve had in their life. Before they start, I will teach them the structure they need to use to express these events.
********************







S1 When I got home from work, my partner was cooking dinner.
S2 When I got home from work, my partner cooked dinner.

MEANING
S1 means dinner was still being made when the person got home. S1 uses past continuous and describes that cooking was still happening when the person arrived. Two past actions happening at the same time.
S2 means dinner was already made when the person got home. S2 uses simple past and describes that cooking was done when the person got home. Two past actions were already finished and did not happen at the same time.

TEACHING IDEAS
I will use cartoons again and time-lines.
One time line will show a cut-out cartoon arriving home while cooking was still going on
Another time line will show a cut-out arriving home and food is already served.












Approaches to teaching and learning

a) Imagine that you are teaching a group of 12 adult learners at beginner level.

i) What problems might your students have in understanding these sentences:
I’ve got : a headache
: a sore throat
: a cough

1. Have got is the present perfect of get. Thus, it tells that an action in the past, has a present result. However, have and got sometimes both mean to obtain something. Students might have a difficult time distinguishing the differences between the basic meaning of get as obtain and obtain with a time-element of present perfect.

2. It is also possible that students might think the meaning of have a headache vs. got a headache mean exactly the same thing.

ii) What problems might they have in pronouncing them?

1. ch –can be articulated both as a plosive –character –and as an affricate –church-
Students might confuse ch in headache as affricate rather than a plosive.

2. ae –ei vowel sound –the differences in vowel pronunciation might not be clearly distinguished; it is possible that they might slide the sound of ae to ei when reading the word

3. thr –consonant cluster does not exist in the Korean language. Students’ tongue will find it unfamiliar to place their tongue in the right places to produce it.

4. gh –consonant cluster is pronounced as an f-a labiodental fricative. However, the letters do not represent this sound. G is a plosive while H is a glottal fricative. Students will be totally clueless how to pronounce cough when they first encounter it.


iii) Outline some ideas on how you could teach these expressions.

Teacher Miming: I will tell the class I am sick and they need to guess what my sickness is. I will provide the vocabulary they need on the board.

Listen and Repeat: I will say out aloud the target expressions and students need follow. We do not look at the expressions yet, and simply focus on producing the sound.

Filler- activity: I will put a list of sickness words on the board. I will mime again these words and students need to name my condition using the full expression: “You’ve got a..”

Pronunciation: I will do an extra-reading aloud activity of words with ch, thr and gh sounds.