Teacher Training, and a big surprise!

Well, I've been trapped in a crazy course for the past month or so. From March 10th through April 4th I was taking the CELTA course, "the" certification for English teachers. It's run by Cambridge University and is the tops, and I can see why. The course was truly amazing. I feel that I learned so much in just the first week, and have really become a better teacher by completing it.
This particular course was run at a small resort just outside of Chiang Mai. The benefits of this were that we were able to focus entirely on the course and not have to worry about any distractions (even food was provided). The downside was that we were very very far away from anything to do. About half-way through the course I realized that on 90% of the days I didn't go more than 100 yards from my front door.
Still, I'm a homebody at heart, so it really didn't bother me too much. The course focused on making teaching student centered. Instead of the teacher being the provider of information, the teacher facilitates students in discovering and practicing the language on their own. The following sequence serves as the core of the method:
1. Elicitation: Use pictures and/or context to "elicit" the target language (whatever you're teaching). Usually, someone in the room will have some vague knowledge of what you're discussing and they will be able to produce it on their own. If not, you can feed it in parts or in whole.
2. Drill: Repeat the language orally
3. CCQ: Concept Checking Questions: ask questions (without using the target language) to make sure they understand.
4. Drill agian
5. Discuss grammar and pronunciation in detail
6. Practice within strict/easy guidelines
7. Freer practice... they make up their own dialog using the language.
To use an example from one of the tutors, "He used to drink champaigne." We discussed a man in prison who was very rich "in the past." He asked us how we could say that, in the past he drank Champagne, but doesn't now. We, of course, said "he used to drink champagne." Then he drilled it, followed by questions: Does he drink champagne now? Did he drink champagne in the past? Did he drink champagne more than once? We went through this with several items (a mansion, champagne, cavier, etc. Then went through "didn't use to" using things from prison, "biff" "bread and water" etc. We drilled and did grammar and pronunciation, and then did practice using the pictures. Everyone had a picture and walked around, when you met someone you would say one of the sentences "He used to live in a mansion" or "he didn't use to know biff."After that activity we talked about our own lives using used to and didn't use to.
It's a really amazing method that shifts the focus away from the teacher and onto the students, who, if done correctly, provide most of the information and do most of the talking. In my graduate program they said things like "Make your teaching student centered" and "Ask questions to lead your students to the answer" but never got told how to do it. Now I know... and it is amazing and it really works.
That's the course in a nut shell. Of the two trainers, one was amazing and the other left a lot to be desired. I really think that being able to watch John teach was worth the whole course in and of itself. The other tutor, in many ways, served as an example of what not to do. Her lessons weren't a total waste of time, but compared to John it was drastically inferior.
I did very well in the course. Halfway through we switched tutors (my group had John upstairs with an intermediate class and the other had Gabby downstairs with the Elementary for teacher practice for the first two weeks, then we switched for the second two weeks). Upstairs I started off very strong... I later found out that John went up to the other student teachers during my lesson and said "It took me 10 years to pick up ICQ's [Instruction checking questions] and this guy picked it up in 3 days." During the feedback for that lesson (which was only my second) John said it was an excellent example for the other students.
Although I hit a few snags after that (I didn't get another "above standard" for a bit) I kept a solid core of great methodology and was able to work on fine tuning the rest. When we switched downstairs my first lesson was methodologically flawless, there was really only one criticism the tutor gave, but it was big enough to deny me an above standard. My lesson "checked all the boxes" but it did it with meaningless, disjointed exercises. I taught everything, but it didn't flow together or create anything meaningful for the students to work with.
The downstairs tutor's feedback was very harsh in general. She pretty much let me have it and knocked me off of my horse, putting what I thought was a perfect lesson way down on the totem pole. At first I was dejected, maybe even a little hopeless. But when I read her comments and realized that that was the only thing she could say bad about it (despite her harshness during feedback) I took heart.
"Pony up" became my mantra for the next two weeks along with "WHEAT" (John had given myself and another student a talk about how we were in the running for an above pass, and told us what 'separates the wheat from the chafe'). My next three (last three) lessons were, if I do say so, phenomenal. I went way out of the box and did an amazing job on two out of the three. For the one that was only standard, the tutor (the harsh one who never says anything positive) came up and told me that my lesson was incredibly ambitious and she thought it was great and didn't want me to think I was being punished for trying something a little more out there.
Here are the 3 lessons, these are all with elementary level adult students:
1. Writing: I had the students brainstorm famous figures from Thai history. Then they had to write about the figure without saying who it was and get the other groups to figure out who they had written about. I led them through brainstorming, fastwriting, revising, all the way up to the final product which was, in general, a rousing success. I was the only student teacher to try a full writing lesson and I did it very well. Above Standard.
2. Reading: I gave the students two sides of a ghost story set at New College's "Old Caples" mansion. One half of the class read about a student who saw a ghost there and the other half read about the security guard who saw a ghost there. The trick was that they had seen each other in the bushes, and they were going to read and discuss and look at clues and try to figure out who the ghost was. I ran into a timing issue and this one didn't go quite so well, although we definitely got through it. Standard
3. Grammar and Listening: This was my grande finale. In this lesson I used realia to discuss countable and uncountable nouns, as well as a/an vs. some/any. I went through a list of objects with the students and had them determine which were countable and uncountable in pairs after giving them an example (a banana, some water). Then we checked it together as a class. I had a countable basket and an uncountable bowl. If they said it was countable, I put it into the basket. If it was uncountable, I poured it into the bowl. If they made a mistake, they realized it immediately as I threatened to pour milk or yogurt or flour in the basket instead of the bowl. I had them do some practice and then went on to listening. For this part I read about Oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water that creates something that is neither a solid or a liquid: it can tear and melt, it is hard and soft, etc. They were given the opportunity to listen three times, with different tasks to guide them to understanding the instructions, and finally make Oobleck in groups. It was a blast. Above Standard.

All in all, I got 3 above standards and did some really adventurous lessons. I have been anxiously awaiting my grade all week and finally got an email from John. I got an A! It's a very high honor that only 4% of trainees achieve!!! Admittedly, I worked my behind off, perhaps became a bit obsessed (alternating between "pony up" and "wheat" with gusto), but it paid off in the end. I am so thrilled!
So I now have a major distinction to put on my resume and a full arsenal of great teacher training at my disposal... it was totally worth it.

After the course, I went into a sort of laziness coma. After spending a month of literally working all day every day (a 45 minute break was considered a luxury... i only left the center 4 times in the whole month) I just wanted to chill out and do nothing. Now, There is a major festival coming up in Chiang Mai, and Trevor will be here to celebrate for a couple days before we go off to Malaysia for 10 days!

And finally... I think I'll be back stateside in June. I'm still keeping my ear to the ground for jobs in the big wide world... but a smallish class of students in a well-resourced room sounds great, and is almost a guarantee in the US. So... I'll see everyone soon and keep you posted!