Saturday, August 28, 2010

Teaching to people who already speak English

Today I was invited to speak at the NSW Writers' Centre, as part of a seminar on making a living as a writer.

The funny thing is, I only know how to teach to people who don't speak English! Here I was teaching people who, in fact, speak English very well: so much so that they are even writing books in English. So, I thought I would have to modify my teaching style to take this into account.

Well, actually I didn't change it very much at all. I still did a lead in task where they had to brainstorm the topic in groups, followed by feedback, I still asked CCQs (concept-checking questions), and I spoke slowly and clearly. And, remarkably, it worked really well.

So, I think a lot of the things I learned in my CELTA can actually be applied to other areas as well. Who'd have thought it?