As most of you already know, I’ve just joined a DELTA trainer-in-training programme. When I complete it in May 2023, I’ll get the letter of approval from Cambridge. Then, I’ll be working as an Assistant Delta Tutor for ALS until 2025.
So, I’m starting a new series of blogposts that will include:
- things I learn
- questions I have
- tips for DELTA candidates.
I hope you find them useful – please feel free to share your ideas and experience in the comments!
Forum discussion-teaching beliefs.
My first task was starting a forum discussion about teaching beliefs. I started by commenting on one of the statements and invited our candidates to share their thoughts. 2/8 responded and I wonder how I could motivate more teachers to share, as this is a really important step. Is it possible that they were worried about ‘being wrong’? Maybe. Or could it be that a live discussion in breakout rooms would be more motivating? So they don’t feel they have to write something ‘academic’? How do you usually introduce beliefs?
Criteria
There’s a lot to learn and luckily, I remember a lot from my DELTA days! The 5a form is a great checklist/reminder of what candidates need to do/write about in their lesson plans and essays. If you’re a DELTA candidate make sure you familiarise yourself with all the criteria. You can find them here.
Rachel’s lesson planning tip: Problems and solutions
The more problems you anticipate and the more solutions you can come up with, the fewer decisions you will need to make in class. You don’t want to have to think too hard when you’re being assessed. It will be stressful, and stress affects performance.
I wrote 18 problems in my externally assessed lesson plan! I divided them into categories:
- Tasks (difficulty, timing, fast finishers)
- Affect (motivation/interest/reluctance)
- Tech (projectors, audio, laptop not working etc)
- Target language (problems with form, meaning, pronunciation, avoidance etc)
- Common issues (attendance, late arrivals, mixed levels, groupings)
I was very well prepared, which helped me feel more in control, more confident.
That’s all for now. More next week!
The TEFL Zone 
Forums were one of the things I least enjoyed about Delta. Only 2 of us seemed to regularly post, out of about 60! It was very demotivating.
I think Lindsay Clandfield and Jill Hadfield have some interesting ideas about how to improve asynchronous participation – I think the relevant book is Interaction Online, but you might want to ask either of them directly!
Good luck,
Sandy
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It seems my prep for the DELTA has begun 🤓 I feel blessed and fortunate to have you as a guide. 😇
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Hi Rachel,
I’m not surprised by what Sandy says about the low level of activity in forums. Generally, if posting is optional, it can be hard to get people to join in, which is definitely demotivating.
If posting isn’t optional – for instance in a university setting, if students wish to qualify for the exam – there are different things you can try. I like the idea in this post (make sure you get as far as the starter – responder – wrapper section) https://teacherrogers.wordpress.com/2021/05/31/redesigning-online-discussions-for-social-presence/. I meant to try it out in my writing course but haven’t had the chance yet.
Best of luck!
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Well, I did M2 and M3 last year and it is true, sometimes teachers don’t reply because of timing or because maybe they don’t check the website so often. I remember talking to some friends who were doing M2 with me and they were waiting for others to reply. I also remember talking to another teacher, and he just didn’t do the platform because it wasn’t going to affect his score. So maybe a way of motivating them would be to tell them that everything is connected and that it would be useful for them to review what they have already learnt. For instance, in the train the trainer course everything was connected, so if you didn’t do your job, they you would be a little bit lost, so everybody did the platform and participated it in the forums.
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