Professional Development 30 Second Video

Professional development this week took the form of a 30 second video (a precursor to the 8-minute video assessment, due at the end of the year). Though initially ungraded, it served as a useful practice in developing my teaching philosophy, calling upon theories and current practices in the field of ESOL (my field of specialism).

Having only completed a MA in TESOL a few weeks prior to starting this PGCE, the knowledge gained transferred easily due to the application of CLT being the same for both courses respectively. For example, on the MA, the theory behind ESOL was explored originating with the basic principle for CLT – the idea that language’s sole purpose is to enable the learner to communicate. Though this can go without saying, it is worth expanding this understanding into materials developed in the classroom e.g. if a learner needs English for a specific purpose, the teacher can cater materials to best fit, rather than teaching language structures of no relevance to the learner.

On a practical front, the making of the 30 second video was not problematic in the least, as I come with video editing expertise, from several years of undergraduate media studies. The video acts as a good starting point, but to build upon it and create the remaining 7 minutes of content will be heavily down to the practical classroom teaching experience to be gaining in the coming weeks, which will deduce which methods and syllabi best fit my new learners.

Until then, I will continue reading and researching new papers that are coming out in the field of ESOL and linguistics, during the allocated reading week prior to placement starting. Please find below the embedded 30 second video referred to throughout this blog post and as always until next time –

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