First Steps at BMET ESC

As of today, I was officially greeted as a member of staff at BMETs (Birmingham Metropolitan) Erdington Skills Centre, where I would complete the remainder of my BCU practical teacher training placement. Having some experience prior to this from a different BMET college (Matthew Boulton) I was already aware of some of the documents I would be required to complete.

      Ø  Safeguarding Training

      Ø  British Values Training

      Ø  Prevent/Channel Awareness Training

Already having the relevant safeguarding paperwork from BCU was satisfactory enough to allow me contact with students, in order to begin my training. However, to comply to this organisations policies and student protective services, I would have to do training relating to this specific college branch.

Some additional (role-related) paperwork that I needed to provide was a new scheme of work, based off the current ESOL curriculum and lesson plans commencing from the following week. Though I was well aware of what needed to be contained within the scheme of work, due to the examining body City & Guilds providing an in-depth guide for teachers to use. My first application of Teachers’ Standards was going to undertaken the very next day and required me to research further, what and how exactly I could satisfy the DfE criterion – see diagram below..

In preparation for my first lesson, I will be looking at how to develop a lesson for ESOL learners, in particular for learners who are at PE|E1 proficiency (Pre-Primary UK Equivalent). The first step to fully understand my learners will be to understand which syllabus will be best in effectively teaching the current cohort of learners. For example, the basic belief within English Language Teaching is that language is communicative (Source A – Communicative Language Teaching: Littlewood, W [1981]). Enabling the learner to communicate takes priority in regard to like skills, but also plays a pivotal role in supporting their progression to higher more native-like levels of English proficiency.

(Picture Above: CLT, Littlewood, W. 1989. Passages relating to the identification of learner gaps in knowledge, language requirements and teacher considerations)

As English language has two main functions attributed to it (Grammar & Vocabulary) the learners will be required to practice both of these throughout the three types of main examination assessments delivered by the college – Speaking & Listening {Verbal Skills} / Writing {Production/Practical Skills} / Reading {Comprehension Skills}. The papers provided online by City & Guilds will make devising materials easier in that regard, however understanding what it is learners will need to use English for will be that bit harder until a rapport has been built with them.

Some additional reading to be undertaken to further understand Grammar and Vocabulary teaching in the coming weeks, includes texts from Carter “Vocabulary Applied Linguistic Perspectives”  and Thornbury “How to teach grammar” – though texts involving Translanguaging (a teaching mechanism utilised by bi/tri lingual teachers to translate meanings between L1 to L2/3/etc... see García & Wei's "Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education" p11 for source definition) will not be relevant, as no learners share an “L” I could trans-language with.