GLOBAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TESOL, TEFL, TESL AND CELTA

“International Standard Teacher Certifications”

(TESOL), Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

(TEFL), Teaching English as a Foreign Language

(TESL), Teaching English as a Second Language

(CELTA), Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Confused about what they are and their differences:

Teaching Certificates for future teachers:

Let´s start with the first one, TESOL: this one encompasses the other certifications about English Language Teaching. This is designed to teachers who teach the lingua Franca to speakers who does not speak the language as their mother tongue.

The second one is TEFL: This prepares the teacher to teach English in context where the learners are not active users out of the classroom. This is also a certificate that prepares you to teach NNEST in a foreign country.

The third one is TESL: this in opposite to the previous one is based on contexts where English is the first language of the learners and the teacher is prepared to teach it to students interested in learning their mother tongue. It is also to prepare teachers who wish to teach NNEST in English speaking countries.

The last one is CELTA: this is meant to be a specific brand of TESOL course operating under the brolly of Cambridge University. You can think of TESOL as the type of product and CELTA as a derivational brand. This is also a respected course and is the best known. The vast majority of teachers consider it the most recognised of TESOL courses. There are other well-known TESOL courses as well (Trinity TESOL or SIT TESOL); but, CELTA is by far the most internationally deemed accreditation.

Denomination according to the type of learner:

English as a Second Language, ESL: English is taught to learners whose context English is the primary means of communication in everyday routine. Learners learn their own language or students come to study it in English Speaking countries.

English as a Foreign Language, EFL: English is taught to learners whose context English is not used out of their school settings and people do not speak it actively in daily interactions.

ESL and EFL are already discussed, but how about these following ones:

English as an Additional Language (EAL) & English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL): these terms are used in context where learners are polyglots and English cannot be considered their second language because it would sound mistakenly inaccurate. These interchangeable terms are useful to experts who want to replace the ones above.

English Language Learner (ELL):

This is used in context where the learner is able to speak more than the L1 and L2, this one can also produce a L3 and L4. ELL is broader term and specialists can use it in places where there is a significant variety of cultural backgrounds.

   

For information, search for it on:

• https://www.eslconversationquestions.com/difference-between-tesol-tefl-tesl-celta/
• https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/education-learning-and-development/news/these-acronyms-are-making-me-crazy-esl-efl-eal-ell-tefl-tesl-tesol-celta

 

PEDAGOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF WRITTEN TEXTS

Adapted from William Joya´s handout of Pedagogical Classification of Written Texts

Here, you will have an entrance to the world of written discourse, thus you are able to observe clear patterning of aspects and classifications.

Pre-reading activities 2

This time, let´s talk a little bit about Skimming!

*Skimming is a complex strategy used by C1 and C2 readers of any language. It is taught after all kind of pre-reading skill because the reader needs to search for specific data, such as: format, title, topic sentence, supportive sentences, etc; thus, this can glance through the text quicker. Here, it is also important to have awareness of lexical units and abilities to look for main ideas. Additionally, it is a nice strategy to develop and be more fluent in reading thanks to the awakening of background knowledge and specialised knowledge of the general framework.

On the other hand, *Scanning is a less complex technique that is used to locate a datum of interest in a text. It is recommended for beginner, intermediate and upper intermediate learners. You search for a date or name that recalls.

https://in.pinterest.com/pin/577938564652060167/

THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST

Today I come up with some anecdotic discourse on what I lived very early this same morning. I decided to publish this article based on the idea that real professionals are coming ahead of those like me that with enthusiasm teach English as a foreign language in a country wherein languages are far from being a reality for many learners. Courses are expensive and chances to be proficient in a language are scarce; however, that is a big reason for students nowaday to pursue dreams that I also felt some years ago when started my learning process. I can only say, these students enrolled in such a manner that I thought of them as future scientists. Being a scientist or man of science is a precious treasure and we all should aknowledge that is an odd qualitative feature that citizens have. So, I wanted to mention how thinking like a scientist changes people´s minds.

From now on, I can say, we are in good hands, students are doing well and are focussed on setting goals. Here, I add some brilliant works from students at school. I want to thank those who did it because they are giant people and great thinkers. Apart from that, this activity tended to raise awareness about climate change in a way that they drew upon how we could make some propaganda through flyers. People are really visual and this suits everyone. Let´s have a look at some works:

This piece of work was designed to create eye-opening about what we do in relation to animals like chimpazees and apes in general.

This one was designed by Oriana Acevedo & Fabiana Febres. It reflects how nature impacts our mental world. It advises people not to destroy the beauty of landscapes.

This one really impresses me because it gets straight to the point of interest. It shares a clear view of what´s happening and invites eveybody to take action inmediately. The planet is sick and we need to help a little bit at least.

This shines our way by simply adding a great concept on how nature offers perspectives that nurish our thinking and makes us have a clearer overview of a nature deeply linked to technology.

This is an incredible piece of awareness-based concept that we all human beings must have. Global warming is a true fact that is a goal for some international organisations to tackle.

This was designed by Loredana D´Oracio & Kelly Ng. It is a precious piece of work that demonstrates how our planet transforms through a timeline. The action of prediction is a fact that attracts us all; but, the true is the current hard times our planet is going through. Our future burns in fire set by the unawareness.

This was designed by María Fernanda Gallegos & Luisa Suarez. I really like this one because it shows relevant features that describe how a scientist profile is. Our spieces are important, let´s take care of them!

This basic design contemplates a natural process and shows a simple illustrative concept of prediction.

Designed by Melanie Neumann, Isabella Parra & Veronica Privitera. This awesome piece of work potrays how other species have abilities and why they are also valuable.

This one made my day. It is a proof evidence that we are deeply rooted in our senses and that they perform a behemoth and herculian task when used. It was designed by Isabella Escobar & Miranda Esteves.

Finally, I just have to tell you thank you for taking time to read this. I also want to thank a great teacher of mine whose name is Willian Joya, who was my partner on this hard-working day.

SCIENCE FAIR (A PROJECT COME TRUE) AT SCHOOL

Here I share a compelling experience I have recently had with some of my students.

I will start by thanking the whole staff that made this possible; however, I am going to tell my own plot about the development of this incredible work. Now, I am going to narrate what we did.

We developed an action project that contained a five-chaptered framework over which the students focussed on writing based on a fact conditioned by UNO ´s yearly planning. We extracted four aspects to delimit the topic of interest according to the resolution available. For example, we chose the Year of Mountains and the students mentioned a possible theme to work with. We considered the variable object of study, the focus to give to that variable and then, space and time.

We also worked on the general features that an action project commonly has. As an illustration, we had progressive workshops on which a problem was talked about and created the goals to achieve and offer some dable solutions and recommendations. We also went deeply into the topic and researched about it for a quite long time and mentioned the type of research, materials and procedure. This project had a quantitative approach with which we discerned an acceptable methodological process.

The students also prepared outstanding replicas of impeccable pieces of atifacts, such as a water purifying filtre or solar panel. Conversely, they took the idea of a research project like a documentary research and made models of Mount Everest and explained the campsites for turists and how COVID-19 pandemic affected turism in the area. I can solely say they were deemed a great job by viewers in the event.

To finish, families were keyed up and they applauded their kids. The satisfation is really big and there are no words to express how fulfilled I felt that day. To mention some thanking thoughts, I will add the names of some amazing teachers that made that day a heyday, Aura, Kelly, Erika, Isabel, Willian, Emily, Raylet, Alejandro, Elba, María and many others. Let´s attach some evidence on this.

_{IDEA SCHOOL / NAGUANAGUA, VENEZUELA}

By Eduardo Becerrit

Pre-reading activities 2

This time, let´s talk a little bit about Skimming!

Skimming is a complex strategy used by C1 and C2 readers of any language. It is taught after all kind of pre-reading skill because the reader needs to search for specific data, such as: format, title, topic sentence, supportive sentences, etc; thus, this can glance through the text quicker. Here, it is also important to have awareness of lexical units and abilities to look for main ideas. Additionally, it is a nice strategy to develop and be more fluent in reading thanks to the awakening of background knowledge and specialised knowledge of the general framework.

On the other hand, Scanning is a less complex technique that is used to locate a datum of interest in a text. It is recommended for beginner, intermediate and upper intermediate learners, You search for a date or name that reminds you about other linking factors in your brain in regards to the content.

The preview techniques go from general statements to specific ones. I am going to show you an image of what the British Counsil says about this topic:

I am pretty optimistic that pre-techniques can trigger on a better performance. The last one, but not least is the Research Question Technique, which considers reading as a social practice that happens when students´background knowledge is activated. It is suggested to be provided in the initial part before combining any other pre-technique.

In the next publication, I will write about While-Reading Techniques, so stay tunned!