logo  ELT Concourse teacher training for Delta
Concourse 2

Delta: meeting the teaching criteria | Section 7

tick the box

your language
pitch to the level
give accurate models
give accurate and appropriate information
notice and exploit learners' output

The criteria explained

criteria7

Being clear, being accurate, being relevant

The criteria under section 7 refer to language: what you say, how you say it and whether it is correct and appropriate.  They are headed:
Understanding, knowledge and explanation of language and language skills
To meet these criteria, you need to demonstrate that you can use, analyse, model and explain the content of your lesson.

Successful candidates demonstrate that they can effectively:

  1. use language which is accurate and appropriate for the teaching and learning context
  2. adapt their own use of language to the level of the group and individuals in the group
  3. give accurate and appropriate models of language form, meaning / use and pronunciation
  4. give accurate and appropriate information about language form, meaning / use and pronunciation and / or language skills / subskills
  5. notice and judiciously exploit learners’ language output to further language and skills / subskills development.

7a

your language

assessorssay What assessors sometimes say:
The candidate too often used language above the level of the group, increasing ambiguity and demotivating his students.
The candidate used inappropriate and over-simplified language which patronised and gave inaccurate models of sentence stress, avoiding natural contractions.

In your plan, you should have identified the language that is central to the lesson, whether it is a skills or a systems lesson.  Make sure:


7b

pitch to the level

assessorssay What assessors sometimes say:
The candidate too often commented on what she was doing, almost as an aside, rather than getting on with the lesson.  These asides were not understood or recognised as such by all the learners.
The candidate frequently gave instructions using language above the level of the class and was forced to re-phrase and repair when they didn't understand him.

Even when you are nervous, as many are when they are observed, make sure that everything you say is understandable by everyone and relevant to the lesson.  In particular:


7c

give accurate models

assessorssay What assessors sometimes say:
The candidate's examples of the target structure were not always accurate in terms of the issues he wanted to highlight.
Models were inaccurate.
Three of the items on the handout task contained errors which confused and misled some learners.

This is partly a planning issue.  Look at the content of the lesson and identify absolutely clear, unambiguous examples of the language or the skill.  Do not rely on your ability to make things up as you go along.
In particular, at the planning stage, ask yourself:


7d

give accurate and appropriate information

assessorssay What assessors sometimes say:
The candidate did not sufficiently focus the information she gave so learners were searching for what was centrally relevant.
The candidate presented the target language accurately but via a series of mini-lectures, some of the content of which was unnecessary at this level.
The candidate did not provide enough information concerning the meaning, stress, word class or pronunciation of the target lexis.
The candidate did not explicitly focus the learners on the skills they were asked to deploy.

You are required to analyse the language or skill you are going to teach in your lesson plan.  There's a good reason for this: analysing in advance will give you the confidence that what you are telling people is accurate and what they need.  You cannot teach all the forms and all the skill in one lesson so be selective and keep to what is relevant for these learners now.


7e

notice and exploit

assessorssay What assessors sometimes say:
The candidate did not adequately follow up on what his learners were saying.
The candidate ignored some learner errors in the target language and did not listen carefully enough to what was being produced.
Errors in the target language were still noticeable by the end of the lesson.
Some learners were not applying the skills to the text and the candidate did not intervene to set them on the right track.

Partly this is to do with simply listening carefully to what your learners say (see criterion 6d) and watching what your learners are doing.  There's a bit more to it than that, however.

For all of the above, it may repay your time to look at the guide to teacher-induced error so that you can make sure you are not guilty of creating rather than dealing with error.

You may also find the guide to scaffolding and the ZPD useful, especially in meeting criteria 7d and 7e.  Scaffolding, you will discover there, is a good deal more than just helping and assisting.  Using good scaffolding techniques is often the sign of Merit- or Distinction-level teaching.


The teaching criteria sections and preparing to teach:

Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Preparing to teach
relationships language procedures management visualising the lesson