Bringing the World Closer

First Assignment

Hello everyone! Congratulations on completing your first task: successfully logging in to the MyTeachingHouse.com site!

We are presently developing Generation 2 of the MyTeachingHouse site. It’s a great resource both on the course and after the course (in finding work and keeping up with friends you’ve made during the course). As this site is under development, we’d appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you have.

I have a few more tasks for you to complete—it may take about an hour or two. Please read the instructions below and complete it before next Monday.

Directions: All written answers must be posted on this thread (First Assignment) within the discussion forum in your course group. Since there are many of you, it's important to post only on this thread (click "Reply to This" at the bottom) so that we can keep the forum from getting full and messy-looking. However, if you have any other comments or questions you are welcome to start a new thread.

1. If you haven’t already, edit your profile with your current location, status and photo

2. Browse through our international directory of English language schools (hover over "RESOURCES" in the toolbar at the top of the page and click "SCHOOL DIRECTORY" ). Post the name of a school that you think you might be interested in applying to after the course, and (briefly) why you liked that school.

3. Go to Course Forms and find a word from one of the glossaries that you do not know.

4. Post one idea or recommendation for MyTeachingHouse.com.

5. Post a personal goal related to taking our Teaching House CELTA course.

6. Post a comment about someone else’s comments, for example, “Lizzy, I agree with your comment about the job listings section…” or “Abby, I saw that you wanted to work in Paris. I was thinking about that myself—is it hard to find work in France?” If you're one of the first people to post, come back later with a comment after your peers have caught up.

Good luck and keep coming back to our site! You can email me at christen@teachinghouse.com with any questions.

All the best,

Christen

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Monika Eghbalian on February 8, 2011 at 9:02pm

I did not know the meaning of Cloz Exercise (from the ESL Glossary).

Permalink Reply by Erin Hamling on February 9, 2011 at 8:45pm

After completing this course I would like to apply to the Cambridge Institute in Germany because I feel that the CELTA certification would give me an advantage in a Cambridge-owned language school, and it's located in Munich where I plan to move this spring.

I have no idea what Cuisenaire Rods are (ESL Glossary) but I am interested in finding out.

I did not like how the school listings couldn't be viewed with Internet Explorer because that's my default browser.

A personal goal of mine is to become proficient and confident enough to teach English at a high level.

And I see that Monika also plans on moving to Europe, I hope we both have good luck finding jobs!

Permalink Reply by Monika Eghbalian on February 10, 2011 at 1:25pm

I would suggest that MYTeachingHouse.com to add the option of location (by origin of member or CELTA center) in the "Search by" options tab of the Member section so that people could easily search for members within specific vicinities for networking purposes.

Permalink Reply by Omolara Tafawa on February 11, 2011 at 1:48pm

TASK 1: COMPLETE

TASK 2: Rabat American School in Marrakesh, Morocco. I selected this school because majority of my work experience has been in international schools. Morocco offers order and stability. It is a University of Cambridge certified institution and they are using an IB curriculum (both of which I am also familiar with). I would like to teach young adults.

TASK 3: I was unsure of the term back-chaining.

TASK 4: My only recommendation would be that better and more detailed directions be given for 1 Faneuil Hall. I could not believe how long it took me to locate the office yesterday. It would have helped if I knew that it was in the South Market building: building one, on the third floor, to the right of the elevator.

TASK 5: One of my personal goals related to taking our Teaching House CELTA course is to make smart use of my learning time. I want to master as much as I can in this 4-week period. By the end, I would like to be a competent, assertive and effective teacher.

TASK 6: I was really inspired by Monika Eghbalian’s personal goals because like me, her teaching experiences have been with “children and in less formal settings.” I agree that it will be very different teaching in an adult classroom. I also hope that I walk away with confidence and professionalism.

Permalink Reply by Timothy Homan on February 13, 2011 at 2:49pm

2: Berlitz Language Center, Dubai, UAE. This is a well known company with many branches around the world. I am interested in Middle Eastern culture and language. I think Dubai would be a good place to live and work.

3: Cloze exercise.

4: The job listings section could be more browsable / searchable / navigable in general.

5: I would like to improve my speaking and presentation skills and learn the fundamentals of running a language classroom.

6: I would agree with Omolara that the directions could have been a little better. Just including that it was in the south market building would have been helpful.

Look forward to working with everyone.

Permalink Reply by Monika Eghbalian on February 13, 2011 at 10:51pm

Maija, I agree with your idea to add search criteria to the School Directory. It would be incredibly beneficial to have a way to navigate through the plethora of IH Schools. Furthermore, it could use some updating. I found that some schools do not have a website or contact listed on the directory, although in a more thorough internet search I could find one.

Permalink Reply by Kate Nyhan on February 14, 2011 at 5:59am

Hello folks,

I’m looking forward to meeting everyone soon! In the meantime, here’s my two cents.

My plan is not to apply to schools directly after the course, for family reasons—but if I were going to, I might look into the many schools listed in South Korea. I lived and worked (but not as an English teacher) in Seoul and Suwon; I think that I would prefer to return to Seoul, and there are certainly hundreds of options there.

I can’t quite imagine, from the description in the ESL glossary, how a teacher would use finger highlighting; the written record is much closer to my own experience as a student.

When it comes to myteachinghouse.com, I’d be interested to know the genesis of the database of schools. Have Teaching House alumni taught at each institution? As Maija and Monika have mentioned, any contextual information about the database and its entries would be helpful.

My goal in the course is to study pedagogy in a more systematic way; until now, I’ve been working from the examples of my own language teachers (some good examples, some horrible warnings). A more personal goal? You all will have to watch out for me confusing students by providing too much information; I’d like to curb that tendency.

Kate