Short training course for teachers of young learners
Most pre-service teacher training courses are focused exclusively on the teaching of adult students. Most teachers in private language schools in Spain, however, rarely teach adult classes only. Quite a high percentage of their weekly teaching hours are spent teaching young learners and many teachers who begin working in Spain often find that they are unprepared for teaching young learners' classes. They need help in those aspects of teaching which are special to young learners' classes such as behaviour management, dealing with disruptive behaviour and children's different learning styles and cognitive development. Unfortunately, their schools may not be in a position to give them the kind of help that they need.
For this reason, every year, the Young Learners Department at Cambridge School runs a two-day input course designed to provide teachers with a basic introduction to teaching English to young learners' classes (3-17 years old).
The aims of the course are:- To raise awareness of the special considerations concerning the teaching of young learners.
- To provide some practical activities that teachers can use in class.
- To develop the specific lesson planning skills necessary for the teaching of young learners.
- To demonstrate and practise some classroom teaching techniques.
- To provide strategies for dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
The course is aimed at newly qualified teachers and those in their first three years of teaching English to young learners and consists of eight hours of input sessions and workshops run by experienced young learners' teacher trainers.
| Dates: | Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 September |
|---|---|
| Times: | 15:00 - 19:45 (including two 30 minute breaks) |
| Place: | Cambridge School, Granollers |
| Cost: | 64 Euros per teacher. Cambridge School teachers may attend free of charge. |
For more information contact Course Director Karen Pomerleau ( Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spam bots. Necesita activar JavaScript para visualizarla ).
Some trainer profiles
Alistair Jones was Head of Young Learners at Cambridge School, Granollers from 1998 to 2004 where he now works as Centre Director. He has also been the Academic Co-ordinator for British Summer’s summer camp programmes since 2001. He is a regular speaker at teacher training events for Macmillan ELT and had given extended training courses at ESADE University and in Ankara, Turkey for International House. He is the co-author of Net Languages’ courses, English 4 Kids and English 4 Teens, and also of Clever Kids, a CD-ROM released by OUP in 2004. More recently he wrote the student websites for Macmillan ELT’s Bugs World series for primary school children.
Karen Pomerleau has taught young learners of all ages in Canada, Japan and Spain. Her experience in teaching English to young learners goes back about 20 years when she first organized day camps and summer camps for children in her predominantly French-speaking hometown in Québec. She then went on to become the Director of Young Learners at a language school in Tokyo. She has been teaching young learners at Cambridge School since 2001, gives regular teacher training talks for Macmillan ELT and is currently Head of Young Learners.
Marcela Nievas has twelve years of international teaching experience. She holds a Degree in Education and a TESOL qualification. She has also worked on several community cultural development projects as artistic project director across four continents. Marcela believes in creating engaging, student-centred classrooms in which students enjoy developing language and communication skills.
Miriam Parmenter has been teaching English to Young Learners in both academies and primary schools for over 25 years. She is passionate about teaching very young learners aged 3-7 and holds strong views on issues such as the use of L1 in the classroom, the use of play, stories and songs and how to achieve effective classroom organisation using routines. As a member of the Cambridge School YL Teacher Training Team, Miriam is responsible for giving educational support to teachers of off-site YL classes.
Penny Doukakaros has been working at Cambridge School and teaching young learners since 2005 and is currently the Assistant Director of Studies. She completed the DELTA course in 2008 with a Distinction. She is an experienced teacher trainer and regularly tutors on CELTA and DELTA courses.
