Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program

Developmental Module Courses

Dear Course Participant,

Welcome to your Laureate English Teacher Certificate Program training– we are delighted to have
you with us. Below you will find information about the Laureate online courses, which you should read
carefully. For your benefit, below are key points to keep in mind.

Key Points

• Keep your weekly deadlines in mind. You are expected to complete a number of lessons each week.

• When assigned to work in pairs, reach out to your partner and respond in a timely fashion to keep up with course work.

• Do your best on system graded tasks but don’t stress over grades. You are required to complete 80% of the system
graded tasks, but there is no minimum grade required.

• Games (such as crossword puzzles, tic tac toe, etc), personal answer questionnaires, and recordings are not scored.

• Collaborative tasks (wikis, fora, and reflective tasks) are done in Campus Pack.

• Meet with your English Director often for support. Reach out to your tutor if you need help with the content.

• Courses are compatible with Firefox 3.5 or 4 and Internet Explorer 7 or 8. Higher browsers may cause problems.

• Submit any technical problems you encounter to [email protected] or via the Trouble Ticket on the Moodle home
page (right hand column).

I - Introduction to the Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program

The Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program consists of five modules. The first course
“Induction” is a self-paced introductory course that must be completed within six months of
registration. The subsequent developmental modules (1 to 4) are moderated modules with scheduled
tasks, which your moderators will expect you to complete by the end of each week of study.

Induction Course

This course aims to:

• introduce you to a range of classroom skills and materials

• review the key principles of communicative language teaching.
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Developmental Module 1 – How to Teach Reading & Listening

This course aims to:

• review the skills of reading and listening and why we teach them
• consider the challenges learners face with developing these skills
• broaden your knowledge and abilities to successfully teach these skills in the classroom
• examine a range of communicative activities for developing learners’ reading and listening
skills

Developmental Module 2 – How to Teach Writing & Speaking

This course aims to:

• review the skills of writing and speaking and why we teach them
• consider the challenges learners face with developing these skills
• broaden your knowledge and abilities to successfully teach these skills in the classroom
• examine a range of communicative activities for developing learners’ writing and speaking
skills

Developmental Module 3 – How to Teach with Technology

This course aims to:

• review and expand on a few basic computer skills which are useful for teachers
• review and explore a number of technology tools for teachers
• consider how teachers can most effectively use technology and the Internet in the classroom
• broaden your knowledge and abilities to successfully integrate technology into your syllabus
• lay the foundations for ongoing professional development for your use and application of
technology in your teaching context

Developmental Module 4 – How to Teach Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation

This module aims to:

• review the areas of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation and why we teach them
• consider the challenges learners face with developing their language abilities in these areas
• broaden your knowledge and abilities to successfully teach these areas in the classroom
• examine a range of communicative activities for developing learners’ grammar, vocabulary
and pronunciation

II - How the courses work

Each Developmental Module course consists of a number of lessons with tasks, which you will work
through with a tutor and your course colleagues. There are weekly deadlines, and you are expected
to spend approximately 3 hours per week on completing your lessons. You can work on your lessons
at any time during that week, but we suggest that you pace yourself so as not to leave everything
until the last minute every week! This is especially important because you will take part in regular pair
and group work tasks with your course colleagues (see III below).

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DM1 DM2 DM3 DM4
This course is broken down This course is also broken This course is broken down This course is also broken down
into 50 thirty-minute lessons. down into 50 thirty-minute into 25 sixty-minute lessons. into 25 sixty-minute lessons. Each
Each lesson is expected to lessons. Each lesson is Each lesson is expected to lesson is expected to require
require approximately 30 expected to require require approximately 1 hour approximately 1 hour of work. Of
minutes of work. Of course if approximately 30 minutes of of work. Of course if you course if you have more
you have more experience work. Of course if you have have more experience with experience with teaching
with teaching reading and more experience with technology, it may take you grammar/vocabulary/pronunciation,
listening, it may take you less teaching speaking and less time than that to it may take you less time than that
time than that to complete writing, it may take you less complete your tasks in to complete your tasks in Moodle,
your tasks in Moodle, and time than that to complete Moodle, and vice versa. If and vice versa. If everything is
vice versa. If everything is your tasks in Moodle, and everything is completely new completely new to you, it may take
completely new to you, it may vice versa. If everything is to you, it may take you a you a little longer. We calculate 3
take you a little longer. We completely new to you, it may little longer. We calculate 3 hours per week for the average
calculate 3 hours per week for take you a little longer. We hours per week for the participant to cover 3 lessons.
the average participant to calculate 3 hours per week average participant to cover
cover 5 lessons. for the average participant to 3 lessons.
cover 5 lessons.

III – Course content

Your course consists of lessons which need to be completed to weekly deadlines. Lessons typically
contain a number of different task types and resources:

• Quiz-style tasks: these tasks are automatically scored by the system; Tasks include
crosswords, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, matching activities, cloze and c-tests,
and so on. You will sometimes be encouraged to do a quiz-style task more than once to see if
you can improve your score. These automatically scored tasks do not count towards the final
assessment – they are there to help you assimilate course content. Please note games (such
as crossword puzzles, tic, tac, toe, etc.), personal answer questionnaires, and recording
activities are not graded.

• Communicative tasks: these tasks require you to interact with your course colleagues, often
in pairs. Tasks include poll activities, forum discussions, and wiki tasks. Some of these tasks
are optional – please see Appendix C for a complete list of obligatory versus optional
collaborative tasks.

• Reflective tasks: these tasks offer you ways to try out and reflect on what you are learning in
your own teaching. There are two types of Reflective tasks:
•
- Blog it tasks ask you to reflect on course content and how it relates to your teaching, and to
write a short entry in a private learning Journal. Only you and your tutor will have access to
these entries.
- Try it out tasks ask you to try out an idea, activity or technique with your own students in
class, and to then reflect on the experience by posting to the blog. Some of the Try it out tasks
require that you self-observe or peer-observe teaching. Your responses to these tasks will be
made public to the rest of the group.

Note that your Blog it and Try it out tasks form part of the final assessment for your course
(see Part V – Assessment and Certification). At least one of your Try it out tasks needs to be
observed by the English director at your institution.

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 • IWB Tips and Tech Tips: these tips are included within lessons where relevant. They are
also collated into a bank of tips for each module, so that you can refer to them separately,
without having to search through lessons again to find them! The collated tips are in
downloadable PDF format for printing and quick reference.

• Synthesis articles: Each main section of a course is followed by an article which synthesizes
or summarizes the main ideas and issues covered in that section. These articles are
downloadable PDF files that you can print and use to quickly review the main content of each
module.

You will be expected to attend a total of three real-time video conferencing ‘chats’ with your tutor and
course colleagues. These three chats will take place:

• within the first few weeks of the course,

• about half way through and
• towards the end of the course.

Your tutor will negotiate the exact dates and times of these chats with the group, so that as many of
you can be accommodated as possible. However, it is usually impossible to suit everyone, especially
if you are all in different parts of the world and in different time zones! Chats are always recorded so if
you are unable to attend, you can view the chat recording after the event. Webex will be used for
videoconferencing.

To attend the video conferencing chats, you will need:

• a headset with microphone

• a broadband connection
• java installed on your computer (most computers nowadays already have this)

IV – Meeting with English Director

Your English director is a vital part of your course. He or she provides a vital link between the online
environment and the reality of your institution. You will be required to meet once a week with your
English Director to discuss your progress and arrange your “Try it out” task lesson observation. Your
director may also give you the opportunity to present to others what you are learning in your course.

V - Assessment and certification

You will receive a pass with distinction/pass/fail grade for each Developmental Module course you
enroll in. If you successfully complete all four developmental modules, and the Induction Module, you
will be awarded the “Laureate English Teaching Certificate” which will qualify you to teach English at
any Laureate member institution, subject to availability of positions and working permit requirements.

For Developmental Modules 1-4 your final assessment will comprise the following areas:

1. Completion of a minimum of 80% of the online activities. These activities are designed
to provide input and consolidation of core concepts. The percentage grades are
formative and will not be weighted in the final assessment.

2. Participation in group/pair work, online fora and wikis. Participation will be evaluated
by your tutor according to the areas below and will look at quality and quantity of
contributions:

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 • Relevance and quality of discussion/argumentation
• Understanding of core concepts in the materials
• Organization, structure, and language control of the posting
• Reference to practical classroom application

3. Reflective Tasks- online learning is linked to the classroom via the Reflective tasks.
These reflective activities ask you to implement key strategies and/or observe
colleagues’ classrooms. You will be required to submit reflective posts on these
activities which will be graded by your tutors. You will be required to complete the
following:

• Two Blog it tasks for each Developmental Module. These are submitted via
your private learning Journal, and can only be viewed by your tutor and
yourself.

• Try it out tasks

1. DM1 – You need to do a total of five Try it out tasks, two of which must
be from the reading section and the listening section respectively. The
fifth Try it out task can be from either section. At least one of these
tasks must be observed by your English Director*.
2.
DM2 – You need to do a total of five Try it out tasks, two of which must
be from the speaking section and the writing section respectively. The
fifth Try it out task can be from either section. At least one of these
tasks must be observed by your English Director*.

3. DM3 – you need to do a total of three Try it out tasks (each task must
be from a different section of the course).At least one of your Try it out
tasks must be observed by your English Director*.

4. DM4 – you need to do a total of three Try it out tasks (one from
grammar, one from pronunciation, and one from the vocabulary
section). At least one of your Try it out tasks must be observed by your
English Director*.

*Your English director will use the form in Appendix A to evaluate your observed Try it
out task.

All other Blog it and Try it out reflective tasks will be scored by your course tutor
according to the criteria in Appendix B.

Please note that these Blog it and Try it out reflective tasks are mandatory. However,
in order to reduce the load we have made some activities optional. Please see
Appendix C for a complete list of obligatory versus optional collaborative tasks.

VI - Getting the most out of the course

Study Plan

Learning online requires a great degree of discipline and autonomy. It can be a challenge for the
most organized students. In order to help you keep pace, we have designed a study plan for each
course which will tell you what lesson(s) should be completed for each week of study.

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It is very important to work regularly throughout the week and not wait until the end of the week to
complete the online tasks since much of our courses will be based on interaction. If you feel you are
being left behind, please do not hesitate to contact your tutor or your local English Director; they are
there to provide you support in such circumstances.

Week DM1 DM2 DM3 DM4

50x30m lessons 50x30m lessons 25x1h lessons 25x1h lessons
Week 1: Profile/Intro Profile/Intro Profile/Intro Profile/Intro
tasks/Socializing tasks/Socializing tasks/Socializing tasks/Socializing
Lessons 1-5 Lessons 1-5 Lessons 1-3 Lessons 1-3
Week 2:
Week 3: Lessons 6-10 Lessons 6-10 Lessons 4-6 Lessons 4-6

Week 4: Lessons 11-15 Lessons 11-15 Lessons 7-9 Lessons 7-9

Week 5: Lessons 16-20 Lessons 16-20 Lessons 10-12 Lessons 10-12

Week 6: Lessons 21-25 Lessons 21-25 Lessons 13-15 Lessons 13-15

BREAK

Week 7: Lessons 26-30 Lessons 26-30 Lessons 16-18 Lessons 16-18

Week 8: Lessons 31-35 Lessons 31-35 Lessons 19-20 Lessons 19-20

Week 9: Lessons 36-40 Lessons 36-40 Lessons 21-22 Lessons 21-22

Week 10: Lessons 41-45 Lessons 41-45 Lessons 23-24 Lessons 23-24

Week 11: Lessons 46-50 Lessons 46-50 Lesson 25 Lesson 25

Week 12: Feedback, Feedback, Evaluation, Feedback, Evaluation, Feedback,

Evaluation, Conclusion Conclusion Evaluation,
Conclusion Conclusion

VII - Tutors

Tutors or moderators are experienced moderators who will assist you every step of the way. Please
see below information on the current moderators.

DM1: Rob Cummins (Two sections: DM1A4, DM1A5)

Rob Cummins is currently working for Laureate in collaboration with Bell Educational
Trust in a quality assurance and teacher training role across all UVM campuses in
Mexico. Rob has lived and taught on every continent, and in the past he has worked
as a Teacher, Director of Studies, Academic Director, Teacher Trainer, IELTS /
BULATS Examiner and Business Language Consultant. He has been employed by
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, EF English First, the British Council
and others. Rob currently lives and works in Mexico City.

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DM1: Pierre Bourgoin (Two sections: DM1A2, DM1A3)

Pierre Bourgoin started teaching high school math and sciences in 2000 and moved
to the world of ELT in 2003. The first part of his new career was spent teaching in
Asian countries, and in Japan he helped create ESL curriculums and materials that
were used across a large network of universities within the country. Pierre also
worked to promote English language courses in over 20 Japanese universities by
running ESL seminars for faculty and students. He then went on to work in ELT
management and training for the Bell Educational Trust in Saudi Arabia where he
trained a large number of teachers alongside such teacher trainers as Jim Scrivener and Peter
Lucantoni. More recently, he has worked towards implementing Bell’s Quality Assurance and
Development scheme at UVM. Pierre has also taught in Spain and in the USA, is a Cambridge
ESOL BULATS examiner, and is currently completing a Masters in Education with a major in TESOL.

DM1: Elif Vardar (Section DM1A1)

Elif Vardar is an EFL teacher and trainer and has been working in the field of
ELT for the last 15 years. So far, she has taken on different responsibilities
as an instructor, program coordinator, curriculum and testing advisor and
taught all skills at all levels, including TOEFL instruction, Business English
and English for Academic Purposes at university. She is currently working at
Istanbul Bilgi University English Language Programs leading the exit level of
the Prep School. She has a Bachelor's degree in Teaching English as a
Foreign Language from Bogazici University, Istanbul, a teacher trainer
diploma a well as a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Istanbul Bilgi University,
Turkey. She is interested in the duality of teaching as a profession which gives an opportunity to
learn from learners and reflect on further growth and development both for learners and teachers.
She is also interested in management in education, helping learners/teachers become more
motivated and autonomous in their learning/teaching.

DM2: Nesrin Eren (DM2A1)

Nesrin Eren is an educational consultant, e-moderator, teacher and teacher trainer.

She holds a BA and an MA in English Linguistics from Hacettepe University, and
an MS in Psychology from Walden University. She is currently working as a
teacher and as a teacher trainer in the English Language Programs at Istanbul
Bilgi University where she develops and delivers training programs for English
language teachers and trainers-to-be, and does classroom observations. She has
conducted numerous workshops and presentations, both in-house and internationally. She is
particularly interested in teacher education and development; educational and organizational
psychology; curriculum development; skills and strategy training; learner autonomy and learning
styles and modes, just to name few.

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DM2: Ozden Ozmakinaci (Section DM2A2)

Ozden has been in ELT for the past 23 years since her graduation from Istanbul
University, English Language and Literature Department. So far she has had
different posts as a teacher, curriculum designer/advisor, mentor, the director of
studies, and the test office coordinator/advisor. For the last 12 years she has been
working for Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey and presently I am the team leader of a
group of instructors. She has always been interested in using new teaching ideas
in her classes, and strongly believes that sharing ideas is an enriching experience. When not
teaching, she likes spending time with her beautiful daughter and husband (this is kind of difficult as
he is mostly on tour with his rock band) and with two cats.

DM3: Miriam Salazar (Section DM3A1)

Miriam Salazar is an EFL teacher and an e-moderator. She has worked as an

ELT specialist for The McGraw-Hill companies in Chile and the Southern Cone.
She was also the Head of the Language Unit at Lan Airlines. She currently works
at Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile and is in charge of technological
projects for the Department of English; she also teaches Film and Literature to
students from the teacher training program. At present, she is writing her thesis to
obtain her Master’s degree on Communication. Her academic interests are ICTs and language
learning, Film Studies and Film and Literature.

DM4: Burcu Tezcan (Section DM4A1)

Burcu Tezcan-Unal has been teaching EFL and training nationally and internationally for
many years. She holds a TESOL MSc from Aston University, UK. She also worked as a
Fulbright Exchange Teacher in the USA teaching Language Arts to sophomores 1995-
96. Currently, Burcu has been an EFL teacher, trainer and academic coordinator at
Istanbul Bilgi University. She is also a member of IATEFL TTEd SIG (Teacher Training
and Education Special Interest Group) responsible for membership and publicity. She
has a course in BİLGİ ELT Department &Teaching Listening and Speaking in TEFL.
Burcu shares her ideas and experience mainly on professional development in her blog
www.btezcan.edublogs.org.

Contacts:

English Director: Your English Director at your local university is your first point of contact.

Technical Support: [email protected]

Tutors: See contact information following.

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Tutors: Please add your tutors’ e-mail address to your safe sender list to receive their e-mails.

Initial e-mail notifying you of your registration will inform who your tutor is.
DM1:
Pierre Bourgoin Rob Cummins Elif Vardar
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

DM2: DM3: DM4 :

Nesrin Eren Ozden Ozmakinaci Miriam Salazar Burcu Tezcan

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

VIII- Accessing Your Course

ACCESSING YOUR COURSE IN MOODLE

For the duration of the course we will be using the Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle. We
do not expect you to have had any experience of using an LMS before, and are here to provide you
with plenty of help and support if you need it.

Follow these steps to log on to your course in Moodle. We suggest that you bookmark the course
homepage.

1. You can log into your course here: http://class.laureate.net

Type your user id (e-mail) and password (default password is changeme, which you will need to
change your password the first time you log in). Then click the log in button to the right of password.
If you already have a password, please continue to use the same one.

Please note when you are officially enrolled in the system, you will receive an e-mail with this link and
log in information from [email protected]. If you forget your password, you may click “Yes, help
me log in” and a reset password will be sent to your e-mail from [email protected] as well.

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2. The course you are enrolled in will appear listed in the central ‘Courses’ block in the middle under
the title available courses. Click on the course title to enter the course itself:

3. Take a look at the main Moodle course window:

THE LEFT-HAND COLUMN

Click on ‘´Participants´ in the ‘Administration’ block to edit your personal

profile. We would like you to do this before starting the lessons. Your course
tutors have already filled theirs in – look at them if you would like an example.
We encourage you to upload a photo or avatar as well.

- complete all the information in your profile

- upload a picture of yourself or an avatar

Go to “Show Advanced” to change e-mail digest (scroll down and change the Email digest
type and Forum auto-subscribe to match the screenshot below). This way you will get a daily
email with links to all the new posting over the previous 24 hours, instead of lots of individual
emails. You will also see if there are new forum posts when you log in. Be sure to save the
changes by scrolling down and clicking on Update profile.

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Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 11
2. Click on ‘Participants’ to read about who else is on your course - participants and tutors appear
there with their information.

3. You may click ‘Grades’ to see your scores on the online activities.

THE MIDDLE COLUMN

This is where you will access the course content. When you click on your course, the course table of
contents appears under the overall aims of the course as well as links to two User Guides. Click on
the lessons to reach the course material. Start with lesson 1 and follow the links, which appear in
red, to view the materials in lesson 1, as shown below in the screenshot. On the left, under ‘Lesson
Navigation’, you can reach the different activities included in lesson 1. Work through these in order
as they occur as the material builds across the lesson.

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 12
THE RIGHT-HAND COLUMN

The Campus Pack heading contains a link to your course space. By going to
the course space, you can create the blogposts you will be required to write
during the course. This link will take you outside of Moodle, to our Campus Pack
environment where the Laureate English Teacher Network resides. Please see
Campus Pack Section for more information.

Finally, please use the Trouble Ticket to address any technical difficulties you
encounter. Your ticket will go to [email protected] who will then contact you
with a solution.

CAMPUS PACK TOOL

Campus Pack is a collaborative learning environment where you will have access
to your own personal learning space with a collection of social tools such as wikis,
blogs, and personal journals, and where you can add and share content. This is
where you will complete your blog and wiki tasks. You need to upload your photo
here. You can see all group members and connect with them.

To get to Campus Pack, on your Moodle Home Page click on

Campus Pack Collaboration Space. This will take you to your
course page in Campus Pack where you can see class
resources, a link back to your Moodle Course and two important portlets where
you will be working on your tasks. The Class Knowledge Base (Wiki) is where you will post your
answers and comments to the wiki questions for the course. You will also go there to respond to your
classmates’ posts. The Reflective Tasks portlet is where you will post your Try it Out tasks and Blog
it Tasks. Finally, the For a Section is where you will do your forum postings.

Here is you wiki

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 13
environment in Campus Pack...There are links to each wiki assignment to be completed. Please note
those that are optional are labeled as such. Simply click on the blue link to wiki you’d like to complete
and post your response.

Here is your reflective task environment. You can click on Try it Out or Blog it Task to go to the one
you’d like to work on. By clicking on Add New Entry, you can enter your response. Type your
response first in your word processing software and simply paste your answer here.

Finally, here is your forum environment. Click on link to discussion forums, and go to the link of the
forum you’d like respond to, noticing that some forums are obligatory and others optional. Then click
New Post to write your entry. On the course homepage, you will find direct links to the forums
relevant for the week.

Another way to get to the Laureate English Teacher Network in Campus back is by going directly to
http://laureate-inc-com.campuspack.net/.

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 14
DISCUSSION FORUMS

In some tasks, you will be invited to post your thoughts, opinions and questions to a relevant
discussion forum. Each discussion forum is clearly labeled with the name and number of the task to
which it relates. Please note that after you have posted any messages to these forums, you have one
hour during which time you can edit your original posting. After this time, your only option will be to
delete this posting and add a new one.

For this reason we often recommend people working in Word (or similar) on their own computers and
only posting their messages when they are satisfied they are ready. Not only does this help with the
‘one hour edit’ rule, but it is also a safeguard against accidental technology crashes, lost connections,
etc.

DOCUMENTS

Some tasks will ask you to read and comment on documents. You will find these in either Adobe
Acrobat (PDF) or Microsoft Word format (DOC or RTF), below the week’s Discussion Forums. These
documents will always open in a new window, and you will always have the opportunity to print them [
File - Print ] or save them to your computer [ File - Save As... ]. If you have a problem opening any
of these documents, please get in touch with technical support as soon as possible.

This should be enough information to get you started. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if
you have any problems.

USING MOODLE DURING THE COURSE ITSELF

You should log in at least 3 or 4 times a week once the course begins. You do not have to log in at
any specific times on this course. You can complete your weekly tasks at any time, but you need to
complete them before the deadline for that week. However, some tasks require pair and group work,
so it would not be fair to leave your partner/group with no news until the very last day of the week. We
recommend that you start working through your tasks as early in the week as possible.
Moodle emails are sent to your usual email address, so please ensure that you check your email
regularly during the course.

Please ensure you check your Spam tray regularly if you use a Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail
account - emails from tutors and course colleagues may inadvertently end up in your Spam
tray!

COLLABORATIVE WORK & DEADLINES

These are mandatory tasks! Some of the course tasks will involve you working in pairs or small
groups. If you find that you are going to be unable to keep a deadline or collaborate with fellow
participants for whatever reason, please make sure to e-mail your tutors and your colleagues as soon
as possible in order to avoid complications. It will be important to manage your time effectively during
the course, either by setting time aside regularly every day (e.g. one hour per day), or by spending
one or two blocks of time per week on your course work. Remember that pair and group work require
collaboration - we suggest that you start collaborative tasks as early as possible in the week, so as
not to keep your group members waiting for your contribution.

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 15
TUTOR & TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Tutors always aim to answer any query or feedback on assignments within 12 hours of receipt -
although they usually reply much faster than that! If you do not hear from your tutor within one
working day, please get in touch with him/her to ensure he has received your email. Note that over
the weekend you may only receive a reply after 24 hours.

If you experience technical difficulties, please contact technical support directly at

[email protected].

One final note, your feedback on the course is essential. We will be collecting feedback from you at
the end of the course in order to improve the materials. There are bound to be some points that need
attending to – and with your help we’ll find them all.

If this document has not answered all your questions so far, please look at the Frequently Asked
Questions that follow. They are a useful resource for you.

We look forward to meeting you in Moodle shortly!

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 16
IX – Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to take Developmental Module courses in sequence?

You must take the Induction Course before you move to any of the developmental modules. In
subsequent quarters, you may move through the Developmental Modules in any order based on your
interest and need. This will also be based on availability of seats.

Should I sign up for multiple Developmental Module courses at a time?

Keeping up with multiple courses may be difficult. Each course will require 3-5 hours per week. We
would not recommend taking more than two modules simultaneously.

Am I required to log in at specific times?

Not usually. Developmental Modules 1 to 4 are moderated. You can work at any time of the day, but
are expected to be at certain points in the course by the end of each week as specified in the study
plan in this packet. This plan will help you pace yourself throughout each week of the course. This
will be very important when group work is assigned. There will be a few times during the course
where online meetings will take place via internet videoconferencing chat. Moderators will try to
accommodate as many participants as possible taking into consideration teaching schedules and
time zones.

How long are the Developmental Module courses?

Each course will last approximately12 weeks.

How much time will I need to devote to a course?

Approximately three to five hours per week. This does not include your teaching time where you will
be asked to implement the teaching strategies discussed in the course, as part of your assessed Blog
it and Try it out for tasks.

Will I obtain a certificate upon completion of all modules?

Yes. After each module you will receive a certificate of completion. Once you complete all five
teacher training modules (that is, the Induction Module, and all four Developmental Modules) you will
obtain the Laureate English Teaching Certificate.

What happens if I forget my password?

You can click on “Forgot Password” to reset your password. You will then receive a password by e-
mail (at the e-mail address you have in your profile).

What can I do if my name appears misspelled?

You can go to your profile and correct your name using directions below.
1. Go to the course you are taking
2. Click on “Profile”from there you could Edit your profile, change your password if necessary.

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 17
 3. Once the profile has been fixed Click on “Update Profile”
4. Correct the name, and click on “Update Profile” at the bottom of the screen.

What software will I need to participate in LEP Teacher Online Courses?

You will need the following software, which can be downloaded from the Internet:

An internet browser:

Please note our courses are compatible with Firefox 3.5 or 4 and Internet Explorer 7 or 8. If you are
using one of the latest generation browsers beyond that, you may encounter problems. Our technical
team is working on the necessary re-engineering to address the incompatibility.

Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

Firefox at: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

Opera: http://www.opera.com/download/

NOTE: We advise you not to use Google Chrome for this course because some features of
Moodle are not visible in Chrome yet.

• Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/

• An up-to-date Windows Media Player:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx

• Microsoft Word (or similar word processing package):

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx

• A headset, or separate speakers and a microphone

Are all activities scored?

No. Only activities with right/wrong answers are scored. These activities have a button
that participants click when done with all the questions on the page/sub-pages.

Activities that prompt for personal answers are not scored. These activities have a button
that participants click to submit the answers and get feedback (not scores).

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 18
Can I view my scores?

Yes. At any time, you can click on “grades” on the home page to see your scores.

What is the “Reset” button for?

Button clears out selected answers, giving participants a blank slate to re-start.

Why can’t I see my answers if I go back to a prior page?

When you answer questions and click check, your scores are kept in the system. You can view your
scores under “grades.” However, when you revisit the page your answers are no longer there. The
answers are blank so you can re-do the activity if you want.

How does the audio feature work?

A – You can drag the cursor to the right advance the audio or to the
left to rewind it

B – You click here to listen to the audio. When the audio is playing

the play button turns into a pause button that you

can click on to pause the audio.

C – You can go back to the beginning of the audio by clicking the

arrow pointing left ( ) or go to the very end of the audio by clicking
the arrow pointing right ( ).

D - You can adjust the volume of the audio by dragging the cursor
to the right (louder) or to the left (softer).

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program – Study Packet for Developmental Modules Page 19
Teacher: University Campus

Laureate English Teaching Certificate Program - Appendix A

A Very good B Good C Satisfactory U Needs attention!

A B C U Comments

PERSONAL QUALITIES

CLASSROOM PRESENCE
general teaching style, rapport with students

VOICE
intelligibility audibility, ability to project, speed,
clarity and modulation

SENSITIVITY
to students’ needs and difficulties. Knows students’
names and uses them.

ADAPTABILITY (where necessary)

ability to adapt and extemporize (when nec),
putting right one’s own mistakes

PREPARATION

LESSON AIMS
clarity, limitation, specification

SHAPE and BALANCE

timing the stages, progression, varying the pace of
activities and planning for different patterns of
interaction

MATERIALS and METHODS

suitability for the class and level and for what is to
be taught

ANTICIPATION
of learners’ difficulties (linguistic, conceptual,
cultural)

TIMETABLE/SYLLABUS FIT
how the lesson fits into the course as a whole

TECHNOLOGY
how the technology used is appropriate to the
aims/outcome of the lesson
 A B C U Comments

EXECUTION

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
organizing physical resources, giving instructions,
indicating stages, changes

ELICITATION
suitable for level and item, appropriate in length

PRESENTATION
introducing or reviewing language

contextualizing, checking concepts

PRACTICE
appropriate use of fully/semi-controlled,
choral/individual, oral/written practice

QUESTIONING
graded, directed, varied, distributed, questions and
answer techniques

COMMUNICATIVE INTERACTION
setting up appropriate activities, group work games
role-play etc, 4 both fluency & accuracy

CORRECTION
awareness and appropriate treatment of errors,
oral and written

SKILLS (where appropriate)

fostering practice in language skills/sub skills and
handling their integration

AIDS & MATERIALS

use and adaptation of materials, handling of visual,
audio-visual and mechanical aids, including
appropriate use of technology

INVOLVING THE STUDENTS

maintaining student interest and involvement

CHECKING OF LEARNING
by appropriate means, e.g. oral/written,
formal/informal ‘testing’

BOARD WORK
is the board work well organized and clear?
EXECUTION - handling and
understanding of:
PHONOLOGY
pronunciation, stress, intonation

GRAMMAR / LANGUAGE
Form/Function, Meaning/Use, Variation (dialect,
register) Discourse (cohesion, etc)

LEXIS
Appropriate techniques for presenting/building
vocabulary

EXECUTION - handling and

understanding of:
LISTENING
Appropriate techniques for helping student
develop and practice the listening skill

READING
Appropriate techniques for helping student
develop and practice the reading skill

WRITING
Appropriate techniques for helping student
develop and practice the writing skill

SPEAKING
Appropriate techniques for helping student
develop and practice the speaking skill
 Date Teacher Class Time Book Observer

SUMMARY PAGE
NOTES ON TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION AND POST-LESSON COMMENTS

REACTIONS OF LEARNERS

SUMMARISING COMMENTS (Strengths/Weaknesses/achievement of aim

ADVICE GIVEN TO TEACHER

OVERALL SIGNATURES
GRADE
 Appendix B

Rubric for Collaborative Tasks

Score Organization Content Accuracy & Expression

9-10 The posts are well structured. The posts show insight, depth & The spelling and
They flow and show understanding. They are grammatical errors are
development. The posts connected to the topic. Posts are rare. The posts have
contain appropriate links or relevant, will interest the audience structure and make good
references, and the reference and there are links to supporting use of sentence and
sources are included. material. The participant's personal paragraph structure. The
opinion is expressed well & is writer often tries to use
clearly related to the topic. The more complex and
posts and opinions show a good interesting language.
understanding, connecting
learning activities with learning
outcomes.

7-8 The posts are well developed, The posts show insight & depth. There are not many
and have structure and flow. The content of posts is connected spelling or grammatical
The posts contain appropriate with the topic. The posts may errors. These errors
links or references. These are contain some irrelevant material rarely make it difficult to
referred to within the text. but are mainly relevant to the task. understand what the
The student's personal opinion is writer is trying to say.
expressed in an appropriate style The writer sometimes
& the posts show good tries to use more
understanding. complex and interesting
language.

5-6 The posts have some The posts show some insight, Some of the posts have
structure, but the entries do depth & are connected with the bad spelling and contain
not always flow or show much topic. Posts are typically short and grammatical errors. The
development. The posts may may contain some irrelevant errors sometimes make it
contain a link or reference. material. There are some personal difficult to understand
comments or opinions which may what the writer is trying
be relevant to the task. The posts to say. The language
show some understanding of the used is often basic and
topic. simplistic.

3-4 The posts are short, usually The simple posts do not have The posts have spelling
just 1 or 2 sentences. They insight, depth and are superficial. and grammar errors.
don’t have structure or flow. The posts are short and are These errors make it
The posts look like they were frequently irrelevant to the events difficult to understand
written very quickly. and the audience. They do not what the writer is trying
express the writer’s opinion clearly to say. The language
and show little understanding. used is very basic and
simplistic.
 Appendix C

Obligatory v. Optional Collaborative Tasks

DM1 Teaching Reading & Listening

Lesson DM 1 Forum/wiki task name Obligatory Optional

1 Forum: Your students' reading skills X
2 Forum: Reading in real life X
3 Wiki: What and why your students need to read? X
3 Forum: The way we were taught X
5 Wiki: Students' difficulties with reading X
5 Forum: Challenges students face with reading in a foreign language X
6 Forum: Difficulties students have with reading X
7 Forum: Reading exercises and their aims X
9 Forum: Pre-reading Activities X
11 Forum: While-reading activities X
12 Forum: Post-reading activities X
13 Forum: Developing vocabulary strategies X
14 Forum: Presenting grammar inductively in reading texts X
16 Forum: What reading skills do we test? X
16 Forum: Assessing reading – item types X
17 Forum Motivating students to read X
19 Forum: Teaching reading strategies X
20 Forum: A learning point X
21 Forum: Teaching EAP reading X
23 Forum: Using authentic texts X
24 Forum: Skills for reading web pages X
25 Forum: Teaching reading – good practice X
28 Wiki: What my students need to listen to and why X
29 Forum: Real-life listening versus classroom audio X
30 Wiki: What difficulties do your students have while listening and why? X
31 Forum: Challenges students face with listening X
33 Forum: Teaching listening – planning considerations X
34 Forum: The pre-listening stage X
35 Forum: Planning a while listening activity X
36 Forum: Planning a post-listening activity X
37 Forum: Teaching vocabulary through listening X
38 Forum: Grammar in listening X
39 Forum: Classroom applications X
40 Forum: A good listening lesson X
41 Forum: Developing listening skills X
42 Forum: Pronunciation in listening X
43 Forum: Some reflections on using a transcript X
44 Forum: Teaching listening strategies X
Lesson DM 1 Forum/wiki task name Obligatory Optional
46 Forum: Using podcasts X
47 Forum: Using authentic videos X
48 Forum: Our listening lesson plans X
49 Forum: Assessing listening X
50 Forum: Module 1 action points X
 Obligatory v. Optional Collaborative Tasks

DM2 Teaching Writing & Speaking

Lesson DM 2 Forum/wiki task name Obligatory Optional

1 Forum: Points to take away x
3 Wiki: Activities for helping students with features of good writing x
4 Forum: Working with affective factors x
6 Forum: Difficulties students have with certain genres x
7 Forum: Helping students with writing x
9 Wiki: Advantages and challenges in process writing x
10 Forum: Difficulties students have with writing x
11 Wiki: Pre-writing activities x
13 Wiki: Teaching editing skills x
15 Forum: Helping students to improve their writing through feedback x
16 Forum: Feedback on writing x
20 Forum: Writing with beginners x
21 Wiki: Writing with large classes x
23 Forum: EAP writing activities x
24 Wiki: Evaluation Rubrics x
26 Forum: Students’ speaking skills x
27 Forum: A recent speaking activity x
28 Forum: My students’ speaking wants and needs x
29 Wiki: Speaking and affective factors x
31 Forum: Activities for accuracy and fluency x
32 Forum: Features of spoken discourse x
33 Forum: Giving students genuine speaking practice x
34 Forum: Interaction patterns in speaking lessons x
35 Wiki: Using dialogues x
36 Wiki: How to set up role plays x
37 Forum: Promoting fluency in speaking x
38 Forum: Which errors to correct x
39 Forum: Characteristics of a speaking lesson x
40 Forum: Fluency and accuracy at lower levels x
40 Wiki: Speaking at different levels x
41 Wiki: Speaking with large classes x
42 Forum: Identifying and prioritizing errors x
43 Forum: Drills and chants x
47 Wiki: Useful tips for giving good presentations x
48 Forum: Assessing speaking in a university context x
49 Forum: Using different approaches to assessing speaking x
50 Forum: Module 2 action points x
 Obligatory v. Optional Collaborative Tasks

DM 3 Teaching with Technology

Lesson DM 3 Forum/wiki task name Obligatory Optional

1 Forum: How we use technology x
1 Wiki: Pros and Cons of using technology x
3 Forum: Benefits of PowerPoint x
3 Forum: My PowerPoint x
4 Forum: IWB x
4 Wiki: Do’s and Don’ts of IWB x
5 Forum: Technical issues x
5 Forum: Appropriate use of tech x
6 Forum: Searching for specific information x
6 Wiki: Likes and dislikes browsers x
7 Forum: Using Glogster x
8 Forum: Online video x
9 Wiki: Working with interactive ex x
10 Forum: Web quest comparison x
12 Forum: Our web presence x
12 Wiki: Online safety x
13 Forum: Social bookmarking x
15 Wiki: Our blog x
15 Forum: Class management issues x
16 Wiki: Wiki ideas x
17 Forum: Wiki management issues x
18 Wiki: Making podcasts with students x
19 Forum: Using Social Networks x
20 Forum: E-portfolios x
22 Forum: Models of technology integration x
23 Forum: Using a VLE x
25 Forum: Dream Lesson x
 Obligatory v. Optional Collaborative Tasks

DM 4 Teaching Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation

Lesson DM 4 Forum/wiki task name Obligatory Optional

1 Forum: points to take away x
2 Forum: Analyzing a structure x
4 Forum: Teaching modal verbs x
5 Forum: Presenting grammar x
6 Wiki: TBL and grammaring x
8 Forum: Dealing with grammar errors x
9 Forum: Teaching grammar x
10 Forum: Introduction to Vocabulary x
12 Forum: Making vocabulary memorable x
13 Forum: Using word lists with students x
14 Forum: Lexical chunk activities x
16 Wiki: Using dictionaries in class x
17 Forum: Ideas for revising vocabulary x
18 Forum: The how and why of vocab testing x
18 Wiki: Vocabulary section review x
19 Forum: What’s important in pronunciation x
20 Wiki: Stress, rhythm and intonation x
21 Wiki: Features connected speech x
22 Forum: How my ss feel about pronunciation x
23 Forum: Integrating pronunciation activities x
24 Forum: Assessing students’ pronunciation x
25 Forum: Helping students with pronunciation x
25 Forum: Action points x