Course Structure and Syllabus
The Via Lingua CTEFL course comprises five components:
- Pedagogy theory
- Language awareness
- Teaching skills
- Cultural awareness
- Life skills
Each component comprises a set of standardized statements of competence, accompanied by indicators of success. The indicators describe the skills, knowledge and qualities associated with effective teachers of English as a Foreign Language. The standardized statements of competence are as follows:
Pedagogy Theory
- Describe a range of teaching methodologies, approaches and strategies
- Describe the skills, knowledge and qualities which characterize an effective teacher
- Describe the factors which influence the establishment of an effective learning environment
- Describe a range of strategies for supporting, monitoring and assessing student progress
Language Awareness
- Describe the purposes and nature of Communication
- Describe key features in relation to the structure of the English language
- Describe and explain the English tense system and other, commonly taught, grammatical features
- Describe how sounds are made and modified and use phonetic symbols to describe the sounds of English
Teaching Skills
- Design and prepare effective lessons
- Prepare and manage the physical learning environment and use resources in an appropriate way
- Provide innovative and flexible learning experiences for individuals and groups of students
- Create learning environments that are student-centered, challenging and safe
Cultural Awareness
- Engage in the process of learning a foreign language
- Demonstrate an awareness of the issues in relation to culture and language teaching
- Demonstrate a willingness to foster positive relationships with members of the local community
- Demonstrate an awareness of cultural similarities and differences and our shared cultural heritage
Life Skills
- Demonstrate effective interpersonal skills
- Demonstrate effective communication skills
- Demonstrate effective decision-making skills
- Demonstrate effective organizational skills
- Demonstrate effective financial skills
- Demonstrate effective employment awareness skills
- Demonstrate effective legal awareness skills
- Demonstrate effective personal welfare skills
Each component of the Via Lingua program is allocated a minimum number of study hours. These study hours mainly involve:
- direct contact with trainers or mentors in workshop sessions, planning meetings, lesson preparation or review meetings;
- direct contact with students during teaching practice sessions;
- private study and preparation;
- record keeping and personal reflection linked to the maintenance of a professional portfolio.
