Teachers are constantly faced with new challenges or opportunities within their teaching context and might need some insight, knowledge, support or creative ideas on how to handle these situations. Our specialisation courses have been designed to help teachers develop professionally, by equipping them with new skills and strategies to teach and inspire their learners.

The Language Teacher Education unit at Wits Language School offers a wide selection of part-time and full-time short courses. Our specialisation courses are designed for teachers who would like to develop professionally and further their teaching career.

• Teaching English to Young Learners • Teaching Business English • Teaching English for Academic Purposes • Teaching Grammar • Language Enhancement for Teachers

The following applies to all the specialisation courses mentioned above:

OUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES FOR TEACHERS INCLUDE:

To be registered as a trainee on any of the specialisation courses, you need to fulfil all of the requirements below: • Minimum of 18 years of age • Have a National Senior Certificate or equivalent • A qualification in teaching English as a second/foreign language (TESOL/TEFL/CELTA) • A degree is highly recommended • Native or native-like English competence • Successful completion of a pre-course assessment and interview

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

In the input sessions, our experienced teacher trainers will cover a wide selection of theoretical aspects. The practical component provides trainees with the opportunity to plan and present activities, lessons and projects. These practical sessions are observed by an experienced trainer who provides constructive feedback and helps trainees to develop.

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSES

All of the specialisation courses consist of 40 contact hours, which includes observed and assessed teaching practice. Full-time and part-time courses are available. Full-time classes are run over a period of one week, Monday to Friday 08:00 – 17:00. The part-time classes are typically held two evenings per week and on Saturday mornings, running over a period of four weeks.

DURATION OF THE COURSES

A communicative approach is used that involves participatory learning, where trainees are very much involved in the learning and teaching process. Most input sessions will focus on trainees discovering new concepts and information through discussions, research, projects, activities and presentations, utilising the language content and skill being studied. Trainees will also be involved in several tasks, either individually, in groups or in pairs.

TEACHING APPROACH

Assessment is continuous and there is no final exam. Trainees are assessed on their practical teaching, as well as on a portfolio of evidence. Trainees are required to build and submit a portfolio of evidence for assessment which will contain assignments, homework, micro-teaching evidence and teaching practice lessons. Participation and attendance is also considered a major part of assessment since trainees will be required to participate in several tasks, activities and presentations, either in groups or individually throughout the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

On successful completion of one of the specialisation courses, trainees will receive a Wits Language School Certificate of Competence. The University of the Witwatersrand regards this as an NQF Level 5 qualification.

CERTIFICATION

Develop yourself as a language teaching professionalLEARN•TEACH•INSPIRE

English plays an important role in South Africa and abroad. As English becomes more and more accepted as an international language around the world, it is increasingly included in primary curricula and the number of private language schools offering English language tuition to young learners is growing. The Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) course aims to provide teachers with the skills and knowledge required to teach English to young learners from the ages of 3 to 16. Teaching young learners is an enjoyable and rewarding career, and opportunities exist in South Africa and abroad to teach language to young learners.

TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Individuals with no experience who are interested in a career in teaching English to young learners

• Teachers who are interested in developing themselves professionally in the area of teaching English to young learners

The course will address the following: a) Learning and development of young learners (theories of young learner learning and development, characteristics of young learners and learning styles); b) Language acquisition; c) The young learner classroom (young learner lessons, lesson approaches, lesson structure and planning, classroom management, error and error correction, adapting EFL techniques); d) Teaching language to young learners (teaching vocabulary, teaching grammar, teaching listening, teaching speaking, teaching reading, and teaching writing); e) Young learner teacher’s toolbox (visual and teaching aids, games and activities, songs, music, chants and rhymes, drama, dialogue and poetry, and storytelling); f) Resources and materials (using coursebooks, adapting coursebooks, and designing materials); g) Assessing young learners (purpose of assessment, assessing young learners, assessment tools and techniques); h) Professional development for teachers (classroom research, further study, and professional development opportunities); and i) Teaching practice.

COURSE CONTENT

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Individuals interested in a career in Business English teaching who have no business teaching experience• Teachers who are interested in developing themselves professionally in the area of teaching Business English

COURSE CONTENT

The course will address the following: a) Business English teaching contexts; b) Business English learners and teachers; c) Assessing the needs of Business English learners; d) English needs of businesses; e) Designing suitable Business English courses; f) Utilising authentic Business English materials; g) Practising appropriate Business English teaching skills; h) Utilising extra resources such as games, activities and internet sources; i) Inter-cultural business training; j) Assessment and evaluation in business courses; k) Professional development for teachers; and l) Teaching practice.

Every day, millions of people all over the world use English to conduct business. Business English tuition is increasingly in high demand and English language teachers can expect to teach a Business English class at some point in their careers. Opportunities for teaching Business English are available in South Africa and abroad. The Teaching Business English (TBE) course aims to provide pre-service and in-service teachers and trainers with the skills and knowledge required to teach Business English. This course will prepare you well for a career in Business English teaching.

TEACHING BUSINESS ENGLISH

TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

The course will address the following: a) Approaches and methods used in teaching English for academic purposes; b) Language acquisition; c) English for academic purposes; d) Discourse and genre analysis; e) Dealing with content in the English for Academic Purposes classroom (academic writing, reading, lectures, note-taking, presentations and research skills); f) Student difficulties; g) Teaching various skills (study skills, writing skills, reading skills and presentation skills); h) Materials evaluation and design; i) Cross-cultural and inter-cultural dimensions; j) Placement, diagnostic, progress and achievement testing; k) Course design, including syllabus design and resourcing; and l) Teaching practice.

COURSE CONTENT

English is the sole language of learning and teaching in many tertiary environments. South African and international students are required to perform academically in English and may not always be equipped with the skills to do so. The Teaching English for Academic Purposes (TEAP) course aims to provide teachers, tutors and lecturers with the skills and knowledge required to develop the academic English skills of their students.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Individuals interested in a career in teaching English for academic purposes

• Teachers, tutors or lecturers who are interested in developing themselves professionally in the area of teaching English for academic purposes at tertiary level

In many schools around the world, English is used as the language of learning and teaching, therefore teachers of English and other subjects need to use English to teach. Although many second or foreign language teachers working in South Africa are subject specialists, they do not necessarily feel comfortable using English as the medium of instruction. This may result in teachers using code switching or their first language during lessons. The English for Teachers course is designed to build on the teacher’s existing knowledge and use of English and to improve and reinforce their confidence in using the language as a medium of instruction.

LANGUAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR TEACHERS

The course will address the following: a) Personal language development in each of the four skill areas (improving listening, speaking, reading and writing); b) Increasing fluency and confidence in oral work (presentations, giving instructions and building on fluency); c) Developing communication skills (listening and responding, getting a clear message across); d) Language awareness; e) Building lexical and grammatical areas (practical classroom English, idioms, collocations, multi-word units and metaphors, register and connotation, grammatical terms and concepts, verbs and tenses, nouns and noun phrases, prepositions and common grammatical errors); f) Phonology (word stress, weak and strong sounds, connected speech, rhythm and intonation); and g) Socio-cultural aspects of English (the role of English worldwide, how changes in culture influence changes in language).

COURSE CONTENT

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Native and non-native teachers of English• Teachers of second language and speciality subjects• Teachers who want to update their English language skills• Teachers who want to develop their confidence in using the language

Teaching Grammar effectively is a difficult skill to master. Many novice and experienced teachers of English last studied grammar in primary or high school, or when they were completing their tertiary education. As a result, some teachers feel ill-equipped with the relevant content knowledge to teach grammar. The Teaching Grammar course includes a Language Awareness component aimed at developing English language teachers’ knowledge of grammar. In addition, the concept of grammar and approaches to teaching grammar have changed over the years and many teachers are still stuck using outdated methods. This course will touch on different perspectives of grammar and will introduce different approaches to teaching grammar. On completion of this course, language teachers will be better equipped to teach grammar in engaging ways, with confidence and success.

• Novice or experienced teachers who are interested in developing themselves professionally in the area of teaching grammar • Teachers who are interested in developing their grammar knowledge

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The course will address the following: a) Language Awareness (morphology and word grammar, parts of speech, syntax and sentence grammar, aspect, voice, tense and time, modality, and beyond the sentence); b) Approaches to Presenting Grammar (inductive approaches and deductive approaches); c) Grammar Teaching Methods and Techniques; d) Grammar Teaching Tools; e) Practising Grammar; f) Assessing Grammar; and g) Teaching Practice

COURSE CONTENT

CHARMAINE GINA SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TEL: +27 (0)11 717 3753/4208FAX: 086 521 7332EMAIL: wls@wits.ac.za

UNIT CONTACT DETAILS

R4 900

COURSE FEES

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Professional Development Hub (PDH), Gate 6, 92 Empire Road, Corner Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Private Bag x 3, Wits, 2050, Johannesburg.Tel: 011 717 4208 I Fax: 086 521 7332 I Email: wls@wits.ac.za

Expert Language SolutionsWits Language School

www.witslanguageschool.com

2017 COURSE DATES

TEACHING GRAMMAR

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

20 MARCH - 25 MARCH

26 JUNE - 30 JUNE

LANGUAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR TEACHERS

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME

13 FEBRUARY - 17 FEBRUARY

3 JULY - 7 JULY

26 SEPTEMBER - 30 SEPTEMBER

TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS

FULL-TIME

FULL-TIME 14 AUGUST - 18 AUGUST

27 MARCH - 31 MARCH

TEACHING BUSINESS ENGLISH

PART-TIME

PART-TIME 16 OCTOBER - 10 NOVEMBER

3 JULY - 29 JULY

TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

PART-TIME 3 MAY - 27 MAY

TEACHING GRAMMAR