Teacher Development Workshops

Teacher Development Workshops

In our dedication to support Teachers of English, we have created a series of Teacher Development workshops whose aim is to both inspire You and provide You with professional support by:

• providing insight into the assessment background of City & Guilds International ESOL (IESOL) and Spoken ESOL (ISESOL) examinations
• supplying you teaching tips and best practices  for your communicative English classroom
• helping to shape your understanding of what communicative teaching and testing means in current and up-to-date ELT practice and as represented by City & Guilds IESOL/ISESOL
• making your efforts effortless in successfully preparing your learners for City & Guilds examinations

If you are a teacher of English, intent on bringing excitement into your daily professional routine, enhancing your communicative teaching methods,  making your English classes even more enjoyable and your learners even more successful , then these workshops are for You. It makes no difference if you are a seasoned teacher or a novice in the profession, you will find the workshops equally rewarding as they so aptly blend professional support with entertainment.

If you have any comments or feedback on the workshops that you would like to share with us, we will be more than happy to listen to your precious opinion via info@cityandguildsenglish.com

Structure of the workshops:

Each skill area (Writing, Reading, Listening and Speaking) are backed up by a set of 3 video footages that follow the pattern of Introduction, Tips and Conclusion. Each video set is accompanied and complemented by a printed workshop in a PDF that focuses on the actual implementation of teaching ideas and classroom activities.

Speaking, due to its outstanding importance in both teaching and communication, is broken down into sub-skills whose support materials follow the 3 video with 1 printed workshop plan as described above. The sub-skills are grouped around the CARPF-criteria - Accuracy, Pronunciation, Range, Fluency and Communication - in line with how assessment is carried out and with what teachers need to focus on when developing Speaking skills.

How to go through the workshops:

• as the first step, please always watch the Introduction video
• next we recommend you print out the relevant Workshop form the PDF and study it carefully. For an enhanced development outcome, please always think about the challenging questions of the Trainer before moving on to the recommended responses. If there is opportunity for it, please involve your colleagues as well and initiate discussions.
• watch the Tips video during or immediately after reading and/or discussing the printed workshops
• recycle your newly acquired teaching skills and knowledge into your everyday English classrooms
• after the first few attempts at the implementation of the ideas suggested in the workshops, please watch the Conclusion video as it will help you with deciding on how successfully you have implemented the workshops and what needs to be tweaked to make your approaches complete

Please click on the links below to see the workshops:

ISESOL - Spoken exam

1. Overview

2. Accuracy

3. Range

4. Pronunciation

5. Fluency

IESOL - Written exam:

6. Writing

7. Reading

8. Listening

About the Trainer

Vincent Smidowicz has been in full-time ELT since 1976 and has been a teacher trainer since the early 1990s.  He runs a City & Guilds test centre in the UK, preparing IESOL and ISESOL candidates at all levels, and is a City & Guilds IESOL and ISESOL assessor.

He has represented City & Guilds as a consultant teacher trainer in more than twenty countries and has presented the tests at IATEFL UK and at countless conferences overseas. Vincent is currently Director of Total ELT, a teacher-training and development organisation which delivers courses and workshops for teachers in the UK and abroad.

His spellbinding presentation style and his valuable teacher trainer’s experience have always been a real treat for crowds of English teachers around the globe whom he has successfully trained to adopt his tried and tested communicative teaching methods.