Teaching Practice

Definition

The term practice teaching has three major connotations: the practicing of teaching skills and acquisition of the role of a teacher; the whole range of experiences that students go through in schools; and the practical aspects of the course as distinct from theoretical studies (Stones and Morris, 1977). We at ACT put a lot of emphasis on Teaching Practice (TP) and engage our trainee teachers in effective Teaching Practice sessions to grasp the teaching techniques and promote the newly learnt skills in real classrooms.

Objectives of Teaching Practice :-

1. To provide the prospective teachers with an opportunity to directly deal with a set of learners.
2. To provide an opportunity for trainee teachers to understand their roles in the larger context.
3. To provide the future teacher with practical experience in school to gain an understanding of discipline and apply classroom management methods.
4. To provide with an opportunity to put theories into practice and to develop a deeper understanding of EFL/ESL learners.
5. To enable the trainee teachers to effectively prepare lesson plans.
6. To provide an opportunity for self-evaluation and to discover own strengths and weaknesses.
7. To provide an opportunity to liaise with school environment, new culture and resources.

TESOL TP Sessions

Teaching Practice sessions expose the trainee teachers to a range of experiences which aid when they land up in real classrooms when employed as teachers. Teaching Practice sessions for ACT trainees is always an exciting part of their course and even if the trainees do not get it perfect the first time the sessions make them confident enough to face real classrooms.

There are steps which are followed before the actual Teaching Practice session :-

• The trainer gives a demo of Teaching Practice which is observed by the trainees and accordingly has to prepare their own Lesson Plan.
• The trainees get to prepare beforehand with Peer Teaching which is a sort of a mock Teaching Practice session.

The actual Teaching Practice session comprises of the following :-

• Lesson Plan steps
• Basic Model
• Receptive Model
• Innovative Lesson

Trainees engaged in Teaching Practice are being monitored by an Observer and they share the rubrics later on based on which the feedback is given. The entire experience is full of challenges as well as excitement and provides the candidates with a platform and they get the opportunity to know about their strengths and weaknesses and how they can enhance their teaching and how they can apply a variety of strategies to improve their teaching.