Click here for slides IHBsAsProfessionallyDeveloping
I was asked to give a workshop today for the teachers at International House Recoleta and Belgrano based on the talk I did at the ABS Conference for Coordinators back in August. Since I was confident they are already doing lots of the development ideas I addressed in the original talk, I wanted to attempt to make it a more personal and specific experience by adding in more interactive tasks and giving them summaries of the different tools on a plate, so to speak.
I enjoyed the journey they took me on and a lot of interesting ideas came out of it. Hopefully some of them will go on to discover Suggestopedia in an experimental practice lesson or do some Action Research to improve their FCE learners listening skills. Or at the very least they’ll come and comment on my blog.
Enjoy the slides and the handouts and I hope they help you to decide where to take your own Continuous Professional Develoment next.
Click here for the handouts Professionally Developing
A Muse Amuses 
Hello Neil,
This is Dmitriy from IH Odessa. Glad to visit your blog! 🙂
Thanks a lot for some great ideas on different ways of CPD like starting a blog or sharing resources with other teachers online! I am thinking of trying these in the near future.
I was wondering why in your presentation you didn’t mention such formal university qualifications as MA Applied Linguistics, MA TESOL, etc. Do you think that they are not relevant content-wise? If, for example, I would like to develop as a teacher, materials writer and teacher trainer, do you think Delta modules should be done anyway before applying for MA?
Really looking forward to your comments!
Dmitriy
Hi Dmitriy,
Many thanks for coming by the blog, great to see you here.
The simple answer to your question is that this talk was designed for teachers at IH Buenos Aires and so MAs aren’t so realistic due to the financial aspects of most of the online ones. When I did a similar talk in Mexico a couple of years ago to a wider audience, I did mention MAs in passing.
If you want to go the route you describe, I would definitely recommend the DELTA first, before looking into an MA, since the DELTA really gives you the practical ideas and the confidence in your reflection on current theory that go hand in hand when developing as a teacher, writer or trainer.
Although I do say all of this as someone without an MA.
Hi Neil,
Thanks very much for your prompt response. I had the same feeling about Delta covering the practical side of teaching and learning whereas MA going in-depth into theory and research.
And for approaching Delta modules effectively, would you recommend doing a prep course on Delta Module 1 or IHCAM? I imagine, the content of IHCAM for Delta is like that of TKT for CELTA. Or is it not?