CELTA application form and language awareness task

Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages

British Council Bangladesh

Please complete all parts electronically and send the completed form and language
awareness task to bd.enquiries@britishcouncil.org. We will contact you by phone within two
weeks of receiving the form.

Note that the form will be used to assess your written English.

Full name: Mohammod Al Mostakim Indicate the course applied for:

□ 9 July – 3 August 2017
□√ 17 December 2017 – 11 January 2018
Nationality: Bangladeshi First language: Bengali

Address:23, Chamelibag, Dhaka Email address:shuvobau@yahoo.com

Mobile/ Phone number:+8801717563247

Level of English / English exam name & Other languages (indicate level of
result: IELTS and band score 7.5 proficiency): Swedish, beginner

Summary of academic qualifications: Masters From Swedish Dates:2013

University Of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Present occupation: Manager, Lal Teer Livestock Limited,

Working as a part time language teacher at s@ifurs

Corporate trainer, Bangladesh Civil Service Academy

 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

Previous occupations: Livestock Trainer, RDRS Bangladesh From 2007 to 2009

Experience of learning languages:

I have been working for more than 5 years in different institutions like s@ifurs,
mentors and so on as a language teacher in Bangladesh.

English language teaching experience (if applicable):

Assistant co-ordinator IELTS faculty, S@ifurs
Co-ordinator IELTS, English point

References (please include name, telephone number, e-mail contact, and their relationship to you)
Name: Farzana Khan Name: Mohammod Ertaz Ali
Occupation: Academic Dean Occupation: Employee
AKS KHAN CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE Telephone number: +8801911041176
Telephone number: +8801756499281 E-mail: ertaz.ali@multimodebd.com
E-mail: farzana.khan@ace.edu.bd Relationship: Senior Manager and
reporting boss
Relationship: Teacher

Please state your reasons for applying for this course, and why you are interested in
doing the Cambridge CELTA. Please write approx. 150 – 200 words.

There are several reasons which trigger me to choose CELTA course for my future
betterment. First of all, I have been teaching English in different organizations in Bangladesh
for more than 5 years but I do not have any certification from Cambridge University.
Therefore, I often experience stumbling block to put forward my career in this competitive
area. This course would certainly help me to overcome this barrier. Secondly, this course
allows me to work in abroad as a language teacher. As soon as I finish this course, I will go
to Sweden to work as a teacher. I have been learning Swedish for 5 years and I am hoping
to pass C1 level in the next year, which enables me to work as a language teacher in
Sweden. Finally I choose this course because I want to be a teacher. Although I have written
some books for Bangladeshi IELTS students, I think there are many things to learn. By doing
this course, I am hoping to learn lesson plan more effectively, which will improve my

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

teaching method and technique significantly.

Where or how did you find out that the British Council, Bangladesh is running the
course?
One of my friends, who completed CELTA from British Council last year, has sent me the
link.

Language awareness task

These tasks are designed to help you think about the English language and how it works.
They should also help you decide what kind of review you need. Your answers to the tasks
may also be referred to in an interview, so it might be useful for you to make a copy of this
task. Please refer to a grammar reference book such as:
Swan, Michael. 1995. Practical English Usage (2nd edition). Oxford University Press
Leech, G. 1989. An A-Z of English Grammar & Usage. Longman.

A. Grammar
Look at the incorrect sentences below.

a) Underline the verb in the prompt and correct it.

b) Name the correct tense.
c) Comment briefly on the use of the correct tense.

Example: I took a shower when the doorbell rang.

Correction: I was taking a shower when the doorbell rang.

Tense: Past continuous/progressive
Use: An action already in progress at a particular time in the past.

1. I am not understanding French.

a) I do not understand French

b) Present simple

c) ‘Understanding’ is a state verb; therefore it should not be used in progressive form.

2. I’ve been to Calgary two years ago.

a) I went to Calgary two years ago.

b) Past simple

c) Two years ago’ indicates that there is no relationship between now and the work.

Hence, we must use past simple to describe it.

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

3. Look at the sky! It will snow.

a) Look at the sky! It is going to snow.
b) Present continuous tense

c) Look at the sky reflects that there is a strong evidence-therefore we need to use

present progressive tense.

B. Meaning
How would you explain to a foreign learner the difference in meaning between the
following sets of sentences?

Example:
A. I like going to the beach.
B. I’d like to go to the beach.

Explanation:
A: Means ‘I like it in general’ and describes someone’s habits/hobbies.
B: Means ‘I want’ to go - at some future time, maybe tomorrow.

1. She stopped smoking.

She stopped to smoke.
Explanation:
A: Means ‘she used to smoke but she decided not to smoke anymore.
B: Means ‘she was going somewhere, all of a sudden she stopped and wanted to
smoke.

2. I used to teach children.

I am used to teaching children.
Explanation:
A: Means ‘once upon a time, I regularly taught children but now I do not teach
anymore.
B: Means ‘I am now accustomed to teaching children. At the beginning, it was
unusual but now I am getting familiar with this situation.

3. If he works hard, he’ll pass the exam.

If he worked hard, he’d pass the exam.
Explanation:
A: Means this will definitely occur in the future, and the result depends on his present
activity.
B: Means he did not work hard in the past, as a result he did not pass the exam.

C. Functions

Consider the following requests. All are asking the same thing, but using different
language:

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

Would you help me out?

Could you possibly help me out?
Do me a favour and help me out!

1. Give examples of three other ways we could make this request.

Could you do me a favour?

Would you mind to help me?
I would be grateful if you could help me.

2. What factors are important in deciding which of these forms should be used?
I think we need to take into account the situation. For example, when we write a letter
of request, we must use the last option. However, the first two options should only be
used for speaking format.

3. Which exponent of request would you choose to teach to a beginner class?

Why?
I would choose the first option because the vocabulary used in this request is familiar
to beginner learner. At the same time, I could show them how model verb can be used
to make a request.

D. Vocabulary

How would you explain, in simple terms, the difference between these words?
1. steal/rob
The ‘Rob’ means taking out something with force, whereas ‘Steal’ indicates
taking out something without noticing. Another difference could be that we
should use steal when object is involved or more specific but rob is used to
describe something in more general.

2. win/beat
Win is usually referred to describe an achievement, a trophy where opponent is not
important but we need an opponent to use the word ‘beat’.

4. skinny/thin
skinny is slightly negative word but thin is neutral, nothing negative in using thin.

E. Phonology

Indicate the number of syllables and the main stress in the following words, using:
 stressed syllable
O unstressed syllable
Copy and paste the symbols as in the example

Example: geological oooo sensitive oo

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

temperature ooo milk bottle  o demand o

a present o o to present ooo advertiseoo

photographic ooo colleague o photograph oo

F. Approaches to teaching and learning

1. Think about your experience(s) in learning a foreign language. What do you think
makes an effective language lesson?
As I have been teaching for couple of years, I have to handle a lot of difficult situation. Based
on my experience, I just include some of the important points in below-
A. The outcomes of learning should be profound from a lesson. For example, I have
found many students understand very well in classroom but they could not make it at
home. For me, the materials should be divided into into-one part for classroom and
another part for home.
B. The lesson should be coherent, what I mean that there must be logical sequence in
lesson. This could be addressed by showing a video, asking questions to students,
giving a short test and so on.
C. The style of teaching should be unique to attract students because most students
feel boring after 45 minutes of lesson. To make them more active, you need to make
a fun or include your life time experience. For instance, I often share my experience
about living and studying Sweden, which allows them to learn the culture and how it
differs from their home country.
D. It is always a good idea to speak less in classroom. In my opinion, students learn
more things in classroom where teachers always involve students in different
activities than an ‘overdirect environment’

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA application form and language awareness task
Certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages
British Council Bangladesh

2. The CELTA course requires a lot of teamwork. For example, you are required to
work together on lesson planning as well as give and receive feedback following
practice teaching sessions. Imagine that a sensitive colleague has done a poor
lesson. How would you present feedback, keeping in mind the need to learn, as
well as your colleague’s feelings?
Working as a team is becoming more challenging when you need to work with different
background people. To address this challenge when my colleague makes a mistake, I will
research it on the internet and will find strong references, which I will offer him to read
thoroughly so that he could understand his mistake. Secondly, I would wait for appropriate
time when I could convince him easily, for example-taking a tea with him could provide me
the opportunity. If possible, I would ask him carefully why he includes this point but I must
careful about the words I use- it should not be in personal way.

3. In some cultures, students are expected to sit in silence until asked a question.
Imagine that you are working in a classroom where you want to establish a more
interactive and relaxed environment. How would you go about doing this?
As a teacher, I must accept some difficult situation in the classroom but there are several
ways how I could make a classroom more interactive. The most obvious answer is to create
a friendly environment. For instance, I often start my class with a long handshake with
students, which relax them a lot. Another good idea could be involving them in more
activities like group discussion, word game and so on. In addition, I think individuals
grooming after class could help a lot to create a relaxed environment.

Please complete all parts electronically and send the completed form and language
awareness task to bd.enquiries@britishcouncil.org. We will contact you by phone within two
weeks of receiving the form.

You can reach us by email at the address above or on +880 9666 773377 if you have any
questions.

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The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.