CELTA APPLICATION FORM AND TASK

CAIRO 2018

CAMBRIDGE ESOL CELTA COURSE

APPLICATION FORM

I wish to apply for the CELTA course starting (see website for dates): 22 July
https://www.britishcouncil.org.eg/en/teach/teacher-training/celta
Alternative course start date: 02 September

Course dates may be changed at the discretion of the centre. The course will run as long as there are sufficient
participants. Our courses usually fill up quite quickly so we recommend that you apply at least two months in
advance – we accept a maximum of 12 people per course without exceptions. Courses are filled on a first-come-first-
served basis.

Personal information
Surname Balbaa
First names Mohamed
Email address Mohamedbalbaa01@gmail.com
Current address El-Farouk Omar street, Smouha, Alexandria, Egypt
Permanent address El-Farouk Omar street, Smouha, Alexandria, Egypt
Phone number 4286113 Mobile phone 01287739466
Place of birth Alexandria, Egypt
Date of birth* 1/10/1995 Nationality Egyptian
* You must be over 20 at the start of the course.

The British Council is an equal opportunities employer. The equal opportunities policy applies to
selection onto the Cambridge ESOL CELTA.

Disability
The United Nations convention on the rights of disabled people defines a disabled person as
someone who has long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which in
interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an
equal basis with others.

Do you have a disability? (No)

If yes, please give more details of the nature of your disability and whether you require any
adjustments to be made to facilitate your participation in the course.
Educational Qualifications (start with most recent please)

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Qualification School / University / Institute Start date Finish Date

Bachelor’s Degree Dublin’s Institute Of Technology 4 - 7 - 2013 12 – 8 - 2017
Bachelor’s Degree Pharos University 4 – 7 - 2017 12 – 8 - 2017
General Certificate of
Kaumeya Language School 21 – 5 - 2012 6 – 6 - 2013
Education

Employment history (start with most recent please)

Employer Position held Start date Finish Date

British Council Teaching Center Assistant 24 – 8 - 2017 -

Advisor for the UK Customers
Ecco Outsourcing company 28 - 9 - 2017 1 – 1 - 2018
Account.

Languages

First language Arabic

Other languages spoken
English – Near native
(Please indicate degree of fluency)
English language
Awarding body Date awarded Grade
qualifications **
IELTS British council 3 - 1 - 2018 7.5

** Please attach copies of any English language qualifications you have been awarded, for example IELTS or
TOEFL.

Cambridge ESOL has set the language entry requirement for CELTA and at a good C1 level on the Common
European Framework (see C1 descriptor below). If you are a non-native speaker of English, your English language
competence will be scrutinised in your application and pre-interview task and in the interview, should you be offered
one. Recently awarded English language qualifications like IELTS and TOEFL will also be considered.
C1 descriptor: Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express
him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly
and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on
complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages

Why would you like to take the CELTA course? What do you expect to gain and how does this
qualification fit in with your future career plans? (Please write around 200 words)

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 CELTA APPLICATION FORM AND TASK
CAIRO 2018

The decision of become an English Teach did not come easy to me. I always knew English was to be my
biggest passion and love and after a lot of serious thinking I had discerned that I would always choose
being involved in the field of education as an English teacher every time over any other career path that
might be available to me. Now, I am aiming to refine and materialize my goal of being a teacher through
enrolling in the CELTA course. I do expect to be taught techniques and strategies to become a more
capable teacher, as well as learning how to effectively manage students within a real and live class
environment. I also am looking forward to learning how I should go about planning my lessons and how I
should be trying to define and deliver my lesson objectives goals to children and how it would differ to my
approach when dealing with adults. I am absolutely certain that this experience would definitely propel
me to a different level and set me apart from other teachers, it would be quite enriching, if I get the
chance to be a part of the course, and of course would allow me to get valuable experience for my career
as a teacher in the future, as I always hear teachers in the British Council bragging about raving about
how what they have learned so much from in the course. Currently my goal is to become a more
competent and confident teacher; the only way I see doing that is by working hard and learning by
practice from the best, and. I do not believe I might be able to fight a better opportunity beside this one.

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Why do you think you are suited to teaching English? (Please write around 200 words)

I believe English as a language is something that I am quite entranced by, every aspect of the language
just capitates me, as well as interacting with others via English, it really has become something that I
appreciate being a part of my daily life, which I guess is the reason that leaves me filled with joy when I
feel I have allowed somebody else to experience that same joy I get to feel everyday through preparing
them to be capable and confident when speaking a language that they are not accustomed to. That is the
reason for which I have decided to become a teacher; I always become overjoyed when I feel that I have
contributed to the improvement of the person in front of me. In many ways, I believe that to be the
essence of teaching, it may sound a bit melodramatic but, it really is how I perceive teaching in general, I
was inspired by many teachers, most of them were English language teachers and to this day I owe
them a great deal, both of respect and gratitude for they are a huge part of the reason I am the man that
I am today. To me they were role models before being English teachers. That has now become my aim,
to become someone’s role model and guide when navigating in to the vast sea that is this language.
Through patience, perseverance and a lot of hard work, I am hopeful that one day I would be able to see
off a lot of people who are capable of speaking English with finesse and pride getting to call them my
students.

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Any other relevant information?

No
How did you hear about the course at the
Word of Mouth
British Council? (please be specific)
Signature Date
Mohamed Yasser Balbaa 18/5/2018

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Disclaimer

Please read this very carefully before signing and then paying your deposit.

1. I confirm that I have no disabilities, illnesses or external factors (including accommodation or transport
issues) that will affect my performance on this course. I confirm that I can cope with stress and work under
pressure.

2. I understand that the work-load is very demanding and that a great deal of time and energy will need to
be devoted to it. I realise that I will be need to spend a lot of time outside the course hours working on my
own (both in the evenings and at weekends).
3. I understand that 100% attendance is a course requirement and that, under no circumstances, should I
be doing other studies or working whilst on the CELTA course.

4. I understand that this is not a language course and I will be expected to research language areas for
teaching and written assignments. I also appreciate that it is not uncommon for most trainees to be asked
to resubmit parts of some written assignments and acknowledge that this is a sign of learning.

5. I appreciate that although I will be expected to work independently, I also need to be a good team
member working in a supportive manner with my peers.

6. I recognise that a certain standard of presentation and preparation will be expected in my work. I also
understand that all work submitted on the course must be my own, and that any cheating or plagiarism can
result in immediate expulsion from the course.

7. I fully accept that I will be subjected to constructive criticism by both my tutors and my peers, and will be
expected to participate in group feedback. I realise that I will be expected to respond to feedback in a
professional manner.

8. I understand that my development on the course will be monitored throughout and I will be kept informed
of my progress, including the possibility of failing. I also realise that the course is graded on my teaching
practice, my written assignments and my overall professionalism.

9. I understand that the Cambridge ESOL grades are: PASS, PASS ‘B and, PASS ‘A’. I realise that it is
possible to fail this course. I understand that most candidates worldwide, attain a straight PASS grade
which is a considerable achievement. I appreciate that any previous teaching experience I might have is no
guarantee of doing well on the CELTA course.

10. I understand that the British Council, Cairo has the right to keep the 8000 LE deposit if I decide to
withdraw any time before the course starts.

11. I also understand that the balance of the fees is due at least 2 weeks before the course start date. I am
aware that the British Council, Cairo reserves the right to cancel or postpone this course.

12. I understand that should I decide to withdraw at any time during the CELTA course, the course fees will
not be refunded to me.

NAME: Mohamed Yasser Balbaa

SIGNATURE: Mohamed Balbaa

DATE: 18/5/2018

© The British Council

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA APPLICATION FORM AND TASK
CAIRO 2018

© The British Council

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 CELTA APPLICATION FORM AND TASK
CAIRO 2018

PRE-INTERVIEW TASK

This task is to help you start thinking about language from a foreign learner’s point of view, and to
begin to consider approaches to the classroom. Your answers will help us to decide whether you
are suitable for an interview. You are asked to write your answers in note form unless otherwise
instructed. Some of the questions in this task might be discussed with you in more depth if you are
invited to interview. Please remember to proofread your answers before submitting the application.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN THE SPACES PROVIDED.

THE TASK IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR PARTS

Part 1 – Correcting a student’s mistakes

Each of the exchanges below contains a mistake. In each case:
a) underline the mistake
b) write the corrected version in the space provided
c) write in simple terms (as if speaking to a learner of English) how you would make the
correction clear.

1.1 ‘I’d like some informations about your courses.’

‘Certainly, here’s our brochure.’
a) correct version: ‘I’d like some information about your courses’
b) The word “information” is what we call “uncountable”, which means it does not have a
plural form. For example, the words “milk” and “water”, cannot be pluralised e.g. “milks”
or “waters” when we want to put in the plural form we may say “a lot of water”, so they
stay the same because they are considered uncountable.Unlike words like ….. and ….
that are countable and can have a plural form by adding –s

1.2 ‘Have you got any books?’

‘Yes, I’ve been to a new bookshop yesterday.’
a) correct version: ‘Yes, I’ve went to a new bookshop yesterday”
b) The word ‘Yesterday’ is a key word indicating the simple past is to be used, which means we
should be using the past simple for the tense of the verb in this sentence since the time period
or timeframe is clearly stated, so instead we will be using went.

1.3 ‘Is Ahmed ok? He seems so nervous.’

‘Yes, he keeps arguing with all his classmates.’
a) correct version: No, he keeps arguing with all his classmates
b) The answer to the question “is Ahmed ok?” should be no, since he is arguing and being
aggressive to his friends in class, it would not make sense for the answer to the
question to be “yes” as It would imply or mean, “yes, he is okay” when he is apparently
not.

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Part 2 - Helping students understand differences in meaning

a) Comment on the differences in meaning between the following pairs of sentences.
b) Outline some ideas on how you might teach these differences in meaning.

2.1 I’m living with my grandparents.

I live with my grandparents.

a) The first sentence states the current state of affairs, living arrangement wise, for this
person, but implies it may not be permanent or planned to be a long term state. As where
the second is stated in a way that infers it’s the normal state of thing indefinitely.

b) Highlighting the contrast between the Present Continuous and the Present Simple by
demonstrating action verbs and showing that adding “ing” to the verb dictates it’s
happening this very moment, unlike present simple where it might mean that it is a habit or
usually happens, the example I might go with would be: “I am running right now” and “I run
everyday”

-You can use timelines to clarify the meaning like these:

2.2 If I study harder, I’ll pass my last exam.

If I studied harder, I’d pass my last exam.

a) The former sentence is focused on inferring the meaning that the exam is yet to happen,
while the latter sentence is talking about an exam that has already passed and is over with.

b) The most efficient way to teach the learners the difference in meaning would be to point out
the tenses and making sure they are capable of grasping that the future and the present
tenses are to used during different time intervals and what those intervals are, in the sense
that using the future means that action is yet to be done while the use of the past tense
means it’s done and discontinued, as well as making sure they notice the use of key

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

indicatives to the tense being used such as “will” and the “ed” in “Studied”.

2.3 When I got home from work, my mother was cooking dinner.
When I got home from work, my mother had cooked dinner.

a) In the first sentence the action is still in the midst of happening, as the focus is on the
mother who is still cooking dinner while he arrived home, where as in the other sentence it
key point is the dinner in itself, where it tried to tell us it had been cooked and fully
prepared sometime earlier before he came back home.

b) I would make sure the learners understand the shift in meaning from using the past perfect
and past continuous, explaining to them that using past + ing would mean the action was
still occurring or happening and give them a few action verbs in that form to ensure they
are following and ask them to give me some examples themselves, where when explaining
the past perfect I would aim at the learners fully grasping that it refers to something that
happened before a certain action, the best way that comes to mind to explain this as easily
as possible would be giving examples of sentences in sequence, for example “I had put on
my clothes and then I went to work” or “I went to work after i had breakfast”

- Timelines can be used as well check the same book

his mom was
cooking

he arrived

Mom had he
cooked arrived

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Part 3 – Approaches to teaching and learning - language

Imagine that you are teaching a group of 15 adult learners at elementary level.
I’ve got a headache
I’ve got a sore throat
I’ve got a cough
3.1 What problems might students have understanding the meaning of these expressions?

At an elementary level there might be confusion stemming of the following: the use of the verb
“got” in all three sentences as it usually is used with physical objects, the concept of using got
with something that is unmaterialized,

there also might be difficulties with understanding the word “ache”, but most likely the general
idea that the issue is in the head will be understood.

The same problem might be faced with the word “sore” as it might be a new word that they
encounter and the last problem that could be confusing is why we are we using the past form of
“get” while this is something that is our current health state”
3.2 What problems might students have pronouncing these expressions?

The most likely problems with pronunciation to be faced by learners would be the correct
pronunciation of “ache”,

the sound produced by the combination of “I’ve”,

the proper pronunciation of the “th” sound in “throat”,

the vowel in “head”

and the pronunciation of “cough”, specifically sounding out the “ough” part where when
pronounced sounds like “cuff”.
3.3 Outline some ideas on how you could teach these expressions.

1- Drilling: Focusing on practicing words with tricky pronunciations with the students,
specially the following sounds (Th, Ch, Gh, Thr ),
2- adding a context or a theme to the lesson
3- miming or acting out these expression would be the most effective way to get there
meaning across,

4- and then having a short exercise where I would ask students to come and help me act it
out or maybe imagine they are the doctor’s clinic and they have to use them in a sentence,
another exercise would them trying to describe the illness and the doctor (one of the
students) would try to guess which one of three is 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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

Part 4 - Approaches to teaching and learning – methodology

Choose one of these options and write your answer in the space below:

Option 4.1

Pair and group work (i.e. all the students working in groups or pairs at the same time) is a very
common feature in language classrooms. What are the main advantages for the students of
working in pairs and groups? What possible problems can arise? What would you expect the
teacher to be doing during pair and group work? (Please write 200 – 250 words).
Option 4.2
Describe a classroom language learning experience that was not very successful for you (a
course, a lesson or an activity) and say why you felt it did not work or what was missing.
Contrast this with a successful classroom language learning experience (a course, a lesson or
an activity) and say why you think this had more of an impact on your language development
and progress. (Please write 200 – 250 words).
Remember you should write about one of the options, either 4.1 or 4.2, not both.

Dividing the class into teams or groups has proven its efficiency over the years at both being
able to grasp the attention of students of different age groups, as well as, offering a new and
fresh way where teaching transcends into instructing where the student is lead to figure out the
answers to his own question on his own by the assistance of his peers which allows the lesson
to sink-in in a more efficient way.
It goes without saying that no teaching method is flawless, so a teacher should keep an eye out
for these notorious problems that he might face when using this method in class. A teacher
should discern that the learners, after being divided into groups, are effectively communicating
and ,are working effectively on achieving the lesson’s goals and are not losing focus or derailed
by confusion or side conversations.
Unequal groups are also another issue that might make a session go haywire, where a group
does not have strong enough students and only consists of weak students, which leaves them
without any one to help them out or learning from.
A teacher should be focused, during group work in class, on observing more than direct steering
or intervening with the class, making sure to give hints not answers and ensure that the students
are working together in the expected manner to realize and reach the goal that is aimed for, to
develop their sense of ownership and responsibility that would otherwise be undermined by
constant interruption and corrections that should be otherwise done after the group work is over.

Please email this form as an attachment to: cairo.celta@britishcouncil.org.eg

Applications that meet the standard we are looking for will be offered an interview, provided there are
places available on the courses.
Unsuccessful applications: If your application is unsuccessful, you will be notified by email. We will
highlight our reasons for not taking an application to the interview stage. However, please understand it is not possible
for us to give detailed feedback on the reasons and appeals will not be considered. This is because of the large
volume of applications received. Reapplication: If your application is unsuccessful, you may reapply after 6
months. We feel it usually takes at least this long to make significant improvements in language awareness or

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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 TASK
CAIRO 2018

language competence. If you reapply in six months, we will ask you specifically about the steps you have
taken to address the issue highlighted in the original interview.

© The British Council

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