It's the Checkpoint Three Itch!
“ARRRGH curse you Checkpoint 3! If I didn’t love/need my computer so much and didn’t want to TEFL so badly, you’d be out of the window and smashed in to smithereens on the road outside!” is something we see quite a lot on Chalkboard in posts, blogs, and comments in discussions – or words to that effect.
First of all…calm down. You won’t get anywhere on the course feeling like you do if you can relate to that above. Trust us; we’re old and ugly enough to know this to be true. This is the first real test of the course, everything before that is small fry so it comes a something of a shock.
We’ll tell you this for free right now…the online TEFL course, and checkpoint three in particular, is most definitely not a piece of cake - and it isn't supposed to be. If it was, we’d have eaten it all already and be wearing elasticated-waist trousers! It involves digging deep (sometimes deeper) in to your own motivation and giving yourself a good old kick up the you-know-what at times, but show us an online course that didn’t require that.
This particular checkpoint gets some seriously bad press, most of the time unfairly, but we can honestly say that it IS passable; we’ve done it ourselves and seen a gazillion* of TEFLers pass it over the years too.
The TEFLers who get the most out of the course are those who take a systematic approach to it; that means taking notes on everything and taking the time to let what you’ve learnt sink in. Giving yourself nine days to do three different checkpoints might *note, might* get you a TEFL qualification, but will it make you a good teacher? You owe it to your future students to take it seriously and give it your everything.
So...would it help to get some tips from other people? Thought so...
Dan Jones – heading to China in January tweeted:
“I am genuinely shocked to have passed CP3 first time!! My advice is not to dread it, I was scared of it after reading others comments but it wasn't too bad! Hard work of course but it is passable!”
NikkiW has this advice:
“The one piece of advice I feel is especially important, is don't fret.
Work at it a question at a time, if you don't get it, have a break and then go back to it.
The other thing is think simply. I was getting myself all worked up about one question in particular; I just didn't get it at all. My poor hubby who I was using as a sounding board said to me 'surely it cannot be as complicated as all that' I re-read the question, and there was the answer staring me in the face. I just made myself believe that it had to be some intricate answer, when of course it has to be simple because if we don't get it, how do we expect our future students to get it?
The other thing, as many have said before and this helped me too, is to go back over the previous modules and resources pre Checkpoint. It is all in there, but not always as obvious as we would like.”
Róisín Benson is a checkpoint three 'survivor' with the following words of wisdom
“Just about survived Checkpoint 3! The main thing I would say has to do with Question 11.
Make sure you know the stages! I kept on getting mine mixed up and therefore confusing everyone including myself. Make sure you understand what each stage involves and you can't go wrong!”
Alex Semakin, i-to-i TEFL tutor extraordinaire, has the following to say, so take note:
"I think it would be good advice to review quizzes for modules 4 through 7 before approaching the checkpoint. There is often a long period of time that elapses between someone doing module 4 and reaching checkpoint 3, so all the knowledge they may have gained evaporates from their memories by the time they get to the checkpoint.
Or, on the other hand, they may have been going too quickly and may not have had a chance to stop and analyse the quizzes, happy that they've made the passing grade.
So I think it would be good if they could go through their previous answers to quizzes 4-7, paying attention both to the ones they did correctly (and making sure they understood why those were correct, not through mere guessing) and to the ones where they had erred (looking at the correct answers which they are given and going back to relevant parts of the respective modules, if necessary).”
We ‘saved’ this until last…TEFLer Cassie, who is currently in Thailand, has a word of warning in her blog about checkpoint three http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/cassie1987/posts/6289-checkpoint-three
"Also, because it took me so long to do checkpoint three, I didn't use my brain and click 'save without submitting' and yes, you guessed it... I lost all of my answers after spending over 2 hours on it and I had to start again! I cannot stress to you how angry I was. I had to walk away from my laptop and make a cup of tea instead of throwing my laptop at the wall. Oh well, lesson learnt! Now I'm clicking 'save without submitting' every 2 seconds obsessively!"
So there we are…some nuggets of wisdom from people who know what they are talking about.
Lovely. We're not done yet...keep scrolling...but here's James Jenkin to calm you down even more...
If you are still stuck, consider this, dear TEFLer…
Consider this…You’re not the first person to get a little stuck on the course, and you probably won’t be the last.
Consider that every person who gets stuck on the course might create a brand new blog called ‘Help I’m stuck on Checkpoint 3’ or words to that effect, and pretty soon you end up with a whole bunch of posts about one checkpoint and very little else on Chalkboard. Uninspiring hey?
Consider that the lovely people in the Chalkboard community MAY have already helped someone else out who has similar questions, and may not have time to sit and re-write their entire post. Do a little research on the site; take time to look around in the following group:http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/groups/19-Help-I-m-Stuck-on-my-TEFL-Course-
Consider that in your frustration/darkest hour/oh-sod-it-I-give-up moment your post stating ‘help I’ve already tried and failed so I can’t do this’ post might not inspire others to help you, give information so that others can help you.
Consider going back and saying thank you to anyone who takes the time to offer you advice, we’re one happy community here and we want to keep it that way, play nice please :)
Finally, consider that behind the screens of your TEFL course, lurk fully qualified TEFL tutors** who are there at EVERY step of the way to help you pass the course and become TEFL qualified yourself. Drop our helpdesk an email at helpdesk@tefl-training.com and they will ensure a tutor receives your query in good time to help you.
You CAN do this. Remember why you wanted to take this godforsaken course in your darkest hour, talk to us, take your time and you will be TEFLing in no time!
Happy TEFLing,
i-to-i
*OK possibly not a gazillion, but plenty all the same!
** They're not actually lurking behind your screens, don't be frightened!
Loading recent content...
What do you think?
Add Your Comment!
Log in to leave a comment or Create an account
@PDixon- this is the one on how to teach grammar - I was wondering myself what all the fuss was about so I looked it up! I think the course has changed a bit since we did it.
@people struggling with this: the best advice here is "keep it simple". it's true that it's not so hard if you don't get all stressed just because you've read so many worried posts about this. When I did it, and probably PDixon and Briona and others who post here often, there was no help on chalkboard, and if we can do it, so can you. Especially If you're lucky enough to have benefitted from a university education! It's all down to communication.
Remember that most of the students don't know much English or much about British/American/Australian (whatever) culture. Stick to topics they will all understand like holidays, food, work, friends etc; start with some grammar they know and move forward, don't forget a warm-up and include something fun if possible. I always start by eliciting what I can as this gives a sense of connection to things they know and builds confidence in learning something new. If they don't know any grammar they may know some vocabulary, you could use topic related vocab games as a warm up etc...... use your imagination.
Always have a re-cap to bring all the new grammar into focus in the context you've used and give feedback on their work. Include use, form and pronunciation.
Good luck :-)
What is the actual question - it's been almost 2 years since i did the course - im not too sure which one this is
» Comments RSS