Interview with Ricardo Fajardo: Teaching Exam Preparation Classes Online
Show Notes
Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of Expand Your Horizons. Today our guest on the podcast is Ricardo Fajardo, who is joining us to talk about teaching a specific type of English class – exam preparation.
Ricardo has been a teacher of English for 24 years and a teacher trainer for the last 12 years. He is currently a CELTA tutor and assessor, which has given him the chance to travel as well as help and learn from other teacher training centers. He is also an ICELT and DELTA tutor and works as a freelancer on different projects such as writing materials for course books or helping teachers remotely as an online consultant. He is an accredited IELTS examiner as well as a Cambridge KET, PET, FCE, CAE, and CPE oral examiner, so he clearly has a good deal of experience with proficiency exams and what students need to know in order to succeed on them. In our conversation today, we’re discussing tips for teaching exam preparation classes, and how we might transfer or adapt these strategies for online classes.
In this Episode
What “proficiency exams” are, and popular proficiency exams: Cambridge exams, IELTS, TOEFL, etc.
How teaching exam preparation differs from teaching general English classes
Why it’s important to understand how each exam works, plus what exactly is being tested and how it’s being tested
How the different exams may differ in terms of content and scoring
How the exams test the four skills
What teachers should know if they’re teaching exam preparation classes for the first time
How and why to check students’ current English level to understand what to prioritize in exam preparation classes: remembering that students can be stronger in some skills than others
How to conduct a needs analysis: using a mock test of the exam students are prepping for is a great idea!
How to find material to use for a needs analysis/ diagnostic test at the beginning of an exam prep class
Setting realistic expectations and understanding how to prioritize time spent in the course
A typical misconception students may have coming in: that all they need to know is the format of the exam
Why it’s sometimes necessary to improve a student’s general English level before focusing on exam prep
How to transfer what we know about teaching exam preparation to an online lesson format
Getting accustomed to teaching online exam prep classes
Dealing with interaction patterns online
Potential challenges of teaching exam prep online
Helping students practice speaking and writing in online classes
Providing helpful models of language online
Helping students identify functional language and structure in writing practice
Providing feedback on students’ writing
Why it’s important to understand the parameters of the speaking and writing tasks on the exam: fluency is not enough!
Why practice makes perfect in exam preparation
Why learning a particular formula increases students’ exam scores
Tools and resources for teaching exam preparation classes
Teaching platforms: Zoom, Skype, Vedamo
Interactive white boards
A useful resource for understanding and comparing the different exams: examenglish.com
Collaborating with other teachers and understanding the exam criteria
Tips for learning how the exams are structured
Checking out Youtube videos to help understand the different exams
Encouraging peer collaboration among students and prompting them to continue their practice outside the classroom