Preparing for the Trinity Cert.TESOL- Recommended pre-reading

Getting Started
Luckily, there is no need to teach yourself the whole course before you start, let alone before you have your initial interview. You will find that many things stick much better when you have the context of classroom experience to relate it to. Before the course starts, there are two types of books worth buying:
-Books that give you a brief, easy introduction to classroom methodology
-Reference books about points such as grammar and pronunciation that you can dip into now and keep referring to for the rest of your career
Methodology
For background information on different types of language class and approaches to teaching, try “Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching” by Diane Larsen-Freeman. This book talks you through a range of real-life classes, compares teaching styles and discusses the methodologies involved.

For those wanting a more general introduction to modern English Language Teaching methods, Jim Scrivener’s “Learning Teaching” uses the interactive approach you will be using to teach English- with exercises to explore your own ideas and check your retention of the information in the book. Harmer’s “How to Teach English” is similarly accessible for someone with no classroom experience.

Pronunciation
Trinity course providers are traditionally strong on the teaching of pronunciation and the development of awareness of Phonetics and Phonology in their trainee teachers. A good introduction, which will also serve well after the course as a reference book, is Underhill’s “Sound Foundations”. This makes the complex seem easy and is, at the same time, far more comprehensive than it appears at first glance.

Grammar During the course you will need a grammar reference book so that when your trainer tells you to prepare a lesson on a point such as ‘Present Perfect Simple for Experience’, you can find out what that means and what you need to know to plan your lesson. Teaching Tenses by Rosemary Aitken is excellent and easy to use in this way. For more comprehensive reference, Swan’s Practical English Usage is a must for every working teacher.

Finally… It’s not just students who need dictionaries. If you want to know if a word is a verb or noun, or how to explain something in simple terms, you’ll need a good advanced-level dictionary designed specifically for learners of English (that copy of Collins Concise from 1974 that you have in your cupboard is no use, I’m afraid).