IH Newcastle has always had a very successful Teacher Training programme, but 2017 saw a significant increase not only in the number of CELTA courses, but in the Teacher Development courses that are on offer. The TKT CLIL courses, 2 week intensive courses which are run throughout the summer months and include the TKT exam, were considerably more successful. At the height of the summer, when the school was at its busiest with every classroom full, IH Newcastle took on the challenge of hosting 50 CLIL teachers from Valencia, Spain (with full board and lodging) for an intensive CLIL and English Language course. Teacher Trainers and the administration team worked closely together to hire extra rooms, organise accommodation and an exciting social programme. It turned out to be one of the most successful courses the school has ever run. The CLIL teachers had 6 hours of tuition a day (2 hours of CLIL input, 2 hours of English Language and 2 hours of the Personal Study Programme) as well as excursions around the local area and a busy social programme throughout the week and at the weekends. This year IH Newcastle is hoping to repeat the experience and expand the number of courses on offer.
A new TKT YL course, written by Jane-Maria Harding da Rosa, will be added to the schools' repertoire. This will run from August 20th 2018 for 2 weeks, and not only prepare candidates for the TKT exam, but will provide them with lots of practical ideas and creative activities they can take straight into the classroom. In addition to this, Jane has recently presented a CLIL/ EAL training session for teachers at the International School at Beau Soleil, in Switzerland. This was the second time she visited, and building on what she presented before she provided teachers with practical suggestions as to how to improve their pupils' level of language awareness, in order to cope with the demands of having subject lessons taught in English.
There are several more Teacher Training Developments in the pipeline at IH Newcastle, which include continuing and expanding the work that has been started in China. Watch this space!
