TKT Test and Preparation Course
English for Africa has organized the first Cambridge TKT prep course and exam in Meknes, and we’re still looking to improve.
The TKT is the foundation level in Cambridge Assessment and Publishing’s teacher development scheme, and candidates often go on to take the CELTA (certificate level) and DELTA (diploma level) Cambridge qualifications in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Indeed, the theory covered in the TKT is part and parcel of the that covered on the later two courses. Taking the TKT first helps candidates to get the most out of the CELTA course, because it reduces the amount of background reading they will have to do while on the course (they’ll already have done it!), and enables them to focus on what makes the CELTA course really special: the highly practical cycle of lesson planning, teaching practice, and feedback.
New Course Format
The preparation course taken by these candidates was an 8-week fully online course that included 32 hours of synchronous online sessions (2 X 2 hours per week) and 50 hours of self-paced online study materials, made available to candidates using Google Classroom. The candidates arrived early Saturday 31 July to take the test for the three Foundation Modules of the TKT, from different parts of Morocco: Oujda, Tangier, and Rabat. One of the candidates came all the way from Mauritania (and is staying for our August CELTA course—he planned ahead and hit two birds with one stone—well done!).
While feedback on the course was overwhelmingly positive, we were informed that there was too much content to be covered in too few hours. We have therefore decided, for our upcoming preparation course, to expand the course format. Here is what the new course will look like:
Duration: 12 weeks
Synchronous sessions: Monday and Friday evenings
Length of synchronous sessions: 1.5 hours
Total number of synchronous sessions: 36
The aim of the above modifications is to make the course easier to take for people who have busy lives, and are working, studying or raising a family (or sometimes all three!) at the same time they are preparing for the exam.
Congratulations to all of our preparation course participants. Amine Bouhzam, their trainer, is confident that they have succeeded on their test, and can’t wait to help another batch of candidates prepare to take it in the future.