Delta

The Cambridge Delta (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) is an advanced teaching diploma for teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

Take Your Time Delta Module One / Module Three

If you’re looking at this page, you are probably contemplating doing the Delta, or are already part-way through it. I’ve created a more relaxed way to study for Delta Module One, taking your time over the course of an academic year to really get to know the content before you take the exam, or for Delta Module Three, being supported throughout the process of writing your assignment (whether ELT-Specialism or ELT-Management). Find out more here.

My Delta (overview)

I completed Modules 2 and 3 of the Delta in June 2013, getting a Pass in the former and a Merit in the latter. My Module 3 speciality was ‘Teaching Exam Classes’ and the course I created was designed to help IELTS students improve their reading and writing skills.  I did Module 1 in December 2013 and got a Distinction.

My Delta certificates 🙂

I have written a large number of posts related to the Delta, and have a dedicated category on my blog.

Delta conversations

To help people find out more about the different ways that you can do Delta, I have interviewed various people about how they did it. They also offer their own tips on how to make the most of the course. The notes below their names should help you to find a similar course to the way you want to do it. (M1 = Module One, etc. Modules listed in the order taken.) The most recent ones are at the bottom of the list.

• The full list of interviews (where you can read them one after the other)
• Katy
  M2 face-to-face intensively over six weeks through IH Dubai, M1 online course through IH Wroclaw, M3 self-study (in progress at time of writing), 2012-2013
• Mike
  All three modules over six months part-time face-to-face through UCL (University College London), 2012 (?)
• Mat
  M1 through Distance Delta, M3 then M2 through Bell Delta, 2011-2012
• Lizzie
  All three modules completed as part of an M.A. at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett), 2012-2013
• Christina
  M1 distance, M2 with three on-site week-long sessions with autonomous time in between through ESOL Strasbourg (now The ELT Hub), M3 not completed at time of writing, 2011-2012
• Sandy (me)
  M2 and M3 at the same time via Distance Delta, M1 study through Distance Delta and self-study, organised exam myself, 18 months 2012-2013, while working
• Roya
  M3 then M1 Distance Delta, M2 intensive through IH London, 2010-2011 (?)
• Nati
  M1 through Distance Delta (passed on second attempt), M2 intensive at IH Buenos Aires, M3 self-study, 2011-2014
• Matthew
  All three modules face-to-face over 8 months at IH Madrid while working there, 2012-2013
• James P
  All three modules through the Distance Delta integrated programme, 2012-2013
• Sheona
  M1, M3, M2 consecutively all through Distance Delta, 2011-2013
• Angelos
  All three modules in an 8-week intensive course through CELT Athens, 2014 (?)
• Anthony
  All three modules in 12 weeks through IH Newcastle, Sept-Dec 2014 (having previously completed the IH online M1 prep course and IH Certificate in Advanced Methodology Sept 2013-June 2014)
• Joanna
  M1 self-study, M2 blended through CELT Athens, M3 online with Bell, finished 2014, all while working, taking breaks between modules to avoid burnout
• Emma
  M3, M2, M1 all through an intensive course at IH Seville/CLIC, with M3 submitted after the rest of the course was complete, 2014-2015
• Sarah
  M1 through Distance Delta, M2 part-time face-to-face through Cambridge School in Granollers, Barcelona, M3 through Distance Delta, part-time, 2015-2017
• Yuliya
  M1 then M3 online through ITI Istanbul, M2 blended through AVO Bell in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2017
• James E
  M1 self-study with colleagues, M3 distance through IH Madrid, M2 6 weeks full-time at IH London, 2014-2015
• Kirsten
  M2 8 weeks full-time at IH Barcelona, M1 and M3 self-study at the same time, 2009
• Iza
  M1 then M3 self-study, M2 3-month online course, 2015-2017
• Jim
  M1 preparation course, M3 then M2 via distance, 2016-2017, while working
• Jo
  M1 blended online, M2 part-time blended, M3 face-to-face part-time course then 3-4 years before submitting it, all through IH Accademia Britannica in Rome, 2010-2016
• Jenni
  All modules in 11 months 2017-2018, while working, through Leeds Beckett University UK, coupled with Postgraduate Certificate in English Language Teaching and Professional Practice
• Harriet
  M2 part-time at Oxford House College in London, M3 self-study with a private tutor giving feedback on the final draft, M1 with a private tutor, while working part-time and doing a PhD part-time. Finished in 2020.
• Claire
  All modules via Distance Delta, 2018-2021, while working full time. Orientation course at IH London.
• Martin
  M1 self-study, M3 self-study first time, with tutor feedback second time, M2 online with IH Mexico. 2019-2021.
• Charlie
  M1 then M3, combined face-to-face and online, both with CLIC Sevilla, M2 CLIC Sevilla fully online. M1 2016, M3 2020, M2 2023
• Zhiwen
  M3 starting in 2017, then M1 starting in 2019 via Distance Delta, M2 face-to-face with IH Chiang Mai straight after M1

While not part of my Delta Conversations series, Adi Rajan’s post reflecting on his Delta covers a lot of the same ground, and is worth reading so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. He did all three modules simultaneously on a full-time face-to-face course in Bangkok. Adam Beale wrote about what he has taken from the Delta in the immediate aftermath of Modules One and Two.

Trinity DipTESOL

If you’re interested in finding out a bit more about the competition, the closest equivalent to the Cambridge Delta is the Trinity DipTESOL.

Dave Dodgson has written about different aspects of the DipTESOL: using a Moodle/online course review,  face-to-face teaching practice/reflections, written exam, research projects, the phonology interview, the course in general and the Dip versus the MA.

Gemma Lunn has also written about her DipTESOL experience, and shares links to all of her posts.

Peter Clements has written about perceptions of the Trinity DipTESOL. For what it’s worth, I think that it can be a more practical qualification for those wanting to go into management, providing your employers understand that it is a Delta equivalent.

Delta resources

I have written a couple of posts to help people who are doing the Delta:

• Preparing for the Delta – things to do before you start, for example books to read, and things you can learn to do to make using Word easier.
• Useful links for Delta – links for each part of the exam, and general links for the whole course.

My work

Module 1

This post shows you how I approached preparation for the Module 1 exam, including how I laid out my answers for each task.

Module 2

I found it very difficult to find examples of assignments to know the kind of thing I needed (not) to write/produce as every assignment is different, and Cambridge prefers not to put the temptation to plagiarise in people’s way. I know that this makes it a real challenge to produce a good assignment, but the drafting process and the work you do with your tutor will make your work better.

I have listed the areas I chose to focus on to give you an idea of the spread of assignments you might expect to do during a course. I’ve also given you my grade and some of the feedback I got.

Module 2: LSA 1 – grammar: conditionals

• essay – pass
  The tutor said it was a clear pass, with a well-supported analysis. To get a merit I needed to add more critical commentary to my reading in the analysis and use a wider range of sources. In terms of the teaching ideas, it relied too much on learner-generated output (also a problem in my lesson) – I didn’t really include any more traditional ideas. My evaluations of the activities were also a bit weak.
• lesson plan (first conditionals) – fail
  My lesson was pitched at too low a level for the students, the timing was unrealistic and I relied completely on learner-generated output for the target language, within a very weak context. My task set-up, grouping of students and use of information gathered while monitoring were also poor. Despite this, the tutor said ‘it had the potential to be a useful and effective lesson’ as a lot of the planning was strong (my note: just the procedure that wasn’t, which is a fairly major oversight!). I tried to make it learner-centred and to include some guided discovery, but didn’t really know how to do this well. I managed to be flexible and add extra activities, but did not predict any of the problems mentioned above.

Module 2: LSA 2 – listening: transactional listening

• essay – pass
  The analysis is clear because of my use of headings and sub-headings to signpost important areas. I used a wider range of texts than in my first essay, which made it stronger. The activity evaluations were also stronger than in LSA1. However, the descriptions of the activities needed to be clearer and more detailed, so that anybody could reproduce them. There also needed to be stronger link between the analysis and the activities. The contexts I described did not cover a wide enough range, for example I did not cover different levels.
• lesson plan – pass
  My choice of materials meant that this lesson was much more successful than LSA1, and it felt like a pass while I was in the lesson (I knew I’d failed LSA1 after about 20 minutes of the lesson!). I was also much more responsive to the learners, and there was clear evidence of learning. I’d found out more about guided discovery by this stage, so that thread of the lesson worked better than in LSA1 too. However, I still had problems with task set-up (this was a recurring theme throughout my Delta), and my monitoring was still not completely effective.

Module 2: LSA 3 – writing: discursive essays

• essay – merit
  This was my strongest piece of work for module 2 ‘due to its depth, accuracy and organisation’ as my tutor said. I managed to identify and use key sources effectively (which I’d found difficult in my previous two LSAs). There was a clear line following through the whole essay, linking the problems and solutions to the analysis clearly. I shouldn’t have focussed on the writing process as one area in itself, as this restriced the solutions I could offer in terms of learners editing their work.
• lesson plan (writing paragraphs) – fail
  As I said in my post-lesson reflection, I was way too ambitious about how much we could get through in an hour. I should have asked students to write their paragraphs in a previous lesson, then used the hour to analyse, improve, and re-write them. Because they spent so long on writing their initial paragraphs, there was no time for them to re-write them, meaning I didn’t hit my aim. The lesson plan ‘was detailed and contained some very useful elements and activities’ but I didn’t show the flexibility I needed to to still be able to achieve my aim. I also ended up focussing on written discourse, rather than writing skills, which falls under systems: discourse analysis, rather than skills: writing. As with LSA1, I pitched the lesson wrong, but this time the students needed a lot more support than I expected, and my tasks were too complicated. I also had problems with task set-up again. The moral of the story: test out your activities on other students – don’t make your LSA the first time you’ve ever used them.

Module 2: LSA 4 – lexis: multi-part verbs

I don’t know the separate grades for the essay and lesson as it was externally assessed, but I passed Module 2, so I must have passed at least the lesson!

• essay
  I felt much more confident with the essay than I did with any of the others, because I finally felt like I knew what kind of document I needed to produce. I read the tutor comments on my previous LSA essays and used these to help me make sure I ticked all the boxes Cambridge wanted.
• lesson plan
  I did a diagnostic test before I taught the lesson to show me exactly which of the verbs the students already knew. This made a real difference when it came to writing about my students in detail, as I really felt I knew what they needed to learn. The lesson felt good while I was teaching it, and I was pretty sure I’d passed. I think you can normally tell whether the lesson was a pass or a fail. For merits and distinctions, it’s probably guesswork (I didn’t get any, so I don’t know how they feel!).

Module 2: (Professional Development Assignment) (pass)

• experimental practice lesson – grammaticization
  I only realised about 5 minutes before writing here that my tutor put comments on my document after the lesson – don’t forget to check what your tutors wrote to help you with later assignments!
  This was an interesting part of the course for me, adding an extra tool to my repertoire, although I haven’t used it a great deal in the year since I did the assignment! I didn’t include scanned examples of what the students actually produced, which would have been better.
• PDA reflection and action stages 2, 3, and 4
  I didn’t do anywhere near as much work on this as I would have liked to due to time restrictions, and some of my evidence was a bit cobbled together. However, I think it was by far the most interesting and useful part of the whole course, and I wish it was weighted to reflect this more. It is a very valuable process to go through. The fact that it is only a pass/fail assignment means it can be somewhat neglected, which I think is a real failing in the course. (rant over!)

Module 3: Teaching Exam Classes, with a focus on improving reading and writing for IELTS students (merit)

• Part 1: 4,500 word essay, needs analysis and diagnostic test results, course proposal
• Part 2: all other evidence in appendices

I don’t have any specific feedback about Module 3. To get to the point where a merit was possible, I handed in two drafts, although neither of them were anywhere near complete. Make full use of any draft/commenting facility you have available. I’d have gone completely wrong if I’d stuck with my first version!

Disclaimer

Please note that all information about the Delta on my blog is my personal opinion or the opinion of the writers, unless otherwise stated. It does not constitute anything officially sanctioned or recommended by Cambridge.

A final note

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I’m afraid I can’t share my assignments as there have been plagiarism issues. What I have written here is just my interpretation of the requirements, and you could do it completely differently – keep checking back with the criteria and with your tutors. Good luck!