Continued Professional Development Report

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TESL 0170
Practicum in Teaching ESL

The professional development resource that I selected to engage with and analyze is the free online CLB Bootcamp provided by the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks. The CLB Bootcamp is a 10-hour self-directed online training course that introduces and explains the CLB’s, as well as how to use the CLB’s for lesson planning and student assessment.

The CLB Bootcamp is divided into three modules: CLB Basics, Planning and the CLB and Classroom Assessment and the CLB. Each module is then broken down into three to four sections. The material is presented in a format similar to a PowerPoint presentation, with links to resources, documents and example materials. There are also optional short quizzes throughout that can be taken more than once. It is not necessary to complete the sections or modules in order, or even to complete them all. You can pick and choose which areas you want to learn more about. If you do complete all of the modules and pass all of the quizzes you can receive a CLB Bootcamp Certificate of Completion.

In order to access the CLB Bootcamp you need to go to the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks website, www.language.ca, and click on Workshops/Training. You will find the CLB Bootcamp in the drop-down menu. Once there you will find a link that will take you to the CCLB E-learning Portal. You will need to create an account to enroll and then you can begin the course. You can stop and start as many times as needed and your progress will be saved. There are even supplementary activities for additional practice.

I completed the whole CLB Bootcamp and it took me a little less than 10 hours. The amount of time that it takes depends on whether you click on all of the links to resources and how much time you spend reading and reviewing the material. There are some links that must be opened in order to continue, others are optional. Since I was already somewhat familiar with the CLB’s, I moved through some of the areas more quickly than others. There was a wealth of information provided; I worked on it over the course of a couple of weeks, completing a couple of sections or a module at a time.

 I have completed other online courses or workshops that were presented in a similar fashion, so I was comfortable with the format and found it to be fairly easy to use. There are short videos provided at the beginning for those who are unfamiliar with how to navigate this type of course in the Getting Started Section. There is also a folder that contains all of the Course Resources for easy reference.

I found the CLB Bootcamp to be extremely beneficial in helping me to get a deeper understanding of the CLB’s. The course was well-organized and went through the use of the CLB’s in a logical order. I think it would be useful to those new to the CLB’s as well as those who need a refresher, since a user can select which sections they want to complete. The CLB’s are used in many language schools in Canada, so becoming familiar with them and how to use them for instruction and assessment is very important for ESL teachers.

I did find that some of the quiz questions were very specific; at times I found it necessary to have the quiz open in one window and the resource the question referred to in another window so that I could search for the exact answer. Other than that, I think the course was very user-friendly.

I learned a great deal by completing the course and I would definitely recommend it to others in the ESL field. Even if you do not work in a school that uses the CLB’s, I think it would be beneficial to complete. The CLB Bootcamp contains very useful information on a wide variety of areas including needs assessments, task-based teaching, lesson planning, reflection, self-assessment and portfolio-based language assessment, among others. I would recommend the CLB Bootcamp as an excellent resource for professional development.




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