I did my M.A. in English Language Teaching and Delta at Leeds Metropolitan University, now Leeds Beckett University, gaining distinctions in all three Delta modules and a distinction overall for my M.A. Since then, a large number of searches relating to the Delta and M.A.  both with regards to Leeds Met specifically and in general, have brought people to my site. This page gathers the links to all the relevant posts, together with snapshot information about what they contain.

 

Here is the map of all the posts:

Posts about my experience of doing the M.A. in ELT with integrated Delta at Leeds Met:

• A post about doing the Delta at Leeds Met, originally posted as a guest post on Sandy Millin’s blog site.

•  A post about doing the M.A in ELT at Leeds Met, based on the same format  as the above post but focusing on the M.A. portion of the course.

• A post about the outcome (in terms of grades – and what they mean), for me, of doing the Delta at Leeds Met.

• A post containing an annotated list of various books/other resources I used in preparation for and during my Delta at Leeds Met.

• A post about attending the Leeds Met Delta/M.A. ELT induction for 2013/2014 to answer questions and share my experience with the new cohort. A bit of a Delta FAQ!

Posts related to doing the Delta, based on what I’ve learned through doing mine:

• The Delta/M.A. Treadmill: A tongue in cheek collection of tips to surviving the Delta.

• Before, during and after the Delta:  What I learnt about doing the Delta by doing the Delta… 😉

• Countdown to Delta Module 1: A checklist for anybody preparing for Delta Module 1 exam, based on what I did to prepare for mine.

• Doing the Delta: A post that brings together all my links and many others besides in a guide to doing the Delta, presented in Q&A format.

A series of posts called “Delta Tips”

This series takes various elements of the different Delta modules and summarises the requirements, also offering a few tips for effective completion of these:

Module 1: 

• Delta Tips 4:  Delta exam paper 1
• Delta Tips 5: Delta exam paper 2
• Delta Tips 6: Useful resources for Module 1 revision
• Revision chart: A colourful revision chart that I made for the Module 1 exam
• Delta Tips 15:  A checklist for anybody preparing for the Module 1 exam

Module 2:

• Delta Tips 1: Writing a background essay for an LSA
• Delta Tips 2: Writing an LSA lesson plan
• Delta Tips 3: Writing an LSA post-lesson reflection/evaluation
• Delta Tips 7: Doing PDA Part A
• Delta Tips 8: Doing the Experimental Practice

Module 3:

• Delta Tips 9: Writing a Module 3 Essay – Overview and Starting Out
• Delta Tips 10: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the Introduction
• Delta Tips 11: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the Needs Analysis
• Delta Tips 12: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the Course Proposal
• Delta Tips 13: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the Assessment
• Delta Tips 14: Writing a Module 3 Essay – the conclusion and wrapping things up

A series of posts called “Delta Notes”

These posts are based on notes I made during my Delta, as well as reading I used for, and feedback I received on, my Delta LSAs…

• Delta Notes 1: Error Correction
• Delta Notes 2: Teaching Listening
• Delta Notes 3: Module 2 – My LSA1 Reading and Feedback

More links will be added here as I post them – coming soon!

Posts related to what I’ve learnt through doing the M.A. in ELT with integrated Delta at Leeds Met:

• 30 things to enhance your teaching? The 30 things (in honour of my 30th birthday!) that I’ve been most taken by – including ideas, approaches, tools and techniques – while studying and teaching over the past year.

• Bringing Metacognition into the Classroom  Towards the end of an #ELTchat discussion on Twitter, @Sandymillin asked for ideas of how to develop skills, rather than just practicing them, at intermediate level – as a means of helping learners get off the intermediate plateau. I piped up with the suggestion of using metacognition. Sandy recommended that I blog about what I meant by this, and so this post materialised.

• Materials Development: What is it that makes materials better than good? A post that I wrote in response to assignment work I was doing in the Materials Development module of the M.A.

Posts related to doing my dissertation project (developing 20hrs of materials, writing a 5000 word rationale for these):

I decided to use my blog as a reflective tool while doing my dissertation project – the final part of my M.A. in ELT – hypothesising that this will make it an even more effective learning experience for me, by mapping it, enabling me to look back on my thought processes and decisions and see what effect these have on the project development. Once I get to the end (13th September is D-Day!), as well as looking back over the experience of doing the project, I plan to try and evaluate the effect of these reflective blog posts on it. Here are the posts that form part of the series.

• Dissertation Diary 1 The beginning: first tutorial, making decisions about what type of materials to make, considering related issues.

• Dissertation Diary 2 Work begins: My context and the approaches I am planning to use (TBLT, Language Awareness Approach, Intercultural Approach)

• Dissertation Diary 3 An initial plan for my materials and rationale of this.

• Dissertation Diary 4 Another tutorial and a lot more to think about!

• Dissertation Diary 5 Grappling with Consciousness-Raising Approach and Language Awareness Approach; starting to map out a framework my materials

• Dissertation Diary 6 A complete draft of the framework for my materials and a lot of the theory it relates to.

• Dissertation Diary 7 Mapping the framework to the theory and principles, to ensure there is justification for each element.

• Dissertation Diary 8 The third tutorial and yet more to contemplate…

• Dissertation Diary 9  The words behind the silence…

• Dissertation Diary 10 The end is approaching

• Dissertation Diary 11 Submission!