Hello everyone, I’m back with another DELTA tale.
The last time I wrote a blog, I had just handed in my DELTA Module 3 and was about to undertake NILE’s online course in Management in Language Education (https://www.nile-elt.com/products/MILE_Online).
I was feeling pretty burnt out after Module 3 as I found it incredibly challenging to keep up with the pressures of working full-time and studying part time. It’s really not easy to spin many plates simultaneously – and on reflection, I really didn’t put enough time, energy and love into Module 3 to pass it and as a result, this happened:
Referral! Now, I couldn’t find a lot of information online about referral nor could I find a lot of people on LinkedIn who had been referred either. It seems not many people like celebrating their failures.
After chatting to the people at NILE, I finally found out some information.
So, what’s referall?
It is technically a fail grade but with a glimmer of hope on the other side. They (Cambridge) give you one year to work on the same assignment and to resubmit it. The normal thing is to get the examiner’s report with feedback, so you can see what you need to improve. If you fail a second time round, you get ‘locked out’ of the specialism and you need to do the assignment again.
Is that you did then?
I got the Referral Report at a cost of £37.50, which I wanted to post below so you can see the type of feedback they give you and how it’s worded. It is divided into 5 categories: Grasp of Topic, Need Analysis, Course Proposal, Assessment, Presentation and Organisation.
It was reassuring to read ‘There is pass potential evident in this assignment’ and despite being incredibly disheartened by the two ‘Unsatisfactory’ grades in two of the sections, and by some of the wording of the feedback, I was really determined to fix it and resubmit it.
When diving into the report, I couldn’t make heads or tails of some of the comments: I couldn’t see what they were getting at in some parts, as I genuinely disagreed with them (although some comments were crystal clear to me!) and some wording was really vague and confusing; ‘some extent’, ‘some key principles’. I remember pulling at my hair wanting further clarification and help.
Who came to the rescue?
NILE did, as always. The people at NILE were so incredibly helpful throughout the entire process and organised pretty much everything for me. From the examiner’s report, to extra tuition (more on that in a minute!), resubmission, everything!
I really am the biggest NILE fan. Youo can check out their DELTA courses here: https://www.nile-elt.com/catalog?pagename=Cambridge-Delta-Courses I actually had the chance to meet a couple of the lovely people that work there and a have a tour of their new premises last summer when I was back home in my hometown, Norwich.
Did you rewrite all sections?
Well, technically only two parts were unsatisfactory so just two sections were not up to standard.
However, the issue came with which ones were unsatisfactory; the first two. Module 3 is so heavily interlinked. Part 1 links to part 2, which links to part 3. If I edit and adjust part 1, I realistically have too rewrite the entire assessment.
Evidently there was a base of work there already which I could work around. That being said, part 2 was pretty flawed in its design and set up so I had to pretty much had to write the whole thing from stratch.
What form did the extra support come in during the rewriting process?
They gave me the option to have the same tutor again (which I opted for) or for a new tutor to start with me to cast fresh eyes over the project.
It was very flexible in terms of how much contact I could make, corrections which could be looked at and they were very, very reasonable about everything, which naturally made me feel a lot calmer and incredibly well supported throughout the whole process.
This time round there was no online portal, no deadlines and no specific sections to work on in specific timeframes – just my tutor and I going backwards and forwards over email.
Was it easier a second time round?
Yes and no. It was so challenging for me to open up those old Google Docs after thinking I was done with them, getting my head back into something after 3 months of looking at it and accepting my reality. However, it terms of time management it was a lot better. So much better.
When you do a ‘normal’ DELTA course, you have to follow the course dates as set by the course provider. However, this time round I was able to do work when it suited me, on my own schedule. This meant I was able to sit down in July and August, which is when I don’t work, and was able to focus all of my time and energy on it. Thus, the amount of detail and general work I was able to put into it was tremendously different to the first time round.
Did you have to do anymore reading?
A tiny bit – the majority of the reading I had done was sufficient to make the edits I needed and thankfully I had been quite diligent about note-taking so I could just dive back into my Google Docs and get some more quotes I needed.
I did have to do some re-reading for extra sources, especially for part 1 because I needed specific references to child development which I didn’t have before but it wasn’t anymore than 10 pages or so.
And now?
Well, after paying the £89.00 resubmission fee and waiting 3 months.. it came back as a pass. No merit or distinction, but I’m perfectly happy with it. Over the moon, actually.
I’ve decided to take until September 2024 off from DELTA. With only Module 2 to go, I want to make sure to give myself a bit of a break before I embark on that adventure.
I’ll be doing one short course with International House on ‘Managing Customer Service’ (https://ihworld.com/teach/ih-online-teacher-training/managing-customer-service/) in September but apart from, I just need a quiet, peaceful year focusing on my personal life and my full-time job.
Jord's English Things 