Dealing with sensitive topics in EFL classrooms

I was teaching a class of 18 Italian-speaking teenagers earlier in the morning. Today's lesson was part of a week-long English immersion course at a local high school in outer Milan.

As the main topic was 'diversity, inclusion and equity', I had already foreseen some common issues that would possibly come up in this three-hour lesson. Little did I know there would be an outspoken seventeen-year-old making awkward comments on race and ethnicity. Without repeating his unsavoury words, 'genes' was mentioned multiple times, a question about whether one is '100%' of a nationality was directed at another student, and a view that represents virtually no difference to the one held by a controversial Italian politician, Matteo (surname withheld), was expressed.

While an adult's instant reaction might be one that rightly dismisses the student's ideas, I used a more empathetic approach in this instance. Rather than put the student in the spotlight and dictate how that student should think, I neither invalidated his experience nor approved of his ideas. I didn't say his ideas were completely wrong or mine were correct. What I did was simply introduce a different perspective that lies beyond his current frame of reference. I also asked guiding questions that made him question his own beliefs.

Reflections on Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

Teaching and learning have undergone a period of sweeping changes which was almost unthinkable in the last decade. As we are standing at the crossroads where learning can take place both synchronously and asynchronously, how can teachers best use lesson time to maximise language learning? In search of answers, I shall reflect on my personal observations and explore some implications for lesson planning and choice of activities.

This is a talk which I delivered at the 2021 annual conference of International House (IH) Milan and San Donato.

Learner Agency - how learning happens online

It sometimes feels as if the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed a sizeable part of TEFL back to pre-Chomsky days, but not all is lost!

This isn't so much about researches on how languages are learnt but rather how learning happens online, which brings me to the topic of Teacher/Learner Agency.

Oxford University Press has invited several speakers to deliver webinars on this topic: Andy Gao, Terrie Cradd, Kathy Kampa, and many more at their ELT Online Conference 2021.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUyxvfJQNH4 (Andy Gao)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHVZyD_Ce0s (Terrie Cradd)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCpuZbYg2nI (Kathy Kampa)

How to teach online, but how to learn online

I was a schoolboy when the SARS pandemic broke out in 2003. Back in those days, there was unlimited broadband (yes, you read it correctly!) at home already thanks to the digitisation push in 1997. School moved online to the internal email network for two months. Video meeting was still in its embryonic form on the laggy MSN Messenger, so online lessons were out of the question.

Fast forward 17 years, we had to move online all of a sudden, but the methodologies which most EFL teachers are using in their online lessons still consist of assumptions based on the in-person mode of instruction. I, myself, am one of such teachers.

This has got me into thinking about how learning actually happens online. With little time to delve into research results, webinars are a much quicker way of getting as much information as I possibly can. The webinars above are a good place to start.

My current belief is that there need not be massive changes to language acquisition theories, but I'm going to have to think hard about the potential affordances which some digital materials can offer. Learner Agency comes into play because students need to know how to take notes (screenshots? Word documents?) and organise the information they've received in online lessons. No matter how effectively we teach, students need to be taught online study skills before they can reach their full learning potential.

Success stories

I wrote a post about being Powerpoint-drunk, but I still use Powerpoint as a (prepared) digital whiteboard in my online lessons. It's worked better with older teens and adults than younger kids. I've also verified successful learning with some of my most motivated students by using language proficiency tests and appropriately designed end-of-course tests. Maybe 'motivated' isn't the best word, but I've noticed those students tend to possess good note-taking and organisational skills which help them refer back to their past learning.

Afterthought: my talk at IH Milan's annual ELT conference 2020

In my recent talk at IH Milan's annual ELT conference, I shared 5 materials-light language practice ideas.

In my Activity 4, I was talking about the idea of appropriacy (Hymes, 1972) in using functional language. Here were my two examples:

• buying a cuppa at a busy train station - 'A large tea, please.'
  
• visiting the post office to pick up a parcel - 'Could I collect my parcel, please?'
  

In the second example, I used an unnatural model in order to highlight the contrast of registral style with the first. On second thoughts, who would even be that formal in the UK? Unless you live in Windsor or (maybe) Sandringham, most people would just ask 'Can I pick up my parcel?' 

Thanks also to my colleagues for raising my awareness of English varieties. I'd always thought the word borough was pronounced /bʌrə/ until the week before my talk. There's a different pronunciation in the US, /bɝːoʊ/, which I didn't know before.

The 'New Normal': online, face-to-face or hybrid EFL/ESL lessons?

It's a dynamic concept. There have been lots of talking about a 'new normal' in the UK, but nobody really knows what to expect. An array of contextual lexis has cropped up: remote teaching, online learning, working from home (Italians use the term 'smart working'), socially distanced, social distancing, and so on.

For ELT or, more specifically, EFL/ESL, the past few months of online teaching and learning has definitely left its mark on teaching techniques and the wider discussion of 'post-digital ELT' (if I can describe it as such) methods/approaches.

These are some possible scenarios:

• fully online
• fully face-to-face with social distancing in place
• a hybrid mode: face-to-face and online with various degrees of flexibility
  

Every teacher has their own preference, but I believe this discussion should focus on learning contexts. Of course, a flat screen will never beat face-to-face interactions - I'm thinking about paralinguistics here. And it'd be nice for both the teacher and the learners to have the peace of mind that their next-door neighbours aren't going to inadvertently cause disruptions to the online classroom.

Putting the teacher's preferences aside, I'd say the most effective online lessons are those with one-to-one and small groups up to four students. If technological innovations allow teachers to monitor two or more groups simultaneously, then this will provide the case for having larger classes.

Then there's the flipped classroom approach. It's part of the Blended Learning method and compatible with both online and face-to-face lessons.

Synchronous and asynchronous learning theories are more relevant to the post-lockdown hybrid mode of EFL/ESL lessons. What if a student can't physically come to the lesson? What if half of the class have face-to-face lessons while the other half join the same lesson via videoconferencing? This is going to be a curious experiment for 2020-21 and I shall look forward to hearing ideas and reflections from others.