Proper first day of 2020-21

The slight build-up of excitement appeared on the day before the start of year - face-to-face lessons. How would my students feel in a socially distanced classroom? Can they completely avoid touching role cards in simulation or role play practice? Would they get bored or frustrated by not being able to mingle or work with their classmates beyond their social bubbles? Would they be worried about falling innocent victim to some invisible viruses (google 'long covid'), even though they agreed to come to the lesson in person?

A million questions went with me on my first proper commute to Milan this morning. At 8°C, the autumn air is brisk - what a pleasant surprise for September in Italy.

I taught two groups of teens today - FCE preparation and PET preparation.

Some reflections on teaching socially distanced face-to-face classes

What worked really well:

To let my students give their personalised responses to the pandemic situation, I used a PET-style pyramid discussion task in the context of various modes of learning. They discussed the pros and cons of online, face-to-face, asynchronous (graded down to 'forum' or 'online exercises'), and flipped classroom (graded down to 'video tutorials'). The 'New Normal' it is.

My students also discussed their learning goals - what they wish to achieve on their course. This gave them the chance to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, which helps them set learning priorities. In one class, this led to a brief discussion of our attitudes to mistakes. Feeling I've got some shy, self-conscious (or maybe they're pushed by their parenrs) students, so we've set the slogan/motto of the class: mistakes are OK.

In my FCE class, we touched on study skills training too - the use of Cambridge Learner's Dictionary online for pronunciation.

What worked okay:

Dogme-style (more like strong-end TBL) post-task focus on language. I'm still new to the part of whipping out a practice activity - thinking on my feet. The language point was quantifier, or too + quantifier. I elicited 3 things each person had eaten; when we had a list of food and drinks on the board, the students told each other about what food or drinks they'd like to have more or less/fewer than now in general. Change of conrext was set clearly, a model given - I eat too much ___. The activity took off nicely, but the langauge clarification bit could have been more complete to include too many, too few, too little. Devising materials-free communicative practice (not just any) on the spot is the fun challenge of Dogme.

What didn't go as planned:

The lessons' digital role cards were prepared and put in one place - a Powerpoint file, which changed into Google slide once uploaded to Drive. This was intended for my students to bypass the touching and passing bit with materials in the traditional paper format. They can use their own smartphones to access role cards. While I could have shared my documents on Drive directly, the URLs were too long to type.

QR codes were trialled but some students had older smartphone models without QR scan function. They might have to install a QR code scanner app which could potentially be unsafe. We went back to taking photos of my laptop screen as a contingency plan.

Next experiment: shortened URLs like bit(dot)ly.

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.

Distance learning in the age of 5G

It was some time last month when the talk of slow Internet speed popped up again. I was in the middle of delivering a session for IELTS candidates when one of them said her slow connection couldn't get her into a breakout room for group discussions.

This led me to think how greatly teachers and students depend on a functional Internet connection for remote lessons. Frustratingly, we're in the age of 5G but most of us are still struggling with having access to a good-quality, consistent 4G window to the Worldwide Web.

Just how can we ensure our connections are 'good enough' to deliver online lessons as EFL teachers?

• Mode - there are two ways of getting fast Internet at your home. You can choose broadband through rental of your fixed landline - if the telco provider which you choose has already installed optic-fibre cables in your local area. The old-school copper cables can't transmit data signals fast enough for modern-day use.
  
  If renting a fixed line isn't your cup of tea, choose mobile Internet - you'll need a hotspot tethering device as a modem (e.g. your smartphone or purpose-made 'mobile Wi-Fi' devices) to connect to the 3G/4G network.
  

• Internet speed - consider asking your tech-literate neighbours about the quality of their network. Preferably they're with a different mobile network provider so that you can make comparisons. Downlink (download speed) should ideally be above 10 Mbps and uplink (upload speed) above 3 Mbps.
  

• Data limit - shop around for the best pay-as-you-go or pay monthly option. Roughly speaking, an hour's lesson can consume anything between 500 MB and 1 GB. Beware of 'unlimited data' plans because some cheaper ones come with a limit on the Internet speed.
  
  

What's Mbps?

8 megabits per second (Mbps) = 1 megabyte (MB) per second

Your computer uses the latter unit of measurement for file size calculations: KB, MB, and GB.

What are 3G, 4G, and 5G? Simplified answer:

The 'G' stands for generation. Think of your smartphone as a radio signal receiver. The mobile network providers use towers to emit radio signals; when these signals reach your phone, a connection is established.

1G is the stone-age way of radio signal transmission. You don't have to worry about it in this context.

2G (GSM) is the analogue way for voice and text messages.

2.5G (GPRS) is an upgrade of 2G's GSM standard - the start of 'Internet on phones' with data being transmitted in packets of radio signals. 

2.75G (GPRS+) makes data packet transmission faster.

3G (HSPA) raises the top download speed to 21 Mbps.

3.5G (HSPA+) raises the top download speed to 42.2 Mbps.

4G is in effect 3.75G (LTE) raises the speed again. It still uses 2G-type infrastructure to transmit radio signals and gets swiftly overwhelmed by the amount of smartphones and devices connecting to the network.

4.5G (LTE-A) is an attempt to raise the speed without using entirely new infrastructure to transmit radio signals (sort of!).

5G requires new infrastructure to allow high-capacity packets of radio signals to be transmitted. The only problem is that the radio signals can't be transmitted far and wide. There's a trade-off between speed and distance. To be honest, it's unlikely for 5G to be made widely available outside metropolitan areas since we'd need to build radio towers at every 250 or 300 metres!

Interesting facts:

• Public vending machines still use 2G technology to send automatic text messages to a vendor's office when drinks or food are sold out. This is now being upgraded to 3G technology as some countries have decided to phase out 2G.
  
  
• The marketed 'maximum download speed' assumes when you're right next to a radio tower and your device is the only one connected to it. The real download speed you get at home is multiple times slower. For example, my nearest tower should be an LTE-A type at 350 Mbps, but I'm getting 30-35 Mbps downlink and 15-20 Mbps uplink.
  

Reflections on 2019-20

Summer is usually a quieter period - this is the best time for catching up on various teaching-related stuffs. The 3 'R's: reading, reorganisation (of materials), and reflections.

Some of the things I've learnt over the past year (in no particular order):

• garnering moments of plenary learning through spontaneous teaching
  
• using shapes and colours to clarify language for YLs - bypassing metalanguage
• further understanding of how every lesson stage builds up progressively towards the main aim
• criteria for defining a lesson's main aim - how it is expected at DELTA level
• differentiating between teaching and testing receptive skills
• identifying and implementing appropriate scaffolding stages - not to make some students cry again
• ideas for teaching IELTS in a communicative approach
  
• a new perspective of the place of grammar in language learning
• personalising lesson or practice contexts - which I personally call 'Dogme-Lite'
• using self-evaluation of abilities as a means of needs analysis - teaching Business English (not exclusively)

Some experiments I've tried out but yet to be backed by further research:

• developing my own procedure of teaching IELTS Academic Reading (I call it a '20-minute formula') - based on how I would approach it and with further input from my colleague who mentored me on this
• psychological perception of timing - training IELTS Speaking Part 2
  
• lessons shaped in the weak TBL and Dogme (both full and partial) approaches
  
• using videos in the classroom - Action Research carried forward for 2020-21

Online teaching has got to be the number-one learning for me in the past school year. I'd lived through the SARS pandemic in 2003 and certainly didn't expect the current SARS-II episode to be this serious. Though I suspect I still haven't perfected my tea-making skills - been making cuppas during lockdown (practice makes perfect maybe?) until I ran out of PG Tips teabags after a week or two. Those who appreciate PG Tips will surely feel the emotional pain. Well, at least they sell teabags in supermarkets in Italy.

Finally, I'm thankful to my supportive colleagues - sharing ideas, giving me pointers, laughing with my (not so funny) jokes. Let's call it partially British humour, shall we? What an unforgettable journey through uncharted waters - with water mines which look disturbingly like coronaviruses!

Choosing digital resources for the online EFL classroom

Another quick post before I start teaching in 20 minutes.

Sandy Millin's blog post on The Rock's voice-over inspired me.

Just how the online classroom is supposed to be different to the face-to-face setup in terms of activity formats:

1. the Analog online classroom
   
   At one extreme, we've moved EFL lessons online but are still relying on the traditional way of teaching.
   
   Students have access to coursebooks, the teacher uses shared Word documents of picture files (jpg/png) to hand out role cards and worksheets. The chat box as a whiteboard. Much relies on communicating through our webcam videos.
   
   This has the potential of developing into Dogme in Online ELT.
   
   
2. the Digital online classroom
   
   At the other extreme, we see dazzling (in a positive sense) digital resources. The seemingly infinite amount of free products to enhance our lessons.
   
   On this point, Wordwall seems to have the best integrated features - it combines Kahoot, Quizlet and Google Jamboard. Jamboard is student-centred, interactive, and suitable to group work, whereas Wordwall seems to be a one-way presentation of tasks and materials.
   
   Google Doc is as good as Padlet. Padlet seems to be better suited to group work since there's a single 'pad' (board) for multiple posts.
   
   
3. The Integrated online classroom
   
   Would this be the new 'principled eclecticism'?