Teacher Training - a humbling experience

It was a while ago when I read Teresa Woodward's article on being a teacher trainer.

I wouldn't call myself one, but I feel fortunate to be involved in a couple of teacher training initiatives by the school.

The way I approach this is of a bottom-up style - I see myself as someone who helps other teachers and has something to offer them, so that it makes their lives easier.

It's been a humbling experience because it makes me realise how much more I still need to learn. There's also the obvious - being able to demonstrate what I'm preaching!

(By Sod's law, I read an article on the BBC about how mispronouncing names is increasingly seen as an intentional offence. And one thing I need to learn is to pay greater attention to the spelling of names!)

Powerpoint-drunk

Am I suspicious of virtual whiteboards? No.

Do I really need Powerpoint for every single lesson? No.

Can't students wait when we're writing on the virtual whiteboard? Of course, they can.

 

Though I suspect the online mode of communication has subtly changed our expectations. Some would argue that a culture of 'instant information' has taken hold thanks to Google. What do you do when you want to find information about something? Google (it's even become a verb!) it and you'll have the information available in a matter of seconds, which brings me back to the last question above.

Being a fast typer myself, I'm able to minimise student waiting time (SWT?) , but I still prefer pre-written Powerpoint sildes which work exactly as a planned whiteboard. It saves lesson time, which translates to 'greater practice time' (potentially) for the students.

 

Perhaps I should ask myself these questions instead:

• Do I really need to include a visual? Does it serve any teaching or learning purpose?

• Do I need to share my Powerpoint slides for the entire lesson?

• Can I put some slides on a digital worksheet so that my students can work 'off-screen (share)'?

For now, I'd be glad to say goodbye to the orange letter P. Bring on a Powerpoint-free Christmas!

Exam strategies: happy student, happy teacher

I was preparing a student for his CAE (C1 Advanced) in a fortnight.

In Reading (Part 7), candidates are given an article and have to complete gapped paragraphs.

This particular student was struggling a bit in the last lesson, so I came up with two different strategies which he subsequently applied to his homework. EUREKA! When we checked homework earlier today, he got all answers correct. What's more - he had done it under exam conditions!

I'd like to share my two strategies here:

• developing an overall structure of the text - thinking about the main idea of each paragraph (with the aid of topic sentences)
  
  N.B. There's a logical progression of such 'main ideas' in the text, so that candidates can deduce what goes in each gap.
  
  
• lexical references - using them to verify answers, focusing on the cohesion between the previous and the subsequent paragraphs
  

30-hour week (contact/classroom hours) ... Part 2

Some ideas adpated for online lessons which have worked well in my teaching context:

Get to know you (teacher)

• face-to-face (credits to Sonya): I would cut up 5 photos about me, set it as a puzzle, and let my student(s) come up with questions to ask me. For an added challenge, I would split my class into teams and give 1 point to those who asked me a question with a 'yes' answer.
  
   
• online (individual, pairs or trios): I show my students the same set of photos, but I've pixelated them so that everything looks blurry. My student(s) have to guess what the pixelated photos show. Then I progressively reveal the original photos. Finally, I let my student(s) come up with questions to ask me.
  
  
  
• online (larger groups): I show my students 5 (unpixelated) photos, put them in various breakout rooms, and let them come up with questions to ask me. In open class, I ask my students to type their questions in the chat box. Then I reformulate my students' questions where necessary and answer them one by one.
  
  
• online (larger groups): I set up a shared Word document on Google or OneDrive. In this document, I provide a short model paragraph introducing myself; there is designated space for each student to write their own introductions. In the lesson, I paste the link to the shared document in the chat box. My students can read each other's introduction and comment on it.
  

Get to know you (student)

• face-to-face: I would provide some ideas in bullet points for my students, e.g. name, current city, occupation, hobbies and interests, languages spoken, language learning history, motivation for learning English, etc. Then I would put them in pairs for 1 minute. After that, I would change the arrangement so that every student could talk to each other.
  
  
  
• online: I show my students the same ideas in bullet points. Then I put them in various breakout rooms. After a minute, I broadcast an announcement signalling the change of group arrangements. When I move my students to other rooms, I always do it in one of the breakout rooms so that my students know I'm moving some of them elsewhere and bringing others in their current room.
  

Information gap activities

• face-to-face: I would arrange my class into 'A's and 'B's and then give instructions while chesting the role/task cards. Before I hand out the role/task cards, I would check my students' understanding of instructions.
  
   
• online: I set up the breakout rooms first, so that I can arrange my class into 'A's and 'B's according to the breakout room list. Then I give instructions while showing a snapshot of the role/task cards. After that, I paste the link(s) to the role/task cards, which have been uploaded to a shared cloud storage, in the chat box. Before I put my students in various breakout rooms, I make sure everybody is on the same page (i.e. role/task cards fully downloaded) and check understanding of instructions. Finally, I open the breakout rooms.

Writing (50 to 100 words)

• face-to-face: every student would write on seperate pieces of paper. At the end of the Writing task, I would display my students' work around the classroom in a gallery reading activity.
  
  
  
• online: I use a Padlet board so that my students can post their written work. Students can read each other's work and give feedback on it. The Padlet board is automatically saved so that I can give further written feedback after the lesson.
  

 

30-hour week (contact/classroom hours) ... almost done!

(Part 1)

It's been a full-on week teaching online EFL/ESP lessons and one from which I've learnt more than any other.

As we're getting over the shock of the Great Online Shift, I think it would be a good time to shift our focus from how we teach online to how we learn online. Students need a new set of study skills: digital note-taking, organising computer documents, familiarity with software/platforms, etc.

I believe if teachers develop a greater understanding of the 'learner experience', it's going to help them to adapt face-to-face classroom techniques for teaching online lessons. Hence I shall sum up my principles of best practice in 2 'E's: efficiency and effectiveness.

IELTS class starting in 5 - Part 2 to come with practical classroom ideas.

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