So as the course is drawing to a close and I am trying to get the last bits and pieces together for my portfolio it seems like the right time to reflect on how I feel that the course has affected my teaching.
I feel that I have become more confident at identifying foci for my teaching. Instead of just from material I can now identify students' needs and draw content from material. In teaching EFL I had a more grammar focused approach. After completing the CELTA and starting to teach ESOL I started to use a more communicative approach. I feel that I lost too much of the emphasis on language in doing this and that I am now finding a more useful balance. I feel much more confident in my teaching and I have become more professional.
I have increased my theoretical knowledge greatly. I have a much better idea of what is effective teaching and how the skills and language can be taught. This has in turn helped me create teaching materials which I have been able to share with colleagues. However I definitely feel that the course has also been very good at highlighting areas where I need to read further to improve my knowledge.
I feel that working with a full time contract as opposed to through an agency has allowed me to develop as a teacher. The first obvious point is that the college required me to take this course and funded me to do so. Secondly I have had more time in one place during which I have been able to develop materials. I am part of a very tight team who support each other and contribute their expertise.
I have also been able to use the technical resources which the college has and been able to develop interactive content for my classes. These have mainly been materials for the college's interactive whiteboards (SMARTboards) - see http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2006
I've also produced exercises which students can use individually in class and outside through the college's VLE - see http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2045
One area where I still need to improve is in making sure of the reasons behind the stages in my lessons. This is where further study will be very useful - I need to build up a reserve of techniques, supported by theory for different skills and elements of language.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Tutorials...
I had another tutorial today on the course. It was feedback on the lesson that I taught yesterday. There were some good points, I appear to be more conscious of my own language and errors that I might make and I managed to correct myself. I've cut down on walking all over the room as well, which is a positive step.
Now I need to look at language development in the observation which I have next week. I sometimes find this a bit difficult - possibly because my teaching has been 'influenced' by using the DFES produced 'Skills for Life materials which seem to believe that form is just something that happens....
I've got time to work on it so I should be able to get it sorted out....
Now I need to look at language development in the observation which I have next week. I sometimes find this a bit difficult - possibly because my teaching has been 'influenced' by using the DFES produced 'Skills for Life materials which seem to believe that form is just something that happens....
I've got time to work on it so I should be able to get it sorted out....
Found on the web
Doing some research, I found this description of today's learners (esp. with relation to technology, I think that it seems pretty accurate. That's not just for the students, I feel I can identify with a number of the things that it says... have a look:
Frand's 10 characteristics of an information age mindset learner summarised from Frand V L - The Information-Age Mindset. Educause review September/October 200. Vol 35 No. 5.
Computers aren't technology If you can remember the first time that you used a piece of technology, eg the Internet, then it is technology. For me I can't remember the first time that I used a phone, it is not technology for me. For our students, using a PC is not technology, it is just part of life.
Internet better than TV For the first time, since television was introduced, the number of hours that young people spend watching TV has been reduced and replaced with time online. Students are now using the Internet for everything especially socialising and often believe that everything is available on the Internet.
Reality no longer real Through photography, we began to believe what we saw. However, with digital manipulation of images, hoax emails etc. can we believe what we see? How accurate is the information online.
Doing rather than knowing In the past, the shelf life of information would be decades, if not centuries. Now, due to technology, it is measured in months and, sometimes, years. This changes students' attitudes and perceptions of information. Doing and results are seen as more important than knowing information which will be out of date in a few years or even months.
Nintendo over logic The quickest way to win a Nintendo game is to try and try again. Trial and error. If there is a problem, the PC can be rebooted. Students use this approach to learning which contrasts vividly with the more traditional, rule-based approach to solving problems. We need to consider the benefits and disadvantages to ensure that we can meet all learning styles through our use of technology in education.
Multitasking as a way of life Most students are comfortable listening to music, answering an email, talking on the phone and surfing the web simultaneously. Learning with technology will just be one activity that our students will be engaging with. How will this affect the way we present information?
Typing rather than handwriting Most students are more familiar with the keyboard than pens. The digital word can be manipulated easier than paper and re-used and recycled.
Staying connected Students want to stay in touch - wherever, whenever. They have phones, PDAs and bleepers. For learning this means these students do not need or want to be constrained by the physical location of education.
Zero tolerance for delays Our students have grown up in a 24 x 7 culture, customer-service culture. They are used to immediacy. Emails allow students to contact tutors but imply an expected short response time.
Consumer/creator blurring The web has made it easier to create information and make it available. It has also made it easier to access information. For many students, there is now a blurring of creator, user and owner of information.
Found at www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/effective-use-of-VLEs/intro-to-VLEs/introtovle-student/frands-10-char
Frand's 10 characteristics of an information age mindset learner summarised from Frand V L - The Information-Age Mindset. Educause review September/October 200. Vol 35 No. 5.
Computers aren't technology If you can remember the first time that you used a piece of technology, eg the Internet, then it is technology. For me I can't remember the first time that I used a phone, it is not technology for me. For our students, using a PC is not technology, it is just part of life.
Internet better than TV For the first time, since television was introduced, the number of hours that young people spend watching TV has been reduced and replaced with time online. Students are now using the Internet for everything especially socialising and often believe that everything is available on the Internet.
Reality no longer real Through photography, we began to believe what we saw. However, with digital manipulation of images, hoax emails etc. can we believe what we see? How accurate is the information online.
Doing rather than knowing In the past, the shelf life of information would be decades, if not centuries. Now, due to technology, it is measured in months and, sometimes, years. This changes students' attitudes and perceptions of information. Doing and results are seen as more important than knowing information which will be out of date in a few years or even months.
Nintendo over logic The quickest way to win a Nintendo game is to try and try again. Trial and error. If there is a problem, the PC can be rebooted. Students use this approach to learning which contrasts vividly with the more traditional, rule-based approach to solving problems. We need to consider the benefits and disadvantages to ensure that we can meet all learning styles through our use of technology in education.
Multitasking as a way of life Most students are comfortable listening to music, answering an email, talking on the phone and surfing the web simultaneously. Learning with technology will just be one activity that our students will be engaging with. How will this affect the way we present information?
Typing rather than handwriting Most students are more familiar with the keyboard than pens. The digital word can be manipulated easier than paper and re-used and recycled.
Staying connected Students want to stay in touch - wherever, whenever. They have phones, PDAs and bleepers. For learning this means these students do not need or want to be constrained by the physical location of education.
Zero tolerance for delays Our students have grown up in a 24 x 7 culture, customer-service culture. They are used to immediacy. Emails allow students to contact tutors but imply an expected short response time.
Consumer/creator blurring The web has made it easier to create information and make it available. It has also made it easier to access information. For many students, there is now a blurring of creator, user and owner of information.
Found at www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/effective-use-of-VLEs/intro-to-VLEs/introtovle-student/frands-10-char
Sunday, 3 June 2007
SMART notebook....
Another Half-term break over... I got some time to make some more adaptations of Skills for Life materials for the Interactive whiteboards at College. I personally think that it is a very useful resource for teaching ESOL. It allows for stronger visual presentation than printed materials. Students are then able to have a deeper interaction with these visuals than just having them on the pages of their notes. The ability to 'launch' the sound files from the board allows students to feel more in control of the lessons, and gives an alternative to the 'teacher as authority' model. I have produced some drag and drop spelling templates which help learners recognise letter patterns and gives them the opportunity to re-arrange letter to correct any mistakes or errors.
There are also benefits from the admin side of things - these material are relatively easy to use during classes. Also, while they take time to produce, once they're done - they're done and can be shared and re-used. They can also be posted and downloaded from the internet. There are a number of sites which offer Smart Notebook lessons for the primary and secondary sectors - especially in the UK and the US. However I have found little so far for FE sector ESOL. For this reason I have followed the Skills for Life materials. Despite their failings they are very widely used both in the college where I work and in ESOL classes in general, this means that they should be at least adaptable for other people to use. I have made them available (and findable!) to members of staff where I work and I have also posted them at www.talent.ac.uk, which is the best site for finding UK ESOL materials that I have yet found.
The materials can be found at the following locations:
E1 U.6 Neighbourhood - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1946
E1 U.7 Homes - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1945
E1 U.8 Friends and Family - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1967
E1 U.9 Shopping 2 - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2006
E1 U.10 Going to Work - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2027
E2 U.7 Changes - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2028
All these materials are very much work-in-progress I hope that through the talent website people can give me some feedback on these materials and I can then incorporate this into the materials which I have compiled and in a new sets which I try to make. So far I am pleased with the materials that I have managed to produce - It was a nice ego boost to see that some of the above materials come out as the first result in Google when you search for smart notebook esol (at the time of writing). However this is probably more a reflection of the scarcity of these resources, at least in easy to find locations than the quality of the resources. Computer technology takes a lot of the need to re-invent the wheel in teaching, websites such as talent allow people to build on each others knowledge and take things further - so we can start to invent the car, not just the wheels. This is especially true where there is a certain amount of national standardisation i.e. with the DFES' ESOL Core Curriculum.
I have noticed my progress in making these materials as I have learnt more about the SMART notebook software which I use. The spelling template which I have used in the later material I have made for E1 would be appropriate for all units. I need to work more on how to make content relevant for classes at levels above E1 - they seem to require more thought to put together. The latest feature which I have been able to use is linking pages to objects in order to automatically give feedback to students - this can increase engagement with the materials and I should extend this to other materials.
There are still areas which I feel I need to work on in order to improve my practice. I should be more diligent at creating files in class (possibly using templates) and saving them at the end to build up a base of vocabulary, difficulties, explanations etc - this should be fairly easy to do on a blank smart notebook page - or with a simple template, then I need to remember to 'tidy' these files up and keep them in an organised fashion - I think that's going to be my September resolution this year. I've just been looking at the new version of the smart notebook software and it has a few more functions which could be useful for this - by allowing more than one page to be displayed at a time. I also need to find more ways that the students can have access to the materials through the college VLE. As the program will import PowerPoint files, it might be better to use powerpoint as it is a much more widely used application.
Also I found these articles out in the big WWW which might be interesting:
http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/files/fe21_access_a-level.pdf
http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/files/fe10_plumbing.pdf
There are also benefits from the admin side of things - these material are relatively easy to use during classes. Also, while they take time to produce, once they're done - they're done and can be shared and re-used. They can also be posted and downloaded from the internet. There are a number of sites which offer Smart Notebook lessons for the primary and secondary sectors - especially in the UK and the US. However I have found little so far for FE sector ESOL. For this reason I have followed the Skills for Life materials. Despite their failings they are very widely used both in the college where I work and in ESOL classes in general, this means that they should be at least adaptable for other people to use. I have made them available (and findable!) to members of staff where I work and I have also posted them at www.talent.ac.uk, which is the best site for finding UK ESOL materials that I have yet found.
The materials can be found at the following locations:
E1 U.6 Neighbourhood - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1946
E1 U.7 Homes - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1945
E1 U.8 Friends and Family - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1967
E1 U.9 Shopping 2 - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2006
E1 U.10 Going to Work - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2027
E2 U.7 Changes - http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=2028
All these materials are very much work-in-progress I hope that through the talent website people can give me some feedback on these materials and I can then incorporate this into the materials which I have compiled and in a new sets which I try to make. So far I am pleased with the materials that I have managed to produce - It was a nice ego boost to see that some of the above materials come out as the first result in Google when you search for smart notebook esol (at the time of writing). However this is probably more a reflection of the scarcity of these resources, at least in easy to find locations than the quality of the resources. Computer technology takes a lot of the need to re-invent the wheel in teaching, websites such as talent allow people to build on each others knowledge and take things further - so we can start to invent the car, not just the wheels. This is especially true where there is a certain amount of national standardisation i.e. with the DFES' ESOL Core Curriculum.
I have noticed my progress in making these materials as I have learnt more about the SMART notebook software which I use. The spelling template which I have used in the later material I have made for E1 would be appropriate for all units. I need to work more on how to make content relevant for classes at levels above E1 - they seem to require more thought to put together. The latest feature which I have been able to use is linking pages to objects in order to automatically give feedback to students - this can increase engagement with the materials and I should extend this to other materials.
There are still areas which I feel I need to work on in order to improve my practice. I should be more diligent at creating files in class (possibly using templates) and saving them at the end to build up a base of vocabulary, difficulties, explanations etc - this should be fairly easy to do on a blank smart notebook page - or with a simple template, then I need to remember to 'tidy' these files up and keep them in an organised fashion - I think that's going to be my September resolution this year. I've just been looking at the new version of the smart notebook software and it has a few more functions which could be useful for this - by allowing more than one page to be displayed at a time. I also need to find more ways that the students can have access to the materials through the college VLE. As the program will import PowerPoint files, it might be better to use powerpoint as it is a much more widely used application.
Also I found these articles out in the big WWW which might be interesting:
http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/files/fe21_access_a-level.pdf
http://www.evaluation.icttestbed.org.uk/files/fe10_plumbing.pdf
Saturday, 26 May 2007
Writing
I'm glad half-term's come around - I need a break... too many assignments and things in May - on top of that there was the OFSTED inspection. Now I just need to get the final bits together for my portfolio, that's the biggest task at the moment.
I finally managed to get a decent writing lesson with my Evening class this week... I think the secret is to have lots of separate writing tasks that students can complete independently. Then you just sit there marking them as they come in... seems to work well. I feel confident that all the students should be able to pass their exams.
I finally managed to get a decent writing lesson with my Evening class this week... I think the secret is to have lots of separate writing tasks that students can complete independently. Then you just sit there marking them as they come in... seems to work well. I feel confident that all the students should be able to pass their exams.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
I've been playing with Slideshows this week.... I'm not convinced how useful they are - but they look snazzy
The only question is if sticking that up on moodle will actually help my students....
I think my e-ILPs are going well - it's a shame that the group I'm teaching is E1, because they don't really have the confidence to really take ownership of them - it'd be great if they commented on them and we established another channel of dialogue - that can be another goal for next year. Until October last year I didn't really know what Moodle was, so I'm still learning - next term I'll be able to hit the ground running.
INSPECTION OVER!!!!!!!!!!! We survived.... working 'til 4am putting together lesson plans, and for what? They didn't even look at us... oh well, the college came out with everything we wanted. We're officially grade 2 (except, ahem, ESOL is only grade 3 - that's something to look at.). The only problem is that now everything seems like a bit of an anticlimax.... we've still got to go on until July!
As for the course.... well it's getting serious two resubmits and another essay due in for next Tuesday - sounds like it'll be a long weekend - I keep promising myself that I'll get everything finished earlier - and then I just don't get it done. I've been working til 4am on almost all of the assignments so far. I'm dreading the thought of the portfolio... it sounds scary... I've got most of the stuff - it's all documentation that I put together for the inspection, it's just a case of chasing it up and sorting it out. The lessons plans are a bit daunting - but I'll make it somehow.
As for the teaching - now we're just making sure that all the course is covered and that the students are ready for whatever they might get thrown at them by the exams.
Anyway, I ought to go now, it's getting late.... 'til the next time.
The only question is if sticking that up on moodle will actually help my students....
I think my e-ILPs are going well - it's a shame that the group I'm teaching is E1, because they don't really have the confidence to really take ownership of them - it'd be great if they commented on them and we established another channel of dialogue - that can be another goal for next year. Until October last year I didn't really know what Moodle was, so I'm still learning - next term I'll be able to hit the ground running.
INSPECTION OVER!!!!!!!!!!! We survived.... working 'til 4am putting together lesson plans, and for what? They didn't even look at us... oh well, the college came out with everything we wanted. We're officially grade 2 (except, ahem, ESOL is only grade 3 - that's something to look at.). The only problem is that now everything seems like a bit of an anticlimax.... we've still got to go on until July!
As for the course.... well it's getting serious two resubmits and another essay due in for next Tuesday - sounds like it'll be a long weekend - I keep promising myself that I'll get everything finished earlier - and then I just don't get it done. I've been working til 4am on almost all of the assignments so far. I'm dreading the thought of the portfolio... it sounds scary... I've got most of the stuff - it's all documentation that I put together for the inspection, it's just a case of chasing it up and sorting it out. The lessons plans are a bit daunting - but I'll make it somehow.
As for the teaching - now we're just making sure that all the course is covered and that the students are ready for whatever they might get thrown at them by the exams.
Anyway, I ought to go now, it's getting late.... 'til the next time.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
March
This was never meant to become a monthly thing.... but it seems to be becoming one. Oh well... time to get on with the writing.
First thing this month is that I've posted some materials on www.talent.ac.uk (or http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1946 and http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1945 to be more precise) I've been meaning to do it for ages but I needed to sort out some concerns that I've had about copyright... it's all Skills for Life stuff just tweaked for interactive whiteboards and powerpoint - so it's not like I wrote them or anything - it's just very useful. It is visually stronger than just using printed notes and allows for some kinaesthetic work to break up long lessons. Having the sound files embedded as MP3s is so much easier than having to faff about with tapes as well...
What I hadn't realised is how much easier it makes it for me to recap what I had covered in a previous lesson - I can easily show the content covered and play the recordings again for students to get further practice (also good for students with v.flaky attendance!). The only problem is that they take a while to produce.... hopefully by the end of this year I'll have a full set of files for E1 (though the first few need a lot of tweaking).
This month I have also been trying to implement a more student centred approach to my teaching and trying to identify individual targets for students, but in a practical way. It seems to be working - I'm still at the learner training stage of the trial at the moment.
Basically the approach I'm taking follows these steps:
Today we had a session on the course about teaching the writing process (and other approaches) It was interesting and there was some stuff that I can work on there - especially with my E1s, I've done some similar stuff using the computer, but I should try some on paper.
The other session was on the lexical approach - This had some pointers which I should be able to include in my teaching:
First thing this month is that I've posted some materials on www.talent.ac.uk (or http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1946 and http://www.talent.ac.uk/dsearch_details.asp?DocumentID=1945 to be more precise) I've been meaning to do it for ages but I needed to sort out some concerns that I've had about copyright... it's all Skills for Life stuff just tweaked for interactive whiteboards and powerpoint - so it's not like I wrote them or anything - it's just very useful. It is visually stronger than just using printed notes and allows for some kinaesthetic work to break up long lessons. Having the sound files embedded as MP3s is so much easier than having to faff about with tapes as well...
What I hadn't realised is how much easier it makes it for me to recap what I had covered in a previous lesson - I can easily show the content covered and play the recordings again for students to get further practice (also good for students with v.flaky attendance!). The only problem is that they take a while to produce.... hopefully by the end of this year I'll have a full set of files for E1 (though the first few need a lot of tweaking).
This month I have also been trying to implement a more student centred approach to my teaching and trying to identify individual targets for students, but in a practical way. It seems to be working - I'm still at the learner training stage of the trial at the moment.
Basically the approach I'm taking follows these steps:
- Ask students to identify interests/relevant areas from the front page of each Sfl unit.
- I identify SMART(ish) targets for each student for the unit and discuss this with the students.
- From these targets I extract the component skills ie. The ESOL Curriculum references.
- I compile a list of skills that are relevant to the targets of each student.
- Lessons are planned to include at least one skill from each student's target.
- An end of unit test is compiled to test each student's target.
Today we had a session on the course about teaching the writing process (and other approaches) It was interesting and there was some stuff that I can work on there - especially with my E1s, I've done some similar stuff using the computer, but I should try some on paper.
The other session was on the lexical approach - This had some pointers which I should be able to include in my teaching:
- Always give contexts for words presented.
- Give extra collocations for words presented.
- Train students to look for collocations in texts.
- Train students to record new vocab with its collocates.
- Use authentic materials where possible.
Monday, 12 February 2007
February at Last
February.....
Since I last posted here I've been playing with techonology - I've been able to use the MP3 player to record students during classes. I've used this to set up listening activities afterwards to allow Ss to listen to themselves and I've been able to post the recordings on to the Moodle VLE. This way the students are free to listen to themselves whenever they want.
Other practical uses that I've found for recording Students is in carrying out diagnostic tests and in exploring task-based learning.
That's been my BIG THING this term... task-based learning. One of the criticisms of an early lesson which I was observed teaching was that there was not a strong enough theoretical basis to my teaching. After reading a number of books I decided that Jane Willis' interpretation of Task based learning was practical. I first tried it out on a very "easy to teach" E2 group and then I tried it on a more 'difficult' E1 group. It seemed to go well - and I was observed in the E1 lesson I think this should help inform my teaching from now on.......
The most important thing that I'vew got to remember is to let the students use the language that they already know before I start trying to work on form - this gives the Students a chance to feel confident in what they know and a chance to contextualise their language. The form exercises then help them take it that bit further.
I've seen the opposite this weekend - I've just started studying on a language course and it has so far shown me the importance of the teacher being confident in what they do and allowing the students to dictate the pace of the lesson. Having been introduced to grammar grids straight after "learning" how to say "bonjour" didn't really help me. I feel that I would have felt much more comfortable seeing the grammar work after a good practice session. Oh well.... see how it goes from here.
The next thing that I've got to get my head round are diagnostics and schemes of work. I'm going to read "teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom" by Trisha Hedge to see if that gives me any clues
Since I last posted here I've been playing with techonology - I've been able to use the MP3 player to record students during classes. I've used this to set up listening activities afterwards to allow Ss to listen to themselves and I've been able to post the recordings on to the Moodle VLE. This way the students are free to listen to themselves whenever they want.
Other practical uses that I've found for recording Students is in carrying out diagnostic tests and in exploring task-based learning.
That's been my BIG THING this term... task-based learning. One of the criticisms of an early lesson which I was observed teaching was that there was not a strong enough theoretical basis to my teaching. After reading a number of books I decided that Jane Willis' interpretation of Task based learning was practical. I first tried it out on a very "easy to teach" E2 group and then I tried it on a more 'difficult' E1 group. It seemed to go well - and I was observed in the E1 lesson I think this should help inform my teaching from now on.......
The most important thing that I'vew got to remember is to let the students use the language that they already know before I start trying to work on form - this gives the Students a chance to feel confident in what they know and a chance to contextualise their language. The form exercises then help them take it that bit further.
I've seen the opposite this weekend - I've just started studying on a language course and it has so far shown me the importance of the teacher being confident in what they do and allowing the students to dictate the pace of the lesson. Having been introduced to grammar grids straight after "learning" how to say "bonjour" didn't really help me. I feel that I would have felt much more comfortable seeing the grammar work after a good practice session. Oh well.... see how it goes from here.
The next thing that I've got to get my head round are diagnostics and schemes of work. I'm going to read "teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom" by Trisha Hedge to see if that gives me any clues
Sunday, 14 January 2007
New Year
Ok, January starts and we're back into the swing of things.....
Term started with my induction and a couple of training days... To be honest there wasn't a huge amount of new stuff - we've still not managed to reach a decent point on ILPs. Though we are now going to try to get Students to stick them in the front of their folders so that they are at least a bit more prominent in their minds. I'm going to produce a nice clear targets document for my class file - that should help me give my planning a bit of direction.
You may be asking what's brought on all of this - well, there is a distinct possibility that OFSTED are going to come and inspect us this year, so we need to be able to scare them off with wads of paperwork.... Hmmm here goes.
It should have some value in terms of teaching and it should make my planning a bit more coherent, so I'm up for giving it a try.
We're also going to try and introduce some collaborative curriculum design with our students. I'm not sure how well it'll work with my E1s, but it should help give them some kind of ownership of the process.
We're going to try and link these procedures by taking our targets from the tasks suggested by the Ss - so the process should be a whole lot more coherent.
This also fitted well with the session that I had at Tower Hamlets - we were looking at designing schemes of work. The reality is that a scheme of work is much more useful if it is designed after you know the students reasonably well - thus taking into account their needs. Of course we don't do that at work, which makes my assignment a bit harder.... Hmmm. I have talked about this with my boss - but he pointed out that if classes all had different schemes of work then that would make it a bit more difficult to fit in with the rest of the institution.
We also looked at intonation, word stress and their importance for meaning - I need to get more of this into my teaching - I hate teaching pronuciation, I really hate it - just beacuse I can never do it naturally when I'm trying to say it... it just gets all unnatural. I guess I just need to practise this more before the lesson and then drill it. A useful technique would probably be drawing attention to differences in meaning caused buy changes in intonation - I'll try that a bit more.
Linked into a few of these things is my latest idea is to record my students more. I've resisted the idea for a while just because it gets so messy - you get loads of tapes whic you have to keep, edit, wrestle with the technology. I just haven't been bothered to deal with all that stuff. However now technology has offered some other solutions - from the Teaching English website from the BBC and the British Council I read about one teacher who recorded her Students on to MP3s and then emailed these back to them. It can all be done online very easily - it is far more convienient to access and store and it can very easily be copied giving the teacher and the student a permanent record of their ability at a particular point in time. I think it would probably fit very well into the diagnostic/ILP/tutorial cycle and help to motivate Ss as they hear the difference in their work.
Now the big question? What do I need to do this....? The software doesn't seem to be an issue - there are things that you can download as freeware, can't remember the name - but I'll add in a link as soon as I find it... It's just a question of hardware at work we've got these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Q1) which are great but they seem to be 'technical overkill' if that's a word. They've got loads of bells and whistles and cost over £600. On the other hand most of our classrooms have a PC in them and we could use them with a microphone - there's a bit less flexibility there unless we get a long microphone cable, which certainly wouldn't be impossible. However my favourite idea at the moment is to get hold of a small personal MP3 player that can record. They start at about £20 - I just have no idea of the quality. I've got a nice shiny iPod, but mics are expensive, and I'm not sure how generally compatible they are with the simple software programs that I want to use.... Anyway I might start my experiments this week - then I'll put some of the results up here.
OK, I'll leave it here for now - that's plenty of writing for now........
Term started with my induction and a couple of training days... To be honest there wasn't a huge amount of new stuff - we've still not managed to reach a decent point on ILPs. Though we are now going to try to get Students to stick them in the front of their folders so that they are at least a bit more prominent in their minds. I'm going to produce a nice clear targets document for my class file - that should help me give my planning a bit of direction.
You may be asking what's brought on all of this - well, there is a distinct possibility that OFSTED are going to come and inspect us this year, so we need to be able to scare them off with wads of paperwork.... Hmmm here goes.
It should have some value in terms of teaching and it should make my planning a bit more coherent, so I'm up for giving it a try.
We're also going to try and introduce some collaborative curriculum design with our students. I'm not sure how well it'll work with my E1s, but it should help give them some kind of ownership of the process.
We're going to try and link these procedures by taking our targets from the tasks suggested by the Ss - so the process should be a whole lot more coherent.
This also fitted well with the session that I had at Tower Hamlets - we were looking at designing schemes of work. The reality is that a scheme of work is much more useful if it is designed after you know the students reasonably well - thus taking into account their needs. Of course we don't do that at work, which makes my assignment a bit harder.... Hmmm. I have talked about this with my boss - but he pointed out that if classes all had different schemes of work then that would make it a bit more difficult to fit in with the rest of the institution.
We also looked at intonation, word stress and their importance for meaning - I need to get more of this into my teaching - I hate teaching pronuciation, I really hate it - just beacuse I can never do it naturally when I'm trying to say it... it just gets all unnatural. I guess I just need to practise this more before the lesson and then drill it. A useful technique would probably be drawing attention to differences in meaning caused buy changes in intonation - I'll try that a bit more.
Linked into a few of these things is my latest idea is to record my students more. I've resisted the idea for a while just because it gets so messy - you get loads of tapes whic you have to keep, edit, wrestle with the technology. I just haven't been bothered to deal with all that stuff. However now technology has offered some other solutions - from the Teaching English website from the BBC and the British Council I read about one teacher who recorded her Students on to MP3s and then emailed these back to them. It can all be done online very easily - it is far more convienient to access and store and it can very easily be copied giving the teacher and the student a permanent record of their ability at a particular point in time. I think it would probably fit very well into the diagnostic/ILP/tutorial cycle and help to motivate Ss as they hear the difference in their work.
Now the big question? What do I need to do this....? The software doesn't seem to be an issue - there are things that you can download as freeware, can't remember the name - but I'll add in a link as soon as I find it... It's just a question of hardware at work we've got these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Q1) which are great but they seem to be 'technical overkill' if that's a word. They've got loads of bells and whistles and cost over £600. On the other hand most of our classrooms have a PC in them and we could use them with a microphone - there's a bit less flexibility there unless we get a long microphone cable, which certainly wouldn't be impossible. However my favourite idea at the moment is to get hold of a small personal MP3 player that can record. They start at about £20 - I just have no idea of the quality. I've got a nice shiny iPod, but mics are expensive, and I'm not sure how generally compatible they are with the simple software programs that I want to use.... Anyway I might start my experiments this week - then I'll put some of the results up here.
OK, I'll leave it here for now - that's plenty of writing for now........
Sunday, 31 December 2006
Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching - Diane Larsen-Freeman
I've been reading "Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching by Diane Larsen-Freeman, Second Edition (Oxford university Press, 2000). I bought the book from amazon.co.uk
In this book Larsen-Freeman outlines a series of teaching methodologies and techniques in some detail. She outlines the techniques appropriate for each methodology and some of the theory and principles underpinning them.
The methods looked at are as follows:
As to my own personal reflections.... well:
I have probably included elements of the direct and audio-lingual methods in my teaching, Communicative Language teaching is probably the closest single method to my personal teaching.
Some of the principles of the Silent Way are interesting - I think learners would have to be 'trained' before they would respond to the 'pure' way of teaching silently in the book but I think that the idea that the teacher should let students work together to find answers before providing them - that the teacher should create a space for learners to 'perform'.
Desuggestopedia seems a little bit 'spaced-out' to convince Ss. It could perhaps work in a fairly pure form with Ss who have become somewhat disillusioned with other methods of language teaching - but probably wouldn't work for classes with discipline issues. I do like the idea of making the experience as comfortable as possible for learners and trying to activate students' peripheral learning. Playing music in the background of classes seems to help some Ss - I've certainly found that it helps me when I'm studying! Posters of different language items hung up in the classroom seems to be helpful. The use of interactive whiteboards in our college would seem to help us in this regard as it makes it easier to produce more visually-stimulating materials for use in the classroom.
Community language learning is a methodology made for an EFL classroom it would seem - being much more practical with monolingual students. I would find it hard to apply in my current contexts because a) classes tend to be multilingual and in those where there are few L1s they tend to be Lithuanian and Polish - languages which I don't speak. I could apply it if I had a class of Spanish and Portuguese speakers, but that seems to be unlikely within the present FE ESOL context. It is an interesting methodology because it goes against the training that I have had up to now, I would like to be able to try it in order to see it in operation. The reality is that when I worked in EFL I was a 'novelty' as a native speaker and so the institutions that I worked for wanted me to use as much 'realistic' English as possible - this method would appear to be easier for a non-native teacher in the contexts that I worked, mainly for the way the institutions viewed their native speaker resources.
Total Physical Response - This is a promising way to include kinaesthetic learners, I feel that I could include more of these elements in my teaching and should try to... First New Year's Resolution.
Content-based, Task-based and Participatory Approaches. These approaches seem to be in vogue at the moment and I feel that they are appropriate to my context. My second new year's resolution is to try and read as much as I can on these approaches and try to implement them successfully.
Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning and Multiple Intelligences. These are other areas which I would like to develop further - I have used some learner-training exercises but I feel that I should try to use them in a more coherent fashion and include them clearly in a scheme of work. Following on from that Co-operative learner is a very interesting method which could be used to help classes gel better. We will have new students in our classes in January this could be a good way to bring them in to the groups. Howard Gardner's Multiple intelligence theory has been explained to me in loads of different places, however Larsen-Freeman does include an interesting lesson outline from Emmanuela Agostini that could use seven of Gardner's intelligences. I need to look at that and see if there was a way I could use something similar in my context.
In this book Larsen-Freeman outlines a series of teaching methodologies and techniques in some detail. She outlines the techniques appropriate for each methodology and some of the theory and principles underpinning them.
The methods looked at are as follows:
- The Grammar - Translation Method
- The Direct Method
- The Audio-Lingual Method
- The Silent Way
- Desuggestopedia (also known as Suggestopedia)
- Community Language Learning
- Total Physical Response
- Communicative Language Teaching
- Content-based, Task-based and Participatory Approaches
- Learning Strategy Training, Co-operative Learning and Multiple Intelligences.
As to my own personal reflections.... well:
I have probably included elements of the direct and audio-lingual methods in my teaching, Communicative Language teaching is probably the closest single method to my personal teaching.
Some of the principles of the Silent Way are interesting - I think learners would have to be 'trained' before they would respond to the 'pure' way of teaching silently in the book but I think that the idea that the teacher should let students work together to find answers before providing them - that the teacher should create a space for learners to 'perform'.
Desuggestopedia seems a little bit 'spaced-out' to convince Ss. It could perhaps work in a fairly pure form with Ss who have become somewhat disillusioned with other methods of language teaching - but probably wouldn't work for classes with discipline issues. I do like the idea of making the experience as comfortable as possible for learners and trying to activate students' peripheral learning. Playing music in the background of classes seems to help some Ss - I've certainly found that it helps me when I'm studying! Posters of different language items hung up in the classroom seems to be helpful. The use of interactive whiteboards in our college would seem to help us in this regard as it makes it easier to produce more visually-stimulating materials for use in the classroom.
Community language learning is a methodology made for an EFL classroom it would seem - being much more practical with monolingual students. I would find it hard to apply in my current contexts because a) classes tend to be multilingual and in those where there are few L1s they tend to be Lithuanian and Polish - languages which I don't speak. I could apply it if I had a class of Spanish and Portuguese speakers, but that seems to be unlikely within the present FE ESOL context. It is an interesting methodology because it goes against the training that I have had up to now, I would like to be able to try it in order to see it in operation. The reality is that when I worked in EFL I was a 'novelty' as a native speaker and so the institutions that I worked for wanted me to use as much 'realistic' English as possible - this method would appear to be easier for a non-native teacher in the contexts that I worked, mainly for the way the institutions viewed their native speaker resources.
Total Physical Response - This is a promising way to include kinaesthetic learners, I feel that I could include more of these elements in my teaching and should try to... First New Year's Resolution.
Content-based, Task-based and Participatory Approaches. These approaches seem to be in vogue at the moment and I feel that they are appropriate to my context. My second new year's resolution is to try and read as much as I can on these approaches and try to implement them successfully.
Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning and Multiple Intelligences. These are other areas which I would like to develop further - I have used some learner-training exercises but I feel that I should try to use them in a more coherent fashion and include them clearly in a scheme of work. Following on from that Co-operative learner is a very interesting method which could be used to help classes gel better. We will have new students in our classes in January this could be a good way to bring them in to the groups. Howard Gardner's Multiple intelligence theory has been explained to me in loads of different places, however Larsen-Freeman does include an interesting lesson outline from Emmanuela Agostini that could use seven of Gardner's intelligences. I need to look at that and see if there was a way I could use something similar in my context.
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
Discourse and Content in Language Teaching
I have been reading "Discourse and Context in Language Teaching" by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Elite Olshtain.
The book shows how the choice of grammar and lexis is affected by the discourse level and the implications of this for language teaching.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain talk about the importance of 'Pragmatics' and how the speaker's intention and context affects the meaning of what they say.
The affects of discourse on phonology are analysed (intonation, rhythm, etc.) as in the effect of discourse on grammatical forms.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain make it clear that all new grammar forms must be presented and tested in context.
Complete texts can be used to present vocabulary, however the authors concede that there are different ways of teaching vocabulary.
The authors investigate the different skills and suggest that we use both top-down and bottom-up strategies in reading, listening, writing and speaking and suggests ways that all these strategies (particularly the top-down) can be taught.
The final part of the book suggests how this can be implemented in the design of syllabuses and curriculums.
Borrowed from the Library at Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square, L0ndon E1
The book shows how the choice of grammar and lexis is affected by the discourse level and the implications of this for language teaching.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain talk about the importance of 'Pragmatics' and how the speaker's intention and context affects the meaning of what they say.
The affects of discourse on phonology are analysed (intonation, rhythm, etc.) as in the effect of discourse on grammatical forms.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain make it clear that all new grammar forms must be presented and tested in context.
Complete texts can be used to present vocabulary, however the authors concede that there are different ways of teaching vocabulary.
The authors investigate the different skills and suggest that we use both top-down and bottom-up strategies in reading, listening, writing and speaking and suggests ways that all these strategies (particularly the top-down) can be taught.
The final part of the book suggests how this can be implemented in the design of syllabuses and curriculums.
Borrowed from the Library at Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square, L0ndon E1
Thursday, 14 December 2006
Letter to my MP
Dear Lyn Brown,
I am writing to you to draw attention to Early Day Motion 383 'English for Speakers of Other Language Funding' tabled on the 4th of December by Helen Jones. The motion expresses concern at the Government's plans to cut ESOL funding for migrant workers and asylum seekers.
As an ESOL lecturer, at Barking College, one may consider that I have a vested interest. I cannot deny that. However, I would also consider that I am also in a good position to see the effects of English-Language tuition on migrant workers and as a Newham resident - your constituent, and tutor for several Newham residents (including many who are looking to take UK citizenship - to become your constituents) I would like to state my concern over this issue.
English language skills are vital for integration in this country. It should be clear to you, as a representative of one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse areas of the country that this is vital for residents of West Ham - both those who wish to learn English and those who already speak English, or are British themselves.
Migrant workers are one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, if they are unable to speak English it is far more likely that they can be exploited by unscrupulous employers. This will have a knock-on effect on the local population - if more people are being exploited at below the minimun wage it will be harder for all workers to earn a living wage. On a far more simplistic level the more migrant workers are able to speak English, the more money they will earn and the more tax they will pay.
As the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Communities minister Mr. Phil Woolas you will be aware that he has raised concerns over the amount of money spent on translation services and suggested that the balance should be shifted further towards English Language courses. Is it not then incoherent that this is being coupled with some of the biggest cuts to ESOL funding in recent history.
Also I note that you raised a written question over the EAL provision in Newham schools, which was answered in July of this year. Are you in agreement that for the same reasons that English as an additional language provision is vital, so is the ESOL provision offered by FE colleges.
I am writing to ask that you sign the above mentioned EDM and ask your colleagues to do the same. Your experience in Newham should make clear that role that English language learning plays in promoting community engagement, and how limiting a lack of English proficiency can be.
I await your reply with interest.
Yours Sincerely,
-Philip Bird
I am writing to you to draw attention to Early Day Motion 383 'English for Speakers of Other Language Funding' tabled on the 4th of December by Helen Jones. The motion expresses concern at the Government's plans to cut ESOL funding for migrant workers and asylum seekers.
As an ESOL lecturer, at Barking College, one may consider that I have a vested interest. I cannot deny that. However, I would also consider that I am also in a good position to see the effects of English-Language tuition on migrant workers and as a Newham resident - your constituent, and tutor for several Newham residents (including many who are looking to take UK citizenship - to become your constituents) I would like to state my concern over this issue.
English language skills are vital for integration in this country. It should be clear to you, as a representative of one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse areas of the country that this is vital for residents of West Ham - both those who wish to learn English and those who already speak English, or are British themselves.
Migrant workers are one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, if they are unable to speak English it is far more likely that they can be exploited by unscrupulous employers. This will have a knock-on effect on the local population - if more people are being exploited at below the minimun wage it will be harder for all workers to earn a living wage. On a far more simplistic level the more migrant workers are able to speak English, the more money they will earn and the more tax they will pay.
As the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Communities minister Mr. Phil Woolas you will be aware that he has raised concerns over the amount of money spent on translation services and suggested that the balance should be shifted further towards English Language courses. Is it not then incoherent that this is being coupled with some of the biggest cuts to ESOL funding in recent history.
Also I note that you raised a written question over the EAL provision in Newham schools, which was answered in July of this year. Are you in agreement that for the same reasons that English as an additional language provision is vital, so is the ESOL provision offered by FE colleges.
I am writing to ask that you sign the above mentioned EDM and ask your colleagues to do the same. Your experience in Newham should make clear that role that English language learning plays in promoting community engagement, and how limiting a lack of English proficiency can be.
I await your reply with interest.
Yours Sincerely,
-Philip Bird
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Tutorials....
This week we had our first lot of tutorials...... and there are a few things that I need to work on. I think I need to brush up a bit on methodology and develop my own style... which I don't have much of at the moment.
Hopefully that should lead my classes to be somewhat more effective - So that's a big load of teaching theory reading I need to do over Christmas.
Apart from that, the biggest thing we looked at today were ILPs - and the discussions which revolve around them. There really does seem to very little in terms of help with the practical problems around applying them - there's plenty of good theory around, but I really haven't seen anyone who can use them effectively. It's a big problem at work, so I'll feed in what I've found out and read and see if it helps. I get the feeling from Tower Hamlets that because they do such a detailed diagnostic, which clearly informs their planning the ILP becomes less relevant, but I need to find out more.
Anyway, I have to leave this now, as it's getting really late.
Hopefully that should lead my classes to be somewhat more effective - So that's a big load of teaching theory reading I need to do over Christmas.
Apart from that, the biggest thing we looked at today were ILPs - and the discussions which revolve around them. There really does seem to very little in terms of help with the practical problems around applying them - there's plenty of good theory around, but I really haven't seen anyone who can use them effectively. It's a big problem at work, so I'll feed in what I've found out and read and see if it helps. I get the feeling from Tower Hamlets that because they do such a detailed diagnostic, which clearly informs their planning the ILP becomes less relevant, but I need to find out more.
Anyway, I have to leave this now, as it's getting really late.
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
...so here it begins....
....at the beginning. Well, no - in fact it's beginning around the middle, but all's well that end's well, so I'm assured.
I guess I should include some beginning type stuff - I am a lecturer in ESOL at a Further Education College on the outskirts of East London and I am taking a training course with a huge great long name that is crying out for an acronym - I can only imagine that the English Language Teaching, sorry ELT world seems to have run out of acronyms. In my case this course is a follow up to a CELTA (Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults) in order to help my transition from teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) so that the DFES (Department For Education and Skills) will recognise me as a QTLS (no, still not sure on this one).
This is a result of last weeks session on the (ahem, wait for it) Certificate in Further Education Stage 3 with the Certificate for Subject Specialists qualification (try saying that when you're, er... tired) at Tower Hamlets College.
We had the importance of reflective development impressed upon us - and as well as being a requirement for our course it seems to be a very sensible procedure. So here goes....
I recently had an observation at short notice, well it was kind of a meta-observation - my boss was being observed observing me... It was a bit of a disaster to be frank, so I've been a bit concerned about the observation that I'm going to have this week on the course. I've been trying to plan my lessons with a lot more thoroughness - I usually get a bit (read, very) lazy so that's my target at the moment. That and making my lessons engage my students a bit more.
Another thing which happened recently was that I went on a training course in a Kensington Hotel (very, swish) on Differentiation last week. This was a real eye-opener when it comes to teaching multi-level (as ESOL classes often tend to be) classes. Basically differentiation is something which has to run right through my classes - which means that I just need to write down things that I would normally do... that and manage my group work much closer... Ok that's one to put on my list.
This weeks session at Tower Hamlets (slightly less posh) was looking at Assessments, Diagnostics and ICT/IT/e-learning/ILT (insert current buzzword here) and it was very useful. Particularly thought provoking was looking at Douglas-Brown's criteria for assessing assessments - and that basically the diagnostics used by most colleges (including ours, lovingly cribbed from Tower Hamlets College) are somewhat lacking, because - among other things:
Next week we'll be looking at ILP's (spits on floor with disgust). It seems that the Arbour Square team have almost completely eliminated them for ESOL. How they managed to do that and not get an OFSTED SWAT team abseiling through the windows is beyond me, so I'll be paying very close attention to that one next week.
Then in the afternoon with Graciano Soares, we looked at e-learning policies - to sum everything up, basically the government sees it as essential that teaching practitioners remain up-to-date with Information Technology. That's probably a sensible thing, because almost all areas of work need IT, so it fits with the vocational 'into-work' focus of the current government. I couldn't really disagree with it - but I could do with a bit more training in how exactly to TEACH IT, I have no problem using it, but I could do with a few more opportunities to practice.
Anyway, got to go now... it's getting late - hopefully this should be pretty much a weekly occurrence - I'm definitely going to try and keep it up.
I guess I should include some beginning type stuff - I am a lecturer in ESOL at a Further Education College on the outskirts of East London and I am taking a training course with a huge great long name that is crying out for an acronym - I can only imagine that the English Language Teaching, sorry ELT world seems to have run out of acronyms. In my case this course is a follow up to a CELTA (Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults) in order to help my transition from teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) so that the DFES (Department For Education and Skills) will recognise me as a QTLS (no, still not sure on this one).
This is a result of last weeks session on the (ahem, wait for it) Certificate in Further Education Stage 3 with the Certificate for Subject Specialists qualification (try saying that when you're, er... tired) at Tower Hamlets College.
We had the importance of reflective development impressed upon us - and as well as being a requirement for our course it seems to be a very sensible procedure. So here goes....
I recently had an observation at short notice, well it was kind of a meta-observation - my boss was being observed observing me... It was a bit of a disaster to be frank, so I've been a bit concerned about the observation that I'm going to have this week on the course. I've been trying to plan my lessons with a lot more thoroughness - I usually get a bit (read, very) lazy so that's my target at the moment. That and making my lessons engage my students a bit more.
Another thing which happened recently was that I went on a training course in a Kensington Hotel (very, swish) on Differentiation last week. This was a real eye-opener when it comes to teaching multi-level (as ESOL classes often tend to be) classes. Basically differentiation is something which has to run right through my classes - which means that I just need to write down things that I would normally do... that and manage my group work much closer... Ok that's one to put on my list.
This weeks session at Tower Hamlets (slightly less posh) was looking at Assessments, Diagnostics and ICT/IT/e-learning/ILT (insert current buzzword here) and it was very useful. Particularly thought provoking was looking at Douglas-Brown's criteria for assessing assessments - and that basically the diagnostics used by most colleges (including ours, lovingly cribbed from Tower Hamlets College) are somewhat lacking, because - among other things:
- They feel like an exam, so Ss don't relax.
- They don't set any context so Ss can't get a hold easily on the content.
- They don't give realistic tasks that transparently test the four skills independently
Next week we'll be looking at ILP's (spits on floor with disgust). It seems that the Arbour Square team have almost completely eliminated them for ESOL. How they managed to do that and not get an OFSTED SWAT team abseiling through the windows is beyond me, so I'll be paying very close attention to that one next week.
Then in the afternoon with Graciano Soares, we looked at e-learning policies - to sum everything up, basically the government sees it as essential that teaching practitioners remain up-to-date with Information Technology. That's probably a sensible thing, because almost all areas of work need IT, so it fits with the vocational 'into-work' focus of the current government. I couldn't really disagree with it - but I could do with a bit more training in how exactly to TEACH IT, I have no problem using it, but I could do with a few more opportunities to practice.
Anyway, got to go now... it's getting late - hopefully this should be pretty much a weekly occurrence - I'm definitely going to try and keep it up.
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