Author Archives: lizziepinard

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Part 2 – Coming to the end of my M.A. in ELT: Taking stock.

This is part 2 of my reflections about my experience of doing the M.A. in ELT at Leeds Metropolitan University. Part 1 deals with the Delta component of the course, and came about as a guest blog for Sandy Millin. You can read it on her blog, along with all the other respondents’ posts.

Coming to the end of my M.A. in ELT: Taking stock.

Classes are all but over,

The assignments all but in,

Time to say goodbye now

But what a year it’s been!

It’s been nearly a year since I applied to do my M.A. in ELT at Leeds Met. I distinctly remember getting to the end of the interview and being offered a place on the course – and then once the euphoria wore off using the next month to read everything ELT-related that I could get my hands on in preparation. But in between, I had to officially accept the offer, through an electronic system, and before I made that step of committing to giving up a year of my life and a fair old sum of money, I was intensely anxious. I hadn’t even heard of Leeds Met until I found the leaflet for the course in my conference pack at IATEFL 2012! What if it was totally shoddy? I was somewhat reassured by the universality of the Delta qualification element and also by the years of experience I discovered the tutors had when I nosed around the official Leeds Met site and located the profiles which mentioned the Delta and the M.A, and so it was I accepted my offer. And, without a doubt, professionally it’s been one of the best things I ever did. Coming to the end, and having had such a great experience on the course, I decided I wanted to write about it for my blog, so that anybody either in a similar position to the one I was in – about to accept and wanting reassurance that the decision wasn’t going to be a huge mistake – or in the position of choosing between various professional development options, could read it and use the information to help the decision-making process along.

There are two main routes that exist for the M.A. in ELT: The first one, which I did, integrates the Delta into it, while the second one doesn’t. There are also part-time and full-time options – I did the full-time one – and an online version. My focus will, of course be my route, full-time M.A. in ELT with integrated Delta. In order to try and minimize the rambling, I will borrow from the set of questions used in Sandy’s Conversations with Delta Teachers idea, and which I answered for the Delta component of this course.

So here it is, my experience of the M.A. in ELT at Leeds Met:

1. Why did you choose this M.A.?

 Mostly because of the integrated Delta. I was very keen to upgrade my CELTA and generally make myself more employable. Doing the M.A. at the same time seemed like an added bonus!

2. What do you think you gained from doing this M.A.?

 What didn’t I gain?! To try and be more specific, then:

  •  The opportunity to develop a range of skills that I will be able to apply beyond the end of the course. So, for example, materials development, multimedia tool development, course development (this came through the Delta Module 3 element but the M.A. assessment, which reflected the Delta assignment, helped me process the whole thing in greater depth), how to do research, how to write a journal article, how to give good oral presentations. I had experience of none of these prior to the course, except for materials development and my experience of that was fairly minimal. So it was a steep learning curve, but coming out the other end, a lot doors have opened up to me. For example, I am going to be presenting at two conferences over the summer. At the first (The Warwick Applied Linguistics Conference in June) I will be presenting the research I did for the research module and at the second (the MATSDA conference in July), I will be presenting a sample of the work that I and my colleagues produced for the materials development module and discussing it in relation to the conference theme. Further into the future, I look forward to doing more research, developing more materials, writing journal articles for publication, being involved in course design, presenting at more conferences, and so on. I feel that a lot of doors have opened up to me through doing the course.
  • A great deal more self-confidence than I had before, through discovering my “voice”.  When I started the course, it quickly became apparent, in initial drafts of Delta Module 2 LSA1 and my Delta module 3 essay introduction, that this was something I lacked. This relates to the development of critical thinking skills, which is a very strong feature of this course, and the opportunity and guidance in this area of development contributed to the emergence of my “voice”.
  • Awareness of the limitations of what I know as well as the ability to question everything and look for answers, both in the literature and through primary research of my own.

 3. What were the benefits of doing an M.A. in ELT at Leeds Met?

 Well, having the opportunity to gain everything that I gained, as described above, for a start!

In addition:

  • A distinct benefit of doing this course is learning from the fantastic team of tutors who deliver it. They are all very experienced in their specialist areas and enthusiastic about sharing that experience and knowledge with the cohort. I have also found them all very supportive and helpful in every way.
  • The group was nice and small, but not too small, and very diverse. This meant that as well as being close-knit and supportive, there were enough differing opinions to make for a wealth of stimulating discussion in class.
  • Related to the above point, all the opportunity for discussion built in to all of the modules, so that as well as benefitting from the tutors’ knowledge, we also gained from the range of different experiences that we, the cohort, have had between us.
  • The assessment strategy is brilliant. Each assessment type is very practical and you learn through doing it rather than simply being assessed. Of course, what you learn is also directly applicable beyond the end of the course.
  • The opportunity to try everything out (by “everything”, I mean all the skills described in my answer to question 2 above) and be helped to learn how to do it all properly, in a supportive, scaffolded environment, and so being prepared to go off and do it all independently and hopefully develop my career.

4. What were the drawbacks of doing an M.A. in ELT at Leeds Met?

 There weren’t any! I’ve loved every minute of it.

5. What tips would you give other people who plan to do an M.A. (possibly at Leeds Met!)?

  1. The only limiting factor to what you can get out of the experience is what you put in. The more you put in, the more you get out.
  2. Be prepared to work and work and work and work…you get the point. It’s an all-consuming experience but that does make it incredibly rewarding too.
  3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. The support is there. (I would hope this would be the same at other universities but of course I can only speak for the one I attended!)
  4. Read as much as you can before you start the course, especially if you are doing the integrated Delta: There aren’t enough hours in two semesters to start from scratch and read enough to maximize on the experience. Once you start doing the course, read cleverly: Make notes of where you’ve read stuff, target your reading carefully etc.
  5. Get drafts done in advance of assignment tutorials – you can benefit much more fully from these if the tutors have seen something beforehand.
  6.  Enjoy it!! It’s an amazing experience and it comes to an end all too quickly.

Well, this post is far too long already so I shall bring it to a close now.

If you have any questions about the course, contact Heather Buchanan (course leader) on h.buchanan@leedsmet.ac.uk; if you have any specific questions you want to ask me about my experience of the course, that aren’t answered above, feel free to get in touch – lizzie.pinard@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: This blog post consists of my experience, my views and claims to be no more and no less!

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Part 1 – Delta Conversations: (Repost of my Guest Post on Sandy Millin’s Blog)

Sandy invited me to answer a set of questions about my Delta experience, for inclusion on her blog along with other Delta teachers’ answers, to create a sort of guide for teachers who are thinking about doing the Delta and are not sure about how or where to do it. Having done this, I decided to adapt the set of questions and write a post about my M.A. in ELT, which had the Delta integrated into it. If you have any further questions about my experience or about what I’ve written below, feel free to comment or email me and ask – I’ll be happy to answer.

1. How did you do your Delta?

I did my Delta as part of a full time M.A. at Leeds Metropolitan University. This course integrates the Delta modules into an M.A. in English Language Teaching. However, at Leeds Met you don’t have to do the M.A. in order to do the Delta (or vice versa for that matter!), and you don’t have to do it full time either. If you only want to do the Delta, you join for Semester 1 of the M.A., which starts in September. As it is fully integrated, this route would still give you a Postgraduate Certificate in English Language Teaching and Professional Practice from Leeds Met as well as your Delta. You gain the Postgraduate Certificate or M.A. credits by doing Leeds Met assessments as well as the Delta assessments. However, this isn’t as bad as it might sound!

  • Module 1: you do a series of homework tasks, which help you learn how to do Delta module 1 Exam paper questions and these provide 50% of the Leeds Met module 1 credits. Then at the end of the semester you do a Delta Module 1 exam paper. This gives you the other 50% of the credits necessary for the Leeds Met module but also acts as a mock exam for the real Delta exam.
  • Module 2: you submit a portfolio consisting of your Delta module 2 work (LSA essays, lesson plans, PDA) and observation tasks. Leeds Met provides a set of observation tasks as guidance, but you are also free to create your own, tailored to your PDA. These are graded against Leeds Met criteria.
  • Module 3: you do an oral presentation based on your Delta module 3 extended specialism essay. People generally found that this really helped them get their head around their specialism and made completing the Delta essay much easier.

If you choose to do the Delta part-time, you do Modules 1 and 3 one year and then module 2 the following September. The teaching lasts for 12 weeks, and then there are two assessment weeks, the sum of which is the duration of the university’s semester 1.

 2. Why did you choose to do it that way?

I chose to do it this way because I found a leaflet advertising the course in my conference pack at IATEFL and it looked perfect for someone like me who had faffed around a lot in my twenties before discovering teaching and the CELTA. I wanted to gain two of the most highly sought after qualifications in ELT in one go – saving time in the long run and equipping myself, hopefully, to get a stable, permanent job. (That is the plan! I am just coming out of the end of the course, only got a dissertation to go, and am optimistic about the future! Starting with a couple of conference presentations based on work I’ve done for the M.A. portion of the course. It won’t happen immediately but it is now possible and that is distinct progress!) I had thought about doing Distance Delta before but then relocated to the UK, decided I’d rather do it face-to-face style and happened on that leaflet. Fate! In hindsight, I think I would not have coped with Distance Delta, as the whole course was a very steep learning curve for me so I found all the support I had from tutors and classmates absolutely invaluable and don’t think I could have got through without it! We were very much in it together and got through it together.

3. What do you think you gained from doing the Delta?

  • I think the most important thing I gained from doing the Delta is learning how to keep learning. That is, how to be a reflective teacher, how to develop my teaching through research, experimentation and reflection.
  • Also, I learnt how to approach a lesson in a principled, systematic yet flexible way. I would also say that doing the Delta helped my classroom practice to line up more closely with my teaching beliefs.

4. What were the downsides of the method you chose?

I don’t think there were any downsides, to be honest! I suppose, yes, it was incredibly intensive, intense and hard work, but those were good things too. Being completely immersed in Delta for a semester was immense. You have to be ready to put real life on hold for the duration, pretty much, and just work like a demon but it’s an incredibly rewarding experience. I suppose unless you are doing it part-time, you can’t work at the same time, so there’s a financial factor there. Worth it if you can manage it though.

5. What were the benefits of the method you chose?

The benefits? Where to start…

  • One thing I really liked about this course was the way the input sessions were carefully planned so that learning from each module fed into the other two modules too.  For this reason I’d recommend doing all three modules in one go. (I don’t know how intensive courses work elsewhere but I think the Leeds Met way definitely works!)
  • A very important aspect, for me, was all the tutor support I received: LSA1 was a very steep learning curve for me, but my tutor helped me understand what was expected in terms of the essay and the lesson plan, by giving me incredibly detailed and helpful feedback on my drafts. I then managed to scrape a pass in both essay and lesson plan. Following the assessment, we had individual tutorials to get our feedback, which again were very thorough and helpful, and given very supportively. And this, together with similarly helpful feedback on future drafts, enabled me to go from scraping a pass in LSA1 to getting a distinction for my essay and a merit for my lesson in LSA2 and 3. Also, I didn’t realize at the time that it wasn’t standard, until Sandy sent me an LSA lesson plan of hers to look at, but Leeds Met very helpfully provide a template for the lesson plan, which is very helpful in guiding you to meet all the criteria. It sounds like a small thing but every little helps when you are starting off and don’t have a clue what you are doing!!
  • Doing the Delta intensively is a mental and emotional rollercoaster, but the tutors understand that and help you through it. For example, with Module 3, another near-vertical learning curve for me, there was a point just before we got our needs analysis tools back, having previously submitted them for feedback, where I lost all confidence in myself and emailed my tutor saying I was convinced I was going to fail this module and so on, pretty much ready to give up on it, and very quickly had the very reassuring response that I needed to be able to keep going as well as all the support I needed to get to grips with what was required. Module 3 was very well managed actually: we had mini-deadlines throughout the semester, where we submitted drafts of each section of the extended specialism essay and received feedback on those, as well as individual tutorials. I was able to go from not having a clue at the beginning to producing a completed assignment by the end, in structured, well-scaffolded little steps.
  • The camaraderie of the cohort shouldn’t be underestimated either. Having regular contact with a small but close-knit bunch of classmates going through the same thing as you is one of the great things about face-to-face Delta. We jollied each other along, whinged to each other, helped each other, gave each other kicks when necessary and so on.

6. What tips would you give other people doing the Delta?

Top tips from me would be:

  1. Read as much as you can before you start the course.
  2. Do the course somewhere, like Leeds Met, with lots of support built in for all the wobbly moments and a course that seems designed to maximize on the learning potential of all modules.
  3. …Or just do it at Leeds Met!
  4. Read my blog post of top tips for Delta trainees!!
  5. Don’t forget to enjoy it – it’s an amazing opportunity so get as much out of it as you can.

If you have any questions about the course, contact Heather Buchanan (course leader) on h.buchanan@leedsmet.ac.uk; if you have any specific questions you want to ask me about my experience of the course, that aren’t answered above, feel free to get in touch – lizzie.pinard@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: This blog post consists of my experience, my views and claims to be no more and no less!

 

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Materials Development – What is it that makes learning materials better than good?

This subject is uppermost on my mind at the moment, as the final lesson of my materials development module will be this Friday. Next Friday, we will be doing “Dragon’s Den” presentations, where we have to speak persuasively for 12 minutes justifying and “selling” the materials we have been designing for the module assessment. Hopefully our materials will be principled, workable, suited to the chosen context and we will show evidence of the application of theory to practice – with a splash of creativity thrown in!

The materials I designed are aimed at upper intermediate students studying at private language schools in the U.K. It’s been an interesting and rewarding experience developing them from random sparks of ideas into a coherent 6-8 hour unit. I do like the idea of the module assessment being something which is not only practical and will be useful in the long run but also generates learning rather than simply testing it. The group has had 3hrs a week of input for the module this semester, in which we’ve systematically worked through different aspects of materials design from picking out theories of language, learning, acquisition and teaching,  principles in existing materials and identifying what theories and principles we believe in, to evaluating and adapting materials for a particular context, and looking at things like visual impact, clarity of instructions, how to integrate effective systems and skills development into materials, as well as issues such as how to develop intercultural competence. I expect I’ve probably left something out, but I’m sure you get the general idea.

Anyway, my question for anybody out there who happens to find this page is this:

What, in your opinion, separates the wheat from the chaff as far as materials are concerned?

What principles/theories etc influence your materials writing or teaching the most? 

And finally, How important do you think enjoyment is to language learning and why?

I shall post my presentation/powerpoint on here after I’ve delivered it, which will provide a good idea of my own views, but meanwhile what about all of yours? I’d be very interested to hear.

Feel free to answer as few or as many of the questions as you like – any and all responses are welcome!

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Delta Module 1

In just over a month’s time, I will be amongst those lucky teachers who will be spending 3hrs frantically writing, full speed, trying to package all the information just exactly how the examiners want it. Yep, the Delta Module 1 exam is getting nearer.

So far, my revision has consisted of creating this handy tool:

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Delta Module 1 Wall Chart

I can’t take credit for the phonemic chart, that of course belongs to Adrian Underhill. The map of the Delta exam, however, is miiiine. I have done absurd amounts of reading for my M.A. modules, so between that and the Delta Module 1 input I had last semester, which was nicely reinforced by the Delta Module 2 and 3 input in the same time period, so I am hoping that the key to this exam will be packaging the information the way the examiners want it. And so the wall chart was born. It is a synthesis of all the exam technique tips we discovered in the input sessions and through doing practice tasks, as well as the multiple examiners reports we received.

If nothing else, it was a good excuse to get the coloured pens out! Hopefully, though, having it stare at me for the next month will help on exam day. Time will tell!

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Summary of 20th February 2013′s #Eltchat Discussion on Materials Evaluation

The topic this week was:

Materials evaluation: What would be your top tips for effectively evaluating materials for language teaching? What do you look for? What do you avoid? What influences your decisions in using or not using a given material?

When we evaluate materials, we inevitably ask lots of questions. Turns out discussion of materials evaluation generates a great quantity of questions too. Here is the summary I have cobbled together from a particularly challenging transcript:

(NB: I have filled in the missing letters from all tweets containing abbreviations, just to make reading easier!)

@Marisa_C helpfully defined materials for us: “Materials = coursebook, supplementary, own design, downloads, anything” and everybody jumped in with criteria they consider important. Further criteria arose throughout the discussion, but for convenience and clarity, they are all gathered together here:

Needs to provide good mix of skills and be interactive. Lots of heads-up activities. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Also important is clear structure and engaging topics. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Level should be appropriate. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Materials able to be connected to students’ intrerests/background/culture..? (@TomTesol)

We usually look at  whether suited to specific learning situation  + offer valid methodology in relation to course aims. (@AlexandraKouk)

I think materials need to allow us to communicate well with students – that creates rapport. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

For me, the point of a book is to help me present new input to ss — I have to do the rest (communicative stuff) (@TomTesol)

For me, an important criterion is how memorable is the topic/.content going to be so that language can stay ‘glued’ to it. (@Marisa_C)

How does the material lend itself or be adapted) to natural,meaningful,relevant communication? (@CotterHUE)

I don’t think a book should tell you what, but rather present a selection of things to choose from. (@teflgeek)

F=fun R=rapport I=ideology N=needs D=design. …Sorry missed the E=education (as in principles of) (@Marisa_C)

When I look at a page of material I see if I would be interested myself – then I decide. And I ask sts what they think too. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

I like materials which show you something interesting about the world and help learn/practise language/skills (@robertmclarty)

Systematically:  Does it fit age, level, syllabus criteria… (@teflgeek)

I also feel materials need to appeal to variety of learner types…Learner types can be sensory perception (VAK) but also global-analytic cognitive processing types. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Another issue to consider with mats is that subject matter might interest you, but does it interest sts? (@pjgallantary)

Assess supplementary audio: is it an EIL approach with non-natives holding conversations? Or native English speakers? (@CotterHUE)

Done and dusted? I think not. Materials evaluation is a complex business.

I posed the question “how do you identify the criteria and which are more/less important also?” and @pjgallantary supplied a useful answer: “course books are where we all start – knowing how they work helps us understand what to look for in materials”  Of course, being able to evaluate effectively isn’t the whole story – there are institutional constraints to take into consideration too. @Shaunwilden reminded us that course books  ”are establishment enforced more often than a choice by teacher and students” and @teflgeek told us about a group evaluation process in which nobody agreed, and the resolution? “There were three of us and the DoS got the casting vote”.  Meanwhile, @TomTesol reminded us that materials evaluation is not just about selection prior to the beginning of a course but a continuing process involving “constantly reviewing, getting students’ and faculty feedback…”

The discussion meandered naturally into the question of materials adaptation, which is a common follow-on to evaluation and identification of shortcomings. Why do we adapt the all-singing, all-dancing glorious multi-colour materials on the market these days?

The following reasons emerged:

Books written for a specific demographic with set format from publisher…which doesn’t match your students (@CotterHUE)

Problems with delivery but mostly missing keys and audioscripts which meant I had to copy them for students (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Other reason was that book on ICT was really outdated. Or book for BEC prep didn’t deal with exam (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Main issue with coursebooks is their homogeneity – T needs to be able to make relevant to own students (@pjgallantary)

Ultimately NO book is ever going to be right for your class because it wasn’t designed specifically for your class. (@teflgeek)

The point in the book is that you may HAVE to use it in which case try to salvage what you can & improve (@Marisa_C)

I constantly adapt and update materials based on surprises, feedback, etc. design new materials too. Assessment important (@CotterHUE)

And how do we go about it?

To lessonize: first, look at relevance of content  i.e. what u want it for -  to teach language point, vocab., skills etc (@AlexandraKouk)

As to developing own materials, As ever we must start from sts needs -WHY are we using this text, this video, etc, then HOW (@pjgallantary)

I create materials for PEO using articles – lots of things you can do – vocab, discussion, grammar etc. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

I adapt to suit the SKILLS I want them to develop (@TomTesol)

As Marisa implied, if you can’t figure out a way to adapt materials so the inpurt will stick, your evaluation is finished: They stink. (@TomTesol)

The question of the role of the Teacher’s Book within the evaluation process, and ultimately teaching, was touched on a few times throughout the discussion and opinons were varied:

Never really use the teachers book, except for answers. Looking at teachers book means I’m unresponsive to the class.(@CotterHUE)

Depends. Came across word I didn’t know in ESP book, now have printed teachers notes.(@MarjorieRosenbe)

Most are now online and often very long. 120 pages or so of pdfs to print out.But lots of info. (@Marjorie Rosenbe)

Teacher’s Book Important to most ‘non-natives’ I’ve worked with. (@TomTesol)

Or inexperienced ‘natives’. Or experienced ‘natives’ looking for new ideas or something to bounce off maybe. (@LizziePinard)

For me not very [important] but if I am choosing for a group of teachers it is something I look at closely. (@Shaunwilden)

Well, depending on the market and availability of training – sometimes that’s all a Teacher can get – a good Teacher’s guide. (@Marisa_C)

A few curveballs were thrown near the end – broadening the scope of “materials” but there wasn’t enough time to go into this in any depth as the hour was fast drawing to a close and next thing we knew everyone was being invited to contribute their final five minute words of wisdom. This is what emerged amongst fielding of curveballs:

Constant assessment of materials, be it website, publisher, etc. What works with your style and students? What doesnt work? (@CotterHUE)

I think to evaluate effectively you need more awareness of your own beliefs/principles etc and good awareness of context etc (@LizziePinard)

Test drive stuff before landing yourself with a CB for a year of pain! Use good placement to match students to level especially important first (@oyajimbo)

Finally, here are the links that were thrown up throughout the discussion:

Very old blog post on choosing a CB or materials (@Marisa_C)

Here’s more recent research with v. useful checklist on p.6 (@AlexandraKouk)

Subject matter might interest you but does it interest sts? Wrote about that (@CotterHUE)

A useful research paper  (@AlexandraKouk)

Another useful research paper (@AlexandraKouk)

Have a look here and add sth if you can – been collecting interesting texts/topics for developing lessons. (@Marisa_C)

Pecha Kucha with mnemonic for evaluation (@Marisa_C)

This is a MATERIALS mnemonic from Tanner and Green (back in the day) (borrowed) (@TomTesol)

Phew! That finally brings me to the end of this summary. Thanks all for a great discussion. And, if you have any criteria you want to add to the list, anything you want to add, agree, or indeed disagree with, feel free to do so in the comments section. Nobody will object to the discussion continuing, I am sure!

Thank you to all who participated. :-)

Postscript:

If you want an overview of all the literature out there on materials development and have access/can wangle access to journal articles, @HeatherBu2011 recommends the following:

“State-of-the-Art Article: Materials development for language learning and teaching” by Brian Tomlinson in Language Teaching (2012), 45.2, 143–179.

And here is an article I found on evaluating E-textbooks, which may lend itself to interesting comparisons with what we’ve discussed today…

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Summary of #Eltchat 6/2/2013 “How can we help colleagues new to edtech without doing all the work for them?”

Greetings all – after another long absence from the blogosphere! – and welcome to my summary for the #Eltchat discussion that took place in our little corner of the Twitterverse on the 6th February 2013 at 9p.m.! (For more information about #Eltchat and how to participate, please click here.)

We all came together to discuss, aptly enough, edtech (or technology used for educational purposes) and, more specifically, how to help colleagues who are new to it without being, as @ciocas put it, “the girl who can’t say no”, and doing it all for them. (You know who you are, you motherly and fatherly types who can’t resist swooping to the rescue like knights in shining techy armour!)

In order to best figure out how to help colleagues become more autonomous with edtech, it was important understand why they are reluctant. Here are the varied and insightful reasons that were suggested:

Fear (related to the technology itself or, indeed, the scary evangelical users of it!):

- a key problem with getting new Ts on board the Tech Wagon is basically fear – they’re afraid of something going wrong in class. (@pjgallantary)

- I think the trouble with encouraging edtech to newbies can be OVERenthusiasm-coming across as a bit obsessed doesn’t get people on side! (@lauraahaha)

Time and the easy way out:

- For some Ts I think it’s a time issue, but others would rather me give them fish than teach them how to fish! (@cioccas)

- I think both colleagues and trainees can smell out a mother type who will always come to the rescue. (@Marisa_C)

Obscurity of purpose:

- It’s tricky with real technophobes-but I think the major obstacle is the “why” not the “how” – teachers need to see the benefits first. (@designerlessons)

Not enough presence in Initial Teacher Training:

- My CELTA course in 2008 had zero tech – I’ve always been a techie, and twitter inspired me more. (@Sandymillin)

- My course has a multimedia module but it’s an M.A. My  CELTA only taught a bit about the IWB iirc (@LizziePinard) [Disclaimer: my CELTA course may have had more, but the IWB is the only bit I can remember, so based on that I assume that tech wasn't a major feature or I would remember more about it! And this was in 2009-2010 so it may be different now, of course.]

Context/Experience:

I suppose it also depends on work experience – i’ve yet to work in a tech’d up school (IWB etc). So have forgotten how to use IWB… (@LizziePinard)

Having thus considered the “why”, we were ready to tackle the “how” [Disclaimer: with ideas flying around at high speed, of course the "why" and the "how" was not quite so separated in the transcript, I just thought it would be a convenient way of organising things here!]

Here are the suggestions that were generated:

- My 1st thought is get them to watch things & then come to you with questions.  Easier to make one screencast than explain 20 times.(@ljp2010)

- More effective to do hands on training rather than just show and tell. (@Shaunwilden)

- Make a deal – ” I have time for two half hour tutorials – record me; take notes; etc but then you’re on your own”: be firm. (@Marisa_C)

- Perhaps get some peer teaching happening? (ljp2012)

- Is there a list of very basic literacies that we could make with links and all lead Ts there? (@Marisa_C)

- We have found also that a printed guide of some basics helps at start – we are used to online stuff doesn’t mean OK with new people (Marisa_C)

- I use things, then people ask me about them. When a few people have asked, I do a seminar. (@Sandymillin)

- Also wrote introductory blogposts for students that I can point teachers too as well, like http://t.co/EDdT6RIx for Quizlet. (@Sandymillin)

- I do a short session after our Monday lunchtime meeting. One task, or website per week … It isn’t always a new site- just a new way to use something sometimes (@SueAnnan)

- Best idea I have ever had though was to ask each one to undertake to research & PRESENT a tool – works wonders. (@Marisa_C)

- I actually think fewer sites the better – really get to know them (@Shaunwilden)

- I think a webquest that you create or a guide like the ones we made for facebook twitter & nings might be a good idea (@Marisa_C)

Then, of course, it was also important to consider a few principles for teaching teachers to use technology with their learners and, indeed, for using it ourselves:

- Teachers who are new to tech also need to focus on the pedagogical outcomes – is it useful, or is it tech for tech’s sake? (@lauraahaha)

- I think using #edtech always has to emphasise the WHY – for teachers as much as for students…eg.WHY should you bother investing time learning to use a tool? is the time invested worth the return?

- Tech MUST have clear pedagogical reason, not just because it’s brand shiny new (@pjgallantary)

-  Important to be able to teach without any tech? Never know where in the world teachers will end up (@idc74)

- There’s plenty of here-today-gone-tomorrow tech – in which case, best to be a discerning techie (@designerlessons)

- My 1st rule for tech use: can student access it? eg some smartphone app: if st doesn’t have smartphone, he/she is disadvantaged (pjgallantary)

-  I think in ITT, have to ensure trainees not dependent on tech to teach (@LizziePinard)

- Tech is ubiquitous and as useful as the teacher’s imagination allows it to be. Just so long as that objective is always clear (@designerlessons)

- Ts should always remember that the 1st bit of tech they have is pen and paper – new tech is a bonus…. (@Shaunwilden)

-  Ts should think “why” not just “what” for tech tools. (@LizziePinard)

- As somebody or other said about course books, tech tools make great slaves but terrible masters – something to that effect! (@LizziePinard)

“Where’s your back up plan?” should be written on every classroom computer. (@designerlessons)

The next question to be considered was: “So, which tech tool would you introduce first? which do you think is best/most important to start with?”

- Quizlet/Edmodo good – little effort required for lots of return, student engagement, and educational benefits too. (@Sandymillin)

- pen and paper – plan HOW you’re going to use tech first, and Why! (@pjgallantary)

- I find it best to work with what they [teachers] want to do with Ss, then show them tool to wrk with. (@cioccas)

- Microsoft Word. I was amazed at the teachers who didn’t know how to use it efficiently :-) (@SueAnnan)

- I’ve been pretty successful in pushing everyone in the department to use Moodle, and it has shown some very positive results (@MajorieRosenbe)

There’s a limit to how much can be covered in a hour, but we certainly attempted to push that! Nevertheless, time, as is its wont, finally ran out. So to conclude this summary, here is a list of all the useful links that were thrown up in the course of the discussion:

- For using Edmodo, @Sandymillin’s blogpost and @Naomishema’s blogpost

- Useful techy blogs:

@Grahamstanley’s blog

Russell Stannard’s website

Nik Peachey’s blog

- For using MS Word effectively

- A demo of blended learning by @pjgallantary

- A list of basic computer skills by @ljp2010

- @Sandymillin’s summary of an ELTchat discussion on webtools, full of useful links.

- Using Technology in ELL Instruction | ColorΓ­n Colorado | (suggested by @yya2)

- Introductory blogposts for students that I can point teachers too as well, like http://t.co/EDdT6RIx for Quizlet (@sandymillin)

- My ‘a little and often”  post for edetch on courses (and staffrooms I guess) (@Marisa_C)

- the aPLaNet (Autonomous ‘Personal Learning Networks’ for Language Teachers) Self-Access Piloting Website – example of a web quest (shared by @Marisa_C)

Thanks to all contributors and to anybody who reads this, I hope you find this summary useful.  And: ** If you have any more ideas to add, useful websites/tools to share etc, please add them in the comments section!!** :-)

 

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The DELTA/M.A. treadmill! An update…

It would seem that I have not written a post since the 30th June this year! WordPress has gone and changed everything around since I was last here – I can’t say I’m desperately impressed with the changes but there we are – and I feel rather a stranger to the blogosphere.

In my last post, I described my euphoria in gaining a place on a DELTA/M.A. course at Leeds Met University, that I had discovered through picking up a leaflet at IATEFL. Since the 17th September, I’ve had a full time place on this DELTA treadmill and every last shred of energy has gone in to producing mountains of work to meet the flood of deadlines that was unleashed upon us from the get go!

Today I have finally emerged from the DELTA bubble. I haven’t quite finished it BUT I am, at last, getting off the treadmill momentarily and drawing breath. So, I thought I would share my thoughts on my experience so far…

1. DELTA is hard.

2. DELTA is hard.

3. DELTA is hard.

4. DELTA is hard.

Ok, ok, ok…I’ll get serious now…

1. If you sign up for a DELTA, do yourself a favour: do a ton of reading before the course starts. Take it from me, it *really* helps. Also, learn the phonemic alphabet. (I recommend Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill or if you aren’t a reader – in which case God help you on the DELTA – this presentation of his on youtube is a winner! )

2. When your tutors tell you how to structure an L.S.A. (Language Systems Assignment/Language Skills Assignment, assessment for DELTA module 2), listen to them… Don’t try and be a clever Maverick. You will just have to redraft the essay to make it as you should have written it in the first place! (Ahem…)

3. The P.D.A. (Personal Development Assignment, another part of the assessment for Module 2) is “only” a pass/fail document. Do not be fooled by this into thinking that it is not important/can be put on the back burner: It is, in fact, key to your development as a teacher. The more you put into it, the more you will get out and the more you will improve between LSAs.

4. The E.P. (Experimental Practice) is part of the P.D.A. and equally important: If you follow the process fully, it trains you in the research – experimentation – evaluation cycle that is necessary for the P.D.A. Of course, in the P.D.A. you don’t need to produce an essay or Delta lesson plan, but the process of reading up on things, trying them out and reflecting on how it went is one that should be repeated as many times as possible throughout the course – and theoretically beyond too.

5. When preparing an L.S.A., don’t procrastinate. Do the reading, draft the essay, draft the lesson plan. Then go back and use any remaining time to hone.

- If you do the Leeds Met course, make use of the drafting process: Between them, the tutors probably have nearing a century of experience to your (in my case) 2.5. They are willing to take your draft and liberally cover it with comments (feedback) on what is needed to bring it up to standard, *if* you submit it. Conclusion: don’t be a fool, submit it!

- If you do your DELTA anywhere else, make sure you find out what the procedure is, what help is available to you and make use of it!

6. Keep up with all the deadlines. *Including* those relating to Module 3, which it may be tempting to back burn in favour of working on your LSAs. They may seem like utter bastards but they are there to help you not end up with the worlds supply of work breaking over you in a big wave in the last week of the course. Even if you keep them, there is still *plenty* to be getting on with, don’t worry… (Where I’m at now…)

7. Make sure you *really* WANT to do the DELTA before you start doing it. You are going to live, eat, breathe, sleep it for 2-3 months (depending on the length of the course at your centre).  This may be soul-destroying if you are only doing it because it vaguely seemed a good idea at the time.

8. If, at interview, your tutor tells you that you need to hit the ground running, take it seriously. They aren’t saying it to scare you/amuse you, it’s just the truth. If you don’t, you risk eating dust for the whole course.

9. Don’t put all of your energy into the LSA essays and leave your lesson plan till the last minute. It takes longer than you might like to think to fill that bad boy in to meet Cambridge requirements! Also, the more thought you put into your lesson plan, the easier it is to “perform” the class under pressure.

10. Write the LSA essay before you write your lesson plan. Funnelling your essay into your lesson plan is a lot easier than extrapolating an essay from that half-baked idea for a lesson you had on the bus yesterday. Hell, the half-baked idea may fit in somewhere and become fully cooked, but you might also decide, by the time you’ve finished your similarly half-baked essay based on it, that it’s actually lousy – better to decide that in the process of writing a decent essay.

11. Be concise. I’m not. We all know that. But it helps to be, given Cambridge want the whole world in each 2500 word LSA essay and the whole world many, many times over in the Module 3 extended 4500 word essay.

12. Read Sandy Millin’s post on doing the distance DELTA for a proper survival guide to the DELTA!

I’m exhausted, I have to a practice presentation tomorrow (for the M.A. component of the course, based on the essay for DELTA module 3) but I’m still alive! I also have a pass and two merits to my name for the LSA lessons and a pass, a distinction and an as yet undefined borderline merit/distinction essay for the essay components. I have learnt one hell of a lot on this course  and despite the gruelling nature of the programme have really enjoyed it too. Naturally there have been times when I have wanted to throw in the towel – this I believe is part of the process, it would be pretty abnormal to sail the whole way through the DELTA! It’s just not designed that way! – and I regularly curse Cambridge, but nevertheless it’s been challenging and rewarding. Well worth the struggle.

If you are thinking about doing the DELTA, make sure it’s the right choice for you, and if it is, best of luck with it! Make sure you find a centre with supportive, experienced tutors (you would hope this applies to all DELTA centres, but who knows?! Best enquire in advance as to what support systems are in place – tutorials? feedback? etc) – it makes a big difference.

I may do a more serious post about the DELTA sometime in the future, but for now I just wanted to pop my head round the blogosphere door and say hi to everyone in the virtual staffroom before disappearing back under the next wave of work that’s about to break over me…

Farewell till next time I come up for air! :)

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#ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B [a repost]

#ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B [a repost]

I’ve been an #ELTchatter for over a year – not long but long enough to know it’s worth its weight in gold and we need to keep it going!  So,  this is a re-post of an original post from Marisa Constatinides at: #ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B  Here it is:

#ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B

For the last – well, almost two years now, since September 15 2010, #ELTchat has kept us on our toes and forged hundreds of professional and personal relationships amongst its followers who turn up on Twitter every Wednesday to talk about topics they have suggested and voted on – a community of peers which was created by a small group of colleagues – which grew and grew some more and became something that counts as an important part of our continuous professional development.
Like many great ideas, it didn’t hit just one person but several.
And that is how #ELTchat was created.    
The website to keep up the communication of its members, a base and repository of our ideas was one of the first things we all thought of creating – the wiki came later.

Andy Chaplin was keen to join the moderation team and help with podcasts and technical stuff; he was quick to buy eltchat.com and announced the good news to us after the fact.
A few months later, right after TESOL France 2011,  he suddenly disappeared – some say for reasons of health.
We never found out for sure.

We never received a single word of response to our emails.
eltchat.com was and still is registered in his name.

And yesterday we lost it

On August 8 the domain expired and we have no way of taking over unless it goes up for sale again; it was very sad that Andy Chaplin did not find it appropriate to renew.
The news is really upsetting.
The work we have put in on this website cannot be told in a few simple words – but it has been a labour of love and we have got so much out of it that we have never regretted one single moment
We are pretty upset at the behaviour of this individual – disappointment is one big understatement.
But we trust that our community of #ELTchatters, our PLN for short, will again gather round the new domain which we have purchased – eltchat.org

It will take us a few days to put the website back on its feet
And all will be as it was before – all the posts in place all your thoughts and comments, all the polls and great summaries which got us on the shortlist of the ELTon Awards nominations
We will be back with a vengeance
We are not just a website – we did not get on the ELTon awards shortlist as just another website!!!

We are a great community of teachers and we have a Plan B!

See you all in September!!!
Marisa Constantinides – Shaun Wilden
P.S. We would greatly appreciate it if any of you belonging to this great community of teachers,  teacher educators, bloggers, #ELTchat followers,  reposted this on your blog
If you decide to do this, please add your name to the post … AT: #ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B
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In Print!!

I’ve been storing this up for a week because I have not had a moment spare to access my WordPress in between trying to keep up with work, preparation for my M.A., training for my 20 mile running race in September, sorting out accommodation in Leeds for my M.A… phew!

I have been published! In print!! Well, I have known about it for longer than a week but it was a week ago that I received the journal of the English Teachers Association of Switzerland (ETAS) with my book review inside. VERY exciting!

Now I just need to catch up with the #eltchat summaries I’ve promised to do…and edit the remaining IATEFL conference notes that I STILL haven’t yet published on here…

Juggle juggle juggle…

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IATEFL 2012: Carol Read on “Creative Teaching, Creative Learning”

Carol Read: Creative Teaching, Creative Learning. (Tuesday 20th March 2012, IATEFL Glasgow)

To be creative is to get on a roll with an idea. You experience “flow” or the positive harnessing of emotions in pursuit of a goal or outcome. It is with this thought that Carol Read opened her extremely creative session on creative teaching and learning.

Carol went on to discuss the necessity of a frame work in order to create. A framework, she said, is energising and liberating: without one, we become lethargic and uninspired. She supported this with a quote from David Ogilvy, “Give me the freedom of a tight brief”. Not only do we need motivation and inspiration, both of which are typically associated with creativity, but also disciplined thinking, attention to detail and effort, which may come to mind less readily in connection with the concept.

As a word, creativity has both positive and negative connotations. In the negative sense, it may seem clever but sneaky. For example, filling in expense claim forms to obtain the maximum return. While on a positive note, we think of energy and enthusiasm, thinking outside the box.

But how do people define creativity? Carol negotiated this minefield next.

The dictionary definitions, she told us, are ok but not very helpful. Take for example Macmillan’s free online dictionary:

Creativity: the ability to create new ideas or things using your imagination.

Creative: involving a lot of imagination and new ideas; someone who is creative has a lot of imagination and new ideas.

Having put forward that the dictionary did not hold the answers we were seeking, Carol shared a few quotes about creativity with us:

“Creativity is an act that produces surprise” – Jerome Bruner

“Creativity is adventurous thinking” – F Bartlett.

“Creativity is a state of mind in which all our intelligences are working together”

“Creativity is a cluster of skills which we use to come up with something new and valid” – Chaz Pugliese.

Creativity, then, is newness, excitement, something valued in its context. We all know what it is but it is difficult to describe. Carol suggested that it’s not what it is that’s important but where. That is, the interaction between creative person, social context, field or domain.

A talk on creativity would not be complete without taking a creative twist to the telling of it, or so Carol believed, and as a consequence of this, we were treated to “Princess Crystal Creative”, based on Babette Cole’s well known spoof fairytale, Princess Smartypants. In Carol’s version, the princess questioned the princes with a series of questions on creativity and each prince got one question further than the last, until finally a prince was able to answer all of the questions…

1. What’s the difference between creativity, imagination and innovation?

  • Imagination: pretending, supposing, playing…
  • creativity: generation of new questions, products, ideas; underpinned by imagination.
  • innovation: taking creativity and applying it to the real world.

These are like layers of an onion. Imagination at the centre, followed by creativity, followed by innovation.

2. What’s the difference between big C and little c creativity?

  • Big C creativity: This encompasses large ideas, paintings etc that change the world and peoples’ lives.
  • Little c creativity: This is about personal effectiveness in our daily lives, the creative decisions that we make all the time. For example us delegates negotiating the conference.

In terms of teaching and learning, Big C creativity is something a student produces that is significant to their progress, which gains validation from those around i.e. teacher and peers. Little c creativity, on the other hand, is everything that is going on between us, as teachers, and the learners, and how it is constructing relevance. It is how children use little language to communicate what they want to say.

3. What is “creative teaching” and how does it differ from “teaching for creativity”?

  • Creative teaching: effective teaching, using techniques to get things across creatively, thus engaging learners.
  • Teaching for creativity: This is about learner empowerment, equipping learners with the skills they need to be creative themselves. The outcome or objective of a lesson that teaches for creativity is a creative product from the learners.

4. What is creative learning?

Creative learning is when learners are allowed to use imagination and experience in pursuit of learning. It’s when learners are allowed to exercise choice – both in the process and in the product. It’s when learners are involved in pedagogic decisions and in shaping the syllabus. Creative learning requires critical reflection and evaluation, learners learn to evaluate themselves, the materials and their teachers. Thus, this type of learning is a close cousin of learner autonomy, in the way that it develops metacognition and meta-skills.

5. What teaching approaches and strategies promote creativity?

Carol suggested that the following would see us on the right path:

  • develop motivation and engagement
  • provide a stimulus, framework and purpose
  • build up self-esteem: security, identity, belonging, purpose, confidence.
  • adopt an inclusive approach
  • model creativity in the way you teach: be “an effective surprise”
  • offer choice and foster ownership
  • give personal relevance
  • consider the role of questions: use open questions as well as closed; allow “think time” before students respond; value students’ questions too.
  • make connections, explore and play with ideas: connect home life and school life, use different media. This opens up synapses in our brain and makes it open to possibilities.
  • use “possibility thinking” e.g. “what if….” question.
  • keep options open, withhold judgement, alllow brainstorming with “what”, “why”, “when” and “how” questions.
  • reflect critically.

6. What are barriers to creativity?

As important to be aware of as the strategies that we can use to promote it, and in essence the opposites of all the items in question five! Carol warned us against the following:

  • Too much spoon-feeding/scaffolding/help
  • “Telling” vs experiential learning
  • deep end discovery without structure or guidance, where students are thrown in with no rooting: if they don’t know where they are going, how are they going to get there?
  • routinization: plodding through x units of a book per lesson, to the exclusion of all else
  • undervaluing students’ knowledge
  • fear of risk-taking
  • over-crowded curriculum: 50% knowledge and 50% creative application would be preferable
  • lack of space, leading to no time for creativity
  • institutional and parental attitudes
  • exam systems, internal or external

Finally, Carol concluded with a quote by Tim Smit:

“Every good teacher is a catalyst of creativity, a liberator. Every bad teacher creates cages.”

(To find out more about Carol Read and see some fantastic teaching ideas, visit her blog or her website for a wealth of information about teaching young learners as well as talks she has done and books/articles etc that she has had published.)