Apprehension at newness

The group of students (45 regular students) that I have decided to work with regarding the project for the web skills course is studying literary pieces i.e. Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid and Aeschylus' Agamemnon. I declared an open book class test for next week. They are supposed to study the first book of The Iliad at home thoroughly and sit for the test where they will be given three questions out of which they will answer any two. The questions will require on their part to locate specific incident in the text and provide a review analytically. They are allowed to use their text and any internet resources (via laptop and cell phone connections) during the test. So the objective statement is -

[Condition]: After reading the first book of The Iliad and, using the text and any web-resource  [Audience]: the students [Behavior]: will write answers to two questions within the given time limit [Degree]: which will have their analytic review on issues raised in the questions in correct English. 

After this announcement I received a mixed reaction from the group. There were a few who were happy at the prospect of not having to memorize anything in particular, majority kept mum and a few raised their voices of being uncomfortable at the 'unusual' manner of  the test. 

I think the reasons are - 1. they are more comfortable with set tests (memorizing notes and explaining or writing short notes in the test), 2. they are not very skilled at browsing and finding information.

I met the group having this apprehension separately during counseling hours and gave them another thorough briefing about the test; told them if they aren't comfortable at browsing, they won't have to and all they need is an understanding of what's happening in the text and have their say about it. The whole class has come to an agreement about the test. So we're ready to go for it!

Any thoughts or opinion how to motivate in any other ways?

Week 3 Learning by doing

Week 3 started with lot of reading but ended with lot of interesting tasks by which I feel I’m ‘learning by doing’ (just like Joanna whose project report I read).

This week three interesting articles were given as reading materials. The first “Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials” by Lindsay Miller points out the importance of using authentic materials for language learners and delineate pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening tasks from various authentic sources like radio, TV/video and internet. A strategy to show theory in practice. The second article “New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation” by Maria Grazia Busa focused on the use of CALL applications to teach pronunciation in a stress-free environment with instant feedback. With the change of time to attain intelligible pronunciation became more important than to adopt a native-like accent. New tools are available to teach pronunciation and prosody, like a program ‘Praat’ for speech analysis, which help to visualize and compare speech utterances. The third article “The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills” by Julia Gong introduces software like SLIM, CU-SeeMe where learners are comfortable to talk in a computerized simulated environment. Assessment is objective. Learners can work at their pace. Nonetheless, CALL materials are costly and it provides a virtual environment, and should not replace actual human contact in learning a language.

Based on the reading materials I browsed several sites which chalked out classroom activity plan for listening, speaking and pronunciation practice. Then to some more sites from which I picked specific activity and described how to implement that in a class. The Nicenet discussion threads were rich with links and suggestions from my e-colleagues and guest moderator Deborah. Moreover, I joined in Delicious and added links that I need for my professional use. This is an easily accessible storage of all the useful links. Something I didn't know before! As the second step towards the project task I analyzed Joanna Zubel’s project report.

I learnt new theory and about new tools in practice in teaching English. In my context implementing all is not possible but a few may easily be adapted (using radio, TV/movie and internet sources with proper support). My students in Bangladesh might do great just being introduced to certain sites where they can learn and grow on their own. Analyzing the project report gave me an understanding of what kind of work I might have to do and familiarized me with the steps.

What I particularly feel about the course now – I do not have to force myself for doing the tasks rather I feel interested in undertaking them. Do the others feel this way too? I think this is not happening just because I’m an adult responsible learner but also because of the precise way the whole course is designed taking us step by step onto the final destination by instilling confidence in us. Thank you Courtney! Thank you UO AEI!

A conference and insights

During the second week of the Webskills course I managed some time to attend the 6^th International Conference titled “Multiple Realities of English: ELT & Beyond” organized by Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA), British Council Bangladesh, American Center, English in Action and National Academy of Educational Management (NAEM) from 18 to 20 January 2013.

As this blog is used for the purpose of reflective teaching, I thought it would be a good idea to note how this conference created a chance for me not only to mingle with the ELT professionals from around the world but also to have new insights and food for thought.

Adrian Tennant, Freelance Teacher Trainer from the UK spoke about “Some issues in ELT in South Asia.” One particular idea that Adrian emphasized is that Bangladesh need to address the ELT issues and work out the solutions to problems by the help of the ELT teachers who directly work with Bangladeshi students in the field level rather than bringing in foreign ‘experts’ (he actually professed to ban the word ‘expert’) to offer solutions or design curriculum. He also opined that it’s important to incorporate ‘relevant’ technology rather than the ‘latest’ in the concerned field.

In a workshop session “What kind of teacher am I” Adrian made the audience (ELT teachers, practitioners) reflect on which type of teacher we are – someone who fills in the students with information, someone who molds, someone who shows direction or someone who help students grow. With his ‘iceberg analogy’ he focused that teachers’ values, thoughts and beliefs control their behavior which is the only visible factor. Teachers should understand multiple intelligences and different learning styles in a class and thus use such an assessment which is a fit one.

George Pickering, Educational Coach from the UK conducted a workshop on “Involving learners in beginnings, middles and ends of lessons.” Most teachers concentrate on the middle of lesson but beginnings and ends are the parts that stick to learners’ mind more because of the primacy and recency effect. Frequent breaks and change of activities provide lot of new beginnings in one lesson and thus is more rewarding. I personally implemented one little game that I learnt from his workshop into my class today. The students were required to stand back to back and describe what his/her partner is wearing (photo). George’s plenary session “Changing ourselves in changing times” was the most rewarding to me. I got introduced with lot of new terms like CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), flipped learning, prosumers (producers and consumers), phlog (photo log) etc. The main idea of this session was - change is inevitable and we should welcome change as a friend other than an enemy.

Eric Dwyer, Associate Professor in Modern Language Association, Florida International University, in his plenary paper “Starting with our students’ stories” (http://www.ericsdwyer.info) shared his travelogs and pointed out the importance of generating culture friendly materials for language classrooms rather than importing foreign books and materials in Bangladesh.

Fife MacDuff, US Regional English Language Officer for South Asia, introduced second life (virtual learning process) for students of 12-16 age group in his “The latest on multimedia games for learning/teaching English.”

Kathryn Kelly, English Language Advisor, British Council in her workshop on “Language skills development: can’t speak, won’t speak?” showed the importance of simplicity in case of making students speak by providing stimuli like a photograph, playing memory game etc. Teachers do not need a lot of resources and technology to create the reason for students to speak. I felt this was very relevant because in lot of villages in Bangladesh there’s a scarcity of resources in the classroom. Teachers’ willpower is the only available driving force.

I thoroughly enjoyed a debate session on the topic “ELT is killing the learning of Bangladesh” where theorists and practitioners debated on the methodology change, curriculum, textbooks etc.

Bringing about changes and adapting to it, and the feeling of empowerment as a teacher inspire me as the aftermath of the conference.

Week 2 Illumination

Week 2 seemed like a roller coaster ride in the beginning as I had to review and assess all these wonderful search engines in Noodletools. Believe me, it was an overwhelming task of getting used to the variety, as Google or Yahoo was ‘the chosen one’ before. However, this experience was an eye opener too! Some coursemates have already mentioned in their Nicenet discussion board that either people are not aware of the options that exist or sometimes too lazy to leave their comfort zone. In my case it has been both! Finally I looked into the other options to leave my little pool and embrace myself to dive into the ocean.

Reading materials like “Web searching tech tip-June 2009” taught me the ideas of using different signs to specify my search that I didn’t know before. I had ideas about Bloom’s Taxonomy but the links provided a little brush up. I knew about course objective and learning objective but I learnt the ABCD model of writing clear objective statements by reading "How to Write Clear Objectives." This is very precise and provides a clear link between ‘expectation, teaching and grading’ which appealed to me as the most pertinent issue regarding teaching-learning situation in Bangladesh. In classes at all levels most of the time there exists a gap in what we expect from the learners (usually very high expectation) – the content and method of teaching (very diverse) – the assessment (not focused). 

I wrote my ABCD objective statement for a written assignment planned for a particular course (Classics in Translation I) I’m teaching now. I have to admit that I provided topics, instructions and guidelines to the students for assignments before. This time I linked audience – behavior – condition – degree, paused and asked myself ‘what?’, ‘how?’, ‘how much?’ as I prepared the objective statement.  

I also chose the same class to describe as the first step of my project task. I provided details about the course goal, student needs, student population, classroom setting and available facilities. I have to collect more data to make this initial assessment stronger. I haven’t thought of any particular plan to bring about a technology-assisted change but I’m confident that what we (teacher and students) will do in this class will transform us as learners.

I learnt these in the process:

1. How to use of different search engines and this is a continuous task of learning how to search more efficiently (as I had to stumble with the precise entry)

2. How to make specific tasks for a class ABCD objective-oriented and make the students aware of the teaching-learning situation

3. Providing details about my class made me assess the classroom situation, student population and facilities; and made me aware how these are related to the course goal and student needs.

I’ll obviously disseminate the techniques of searching and the list of useful search engines to the students. As they are tertiary level students, they will be able to decide on their own which sites will be useful for them. But the idea of making them search for something particular will enforce them to get out of the regular habit of googling and become aware of other search engines. For example, after giving them the written assignment on dialog writing that I mentioned in the Nicenet discussion on ABCD objective, I might ask them to choose a search engine which will help them recapitulate the techniques of dialog writing. Moreover, the more precise way of writing ‘learning objective statement’ will always help me to stay focused and sharing this with students will make them more responsible learners.

Week 2 finally ends with lot of energy inside me to see move on from one step to another along with my coursemates with the able guide Courtney. Cheers to all!

Week 1 Good start!

I visited somewhereinblog which is a famous blog site in Bangladesh. But I've never had my own blog. As I finally reached this page where I'm writing my very first post, I've a little smile in the corner of my mouth! Yes! It's a sign of achievement! I had a little trouble in creating this. I guess I can't blame myself just because I'm a first timer. Just know that I got lost in the Web! :p
The idea of using blog for a class is exciting. But as Izela mentioned in her response to Sharmila's introduction on Nicenet, "in both of our countries, it is sometimes difficult to apply modern technology in our school systems", the case is almost similar here in Bangladesh. Keeping that obstacle aside, let us think "there's always better time ahead with changes brought by us - TEACHERS"!

I also got into our class wiki and found the article on "Using Google My Maps for Classroom Projects" by Robert Elliot very interesting. I actually read that article because I got interested by seeing Courtney's place pointed in the map and planning to do the same for myself. :)