Nominees

Last week I went to a comedy gig in a small pub. At one point, the comedian, in the middle of a bit about how great drinking is, asked if there was anyone who didn't like alcohol. I could see he needed someone to say they weren't into drinking for the joke to work. And I happen to be a teetotaller. All I had to do was put up my hand and we'd all find out what point he was trying to make. Until then, audience participation had been ticking along nicely. I'd even had the comedian direct a few bits at me earlier. It should have been relatively easy.

Instead, I kept my mouth shut.

Not a terribly significant or interesting story, but it seemed to chime both with a discussion we had on introverts in the classroom over at #eltchinwag and some points made by Hugh Dellar on these classroom management videos.

I would not necessarily label myself an introvert. Like many teachers, I'm fairly mouthy at conferences. But I think there are many solid reasons why I chose not to speak up at that gig. The audience was 80% male and a bit peculiar. I had a bit of a sore throat that night. Overall though, I said nothing because I didn't want to risk embarrassment.

Does the student in the classroom risk embarrassment to the same degree as someone being picked on by a comedian in a bar full of drunk lads? Probably not. But fear of embarrassment, big or small, can cause people to clam up.

So what is embarrassing in the classroom? Not knowing an answer? Getting an answer wrong? Having something patiently explained directly to you by the teacher? Your teacher making a joke about the mistake you made ("You cut your hair! Wow, that's amazing. How did you get the back so straight?....Oh you mean, you had your hair cut!")? Having to talk about something a bit personal (Why don't you drink?) Your teacher making you repeat a word you mispronounced?

It's hard to say. If you don't want to embarrass someone by asking them if they have the answer, what do you do? Ask nobody? Let the same one or two people repeatedly answer while the others avoid eye contact?

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I think in teaching EAP, I've often found myself saying a variation of - Look, when you get to college, you're going to have to speak up in tutorials and give presentations. You should speak up more in class so you get used to it - as a way to encourage the less vocal. Yet, I'm not convinced that this is the best way to motivate someone to speak up - I notice you're very quiet in class so I'm going to make you talk more to help you. 

So what to do?

If I think only about nominating students in some Teacher Student interaction (e.g. checking answers, finding opinions, pair-work feedback) then I've started to question my traditional approach, which can be summed up as - nominate students to answer questions = good.

But why nominate?

If I am checking answers and I just want to make sure all the class knows, who cares if not everyone chips in with an answer?

If I am checking to see if they understood, why wait until everyone else is watching? Why not wander over for a look during the exercise when there is time to do something about it?

If I think they're shy and want them to get involved, why single them out in front of a dozen other people? And how involved is someone if every so often, I make them say True or B. (And do you have to be talking to be involved?)

If I think they have something interesting to say, is there a way that I can give them a bit of a heads up first?

If I am nominating because my experience tells me nobody will answer if I don't name names, then maybe I need to leave a few sticky silences around the place for students to deal with.

Would be very interesting to get students' perspectives on what does or does not embarrass them.

Scaffolding reading (kind of)

Recently, while discussing approaches to ESAP and the challenges students face, I was struck by something a colleague said. My colleague is the business lecturer for students trying to progress to undergraduate studies. The point he was making is that students are required to do a ferocious amount of reading. For instance, the coursebook they work with, Business Studies, is 816 pages. For a native speaker, this is daunting. For someone with a 5.5 in IELTS, it is Everest. If that student is also not a big reader in their own language, then it becomes an abyss.

One way of helping the student, I believe, is to offer tasks to guide them through the reading they have to do. As my colleague rightly pointed out, there is a good chunk of reading that they have to do outside of the classroom, probably on their own. However, I think there are a number of things we can do to support them in this, which don't take a great deal of time to prepare.

For want of a better term, I'll call them guided reading worksheets. If you've ever taken your students on a tour of a museum, handed them a worksheet and let them loose, the principle is basically the same.

You (or the content teacher) tell them which chapter(s) they are to read. You then create a worksheet that adds a bit of structure to their reading. The type of things such a worksheet could include would be:

• Your Questions (you skim the text they've to read and generate 5 to 10 questions for them to answer)
• Summaries (ask students to write specific length summaries of specific chapters)
• Vocabulary searches (find and look up key words (say 10) that you identify for them)
• Examples (if the topic is a concept (e.g. stakeholders), ask students to find examples from the local area)
• Their Questions (tell students that they have to email you (or the content lecturer) with one question each based on the assigned reading)
• Divide up (you ask certain students to read certain chapters - they've to summarise for each other)
• Other reading (give them an article from the business section of a newspaper - they have to read and then identify as many chapters from their course book that have some relevance to the topic of the article)
• Assign the chapter - they have to find one image to represent the main point (sorry, scraping the bottom a bit here)

This doesn't have to be done in the form of worksheets handed out in class. Students could be emailed the chapter to be read, given the relevant task and given a deadline to complete. 

I know it is not very original or very autonomous. However, I think that in many cases the physical act of sitting down and reading itself needs to be scaffolded. Whether or not you follow up on the task, at least there is a clear starting point there for students struggling with the volume of reading they need to get through. 

This is perhaps overkill, but here is a sample handout I did up for Unit 6 of the Business Studies book.

I'm a social learner (except when I'm alone)

I've come back to this fabulous talk by Russell Mayne a number of times now. It is a joy to watch someone taking shots at sacred cows with such abandon (though as someone who gobbled up the learning styles approach, I find myself cringing quite a bit (gobbled up......does that make me a gustatory learner?)). Without wishing to simplify, Russell's point is that ELT seems to offer a warm welcome to dubious theories and unsupported practices (e.g. Brain Gym and NLP). This leads to classroom activities like watching the direction of your students' eyes to determine when to start and stop activities.

Apart from silly lessons (nothing terribly wrong with a bit of silly), one of the main problems Russell highlights is the damage to the professional credibility of ELT. Russell's targets are not teachers on the ground, but those a little higher up the chain - teacher trainers, ELT writers, course book publishers. Those who influence the kinds of ideas and methodologies that make their way into the classroom. 

What I find interesting to consider (as Russell does in his talk) is why it is that there is such acceptance of theories that seem "intuitively true" but which lack any evidence to support them (and evidence that suggests they are in fact bogus). Why is it that in EAP we teach critical thinking, but don't really practise what we teach?

I don't wish to be an apologist for teachers but I think the straight answer is mostly practical. Time. Most teachers I know are paid by the hour and have little or no access to ELT journals. If they want to get any sort of professional development, they have to give up a Saturday, unpaid. Their outside class time is spent preparing classes, correcting work and fretting that they are not effectively helping students maximise their learning potential. If they go to a talk by a charismatic so and so who espouses the wonders of NLP, then chances are, come Monday, their students will be closing their eyes and visualising childhood memories.  

As Russell says, if we want professional credibility, we need to be more professional. I have taken this as a bit of a mantra lately. I figure if we want to be considered on a similar level to university professors, then we have to act like university professors (i.e. publish, give talks, look startled when approached by students in the corridor). However, I am fortunate to work for an institution that gives access to journals and support to do research. I am conscious that not everyone is so fortunate. Thankfully, with ELT Ireland we have a great resource in helping to make things here a bit more professional. 

Essentially, this brings me round to continuing professional development (CPD). Challenging accepted wisdom, engaging in the debate, should be a part of our CPD. But for many of us, it is not. According to the Medical Council, doctors are expected on average to do 50 hours per year on CPD. But there is a framework, a support system there that helps doctors to fulfil their obligations. As far as I know (and I may be wrong), there is no such system for ELT teachers. It mostly seems ad hoc. Wouldn't it be great if there was such a system and support for teachers to carry out their CPD? Perhaps then we may be better positioned to critically evaluate current pedagogical trends (fads?).  

ELT Ireland Conference

Saturday and Sunday (Feb 21st and 22nd) marked the first ELT Ireland Annual Conference. It was a fantastic event and wonderful that this organisation exists here in Ireland. Our industry is going through some tough times, so it is great to have the chance to go to events like this, meet colleagues and share ideas. There were tons of highlights (I will do a post on these later this week) but one that really resonated with me was Peter Lahiff's talk about getting involved. His message, "Push, the door is open", really struck a chord, especially as Peter himself has given me, along with many others, a lot of support in trying new things and getting involved in the ELT world.

The hashtag for the conference was #eltirl2015 if you would like to check out some of the discussion.

I've attached the slides from my talk here if anyone would like to take a look. Basically the talk was about exam preparation classes and how to share the pain with students.

I'll try to explain one or two points that might not be so clear from the slides.

½ with answers + ½ with questions = less TTT

With reading texts, I might give half the students the questions and let them get cracking. With the other half, I give the answers. Their job is to find evidence in the text to prove the answer. After the time is up, get them together. They discuss a bit more as opposed to listening to me telling them the answers.

Text + student questions = speaking practice

I often give a reading text on a particular topic. The homework is to think up discussion questions related to the topic. The next day, we use those topic questions for discussion in class. They are hopefully more invested because they are discussing their own questions and they can use ideas/language they picked up from their reading.

Backwards essay writing = plans and questions 

I always bang on about making plans before writing. One thing that breaks up the monotony of me harping on is to give a complete essay and ask students to make a plan from it and figure out what the question was. If it is a good essay, it should be easy to make the plan. If it is a bit incoherent, trying to recreate the plan might show that up; likewise if the essay hasn't answered the question.

I should also credit Hugh Dellar, who very kindly allowed me to rip off the structure he used in this talk and offered his encouragement.  

What I've learned from learning Polish

This month marks the one year anniversary since I started learning Polish. Considering that I've never consciously had to learn English, I think the next best thing for us natives is to try and learn another language and let that inform our teaching practice. This is what I've learned.

1. Learning a language is difficult

I hope I always knew this. But the thing is, I started out learning Italian when I first got into teaching. And I found it really easy. I may have sounded like a bit of an eejit, but I was having garbled conversations in no time. Did this make me less sympathetic to students struggling with English? I hope not. At least now, after a year of Polish, I have much, much, much more sympathy for people who don't get it as quick.

2. Vocabulary is important

When I read something I don't understand, it's not because my skimming/scanning/predicting skills aren't up to scratch, it's because I don't know the words. When I am unable to say something, it's because I don't know the words. I need words. Give me words.

3. Grammar is boring

This is a bit harsh but there is so much of it in Polish. I started off thinking I would learn it properly but after I almost had a stroke trying to correctly say "My brother is a sporty man", I decided that accuracy was getting in the way. Now I don't ask my teacher is it correct, I ask is it correct enough. Keeping my motivation for the language is more important than speaking only when I'm sure it's correct.

4. I like being corrected (but only in a certain way)

If I make a mistake, I don't mind if someone points it out to me. What I can't stand is when someone explains to me why it is a mistake. If I didn't use the masculine form then chances are my priorities were somewhere else. And if you try to explain it to me, I'm afraid plenty of other people have tried and failed. Just tell me the correct version and hopefully it might stick.

5. I get embarrassed easily

I constantly tell my students - come on, speak, who cares if you make a mistake. When I speak in Polish, I can get embarrassed at the drop of a hat. If someone does that scrunched up, what was that face, after I say something then I get anxious. If someone says something I don't understand, I panic. Funnily enough, this doesn't happen when I speak English.

6. I'm not listening to you as much as you might think I am

I'm sure we've all had that student who never seems to listen. You tell him/her a hundred times and they keep making the same mistake. Each time you explain something, they nod sagely, say ah and then carry on regardless. I am that student. When you're talking to me in Polish, chances are I'm preparing the next thing I want to say. Or maybe I'm stressed because you used a word that I know I know but I can't remember it and now I'm thinking how stupid I am, how I'll never learn, how I'm too old, how.........oh sorry, did you say something?

7. I love boring stuff

I recently chatted with teachers and we were complaining about how creative, fun homework is often met with a lukewarm response from students whereas they lap up gap fills and match ups. As a Polish student, I gobble this stuff up like its ice-cream. Give me ten sentences to translate into Polish and I'm in heaven. Give me a paragraph with words taken out and I'll put them back in with a tear of joy in my eye. I love them because they are quantifiable. I know when I'm done and I know when to pat myself on the back.

I suppose the two main things that I have learned is that, number one, I am a shockingly bad student. Instead of just studying, I spend ages trying to come up with new systems that will help me study more efficiently or writing blogposts that try to add heft and significance to my Polish classes. The second is that Polish really is a stunningly beautiful language (less so when it's me doing the speaking), worthy of the fabulous people that speak it .

Still, I think there is something to be said for getting into your students' shoes as much as possible. Would love to hear other teachers' language learning experiences.

Curb your routine

I read a couple of interesting articles yesterday. The first was an opinion piece by John Worne about the drop in the number of British students taking second languages at university. The second was another John, Fanselow this time, reflecting on his idea of teachers breaking rules. The latter piece advocates a lot of self-observation (by videoing lessons) and challenging the routines (or self imposed rules) we adhere to in the class. The former espouses the benefits of learning a second language.

With those two articles in mind, I tried to do a lesson using the John Worne piece as a source and the Fanselow piece as inspiration.

Normally when I prepare a reading activity, I start off with some discussion questions. Trying to break this rule, I started with vocabulary I extracted from the text. Normally, I do vocabulary as matching - this time I tried to do it as guided discovery. Not sure if this is better or worse, but shook me out of my routine a little bit. Plus, I got to use a picture of Larry David.

I tried to also add a research element to the reading - encouraging the students to investigate the author and a source referenced in the piece. I normally do this as a complete lesson - this time I just threw it in quite casually, a minor part of the lesson.

The writing element I also made quite unstructured, using the Twitter idea I described in an earlier post. There is something fun about writing with a limited number of letters/words. For instance, today, in class, we were looking at essay exam questions and we had a competition to see who could boil the question down to the fewest number of words. Surprising how engaged they were with this.

I finished it with a bit of grammar (wish for regrets), again lifted from the text. The idea of the lesson is that there are quite a lot of elements to it.

Click here for the Lesson PDF

Born to reflect?

I took part in a very interesting discussion on #eltchinwag, the first time I'd ever taken part in one of these hashtag chat thingys. I don't think I really get it - it might be a digital immigrant thing - there is something non-linear about hashtags and twitter (and the internet in general) that confuses me. Still, apart from worrying that I was missing something or posting comments in the wrong place, there was a lot of very interesting thoughts* around the topic of developing students' metacognitive skills. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to boil this complex topic down to one soundbite - helping our students to reflect on their learning.

(*ELT teachers spending their evenings talking about ways to help students - ELT employers, if you happen to be reading this, any chance of a few more quid?)

In my first years as a teacher, I heard very little about reflection. Since moving toward the EAP side of our world, I can't escape it. A few random google searches throw up tons of articles promoting reflection, both for students and teachers. Many of us teach on programmes where reflection is in some way part of the syllabus - more often than not in the form of a learner journal.

I have mixed feelings about reflection, or at least our approach to it. I will try to explain.

First off, I absolutely believe that the best way to learn is to reflect on how you learn, what works for you, what doesn't. I do not dispute the efficacy of reflection. My concern is that our enthusiasm for reflection can be a little off-putting for students.

I'll try to illustrate by example. I used to be really big into running. After a couple of years, I came across a book called Born to Run which is about this tribe of native Indians who run incredibly long distances. The book eulogises running barefoot. Bursting with enthusiasm, I told as many people as I could and took off my shoes to try it out (in fairness to the book, it strongly advises against this gung ho approach for newbies). Within a few months, I'd done both Achilles. I don't run as much anymore.

If I stretch the comparison a little - is there a danger that with our similar enthusiasm for the benefits of reflection (talking zealously about it; working it into curricula; asking students to do learner journals; assessing how good they are at reflection), might we end up killing it a bit for the students?

My own take on it would be this. Everyone reflects in some aspect of their life, to varying degrees. If you think about what you are going to say to someone before (or after) you meet them, then you're reflecting. If you think about what someone would like when buying them a present, you are reflecting. On a most basic level, if you avoid certain foods because you don't like the taste, then you are reflecting (or at the very least, capable of it). So basically, reflecting is part of us, we do it constantly. Some people will naturally turn this skill toward their learning, others won't. Those who do will learn faster, those who don't probably won't learn as fast.

So as teachers, we want to help those who don't reflect on their learning, knowing that it will ultimately help them. If they go for it, perfect. If they resist, frustration for everyone involved. I agree 100% with the intention. It is the approach that I want to consider.

First of all, we tend to stream according to language ability. But the ability to reflect is in no way linked to language level. So in a B1 class, you could have massive disparity in terms of students' ability to reflect. Then there is the cultural side of things. Certain cultures are resistant to the idea of reflection. They may believe that it is the teacher's job to do all that stuff for them. And if reflection forms part of their assessment, there can be a sense of injustice, that they are being penalised for something that doesn't come naturally to them.

So what to do?

I would say, don't make a big deal out of it. Yes, certain students would improve if they were able to reflect better. But don't make it a yes or no thing. Shy people would learn better if they were more outgoing, but we don't make them keep confidence journals. We deal with what is in front of us. If they are willing to reflect, go for it. If not, don't force it. Try to get around the problem. For instance, many people might not like analysing themselves but are more than happy to ask other people questions. Perhaps activities where students ask each other about what they do, how they study, might be a good first step toward self-reflection.

Second, don't assess it. It is good, but it is a tool to learning. I don't think we should assess the tool that someone uses to complete a task.

That's it really.

Seeing as I gave rather a bad impression of the book Born to Run (it's actually a brilliant read), I knocked this lesson together on the topic. It is quite IELTSy but there is a nice few questions around the front cover of the book that students found interesting. And some nice vocab too. I used this review of the book for the reading text. Unfortunately, I didn't include answers for the True/False/Not Given questions. I tend to write ambiguous questions and then let the students argue with me and try to convince me my original answer was wrong. What I'm trying to say is that some of the answers might be ambiguous and I'm kind of okay with that.

Click here for the lesson PDF