Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners

This is a summary of a webinar hosted by Cambridge English Teacher and presented by Herbert Puchta on October 10th, 2012.

The 'attention-grabbing' approach to teaching

Even very young children are able to think, attend and remember, but their thinking, attending and memory are very reactive.  Children growing up today are subjected to sensory overload constantly.  Television, for example, is fast-paced, loud, full of movement, and has colourful, constantly changing scenes.  As a result, today's youngsters have very short attention spans.

'Reactive learners' need fast-paced, sensory bombardment to learn even very simple information.  This leads to the teacher being an entertainer which is totally exhausting.

Learning as a 'self-directed activity'

• Children increasingly learn to direct their attention, memory and problem-solving skills on their own.
• Children gradually take more and more responsibility for their own learning.
• Children acquire the mental tools to help them think better.

So,

• Tools of the mind (mental/cognitive tools) help to extend a child's cognitive capabilities.
• Tools of the mind reduce the workload for the teacher.

Why teach thinking skills?

• Children need to face the challenges of a changing and unpredictable world.
• They need problem-solving and decision-making skills to meet unexpected problems and tackle them.
• School curricula tend to promote systematic, error-free learning - correct answers, assimilation of facts, teacher's assessment.

The importance of divergent thinking

Divergent thinking (as opposed to convergent thinking) is extremely important - students need to learn that there is not necessarily one right answer.  You can teach this by asking questions like:

Write down as many different uses as you can think of for:

• a button
• a brick
• a blanket

Here, you are encouraging children to think outside the box.

What does critical thinking involve?

• Working out whether or not we believe what we see or hear.
• Finding out whether something is true.
• Arguing one's case.
• Identifying when we need more information.
• Selecting information for a specific purpose.

There is always a connection between critical thinking and creative thinking.  Both are higher order thinking skills.

Problem solving cycle

1. Gather and organise information
2. Define the problem
3. Generate approaches to solve the problem
4. Make an action plan
5. Monitor, check, evaluate
6. Communicate solutions
7. Transfer the problem solving skills learned to other problems

What thinking skills can we teach at the same time as we are teaching language?

A typology of thinking skills areas to be taught with EFL for young learners

• Making comparisons
• Categorising
• Sequencing
• Focusing attention
• Memorising
• Exploring space
• Exploring time
• Exploring numbers
• Creating associations
• Cause and effect
• Making decisions
• Solving problems
• Creative thinking

Practical examples

1.  Where's Tom?

This is an example from Herbert Puchta and Marion William's book 'Teaching Young Learners to Think'.

It focuses on the 'exploring space' skill.  To develop this skill, students need:

• a reference system to understand and control the space they live in.
• a sense of position, distance, direction, proximity and dimensions.
• the ability to imagine a change in position.  This is necessary for hypothetical thinking - the ability to imagine another viewpoint.

2.  Cars and bicycles

Draw a Venn diagram and ask the question:

What is the same and what is different between this pair of objects?
Examples:    car and bicycle
                   tree and flower
                   chair and table
                   banana and pineapple

The focus here is obviously on the skill of making comparisons, the basic building block of decision making.  This kind of activity can be introduced at beginner level.  Simply asking the question, 'What colour's my jacket?', for example, activates language, but it doesn't require any thinking on the part of the respondent.  As teachers, we need to encourage thinking.

3.  Missing information

Give three texts - three party invitations, for example, - each one with a missing piece of information (time, place, date, etc.).  Students have to work out what is missing rather than the more usual task of answering questions on what is there.

4.  Listen and imagine

Tell students to close their eyes and then play them a piece of music.  Then ask them to draw a picture inspired by the music or write down a list of words they would associate with it.  They then have to explain their picture or choice of words to a partner or small group.

Here, we are encouraging creative thinking, which, as we have already heard, is an integral part of critical thinking.

5. Cause and effect

Give students a statement and ask them if there is a cause and effect relationship in it.  For example,

Jane doesn't play any musical instruments.  Therefore, she isn't a musician.

This kind of task is suitable for intermediate level students.  They have to question whether or not there is enough information to establish a cause and effect relationship.  If not, what other information is needed?  The attention to detail required here is a great exercise for students.

To conclude:

Quoting Vygotsky's model:

Learning moves away from the goal of getting the answer correct to getting the answer correct because a specific process was used to get the answer.

Further information:

• Follow @herbertpuchta on Twitter
• www.herbertpuchta.com
• facebook.com/herbertpuchta.elt
• Teaching Young Learners to Think

IELTS Writing - a British Council, Saigon, Teachers' Workshop

This is a summary of a workshop I attended at the British Council in Ho Chi Minh City.  It was presented by Ian Kitching and the subject was the IELTS writing test.

Overview of IELTS writing

The test comprises of two parts:

Task 1    20 minutes     150 words

• Academic - describe information from a chart, graph or diagram or describe a process.
• General - write a letter based on a given situation.  The candidate needs to use his or her imagination and creativity.

Task 2    40 minutes      250 words

• Academic and general - write an essay.  The form is usually 'advantages/disadvantages' or 'to what extent do you agree with this opinion?'
• For an advantage/disadvantage essay, the candidate needs to present both sides whereas for an opinion essay, he or she can choose to agree, to disagree or to present a balanced view.
• The most important thing with task two is to read the question properly and analyse it: sometimes it's a two-part question, in which case both parts must be answered.
• The idea with task two is to present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the topic.
• The candidate should use his or her own ideas, knowledge and experience and all arguments should be supported with examples and relevant evidence.

What are the examiners looking for?

Scripts are given a band score from 1 to 9 under each of four criteria and the final mark is an average of the bands given.  The criteria:

1. Task achievement/response - this looks at content and ideas.  How fully is the question answered?  In task one, how effectively does the candidate identify key features and give an overview or respond to all points in the task?  In task two, how effectively does he or she analyse the argument and present an opinion?  Is all the content relevant?  Did the candidate write the minimum number of words?
2. Coherence and cohesion - Is the writing organised into paragraphs?  (It's a good idea to advise candidates to leave a line between paragraphs for clarity.)  Does it follow logical stages?  Are sentences fluently linked together?  Is there a range of cohesive devices?  Is there use of reference and substitution?
3. Lexical resource - Is the vocabulary used accurately?  Is there a wide range or is there repetition of the same words?  Can the candidate use less common or idiomatic language appropriately?  (The latter is needed to achieve a score above band 6.)
4. Grammar - Is the grammar accurate?  Is there a wide range of structures?  Are there complex sentences or mainly simple ones?  (Even if students make mistakes, it's better for them to try than not.)

Teachers can use the public version of the band descriptors to advise students what they need to do for the band they require.

Task One Sample Graph

Task One Academic IELTS


1  Hints and tips

1. Underline key words in the question.
2. Analyse the graph and plan an answer.
3. Paraphrase the question - if candidates just copy the question word for word, then those words are deducted from the word count and they could lose marks for not having written enough.  For example, 'The table below shows consumer durables (telephones, refrigerators, etc.) owned in Britain from 1972-1983' could become 'The chart gives information on how the ownership of consumer goods changed in the UK between 1972 and 1983.'
4. Practise paraphrasing the question many, many times!!!
5. The answer should include an overview, either at the beginning or the end - if this is missing, the candidate can not score higher than a band 5.  The overview should describe the general trend and note any exception.
6. Key features of the chart need to be commented on.  To do this, it is best to look for things that can be grouped together (e.g. things which are similar in terms of large increases, small increases, no differences, etc.).
7. Decide on what to leave out - not everything needs to be described.
8. Use comparatives and superlatives when describing the chart.
9. Analyse model answers and look for common phrases (e.g. The most notable feature shown by the data is that......).
10. Check the word count - an examiner will look at every piece of writing and judge whether the candidate has written the correct number of words (words per line multiplied by the number of lines).  If he or she thinks it is close, every word will be counted.  On the examiner banding guidelines, there are clear rules on what is a word and what is not.  Hyphenated words count as one word.
11. Task one should be organised into three or four paragraphs.
12. Write a short conclusion, but DO NOT give an opinion - e.g. Overall, the chart shows....

2  Problems for Vietnamese learners

• No experience of analysing charts
• Inability to structure sentences correctly
• Problems using passive voice to describe processes
• Errors with subject-verb agreement
• Lack of lexical range
• Missing connectors/linking words
• No clear grouping of ideas which adversely affects the overall structure

3  Skills needed

• Analysing quickly - overall trends; can the data be put into groups?; what are the extremes?; what are the exceptions?; what information is not worth mentioning?
• Editing - judging how much to include, organising into paragraphs, giving an overview.
• Proof reading - correcting mistakes, looking for repetition of language.

4  Language areas

1. A range of tenses
2. Paraphrasing
3. Describing trends - the number rose, there was a slight fall, it levelled off.
4. Comparatives, superlatives and other ways of contrasting - higher than, the most significant change, it did not change to the same extent as....
5. Discourse markers - however, similarly, in contrast, turning now to the figures for the UK...., overall we can see that....., in conclusion.
6. A range of lexis to avoid repetition - e.g. the data shows, this amount demonstrates, the total number represents.

5  Activities to use in the classroom

1. Analyse model answers and use them as a basis for exercises.
2. Practise paraphrasing the question.
3. Practise identifying key points from charts, graphs, etc.
4. Jumble the paragraphs of model answers and get students to put them in the correct order.
5. Give students a list of statements about a graph or chart and get them to decide if they are major points, minor points or irrelevant.  Should they be included or not?
6. Match a graph with the correct description.
7. Match vocabulary with the same meaning - e.g. a significant increase, a sharp rise.
8. Take the linkers out of a model answer and get students to complete it as a gap fill.
9. Use bad texts to find and correct errors or to re-write.
10. Give a continuous text to students and get them to separate it into appropriate paragraphs.
11. Get students to highlight the linkers in a text and then write a new text using the same linkers.

Task Two Academic IELTS

1  Problems for Vietnamese learners

• Inability to understand the question
• No opinions or ideas to write about
• A lack of experience and knowledge to support ideas
• Mistakes when writing complex sentences - e.g. when using relative clauses
• Incorrect (or no) referencing (pronouns)
• Problems with paragraphing (no topic sentences or clear purpose)

2  Skills needed

• Understanding the question to avoid irrelevant or tangential answers (candidates must stay on topic).
• Brainstorming ideas and examples quickly.
• Selecting and organising the main points.
• Writing enough in the time - underlength answers are quite common in Vietnam.
• Writing concise and relevant introductions and conclusions.
• Proof reading - self correction.

3  Language areas

1. Cohesive markers - firstly, secondly, however, another advantage is..., on the other hand, the main argument against x is.....
2. Using relative clauses (and other clauses) to avoid predominantly simple sentences.
3. A range of grammar and vocabulary to avoid repetition - a good knowledge of synonyms and antonyms can help here.
4. Correct use of language for addition (also, in addition, furthermore), contrast (however, nevertheless, even though), and result/consequence (so, therefore, leading to....)
5. Collocations - particularly prepositions (involved in -ing, prevent from -ing, responsible for/to)
6. Agreement of singular/plural.

4  Activities to use in the classroom

1. Use real questions to practise with.
2. Practise highlighting keywords in the question.
3. Rewrite questions.
4. Match simple questions to IELTS questions.
5. Give students a sample answer and get them to write the question.
6. Group discussions to generate ideas.
7. Practise brainstorming topics and selecting the best points.
8. Cut up paragraphs and re-order a model answer.
9. Deconstruct sample answers to analyse the language used.
10. Read to widen content and vocabulary knowledge of unfamiliar topics.
11. Write introductions as a group.
12. Antonyms and synonyms matching activities.
13. Prepositions and verb collocation activities.
14. Self-correction and peer-correction activities.
15. Work on cohesive devices - with gap fills, for example.
16. Label the purpose of the paragraphs in model answers.
17. Use running dictations.
18. Replace linkers with another one with the same function.

Online resources to help you teach IELTS writing

• http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org
• www.ielts.org
• www.cambridgeesol.org
• www.ielts-exam.net
• www.onestopenglish.com
• www.dcielts.com

Teaching vocabulary - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the #eltchat held at 12noon BST on Wednesday 19th September, 2012. The full title of the chat was:

'How should we approach vocabulary teaching and learning?  Is there a place for rote learning?  What is the current thinking about it?'

I have to say that I didn't vote for this topic, mainly because it was up against my suggestion of 'first lesson ideas'.  As it turned out, my subject won the vote and was discussed at 3am my time here in Vietnam so I missed it!  Instead, I found myself involved in a very interesting chat session on teaching vocabulary and came away with lots of food for thought.  It was expertly moderated as usual, this week by @Shaunwilden and @theteacherjames. 

 

Rote Learning Vocabulary - the Pros and Cons

 

We began by discussing rote learning and it soon became clear that we had a difference of opinion as to the effectiveness of the method. 

@teflerinha told us that she had had success with rote learning when she was learning Polish and Portuguese, particularly when using small 'crib' cards.  These cards can be created by using quizlet or other similar websites.  She also said that level is relevant - beginners need more rote learning because there is less context available.  @ElkySmith added that rote learning is easier at low levels because of the concrete nature of the vocabulary.  @louisealix68 reminded us that some students prefer rote learning ('musical intelligence') and told us that it had really helped her with German.  @rliberni suggested that rote learning can be made more fun by creating chants, songs and raps.

Personally, I have never had much success with rote learning, either as a learner or a teacher.  This opinion was shared by @cioccas.  @michelleworgan also questioned its long-term effectiveness, especially with YLs.

Several contributors, however, gave the link to an article by Paul Nation on why rote learning works, although it was pointed out that Nation himself admits that, once learned by rote, students have to use the new vocabulary in context in order for it to 'enter deep store'.
 

Clearly, there is a place for rote learning with some students, but it is not ideal for all learning styles.

 

Other Ways of Teaching Vocabulary

 

Most #eltchat participants agreed that we need to keep students engaged in vocabulary learning by finding other teaching methods, rather than just asking them to learn word lists.  Some of what follows has a basis in rote learning, but is much more interesting and effective.

• Giving students context is vital to help them remember new vocabulary.
• @rliberni reminded us that translation has a part to play.
• @LizziePinard advised us to use quizzes and games where possible, bingo and pelmanism, for example.  She suggested that, 'if you increase the depth of processing, the lexis becomes more memorable'.  This can be achieved by getting students to use more than one kind of processing - identifying, manipulating, classifying, etc.
• Use pictures and diagrams: for example, put house vocabulary into an outline of a house.  Combining vocabulary with visuals is always a powerful way to present and, later, recall vocabulary.
• Get students to use vocabulary in a personal way to make it more memorable.
• Give regular vocabulary tests or weekly revision sessions.
• Get students to create word search puzzles for other classmates to solve.
• Use mnemonics to make rote learning more fun - all those of us who learned 'the colours of the rainbow' or 'the planets in the Solar System' this way will never forget them! 
• Favourite games for teaching and revising vocabulary include 'Taboo', 'Outburst', 'Say my Word', 'Blockbusters' and 'Call my Bluff'.
• Use all of the senses to help students remember new vocabulary - think about the sounds and smells associated with words.
• Get students to create weekly vocabulary posters which are then displayed on the wall as a permanent visual reminder.  Later in the course, these posters can be used in memory games, sentence building, story telling, etc.
• Encourage students to read as much as possible in order to increase their vocabulary.
• Writing is one of the best ways to revise vocabulary.
• Encourage the use of vocabulary notebooks and urge students to be creative with them - word trees, pictures, use of colour, etc.
• Get students to prepare wiki pages on a specific topic at home - these can then be referred to both in and out of class.
• Don't overload students with masses of new vocabulary at the same time - 'small amounts often' is the way forward for @ElkySmith, both when presenting new words and revising what has already been covered in class.
• Synonym posters in the classroom, which students add to during the course, are a great way to expand vocabulary.  This works just as well with mind maps which can be built on.
• Co-operative or half crosswords are great for teaching vocabulary.
• Remember not to limit vocabulary to words - lexical chunks are particularly useful.
• Make students think about how words behave and not just what they mean.
• Teach vocabulary through reading texts, where students underline the words they don't know and then use them in their own sentences.
• Use drama activities - for example, students make up a mime using narrative verbs learned and their classmates have to call them out.
• Teach students to understand meaning from context when reading and listening.
• Get students to watch films in English with English subtitles so they are getting the vocabulary through both visual and auditory channels.
• Use TPR, particularly with YLs, to help memorise directions, body parts, emotions, requests, imperatives, adjectives, etc.
• Teachers need to remember to reuse new words as much as possible in class - students pick up on this and try to do the same.
• Use songs, as long as you explain what the lyrics mean!
• Relate challenging vocabulary to songs or popular films or TV shows.  The example given by @Teachersilvert was using 'Friends' to illustrate 'freak out'.
• Only teach relevant vocabulary - words and phrases students will need.  Good dictionaries will tell you how frequently a word is used - this online example from the OUP is particularly good: http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/oxford3000/
• Have a 'word of the day' for students to use correctly in class (or even a 'chunk of the day').
• Revise as much as possible.  A good tip is to have a vocabulary bag and use it for constant recycling activities.  This was suggested by @jobethsteel.  I would endorse this - we use them in our department and if a teacher is a few minutes late for class, it's so easy for a colleague to go in and do a quick vocabulary revision exercise using the 'word bag of the week'!!

Conclusion

As with all EFL teaching, there is no 'one size fits all'.  Rote learning has its place, but it doesn't work for all learners (or teachers!).  The key is to use a variety of approaches, tasks and activities in order to provide multiple experiences of, and exposures to, new vocabulary.  Whether you use rote learning or not, students need opportunities to notice new words and lexical chunks as well as situations where they need to use them.

Links

• Kim's Game to help students memorise new vocabulary via @AlexandraKouk
• Using thematic grouping to teach vocabulary via @teflerinha
• Apps to help learn vocabulary via @jobethsteel
• 'Beyond Backs to the Board' - a prezi on teaching vocabulary by @ElkySmith
• @leoselivan's blog about teaching vocabulary as recommended by @elawassell, @cioccas and @teflerinha
• Vocabulary revision with post-it notes via @theteacherjames
• 1000 free vocabulary games via @AlexandraKouk
• A seminar by Paul Nation on vocabulary teaching via @ElkySmith
• Triptico - a free app for teaching vocabulary via @Teachersilvert
• Concordancers via @teflerinha
• Lexical priming via @AlexandraKouk
• Scaffolding via @AlexandraKouk
• Textivate - great for getting students to think about how sentences fit together and to focus their minds on form and meaning of words
• 'The English we Speak' BBC podcast - good for teaching new vocabulary/chunks because students love to be able to reproduce what they've heard (via @worldteacher)
• Short booklet on teaching vocabulary from CUP via @AlexandraKouk
• Games for learning vocabulary via @HOSNA_ELT

 

 

How do we generate language from a topic? - A practical example

A picture is worth 1000 words

This was the title of a webinar presented by Adrian Tennant as part of the MacMillan series.  What follows is a summary of the session.

Adrian began by telling us that two or three 50-word texts should generate five or six hours of teaching.  This was quite a surprising claim and had us hooked from the off!

We were then shown that we don't even need 50 words.  For example, we should treat a picture as a text.  Remember the saying: 'A picture is worth a thousand words'.

Another place to start would be with a newspaper headline.  For example.

Youth Badly Hit in Jobs Market

The ambiguity of headlines like this make them rich pickings for language analysis:

• Who or what does the word 'youth' refer to ?
• What is a jobs market?
• How was/were the youth hit?
• Who or what hit the youth?
• What was the youth hit with?        etc., etc.

This could easily be adapted for low level students:



Young People Can't Get Jobs



Here, you could focus on modals, negatives, the verb 'get', and so on.

A five or six word text can generate 15-20 minutes of teaching and/or discussion, so how much more can be generated from a 50-word text? 

 

With a 50-word text, you can

• pick up on collocations and do vocabulary matching exercises
• isolate the grammar - tenses, comparatives, etc.
• teach a particular part of speech - adjectives, articles, prepositions, etc.
• highlight referencing words - like this, this kind of, these, they, etc.

An example of a short text

Usually in course books, the higher the level, the longer the text.  Remember:

size

doesn't

matter!!

 

Short, complex texts can be much more useful than longer ones.

 

 

 

 

What else can you ask students to do with a short text?

• You can ask students to paraphrase or summarise the text. 
• Use it to increase vocabulary.  For example, you could get students to replace every adjective with a synonym, thus teaching them to avoid repetition in their own writing.
• You can use the text as the basis for a class discussion.
• You can ask students to generate questions from the text for their classmates to answer.
• You can get students to prepare two-minute presentations based on the text.

 

What is the difference between using short texts and using a coursebook?

• The texts are bite-sized.
• The language emerges from the topic, NOT the topic from the language.

 

There are thousands of topic-based lessons for all levels freely available on the internet, covering subjects such as: crime, family, weather, politics, travel, work, relationships, environment, culture, education, transport, etc.

 

Remember!

 

There is no such thing as an authentic text in an EFL classroom.  The minute you take a text into class, it loses it's authenticity!  There are only authentic tasks!

 

How do you create a topic-driven lesson?

1. Choose a topic.
2. Find (or write) short texts about the topic.  These can be like short newspaper articles.
3. Start looking for the language - DO NOT try to write a text to illustrate a grammar point or a particular type of vocabulary.  The text should never be contrived - the language should emerge from a naturally-written text.
4. Design your activities - don't forget to record audio versions of your texts to be able to add listening activities.
5. Always have the topic at the forefront of your mind.

Extension activities

• Higher level students can generate their own texts (this is good for error correction, too).
• Texts written by higher level students can be used in lower-level classes.
• Give students a similar text to the original as a gap-fill - articles, linkers, etc.

Conclusion

 

The most important thing is getting students to notice language through exploring and analysing a text.  We need to teach students how to learn and give them the curiosity and the tools to take control of their own learning.

 

Further reading

 

'Uncovering Grammar' by Scott Thornbury



#ELTchat - We'll Be Back!!

This is an article written by Marisa Constantinides (@Marisa_C) and published first on her blog.  It explains the loss of our #eltchat domain name and her plans for the future of the website.  I am proud to re-publish it here and am looking forward to #eltchat's 'new term' in September!!

#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

Andrea Wade

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 under ours.

7th VUS-TESOL Conference, City Hall, Saigon - 14th July, 2012

This was the first time that I had attended a conference such as this in Vietnam and I wasn't sure what to expect.  However, with Alan Maley as the keynote speaker, my hopes were high!

We travelled into the city straight from work on Friday night and enjoyed dinner at our favourite Indian restaurant, Baba's Kitchen.

Early the next morning, Mark went off to do his own thing and I took a taxi to the conference venue.  It was an impressively large building and there was no mistaking that we were in the right place - there were huge banners everywhere and a steady stream of attendees pouring through the gates and up the wide marble steps.

We were greeted by friendly looking security guards who directed us to the appropriate desks for registration.  Having pre-registered online, the process was quick and efficient.  I then picked up a bag of literature, free pens and a very impressive glossy brochure.  I was enjoying spending time looking at books and talking to representatives of the publishing houses when my colleagues arrived and urged me into the main hall which was filling up fast.  So fast, in fact, that the only available seats were right at the front of the auditorium.  We took our places and arranged our papers and bags and sat with notebooks and pens at the ready.  We were, however, soon moved on, being told that the seats, despite not being marked as such, were, in fact, reserved for dignitaries!  We were shown to the cheap seats upstairs, not nearly as comfortable and without the convenient writing desk in front of them.  At least we were early enough not to be condemned to the ubiquitous small red plastic stools which were hastily being arranged on the peripharies of the room!

'Crackerjack' - childrens' TV show 

Proceedings got under way a little late, as is the norm in Vietnam, and then were delayed further by a seemingly unending stream of speeches and presentations.  The people being honoured were party members, local dignitaries, lesser politicians, the conference speakers, publishers, sponsors, representatives of VUS and so on and so on.  Each presenter and recipient was sporting a lavish corsage and was accompanied on to the stage by loud applause and rousing music.  Once on stage, they were given framed certificates, elaborately wrapped gifts and bouquets of flowers.  As they stood in line for numerous photos, I was reminded of the final game of the popular 1970s kids' TV show, Crackerjack, where children were loaded up with presents until you could no longer see them behind a pile of goodies, and what they didn't drop, they could keep!!  It made me smile!

Alan Maley

With the formalities finally over, the conference proper could begin, with Alan Maley's plenary on 'Standardisation: Interrogations and Implications'.  It was very interesting, but seated, as we were, in 'the Gods', some of his message was lost on us.

That said, the day was very successful.  I made a couple of poor choices of sessions to attend, but, fortunately, my colleagues made better selections, so they were able to fill me in on what I'd missed.  Between sessions, there was an opportunity to chat to some of the other 2,000 attendees, browse the wide selection of books on display, talk to presenters and publishers, or partake of the very generous variety of food and drink on offer.

As the day drew to a close, there was a raffle draw which followed a similar drawn-out pattern to the early morning presentations and then a mad scramble to acquire a certificate of attendance.

As we emerged into the bright sunshine and heat of a Saigon afternoon, I felt it had been a worthwhile way to spend a Saturday and I'm already looking forward to next year's conference!

How Webinars Have Transformed my CPD

Until a few months ago, my CPD consisted of my own reading, attending an odd seminar when the opportunity arose, and my weekly participation in #eltchat on Twitter.  Not being fortunate enough to work for institutions which put much emphasis on the professional development of their teachers, or indeed with colleagues who were interested in their own, these methods were all that were available to me.  I didn't mind too much.  I felt that I was keeping up to date with what was happening in my field and that I was serving my students well by taking the best of what I learned, particularly through #eltchat, back into the classroom.

Then I discovered webinars.  I can't remember what the topic of my first one was, but I do remember that it was good to be a part of a global meet-up of teachers, all with a common interest and with similar problems and issues in their daily working lives.  The opportunity to 'chat' with these colleagues before, during and after the webinar meant that it was a social experience rather than a solitary one.  And I learned so much!

Since then, I've attended webinars presented by some of the biggest names in the ELT field on a range of topics from 'How do we generate language from a topic?' and 'Digital literacies' to 'Creativity in ELT' and 'The difference between written and spoken grammar'.

These webinars have been hosted by organisations such as:

• Macmillan Publishing
• Cambridge English Teacher
• Oxford University Press
• Pearson ELT

I tend to make copious notes during these webinars which I then summarise and keep as a record of my CPD.  Some of these summaries make their way on to this blog, as a reference for myself as well as a help for other colleagues in the blogosphere.  Others have been used as the basis for workshops in my current place of work.  Professional development has not been given much focus here, but, slowly, this situation is changing, and I have high hopes of helping with the implementation of a more formal series of training sessions in the new academic year.

There have been times when I've been unable to attend a webinar which was of particular interest to me, and I've tried to watch the recording later.  For me, however, this hasn't worked.  I like the immediacy of a webinar and the fact that it is a shared experience rather than an act of solitary learning.  There is a bit of a lull at the moment in the number of webinars on offer, mainly due to summer holidays, but I'm already registered for one or two in September and am looking forward to another fruitful period of CPD.