Top tips for classroom management

This is a summary of the first #eltchat on Wednesday 23rd October, 2013.  There were relatively few participants and the chat was slow to get started, mainly due to technical difficulties with Tweetdeck, but, nevertheless, some good ideas were shared.




Management versus leadership

The similarities and differences between these two roles is an age-old debate and @touqo wondered if it had any resonance with classroom management.  It was generally agreed that it did.  @Marisa_C said that she often asks teachers to think of the qualities of a good CEO or leader and ask what can be learned from them.  The teacher as a leader can set a good example for students, particularly for teens who like to have their 'idols'.  Good leaders brief, support, monitor, encourage, reward, listen, intervene when necessary - these are all good classroom management skills.

Is classroom management the same for different age groups?

This question was posed by @OUPELTGlobal.  Participants felt that the basic principles are the same across all age groups, but the methods of implementation need to be adapted.  @Marisa_C pointed out that young learners expect a firmer hand from the teacher, whereas older students can contribute to the rules and seek and accept choice.  @Shaunwilden argued that some adults prefer a firmer teacher.  This has certainly been my experience, especially with students who haven't been in a classroom for a number of years.

The first days of a course

The beginning of any course is the time to establish good classroom management.  Contracts between teachers and students are a good idea so that everyone knows what to expect.  It's important to give students as much input into the content of these contracts as possible.  The contract should be displayed on the classroom wall throughout the course as a reminder and as a way to reinforce good behaviour.

Goal setting is equally important so that students know what they should achieve, in every lesson and over the course as a whole.

The first ten minutes of a lesson

There was a consensus that the first ten minutes of any lesson are crucial in good classroom management.  This is the time when we set the tone and motivate our students to learn.  Personally, I try to make sure that I am in class before the students arrive.  That way, I invite them into the class and make sure they are speaking English from the moment they enter the room.  With young learners I use a 'password system' whereby students have to say a word or answer a question from the previous class as they come in.  As @OUPELTGlobal said, this all helps students to make the transition to English from their L1.  For the same reason, @cathmmadrid nearly always begins her lesson with a game which recycles vocabulary from the last lesson.

During the lesson

Seating is important, both in terms of the arrangement of the chairs and also where particular students sit.  It was agreed that students should move around as much as possible during a class.

@OUPELTGlobal suggested using a 'traffic light' system to reduce the use of L1 in class.

I gave the example of one of the best teachers I have ever worked with.  She had her classroom management during the lesson down to a series of small gestures and facial expressions.  It was a joy to watch!  She achieved this through establishing the rules at the beginning of every course and being consistent.  Students knew exactly what was expected of them and, as a result, teacher talk time concerning classroom management was minimal.  I regularly used this teacher as a role model for her colleagues and tried to role out her techniques across the whole department in order to create consistency - something which we all agreed is crucial to good classroom management.

The end of the lesson

Just as it is important to start well, it's vital to end the lesson on a high.  @touqo gave us the analogy of a rock band who start a concert with their second-best song to get the audience motivated and save their best until last to make people want to come back for more!  Students must leave the class with a real sense of what they have learned during it.

How much does good classroom management affect students' performance and results?

It was agreed that good classroom management is a major factor - good students' results can suffer if they are in a poorly managed class and, conversely, weak students can thrive in a well-managed environment.  Good classroom management inspires student confidence in the teacher and sets boundaries on how the learning happens.  Bad classroom management takes up all the classroom time.

Teachers often don't give classroom management the importance it deserves.  @Shaunwilden reported that he sees this on diploma courses all the time - teachers think they know it, but then often do it appallingly.  Classroom management techniques evolve over our careers as teachers and it is something we always need to keep in mind when lesson and course planning.

Conclusion

@Marisa_C summed up the chat very nicely by saying that good classroom management is not just about control and discipline, but also about engagement and motivation.

Links

• The flip side of good classroom management by @Marisa_C
• Classroom Management Techniques by Jim Scrivener - review by @ELTExperiences

 

Fossilisation - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the second chat on Wednesday 11th September.  The full title of the chat was:

How can we tell if fossilization has set in and how do we prevent it or get out of such a state?

 

The chat was expertly moderated, as ever, by @Marisa_C, @Shaunwilden and @theteacherjames.  There were very few participants in the chat and this was definitely the shortest transcript I've ever had to summarise (only five pages!).  Let's think of it as quality over quantity and perhaps this summary can provoke further discussion on the #eltchat Facebook page.

 

The suggestion for the topic was prompted by Scott Thornbury's new blog, The (de-) fozzilization diaries, where he discusses his problems with acquiring Spanish as a second language.  I re-produce a definition of fossilisation from Scott's blog here:

 

Selinker (1972) noted that most L2 learners fail to reach target-language competence. That is, they stop learning while their internalized rule system contains rules different from those of the target system. This is referred to as ‘fossilization’. It can also be viewed as a cognitive process, whereby new learning is blocked by existing learning. It remains a controversial construct with some researchers arguing that there is never a complete cessation of learning.

(Ellis, R. 2008. The Study of Second Language Acquisition [2nd edition]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 963)

@Shaunwilden commented that it's not just an L2 thing - he has fossilised errors in his L1 from too much exposure to students' errors!!  I think most of us could relate to that!

 

What are the causes of fossilisation?

• Poor instruction - whilst poor teaching can not generally be blamed for fossilisation, and is clearly not the only cause, in my context in Vietnam where there is a very non-communicative approach to language learning, it was certainly a major factor.  Students came to university having had 10+ years of poor teaching and had errors so fossilised that they were very difficult to correct.
• Students reach a stumbling block in their interlanguage.
• Lack of exposure to authentic English - this is a particular cause of fossilised pronunciation errors.
• When students feel they can be understood, they stop learning.
• Lack of student motivation.

How do we know fossilisation has set in?

• @Shaunwilden suggested that, as teachers, we instinctively know.
• @theteacherjames said that he looks for inappropriate errors for the level - confusing he and she or unvoiced word endings, for example.
• For me, it's when usual error correction is totally ineffective.

Does fossilisation matter?

 

The consensus here was that if it prevents effective communication, then it does matter; otherwise, perhaps not.

 

How do we get out of the fossilisation stage?

 

As @naomishema pointed out, it's much more difficult to 'unlearn' something than it is to learn something new.  Students often realise their mistake immediately after they make it, but they still make it because it's so ingrained.  They can be aware of their own fossilisation, but unable to self-correct or fix the errors.  So, how can teachers help:

• Talk about the problem openly and honestly.
• Be strict with your students (in a nice way!) - via @theteacherjames.
• Drill your students, especially if the errors are with pronunciation.
• Display 'Our favourite errors' posters in the classroom - these should be created by the students with some teacher input if they don't recognise all their errors.  @Marisa_C suggested using post-it notes which could then be removed when the error was fixed.
• Encourage peer correction.
• Record activities and play them back a couple of months later to track progress and uncover fossilised errors.
• Make a checklist of common errors and have some students monitor and keep count of how many times they are made in order to raise awareness.
• Use a writing correction code to encourage students to find their own errors.
• Have students keep a portfolio of their work which can then be used in a one-to-one tutorial.

So there you have it, a short but sweet #eltchat which I sincerely hope will prompt further discussion.

 

Links

• Wikipedia definitions via @Marisa_C

 

What can teachers learn from good managers?

A good manager?

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at 12 noon on 19th June.  As a seasoned summary writer (I'm going for the gold medal with this one!!), I'm used to the process.  However, this is the first time I've written the summary not having attended the chat.  As a manager myself, I intended to be there, but, as is often the way, work interfered and I didn't get home in time.  So, what follows is my attempt to give order to the valuable contributions from my fellow #eltchatters.  I hope I have done them justice!  The chat was moderated superbly as always by @Marisa_C and @ShaunWilden.

The idea for the chat came from a talk by Henry Stewart, CEO of the wonderfully named company, Happy Ltd, entitled 'Choose your Boss'.  It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as part of their Four Thought series.  You can listen to it here. 

The talk began with the assertion that a majority of workers are not happy with their manager and that people often leave a job because of their manager.  @KatySDavies agreed saying that, for her, having a good manager is probably the most important thing in a job now - more important than school, location, facilities, etc.  @cioccas told us that she had, indeed, moved jobs because of bad managers.

Henry Stewart's solution to this problem is that people should be allowed to choose their own manager from those already in a management position.  He suggests that companies should choose who manage people based on how well they manage people!  Too often, people are promoted because they are good at their job, not because they are good at mentoring and managing people.  #Eltchatters argued that perhaps Henry Stewart's ideas were not so applicable in an ELT setting and that, in our industry, good teachers can and do make good managers.  In fact, most participants agreed that having a manager who had never been a teacher was really not a good thing.

So, what are the qualities of a good manager?

Henry Stewart quoted these eight behaviours identified by Internet giant Google Inc.:

1. Is a good coach
2. Empowers the team and does not micromanage
3. Expresses interest / concern for team members’ success and personal wellbeing
4. Is productive and results-orientated
5. Is a good communicator – listens and shares information
6. Helps with career development
7. Has a clear vision / strategy for the team
8. Has important technical skills that help him / her advice the team

In addition to the eight behaviours they identified for a good manager, they also narrowed down on the top 3 causes why managers struggle in their role:

1. Has a tough transition (e.g. suddenly promoted, hired from outside with little training)
2. Lacks a consistent philosophy / approach to performance management and career development
3. Spends too little time on managing and communicating.

Henry Stewart concluded that people work best when they feel good about themselves and so the main role of management should be on motivating people, valuing them and improving their self-esteem.

So, what did #eltchatters make of this list?

A good manager

@Shaunwilden pointed out that these eight things would equally apply to teachers and their classes, which is probably why the transition from good worker (teacher) to good manager is smoother and more effective in our industry than in others.  @michaelegriffin questioned the correlation between teaching skill and management, but others begged to differ.  After all, teachers are managing groups of people (students) every day of their working lives.  As @JoshSRound said, 'there are some transferable skills: teachers have to manage students, tutor them, coach them, encourage them, direct them.'

@KatySDavies identified one of her bad managers as being someone who flicked between micro management and then gave no support at all when it was really needed.  That person took no ownership of the work given to staff.  On the other hand, a good manager, in Katy's experience, was one who was supportive without being overbearing and who was genuinely interested in her as a person.  She described the great feeling she gets when she senses she's making a real contribution.

@bhrbahar said that a good manager is fair, honest and has organisational skill.  @jo_sayers added that it is someone who cares and encourages.  The majority of contributors agreed that good managers need to be good communicators with a focus on listening and sharing.  Properly listening and responding to the content of what has been said is vital.

The role of 'coach' was seen as essential, with good managers taking every opportunity to coach their teachers - in meetings, via one-to-ones, through e-mail, at social events, in observations and appraisals, etc.  When there aren't enough occasions like this, managers can seem very disconnected from their teachers.  @cioccas pointed out that teachers need to know that their manager is capable of coaching them, even if they don't need them to.  They can show this in what they say and do, the questions they ask, the interest they show, etc.  Managers could also demonstrate their ability through running workshops themselves, or by finding the right people in their team to do it for them, for example.  It's important that managers make time for coaching.  @JoshSRound told us that he's started to schedule one-to-one meetings with all of his team, a fact which @KatySDavies imagined would make them feel really valued. In the same way as teachers do for students, managers have to negotiate achievable goals for their teachers.  It needs to be a two-way process and teachers must have a realistic chance of hitting them.

Another similarity between the role of teacher and manager is that both have to know their 'team members' (students or staff) really well.  @MrChrisJWilson told us that one of the best things about his current boss is that he has endorsed his passions and helped him explore them in teaching.  In the same way, if we find our students' passions, we can use that knowledge to enhance their learning.  Good managers should take into account the different learning styles of their teachers as good teachers do for their students.

A good manager briefs well - a useful skill for teachers, too, when it comes to giving clear and unambiguous instructions.

Good managers and good teachers:

• Listen well
• Manage discourse well
• Stay quiet at times
• Are open-minded
• Make people feel valued
• Give clear instructions
• Allocate tasks well
• Show concern for and interest in their charges
• Are organised
• Negotiate achievable goals
• Recognise potential and nurture it
• Treat people as individuals
• Adapt to the changing needs of their charges
• Don't hold grudges
• Solve problems
• Assess well
• Value the importance of having a balance between hard work and fun in order to build rapport
• Encourage
• Build a sense of team spirit
• Promote collaboration and sharing
• Are fair and impartial
• Step up and take the initiative
• Explain the rationale behind their decisions
• Urge people to push themselves
• Are willing to try new ideas
• Seek to constantly improve themselves and their methods
• Are never satisfied with just 'OK'

Some chat contributors felt that we couldn't always make the same assumptions about managing students and managing teachers, though.  @michaelegriffin suggested that it is much harder with headstrong teachers than with generally manageable students and @pjgallantry summed it up with, 'Managing TEFL teachers is like trying to herd cats!!'  If that's the case, Paul, then I've really got my work cut out!! :-)



Links

Does the DOS do it for you? by @JoshSRound
Differentiating Professional Development - the Principal's Role via @cioccas

ELT Tomorrow - a summary of Jun Liu's IATEFL 2013 plenary

This is a summary of Dr Jun Liu's plenary on the future of ELT.  You can watch an interview with the man himself here and his presentation in full here.

To talk about the future of ELT, we need to look at the future in general:

The future is already here.  While machines will replace humans in some tasks, they'll also amplify us, enabling us to do things we never dreamed of doing before.  We'll enter a new kind of partnership - one that will shed light on the unique comparative advantages of humans: thinking, creativity, spontaneity, adaptability and improvisation.  Technology has enabled us to multi-task.  We do multiple things at the same time.  So, machines don't just replace what we do; they change the nature of what we do.  By expanding our capacities, they set new expectations about what is possible and set new performance standards.  Our tools change us.

These are the future changes predicted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies:

For example, the population is increasing in developing countries and decreasing in developed countries.  Clearly, this will impact on English language teaching.
  Leadership Skills

In the past, teachers were responsible for their students only.  Now they need to consider what is going on in other levels and collaborate with their colleagues.

What is the future of education?

We are working in a global learning economy.

'The globalisation of open learning systems..... will change how educational institutions view their roles and will offer new forms of value in the global learning ecosystem.'

2020 Forecast: 6 major drivers of change

1. Altered bodies - experimenting at the intersection of environment and performance.
2. Amplified organisation - extended human capacity remakes the organisation.
3. Platforms for resilliance - creating flexibility and innovation amid system failures.
4. A new civic discourse - rearticulating identity and community in a global society.
5. The maker economy - personal fabrication technologies plus open-source principles democratise production and design.
6. Pattern recognition - an extremely visible world demands new sensemaking.

All of these changes will impact what we do as teachers.

The three domains of ELT

 

All of these fields will be globalised.

 

ELT as a profession

 

The community of skilled practitioners who are actively involved in TESL or TEFL:

• instructors
• researchers
• curriculum designers
• materials developers
• teacher trainers
• administrators
• tutors
• test developers
• policy specialists

Anyone who makes or influences pedagogical choices in the language classroom.

 

Attributes of a profession

 

From Elliott Judd's 40th anniversary TESOL presidential plenary:

1. Has a body of knowledge
2. Has a prescribed regime of licensing for members
3. Sets a code of ethics and standards
4. Has authority
5. Has autonomy
6. Has power
7. Has status and privilege
8. Is altruistic and serves the public
9. Is a full-time lifelong commitment
10. Forms professional associations

Not that long ago, most English language teachers had no training whatsoever.  Now, there's lots of training available.

 

What's affecting the future of ELT?

 

To try to predict the future of ELT, Jun Liu looked at more than 40 years' worth of articles published in the TESOL Quarterly journal and identified the top ten issues affecting our profession:

1. Language skills
2. Language knowledge (including grammar and pronunciation)
3. Methodology
4. Language learning and the learners
5. Language policy
6. Language use - sociolinguistics
7. Assessment
8. Teacher development and education
9. Curriculum and materials design
10. Second language acquisition



There are four recurrent themes which are all inter-related:

1. Language policy/standards
2. Language learners and learning
3. Curricula and teaching materials
4. Teacher learning and development

We are in a time of migration and globalisation.  We need to redefine the role of English and legitimise varieties of native English.  We need to consider intelligibility and cross-cultural appropriateness.

'The majority of human interactions do not involve an English native speaker.'

Graddal 2006

 

74% of communication in English is NNS to NNS.

 

Redefining English

 

We have so many types of English now as identified by the following acronyms:

• English as an international language (EIL)
• English as an world language (EWL)
• English as an global language (EGL)
• English as a lingua franca (ELF)
• English as an additional language (EAL)
• English as everyone's language (EEL)

The majority of English language teachers are NNSs.

English for young learners (EYL) is a growing area.  These students are digital natives and teachers need to adapt to this.  Learners often have no interest in activities that don't have the same excitement as a computer game.

We need to introduce varieties of English that teach global/inter-cultural competence.  We need to understand who our students will be communicating with.

The six abilities of a competent English teacher

1. Make constant and effective changes

We need to try new practices in order to question our beliefs and perhaps change our behaviour.

• Innovation will drive success
• The qualities and skills that define a successful language professional today may be entirely different by 2020
• Strive to cultivate adaptability and effectiveness
• Resist relying on practices and assumptions merely because they were acceptable in the past

English teachers are constantly challenged:





 

2. Learn and speak at least one other language

 

In the future, companies will employ more bilingual or multilingual employees so there's a threat to native speakers growing up in the USA or UK.  If they don't learn a second language, they might lose out to multilingual applicants from overseas.  So, there's a huge need for learners to know more than one language and it's useful for teachers, too.  Plus, learning another language puts you back in the role of learner and gives you more empathy for your students.

 

3. Teach less to maximise learning

 

'Learning is most effective when the learner is the initiator of the learning process.'

McLean 1980

 

Our role as a teacher will change to become a:

• scaffolder
• supporter
• facilitator
• conductor



We will help students to explore the learning process rather than teach them what to do.  Students find learner-centred teaching intrinsically motivating.  Teachers should gradually move towards more non-directive approaches.

 

4. Teach English in at least one subject area

 

We're not just language teachers anymore.  Teachers who are knowledgeable in at least one other subject will be more employable in an increasingly competitive job market.  We need to have an integrative perspective on the role of English in the classroom.  General English teachers at tertiary level might not have jobs in the future as high school students enter higher education with IELTS band 7+ already.

 

5. Familiarise oneself with new learning and teaching modes

 

We need to be technologically prepared to work with digital natives.  We need to reimagine ways of learning and teaching English:

• handheld learning
• e-learning
• classroom technology
• digital textbooks
• digital English - extensive exposure to English input
• net-based teaching
• digital teaching resources

6. Ensure learning outside the classroom

 

We need to break the association between learning and schooling and create learning opportunities for our students outside the classroom:

• online learning
• self-paced learning
• one-to-one learning
• handheld learning
• mobile learning
• collaborative learning
• time-shifted learning - any place, any time
• synchronous/asynchronous learning
• blended learning

 

#eltchatters discussed Jun Liu's 'Six abilities' on April 17th.  I summarised the chat here.

 

Final thoughts

 

Changes are inevitable - we need to prepare ourselves for them.  We need to turn our original pyramid upside down.  After all, teachers are leaders too!!

 





The Six Abilities for Competent Teachers - an #eltchat summary

Following a discussion between @ShaunWilden and @Marisa_C at IATEFL 2013 in Liverpool last week, some changes were made to the way we select topics for #eltchat, as explained here.  So, the chats on Wednesday 17th April were the first using the new procedure and, on this occasion, the decision was made to discuss the same topic during both the 12 noon and the 9pm BST chats.  What follows is a summary of both conversations. 



Jun Liu

The idea for the chat came from Jun Liu's plenary talk on 'ELT Tomorrow' at IATEFL.  He concluded his presentation by suggesting that there are six abilities competent teachers will need in the future.  These are:

1. Make constant and effective changes.
2. Learn and speak at least one other language.
3. Teach less to maximize learning.
4. Teach English in at least one subject area.
5. Familiarise oneself with new learning and teaching modes.
6. Ensure learning outside the classroom.

We will look at each ability in turn and summarise what the #eltchatters had to say about it, both in terms of how relevant they think it is and how they can go about developing it.

 

Make constant and effective changes

 

@Marisa_C started us off on this one by asking if this is possible for every teacher and wondering how it might be done.  @teflrinha pointed out that the changes don't have to be big ones - tweaks can be just as effective.  @ShaunWilden suggested that we leave out the 'constant' and just talk about 'effective' changes.  After all, change for the sake of change is nonsense - all changes have to be for a reason. 

@theteacherjames took this point to mean CPD which, as he said, nobody should disagree with!  Most participants agreed that good teachers always try to engage in reflective practice and make tweaks and changes as a result.  Indeed, Adrian Underhill gave a talk on this very topic last year. 

So, as @adi_rajan said, the real question is not whether change is good (that's a given), but why many teachers can't or won't commit to change.  We all know teachers who teach the same thing in the same way year after year.  @jo_sayers suggested that the word 'constant' would put some people off and that it would perhaps be better to replace it with 'regular'.  @pjgallantry went further and asked whether we need to constantly reinvent the wheel, to which @theteacherjames responded by saying that he interpreted #1 as meaning a constant evolution as opposed to a constant revolution.

At the end of this part of the discussion, the vast majority of participants agreed that, whilst implementing ongoing and effective change might be challenging, it is preferable to doing nothing and becoming sedentary.  We do, though, need pauses between changes - a time to reflect, look, listen and think.
 

Learn and speak at least one other language

 

We had an #eltchat on the value of learning another language for EFL/ESL teachers last October. You can read the summary here.

 

There was a general consensus amongst participants that learning another language is a good idea for English language teachers as it gives us a greater understanding of and empathy for what our students are going through.  Even if we are really bad at learning languages (myself, @jimscriv  and @ShaunWilden!), our experiences can still benefit our students.  @MarjorieRosenbe told us how she often gives her students tips on how she learned German in order to help them develop strategies for learning English.  Hearing about difficulties experienced by their teacher can be very motivating for students!  @theteacherjames blogged about his experiences as a language learner as did @kenwilsonlondon.

 

Many of us remembered how effective it was to have a foreign language lesson at the start of our CELTA courses and @hartle lamented the fact that such lessons have disappeared from her centre as it was thought that they were an outdated idea.  @Marisa_C told us that she regularly teaches Turkish or Greek or French on the first day of her courses as a great way for trainees to experience what it's like to be a beginner.  @teflrhina can still remember the Japanese she learned on such a course 24 years ago!!  I have to say that the Greek I learned on mine has gone from my mind completely!!

Amongst the general flag-waving in favour of learning another language, @JonnyLewington sounded a note of caution, reminding us that everyone learns differently and that we shouldn't draw too many conclusions from our own learning experiences.

 

Teach less to maximise learning

 

It would appear that we all liked this one!!  It is the basis of 'demand high'.  'Less is more!!'  As @Charlesrei1 put it, 'for my adult learners, the hunt is more engaging than being fed!'  It is about reducing teacher talk time (or, as @hartle said, aiming for QTT - quality talk time) and leaving more space for students to discover and practise.  We need to give students more responsibilty for their own learning. 

@jimscriv told us that his watchword here is Adrian Underhill's, 'The least that is enough'.  It doesn't mean, 'Don't teach'.  It could mean, 'Teach a lot'.
 

@Marisa_C said it's about having fewer activities in a lesson, but doing them well.  She often observes classes 'chock-a-block with small, piddly bytes of this and that with no time for students to process or prepare or use'!!  What we need is quality in the classroom and time to learn it.  We need to give our students proper guidance and fully exploit all the activities we use.

@AlexandraKouk pointed out that many teachers feel guilty if there is even a short stretch of silence in class - that they aren't 'doing' anything, but as @kevchanwow said, this is, in fact the best kind of teaching.  Perhaps, students need to be taught to appreciate this kind of approach, though, as some of them demand more explicit instruction.  This is clearly necessary at times, but the question is when, how and how much?

Perhaps the key skill is knowing when to 'teach', when to 'guide', when to 'question' and when to 'leave space'.  (@Charlesrei1)  As @pjgallantry said, 'we should focus on smart teaching, not lots of teaching - focussed, observation-based, learner-centred.'

 

Teach English in at least one subject area

 

This one seemed to be the one that the majority of #eltchatters disagreed with.  Jun Liu's premise was that, seeing as learners are starting their English studies younger and younger, by the time they graduate high school, their competency in English will be such that they no longer need to be taught general English.  Therefore, at tertiary level in particular, English teachers will need to be able to teach another subject in order to stay competitive in the job market.  This is certainly not the case in my context here in Vietnam where, even after ten years' worth of English lessons in school, students arrive at university and test at beginner or elementary level.  This is unlikely to change in my lifetime and, if anything, the demand for general English teachers will increase as education authorities accept that they need better qualified teachers in primary and secondary schools.  @MarjorieRosenbe told us that the situation was the same in her context in Austria and @ShaunWilden suggested that Jun Liu's conclusion, in this instance, was perhaps the effect of a limited pool of research.

 

Some participants did point out that teaching another subject in English does give teachers another perspective, as with teachers of business English for example, but nobody thought it was absolutely necessary as a skill for future English language teachers.  @jimscriv said that schools overvalue content knowledge and that in fact, given one week's start on the students, most English teachers could teach most subjects anyway!

 

Familiarise oneself with new learning and teaching modes

 

Here, Dr Liu was talking largely, though not exclusively, about teachers keeping up with advances in technology.  In an environment where most of our students are digital natives, we, as teachers, need to make sure we are not left behind.  Let them teach us if need be!!  Students seem very comfortable with texting, checking the internet, listening or watching something - all at the same time - and we have to multi-task, too.  As Dr Liu said, 'Technology is inevitable; you can't avoid that.'  :-)

 

It seemed that all #eltchatters agreed with the premise.  As @kevchanwow said, 'Students don't see technology as set apart from daily life.  If you can't integrate it into the classroom, the class feels more artificial.'  However, @jankenb2 reminded us that technology is a tool and that, in using it, we must not lose sight of our goal.

 

Under this heading, too, it is important to be familiar with new teaching approaches and techniques.  As with ability #1, we need to be ready to change and innovate, though, again, not just for the sake of it.  In learning about new methods, we should be wary of dismissing tried and trusted ways just because they are older.

 

Ensure learning outside the classroom

 

This is seen as vital by the vast majority of #eltchatters, especially for students who don't naturally get any exposure to English outside the classroom.  Like #3, it is also about maximising learner autonomy.  Perhaps we can't 'ensure', but we can facilitate and encourage.

 

How can we achieve this?

• Engage students by giving them interesting ideas and links (via @MarjorieRosenbe)
• Set homework which requires students to research websites in English (via @jankenb2)
• Allow students to choose their own topics to research and projects to work on in their own time.
• Get students to record responses in English to tasks.
• Recommend podcasts for students to listen to.
• Do an inventive dictation exercise as in this example (via @hartle)
• In a multi-lingual environment, have a tandem programme whereby students are paired with a native speaker of a language different to their own and they have to spend time together speaking in English (via @MarjorieRosenbe)
• Set group project work (via @AlexandraKouk)
• Encourage students to continue classroom discussions via Facebook, for example.
• Use Edmodo as an extension of your real classroom.
• Apply flipped classroom principles (via jankenb2)
• Phone them late at night at home. Repeatedly. Talk at length in English. :-) (via @jimscriv)

 

Final Thoughts

 

@hartle posed the question at the beginning of the early chat as to which of the six abilities we thought was the most important.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to discuss this in either chat or, indeed, to respond to the suggestion that we come up with our own #eltchat list of abilities.  I'm sure this is a subject we will return to!

An Aside

The plan was to write this summary in collaboration with my friend and colleague, Lesley Cioccarelli (@cioccas). We both took part in the early chat and read the transcript for the late one, and intended to get together in a virtual way to write it up. However, time constraints for both of us (and the fact that I'm a bit of a control freak!!) meant that I'm solely responsible for what you have just read. I hope I have done justice to what was a stimulating and fast-moving couple of hours and I hope Lesley will agree to work with me on future collaborative projects!!

My first presentation at an international TESOL conference!

Several months ago, a member of my wonderful PLN (personal learning network) on Twitter, Lesley Cioccarelli (@cioccas), sent me a DM (direct message) suggesting that we could perhaps present together at CamTESOL 2013 which would be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in February.  I thought it was a great idea, especially as her proposed topic was 'How teachers can connect via the internet'.  We had an initial 'discussion' on Twitter and agreed that we would submit an abstract before the deadline, which was months away.

Then, as often happens with these things, we were both busy with work and life in general and CamTESOL was put on the back burner - until, that is, I happened to mention our idea in a Tweet to another of our PLN, prompting Lesley to check the date for abstracts and discover that it was the very next day!!  Talk about leaving things to the eleventh hour!!

We hastily put our abstract together and completed the necessary paperwork by sending the forms back and forth via e-mail.  Breathing a joint sigh of relief, we then sat back and waited for confirmation that we had been accepted.  When this arrived a few weeks later, it suddenly became real - it was no longer simply an idea in our heads - we were really going to do this!!  It was so exciting!

In the months leading up to the conference, Lesley and I exchanged a few e-mails expressing our thoughts on our workshop, but, in the end, we decided to leave the main planning to a couple of days before, when Lesley would be staying with me in Binh Duong. 

So it was that on the Tuesday before the conference, we said goodbye to my Mum at the airport (she had been staying with us for a month) and met up with Lesley.  Although we'd never met before, we recognised each other straight away and it felt like we'd been friends for years!  We talked non-stop during the hour-long taxi journey home and continued all the next day when Lesley came to work with me so we could plan our workshop. 

Lesley had had much more experience than I had of presenting at TESOL conferences, so I was happy to take her advice and 'pinch' slides she'd used in previous presentations when putting ours together.  In truth, though, we worked very well together and agreed that the basis of our workshop should be the story of how we 'met' online and how we came to be collaborating on this project at CamTESOL.  After all, we were living proof of the power of the internet, and social media in particular, to bring colleagues from different parts of the world together.  We decided not to script our presentation, relying instead on anecdotes and our enthusiasm for our subject to carry us through.

These were the details we submiited to the CamTESOL organisers before the event:

Session Title:  Connect with teachers around the world

Subtitle:   How to use the internet to develop a personal learning network (PLN)

Abstract:

Take charge of your own professional development.  By using the internet, you can decide when, where and how to keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.  This workshop will show you how to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other online forums to learn from, and share ideas with, a huge network of colleagues from all over the world.

We will demonstrate the advantages of building your own PLN and the ease with which it can be done, at no cost to yourselves.  We will share the story of how we came to collaborate on this project through ‘meeting’ online.  You will leave the workshop with the beginnings of your own PLN and the means to develop it further.

This is the PowerPoint we put together:

 

On the day, we were very ably-assisted by another member of our PLN who we met for the first time at the conference, Mike Griffin (@michaelegriffin).  He moved the slides on for us because neither Lesley nor I had thought about bringing one of those natty remote gadgets that you can use to make the job easier!

In the end, the workshop went extremely well.  Initially, we had planned to have a live link-up to show the power of Twitter.  However, on arrival at the conference, we were told that we would not have an internet connection in our room.  So, in the hour before our presentation, we put out a plea to our PLN to Tweet about their reasons for using Twitter, in the hope that we could at least read out their replies.  As it turned out, a technician did manage to hook us up to the internet just before the workshop started so we were able to show the #CamTESOL feed on TweetChat live.  As is always the case with the amazing people in our PLN, they came up trumps and we were able to demonstrate so effectively why we love Twitter and what it can do in terms of PD and networking.  Thanks to @sandymillin, @SophiaKhan4, @vickyloras, @pterolaur, @gotanda, @leoselivan, @TheSecretDoS. @trylingual, @AnneHendler, @damon_tokyo, @oyajimbo, @forstersensai, and @iTDIpro for their great replies and for the RTs.  Many apologies if I have missed anyone out!!

At the end of the session, we gave out this flyer:

 

The feedback we had from attendees was all positive - they admired our passion for our subject and had seen for themselves the benefits of developing a PLN.  We met lots of people and hope that we will continue to connect with at least some of them online!!

The whole experience was a really positive one for me and I hope to repeat it fairly soon!  I thank everyone involved, but especially my co-presenter, Lesley Cioccarelli, without whom none of this would have happened!!
 

Mentor teachers - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at 12 noon on 23rd January. The full title of the chat was:

'Mentor teachers' (those responsible for a team of teachers) and their role; best practices, pitfalls, tips.

This was my suggestion and, after a few shenanigans with a tied vote and an eleventh hour decision from our excellent moderators, @Shaunwilden and @Marisa_C, I'm pleased to say that it won and a very lively (over 500 tweets in the hour!) chat ensued.  What follows is my attempt to do justice to all of the valuable contributions from the participants.

Mentor teacher - defining the role

What is involved in being a mentor teacher?  Some suggestions:

• being a walking advice source
• inspiring mentees
• being a professional checklist
• being 'available'
• taking a mentee 'under your wing'
• answering questions or, better still, directing the mentee to find the answers himself
• showing the way
• being a quality control officer
• observing the mentee in the classroom and being observed by him to learn about each other's teaching practices and discuss the reasons behind them
• discussing problems and making sure teachers don't suffer in silence
• helping a new teacher get used to the admin systems of their new workplace (and chasing them up when they don't do it!)
• helping new teachers plan lessons
• providing a listening ear
• inducting a new teacher into a new institution
• encouraging CPD
• helping a new teacher to grow as a teacher
• making a mentee independent

What is the difference between a mentor and a coach?

• @louisealix68 suggested that a coach oversees in-depth reflection sessions on non-subject related things, whereas a mentor answers general questions on practical matters and, on that basis, a coach can look after any teacher in the institution, but a mentor should guide someone in his own department. 
• @Marisa_C proposed that, unlike a coach, a mentor doesn't train, but rather he supports someone in a new learning venture.
• @MentorEvo said that mentoring is a more frequent and detailed attention to day-to-day development than coaching is.

Who should be a mentor?

@touqo said that it was important that the mentor and the mentee be 'organisationally independent of each other' in order to ensure an informal atmosphere free of the day-to-day aspects of professional life, but @eltknowledge pointed out that this wasn't practical if part of the mentor's role is to assimilate the mentee into the organisation.  @touqo responded by saying that if the mentor's goal is to boost the mentee's career, then it is best that the mentor comes from elsewhere.

On a lighter note, @pjgallantry told us, 'As a mentor, my own role model is Obi-Wan Kenobi, though obviously without the being killed by a light sabre bit by a guy with asthma!'  This comment led to some of our participants ('geeks', perhaps - @Shaunwilden's term, not mine!) going off on a Star Wars tangent which kept them amused for the rest of the #eltchat!  Our aim is always to entertain as well as to inform!! :-)

The mentor/mentee relationship

It was generally agreed that the relationship has a natural life cycle and that, once a mentee has no further questions to ask, the partnership simply fades away.  After this, particularly if the arrangement has worked well, the mentee may become mentor to another new teacher.

Many #eltchat contributors felt that the relationship could only work if it was bi-directional, that is to say that both parties benefit from it.  It was also largely agreed that senior staff should swap mentee relationships each year in order to provide different perspectives.

@touqo suggested that the mentee should choose his mentor himself.  @yya2 went on to say the more a mentoring relationship is established by an institution, the less effective it is and that informal relationships seem to work better.

@Shaunwilden felt that both parties had to be working from the mentee's agenda for it to be a successful venture.

@yearinthelifeof commented that mentoring has to remain a symbiotic relationship built on mutual respect, trust and recognition that both sides can learn from.

Dos and don'ts of being a mentor

• DO ask questions which encourage reflection - e.g. 'Have you thought about....?', 'What might happen if you......?', etc.
• DO NOT make it a power relationship.
• DO ask difficult questions of your mentee before the 'real world' does!
• DO talk about expectations at the beginning of the relationship.
• DO listen.
• DO ask more questions than you answer.
• DO NOT shout or curse at the mentee! (Not outwardly, anyway!)
• DO make time to have a quiet cuppa with your mentee every week, even if he has no questions to ask.
• DO be patient.
• DO NOT impose your ideas on a mentee.
• DO know when to keep quiet and fade into the background.
• DO NOT have a 'know-it-all' attitude or act in a superior manner.
• DO find out about the background of your mentee.
• DO have a clear focus.
• DO be sympathetic and empathetic - these qualities are more important than the mentor's knowledge.
• DO ask the mentee what they would like you to help them with and any specific things to look out for.
• DO use 'human video' type field notes which are non-judgemental and where the mentee can decide what to accept and what to reject.
• DO NOT criticise, even if your mentee's lesson hurt your eyes!
• DO remember that you are learning as well.
• DO read this excellent book.
• DO continue to educate and develop yourself, both as a teacher and as a mentor.
• DO have a checklist, but DO NOT mentor according to it!!

Potential problems

• The mentor role and responsibilites are often not clearly defined.
• The mentor is often not trained in the role, prompting the question, 'How do you teach teachers to become mentors?'
• Mentors are often appointed simply because they are the people who have the time, not necessarily because they are the best people for the job.
• As soon as 'judgement' (e.g. critique of a lesson) of any kind gets in the way, the mentoring relationship will probably break down.
• People assuming that more experienced/older teachers automatically make better mentors.  As many contributors pointed out, 'newbies' often have a lot to teach 'oldies'!

Are mentors necessary?

This question was raised, particularly in places where there is a fantastic staffroom where experienced teachers all chip in to help with the CPD of new teachers.  It was also suggested that for those of us with an amazing PLN, mentors probably weren't needed.  In fact, some contributors consider #eltchat itself to be their mentor!  In most cases, however, it was agreed that there was a need for some kind of formal mentoring system as, nice as it would be, we can't often rely on everyone to care about their colleagues' CPD.

To conclude:

I joined the 2013 Mentoring EVO course a few weeks ago and I suggested this #eltchat topic because I redefined the role of senior teacher in my institution at the start of the 2012/2013 academic year.  The job title changed to 'mentor teacher' and I wanted the focus to shift to CPD.  This is a 'work in progress' and I was still unclear as to exactly how the relationship between mentor and mentee should work.  This chat has given me so much food for thought and I thank all the contributors for that.

@AlexandraKouk summed up the key elements of the mentor role:

• personal or professional development
• reflection
• informal transmission of knowledge
• relationship based

As @OUPELTGlobal put it, 'having a mentor is like having a good friend at school.'  @Teachersilvert added that 'a mentor is a friend with benefits'!!  However, @chiasuan pointed out that a good friend is socially but not professionally obligated to listen to your problems about work whereas it's vice-versa for a mentor! 

In the end, everyone agreed that, whilst training and qualifications were important, being open, approachable and empathetic were much more crucial qualities in a good mentor.

Links

The aplanet project on mentoring and 'Mentor' is a Greek word via @Marisa_C
Mario Rinvoluci's review of Fanselow's book via @KerrCarolyn
'Demystifying Mentoring' an article from the Harvard Business Review via @KerrCarolyn
Heron's Six Categories of Invention via @AlexandraKouk

Contributors