A Mongolian student of mine wrote this about her first experience working in groups and having to complete a task with three of her groupmates:

At the lesson on Wednesday our classmates divided /split/ into 5 groups. Students will work together effectively, to learn more in small groups. Every member of groups choose role for a speaker, monitor, recorder and timekeeper. I was a monitor, which makes sure everyone is speaking English.
At the first, we discussed a text about Bulgan city, then worked together to answer the questions. Before, when we work in a team we never choose role like as speaker, monitor, recorder and timekeeper. I think, it was the first for us. During the lesson we tried to help each other, and we decided the same opinion. It was wonderful!

We looked up new words in the dictionary and wrote the answers using these new words. We had so many new words. We talked about beautiful areas, more interesting places for tourists in Mongolia. And we decided to write about Bogd Khan’s museum, Tconchinboldog- monument of Chingis Khan, square of Sukhebaatar and our team wrote some sentences about these areas.

I think, there are some advantages to work in a small group. For example, know how to get in contact with each other, learn more and get to know each other etc. I’m a new student.

In other words, to know
o how to get in contact with each other
o learn more each other
o get to know each other
o feel more comfortable
o manage a work etc.

I’m a new student and I think, the lesson was interesting..

Now that summer is over and I have mostly settled into my new home in Ulaanbaatar, I feel it is necessary to provide an update on my current goings-on. My plan for the next two semesters is cobble together several smaller projects which, because of my busy schedule during the past two years, I was unable to get to until now.

First, I am going to running my online Teaching Writing course for the English Language Office in Lima, Peru. About 20-30 teachers from the region will be participating and the start date for the course is January 11, 2012. Until then, I will be working on writing my own packet of readings for the course. It will have ten units, each focusing on a specific aspect of L2 writing instruction. Two of the chapters (Writing Assessment and L2 Writing in the Digital Age) have been published elsewhere and can be found on the interwebs (including this site).

In addition, I am teaching in the e-teacher program, a partnership between the US Department of State and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The online course will be on the topic of language assessment and will run for several weeks starting in September.

I am also going to be one or two courses at the Mongolia University of the Humanities, my potential host institution for a Fulbright Scholarship I hope to receive for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Finally, I am working on an article with three of my colleagues from St. Petersburg on the journey they completed from 2009 to 2011 on developing from simply English teachers into teacher trainers and active association participants. The article will take an ethnographic approach and is scheduled for completion in summer 2012.

Otherwise, I am getting used to my new home and life in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia is a beautiful country and I can’t wait to explore it more!

Writing is the most difficult of all the language skills. This is true for the teacher as well as the learner. It is not necessarily a requirement that, in order to be good writing teacher, one must also be a good writer (but it helps). More important for teacher is that she has a clear understanding of her role in the classroom. Considering that a learner will only be successful through years of hard work and dedication, it is clear that, even though we call ourselves teachers, we are, in fact, mere facilitators.

What does this mean? If we examine this from the point of view of the writing classroom, the teacher has the responsibility not necessarily to teach students how to write in English, but to facilitate students’ development into more effective writers of English. In other words, students may certainly learn from the teacher while they are in the classroom (this is not a bad thing), but the majority of all their language development must take place outside the confines of the formal learning environment: the real world. This type of learning is hastened by a combination of careful demonstration and judicious practice (facilitated by the teacher) of the skills of autonomous learning.

For the writer, these skills may include the many aspects of effective reading such as selecting texts, varying reading speed, skimming and scanning, evaluating and analyzing texts and synthesizing old and new information. In addition, specific writing skills such as brainstorming, planning, conducting research, drafting, revising and proofreading are paramount.

The more the teacher is able to encourage the development of these skills in the learner, the more said learner is able to read and write in English independently. And the independent learner is an effective learner.

The teacher does this by very carefully selecting and sequencing activities which allow for critical and creative thinking and model the processes of text creation used by effective writers. Each step is scaffolded by the teacher (made easier than it would otherwise be) and designed to allow learners to discover and practice the process on their own. Learners can, for example, discover the structure of a text or find its main idea. They can proofread their classmate’s writings. They can develop their own methods of planning and outlining. They can choose their topics and conduct independent research. They can correct their own language errors. All the while, the teacher stands aside, ready to help when needed and constantly monitoring her students’ progress.

While such an approach can mean that lessons and activities become more difficult for the teacher to prepare and may require extra work outside the class, what becomes clear is how much easier and more enjoyable such lessons are. Learners take control of the lesson (partially) and assume ownership of their own language development. Classroom discussion is lively and engaging. Students learn from each other. Such a classroom environment becomes more rewarding and beneficial to all involved.

This is the first time I’ve written an entry in my teaching diary in a very long time. To be exact, the last time I wrote an entry in my teacher’s diary was in September of 2009, just over a year ago. I recall that when I did this, I found the reflective process to be much easier. However, last year I decided I was simply too busy to keep it up. I’m writing this today using speech recognition software with the hopes that it will encourage me to begin keeping my diary again.

For several weeks now I’ve been using the Internet as an integral part of my instruction, particularly at Herzen. Because I’m with my students only once a week, and then for only 90 minutes, I decided early on that having an online component to my course would greatly improve the quality of instruction. This is certainly been the case. Because I own my own web space, I find it very easy to download and install the free course content management system called moodle. It is an open source application that can be added to a website and then accessed by different users. It is specifically designed for a learning environment either hybrid or completely online and I have found it to be extremely useful but in assigning homework to students keeping grades and encouraging students to participate more.

This is how I’d do it. On my site, there are several courses, three of which are my Herzen classes. My students are enrolled in their course on my site and have their own login information. The click on the site, enter their password and in gain access to all the content in their course. On the website, the course is divided into weeks, one for each class meeting. There, they can see this week’s assignment and last week’s assignment. After two weeks, an assignment disappears. This means that students have exactly two weeks to complete an assignment, one to complete it on time and a second to turn it in late. Because of this, I get many fewer requests for late homework, because my policy is very clear, not only in what I tell them, but also in how the assignments appear on the web site. But

For each week, I include a set of instructions and the steps which students have to complete. The work may include reading a web site or a document, downloading an assignment sheet, writing a blob post on the site, submitting an essay or participating in a forum. All assignments or submitted online and all assignments are completed on line. Not only does this make it easier for the student to submit assignments, also makes it easier for me to grade them.

I have found that many students adapt very easily to this kind of learning environment. Because so many of the youth in Russia are already very connected their cell phones and computers with very easy access to the Internet, the fact that they have never participated in an online course before does not hinder them. In fact, I have found that they’d take to it right away and quite enjoy spending time on the site. As site administrator I can watch their activity and many students visit the site on a daily basis. This reminds me of something I read which stated that many language learners already have skills for communicating digitally, primarily in writing. Why not try to encourage them to transfer the skills and direct and toward their English learning? This is logical and has certainly played out in my experience.

I conducted a brief interview with three of the students recently and recorded it to video. I used this video at a recent conference to show other teachers how my students feel about using a web site to enhance and complement their learning. In the video, the three students agree in that having such a web site does mean more work for them, because it is like we meet once a week in class but every day on line, however they don’t notice the extra work and treat it as fun. I liked hearing this very much. And I got a very positive reaction from the teachers at the conference.

One thing that surprised me was how interested the students are in keeping track of their grades. At first, I had decided not to include grades on the web site simply because I was new to the system and did not want to overload myself. I’m glad I changed my mind. I have found that this is the most popular section of the web site and is visited most frequently by students. Here, they can see their participation grade and their attendance a long way of their homework grades and the greats they receive for their major assignments. Not only this, moodle automatically averages all the greats so that students can see what their final grade would be if the course were to end today. Discreetly adds to the overall transparency of the course and keeps students involved in keeping track of their grades and planning future assignments.

Probably the most unexpected part abusing moodle, however, is the amount of work it takes to maintain the site. A colleague of mine told me last summer that online teaching can often double the amount of work for the teacher. I see what she meant. Last year, when I saw and communicated with my students primarily at the university, but I found it much easier to ignore my responsibilities in that class at least when I had other things to do. Now, however, it is as if I am always available and students can get in touch with me at any point and can submit assignments or complete tasks at any point. And the call is all of this is online it is very easy for me to spend extra time checking their progress and responding to their work. So it is a double edged sword in that students enjoy it more and work harder, but it also means much more work for me. So far, it has been worth it because I actually enjoy the work. I can see how it can become too much though, and I may have to put the limits on the amount of time and energy I devote to the web site.

At a recent workshop I conducted at the American Corner here in St. Petersburg, I talked with a group of teachers about tides of change and innovation in education, specifically in Russia. I shared an experience of my own: ten years ago, when I was in graduate school at the American University in Washington, DC, Communicative Language Teacing (CLT) was still all the rage. We were taught to hep students learn English by providing them with a series of examples from real-world communicative situations such as asking for directions, ordering a pizza, etc., and ask them to practice and create their own similar dialogs and/or texts.

In recent years, however, CLT has been gradually replaced by Task-based Instruction (TBI), in which students are given problems to solve and/or projects to complete during which they are expected to develop real-world skills of conversation and text-creation independently. This is a very brief explanation, but you get the point.

In essence, what I told my participants was that all this hullabaloo about CLT was basically out of style and considered ineffective. I was, fortunately, able to change my approach, do some reading and experimenting in the classroom and have thus bought into TBI in recent years.

My point is that change is inevitable. Without it, our profession stagnates. So, I asked my participants to share with me some of the most drastic changes in education in Russia in last 20 years or so, I expected to hear mostly stories of upheaval related to the dissolution of the USSR, but instead got an earful of disdain for the new Unified Government Exam, a new single college entrance exam which now must be taken by every Russian student who wants to attend a university.

This new exam, in a traditional top-down fashion, has altered the very way English is taught in the classroom. Teachers have told me that they tend to go in one of two directions (you can guess which one is more common): 1) They can teach their students English as best they can and assume that their proficiency will serve them well on the exam or 2) they can teach to the test.

In addition to change from the outside (like the new exam), we talked about change from within and the usefulness of having dynamic schools in which teachers work together to decide on the direction they will take when faced with possibilities for innovation and change. As such as participants liked this idea, they admitted mostly that it is not very common. Teachers generally do not feel like they have enough power over the cirriculum in the school to effect much change on the local level.

But we also talked about the usefulness of joining a teachers’ association such as the St. Petersburg English Language Teachers’ Association, if only as a measure towards lessening the feeling of utter isolation that many teachers in this city experience. It is all to easy to feel like one is teaching on an island in their classroom, but if we are members of an association and are encouraged to share ideas and stand on each other’s shoulders, than our profession is improved and we are reminded of the reasons why we became teachers in the first place: to help others.

Finally, we worked together to write a list of ways that we can either 1) better cope with change in education and 2) effect the kind of change that we feel is beneficial to our profession. Here are some of the best answers:

1. More public teacher-training workshops in the city

2. More frequent continuing education opportunities within the schools.

3. Greater acceptance and encouragement of ideas from new teachers.

4. Joining a teachers’ association.

5. Familiarizing one’s self with the needs of L2 speakers of English in the modern world.

6. More travel opportunities for teachers.

7. More academic partnerships between Russian and foreign universities.

8. Frequent workshops on using technology in the classroom.

9. Better equipment in the classroom (basic and new technology).

10. Better access to online research databases for learners.

The end of the year is a special time. In the United States, most Americans celebrate Christmas, both as a secular and religious holiday on December 25. In Russia, as I am learning, the big holiday is the New Year, and it is basically celebrated like a secular American Christmas. This means that, so far, I am feeling right at home at the end of December in St. Petersburg. When I am walking home, the city streets are lined with festive lights and the ground is covered with snow. This is truly a beautiful city at this time of year.

I will be staying in St. Petersburg during the holiday and look forward to celebrating and relaxing with my wife and son. The short days and the ever-increasing cold are certainly an adjustment, but I am finding it quite an opportunity for exploration and discovery. Where I lived as a boy, we had snow only once every 10 years. I can remember a Christmas when I could wear shorts outside. Here, the rivers are already freezing and it is dark until 10 a.m. Quite a change!

This is also a time for English teachers to take the opportunity to teach American values in the classroom. Looking at the way many American families spend their time in December is a wonderful time for our students to explore the rich variety of backgrounds and cultural heritage that exist in the United States. Of course, not all Americans celebrate Christmas. Indeed, there are very large populations of American Muslims, Jews and non-believers. In addition, not all of those who celebrate Christmas do it in the same way. it can be said that each family has its own approach to the holidays.

My advice for teaching about Christmas in America is to remind your students that it is indeed a special time, but that everyone has their own way of celebrating (and some don’t celebrate it at all!). And even though we can look at the traditional Christmas celebrations, it is very important to show out students that the most important and valuable aspect of American culture is that it is both rich and diverse.

When I was a child, this is how we celebrated Christmas in my home. The holiday season starts on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This is when most Americans start doing their shopping, decorating their homes, listening to holiday music and watching their favorite holiday movies.

In addition to buying and decorating a tree, we often string lights on the outsides of our homes and decorate our lawns with mini statues of Santa Claus or little snowmen. The traditional Christmas colors are red and green and they can be seen on people’s houses, city streets and even in the clothes people wear at this time of year.

Gift-giving is of course a big part of the season. While it is important to present gifts to your loved ones, it is not so important to do so with all of your friends and co-workers. In addition, there is not as important a need for the gift to be of a personal nature or specifically designed for the receiver as it is here in Russia. Sometimes, something as simple as a card or a gift card to a book store is enough.

In most families, gifts are not opened until Christmas morning, and children tend to sleep very little the night before. Traditionally, parents tell their children that most of their gifts will be delivered by Santa Claus at midnight, and that he will not come unless all children are in bed. It i said that Santa Claus flies around the world on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and that he lands on each family’s roof and enters through the chimney. Children often leave him milk and cookies so that he can keep his strength up for his long journey around the world. Parents keep their energy up by drinking egg nog and stay up late to leave out and assemble the toys brought by Santa Claus

Holiday music is a big part of the season, and many of the same songs are listened to each year. Such tunes as White Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The First Noel, Silent Night and We Wish You a Merry Christmas are recorded anew every year by different artists. Starting at noon on Christmas Eve, most American radio stations begin playing these tunes nonstop for 24 hours, until noon the following day.

As for films, probably the most famous one is Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart. Most Americans watch this film on Christmas Eve with their families. Other holiday classics include White Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Christmas Story.

I just got back from my first real trip outside of St. Petersburg: The annual National Association of English Teachers Umbrella conference in Kalinigrad, a unique city that is geographically separated from the rest of Russia between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.

Ann odd photo taken by a stranger, but the only one with me in it

I flew there on Sunday, just after presenting at the Saint Petersburg English Language Teachers Association (SPELTA) on Saturday and Sunday. Before that, I had had one of my busiest weeks yet since arriving last September. So, needless to say, I am happy to be home now and getting some relaxation.

These past few days have been very important for me. I feel like I have definitely grown as a teacher. Before last week, I had never given a plenary presentation at a conference. Now, I have given two. It had also been over two years since I presented at my last conference. Now I have four workshops under my belt just in the last several days.

I also met another teacher who gave me some invaluable advice. Her name is Gail Weinstein, and she was the visiting English Language Specialist from San Francisco State University. She looked over my plenary with me and told me that it had some really great, useful information and that it was well-organized and -presented. But she also showed me how I could make it even better and possibly connect it with a workshop that gives teachers hands-on experience actually using the concepts I discuss. It was great to talk with her, not just to get ideas, but also to find out that I am on the right track. It was a real confidence boost.

The teachers at my workshops were great. I find it so easy to help teachers relax and enjoy themselves during my workshops. My plenary was about giving written corrective feedback on writing assignments (check my website for more info), but my workshops were a bit more fun, since they focused on teaching (or not teaching) culture in the language classroom (more info on them is also available on the website). All in all, it was a very successful trip.

In addition, I got to practice my Russian a bit and I also went on several tours around the city. It is an interesting place with a few German buildings still standing. It definitely has a different feel than St. Petersburg and Moscow. I also made a trip to the Baltic, where I stood on the pier and smelled the fresh salt air. I also bought some great gifts for Jennifer and Jacob. Kaliningrad is famous for its amber, so I got Jacob a piece of amber with two prehistoric dead mosquitoes inside (cool!). Jennifer’s will remain a secret, since it is a Christmas present and I don’t want her to read about it here.

The Baltic coast at night

I returned to St. Petersburg with renewed confidence and more than a few new ideas for my own workshops. I must say that I really look forward to my next trip in December (Yaroslavl, Shuya and Ivanovo), which I probably couldn’t have said two weeks ago.

This week in my two intercultural communication classes at my university, I taught students about prosody, or intonation and timing, in spoken discourse. I have found that many of the skills of intonation and timing are similar between Russians and Americans, with only a few exceptions. This would make adjustment for non-native speakers not as difficult as it might be, for example, for someone from India or Bangladesh who is learning Russian or English. So this is good.

Still, this is something all teachers of English need to be aware of, since it is a very important, but not-so-salient, part of the way we communicate. We use pauses in different ways to show that we are think (cognitive), to show that we want someone else to speak (interactive) and to show that we want brief feedback from our listener(s) (backchannel). In our native languages, we can identify these without even thinking. Indeed, we often are completely unaware that we even have this skill.

In addition, there are several ways for listeners to show that they are interested in the what the speaker has to say, and they are all culture-specific. For example, many westerners would say that maintaining eye contact is very important for showing interest. But this is not true for everyone. In fact, eye contact can be seen by some as a sign of rudeness.

I taught two classes on this same topic this past Monday. For the first, there were fewer students. I had prepared several situations in which students were asked to act out a hypothetical conversation and act in a certain way. For example, one student was given a sheet of paper that asked him to describe something that happened to him that day. They other student was given instructions on how to respond and show interest. The students did not know what was written on each other’s papers. I thought that the activity went OK, but it did not elicit much natural speech, and students tended not to talk very much at all.

So, for the next group, I changed the lesson a bit. Instead of asking students to speak in created dialogs, I asked them to create a new culture with totally new ways to show pauses and also new ways to show your listener that you are interested. This went much better, since the students, in their groups, used more English as they prepared their ideas, and also enjoyed demonstrating their new forms.

In addition to getting students to practice their English, this lesson also exposed students to the concept of pauses and timing with the hope that they will pay closer attention to the ways in which they themselves use such skills of discourse to communicate with others. Since these are all future teachers, such awareness will be invaluable to them.