Tales from the Desh

This is a workshop for teachers at the Mongolia University of the Humanities, first given on Sept. 23, 2011.

PDF Slides

Handout

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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!

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Having a great time in Cherepovets. The weather is fantastic and the students I am working with are really active and energetic. I am spending a couple of hours a day with campers and then three hours with teachers. The teaching workshops have been lots of fun, too. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and, since this is my third trip to this city, it is like old friends getting together and catching up.

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Today is my last day of classes at Herzen…presentation day for my students! Tomorrow, I fly to Cherepovets for 7 days.

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Download presentation here.

In this presentation, I shared my impressions of living as a foreigner in Russia and working as a member of faculty at a Russian university. In it, I first shared relevant details of higher education in the United States which helped to shape the context within which I garnered my understanding of the the nature of higher education and how I defined it.

Then, I shared some of the things I noticed about higher education in Russia which I found particularly interesting and which also led to a series of “culture bumps” with my students and colleagues.

Finally, I detailed a series of adjustments I made after my first semester which helped me to better fit in to the system of which I was now a part.

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Here is the link to a presentation I wrote about the history and culture of Alabama, my native state. I gave it first at the Arkhangelsk American Corner in April, 2011.

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One thing I encounter with greater and greater frequency is the ever-growing technology gap between teachers and students. Our learners tend to be digital natives, that is, they feel quite at home already in the digital and online world of communication. Teachers, on the other hand, are often (at best) digital immigrants.

I am working on something larger, perhaps a piece of writing with this aim, but I want to share with you some of my ideas on how teachers can themselves become digital natives. here is a list I compiled:

1. Buy your own web space
2. Start and keep more than one blog
a. include photos and videos
3. Create profiles on facebook and Twitter
4. Start your own wiki
5. Create a home page for RSS feeds which interest you
a. www.makeuseof.com
b. www.lifehacker.com
6. Download and install Skype
7. Experiment with CMS
8. Subscribe to podcasts and start your own
9. use Prezi instead of PowerPoint
10. Require students to contact you electronically
11. Familiarize yourself with various file formats and conversion tools
12. Make videos and post them to YouTube
a. start small with screenr.com

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Download abstract here.
Download PowerPoint here.
Download handout here.

Format: Workshop
Time: 60-90 minutes
Title: “A Postmethod Pedagogy: Challenges, Opportunities and Empowerment”
Target Students: Beginner to advanced, any age group

Summary
In this workshop, teachers will explore the nature of the Postmethod Condition as it relates to their unique teaching situation. Then, participants will develop classroom strategies that best suit: 1) their unique teaching environment, 2) their own skills and experience and 3) the needs and expectations of their students.

Abstract
With the ever-widening variety of topics and areas of research in the field of TESOL, one recurring theme is that of the greater importance given to the role played by the language teaching context over specific classroom methods. Thus, there is more discussion of the local political, social and cultural aspects of language teaching than, for example, whether or not The Silent Way is or is not an effective teaching practice.

What does this mean for the EFL teacher? The Postmethod Condition posits that the modern teacher, now working in a professional environment which has long since cast off its devotion to uncovering and espousing the “perfect method,” must now be equipped to evaluate her own teaching environment and modify her classroom approach accordingly. This means the development of a series of teacher-selected microstrategies (classroom activities) based on a series of universal macrostrategies (general classroom/learning goals). For example, while a macrostrategy may be to encourage students to engage in meaningful interaction in English in the classroom, the corresponding microstrategy could be a small group task designed and implemented by the teacher which encourages students to do this.

Such microstrategies should take into account and complement: 1) the unique teaching environment, 2) the teacher’s own skills and experience and 3) the needs and expectations of the students. Indeed, a Postmethod Pedagogy may empower teachers and provide greater emphasis on the specific learning environment, but it also places an enormous amount of pressure and responsibility on teachers who may or may not have the confidence or skills required for such an undertaking.

In this workshop, participants will first explore the Postmethod Condition, how it came about and what it means to them. Then, using their own teaching context as a starting point, participants will identify those aspects of a Postmethod Pedagogy which they find most relevant and begin to create a contextual framework upon which they can attach a series of their own teaching strategies which are best suited to their students.

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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.

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Format: Workshop
Time: 60 minutes
Title: “Tasks, Content and Learning Styles: Foundations for Skills Integration”
Target Students: Beginner to advanced, any age group
Equipment required: Laptop, multimedia projector and speakers

Summary
In this workshop, participants will briefly explore learning styles, content-based instruction and task-based learning as means by which teachers can more successfully encourage learners to integrate the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for creative interaction in the classroom.

Abstract
There is much discussion regarding the importance of skills integration in the EFL classroom, and for good reason. Successful and creative use of listening, speaking, reading and writing has been proven to help learners develop their language skills better than isolating skills individually through rote memorization or basic information recall activities.

What, then, distinguishes such successful language classrooms from others? How do teachers create an atmosphere where, not only do learners feel comfortable and able to combine the language skills in a manner that most closely resembles real-world communication?

The first answer is to take advantage of our learners’ individual learning styles. If a lesson includes activities that take advantage of different learning styles, be they visual, aural, reading/writing or kinesthetic. Injecting such variety is more engaging and allows for far greater learning opportunities which are both interesting and engaging.

Second, the use of relevant real-world content in lessons is a effective means generating authentic language between students. Students often find such content more interesting than that which they find in textbooks and are more willing to use the target language as they enrich their understanding and express their opinions on a particular topic or issue.

Finally, the teacher must create an organized and deliberate context within which learners explore their content and exploit their learning styles. This can be done tasks, an approach to classroom interaction for which the teacher has prepared a series of steps to be carried out by students. These include several opportunities for students to listen, speak, read and write creatively in the target language.

Participants will come away from this short workshop with a clear understanding as to how they can easily create a classroom environment in which learners not only feel as if they can and should integrate language skills, but also one in which they will want to.

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