Thursday 30 January 2014

Certificate in Online Tutoring


Nearly at the end of the first module of my online course. My fellow COLTERS are from everywhere and it has been great getting to know them virtually.The course has really made me think about online  courses both as a learner and tutor and I am learning so much through doing it. I know I have had a gentle start so far so it will be interesting how I handle the workload in the coming weeks!

Time to say Goodbye


This is a little reminder that I did with my Korean teachers on the last day of their course.My colleague showed me this a few years ago and I have used this ever since.It is lovely to look back on them after a few days,weeks or even years and remember the people who you shared the teaching/learning experience with.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Cherries for the teacher


One of my former Business English students sent me a box of cherries yesterday! She has been travelling around New Zealand picking up seasonal work where she can. I doubt most of the people she has worked with know she had a high powered job with Nestle in Taiwan before coming to New Zealand. What a thoughtful gift.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Culture Clash


Today I took a group of elementary teachers from Korea to the university early childcare centre near my work. I have been doing a training course with them over the last 4 weeks focusing on teaching English to Young Learners.  Ideally we would have like to have taken them to a primary school but it is school holidays here in New Zealand until February. To say they were shocked at the differences between New Zealand and Korea was an understatement. Here are some of the things they said in post observation which they found very different:

1. The children were all dirty from paint and sand/water play.
2. They were allowed to run around with no shoes.
3. The teachers didn't wear uniforms.
4. There was no swimming pool.
5. The teachers weren't all New Zealanders ( white Europeans)
6.There was no structure just play.
7. The rooms didn't have a specific function or theme.
8. There were no books!

What is totally fascinating about being a teacher is cultural difference and as I have never experienced  a Korean early childhood centre it is hard for me to give my opinion about their system. The centre they visited is seen as a model of excellence in Auckland for it's philosophy and multiculturalism.

Certificate in Online Teaching

Well I have started my online course with International House. The first module is about Welcomes and Introductions and it seems important to be able to build up a class rapport with your fellow online  
course members. I have been chatting to a lady in Canada as we are in similar time zones and not in the middle of the night like the others according to NZ time.We have all been participating in an online Find Someone Who which I think is a great idea and then sharing opinion over an article about the use of mobile devices in the classroom.It still early days but already I am thinking of how I can apply some of the online activities into my own teaching.Self reflection seems to be a key element and today although some of the navigation was a bit frustrating, I felt really pleased that I had contributed to discussion and am looking forward to the feedback.

The course aims..
To train tutors in techniques and approaches to online tutoring for both student-oriented and teacher-oriented courses on the IH Virtual Learning Environment (Platform). The course focuses on the demands of the asynchronous environment and how this is different from face-to-face teaching.


Sunday 26 January 2014

Kiwi English Slang...


This is where I live and teach English..I work with a large staff of teachers from around the world.I am British but have been living in New Zealand since 2003. Teaching in another English speaking country is interesting because Kiwi English is definitely different and now having children growing up here, my parents visiting from the UK often comment on the differences.The differences are wonderfully cultural,linguistic and unique just like Kiwis themselves..And it is all in the process of change..Auckland is an amazingly global city to live in and definitions of identity in such a small country are continually discussed which essentially filters into the classroom..great fluency material.






Hello

This is my first post for my teaching blog.I wanted to start a personal teaching blog as reflective practice but also for sharing ideas and collaborating with others.There are so many amazing blogs that are so inspiring and make you think,imagine,create,question and motivate teaching and learning.Thank you to those bloggers for inspiring me to write now...