Sharing and Collaborating

My last post was about my professional development session and my colleague sharing a great activity with me. Something really cool that happened after the PD session was someone started using Edmodo with their class and is loving it as a collaborative tool.

That is what teaching is about surely..the exchange of ideas and resources!

It's the last week of my course and even though it will be nice to have that time to myself again and will really miss that input and  discussion that has been generated about teaching online. It has given me so many excellent ideas and a new confidence in using digital technologies.

My new thing is trying out Twitter with one of my classes..let's see what happens...

Professional Development

I did a professional development session last Friday and it was terrifying.All my colleagues are supportive and open people but so nerve wracking to present to your peers.Luckily I did it with my colleague so we shared the session. It was about how we use technology in the classroom.

I talked about Facebook and Edmodo and the ideas behind flipped learning while my colleague talked about blogs and screencasting. I think it went okay....I am so busy at the moment with the last week of my IHCOLT certificate,every day seems a blur with my workload.

A really cool exercise my colleague showed me today was a variation of reformulating a text. I am going to make a video and share on the blog when I have time..it worked really well so thanks Dave!

Waitangi Day

I used this fantastic information gap worksheet by a former colleague yesterday.It was all about Waitangi Day, the national holiday of New Zealand. Talking about national holidays and festivals is fantastic as students love sharing their culture with somebody from another country.There is so much information to share and compare with each other and great for students to research other countries festivals and then share them in class in mini presentations.

As I paid for my bus fare home and took out a 5 dollar note it made me think how much my students know about the faces on the back of the New Zealand currency..a little research project maybe?

What about creating their own festival together or creating a national day to honour someone famous of their choice ? Could be fun...!

Teaching Job Interviews

Job Interviews

I read a really funny article on the web today about people going for interviews for English Language teaching jobs and it made me think about my experiences:

First Job: I was living in Wales but had left my CV at a language school near my home town in the UK.Got a call that a teacher was sick and could I come for an interview.I was newly qualified so very nervous but after a brief chat was offered the job.One of those cases that they probably would have taken anyone with a Tefl certificate..I remember to this day walking into the classroom and teaching a high level class and feeling sick to my stomach with nerves but elated once I had actually taught a proper lesson.

 Second Job: Still at the same school and with a bit more experience under my belt, met a colleague who was based in Italy but back to teach summer school.She said that her friend had opened up a school and was looking for a teacher..that September after no interview and just personal recommendation I was off to Italy..a steep but ultimately essential learning experience.

Third Job: Saw an advertisement in The Guardian for a school in Portugal looking for teachers..went along for an interview in London but interestingly and very scarily got caught up in a bomb scare in a cafe and had to wait at the back of the cafe until the street was declared safe..arrived late and a bit shaken for the interview but got the job anyway..this time a real interview..a panel of three people but can't remember any of the questions..

Fourth Job: Again another Guardian one but for Australia..travelled down to London and sat in the waiting room with other applicants chatting with a scruffy guy sitting at reception ( it was the weekend) Got interviewed by a very smartly dressed DOS who left me to prepare a presentation on the present perfect. Totally amazed to find out that the scruffy guy was the owner of the school and was purposely sitting there and eavesdropping on his potential employees..

Fifth Job: Sent my CV to schools in Sydney and got a reply and telephone interview..flew to Sydney and DOS put me up for a week while I found somewhere to live..

Sixth Job: Back in the UK..telephone interview with a school in New Zealand,questions if I remember correctly about what courses I had taught and the nationality of my past students..wanted to know if I had taught a lot Chinese.

Here is the link that made me laugh and think about my experiences....
http://tefltrainerspain.com/2012/11/22/things-you-shouldnt-say-in-an-interview-for-a-tefl-job/

Developing intercultural understanding

How important is it to foster intercultural awareness and understanding in a mixed nationality classroom. As I am teaching Business English at the moment , I think it is essential.Today I tried out some simple activities to practise fluency but also to highlight cultural differences in each country.

Activity One: Find three similarities

I asked the learners one difference that they had noted here in New Zealand which were working hours and then we brainstormed some other areas in general like clothing,holidays,breaks,types of jobs and status, salary,men and women' s roles and so on...

I put the learners into pairs and asked them to find three similarities..of course the objective for me was the exchange of information but it was amazing to note the reactions of the learners to habits completely different from theirs.

One example I loved was the Japanese student explaining that women dye their hair black for job interviews to a South American student.Another was a South Korean explaining that you can't leave the office until your boss finishes for the day however late that may be..

Activity Two: Taboo or Safe

I modelled a water cooler conversation with a student asking obvious taboo questions in a New Zealand working environment like

How old are you?
What religion are you?
How much money do you earn?
Do you have a boyfriend? why not?
Which political party do you support?
Do you like the boss/the King/the President?

I then asked the students to discuss the questions and if they were taboo or safe in their country.
This was interesting as age and money were open topics in most Asian countries.

I gave the students bits of paper to write some safe topics and they came up with weather, sport, plans for the weekend and interestingly weight.we then rotated the card around and did a fluency activity with dice making safe questions and responding.

Here is a link that discusses these issues and  developing intercultural  awareness in the classroomhttp://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2013/sessions/2013-04-11/activities-help-learners-improve-their-intercultural-communication

Starting a new class

Today was the first day of a new block of courses where I work and the teaching nerves were there.I know that I have been a teacher for a while now and have taught in many different situations but it interesting how I still get those...will they like me jitters? I could tell that my colleagues also felt the same especially one teacher who hadn't been in the classroom for 2 years after having her second child.

Luckily my first class went well, we did lots of getting to know each other, expectations of the course and the teacher and a Find Someone Who but in the lift afterwards listening to some students ( not mine thankfully) discussing changing  their class after only one lesson , it made me think about the first impression you have of each other,that is the students of you and you of them. These students probably had very valid reasons for wanting to change course so early on but...

How much of teaching is due to personality, appearance and  the classroom environment?

How much is it a popularity contest among teachers in an established institution?

Is being a good and effective teacher make you a popular teacher?

Is it important to feel that your students like you?

Does blogging make a difference to your teaching?

I have often felt that as soon as a course finishes that it's time for the next one without having the time or energy to reflect on the course,my teaching and the experiences of the learners.I have a class Facebook page that I manage which forms some reflection even if it is just a visual record.I have recently discovered this great blog all about the experience of reflective blogging as a teacher and using a class blog which I will start to do next week.http://reflectiveteachingreflectivelearning.com

Business English Class Blog

I have decided to start a class blog from next week as I am starting a new Business English class.I am also doing an Online Tutoring course and I want to put theory into practice.I am going to  create some activities around introducing online learning and see what the learners are already familiar with or experienced. I have set up the blog so that learners can contribute posts if they want to and then I can add them as authors.It will interesting to see what happens!