Teresa

From objectives to opportunities

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Today’s chat was based around an article from Jason Anderson, Affordance, learning opportunities, and the lesson plan pro forma in which he suggests moving away from objectives-based outcomes in lesson planning. An interesting factoid is that the article was published before Anderson’s Trinity CertTESOL Companion in which he talks primarily about sytems- and skills-focused aims.

One takeaway from the session was the need to review our pro formas periodically to ensure they are meeting the needs they are designed for.

Experience
We suggested that Anderson’s approach may be more appropriate for experienced teachers, as those on pre-service courses often need more ‘black and white’ guidance on lesson planning. However, we liked the idea of using ‘may’ when considering learning outcomes rather than being strictly prescriptive and saying, “Learners will do this.” This led on to a discussion around planning communicative events which encourage learners to use the target language more effectively – learners will often use language they are more comfortable with but if we are to enable them to improve their language skills, there should be a need to use new input.

Emerging needs
Another challenge we identified for less experienced teachers is noticing and taking advantage of emerging needs during the lesson. We suggested that trainee teachers are often hyper-focused on other things when teaching observed lessons and are less adept at picking up on the ‘teachable moments’ which can occur. This may not be limited to trainee teachers though, and we discussed strategies for dealing with in-service teachers who are ‘teaching the plan, not the learners’. These strategies included directing them to concrete support to improve their skills, such as Danny Norrington-Davies and Richard Chinn for support in working with emergent language. 

Allowing things to go wonky
Anderson proposes another change in relabelling ‘potential difficulties / problems’ as ‘possible occurences’. We agreed that this allows for a more balanced reflection of what may happen in the lesson and could encourage teachers to consider positive modifications to the plan (i.e. anticipating and making the most of teachable moments) rather than focusing on the issues they may face.

Exposure to the classroom
We also considered the role of reflective practice and discussed how trainee teachers can often be overly demanding of themselves when reflecting on their observed lessons. We suggested that moving towards an opportunities approach could enable teachers to be more positive on the lesson experience, focusing on what the learners did well, rather than what they did badly as a teacher. We also suggested that teachers need more exposure to the classroom as part of their training, as those who are new to the profession have limited experience of what (good) teaching is. Additionally, we proposed renaming ‘demo’ lessons as this suggests that they are ‘best’ practice rather than a model of an everyday classroom. 

Lesson planning for developing teachers
We all know that teachers rarely write detailed plans unless they are following a course or taking part in an in-house observation and we talked about alternatives to teachers producing a full plan for developmental observations through the year. One suggestion was for a document which provides a background and context for the lesson and for the teacher and observer to discuss, either before or after the lesson, what informed their choices in planning the lesson.  For teachers taking higher level qualifications, such as the Trinity DipTESOL, there is a requirement to ‘unpack’ their teaching and put their thought processes and knowledge of ELT onto paper for their assessed lessons but doing this in a conversation would alleviate the paperwork for in-house observations.

Happy fluff
One rationale for identifying systems- and skills-based objectives is to assess the learning that is taking place in the lesson and we considered the danger of teachers not planning lessons effectively and filling them with ‘happy fluff’. We identified the need to reaffirm the centre ethos at the start of the year, potentially with a group discussion on what good practice is and what our aims are for our learners and for ourselves. The topic of evaluation also came up and the challenge of encouraging a teacher to develop when they consistently receive good feedback from their learners – with the concern that learners are enjoying themselves but perhaps haven’t critically evaluated their language development. The point that this is also a business decision was raised: if learners are happy, they’ll keep coming – and some institutions may be more interested in that than the learning outcomes.

Reflection questions

  • When did you last evaluate your lesson planning pro forma?
  • What background knowledge do teachers need to effectively use an opportunities-based approach?
  • Can we develop new teachers’ awareness of teachable moments or does it only come with experience?

What could pull training look like in practice?

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In this session, we discussed how we could move away from a top-down PD programme towards more needs-focused in-house training, which offers teachers more choice and encourages them to engage more deeply with their development.

Action Research

Annabella discussed a shift in their centre’s PD programme last year which involved teachers working on individual action research projects. She said this shift enabled teachers to identify an area of development which was most relevant to them and was happy with the efforts of the teachers to develop their projects. The shift came about after the management team noticed that ideas being shared in input sessions weren’t being put into practice in the classroom, despite requests for input coming from the teaching team.

Communities of Practice

Building on the work of the teachers last year, Annabella is now looking to develop communities of practice for this academic year, identifying four or five main threads from the action research projects so that teachers can continue to develop their learning and also support other teachers who are interested in that area. We talked about the logistics of setting up CoPs. For example, aside from the in-person scheduled meetings, will there be a second channel of communication. Clare noted that asking teachers to use a social media channel (such as WhatsApp) for their CoPs could be counterproductive as teachers may not want to use their free-time apps for work purposes. Annabella said the school has a communication channel which teachers could use, thus setting clearer boundaries between work and freetime. 

Additionally, although teachers were involved in the action research projects last year and have developed their knowledge of a particular topic, Annabella noted their was reticence among the team to take on leadership or mentor roles within the CoPs. We discussed imposter syndrome, although didn’t reach any conclusions as to how to combat it.

Another challenge with having a number of groups working on different projects could be around group numbers. Clare asked what might happen if one thread is particularly popoular, whereas another group on has two or three people in it. Annabella suggested that teachers could rate their preferences and then be assigned groups to ensure that there is more balance in group size.

Threads

The idea of offering choice was also developed by Dani’s team. At the start of the year they offered teachers a choice of three threads: working with advanced learners, teaching phonology or routines with young learners. Teachers could choose which of the three threads to follow, with different trainers leading the input sessions to offer a variety of voices and experiences within the sessions. As well as the live sessions, the teachers were also given optional extra reading to help them develop their knowledge of their chosen thread. Dani commented on the positives of the approach – that teachers felt the content was more immediately relevant to their needs. However, she also mentioned that as the team were divided into three groups for the sessions, the social bond of the team as a whole was affected.

Making it relevant

Robert had commented in the group about surveying staff to identify need and this idea of how to choose topics also came up in the discussion. Clare highlighted the importance of choosing topics which are relevant beyond the teacher’s current context, i.e. identifying areas to develop which would benefit a teacher in any future roles rather than organisation-based training (though there is of course a need for this through the onboarding process). Clare added that a topic such as Ai is very current and could also be developed into different threads, such as how learners use AI in and beyond the classroom, AI in lesson planning and materials development and AI in supporting teacher’s administrative workloads.

A centre’s PD culture

Another aspect of in-house training we discussed was the centre’s ethos and management / teacher expectations around professional development. There is of course a question around how PD is paid and what trainers can reasonable expect teachers to do within their working week. In some centres, there is a requirement for progress through PD to be evaluated and we talked about the importance of making teachers aware during the interview process of what the centre offers and what is expected. 

Reflection questions

  • How could you prepare your teaching team to carry out action research projects?
  • What would be the benefits and challenges of setting up CoPs within your centre?
  • How can you manage imposter syndrome and encourage teachers to take on leadership roles within your PD programme?

Are we post-method?

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Will there be a next big thing?

Teresa suggested that perhaps we are seen as being post-method as people are skeptical of emerging methods which try to revolutionise language teaching and learning. Tracey joked that someone is bound to come out with an AI-focused approach and they discussed the potential and limitations of AI in language teaching as well as the possibility of AI being exploited for financial gain. Additionally, they considered the potential for new approaches to emerge with a better understanding of the brain and language acquisition, while acknowledging the challenges in determining their effectiveness.

What is a method?

They also discussed the sometimes confusing terminology around approaches, methods and models. In the text which was a starting point for the session, Are Language Teaching Methods Really Dead as Some TESOL Gurus Have Proclaimed? by Jesús Alirio Bastidas, he mentions the work of Edward M. Anthony in defining approaches, methods and technique, which Dr. Aydan Ersöz explains well in this video.

Do all approaches work?

They went on to discuss how principled eclecticism seems to be favoured by many educators nowadays and that teachers or institutions which rigidly adhere to one particular approach can seem strange, noting however that there must be some validity in the approach for the teacher or school to continue using it and welcoming new students. However, Tracey also highlighted the danger of teachers assuming learners like or dislike a particular classroom technique without evidence to back it up. She also warned of the teacher projecting their likes and dislikes onto the learners. This led them on to discussing how individual learners are affected by the approach or resources that a teacher may use and their own varying levels of success in learning languages at school. They both agreed that the success of using appraoches, techniques and resources depends on the strategies employed by the teacher and the individual’s ability to understand and utilize the material.

Why is an awareness of different methodologies useful?

They emphasised the importance of understanding how students learn and adapting teaching strategies accordingly, rather than focusing on specific methods. They also highlighted the benefit of higher-level qualifications exposing teachers to different approaches. Furthermore, they discussed the challenges of engaging learners and the potential value of explaining the rationale behind choices within the plan and lesson to the learners.

Conclusion

Tracey came up with a very quotable quote, but unfortunately the AI summary doesn’t do direct quotes and Teresa was too in the moment to write it down 😄 The gist of it was that methods are not dead, but there is less attachment to any particular approach.

Hub digest – 2nd August, 2024

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June and July flew by, with lots of great content in the Hub, including webinars with Blanca Gallego talking about fostering student autonomy and accountability in language learning and Blessing Epum shared some tips on synergising with parents to motivate young learners.

You may have seen Abigail’s webinar in June about Elevate – she shared more details on how to join the platform.

And here are our most recent Wednesday Questions:

There were also lots of great posts from Hubsters. Robert had some great tips on using music in the classroom, using mnemonics and integrating skills when teaching teens. He also shared a video on embracing mistakes, another on using roleplays and Mary shared some favourite speaking activites. Jane asked about using shadowing and Francesca came to pick our brains about phrasal verbs.

Kristen asked about using situational language in the classroom, Thomas asked about refresher courses for teachers and Alan shared a free behaviour management course for teachers working with young learners. Caroline shared a link to her memoir as an English teacher and Tom was looking to connect with teachers in Cartagena (Spain). He also prompted a great thread on developing lessons for groups and asked about TBLT.

Robert shared issue 22 of the University Grapevine and Jane-Maria shared some tips on helping language learners over the summer break.

These are some events which were shared and may have now passed, but it’s worth contacting the OP if you’re interested in finding out more.

Trainers’ beliefs and centre ethos

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These are the AI-generated notes (with bits added) from our discussion. The discussion stems from an article in The Teacher Trainer (Vol. 34 No. 1), the training journal from Pilgrims. Nick Baguley wrote an article reflecting on how seasonal trainers work within an established training set-up. In the session, we looked at six statements which relate to what we might expect from teachers in the classroom, but also reflect our own teaching philsophy.

  1. It’s important to pre-teach no more than 5 key vocabulary items during a receptive skills lesson.
  2. Teacher trainees should always ask instruction checking questions.
  3. Teacher trainees should either sit down or stay in one place when students are doing individual receptive skills work and only monitor during pair checks.
  4. It’s important to elicit answers from students for every exercise they complete.
  5. Teacher trainees shouldn’t ask students to read from the board when drilling.
  6. A fluency-based activity such as freer oral practice should always have a clear goal/communicative outcome.

Aligning Beliefs in Training Team

We discussed the importance of aligning beliefs within the training team for pre-service qualifications and onboarding staff. We debated the necessity of sharing teaching beliefs, with Teresa and Tracey arguing that as long as the fundamentals were agreed upon, different approaches were acceptable. Karen shared her approach of asking pre-service teachers to imagine themselves teaching a classroom to explore their beliefs. The group acknowledged the challenges of directly asking about beliefs but agreed that insights could be gained from observing teaching practices.

We discussed the shift from following ‘best practices’ to discovering what works best for individual teachers in their specific contexts. Karen stressed the importance of allowing trainers to experiment and learn from mistakes.

Reading aloud

Although not one of the six original statement, we discussed the challenges and effectiveness of having students read out loud for improving their pronunciation skills. We acknowledged that this approach may not enhance reading skills and could cause performance anxiety. The group debated that if the focus is on pronunciation, it would be more beneficial to identify and drill difficult words separately. Additionally, we deliberated on the potential benefits of reading aloud for first language acquisition versus second language acquisition.

ICQs

We discussed our dislike for overly detailed instructions and repetitive queries, agreeing that demonstrations and examples would be more effective in conveying information. We further debated the usefulness of asking trainees to read instructions aloud and emphasized the need for simple, clear, and concise instructions. The team also touched upon the different beliefs and practices among trainers, and the habits or actions that become ingrained over time. 

Pre-teaching lexis

Karen presented her approach to teaching vocabulary, preferring to focus on ensuring students understand the questions rather than pre-teaching vocabulary, and instead using context to introduce new words. Teresa agreed with this approach, emphasizing the importance of presenting vocabulary in a relevant context. 

Teresa and Karen discussed a post by Leo Gomez about the context of listening. We agreed that providing context might not necessarily improve listening comprehension. Instead, focusing on understanding the spoken words and their meanings could be more beneficial. We also discussed the role of vocabulary in language comprehension, with Teresa suggesting that vocabulary should be taught only when it is necessary to understand the text or answer questions, rather than as a standalone exercise. 

Checking answers

Karen and Teresa agreed that learners need to see the value of completing controlled practice activities,  but that working through each answer one-by-one is often not the most effective use of classtime. Teresa noted that she usually projects the answers, giving learners time to reflect and to ask for any clarification. Karen said that she uses monitoring as a time to identify which parts of the exercise learners may be struggling with.

Reflection questions

  • How do your beliefs as a trainer impact your training?
  • What onboarding systems are in place in your centre?
  • Is there anything we can say is a must-do / mustn’t-do when it comes to teaching English?