Teresa

Queer identity in education

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We had a fabulous chat in today’s Speakers’ Corner, with Jordan joining us to talk about making our classes and centres safer and more inclusive environments. If you’d like to hear more of what Jordan has to say on the topic of queer identity in education, check out his chat on Harry’s Teachers Talk Radio show.

Jordan put forward a number of questions during his talk and afterwards, we chatted a little about some of them more in-depth and considered why school owners and centre managers may be reticent to implement change. We suggested that a contributing factor could be the response of parents and discussed a little how attitudes can vary in different parts of a country and even between different areas of a town. There was also a feeling that language centres are essentially a business and taking a rather cynical view, each student is seen as 70€ a month more than as an individual. There were also questions of appropriateness, with a feeling that for some the focus is on learning English – potentially just to pass exams – rather than education for life.

Here are some of the questions which Jordan raised:

  • Does the school offer the chance for students to share their preferred names and pronouns?
  • To what extent are teachers encouraged to diversify the images they show?
  • Does the centre have gendered toilets?
  • How are students referred to collectively?
  • Are teachers encouraged to use neutral terms, e.g. parent rather than mummy and daddy, or partner rather than boyfriend/girlfriend?
  • How is support for queer staff and students offered? Is this support mentioned during the induction process?
  • Are teachers and students encouraged to question the coursebook narrative?
  • How do teachers deal with issues of gender and sexuality if they come up in the classroom?
  • Is LGBTQIA+ month celebrated?

Giving more background to the questions, Jordan provided examples of when he has found opportunities to raise his students’ awareness of certain issues. For example, he mentioned that in a homework activity with a young learner group, there was a matching task with the following:

My dad’s wearing a pink shirt. —> I’m so embarrassed.

He asked students why someone might be embarrassed by their dad wearing a pink shirt and one student said that pink isn’t seen as a very masculine colour. They googled ‘man pink shirt’ to see that it’s quite common for men to wear pink and then considered the question again, with one student saying that you’d be embarrassed if it was an ugly, pink shirt.

These teachable moments provide us with the opportunity to question beliefs and biases and promote more diversity and inclusivity in our classes.

For more resources, you might want to check out:

How to write inclusive materials by Tyson Seburn

Reflecting Reality: Diverse and Inclusive ELT Materials on Facebook

You could also watch our webinar with Ilá Coimbra and James Taylor of Raise Up!

“I know it when I see it” – what counts as high-quality teacher development in ELT?

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"I know it when I see it": what counts as high-quality teacher development in ELT? - with Mark Carver (webinar)
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This week we were joined by Mark Carver, a lecturer at the University of St. Andrews. He lectures on the MSc TESOL and runs the DProf TESOL – a PhD level programme for teachers looking to carry out practice-focused research. 

There’s a lot of academic research about what counts as quality education in teaching, but less so specifically related to ELT. Mark sarted off the session by asking why it was important to theorise quality, highlighting that on many initial teacher training courses there tends to be a distinction between learning teaching and learning to teach. Learning to teach is seen as more of a craft, rooted in practice; learning teaching is a long-term development path which enables you to progress in your own way as a teacher. 

There is obviously quite a difference in the types of programmes for becoming a teacher in different countries, but globally the CELTA and CertTESOL, which are relatively short courses, would perhaps be seem more at the learning to teach end of the scale. 

Whilst these initial training programmes are fairly closely monitored, generally speaking it can be difficult to identify why we think a programme is high-quality. Furthermore, Mark highlighted that dominance in a market may be perceived as a mark of quality – but in imitating these courses you may be institutionalising biases or prejudices within them.

Mark went on to talk about some of the governing bodies in ELT, who came together to discuss quality education. He noted that it is often easier to identify what makes a bad course, and offered a serious of questions which potential trainee teachers might ask when choosing which course to follow:

  • Who provides it?
  • Is it accredited? (And by whom? Is there an ongoing inspection process?)
  • Is is on a qualification framework?
  • Does the awarding body have clearly defined procedures for monitoring the course against rigorous criteria?
  • Are the admissions criteria and application procedures for the course clear and easy to understand? Is it possible to fail and do they only accept participants with a reasonable chance of success?
  • Is it equivalent to 100+ hours contact?
  • Does the course provide opportunities for observation and for supervised and assessed teaching practice?
  • Does the awarding body manage a clearly defined appeals and complaints procedure for course participants? 

As we’ll see later though, Mark suggests that these are factors which should already be a given on a good course and identifies further areas to look at in order to find a high-quality course.

There are also questions around the type of assessment which takes place on the course: some may be a practicum-based course with supervised teaching practice in which you are expected to meet certain requirements; you may be expected to create a portfolio of your lessons and the theory behind the choices you make in your planning and delivery; it could be a more theory-based course with assignments and less emphasis on practice.

Adams and McLennan talked about teacher development as identifying, doing and knowing teaching. At the initial level, you ‘pass’ as a teacher: you can act the part and follow routines and procedures. The next step is learning the pedagogy specific to your subject or age range, which also involves learning what’s not done within your specific group. Moving up, we learn to look at the ways things work in the local environment but link that to the wider context, becoming a much more reflective practicioner.

Another way which quality is sometimes measured in teacher education is double inference: student results are analysed and a correlation between high grades and quality teacher development is identified. However, there are other factors to consider, such as teacher retention and health, student satisfaction and graduate employment.

Mark went on to talk about a project that he has been involved in to look at eight components which a teacher development programme can demonstrate high quality in, such as the professionalism of the educating team; admissions, recruitment and retention; and the programme design. On the right are these components adapted specifically to ELT.

He also talked about ELT professional development in Scotland, where he’s based, and some of the challenges of teacher development programmes – such as the fact that ELT is only recognised as a secondary subject.

To round up, Mark looked at the type of things potential trainees should look for in a high-quality teacher development programme – assuming those earlier questions have all been answered positively. This includes whether they are likely to have a ‘smoothly-run’ experience, taking into account the timeliness of responses to emails or a general feel for the place if they are able to visit the site beforehand. Other factors are transparency from the course provider in terms of who will be tutoring on the course and their credentials, as well as whether they are engaged with the profession and on their own developmental path; and the opportunity to get feedback on how the course may benefit them as a professional, such as the career pathways of other graduates.

Mark’s work is ongoing and he’s interested in further developing the framework to other levels and looking at how different courses can be integrated into the framework. The DProf TESOL which he’s been developing is designed with this framework in mind. Mark is also involved in a couple of upcoming events which you might be interested in: for anyone who is carrying out research, he’s hosting a webinar open to all in November on carrying out interviews and focus groups. And in March next year, he’ll be taking part in BAAL’s panel event, Navigating the academic job market. 

Many thanks to Mark for coming along and providing such an interesting topic for reflection.

Hub digest – 15th October, 2021

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There was no live event on Tuesday this week as it was a national holiday in Spain, so we took the opportunity to remind everyone that they can catch up on all the webinars through the Facebook group and read summaries of the live events here on the website.

We did a bit of crowdsourcing on Wednesday to help a Hubber with some ideas for YL routines for an upcoming training session and there was also a question on storing resources. And there was a flurry of questions in the coffee breaks on Thursday, including how to say no and what type of background you have online.

Coming up next week, there’s a Monthly Management Meet Up on Tuesday and on Thursday, we’ll be joined by Mark Carver to talk about how to recognise quality teacher development in ELT.

More questions than answers!

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Oh, I do love hanging out with folks on a Thursday and this week’s coffee breaks did not disappoint. The conversation went in lots of different directions and it was wonderful to come away with lots of questions to think about and not necessarily have the answers. Here are some of the themes which came up:

How do we talk to parents?

There was a great tip which one particpant was given when she started working as a DOS: as far as possible, try to phone home before the student gets there – the idea being that you can explain the school’s understanding of a situation before the student arrives and tells their version. Another tip was to watch the parents of young learners at the end of class: if it seems that a group of parents are conversing with a particular child in the centre, it could be that there’s an issue. And a final tip was to avoid talking to parents as a group if there’s an issue, even if it means having the same conversation a number of times.

How do you say no?

This question was both about not taking on new students – in which case it’s easier to turn someone away and hopefully offer an alternative – and also in ‘giving up’ a student, particularly one you’ve been working with for a while.

What type of background do you have for working online? Has it changed since March 2020?

We chatted a little about having a plain background that might be less distracting but could perhaps be a little too clinical. Other people noted having virtual backgrounds with the company logo in the case of BE classes.

When giving presentations, do we feel less in control on Zoom? 

One of the issues withvideoconferencing platforms is that everything is equally loud and you can’t filter outbackground noise in the same way as you can in an in-person conference. There were also questions of the backchannel and how much we interact with participants through it during a talk.

Is it just in teaching where expertise is challenged?

This led on from the Wednesday Question last week about respect. Most people based in Spain felt that there has been a change in the way teachers are viewed over hte last 20 years, but we wondered whether it was limited to education. There was a feeling that in other professions this is also happening, for example, in heathcare.

What are your thoughts?

Hub digest – 8th October, 2021

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We had a fabulous start to October in the Hub, with a Focused Forum looking at teaching writing skills, followed by a thought-provoking webinar with Michelle Worgan on the future of the primary classroom. 

There were also some interesting questions in the Facebook group, alongside the Wednesday Question on how teachers are viewed around the world. One Hubber was looking for advice for their first time proposal writing, there was a query on helping fast finisher listeners, a lesson to kick off Black History month here in Europe and another Hubster was on hand to offer advice if you’re looking to boost your social media business profile.

Coming up next week, it’s a national holiday in Spain on Tuesday, so no live event then, but we’ll be back with a double coffee break on Thursday. Have a great weekend!

The primary classroom now and next: my wishlist

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The primary classroom now and next: my wishlist - with Michelle Worgan (webinar)
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It was fabulous to have Michelle Worgan joining us for this week’s webinar as it gave us lots to reflect on about not only the primary classroom, but other ways in which ELT might develop in the future. Michelle has a particular interest in primary education and is involved in ELT publishing at this level, having written materials for Pearson’s new Rise and Shine course and Global Stage from Macmillan.

Michelle started out by talking about how we can use the recent period of upheaval as an opportunity to make lasting changes to improve language learning in the primary classroom. She shared a padlet and encouraged us to reflect on her initial ideas and add any of our own wishes for the future of primary ELT.

Back to Basics

Michelle talked about the importance of community and connection and how we noticed much more the relationships we have with different people during lockdown. Although in some countries students are now back in the physical classroom, in other places there are still restrictions in place and Michelle suggests that students will need support on their return to the face-to-face environment. She suggests as well that there should be more collaborative work for students to be able to use language to really communicate, and a move away from heads-down, individual work.

Real world learning

Language isn’t just another subject to study, it’s something which allows us to be a part of the world around us and to communicate with others. We should be moving away from a grammar-based syllabus to a more responsive syllabus which teaches the students the language they really need. Michelle referred back to Elizabeth Coleman’s webinar on Transformative Pedagogy and the importance of seeing our students as real, whole people.

Grass- roots learning

Michelle would like to see a more localised, context-driven approach, rather than a global, ‘one size fits all’ approach. She talks here about both the materials we use as well as the approaches that we use in the classroom. As teachers, we know – or can ask our students – what content is relevant in our classes. 

She went on to talk about enquiry-based learning, providing an example of how this could work with a unit on clothes and allow students more choice in their learning and presenting their work.

An inclusive classroom

Michelle shared some facts, taken from UK research, which showed the percentage of students with specific learning differences, including dyslexia and AD(H)D. She highlighted that language learning may favour some students over others, particularly in the communicative approach, and that students might feel they have less chance of success in English if we don’t cater to this group in our classes. An enquiry-based approach might be more effective in an inclusive classroom as it allows for learners to take more responsibility for how they learn.

Play

We know that young children learn socio-emotive skills, behaviour management and more through play and Michelle believes children should be able to play as freely as possible in the classroom. There are also opportunities to use costumes, manipulatives (such as Play Doh or Lego) and imaginative role play with older primary students and even in secondary and adult education.

Democracy and autonomy

As adults, it’s easy for us to forget that children are people with important ideas and we feel we can make decisions for them as we have more experience of the world. In the ELT classroom, which is perhaps less high-stakes than the mainstream classroom, we can allow them more choices – for more on Learner Choice, check out Claire Thomson’s webinar. 

Assessment

Michelle would like to see more formative, personalised assessments rather than summative assessment. She talked a little about the culture around testing and numerical grades, but highlighted that traditional tests can be difficult for students who struggle under pressure or have trouble concentrating. She suggested alternatives such as exit tickets, portfolios and posters. Personalised benchmarks are also a great motivator for students both in terms of supporting those that need it and pushing others to do more.

A local approach

It would be good to see more flexibility in materials design, with alternative versions of materials in coursebooks to ensure more inclusive and diverse content. This would enable local authorities to tailor the course to their contexts, without restricting materials for others which might be viable in different cultural contexts.

For more on this, take a look at Brian Tomlinson’s article Connecting the Course Book from TESOL.

A happy classroom

This was originally two separate ideas: a place where the students want to be and a place where the teacher wants to be. However, the two are intertwined. Creating a warm, supportive environment where everyone wants to be is what we want, as younger learner teachers especially.

References

What are your wishes for the classroom? Share your thoughts here, on the padlet or in the chat on the recording.
Thanks again to Michelle for giving us so much to think about!