Teresa

2nd April, 2021

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We’ve had a quieter week on the Hub, with many members in Europe having a bit of downtime around spring festivals. But, we’re looking forward to some new features which we’re rolling out this month.

Firstly, we decided to change our Progress Hangouts and are setting up a fortnightly Focused Forum in the Tuesday morning slot. We’ll vote the week before on one topic to be discussed during the hour and post it so members can decide whether to come along and chat. We’re also excited to share that we’ll be holding our first trainers’ session in mid-April too, also on a Tuesday morning.

The Wednesday Question was a little lighter this week as and there were some fun responses to the weirdest thing people had learnt from or for a coursebook. And on Thursday, our webinar with the Raise Up! team was unfortunately put back as James is unwell. We wish him all the best and hope they’re able to join us soon.

Hub digest – 26th March, 2021

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We had a change to normal scheduling this week as we’ll be joined by Ilá Coimbra and James Taylor for next week’s webinar, taking advantage of the spring break! So this week we had our Coffee Breaks on Thursday, as well as lots of lively chat on the Hub Facebook group.

We had our second Monthly Management Meet Up on Tuesday and some interesting questions came out of that regarding where we see ourselves for the next academic year as well as the future for online and hybrid classes.

The Wednesday Question was inspired by Katy Muench, who wrote a blogpost about the six things she’d learnt during a year of online teaching. There were lots of interesting comments on the post about our relationship with technology and some of the positives to come out of the move online, such as a reduction in photocopying.

In Thursday’s Coffee Breaks, we extended some of the conversations happening on threads: discussions around how trainers can be better prepared to support teachers going on to work online and the future of online assessment.

We’ve got some new features coming up in April which we’re feeling rather excited about too!

The Ups and Downs of this academic year – managers’ perspectives

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The year started OK; student numbers were lower than usual but the appropriate adjustments were made in staffing and delivery (online, hybrid or socially-distanced classes) and it felt like the students who had stayed through March to June were happy to carry on. There was a general feeling of relief.

Of course, there were problems as everyone got used to new ways of working and an underlying tension in the air but on we went and most people felt relatively stable. Then Christmas came and with it a new wave of infections, confinement and fear and, of course, fewer students and yet more adjustments. 

This Meet Up came just before a lot of Spring Breaks in the northern hemisphere and the general feeling was that we had again recovered a sense of balance and everyone was looking forward to the holidays for some time off and some much needed rest. The idea of being in charge of only ourselves (and our families) over the holidays was so appealing as we spend so much time thinking and worrying about everyone else: our admin teams, teachers and of course, students. 

There is an awareness that burnout is real for all of us: for students, teachers and managers alike! Some mentioned that 14-year-olds seem to be in a particularly bad spot.

Exams cause mixed feelings

It appears that interest is mostly the same as ever in official exams although there’s a big question as to whether students are as well prepared as usual.

One manager shared her positive experience of including exam fees for younger learners in the overall package. It had created, she reported, a much more positive culture and a sense of direction for students and their families and teachers enjoyed having specific targets to work towards.

Others have mixed feelings about exams for younger learners with misgivings over exam structure and even how appropriate it is to test young learners in this way, even if they are “friendly” exams. Many choose to offer the exams but not to promote them too much instead leaving it to parents to decide with the school’s guidance.

One concern shared by many was that mock exam results appeared to be significantly worse than in previous years. This generated a questioning about the effectiveness of online and hybrid teaching compared to the traditional face-to-face approach. One thought was that online and hybrid teaching is ok when necessary but really only for fire-fighting. Are we all just too tired and burnt out? Maybe we should just take this year as a “year out”. Students and their families are still keen to see progress. 

Some schools didn’t do any exams at the end of last year but this year many of those schools are going to try. There are concerns about the validity of online results when students do their exams at home, how far can we trust the data? Face-to-face results are much more reliable. Some schools are organising special exam days and mock exams on Fridays and Saturdays.

We talked about the range of exams that are available; Language Cert seems to be gaining popularity for those who struggle with the other “more technical parts, especially the Use of English parts” in other exams. Lingua Skills was mentioned too as an alternative to Cambridge main suite.

What’s going to happen in September?

Of course, we can’t say with any confidence where we’ll be in September but we need to be prepared for all sorts of possibilities!

One manager talked about a customer survey they had done in their centre. The overwhelming conclusion was that students (and their families) much preferred face-to-face classes with the possibilities of online attendance if and when necessary. 

The idea of “Zoom windows” was raised for when students can’t come to class because they are “confined” or ill or for whatever reason. The idea is that students don’t miss out on their classes but also limits expectations that they will get the same experience and keeps the primacy of the face-to-face option. The system is open to abuse and needs to be properly controlled and access limited.

Flipped and blended teaching were talked about too, and while they can definitely work, there is a problem with both understanding what these terms actually mean and how they can work in practice. How far should we engage with these alternative ways of working? Is it a bit dinosaur-like to essentially ignore the online changes and go back to business as usual (if we can) in September?

And what do we expect for September? Speaking to schools and other stake-holders in mainstream education (not language schools), nobody knows what’s going to happen. It feels prudent to make plans to continue with our current arrangements at least until December, to acknowledge the possibilities of class-size restrictions going up and down. So whether we’re in hybrid, 100% online or socially-distanced classes, we should be ready to go again next year.

And how can things progress? Should we move away from the “light touch”?

We acknowledged that teaching online (in its various forms) is new to us all and we’re all getting better at it all the time and we need to keep evolving and learning.

There was a strong feeling in the group that people who come to language schools do so wanting face-to-face classes. They enjoy the human interaction and the playful, enjoyable environment, especially the younger learners. The picture is more mixed with teenagers; some report that teens feel as though they learn as much online as in class, but this is anecdotal rather than based in evidence.

We’ve had to make adjustments and have generally gone for a “light touch” approach, taking into account the seismic shock of the initial phases of the pandemic for everyone. Should we become more demanding? What can we do better? How can we help our students and teachers do more and better?  

One idea is to improve the academic and technical introductions to the course (sometimes called “on-boarding”). We can make expectations and ways of working clearer and more defined. We can show people how to use the applications and other software we use.

Another idea was to be better at following individuals’ progress. While it’s time-consuming, it feels for many that that is where we can really make the difference in helping our students and at the same time differentiate ourselves from other offerings. Is this a necessary investment? Should we, as managers, be teaching more or being that bridge between the teacher and the students and their families? There is a massive challenge in helping students see the bigger picture and perhaps that’s a key role for us to play. Should we see ourselves as coaches for individual students who need to clarify their objectives?

We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we’ve all learnt a huge amount over the last 12 months and that hopefully we can move to enjoy the summer, or at least a couple of weeks of holidays! 

Hub digest – 19th March, 2021

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Well, it’s March not February as the first image suggests! But we had another week jam-packed full on great events and chat in the Hub. This week we had Progress Hangouts on Tuesday and Friday and suggested using the time to chat through our goals and career directions, based around the ideas from George’s webinar the previous week.

The Wednesday Question this week generated some good discussion, with teachers saying how they sometimes use the celebration of a festival they’re familiar with as a springboard for learners to discuss important days for them and how they are celebrated.

We also had our Coffee Breaks this week, again following the new format of going into breakout rooms with some questions to spark discussion if needed.

There’s a change to ‘normal scheduling’ next week as we’ll be having a Coffee Break again on Thursday, as well as our next Monthly Management Meet Up on Tuesday.

Hub digest – 12th March, 2021

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As the Hub continues to grow, it’s great that our members are using the wealth of knowledge of colleagues from around the world in the group. This week we had an interesting question about how to plan, as one of our members was looking for an effective way to prep one-to-one lessons for two students who had previously been working at the same level but now needed differing support.

There was also some wonderful chat around this week’s Wednesday Question which focussed on an article from a nonbinary teacher who had faced challenges when they first started working at a school in Andalucía. It feels like this is definitely an area we’ll be exploring more in the next Monthly Management Meet Up, happening on Tuesday 23rd.

And there was a lot of excitement and anticipation around this week’s webinar in which we were joined by George Chilton of Hubbub Labs to talk about how we can make the most of social media to sell our skills. I wouldn’t be surprised if all our members are updating their LinkedIn profiles this weekend!

Selling your skills on social media

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Selling your skills through social media - with George Chilton (webinar)
Watch now

George Chilton has an extensive career in ELT, working as a teacher, writer, translator and editor. He’s the co-owner of Hubbub Labs, a company set up in 2017 which offers content marketing support for education businesses. He also co-founded SLB Coop, a teachers’ cooperative based in Barcelona.

He started off the webinar by pointing out that everyone has a unique career path and so no single piece of advice will suit everyone. He shared a great cartoon: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Having a strategy that will help you grow as a professional will help you take new steps and we’ll all be pushed out of our comfort zone at some point (take the pandemic for example!).

A lot of the later stages of the talk focus on personal branding. It’s not the nicest of phrases, but it does help you sell what you want to sell. But before you start trying to sell yourself, you need to know who you are and what you want.

Ikigai (7.30)

This concept helps you think about what you want and what you can excel at. It can help you to find a focus and to find a way to move forward.

Five steps to personal branding (9.00)

These are similar steps to business strategy.

  1. Where am I now in my career?
  2. Where do I want to be?
  3. What steps am I going to take to get there?
  4. How am I going to position myself through content?
  5. Who can help me and what tools can I use?

It’s good to write a personal statement about who you are and then think about your vision. From there, you can make an action plan about how you’re going to get there – people with a plan tend to achieve their objectives.

Point 4 relates to your personal brand – how are you going to present yourself to the market you’re trying to reach?

And in point 5, never underestimate the people – the old saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is very true and people who know who you are and what you do can help extend your network and provide you with more opportunities.

TOWS chart (11.45)

This is another tool to help you focus your strategy and become more self-aware.

You need to maximise you opportunities and strengths and minimise or mitigate your weaknesses and threats.

Start by completing the outer boxes (TOWS) and then you can think strategically about your direction by cross-referencing the boxes, e.g. How can you use your strengths to maximise your opportunities? How can you minimise your weaknesses to maximise your opportunities?

It’s good to look at this critically with an accountability partner – our Progress Hangouts are the perfect opportunity for this!

SMART goals (15.45)

We often do these for our lessons, but it’s good to think about them for our own objectives too. With a SMART goal, you can create your action plan and give yourself deadlines to complete the steps you need to. Again, working with an accountability partner is a really good way to keep things moving.

Why brand yourself? (17.00)

Once you know who you are, where you want to go and how you’re going to get there, you need to share this with others – if people don’t know what your goals are, they won’t be able to help you achieve them.

George shared the personal brand of Dror Wayne – he’s young but is good at marketing himself. He created his personal brand to show people what he has to bring to the table, particularly so they wouldn’t judge him on his youth. There’s a great video of him with his multimedia quote of why he created his brand.

Why create content on social media? (21.30)

To position yourself as a professional in the area you want to be in.

  • improve visibility
  • network with the right people
  • build an online portfolio
  • learn from others
  • stand out from the crowd
  • be a ‘go-to’ expert
  • build social proof
  • discover opportunities

Think about the profile you use – you might want to keep Facebook as your personal space (or create a page for your brand).

When people are looking for people, the people who are most in your mind will spring to mind so posting regularly can really help to improve your visibility…even if it doesn’t seem to have an immediate effect. Social media is also a great way to build an online portfolio – share testimonials from your clients, write articles on LinkedIn, share materials or learning/teaching tips, etc.

Think about your niche – what group of people do you want to talk to?

Social Presence (27.25)

Focussing on LinkedIn as it’s the most-used professional network. Use the header on your profile to show what you do, e.g. your mission statement, your contact details, your skills.

Work on your About section – you have about two lines to sell yourself before the ‘see more…’. Write about what you want to achieve and what you can help people to do.

George also mentioned calendly, which allows people to sign up virtually for a call.

Not many people know this but under your work experience, you can attach materials, example work, etc.

You also have a portfolio section called Features – you can share links, articles, testimonials, etc. here.

Content types

Status posts (31.50)

Post every couple of days and block-plan what you’re going to share – you can schedule posts or just have something ready to share each time, so it takes the pressure off thinking about what to share.

You have 1300 characters, which is quite a lot (around 150 words maybe), Again, you get about two lines before ‘see more…’ so be provocative or intriguing at the start so people are encouraged to click more. Offer value, give tips and advice, ask questions – this gets comments, shares and likes. Use hashtags – they’re really helpful: you can reach a wide range of people with something general like #education but then also reach more of the people you want to target by using more specific tags like #ELT – use a mix! Although on the general stream you’ll move off the feed quickly, you can get seen by a big audience.

There was a question about using different hashtags on different social media – yes, as what’s trending on LinkedIn might not be what’s trending on Twitter. LinkedIn will tell you how popular a hashtag is at a given time.

There’s also a question about whether you put them as part of the post or just a stream at the end – there’s not a lot of difference, but test out what seems to work for you and your content.

Be careful when tagging people in posts – make it relevant to them and ensure it doesn’t annoy them!

If you have lots of engagement with your content, it tells LinkedIn that you’re a valuable member of the network and rewards you by placing you higher on search lists.

You might also start trending, which further improves your visibility.

Articles (38.00)

This is good if you don’t have your own blog. Don’t be promotional, but share things which provide value for others. Be original and make sure the headline is descriptive and offers a helpful summary of the content – these are the things people are looking for.

Listicles are good – titles with numbers attract people. With a listicle, you know what you’re going to get and it’s better to have an odd number in your list!

Native video (39.20)

Native means that it’s uploaded directly to the platform – this keeps people on the site, rather than sending them to an external platform (all social media platforms have a vested interest in keeping people on their site). On Facebook, you have three seconds to get people’s attention, on LinkedIn it’s 6 seconds so make your introduction engaging. Remember as well to include subtitles if you have speech as many people watch videos without sound. That said, people are more forgiving of a poor quality video than one that has poor sound – use a directional microphone to cut out background noise. Optimise for mobile – do portrait rather than landscape. Be authentic – do what you can do and only create content you can follow through on.

LinkedIn slideshare (42.40)

Useful for sharing materials, presentations, documents. Make the most of SEO and think about the keywords you’re using

Instagram (43.20)

Also popular for teachers and teacher trainers. He recommends checking out Clare Venables from Active English, Jamie Keddie’s LessonStream, Marek Kiczkowiak’s TEFL Equity Advocates for how they market their brands – look at the TEFL celebs and learn from what they’re producing. They’re all very focussed on one area – you can sum up what they do one sentence.

Make the most of all the features Instagram offers – stories are a great way to stay at the top of people’s feeds.

Resources (49.30)

  • ELT Teacher 2 Writer: A series of paperbacks and ebooks full of valuable content for aspiring writers in various ELT niches: www.eltteacher2writer.co.uk
  • ELT Publishing Professionals: A directory for service providers and clients which costs £50 P/A. All major publishers, including Pearson, National Geographic, CUP, OUP, Ladybird, Collins, ELTJam, etc. www.publishingprofessionals.co.uk
  • Serveis Linguistics de Barcelona Cooperative: A cooperative for teachers and language service providers. Training, collaboration, mentorship and employment opportunities: www.SLB.coop
  • InnovateELT Conference at OxfordTEFL: A teacher-led conference focused on innovation, future-proofing your career and learning new skills. Excellent for networking and meeting publishers: Innovateevents
  • Content Creators Barcelona: An active and friendly Facebook group with resources, events, job opportunities and advisors for potential writing jobs outside of ELT

Final thoughts (50.45)

  • Make sure you have a way for people to get in touch with you!
  • Seek out a mentor. Find somebody who’s doing what you want to do – some people will do it for free J
  • Embrace fear – it’s the discomfort you feel before you grow
  • Start before you’re ready (very different to faking it til you make it)
  • Imposter syndrome is a thing – it’s easy to talk yourself out of things 
  • It’s all part of an experimental journey – everyone makes mistakes, learn from them
  • Try crazy things – it might work!
  • Quality over quantity 
  • Do what you can do in baby steps: brand your profile first and then start thinking about posting, be active on platforms

There was a question about targeting your market – whether you target a particular nationality or country (think about your niche!). With time zones, you can find out about the best time to post (check out the analytics tools or insights on your page). But feeds aren’t generally chronological nowadays – it’s all about the algorithm! So, when you post is less relevant than how much interaction your post gets. Again, test what works best for your market and think about the hours when your target market are in business hours (or awake!).