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Are you getting ready for the next academic year yet?

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Another really interesting meet up… I think we all came away feeling like we are in similar positions with so much in common and that hearing different perspectives is so enriching! Thanks to all for attending. 

Hope for the best, plan for the rest?

Of course we touched on what might happen for the new academic year in September. The bottom line is that nobody knows. Where are we going to be with class size restrictions and social distancing? Is it going to be business as usual? Probably not, but now we are selling places that we assume will be there in September. We agreed that the best way forward is to hope for the best but plan for the worst! It may well be that we won’t really know until September. 

We also shared our frustration at other schools blatantly disregarding the rules that are causing us so much difficulty.

Green shoots emerging?

This then relates directly to our plans for registration for the coming academic year. We are all working now on student registration and there seem to be some positive signs; there seems to be a tendency for students, who have dropped out over the last 15 months because of the pandemic, to want to return to classes. And those who have been with us throughout are showing good signs of staying on next year.

It appears that the desire to keep moving through the exams as normal and that registrations are similar to normal. There does seem to be some difference in mood depending on the student profiles; location seems to be a factor (city-based schools seem to be busier with exam registrations than those further out) as does the school the students come from (there seems to be more appetite from students from private or semi-private schools rather than state schools, certainly in primary classes).

Free extras; a good idea or not?

We spent some time talking about how we had transitioned (or not!) from offering “free” extra services to charging for them. What “extras” do we offer and which of these do we charge for? 

One example was “Exam Strategy Sessions” with extra tips and tricks sessions to help students who want a bit more preparation, the sessions are sold as having a different focus from the normal classes to justify the extra. We talked about other ways to support exam students that want more. Some schools sell the students extra practice books, the “Exam Trainer” books were mentioned as they contain questions to help the learners work through things on their own. 

Should we offer extras to “loyal” students or to everyone? Maybe a student who has been with us for a while and is stuck in limbo between levels and needs a bit extra to help them through.

We did acknowledge that “extra” can be very attractive as USPs (Unique Selling Points) that might differentiate from our competition.

One take-away was that people are normally happy to pay extra for something if they feel like they are getting something useful from it.

Does extra help really help?

We talked about “extra help” for students who might be struggling either at school or in our language schools. We asked whether these extra sessions actually worked or not; do students actually get better or does it just make people feel better? Another question was whether extra help might actually be counterproductive; does it just highlight their failure? Are they often too grammar focussed and not really what the student needs? 

If we don’t offer this extra help, does it then create problems for students further down the line? We talked about the difficulty around students failing the year, the students are often quite upset but generally, eventually, most people acknowledge it’s the right thing to do. Is it easier to move students mid-year? 

We wondered whether there is a time when things naturally fall into place for some of our struggling older primary students. Some of the books we use with older primary students are really difficult, despite our insistence that they don’t need to “learn” the past passive or the second conditional, they just need to meet it and to play with it. Perhaps the change in emphasis and a dialling-down that often happens in early secondary teaching in mainstream schools helps some of our students reset. Often our filters take these into account too as students find their levels (A2.1, A2.2, B1.1 or B1.2) as they transition from primary to secondary levels. 

We agreed that what we all want are for our students to be happy in class, confident in class and to feel like they are progressing.

Clarity and transparency, who for?

With students and their families, we agreed, that it’s so important to be honest with them. It may be that our language school is not the best place for some students; perhaps they wouldn’t respond well to communicative methodology, perhaps they need classes to really support their school work. We all believed that this works for everyone in the long-run.

We moved on to talk about how transparent we might want to be with our colleagues. Should we talk about the need for a business to make a profit? Is “profit” a dirty word? We all know, now more than ever, that we need to build up a financial cushion in our businesses as we never know what’s coming round the corner. A business can’t survive and be sustainable without profit and it’s important for all staff to understand this.

Sustainability; people, planet and profit?

And talking of sustainability, we rather liked the alliteration and the appropriacy of the 3 Ps! 

We also need to celebrate the wins; in terms of ELT are we helping the planet more with our online and hybrid classes and the decrease in photocopying also in our f2f classes? We’re more aware of the “stuff” we’ve accumulated and have appreciated the opportunities to clear out the junk and then to reuse, recycle or donate. (Does anybody know how to donate old coursebooks?!)

Emergent Language

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We had a smaller group today so stayed in the main room for the whole chat. The original questions around the topic were:

  • Who stores it at the end of the lesson and how?
  • How much of what comes up gets recorded?
  • How does it get reviewed?

What is it really?

There was some interesting chat around what emergent language really is and how important it is for learners. On the one hand, emergent language shows that we’re really personalising the lesson to those learners; however, is the vocabulary that comes up something they really need?

Some teachers see it as part of a needs analysis and reflect on the emergent language at the end of the lesson: why did that particular word come up? Is it something to be looked at in another lesson in more detail? It gives teachers a bank of ‘future possibilities’, particularly useful for one-to-one teachers or those who aren’t following a particular syllabus.

We also discussed the fact that emergent language is sometimes incredibly personalised and may only be relevant to one person within the group, leading on to questions around how interested the rest of the group are in looking at that word in detail or recording it. Adding to this, we talked about how it’s important for learners to have an equal voice in group settings so that ‘their’ language is given the opportunity to be included in the lesson.

Another point raised was that people tend to really ‘learn’ a word when they’re ready to – sometimes the same word seems to come up again and again but then one day it will just click; other times, a learner can remember a word after seeing it just once.

An emotional connection to language

This was a theme which came up throughout the session: learners need to be emotionally invested in new vocabulary for it to really stick. We touched briefly on the idea that a word needs to be used 7 times before going from short-term into working memory – and then wondered whether this was only through explicit language teaching, whether it was also true for younger learners and what effect the emotional content of the word might have on that number.

Time

This was another key theme which we kept coming back to: sometimes there are curriculum and coursebook restraints which mean that we don’t have as much time as we would like to allow for emergent language to play a bigger role in the classroom. Allowing for tangents is often easier in a one-to-one lesson but when your students are working towards an exam or you have a coursebook to get through, there often isn’t time to review emergent language and incorporate things which have come up to be covered in more detail.

In an ideal world, plan less and allow time at the start of each lesson to review what’s come before; then allow time at the end of the lesson to fully reflect on what came up during the lesson.

And as much as possible, try to strip your coursebook back to the basics – what’s the linguistic aim of this lesson/unit? What tasks do learners need to do? Where can I personalise this unit to them?

Storing language

However this happens, it was decided that learners need to take an active role in this: partly to allow them to take responsibility for their learning and also so as not to overwhelm them with a huge list of new words each lesson which they might not want/need/use. It was also suggested that if you are able to use time at the end of the lesson to review emergent language, it gives you another chance to see how much learners engage with a particular word and can help you identify how important it is to come back to it again.

“Keep it or dump it?” was suggested as one approach for learners to decide which vocabulary as a group was important and should go into a collective vocabulary box. Students value being a part of this process of review as well.

Lexical notebooks were mentioned as a way of encouraging learners to engage more with the language – adding examples sentences, images and highlighting the pronunciation of the word as part of their homework. However, this is time-consuming.

Wherever possible, store language in chunks – showing learners how it was used in the original sentence or providing an example sentence for them.

It was also noted that it’s often easier to share emergent language in an online classroom – people mentioned having a shared Google doc with learners and part of their homework being to review what had been added during their lesson to decide which words to keep for themselves. Also, it’s then easier to find what’s come up online as you can just use the search feature, rather than trawling through pages of notes or photos of your whiteboard.

A suggestion was also for one person to be responsible for storing the day’s emergent language and then sharing it with the group in some way.

Reviewing language

A difficulty which was mentioned here was incorporating reviews into topic-based lessons (i.e. reviewing the language that came up last lesson on health when this next lesson is about food) and there was a suggestion that perhaps if language was always reviewed using a particular activity, that would then just become a routine for the lesson and not seem like a ‘different’ stage.

Some ideas which came up here:

  • start with discussion questions which use a previous lesson’s emergent language
  • give learners a choice in how they use the language (in a story / song / conversation)
  • categorise the language in your vocab box (I know this / I think this means… / I don’t know this yet)

We also talked about allowing opportunities for learners to use the emergent language creatively. Nik Peachey was mentioned as a source of ideas for creativity in the classroom – he has a book called Hacking Creativity and there are also some interesting ideas in this British Council publication which he co-edited.

Difficulties around VYLs

One aspect we talked about was the difficulty of recording language when learners don’t write as this often means it doesn’t get added to the board so even the teacher doesn’t have a record of it at the end of the lesson.

It’s important for VYL teachers to review the language learners need so that they can use it in their own teacher talk and thereby expose learners to those words and phrases.

VYL teachers also talked about how they often use translanguaging – encouraging learners to use the words they know in L1 as part of their narrative in their first language. This involves conscientiously building the learners’ vocabulary as they talk about their personal lives and allowing them the space and time to talk about themselves in each lesson. However, this can often be tricky as learners are incredibly uninterested in each other’s personal stories at that age (and at other ages!) and so it can be difficult to maintain attention spans in order for this to be effective. A suggestion was to make use of time when learners are doing tasks, such as colouring, as a useful opportunity to talk to them one-on-one. Another idea was (post-pandemic) to set up learning stations: this allows learners more flexibility around the tasks they complete and frees up the teacher to move around ore to engage with different learners and record important language.

Emergent language with trainee teachers

We also touched on the challenges of allowing space for emergent language during initial teacher training qualifications. Some thoughts which came up here: are weaker trainees sometimes more able to make use of teachable moments? Do trainees focus too much on ‘teaching the plan’? Should we allow for much vaguer timings on lesson plans to more accurately reflect what happens in our lessons? How aware are teachers of the TTT-TTQ balance? (Rachel Tsateri has a wonderful post on the topic) How can we give our trainees the confidence to stray from the plan and make the most of emergent language?

Another aspect of the difficulties of dealing with emergent language during these courses is that learners tend to have classes with different teachers across the week, making it trickier to refer back to language that came up in a particular trainee’s lesson, given that the learners may have seen three or four other teachers since then. Similarly to the comment earlier about incorporating emergent language reviews into a topic-based syllabus, we highlighted the fact that on teacher training courses, the syllabus may be much wider, e.g. teachers might work on a different topic each day, or even each lesson.

Time for a cuppa!

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Wow, it’s been a massively busy couple of weeks in the TEFL Development Hub. Looking back over the posts to generate the questions for the Coffee Break there’s been so much and always the quality of contributions has been great! Thank you all so much!

Over the last few weeks we’ve been looked at (new or at least new to me!) expressions, including “mediation”, “on-boarding” and “back-channels”, we’ve swapped tips about CV design, learning management systems and using google maps in class as well as talked about some big issues in ELT like inclusivity, the role of the teacher and, of course, our developing thoughts around online, hybrid and socially distanced teaching.

Some of these threads were brought up again in the Coffee Breaks, at their normal slots of 11am and 5pm (CET). Here’s the notes from the combined sessions, we hope they’re useful.

Note-taking… “it’s fun to take notes feeling like a student again!”

Are students not progressing as quickly as in previous years?

It certainly feels like many of our students are not moving as quickly as might expect them to this year, and this seems to be a problem lots of us are noticing. Can we expect them to be working in the same way as normal when we are in the middle of a pandemic and things have been disrupted for over a year (for most of our students)? We think not and while lots are still doing well, others aren’t and it’s problematic for all concerned.

Is reading the problem? 

Are teen students lacking concentration and motivation when dealing with reading texts? Is this because we get information so immediately nowadays? Is it only in the English classroom or symptomatic on the wider educational plain? We wondered whether it was more of an issue in language and humanities subjects which are less ‘logical’ than scientific and mathematical subjects – there’s more to be ‘read around’.

However, this concentration issue seems to be less of a problem for business English students, who are in general thriving more in an online environment.

The contribution of mobile phones

We also talked about separation anxiety which teens (and adults) can suffer when separated from their phones and the use of digital wellbeing apps to make them (and us) more aware of how long we spend on our phones and for what. There was also a definite feeling that we shouldn’t be judgemental of how parents dealt with phones and screen time during the pandemic. There was also talk around fostering autonomy with learners – however we reached the conclusion that those who were responsible learners before would likely be more autonomous post-pandemic.

Here were some fun videos we thought of sharing with people on the topic of phones:

Google maps

We also talked briefly about Google Maps – great for personalisation, e.g. for learners to show you their route to school or their favourite local place, etc.

The online learning conversations continue…

The shift in learning, teaching and training online continues to develop and deepen.

We talked about how increasingly on initial teacher training courses like the Trinity CertTESOL and the CELTA planning points are being added asking trainees to describe how it would be different in an alternative learning and teaching environment, whether that be face-to-face or online. 

We wondered whether between trainees who had done their courses online or face-to-face, who would be an advantage at interview? The feeling was that it’s easier to move from online teaching into the physical classroom than vice-versa. The feeling was that teaching skills are perhaps more natural when we’re together. One trainer said they often suggested to trainees that a class is a bit like a party in your house, you want people to mingle and have a nice time and with reference to making sure fast finishers are appropriately occupied, “you wouldn’t leave someone with an empty glass, would you?!” All this added to the idea that new teachers might be better off training online rather than face to face. We noted that there’s no difference in the syllabus on the Trinity and Cambridge training courses and the qualification and certificates are exactly the same.

In terms of hiring teachers, there are certainly new questions to add in around experience and comfort of working online and hybrid around interviews. Teachers who don’t have experience will be at a disadvantage.

Now we’re all more comfortable with Zoom, many schools are working with “Zoom windows” (not to be confused with hybrid teaching) where a student can just connect online if they can’t come to class for a week or so because they are quarantined or confined to home temporarily. This started for many because of COVID restrictions but has now been used in all sorts of circumstances; students who are ill, who are away (perhaps with divorced parents who don’t live as close), student who are tired, or because it’s raining! We need to draw the line and make sure these tools are used appropriately.

In some schools class sizes have had to come down because of the pandemic, will they be able to go back up again? Will the English teaching business be financially sustainable if we have to have smaller class sizes?

Hybrid classes have their pluses, for sure. For many students they are more convenient but are they as effective? The problem seems to be with engagement; one member told a story about a fabulous student who was “in class” while watching a football match at the same time! We talked about the possibility of having some kind of agreement or contract with students about how to behave. This lead to talking about the importance of good “on-boarding” procedures.

One contributor said they preferred teaching online as they can go on mute and just listen rather than get caught up in more active roles in monitoring. If we can listen better, we can better understand students needs and more easily focus on examples of language to follow up on. They said that with breakout rooms we can have more control about who goes where.

And teaching pronunciation with masks… 

This is another new area of challenge. There were all sorts of thoughts on the subject… some said students might feel better able to experiment with sounds from behind a mask. Another idea was for students to make the sounds and the identify what was physically going on. It was then related to creating independent learners and an interesting conversation on our role as teachers; to encourage independence or to maximise how much we can help in an hour. We agreed that it depends on the student.

And while we’re talking about pron… a top tip; use voice-recognition software to help students practice as well as being a good way to create a safe space for students to practice until they get more confident. 

Storing all our materials

Another advantage of working online is that we no longer need to carry everything about from place to place and from country to country. We love the search feature in Google Drive that searches for key words in titles and also throughout the text… a real life saver! And a real space saver too. We can also easily edit and improve our material and adapt it for different learners.  Jim Scrivener was quoted as saying that teachers should  “Throw away all your materials” as was Mari Condo’s concept of get rid of everything you haven’t used for a year.

Related to the “travelling teacher”, we doubted whether the annual TEFL migration would happen this year. Will ther be summer schools? What’s going to happen in the UK and Ireland (traditionally large scale summer tefl employers)? And then what about the supply of teachers from the UK into the EU post-Brexit? We’re living with uncertainty.

Thinking critically

We talked about critical thinking and about how it is a key skill and was thankfully being introduced into coursebooks. One member is doing his MA in TESOL dissertation around critical thinking to judge the effectiveness of critical thinking of materials over a defined course of study. We talked about critical thinking around diversity and inclusion issues and developing an awareness of our own biases too. We also talked about our increased understanding of mediation.

Here are some resources:

And thank you! Thank you all for coming and thank you for connecting, sharing and developing with us all! Thank you too to the note-takers, it’s great to be able to share so much of what was said so that we can all see everything! 

See you soon!

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using coursebooks?

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Thank you to everyone who attended our first Focused Forum – for anyone who couldn’t make it, keep an eye out for the next one on Tuesday 20th April. We’ll post a poll the week before with three options to choose from and please do add other questions which you’d like to talk about.

We split into breakout rooms fairly quickly during the session, chatting first in larger groups and then mixing up the groupings into smaller groups for a second chat.

From the group feedback at the end, it’s clear that there was lots of interesting chat and that nobody felt hugely anti-coursebook, which is sometimes a feeling which comes across on other platforms.

Here are some of the main benefits and drawbacks of coursebooks, as well as some further ideas which were discussed:

Benefits

  • coursebooks can save time when planning
  • they provide structure with a syllabus and objectives
  • it can sometimes be difficult to adapt authentic materials to lower levels – Keynote from National Geographic was mentioned as a favourite for a coursebook which is already using authentic materials (TED talks) across levels
  • there was also talk around the culture of coursebooks, as some people mentioned learners in their contexts much prefer having a physical book to use
  • they are a good scaffold and can be very effective with judicious use

Drawbacks

  • they can quickly become outdated
  • they require adapting and supplementing to be more relevant to your context
  • there is often a lack of diversity (both in terms of the elements which James and Ilá spoke about in the Raise Up! webinar, but also cultural diversity and an awareness of English in and from other countries)
  • new editions often aren’t that different – just shiny new images – but often mean teachers can struggle to source older editions for their students
  • they tend to be expensive
  • it’s very difficult for freelance teachers to sample coursebooks – meaning that you might get tied to a particular book or series because of the initial investment
  • they are often designed for a group environment (Work with a partner / Tell you partner about…)

Some other themes which came up during feedback:

Is there a market for one-to-one coursebooks? Perhaps rather than a coursebook as such, it would be a framework for lessons along with appropriate methodology for working in a one-to-one context.

There was also discussion around how well coursebooks support learners in their receptive skills and the subskills around listening and reading.

With the move online, teachers are trying to flip the classroom more to avoid spending time in the online environment reading. There was positive chat around how this allows for differentiation: students who require more time with a text can work through it at their own pace; however, in our exam preparation classes, it’s also important that learners are trained in timings.

On the topic of exam preparation and coursebooks, there were questions around how useful content is for learners and a suggestion that when we look at exam activities, we should share with our learners how this skill will help them in the future.

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! 

From the end of the world as we know it to puppets with head lice

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We’ve now had a number of Coffee Breaks and the evolution continues… 

The Coffee Breaks are a moment for members to get together in an informal way, to connect and to share and, of course, to develop. They have no agenda, no structure… a sort of “dogme” approach as one member said recently. We’re trying to create a new version of a staffroom.

There are usually a number of questions floating around from the conversations on the Facebook page and that often provides a springboard for the chat but certainly doesn’t limit things… this week conversations varied from international professional development groups to puppets with head lice! Quite a mix!

Due to the popularity of the Coffee Break and to allow for closer interactions, in the morning session we played with breakout rooms on Zoom. We quickly moved into small groups and then shared and extended our conversations with the whole group in the second half of the session. It proved popular; although some people missed the unified approach, most people liked the change. The notes are, of course, incomplete, please do share other things you talked about in the thread, it’d be great to share as much as possible from all the groups. Zoom and breakout rooms are to be continued.

The possible conversation starters were…

  • What are your top tips for teaching primary and pre-primary?
  • What’s your relationship like with the phonemic chart?
  • What are your grammatical pet hates?
  • How are you thinking about continuing your development beyond the classroom?
  • What do you hope is covered in the upcoming webinar “Selling your Skills on Social Media”?
  • Are you a puppeteer? How do you or how could you use puppets in class?
  • How do you or could you use break times in online classes?
  • How can you find a good school?
  • What makes a good manager?
  • What other groups and professional associations do you like? (Are you going to the TESOL-Spain conference?)

… all providing the opportunity to continue to conversations from the previous two weeks, part of the aim to put the Continuous part back into Continuous Professional Development (CPD), to move away from one-off events and into a longer, more reflective process.

Professional associations

Honourable mentions were given to TESOL-Spain, TESOL Arabia, Nile TESOL (the river not the training organisation!), IATEFL, ELT Footprint as well as groups on social media like “TEFL teachers in… Spain/Seville/etc.”

There is some excitement around the availability of online conferences but “they’re so tiring!” Some people liked taking a “podcast” approach, listening to sessions while doing other things meaning cameras and mics off. Other people preferred to be “present”, being active and taking notes. 

A good manager is…

… a good listener, patient, calm under pressure, well-organised. Friendly and professional relationships with staff are appreciated and an adult/adult interaction much preferred. A good manager has vision and is a good decision-maker.

Are ex-teachers better managers? In some ways yes, they often understand teachers better but that’s not always the case. 

Do managers enjoy their roles? Normally, yes, but during this COVID time, no!

Expectations and entitlement?

We shared a conversation around “traveller teachers” and “teacher entitlement” where teacher expectation was said to be unrealistically high despite a lack of long-term commitment to the school, the profession and even to the students. Other people said that teachers are often barely paid enough to cover their costs and that recently we’re all being asked to work harder and more for the same money (and in some cases less) than before. Wages have changed very little over the last few years. It was acknowledged that the situation is more and more precarious for everyone; for teachers and managers alike and we were left with the question “Is the golden age of TEFL behind us?”

(Note from Simon: This conversation was sensitive, worrying and beautiful all at the same time. I’ve never been in an environment where people from different sectors of the profession have come together as equals with no hierarchy, no sense of “us” and “them” to listen and to talk about these issues with respect. Moving beyond the binary, beyond the black and white to explore shades of grey feels so important. This is perhaps one of the special things about the TEFL Development Hub.)

A race to the bottom?

The conversation continued… there is a feeling that, especially online, there is an upswell of unqualified teachers who need to create an income, this seems to be contributing to falling wages and a decline in the reputation of the sector. This can also be seen in the change in training provision with the traditional Trinity CertTESOL and CELTA courses being challenged by all sorts of cheaper alternatives (often lacking any teaching practice, etc.) Teachers with little experience are being offered work at 10€/hr while more experienced and qualified teachers can command 20/25€/hr, will online companies continue to pay higher rates when they can pay less? Will it just get worse? Is it a “race to the bottom”? Teachers and language schools are all “scared” about these changes. It’s also worth thinking that cheap classes have always been available, the difference now is that they’re on the internet rather than just shared on lampposts. Perhaps when the pandemic passes, there will be less competition. Will people want to go back to the classroom? We need to consider new models of classroom-based, online and blended courses.

Selling our skills online

It is often said that specialisation and finding our niche is what we need to do to be able to differentiate online. We are TEFL professionals and not good at selling ourselves. Do we need a mindshift? Do we need to value ourselves higher?

And what of puppets?

Some wonderful ideas and experiences were shared… puppets writing letters to the group, the need to make puppets seem real (breathing, moving, not just stuck on the end of your hand!), you can make anything a puppet with goggly eyes and online puppetry can give things a whole new twist. A sad story was shared of the early retirement of one puppet due to a nasty case of head lice! Is it time to pick up your puppets again?

 

This is just a flavour of the conversations. It would be great if those others could add other things that you talked about. There’s something beautiful about the Coffee Breaks, and that’s down to you for coming and participating, let’s share it with everyone.

Thanks for coming, see you soon!