ELTMentor News – Getting back into the swing – the new school year
ELTMentor News – Getting back into the swing – the new school year
In this edition:
- CPD in Switzerland
- The August CPD workshop
- Back to school – What’s going on next in ELTMentor
- Getting back into the swing – the new school year
We seem to have had a very long break this summer especially as I had to postpone our last session. I decided not to re-schedule in August as I knew that most of you would not be around – more of that later.
I hope that everyone had a great holiday (summer in the Northern Hemisphere and probably not such a long holiday in the Southern)
It’s time to get back into teaching energised and re-vitalised I hope.
The past month and a bit has been very busy for me and I will share some of this with you.
I’m looking forward to our next session and getting back on track with our webinars and other sessions.
I hope also that we can get going a bit more on the forum – it’s a great place to meet.
Training workshops in Switzerland
I mentioned this in my last newsletter and wanted to share the experience with you all.
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The school building |
The school I visited was a boarding school in the mountains and a really stunning place – very pretty with crisp, clean air and lots of light and the backdrop of mountains. |
There was a small team of 8 English teachers all teaching in the EAL/EFL department as well as numerous other things and other responsibilities (I’m sure that this scenario is familiar). The school is becoming increasingly International and with this has come a new cohort of students, in significant numbers who have no or very little English to begin their studies (it’s an 11 to 18 school).
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Having lunch in the sun! |
What an amazing place to work just stunning! |
My role in this was to help the newly appointed head of department to create a curriculum that would offer English language to a range of students with varying needs. We explored possibilities and visited another school here in the UK with a similar profile before coming up with a range of English language offerings that every student requiring English could slot into.
The second stage of the project was for me to visit the school and lead workshops in professional development. We discussed the new programme and department and then explored ideas – both traditional and technological for classroom use study clinics and autonomous learning. I really enjoyed working with this team in their beautiful school. One of the highlights was when we had the whole staff together and I did a short introductory session in Indonesian. It brought home to the non English teacher exactly what it would be like for students in their class who had little grasp of English and it gave me a chance to re-visit a language I haven’t used for some time!
This was a really wonderful grass-roots project (English has been offered for many years at the school but on a more ad-hoc basis) the curriculum looks fantastic, a syllabus is in place for each type of programme and the staff have created policies and launched the new department and curriculum last week.
And all the teachers will be joining is here on ELTMentor.
This has all happened over 4 short months so hats off to everyone involved and I really wish them every success.
Teacher Workshop in August.
We had a great time on this workshop. In the end there were just three of us as people had to duck out at the last minute for various reasons but the week was packed with activities as well as learning sessions.
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Our work-space |
Hazem talked about how to make writing with university students more exciting |
Our teaching experiences were very different – Sophia taught both children and adults in Greece, Hazem taught university students in Syria and my teaching is older teenagers and adults mostly in the UK but also online. Both Hazem and Sophia were doing Master’s degrees in TESOL so there was a lot of common ground as well as diversity.
Our teaching sessions were mostly sharing ideas and experiences. I prepared something for each session and then we looked at materials, web tools and brainstormed lots of creative things we could do and then shared our experiences within the topic.
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Sophia talking about using wikis for online collaboration |
Explaining more about her theme |
We covered all the skills, grammar, vocabulary, technology and literature.
Our big indulgence of the week was the visit to the Bronte museum and a longish walk across the moors to the top where there is a ruined farmhouse believed to have been the inspiration for Wuthering Heights the house in Emily Bronte’s novel of that name. Fortunately we had really great weather and it was a glorious day all round.
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The village of Howarth – now much the same as when the Bronte family lived there |
The Bronte waterfall – mentioned by the sisters as one of their walks |
In the evenings we watched movies of the books – Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
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Across the moor from just below Wuthering Heights |
The ruins of Top Withins (Wuthering Heights) after a long slog to the top! |
We also managed to fit in a mini marathon which Hazem ran in, an ABBA disco, our village annual Feast which is a great affair and we were all asked to help the village Feast committee to collate the entries for the Feast competition which was a great way to meet local villagers and find out something of village life!
Sophia is in the process of writing a blog post about the week which I’ll share with you all as soon as it is posted.
What’s happening next?
Our next session is on Monday (September 24th) at 12.00 – we’re looking at feedback for student’s writing.
I’d like to look at methods of assessment as well as the nitty gritty of doing it.
Here are a few things to read before the session.
http://teachers.schooloftefl.com/forum/topics/assessment-in-efl-classrooms
It will take the usual format of webinar followed by questions.
(I’d like to re-schedule the Pronunciation session for October 15th at 12.00 – I’ll remind you nearer the date).
Getting back into the swing – the new school year
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I hope this is the end of term not the beginning!!
The new term is usually a period when we feel energised and ready to get going on new things, new ideas and also develop our own skills in teaching.
Hopefully this is how you are feeling now – so let’s see how we can capitalise on this period of energy and promise!! |
So how can we make this academic year different, more creative and more satisfying?
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Firstly take a long hard look at where you are with your teaching skills.
Are there things that you want to improve or you’ve always wanted to explore further? I know for me I really want to get better at teaching writing so that’s one of my targets for this year. I am also interested in course design and am exploring this too.
Don’t be too ambitious – it’s incremental steps that make the difference as they are achievable.
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Secondly decide how you are going to do this
Is there a course you want to do or are you going to take longer over it – a slow burn? In my case I have been thinking very carefully about the process of writing and trying to find help online webinars, articles etc.. I am also comparing the students I have taught who have been very successful in writing with those who are still finding it challenging and am trying to find clues.
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Discuss it with other teachers (and students) they may have insights.
I got some really good ideas about writing from the workshop in August and in a lesson just today with a student I learnt a lot about her process of trying to improve writing and it was very enlightening and will help me with other students.
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Focus on the area/s you have chosen and don’t get sidelined
Make a bold statement like ‘I want to be the go-to person for this in my school, my PLN, my group’. If you are focused then you will be alert when teaching, reading about or watching your students tackle it. It’s amazing that when you focus on an area suddenly there are webinars, articles, workshops galore that just appear! By focusing you will see things develop and get new, more creative ways of approaching the topic and soon you will see improvements in the way you teach and prepare for this. It’s really exciting and this dynamism is what will keep you interested in your career and teaching. You can always get better!
I’ve decided to focus on these two things because I really feel I can be better at teaching writing and I am really fascinated by course design so one is a skill and the other is a passion.
So here’s to a successful and satisfying year of teaching and learning!
Here are a couple of useful links to get the new term off to a great start!
From Shelly:
14 Edtech Integration Tips & 20+ Resources for the School Year
From Catherine Walter
Time to stop avoiding grammar rules
Need help with anything?
If anybody else needs help with anything just post in the forum, or on twitter or email me or send a message in Gapfillers. I am really pleased that you are using the forum – let’s get more things posted to discuss.
Don’t forget to put any suggestions in the forum, this is your space to share ideas or experiences and to ask questions.
You can always email me too berni.wall@language-tuition.co.uk about anything that you are concerned about or if you want to ask a question.
Until next time
Berni