IATEFL 2017 _ Day 2
I'm sharing with you the highlights of the Plenary and the talks and sessions I attended. Today was also the day I presented about Virtual Reality in the EFL classroom, but I was absolutely exhausted , so I'll update this post with my presentation summary later on :)
Plenary
CONNECTING MINDS: LANGUAGE LEARNER AND TEACHER PSYCHOLOGIES
Sarah Mercer
There are so many things we can do as teachers
The understanding of psychology, this can make a huge difference to the lives of learners
Psychogically-wise teachers
3 key factors
*they develop positive relationships
* focus on positivity and growth
*they nurture their own professional well-being
Key social relationship for a learner is typically with the teacher
The power of relationship
All the learning is understanding relationship
Relationships are the basis we build everything else we do
Relationships are especially important in lgg education
It involves communication and collaboration
It requires social competencies
Gkonou & Mercer , 2017 Understanding emotional and social intelligence among English language teachers
The emotional bank account
If you build positive relationship you have less need to disciplinary measures
To develop positive relationships:
*work on mutual trust and respect
*self disclosure shows that you care about them
*be empathetic (try to remember what it is like to be a learner)
*be responsive to learner individuality
These things can make learners feel comfortable to learner
Communication is key
Students need to feel that we take our jobs seriously, that we care about their learning
Teachers should focus on positivity mindset
Mindset = Belief (implicit theories)
Unfortunately a ‘fixed mindset’ is strong in language learning
If a teacher can’t find a reason to develop why should the students bother?
Teacher as a role model, we have to walk the talk
The mindset is the starting point , it’s not the end of the journey
You get what you focus on
Strenght spotting
Let’s focus on the positive dimensions of our jobs as language teachers
Positive Emotions for LearningFostering positive emotions and developing that in our classrooms
Broad and Build Theory
Teachers are the life blood of schools (Sir Ken Robinson)
You can’t pour from an empty pot. Take care of yourself first.
‘Burnout cascade’ Holmes, 2012
Feed on the positivity
Stress management for teachers (Mills, 1990)
Physical activity , mental activity, emotional activity
We need to become a little more teacher-centred in our priorities
Teacher professional well-being is not an indulgence
MORE THAN ‘JUST A TEACHER’ - TEACHING REFUGEES AND GIVING SUPPORT
Kerrilee Barret
She showed samples of many activities produced by the refugee students from different age-ranges.
E.g.:
Activity - Create a NGO
Start with an article, talk through issues for refugees, dictogloss - mission statement for an NGO (identify positives and negatives)
Share information in groups
Design their own NGO with a logo
Present in small groups
Photo (cat)
English lgg can be a escape
They are mostly prepared for online courses and the open university
DEVELOPING PRACTICAL THEORIES:ELT LITERATURE IN INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING
Ulla Fuerstenberg
She mentions using Socrative for Mobile learning (audience response system)
She also mentions talking about Sugata Mitra with the group of teachers and
Getting to understand the text by using Socrative as a way of working with mobile learning during the teacher training and making that relevant
Teaching adult learners :
Develop concepts through the semester, pick controversial topics , assign trainees to teams, debate n class
I want trainees to come up with questons, not just answers
(Edit Kontra)
Travelling the road togheter.
Supporting their apprenticeship processes
...involves reading and acting on the field’s literature
Teacher training can only be he starting points
CREATIVE TESTING: A CONTRADICTION ?
Charlie Hadfield
Teaching towards test is a high-stake business
Testing ….should be supportive of good teaching and where necessary, exert a corrective influence on bad teaching.
A test is reliable fi it measures consistentely
Hughes (1989)
Tests have become more important over the years
The best of the test: work with the energy / motivation to succeed
Train ‘over the top’
Prepare for the worst
We train you for the most difficult thing we can achieve
- How can we make the training less stressful ?
Include some ‘crazy’ distractors for fun
- Put the cart before the horse
Share the questions before and after, the real text
- Choose your own answer
Then show the real text up to a point and then students try to guess again
Wrap up, students write what happens next
- Traditional Maori story : Rona and the moon
- News
- A more advanced group writes questions for a less advanced one
Collaboration (compare, construct)
- Choose the worst anwer
Exploiting the text
- Students dictate vocabulary words to the others (from photos)
- A room with a view (sts in pairs to look and write down a list of things they can see)
- Para-phrase-sketch tableau (He recommends Alan Malan’s Drama techniques.
- Portfolio production solo / Or project work based on Trinity speaking test
- Home made tests
VISUAL CULTURE IN ELT
Andreia Zakime
A shift in social life from having to appearing
We have to teach our students how to decode the images around them
Syntax (camera placed) and Semantics (who created this image)
She suggests analysing different pictures from different angles and sources
We can use these elements to design communicative tasks and promote authentic communication
There’s also room for personalization
Working with both lower order thinking skills and higher order thinking skills
The usage of Instagram (ex.: ‘create’ an Instagram account for a famous person and imagine what it would look like) Students can google for pictures that would make sense for this person chosen.
Pictures have a potential of generating ideas and opportunity
“Seeing the world is not about how we see it but what we make of what we see”
Comments
Post a Comment