CPD in

Your Inbox
Continuous professional development
at home
 As current circumstances are resulting in many of us working remotely,
or even having to take a break from teaching all together for a while, now
could be a good time to assess what you have achieved over the past year,
the lessons learnt and perhaps what you need to brush up on. You might
want to also keep track of the new skills you are learning whist working
or learning in this new way – I doubt I’m the only one who has been
getting to grips with Zoom, for instance!

I spoke at last year’s IATEFL about how to activate professional development to prevent us
from forgetting it within a week of our reading or attending a webinar, so I thought I should
look at how we could apply the principles even from our safe zone at home. (The article
I wrote on the topic: Use it or lose it: how to activate your professional development can be
found in this publication.)

If you are a subscriber to either of our magazines English Teaching professional or Modern
English Teacher you can record and analyse your development through our online tracking
tool MyCPD, to help you truly develop with the advantage of later being able to print out
your record to perhaps discuss with your boss when our lives return to normal, or use it as
part of your CV. (You can learn more about MyCPD here.)

I hope this collection of articles and book extracts provides a useful distraction and helps
you in these difficult times.

Stay safe,
Kirsten Holt
Head of Pavilion ELT at Pavilion Publishing

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today.

Contents
4  se it or lose it: how to activate
U 23 Teachers as learners
professional knowledge Modern English Teacher 22 (4),
Modern English Teacher 28 (3), Anna Kamont
Kirsten Holt
27 Game-based professional development
7  ll About Change
A English Teaching professional (100),
English Teaching professional blog Gary Dean Hewgley
December 2019,
Kirsten Holt 32 10 ways to develop your knowledge of
technology
14 Teacher Growth ETpedia Technology,
Modern English Teacher 28 (3), Nicky Hockly
Kat Robb
35 10 top tech tips
16 Defining successful teachers: Teacher ETpedia Technology,
competences, Nicky Hockly
English Teaching professional (118),
Kirsten Holt 38 10 ways to manage your time
effectively
20 Autonomous professional development ETpedia Technology,
begins at home? Nicky Hockly
Modern English Teacher 26 (3),
Marisa Constantinides and Shaun Wilden

This collection contains articles, chapters, and units from Pavilion ELT publications available to
purchase at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today.

 modernenglishteacher

Use it or lose it: how to

activate professional
knowledge
Kirsten Holt suggests ways of retaining and engaging with what we learn.

A ctivated teacher development sessions

are worth more in the hand than half
a dozen notes left wilting in a conference
kitchen and had to clear out the room.
It seemed an ideal opportunity to dust
off and go through my old conference
If only we could click our fingers after
attending a conference, doing an
e-learning course or participating in a
bag! It is all too easy after a conference to notes (I won’t tell you when they dated webinar, to retain all the information in
put your notes somewhere safe, with the full back to, but suffice to say some were an instant – a developmental version of
intention of using them for future teaching yellowing!) as I’d diligently saved quite a photographic memory! However, we
ideas, professional development and/or a few – a mix of handouts with notes all know that’s simply not the case. In
research – only to find them languishing scribbled on, printouts of summaries I’d fact, in the late 19th century, a German
in an old online folder, or in a dusty pile created, brochures and samples from the psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus,
on your desk a few months (or even years) exhibition, and so on – fully expecting conducted research into memory
later. Worse still is the fact that if we don’t to use them as soon as I could. However, retention over time – and his ‘forgetting
do anything with the information we learn as I looked through the pile, it was curve’ is the result. The curve shows how
at events, then within a month nearly 90% is evident some hadn’t been touched since information is lost over time when you
redundant. In this article, I show you ways to the day they were carefully filed, and I don’t try to retain or engage with it, i.e.
avoid that happening and discuss how to get know I’m not alone in this. In fact, in a supporting transience memory failure: a
more out of your learning. poll I conducted at IATEFL, whilst most process of forgetting that occurs with the
respondents took notes at conferences passage of time, charting that up to 70%
Throughout my career and through the and could remember their key themes, of information is lost on average within
mentorship and training of colleagues, it only a handful had used that learning 24 hours of the training experience, with
has always struck me that no matter how since. a staggering 90% of information lost after
diligently we listen in talks or workshops, one week.
how much reading we might do around ‘Personal development is the belief that
our interests and indeed what we learn you are worth the effort, time and energy So how can we stop the decline in the
through doing, much inevitably escapes the needed to develop yourself’(Waitley, forgetting curve? Here are my simple tips
confines of our mind and disappears into 1984). This is echoed by how people (taking into account factors Ebbinghaus
the ether, possibly never to be found again. see professional development, with identified as exponential decline of
And no matter if the contexts you teach these top 10 key words being generated memory contributors), which can boost
in have changed, and indeed the way we in a recent online survey (Holt, 2019): retention levels … building them up
teach has changed, the way we learn hasn’t learning, training, reflection, improvement, B.R.I.C.K. by BRICK.
that much! People still go to conferences, conferences, sharing, inspiration,
attend training sessions, do extra research innovation, improvement, growth. We all nn B is for BUILD UP MEMORY
or reading and a similar pattern emerges … spend a lot of time and energy attending STRENGTH: People can recall stronger
we go, we see, we make notes. conferences – often at weekends – so memories for a longer period than
shouldn’t we value this a little more? In weaker ones; just think of the flashbulb
I have to count myself in this, too, as this other words, how can we make the effort memory like 9/11, whose shocking events
article sprung from a recent clear-out we spend in developing ourselves more and what you were doing then are vividly
I had at home. Not Maria Kondo style, efficient so we can get more out of our imprinted in memory. When it comes to
in a quest to find joy – simply because development without making it an all- professional development, the learning
I was replacing some flooring in my encompassing, time-consuming job? content should be highly relevant and

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 modernenglishteacher
meaningful to each participant. For key message, this makes the learning nn What have I learnt from it? How do I
instance, visualise a situation with a more manageable. intend to use this learning in practice?
student that matches the context the
speaker is describing; link a personal nn And K is for KEEP IT RELEVANT nn What, if any, additional learning
anecdote to your presentation notes; WITH READING AND REFLECTIVE do I need to do now this has been
take photos of a presentation that chime LEARNING: An off-the-shelf learning completed?
with you and annotate them using social resource won’t have the same impact as
media scribbling tools; use Twitter to a custom-made one or one that draws And then return to your notes a month
create a thread of topic-based flashbulb on personalisation. Basically the more later, after you’ve applied the learning in
moments linked by hashtags. relevant and relatable the training, the practice, to ask:
easier it is to recall. Utilise reflective
nn R is for REVISIT TRAINING and learning to consider the impact on nn What difference has this learning made
REINFORCE REGULARLY: Information students’ learning and your teaching to my teaching practice?
is easier to recall when it’s built upon practice and make adjustments along
things you already know. Every time you the way. For instance, make notes about Then these reflections and intentions
reinforce the training, the rate of decline things to try with specific classes during can be used to develop a learning plan,
reduces.The testing effect says that by the presentation, then follow up later using SMART (Specific, Measureable,
simply testing a person’s memory, that and link them into your weekly planning, Agreed Upon, Realistic, Time-based) goals.
memory will become stronger. Staging including a feedback stage, and analysing Include whether you intend to do more
frequent training interventions as part then recording the evidence:‘We do not reading around the subject whether it be a
of a learning campaign helps solidify learn from experience.We learn from methodology or teaching resource book, a
the information through active recall, reflecting on experience’ (Dewey, 1933). magazine like Modern English Teacher or
e.g. break the ideas you’ve heard at a English Teaching Professional, or whether
conference into manageable chunks, Develop reflective learning you’ll be trying out the websites suggested
then add them to your phone as (also known as experiential in the talks – basically, what call to action
weekly reminders so you can revisit learning) further do you need to give yourself? Don’t forget to
them to conduct further research or keep it realistic, e.g. are you really going to
experimentation. Experimentation takes us out of the routine read the whole of ETpedia Technology for
or even impulsive actions; takes us from instance? Or just the sections on 10 questions
nn I is for INCORPORATE MORE being reactive to being active; encourages to ask yourself about integrating technology
INTERACTIVITY: People learn better us to be proactive to make things happen. and 10 ways to use QR codes?
when they’re actively involved than Reflective (or experiential) learning is the
when they’re passive observers.When process of learning through experience, and Expand your reflection to group reflection
speakers don’t give their audience an reflecting throughout the process, and then – fundamentally, enabling you to not only
opportunity to interact with the content analysing those reflections and learning compare what you think you’ve learnt with
and the chance to make links to their experiences. This can start as simply as someone else at the event, as your two
own contexts/teaching practice, they tend adding reflections to your notes, such as accounts might well be different, given
to drift off and lose concentration.Adding asking: that we only record 10% of what we think
elements of gameplay to the learning, we’ve seen and our memory incorporates
like interactive quizzes using menti.com nn What did I do? Why did I choose to after-acquired information. But also, to tap
or surveymonkey.com, and providing undertake this study/learning? into potential development opportunity
opportunities for the audience to direct
the content and make decisions on
their learning, are effective ways to raise
interest and keep people involved.

nn C is for CREATE CLEAR AND EASY-

TO-ABSORB INFORMATION: Improve
clarity by making the information easier
to absorb in the first place.When faced
with long prose, it can be easy to forget
the meaning shortly after reading, or to
miss it entirely. By representing some
information in visuals, such as using
diagrams, photos/cartoons, spidergrams
or word webs; using sketch notes to
summarise a talk; making short clips
describing the learning objective or the

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 modernenglishteacher
by problem-solving under guidance (just The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve
think of those times you’ve consulted
the ‘staffroom guru’) or in collaboration
with more capable peers, thereby moving
instruction ahead of development and the
Zone of Proximal Development (Vgotsky,
1980) – a primary activity space in which
learning occurs.

As part of your reflective learning, conduct

action research which can be as simple
or complex as you choose – be it small
classroom experiments; simple classroom
polls; focus groups, data analysis; case
studies; book reviews (which you can do for
Modern English Teacher or English Teaching
Professional) and/or evaluative research. But Notes on graph
above all, it doesn’t have to be academic- nn The 1st curve (on the left) is just attending the learning session with no
style action research because it’s for your post activation
nn The 2nd curve shows the results of using the ‘B’ and ‘C’ of BRICK
development rather than the next White
nn The 3rd is using the ‘R’, ‘I’ and ‘K’ of BRICK
Paper. You can dictate what’s manageable nn The 4th one is the result of developing ideas further through collaborative
for you in terms of how many people or reflective practice within a staffroom or community of practice
classes you involve in your research and
how much documentation you want to and development of new resources, References
produce. Just don’t forget to include your processes and methods. Continuous Waitley D (1984) The Psychology of Winning:Ten
students as their voice can be enlightening. improvement is encouraged through Qualities of a Total Winner. New York, NY: Berkley.
Your findings can be recorded in MyCPD reflection on practice; evaluation of impact Holt K (2019) How do you see professional
– an intuitive, easy-to-use digital tool free and outcomes of the common ongoing development? Menti.com poll.
with your MET subscription – and then inquiry and the refinement of best practice/ Dewey J (1933) How We Think. Mineola, NY:
Dover Publications Inc. (New edition 2003).
discussed with your mentor/boss; shared methods/resources. It’s also worth noting
that community of practices – unlike a Vygotsky LS (1980) Mind in Society: Development
within English Teaching professional in the
of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge,
What Works in Practice section; or you could staffroom – don’t have to be friendly or MA: Harvard University Press.
use them to compile a teacher development harmonious. If anything, the discord helps
Wenger E (1998) Communities of Practice:
session at your school. Above all, the school achieve its purpose. Take the example Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge:
must give space to such collaborative of the Impressionists, who often met in Cambridge University Press.
work and then be receptive to the findings cafés and studios to discuss the style of
(especially when they have come from painting they were inventing together –
group research), and be open to making their infamous fractious exchanges were
changes even if it involves school policies essential to making them a community of
– simply sending people to conferences practice even though they often painted
isn’t enough for meaningful professional alone.
development.
To sum up, wherever you apply my BRICK
If the staffroom is not an option, then principles – be it studying on a teacher
Kirsten Holt is Head of Pavilion ELT,
consider using an online Community of training course, attending a conference
having worked in publishing since
Practice (Wenger, 1998), where people or development session, reading up on 2005. Previously, she worked first as
work together on shared inquiry rather than a subject and acquiring new ideas, or a teacher/materials writer, then as
locality, but not necessarily in bounded conducting research – the data so far is a teacher trainer, before becoming
a Director of Studies and trainer of
groups. Each community is made up of encouraging. If the knowledge you acquire
teacher trainers. Kirsten is passionate
people who differ (having different skills in learning sessions is used from the offset, about supporting teachers, authors
and knowledge) – professionals committed and is revisited often through (collaborative) and editors alike in their professional
to a process of collective learning reflective learning, it is retained more development, including meeting the
needs of an evolving ELT industry.
oriented towards achieving outcomes intensely and for the long term – see how
[email protected]
and improving practice. Community the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve changes
members collaborate to identify resources as a result above – the benefits speak for
and expertise, investigate key questions/ themselves, don’t they?
issues, and develop/sharpen subject
knowledge through professional learning

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All About Change
English Teaching professional blog, 05 December 2019

Kirsten Holt, the Head of Pavilion ELT, discusses the different components of CHANGE.

Change comes in many shapes and forms for teachers, trainers and people in publishing – the
changes can vary from the mundane through to life changing experiences. Take for example, the
changing community of students you face each week if you work in a continuous enrolment school
environment, or on a new course or the decision to change a coursebook, or perhaps even your
teaching style. In publishing, a change might come from developing material for a new, possibly
unfamiliar, context, or in more recent years, when the company decides to transform leading to
team changes, even potential redundancy, or simply new ways of working. Outside the classroom
or publishing environment we constantly face change – through politics, by becoming more
environmentally focussed … right down to the programmes we watch, the way we receive our news
and even the type of bread we can get in the supermarket.

‘It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone

that you begin to change, grow, and transform.’
(Roy T. Bennett)

How we react to change is the telling factor, and interestingly, this can vary depending on how you
are feeling when the change rolls in, what the context is and indeed what the impact on you the
change will have. There has been a lot of talk in recent years about having a growth mindset versus
a fixed mindset but more recently it has emerged that you may not be one type of mindset all of the
time and in different contexts.

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But what is a growth mindset? And do you have it at the moment? To find out what it is, try to spend
a few minutes watching this short infographic video from Amazing If.

In summary, a growth mindset can be viewed as you being like a sponge where you are hungry for
knowledge and want to learn – just as a sponge soaks up water (a learn-it-all if you will) and a fixed
mindset is when you are acting like a brick wall with the wall being the knowledge you possess and
being a blocker to learning anything more (a know-it-all perhaps).

To help define whether you have a growth or fixed mindset on a particular period of change, issue or
an opportunity of learning, it is worth using a 5-point growth gap graph (see below). For feedback,
it is how willing you are to learn from others and to hear different viewpoints. For failure, it is about
how you admit or recognise mistakes or events you can learn from. The challenge line is the scale
of the problem you are trying to solve or learn about – if yours is off the scale (1 being closest to
the centre, 5 being the furthest away) then you might want to break it down into a series of smaller
challenges and tackle them one at a time. The setback line refers to resilience to learn or problem
solve. If you answer honestly and score 5 for each one, you would be extremely unusual – in other
words your growth gap graph should be a jagged profile.

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‘Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.’
(John Maxwell)

So, what CHANGES do I think we need to consider?

C is for Collaboration
Start to work collaboratively: just as our students don’t learn in a vacuum – they are surrounded
by their co-students, their teacher and so on – we should develop areas where we can share ideas,
bounce concepts off each other, test out new ideas, etc. The staffroom used to be the best place
for such collaboration but nowadays you can find Communities of Practice online and social media
groups where people can get together and discuss common goals, shared topics and look at how to
problem solve certain issues.

‘It has been said that teachers who have been teaching for
twenty years may be divided into two categories: those
with twenty years’ experience and those with one year’s
experience repeated twenty times.’
(Penny Ur)

Imagine the power of getting groups of teachers with their twenty years’ experience and getting
them to work together. One such example is the Facebook group ELT footprint group (and its related
blog) which has a whole community of teachers looking at ways they can respond to the climate
emergency we are facing and to lessen their school’s environmental footprint.

H is for Habit changing

Become habit changing: Are all your students the same as they were a few years ago? Do they want
to learn in the same way? Does your material need to be adapted or personalised in any way?

‘Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.’

(Raymond Lindquist)

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I’ll never forget working in a school where one teacher used to insist on having the same classroom
week after week where he kept special boxes labelled by level. Whenever he got, say, an intermediate
class the box would come down, the material it contained would come out and he would teach the
same lesson irrespective of whether he had a group of Swedish teenagers studying for 2 weeks or
a Korean group of young adults hoping to go on to do further education in English, enrolled on a
9-month course. This lack of ability to change would no doubt have impacted his students’ learning.

Or take the argument of whether to use mobile phones or not in the classroom. Of course, if students
are taking the opportunity to catch up on their social media then perhaps there should be temporary
ban; however, don’t assume that all students will be doing this. I was at a technology conference a
few years ago where a session was made up of students from a very young age through to university
students each taking it in turns to talk about how they were using their phones in class – some were
using them to check spellings and/or save reference notes to look up later; some were recording their
teachers’ feedback so they wouldn’t forget it; others were making notes of their screen shots of the
board to help them revise later and so on. As technology becomes more advanced, phones could be
used to bring the outside world into the classroom with very little resources required – Google Earth
is free to use, for example, and in no time you could be virtually touring the Taj Mahal and describing
what you are seeing to a partner. (For more on this, revisit Pete Sharma’s latest article in English
Teaching Professional – ‘Get real (or not)! Virtual reality in ELT’).

Check in with your class(es) and find out which ways they enjoy learning, how they might like to use
their phones in class (or decide not to) and try different levels of student autonomy in class to see
whether a change in learning habits positively impacts learning.

A is for adapting
Having adapted to new habits, don’t forget to review, reflect and adapt your pratice over time.
Obviously the first thing to do is actually getting feedback from your students, and then perhaps
from your mentor if you have one or your line manager, but then to be outward looking. I have found
conferences have helped with this as you can check in and see what teaching method is getting the
most traction, hear different ways people approach the same situation, and learn about the changing
needs of your students. However, if a conference isn’t for you because of its location, its cost or
even the amount of time it takes up, you can get this learning through the Communities of Practice
mentioned above, from online webinars (often available for free) and from reading magazines such as
English Teaching Professional or Modern English Teacher. In other words, there is no excuse not to adapt
over time!

‘Those who cannot change their minds cannot change

anything.’
(George Bernard Shaw)

N is for negotiations
Whatever change you decide to do, don’t necessarily jump in with both feet! Sometimes change
has to be brought in gradually. Or it needs to be negotiated. Be clear as to why you are planning to
make the change and what benefits it might bring but also understand how the change might impact
others, and how they might feel when you start to bring in the change (see the mindsets above).

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For example, many of your students might be used to learning grammar in class and getting their
homework at the end of the lesson, which is often extra language practice. Perhaps you want to turn
things on their head by using flipped learning to teach students the grammar ahead of class, then
use the classroom time to use the language in authentic conversations and/or situations with you
acting as a communication coach rather than a traditional teacher. If you wanted to switch overnight
your students may soon start forming a line outside the school manager’s office because they don’t
understand the change, feel they aren’t learning and so on. However, were you to negotiate the
change with the students (or one class rather than all your classes), trial it over a set period of say a
couple of weeks, and ask them for feedback, you may find they are more onboard with the new way
of learning. Also by starting on a small scale, you will have evidence to add to your ‘case’ to roll out
your change on a larger scale.

Whatever the change you want to try is, identify where the change you want to bring in sits on
the change matrix (see below) and assess what you need to do in terms of negotiation to minimise
negative reactions. This will help your negotiations.

‘One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the
world.’
(Malala Yousafzai)

G is for growth
Once you have negotiated your change and implemented it, to ensure true growth it is worth using a
change management framework:

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To check you have covered all bases:

1. Are you clear about why you need the change and what the change’s benefits are?
2. Have you engaged all the stakeholders, e.g. the students, your line manager/school owner, the
parents, etc?
3. Have you completed a plan as to how you are going to make the change?
4. Do you have a form of measurement in place so that you can assess whether the change is
working, whether it is getting the rests you hoped for and how long it took to implement?
5. Have you rolled out the change (yet)?
6. Have you involved others and if so, do you need their feedback?
7. What do you need to improve? And how will you make these improvements?

Having the answers recorded will help you if you want to roll the change out wider or to build upon
it in future. Of course, I should say that the change management framework is more useful when you
are implementing larger scale changes, for instance bringing in flipped learning; making the school
more environmentally friendly and reducing its footprint and so on.

‘Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.’

(John Maxwell)

E is for engagement
What’s in it for me? This is a question that should be asked not just for yourself but those who are
affected by the change. Getting everyone involved can enrichen the change you want to implement.
For instance, if you are trying to make the school more environmentally friendly other teachers,
students and even their parents, partners (and dare I say publishers) might have ideas, processes
or products that could improve the change or make it more effective and/or long lasting. Someone
may have seen or heard something that is being done in another industry that could help your own
perhaps. By getting people involved they are more invested in the change and therefore will be more
willing to see it brought in.

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‘Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as
there are a few compensations.’
(Margaret Atwood)

S is for success solutions

With all changes the ultimate goal is success. You want the change to succeed and bring results
otherwise what was the point?

Our last ETp blogger, Chia Suan Chong said that she blogged to “continue to learn, to reflect, to
change and to develop. I’m a curious person and am not adverse to change, and I hope this keeps
things fresh.” Having been able to blog on different topics every other week since 2012, I’d say she
managed to do this pretty successfully! It was great to catch up with her the other day to see how
she is growing and building upon the success of her blog by presenting in other fields than ELT, being
involved in more ambitious writing projects and a lot more besides.

I’m hoping that in time our new wave of bloggers, and yes vloggers, will have equal success and you
will enjoy reading and watching what they have to say. Stay tuned to find out who they are and what
they will be talking about in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please let us know what some of
the changes you are facing and what successes you have had in the comments box below.

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 modernenglishteacher

Teacher growth
Kat Robb describes her own approach to professional development.

I could talk about teacher development

until I’m blue in the face; in fact, it was
one of the topics I hoped would come up
1996: 317). I, too, believe there is no one
single way to develop as a teacher, just
like if you asked ten people to make a
time to consider a different career path.
Listed below are some trialled ways I have
developed and how they impacted me.
in the Trinity Diploma written exam, and cup of coffee, they would all make a cup This is by no means an exhaustive list but
it did! So, what ‘is’ teacher development? of coffee, but they would all be different. rather a dip in the ocean of some possible
There is no one definition, because I think growth and development depend ways to engage in teacher development.
development, change or progress has too on the individual, and other ecological
many guises, but for the sake of this article factors such as: time; family or other Workshops, webinars and
I’d like to define it as teacher growth. commitments; social structures; and conferences
When I say growth, I am referring to growth resources. Just like children, if adults Workshops are great because they are
from the seed you planted when you first want to do something, they will, but there interactive ‘thought-showering’ sessions
decided to become a TEFL teacher. needs to be an initial desire or curiosity, where we can learn and share ideas
which can often be absent if the request with others. They can be conference
for development is not personal but workshops, or a workshop held at your
The cup of coffee analogy employment related. school and open to other teachers in the
area, or internal. They are a place to hear
Penny Ur (1996) has an infamous quote, ideas from other teachers about activities
which I feel exemplifies how I view So how can I develop as a they find effective, or how to incorporate a
teacher development. She claimed that, teacher? different methodology into the classroom.
‘teachers who have been teaching for If you don’t know what’s out there, how
twenty years may be divided into two Teacher development is multifaceted can you try something different? If your
categories: those with twenty years’ and has no scale. I like to think that I will school doesn’t hold workshops, why
experience and those with one year’s never stop growing and developing as a not suggest running one yourself? This
experience repeated twenty times’ (ibid teacher, and the day I do, will be when it’s alone could be considered teacher
development.

In the digital age we now live in, there is a

plethora of free online webinars given by
all the main publishers in ELT. They are
usually recorded, so even if you are on a
tight teaching schedule, you can watch
them after they are given. Oftentimes
webinars are given by authors of the ELT
textbooks we rely on in the classroom, so
it is great to get a personal insight from an
experienced professional. Webinars are
also a great alternative to conferences if
your budget doesn’t permit you to attend
one in person. Often the same topic that
a speaker has addressed at a conference
will be presented in a webinar, and often
webinars include recorded conference
talks. Many public talks given at
conferences or by publishers can also be
found online or on their home pages. You
could try typing one of the following into
a search engine to see what is available:
Cambridge English webinars; Macmillan

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 modernenglishteacher
English webinars; OUP webinars; IATEFL Action research are being assessed on our performance.
webinars. I love action research! I think it is the most This is when recording a short part of your
effective way to grow as a teacher. Why? lesson using your smartphone could help
I will say, though, the great thing about Simply because you get to choose the shape you. You would need to check with your
conferences in addition to the talks you it will take, how much you do, and when schools’ policy on data protection, and of
attend, are the people you meet in the and how you do it. But one thing is for course ensure you have learner consent,
coffee breaks and sitting next to you in sure, you will ALWAYS learn from it. Action but this could be a less intrusive way for
the talks. They are without a doubt where research is a way of looking at ourselves in you to be observed.
I have met the most interesting people I the teaching mirror and seeing the reality of
have met in ELT! who we are in the classroom, and how we Once you have identified what it is you
perform when we are on the teaching stage. would like to, or needs to, change, then
Writing It can take the form of a teaching diary, you can set about trying to change it.
You may not consider yourself an adept reflective practice, peer observations, audio You could make long- and/or short-term
‘writer’, but you may decide that you want and/or video recording yourself. goals, and keep a record of what you
to put your thoughts and ideas into writing do. If you want to continue ‘growing’, I
about an aspect of teaching that especially A teaching diary is a way of identifying would highly recommend a regular rain
interests you, or an element of teaching what it is you would like to change or check of your teaching so you don’t end
you have experienced in the classroom. grow in your teaching, by keeping a record up as Ur suggests, ‘a teacher with one
Digital technology has made spreading of what you thought went well in your years’ experience, repeated twenty times’!
the word quick and easy these days. While (Ur, 1996: 317) Change, development
reading blogs written by experts in our and growth don’t necessarily have to be
field and other teachers is a great way on a grandiose scale either; they can be
to keep up with what is going on in the small changes like challenging yourself
world of ELT, you could also set up your “Workshops are to experiment with a different resource in
own blog. If you find the commitment of the classroom, using a different medium of
regularly adding content too daunting, you great because instruction (video, audio or multimedia);
could write an article about your teaching or perhaps an ed tech tool like an app or
situation, and send it to Modern English they are online game. There is so much out there
Teacher. The beauty of MET is that it is for us to learn as teachers and disseminate
written for teachers by teachers, so the interactive among our learners, we need never feel
articles you find in each issue will always stagnant!
provide a true insight into global teaching ‘thought-
and learning practices. Writing for an ELT
journal is a good form of professional showering’ Reference
development because it prompts you
to reflect and succinctly communicate sessions where Ur P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: CUP.
your ideas, in addition to sharing your
experiences and informing others in we can learn
the field.
and share ideas
Further training
Training doesn’t have to be expensive, with others.”
but obviously it can be. If you have the
opportunity, I would definitely recommend
The DELTA, The Trinity Diploma, or an
MA because of the exposure it gives you lessons, what didn’t and why you think this Kat Robb has been involved in ELT since
to both teaching theory and practice. was. It is also a way of curating teaching 1995, and during this time she has
However, there are a lot of free online materials. Of course, self-reflection is not spoken at conferences, authored, taught,
and trained teachers globally. Her passion
MOOCs (massive open online courses) that easy; this is where asking one of your peers
lies within educational technology, which
are equally as challenging and interesting. to observe you for ten minutes of teaching has seen her move increasingly in the
Again, the major publishers offer a range time could help identify things you would direction of authoring digital teaching
of courses with varying lengths, or you can like to develop. Maybe you are aware your and learning solutions, including AI
and autonomous systems. She can be
search on the internet. I will admit I found teacher talk time could be reduced, but
contacted at [email protected]
doing an MA was the most enriching further you’re not sure how. By asking a colleague
training experience I have had to date. to observe you, you could pinpoint this.
However, be sure to consider the time you This said, we often feel uncomfortable
have available for such a commitment. being observed, because we feel we

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Defining
successful
teachers
Kirsten Holt suggests that teaching competences are the key to the future for our profession.

W
hat makes someone a good or qualified and experienced teachers, irrespective of the
successful English teacher? Surely it old labels?
isn’t a question of whether a teacher
is a native speaker or not? What is a native speaker
Unfortunately, that is still sometimes anyway?
the criterion by which teachers are judged, even
though relatively recent debate suggests this way of Whilst many school adverts still insist that NESTs
thinking is seriously flawed. How, then, should we only need apply, I can’t help but wonder what they
define success instead? This article offers up a are hoping for. There’s obviously the traditional
solution: using teaching competences. definition that can found in many a dictionary:
‘a native speaker is a person who has spoken the
A catalyst for change language in question from earliest childhood
In 2016, when Silvana Richardson gave her rousing (or from birth)’; but what does this really mean?
IATEFL conference plenary ‘The “native factor”, Take myself, for instance, because people often
the haves and the have-nots’, there was much debate struggle to identify where I’m from. I started off life
around native versus non-native speaking teachers, with fairly clipped tones, having been born in one of
as she discussed why we still needed to talk about the the home counties of England; but that soon
topic of nativeness, despite the fact that the ELT morphed into an Irish lilt on certain words and a
profession has been talking about the struggle of northern twang on others, before changing into a
non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) for hybrid Southern African accent, then to an
visibility and due recognition since 1983. Australian one, after living there for a year or so.
The reality turns out to be far less sanguine than I’ve eventually finished up with a more international
the intents – with the situation remaining relatively English dialect (so I’ve been told), which uses a mix
unchanged for the professional teacher of English of British, Australian and American, and a
whose first or home language is a language other than smattering of more Brazilian-sounding words – an
English. Why, in some circles and teaching contexts, is unintentional accent smorgasbord from my nomadic
a native English speaking teacher (NEST) still 20s. I know I’m not alone in this, because a quick
considered better than a NNEST? Why can an informal poll showed other NESTs have their own
unqualified native speaker still be seen as preferable to accent smorgasbords; by rights, we could apply to the
a qualified and professional non-native teacher, despite native-speaker-only adverts, but is that school then
numbers of the latter far outweighing the former? getting what they expected?

Perhaps, it’s time to move away from the debate And what about the model of ‘native speakerism’?
around mother tongues and start to examine, instead, It tends to be judged on what a well-educated, middle-
what makes a successful teacher, thereby placing the class, mainstream person is able to produce linguistically
emphasis on teachers as facilitators of language within the Common European Framework of Reference
learning, rather than models of target language. By (CEFR) C2 level (or C1 at least). There obviously has to
doing so, could we begin to change the perceptions be some mastery model, but is this the standard of the
outlined above? Would we then harness the potential average native speaker? Compare these two examples:
of giving greater (employment) opportunities to all, ‘Looks to me like the Bernie people will fight. If not,
if we could find ways of defining and developing there blood, sweat and tears was a waist of time. Kaine

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today. 16

stands for opposite!’ (Donald Trump on Twitter in we change the term native or near-native competence
2016) to proficient competence?
‘Yuv just goat one thing tae worry aboot. The To illustrate how these ideas work in practice, it’s
simplicity ay it aw. Ken whit ah mean?’ (Irvine Welsh, worth referring to Péter Medgyes’s ‘interlanguage
in his novel Trainspotting, 1993) continuum’, which demonstrates how ‘non-native
One is grammatically incorrect but the messaging speakers constantly move along the continuum from zero
(arguably) worked. The other is grammatically correct, to [proficient] competence as long as they learn-to-use/
but perhaps some people will struggle to understand use-to-learn English’, though note that I’ve amended the
the dialect. term native competence to proficient competence. The
‘glass wall’ towards the end represents the barrier that
Not only this, but do all native speakers have the confronts the non-native speakers
same command and knowledge of language that a (or indeed some native speakers, in terms of knowledge,
non-native speaker who has studied it for years and understanding and/or application) who come quite close
become an expert in their own right possesses? Or if a to proficient competence (compare the nebulous
NNEST is constantly reading and listening to native ‘near-native speaker’) but whose progress gets halted
speakers, wouldn’t the chances be that this teacher sooner or later.
would be able to make the same choices a native
speaker would – when it comes to vocabulary, for If Claire Kramsch’s proposal is then applied to
instance? Can a NNEST be qualified as a NEST if the continuum, along with research findings that
such is the case? If so, what’s the difference, then? suggest the average English language teacher sits
more in the middle of the continuum (where
I suspect Claire Kramsch hits the nail on the head significant numbers of students are taught
when she suggests: ‘Native speakership, I suspect, is competently by teachers of a CEFR B1+ to B2 level
more than a privilege of birth or even education. It is of English), it is possible to broaden out the
acceptance by the group that created the distinction possibilities of what is acceptable for a teacher
between native and non-native speakers. … It is not (obviously depending on context) and what works
enough to have intuitions about grammaticality and successfully in practice. Figure 1 shows a revised
linguistic acceptability and to communicate fluently interlanguage continuum.
and with full competence; one must also be recognized
as a native speaker by the relevant speech community.’ So, where does that leave us? Arguably, and
This definition is interesting because it opens up the perhaps most controversially, the big difference isn’t
possibility that native speakers could be made rather whether or not one is a NEST or a NNEST, but
than born. However, work is still needed to establish whether or not one is, or isn’t, a competent teacher.
what level of English we mean a ‘native speaker’
possesses. Although the CEFR’s scheme has six What is a successful teacher?
recognised levels, with C2 (the top level, ‘Mastery’) We often see what we expect to see. Imagine you’re
often being used to define the performance of an driving on the road for the moment, and you’re
idealised ‘native speaker’, or a ‘well-educated native thinking of buying, or have just bought, a blue Mini
speaker’ or a ‘near-native speaker’, such concepts … you’ll soon find yourself noticing far more blue
were not taken as a point of reference during the cars, especially Minis,
development of the levels or the descriptors. as you start not really noticing the cars of other
Nonetheless, given that the CEFR intended to colours or makes. However, if you look for cars in
‘characterise the degree of precision, appropriateness general, you suddenly start seeing how many non-
and ease with the language which typifies the speech of blue cars there are, because you now notice them far
those who have been highly successful learners’, could more often.

Figure 1

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 In other words, if you change the terms of what you teacher trainers and/or people who have a strong
are looking for, how you look will change. We all see commitment to their profession.
things through our own filters. So, imagine you are
The focus is far more on what happens in the
looking for teachers for your school. Is it the type of
classroom than on what ‘type’ of teacher is teaching
teacher they are, ie NS or NNS, that you are looking at?
the class, because it comes down to what a teacher can
Why? What reasons will you use to quantify your
demonstrate they can do, rather than the length of
decision? If you look for their knowledge, abilities and
teaching service they might have, their seniority or
skills (ie teaching competences) instead, how many more
their nativeness versus non-nativeness. The framework
applicants will you find? Figure 2 puts this in
is designed to help teachers chart their CPD progress:
other words:
their background knowledge and awareness, their
professional skills and what experience they have
simply being native ≠ competence in teaching developed so far. Teachers are likely to end up with an
simply being an expert ≠ competence in teaching uneven or ‘jagged’ profile, owing to the fact that they
simply being qualified ≠ competence in teaching won’t be at the same phase across all competences at
Figure 2 any given point in time, just as a student isn’t with the
notional and functional syllabus in the CEFR –
Each one of these on its own is simply not enough to progression, by its nature, tends not to be linear.
quantify whether someone has competence in teaching,
In Figure 3 are a few suggestions of mine for what
even though they are the benchmarks that many
teachers can do to record what stage of a particular
adverts for teachers have been built on.
teaching competence they are at.
What makes a successful This ‘evidence’ of your CPD progression can then
be recorded in a portfolio, ideally in electronic form,
teacher? so that you can post links and chart progress. The
The definition of a successful teacher should MyCPD digital tracker from Pavilion is a handy way
encompass their capabilities as well as their to do this, as you can upload lesson plans, notes,
background – in a similar way to that in which the feedback, etc, and then personalise it to show how it
CEFR portfolio can show a learner’s competence in is helping your development. This makes
notional and functional skills. And, fortunately, the for a great self-assessment tool, but if you want
teaching equivalent of the CEFR exists in the form of to extend it further, your Director of Studies, senior
a Teaching Competences Framework. teacher or mentor could then add comments or give
To illustrate how a profile of a successful teacher
works in practice, I’m using The Eaquals TD
Development CPD activity
Framework, deliberately chosen because it doesn’t have
phase
the terms non-native or near-native in its material.
I should point out that, obviously, there are other Phase 1 Read an online article and post a comment.
frameworks also available – choose the one that chimes Read a couple of articles on the same topic and answer a
best with your teaching practices. related questionnaire/do a quiz/write a short summary or
The framework has three development phases, blog.
covering both knowledge and skills in domains such Attend a conference talk (and participate on Twitter
as planning, teaching and learning; teaching and or write a blog post about it).
supporting learning; assessment of learning, and so Phase 2 Participate in an online discussion or add opinions
on, with teaching competences making up each to a social media query.
domain. (See the link at the end of the article for the Do a reflective observation (reporting back on experiential
full framework.) learning).
■■ Phase 1 tends to apply to a teacher just starting out in Do peer observations and analyse lessons learnt.
their career, when they still need to gain experience
across a wide range of contexts and courses and/or the Share a lesson plan.
input they gained on their teaching training course Upload lesson feedback.
needs to be activated and developed. Phase 3 Record a class/TT session as a reference tool for others.
■■ A teacher moves into Phase 2 when they start Mentor a colleague and record events.
experiential learning, reflecting on their teaching, Provide guidelines or a teaching plan of a particular
accumulating experience and gaining greater technique, method or teaching tool/aid.
autonomy and competence as a professional.
Deliver a presentation on best practice and share/upload
■■ Phase 3 is often associated with teachers of a broad your slides.
proficient, or near-proficient, teaching repertoire;
they may already be mentors in their school, Figure 3

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today. 18

you feedback to upload. Alternatively, try using it for
CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors 2018 (https://rm.coe.int/cefr-
development plans or in appraisals, where you could companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989)
discuss your CPD progress with your line manager. Kramsch, C ‘The privilege of the nonnative speaker’ In Blyth, C and Sieloff Mangan, S
There is also the potential to use a CPD log in The Sociolinguistics of Foreign Language Classrooms: Contributions of the Native, the
tandem with your CV, to showcase your progression Near-native and the Non-native Speaker Heinle 2003 (available from https://eric.ed.
and expertise, or certainly to act as a catalyst for gov/?id=ED481796)
discussion. Medgyes, P ‘Native or non-native: who’s worth more?’ ELT Journal 46 (4) 1992
Richardson, S ‘The “native factor”, the haves and the have-nots’ Plenary at IATEFL
conference, Birmingham 2016 (https://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2016/session/
t t t plenary-silvana-richardson)
The Eaquals Framework for Teacher Training and Development
(www.eaquals.org/our-expertise/teacher-development/the-eaquals-framework-for-
If we start defining teaching by what we can do in the teacher-training-and-development/)
classroom rather than who we are, then the focus shifts
away from the, perhaps, almost-defunct NEST versus Kirsten Holt is Head of ELT at Pavilion Publishing & Media,
NNEST debate (I live in hope), to a far more having worked in publishing for over 12 years. Previously, she
meaningful and powerful message, encompassing worked in education for a similar length of time, first as a
teachers’ knowledge, skills and abilities. Surely that’s teacher/materials writer, then as a teacher trainer, before
becoming a Director of Studies and trainer of teacher trainers.
better for the profession as a whole? n Kirsten is passionate about supporting teachers, authors and
editors alike in their professional development, as well as
investigating ways to respond to the evolving world of ELT.
[email protected]

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today. 19

 modernenglishteacher

Autonomous professional
development begins
at home?
Marisa Constantinides and Shaun Wilden offer some advice on personal
professional development.

Feeling stuck nn materials/activity designer awareness, knowledge of other fields such

as learning difficulties or specialist fields
nn ‘I work harder and harder but am not nn assessor
of teaching, understand and know more
getting better results in class.’ nn test writer about their learners; the list is endless.

nn ‘I don’t enjoy my job/teaching any nn coach For this reason, we have compared
longer.’ teachers to jugglers trying to keep too
nn class manager many balls up in the air. Keep the balls in
nn ‘I’m in a rut!’
nn class monitor the air and you are fine; let one drop and
nn ‘My teaching is not getting any better!’ the feeling of ‘stuckness’ sets in.
nn error corrector
nn ‘I need some inspiration, I feel so
demotivated!’ nn class psychologist Follow another course or
Feeling stuck, the niggling sense that
school CPD?
nn friend
something is not working, leaving your The effort to keep it all together and
class and wondering why something didn’t nn parent substitute keep developing and feeling motivated
go as planned, can be caused by a number is quite difficult and there are many
nn needs analyst
of things but is all too frequent to ignore. different paths teachers can follow to
nn class researcher ‘get out of this rut’. Some will be newly
Most teachers would probably admit inspired by further training; others will
that there are moments in their career On top of that, teachers also need to feel re-energized after some form of CPD
when they suddenly feel stuck, as if in a develop their linguistic knowledge, cultural programme organised by their school.
rut, doing the same things over and over,
with little sense of accomplishment or job
satisfaction. This comes at different times
for everyone; it could be after a couple of
years teaching or after twenty.

Teacher or juggler?
Unquestionably, teaching is a highly
complex profession and involves wearing
a multitude of hats such as …

nn course planner

nn syllabus designer

nn lesson designer
Made with wordle.net

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 modernenglishteacher
Others may wish to pursue a postgraduate
course of study.

One size does not fit all

This article is about what teachers can

do on their own, not following a top-
down selected course option or CPD
programme, but making choices entirely
on their own in a free and autonomous
way; without even having to leave home;
hence our title.

Autonomy and choice

Autonomy doesn’t come easy; we

know that from our own experience as
teachers attempting to inspire learner
independence. Unfortunately, most
school-led CPD does little to help teachers
become more autonomous in their becoming addicted to online CPD so at the moment. The diagram below
professional development. It is akin to much that we neglect our personal lives shows an example and follows the idea
teachers always providing students with and the lives of our learners. of the three general areas of teacher
the answers and never letting them work competencies.
things out for themselves. Often as a Not knowing what to do and where to
one-size-fits-all system, it doesn’t help the look can be daunting. So, if we want This means that when considering CPD
individual escape their rut. autonomous professional development opportunities, you will have a clearer
from home, how do we begin? idea as to your priorities.
A more autonomous approach is for the
teacher to find their own path, making The first step is rather like doing a needs
their own choices and pursuing topics and analysis: it involves profiling yourself, Connecting with other
areas of interest in their own time and at becoming the syllabus designer of your teachers
their own pace. own needs and wants, so to speak!
Social media such as Twitter and
The internet, now connecting teachers List where you were at the start of your Facebook are transforming the way
worldwide, makes all this possible in ways career and where you aspire to go in teachers communicate, via twitter
that we could never have imagined as each area, then decide where you are hashtags (e.g. #ELTchat every
recently as ten years ago.

Through the web and social

media clearly
The web alone immediately helps
overcome the issues of location and fixed
times discussed previously. It also offers
CPD in a variety of ways as shown in the
image above.

In fact, the offerings on the web are

now so many that the problem could
be that a teacher has gone from limited
opportunities to too many to choose from!

Like learners, we need to be eased into

autonomy to find a way to make the
most of learning opportunities without (Idea adapted from a workshop with Rod Bolitho, 1998)

Visit Pavilion ELT at www.pavpub.com/pavilion-elt today. 21

 modernenglishteacher
Wednesday at 19.00 GMT), educational
Facebook groups, Pinterest communities,
blogs and more!

These online communities act like a

permanently open global staffroom
which you can access 24/7! They have the
advantage of allowing you to tailor your
choices to help you meet your own needs
and priorities.

From within those you can form your own

‘quality circle’.

A quality circle is often defined as ‘a group

of workers who do the same or similar
Live or recorded webinars Sharing is the best part
work, who meet regularly to identify,
analyze and solve work-related problems’*.
and talks of CPD
Finding the right people for your own Online video also brings with it the option Professional development for teachers
quality circle will help you find solutions, of finding specific input related to your never stops and it gets better when shared
inspire you with new ideas, direct you to profile needs, especially with the amount and discussed with others.
articles to read or blogs to follow and help of ELT webinars that are currently done.
Rather than relying on a school to provide The best kind of CPD happens when your
you find means that take you towards your
a session or course on the subject area, own quality circle turns into a circle of
goal. Colleagues in circles often find the
find a webinar. Again, being connected on mutual trust, respect and inspiration.
opportunity to mentor or be mentored,
a process which is also enriching and Facebook and Twitter will help you keep
Using all these tools and connections
very much a part of our professional informed.
now available to a teacher won’t stop
development. the rut from occurring, but it can help
Publishing companies, individual language
organisations and Teacher Associations teachers take more control over their
Quality circles work best when you trust CPD and naturally therefore to become
such as IATEFL and its Special Interest
the individuals within them, so we believe more autonomous. Finding there are
Groups all run regular webinars; if you can’t
in finding or creating your own circle of many like-minded individuals the world
attend live, you can watch the recording.
trust. Teachers flourish when they trust and over can offer immediate comfort and is
respect colleagues for their professional a great reason to claim that autonomous
opinions as well as their personal qualities; Asking questions – following professional development really does
trust is of high importance. or generating discussions begin at home.
Likewise, online forum discussions,
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_circle
wherever they may take place, allow for
Videos of lessons online many more opportunities for reflection and
peer learning than what can be offered in
Video sites have made it easy for teachers one location face-to-face.
to share recordings of their lessons. Use
them to watch teachers in action. Peer In all cases, teachers can keep themselves
observation is often thought of as watching motivated and interested by trying out
a colleague in action, then unpicking what activities, ideas and materials with their
you saw. Watching a lesson on YouTube, own classes and introducing informal class
while missing the unpicking, can help you research, which is a highly powerful model
reflect upon your own practices, and then for CPD! Marisa Constantinides
discussing what you watched with your and Shaun Wilden
Autonomous teachers can select what they Marisa and Shaun met on Twitter in
circle can help spark new ideas, once more
want to do to fit their goals having been 2010 and have worked together online,
helping you get out of the rut.
guided by their connections. Next, they try supporting each other’s continuous
out what they have seen, read or learned professional development like so
Starting a conversation is a means of many teachers nowadays. They started
and reflect upon its success. This leads to collaborating in 2010. They meet once a
autonomous CPD. This could be an online
them being able to evaluate and report year at IATEFL.
journal, a reflective blog or simply adding a
back to their connections, sharing their
thread to an ongoing discussion.
thoughts and ideas.

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 modernenglishteacher

Teachers as learners
Anna Kamont discusses MOOCs as a component of CPD for ELT practitioners.

T
hey open the door to the ‘Ivy hangouts) which enable knowledge material from the comfort of one’s
League for the Masses’ (Ripley, exchange and distribution. own home cannot be dismissed easily
2012) and are dubbed the (Koller & Vaan, 2013; Leber, 2013).
MOOC attendees build a whole
greatest educational innovation of
community of learners who do not In terms of educational advantage
2012 (Pappano, 2012).
interact with one another face-to- MOOCs provide material which is
MOOCs have shaken the educational face yet maintain communication via highly interactive in nature, with
conferences, panels and discussions technology and create virtual learning numerous project-based activities,
all over the world ever since they communities so that virtual courses revision quizzes and opportunities
were introduced to the public at large reflect as much as possible the campus for exchanging ideas both with
(cf. Downes, 2013: Goldberg, 2013; experience (Wikipedia.com, 2013; coparticipants as well as the tutors. On
Regalado, 2012). With thousands of Koller & Voss, 2013). the one hand, courses seem to be run
students attending free online distance by passionate instructors who give the
According to some estimates
courses to expand their knowledge in impression of thoroughly enjoying the
(e.g. Quillen, 2013; Jordan, 2013)
the topic of their choice, it seems that opportunities MOOCs provide for them
an average MOOC enrollment is
the opportunities MOOCs offer could as educators of thousands rather than
approximately 50,000. In comparison
also become part of ELT practitioners’ dozens. And although they are miles
to regular campus-based courses,
professional development. away, their immediacy and support
the number seems overwhelming. At
can be felt throughout the course. On
This article aims at familiarizing the such a rate of attendance the spread
the other hand, the large number of
reader with the concept of massive of knowledge through the medium
fellow course participants allows for a
open online courses (MOOCs) and of MOOCs could be compared to the
comparative approach towards one’s
exploring their potential for the rate of dissemination of ideas offered
own work, as frequently assignments
continuous professional development by the invention of Gutenberg’s
are peerreviewed and analytically
(CPD) of teachers of the English printing press in the 15th century. And
compared with work by others.
language as well as offering a selection although some educators point out
of courses which could potentially that a certain number of attendees Also, it is hoped that in the long
benefit ELT instructors. are just ‘window shoppers’ (Clarke, run MOOC credentials may have the
2013b), as they sign up for courses potential to upgrade the CV and
What is a MOOC? mostly out of curiosity rather than advance the career in a given field.
out of a genuine thirst for knowledge, Thus courses’ syllabi set out a list of
In a nutshell a MOOC, the most recent the numbers of those who actually requirements that a student needs to
development in distance education, complete MOOCs are nowhere near meet in order to obtain a certificate
is an online course of a few weeks as limited as the numbers regular attesting to the participation or
duration, accessible through an campus-based courses could boast. academic achievement throughout the
educational platform for all those course.
who have internet access, at no or Why MOOCs?
little cost. It intends to engage in the Coursera, EdX, Udacity
educational process course takers The reasons for enrolling in MOOCs
from all over the world, through could be varied but the main idea At present, the major players in the
providing high quality educational behind the concept of open online MOOC market are EdX, Coursera
content (created and delivered by courses is promoting high-quality, and Udacity, each offering courses
top tertiary institutions and their innovative educational content for delivered by top university instructors
instructors) from a variety of fields free, especially to those who, due to (Coursera including Princeton,
(both science and arts) in the form of financial, time or other constraints, Standford, Ohio State University;
video lectures, interviews, e-readings, are unable to attend regular classes. EdX including MIT, Harvard; Udacity
interactive forums or handouts, or The possibility of learning at one’s – co-founded by a former Stanford
other interactive resources (e.g. Google own pace and accessing course professor) (Ripley, 2012).

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 modernenglishteacher
When it comes to course selection, With Udacity there are no start and they enable ELT teachers to gain more
Coursera stands out as the platform finish dates, the courses can be taken understanding and appreciation of
offering the highest number of at any time and studied at one’s own the field they may not be too familiar
courses, reaching nearly 400 (June pace, with no time constraints as well with, which shapes them not only as
2013) and spanning fields such as: as an opportunity to go back over the language instructors but also educated
Humanities, Medicine, Biology, Social course material and retake quizzes as individuals.
Sciences, Mathematics, Business, often as necessary (sonicfoundry. com,
Teachers can develop their general
Computer Science, and many others. 2013).
knowledge, understanding and
The company’s mission statement
Udacity also graphically divides expertise in the fields that so far may
proclaims: ‘We envision a future
the levels of courses (which as yet have seemed secondary in mainstream
where everyone has access to a world-
encompass solely scientific topics ELT training events (e.g. webinars,
class education that has so far been
such as Business, Computer Science, conferences, seminars, workshops)
available to a select few. We aim to
Psychology, Mathematics or Physics). as these courses deliver the content
empower people with education that
Udacity advertises its courses as rather than the techniques of working
will improve their lives, the lives of
adequate for high school students, with it.
their families, and the communities
willing to sample what lies ahead
they live in.’ (coursera.org, 2013).
of them in college, college students
What distinguishes EdX from the looking for an alternative to their Benefits of MOOCs for ELT
rest of the MOOC providers is the regular classes and finally professionals practitioners
availability of official certificates if seeking to update or refresh their skills Firstly, MOOCs offer an accessible and
the final course exam is taken under (sonicfoundry.com, 2013). straightforward way of familiarizing
proctored conditions, though this oneself with the content of a given
option is available for an extra fee.
Free certification is offered by all 3 MOOCs as a CPD tool for domain. This feature is essential for
companies and is based on individual ELT practitioners ESP (English for Specific Purposes)
practitioners who are faced with the
course criteria students need to meet Continuous professional development challenge of acting both as language
throughout the course, usually within (CPD) is one of the widely discussed instructors and content specialists,
set time-frames. EdX courses range issues in the ELT world. CPD is the frequently not attaining the level of
from Law, History or Social Sciences process of ‘continuing growth of specialisation of their students, yet
to Engineering, Business, Computer a professional after joining the still expected to function as competent
Science, Public Health, and Artificial profession’ (Padwad & Dixit, 2011: p.7). discourse participants in a given
Intelligence. domain.
In education, CPD is understood in
EdX explicitly states its major tenet two categories – the narrow and Thus, for example, teachers of
is: ‘for students and institutions to the broad. The narrow view regards Medical English can benefit from
seek to transform themselves through CPD as the process of acquiring a course such as ‘Introduction to
cutting-edge technologies, innovative some particular skills or knowledge Pharmacy’ (Coursera), teachers
pedagogy, and rigorous courses’ yet it in order to meet some specific new working with future engineers could
also emphazizes the research-focused requirements. The broad view, on the take advanatage of the ‘Writing in
interests, which through gathering the other hand, perceives CPD as a longer the Sciences’ course (Coursera), and
data about the participants and their and more extensive process, in which instructors working in the world of
learning process, aim at gaining deeper professionals continuously enhance finance can familiarise themselves with
insights into the way students learn as not only their knowledge and skills, the minutiae of accounting, following
well as the impact of technology on but also their thinking, understanding the syllabus of ‘An Introduction to
learning and teaching (edx.org, 2013). and maturity; as a result developing Financial Accounting’ (Coursera).
Last but not least, the competitive both as professionals and individuals.
The course material may lay the
edge of Udacity is the courses’ time In the broad view, teachers’
foundations for a solid knowledge
flexibility (Round, 2013). In other development is not limited to their
about the domain teachers are
words all the courses are available to work persona, but may also encompass
expected to teach and extend the
enrol in immediately, whereas courses new roles and responsibilities (Padwad
specialist vocabulary their students
on Coursera or EdX have fixed starting & Dixit, 2011: p.7).
use in day-to-day handlings of their
and finishing dates and as such lose It is the second conceptualisation professional duties. For a full list of
some flexibility and convenience for of the term that MOOCs particularly recommendations see Appendix 1.
the users. appeal to. As MOOCS are designed
Content-based training undoubtedly
for a global audience to advance
exists outside the virtual world, yet
knowledge in the topic of their choice,

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 modernenglishteacher
the convenience of MOOCs seems Conclusion Jordan, K. (2013) MOOC project.
hard to challenge. As the courses Retrieved from http://www.katyjordan.
offer time flexibility, teachers can The appearance of MOOCs has com/MOOCproject.html, on 05.06.2013
access the required knowledge at generated a considerable stir in global
Koller D. and Brian D. Voss.
their own pace, in the comfort of their education. While some see their
(2013) The online revolution.
own homes, which is of immense unprecedented potential in changing
Education for everyone. Retrieved
importance for those practictioners the imbalance of access to knowledge
from http://www.educause.edu/
who are very active in the field and (Clarke, 2013) others view them as
annualconference/2012/2012/moocs-
have limited time resources to engage a threat to high-quality traditional
comingrevolution-sponsored-presidio
themselves in more timely training. education (Barlow, 2013).
on 05.06.2013
The course also guarantees access to
As MOOC-related research is still in
the latest resources in the form of Leber, J. (2013) In the Developing World,
its infancy, the courses are likely to
e-coursebooks, handouts, training MOOCs Start to Get Real. Retrieved
face numerous challenges and with
videos, recommended websites, which from http://www.technologyreview.
time will probably undergo changes
later could prove inspirational in the com/news/512256/in-the-developing-
and transformations. Yet, at present,
ESP course delivered by the teacher. world-moocs-startto-get-real/ on
ELT practitioners should consider
03.06.2013.
Secondly, MOOCs offer an invaluable embracing the opportunities for online
insight into the methodology of online distance education and incorporate Padwad, A. and K. Dixit (2011)
teaching and as such are a remarkable MOOCs into their CPD repertoire. Continuing Professional Development.
resource of pedagogical solutions that An Annotated Bibliography. British
are innovative and inspiring. Attendee Council. Retrieved from http://www.
teachers have an unprecedented REFERENCES koreatesol.org/sites/default/files/pdf/
chance to observe top instructors Barlow, A. (2013) Faducation? The cpdbiblio.pdf, on 05.06.2013
from other institutions at work and be MOOC. Retrieved from http://
academeblog.org/2013/01/27/ Pappano, L. (2012) The Year of the
inspired by the teaching techniques,
faducation-the-mooc/?year=2013& MOOC. Retrieved from http://www.
which they can later adapt to suit their
monthnum=01&day=27&like=1&_ nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/
own local contexts (e.g. establishing
wpnonce=eed0772092 on 01.06.2013. edlife/massive-open-online-coursesare-
rapport, presenting, providing
multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.
feedback, motivating, evaluating, etc.). Clark, D. (2013) MOOCs: ‘dropout’ html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& on
Besides, a MOOC certificate may a category mistake, look at 02.06.2012.
enhance the teacher’s CV, not ‘uptake’ Retrieved from http://
donaldclarkplanb.blogspot. Quillen, I. (2013) Why Do Students
necessary attesting to his expertise
co.uk/2013/01/moocs-dropoutcategory- Enroll in (But Don’t Complete) MOOC
in the field but undoubtedly proving
mistake-look-at.html on 01.06.2013 Courses? Retrieved from http://
his desire to develop himself and to
blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/04/
pursue knowledge in a new, often Clark, D. (2013 b) Report on 6 MOOCs why-dostudents-enroll-in-but-dont-
challenging domain. It may also turns up 10 surprises. Retrieved completemooc-courses/ on 02.06.2013.
demonstrate the teacher’s reliability, from http://donaldclarkplanb.
systematicity and self-motivation, blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/report-on-6- Regalado, A. (2012) The Most
features which are required to moocsturns-up-10-surprises.html on Important Education Technology in
complete the course successfully. 08.06.2013. 200 Years. Retrieved from http://www.
technologyreview.com/news/506351/
Last but not least, MOOCs are a Coursera.org, https://www.coursera. the-most-importanteducation-
valuable source of material for org/about. Retrieved 08.06.2013 technology-in-200-years/ on
pursuing one’s own interests, not
Downes, S. (2013) The Great 31.05.2013.
necessarily directly related to teaching.
Courses such as ‘History of Rock’ Rebranding. Retrieved from http:// Ripley, A. (2012) College Is Dead.
(Coursera), ‘General Game Playing’ halfanhour.blogspot.ae/2013/04/ Long Live College! Retrieved from
(Coursera) or ‘Science & Cooking: From thegreat-rebranding.html on http://nation.time.com/2012/10/18/
Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science’ 08.06.2013. college-is-dead-long-live-college/ on
(EdX) are just a handful of general EdX.org, https://www.edx.org/aboutus. 31.05.2013.
interest courses which may take Retrieved 08.06.2013
teachers’ pastimes to a different level Round, C. (2013) The Best MOOC
and in the meantime allow them to Goldberg, D.Th. (2013) MOOCmania. Provider: A Review of Coursera, Udacity
enter the global community of online Retrieved from http://dmlcentral.net/ and Edx. Retrieved from http://www.
learners. blog/david-theo-goldberg/moocmania skilledup.com/blog/the-best-mooc-
on 31.05.2013 provider-a-reviewof-coursera-udacity-
and-edx/ on 01.06.2013.

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 modernenglishteacher
Sonicfoundry.com, Comparison of APPENDIX Science
MOOCs and MOOC-like initiatives. Recommended MOOCs Writing in the Sciences
Retrieved from http://www. (predominantly from Coursera, Climate Literacy: Navigating Climate
sonicfoundry.com/sites/default/files/ unless stated otherwise in the Change Conversations
comparison_of_moocs_06_2012.pdf brackets) Introductory Organic Chemistry – Part 1
on 01.06.2013
MOOCs for general teacher Introduction to Psychology as a Science
Wikipedia.com, Massive Open Online development (e.g. psychology, Foundations of Computer Graphics (EdX)
Course. Retrieved from http:// classroom management,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_ communication) Introduction to Biology – The Secret of
online_course on 01.06.2013 Life (EdX)
Psychology Economics
First Year Teaching (Primary Grades) – An Introduction to Financial
Success from the Start Accounting
Anna Kamont Think Again: How to Reason and Argue International Organizations
Emerging Trends & Technologies in the Management
Virtual K-12 Classroom Developing Innovative Ideas for
Foundations of Teaching for Learning New Companies: The 1st Step in
3: Learners and Learning Entrepreneurship
Student Thinking at the Core Financial Markets
Foundations of Teaching for Learning Property and Liability: An Introduction
5: Planning for Teaching and Learning to Law and Economics
Foundations of Teaching for Learning Introduction to Finance
6: Introduction to Student Assessment Principles of Macroeconomics
Anna Kamont is an EFL teacher, Foundations of Teaching for Learning Law
lecturer and teacher-trainer 7: Being a Professional English Common Law: Structure and
Foundations of Teaching for Learning Principles
based in Warsaw, Poland. She 8: Developing Relationships
holds an MA in English language The Law of the European Union: An
Foundations of Teaching for Learning Introduction
teaching from Warsaw University.
2: Being a Teacher Constitutional Law
She has had extensive teaching
experience with adult learners, AccountableTalk®: Conversation that Literature/ Humanities
in the academic, business and Works Modern & Contemporary American
general-English environment. She Introduction to Public Speaking Poetry
has published several articles on Effective Classroom Interactions: Crafting an Effective Writer: Tools of
ELT, mainly on the topics of her Supporting Young Children’s the Trade
personal interests, i.e. memory in Development First-Year Composition 2.0
ELT, boosting students’ vocabulary
Surviving Your Rookie Year of Art and Inquiry: Museum Teaching
and psychology of foreign
Teaching: 3 Key Ideas & High Leverage Strategies For Your Classroom
language learning.
Techniques
Modern & Contemporary American
Email: [email protected] “Pay Attention!!” ADHD Through the Poetry
Lifespan
English Composition I: Achieving
MOOCs for ESP teachers Expertise
Medicine MOOCs for pleasure and for leisure
An Introduction to Global Health History of Rock, Part One
Generation Rx: The Science Behind Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets
Prescription Drug Abuse
Online Games: Literature, New Media,
Introduction to Pharmacy and Narrative
Clinical Terminology for International The Global Business of Sports
and American Students
General Game Playing
Drug Discovery, Development &
Songwriting
Commercialization
China (EdX)
Cardiac Arrest, Hypothermia, and
Resuscitation Science Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine
to Soft Matter Science (EdX)

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Game-based
professional
development
Gary Dean Hewgley suggests some activities for enhancing teaching strategies.

G
ame-based learning has more challenging and fun for teachers? For longer periods of time, teachers
become popular as a means The main idea of the game-based would still complete the typical
of adding excitement and activities described here is to get forwards, backwards, diagonal moves
relevance, especially to teachers to participate in games which of the Bingo game, but evidence
students who enjoy gaming in their free will extend their repertoire of teaching would be in the form of actual student
time. Game-based learning has nothing strategies, and to get recognition for work or video artefacts of the activity.
to do with getting out a Monopoly bettering themselves.
There are no losers. The winners, and
board and having the students play a
there can be more than one (in fact,
few rounds. Instead, it tries to take the ‘Teaching strategies’ the goal is to have many winners), can
elements of a game that makes it exciting
and uses those exciting parts to enhance
bingo be given public recognition or some
sort of ‘teacher’ prizes, such as
a lesson. Features such as levels, badges, This game uses a grid that was created
pencils, papers or even a free lunch.
experience points, recognition and many in Microsoft Word and completed with
Ideally, the artefacts and cards would
more can be incorporated into a lesson teaching strategies from the list on pages
be displayed in the hallway or office or
so that the students feel they are 48 –50. The template shown on page 47
on the school website to show
undertaking a challenge, rather than uses a 4 x 4 grid, but it would be just as
everyone the good work the teachers
performing a series of mindless tasks easy to create a 5 x 5 grid if you would
are trying to do in their classrooms.
that seem to have no purpose. like the game to be spread out over a
So how does it relate to teacher longer period of time. As with all of the
development? Well … professional games, someone needs to be in charge of Chart your level
development is often a matter of sitting monitoring the process and reporting The second template (see page 47) was
in a room, listening to someone talk, and the results. The game could be played created by Alice Keeler for game-based
daydreaming about what you would over a short period of time or a longer professional development. It involves
rather be doing. While some people are period, such as a month. using a Google Spreadsheet for points
naturally daydreamers and don’t care, and levels. This particular game was
Put the teachers into small teams and
many do care and are just not interested created for SmartBoard training, but,
get them to look at the bingo grid and
in sitting in a room listening to someone again, the teaching strategies listed on
decide which strategies they would
talk for extended periods of time. When pages 48–50 could be substituted for the
like to try (or the administration can
teachers do care, they will spend hours SmartBoard exercises used in the
assign the strategies).
trying to figure things out. They can example. Each exercise would be
spend hours going through travel guides Have each team work together to assigned a level and points, based upon
and manipulating numbers relating to produce activities using those teaching how much time and skill was involved in
their two-week vacation through Europe. strategies and ‘win’ squares by either using that strategy. This activity would
You won’t see such precise planning and demonstrating them or giving a brief be a great way to differentiate the
love of maths very often! So why don’t description as to how the activity strategies and allow teachers to start by
we try to make professional development would work as part of a bigger lesson. staying within their comfort zones and

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 ‘Teaching Strategies’ Bingo
(scaffolding, differentiating and cooperative learning) forwards, backwards or diagonal

Make connections
Use graphic organisers Pre-teach Create and use
to a student’s
to scaffold a unit vocabulary words an ‘Activity guide’
first language

Use the Add a Use the Add videos,

‘Pass a problem’ strategy ‘Circle the sage’ activity ‘Think aloud’ strategy pictures and/or audio
in a lesson to a lesson during a lesson to supplement a lesson

Create an Use the Activate/tap into Use hints or

‘Anticipation guide’ ‘Team–pair–solo’ prior knowledge in a unit partial solutions in part
for a unit strategy in a lesson or lesson of a lesson

Use the Use Use the ‘Show and tell’

Create a WebQuest
‘Pairs compare’ strategy ‘Reciprocal teaching’ method (complete samples)
for a unit of study
in a lesson in a unit of study in a unit of study

then slowly move up to harder, more The pie could be sub-divided into Burke, J Classroom Management
complicated activities. These game three sections of two, three sections of Scholastic 2008
boards are very versatile and can be three, or any combination that is Keeler, A ‘Gamify searching Google Drive’
adapted for other teaching strategies, desired that stresses a particular area. Retrieved from www.alicekeeler.com/
classroom management strategies, or teachertech/2014/12/30/gamify-searching-
even something like a menu system for a Strategies google-drive 2014
student unit plan. Rojas, V Strategies for Success with
English Language Learners Association for
scaffolding Supervision & Curriculum Development
Colour your pie! differentiation
2007

The last game-based strategy described

cooperative Gary Hewgley is the
here is very similar to the game of Technology Integrationist at
learning
Trivial Pursuit. Assign colours to the American International
School of Egypt. He has a
scaffolding, cooperative learning and Master’s degree in
differentiation, and give the teachers Once again, documented evidence in the educational technology and
has taken graduate classes
pie charts divided into three sections. form of student artefacts and/or videos in English language learning
would be needed in order to secure the and special needs. He
Get the teachers to ‘fill the pie’ enjoys learning new ideas.
(colour in a section) by using, say, two corresponding piece of pie. The artefacts
examples of each strategy type, should be displayed and the resources
without any repeats. shared on the school website, on YouTube,
[email protected]
or even in the school office.

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 Game-based professional development • Teaching strategies 1
There are many ways to teach, and there are many different names for these strategies.
If you have a great strategy that is not listed, please share it with others!

Activate/tap into prior knowledge They are at different physical locations course of the week rather than being
(scaffolding) in the classroom where the students required to do so individually at the
Has anyone ever started talking to work on different tasks simultaneously. front of the class.
you about something and you had Not all the students have to visit all the
absolutely no idea what they were locations all the time, nor do all the Cubing (differentiation)
talking about? Activating prior students have to spend the same The students are required to look at a
knowledge allows students to make amount of time at any location. topic from six different sides: describe
connections between what they Sometimes the teacher decides who it, compare it to something, associate
already know and what they are going will go where; at other times the it with something, analyse it, apply it
to be learning. A review session might students self-select. and argue for or against it.
be used to help students connect old
and new material. Activating/tapping Choice boards (differentiation) Frayer vocabulary method
into prior knowledge also helps put Different assignments are placed in (scaffolding)
material into context so that it can be permanent pockets or folders. By The Frayer model is basically a big
better understood and manipulated asking a student to make a work square comprised of four smaller
later on. selection from a particular pocket or squares and a circle in the middle for
folder, the teacher targets work toward the word or topic. The top left square
Activity guides (differentiation) student need and, at the same time, would be a definition (in the student’s
The teacher designs packets of allows the student to make controlled/ own words). The top right square might
materials so the students can work on guided choices. be facts and characteristics of the
similar tasks, but at different levels of word/topic. The bottom two squares
complexity. These activity guides may Circle the sage (cooperative learning) would be examples and non-examples
contain any of the following: different The teacher selects students who of it.
sets of instructions, suggested steps understand a concept, or who can
for solutions, partial modelling of a perform a particular skill, as ‘sages’ Give one, get one (cooperative
task, performance criteria, options for to model and be the ‘expert’ for their learning)
presentation, various resources. peers. Students gather around the This activity involves a one-to-one
sages to learn. Afterwards, they return sharing. It could be done with answers,
Anticipation guides (differentiation) to teams to share ideas. Students may notes, questions, observations,
This strategy is a way to get students also rotate from one sage to another feedback, or whatever. The options
to use prior knowledge and think about to practise listening for information. are endless!
something before beginning to read a Alternatively, you can have the sages
text passage. The anticipation guide rotating to give oral presentations. Graphic organisers (scaffolding)
is usually made up of a series of These are visual ways to display
statements with which the student Connections to L1 (scaffolding) information, but in a systematic way.
must either agree or disagree. These English language learners often come They may be done with circles and
are great discussion starters, as in real with solid language backgrounds in lines, diagrams, flow charts, or in many
life there are often more than two two or more languages. It might be other ways. Microsoft Word,
choices, or the choices may actually helpful to scaffold sections and make Kidspiration, Google Draw and
be just as unfair. Anticipation guides connections with the student’s first SmartBoard Notebook all allow shapes
are a nice way to get students to language. A student might not know and lines to be used for organisers.
examine a topic and look at it from what a pear is in English, but knows
different angles. An example might be: exactly what it is in Arabic – make the Guided text predictions (scaffolding)
It’s always wrong to take something connection! This is a form of modelling where the
that is not yours. Yes or no? teacher provides prompts to get the
Corners (cooperative learning) students to make text predictions.
Centres (differentiation) The students select, or are assigned, a The goal of this strategy is to move to
Centres, or stations, are collections of corner or wall of the classroom where a point where the students get better
materials and activities designed to they can interact with small groups of at making their own predictions about
teach, reinforce or extend the students’ other students. For example, students a text and what may or may not
knowledge, understanding and skills. may give presentations over the happen next.

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 Game-based professional development • Teaching strategies 2
Hints and partial solutions Multiple texts/resources Pair review note-taking (cooperative
(scaffolding) (scaffolding) learning, differentiation)
Providing hints or partial solutions is an Multiple texts might be something as The students take notes from whatever
excellent way to get students started simple as taking different reading- materials are provided (text, lecture, etc)
on an activity. Sometimes an activity level texts and finding alternative and then pair up with someone to
looks so overwhelming that the resources such as pamphlets or web compare notes and discuss why specific
students just shut down. However, pages. These resources could be notes were taken or not taken, and why.
once they get started, they find it’s not text-based, or based upon a video or
really that bad. Obviously this is a audio source. The goal is to find a Pass a problem (cooperative learning)
scaffold that you would want to remove way to provide helpful material that The students form groups, examine
over time, and use sparingly once the will help a student to complete an something or read a text passage, and
students become better at using assignment. An example might be then create a list of thoughts or questions
particular assessment formats. finding alternate resources for the about it. These thoughts/questions are
topic of biomes – assuming the put into a folder and passed to another
Inside/outside circles (cooperative science text is above the students’ group. The new group examines the
learning) reading level. issue and adds their own thoughts and
The students form two concentric questions. When they have finished, the
circles (one circle inside another circle). Note-taking (scaffolding) folder gets passed around again to have
This can be done standing or sitting, A very visual way of taking notes is to a third group add thoughts/questions.
but each person should be facing put ideas and topics on the left, and At the end, each folder can be
another person in the other circle (so explanations and drawings on the organised and posted so everyone sees
you need the same number of students right. Good resource videos for this everyone else’s contribution.
in each circle). After a certain amount can be found on YouTube.
of time discussing something, one Pre-teach vocabulary (scaffolding)
circle rotates one or two places and Numbered heads together Pre-teaching vocabulary involves
the students have a new discussion (cooperative learning) skimming a text, finding difficult words
with a new partner. The students are put into equally and teaching those words before the
numbered groups. Each student is students begin reading. The idea
Literature circles (differentiation) given a number from 1 to 4 (or behind this is that we want to focus on
The teacher may assign students to however many are in that group). the text and not spend a lot of time on
read different texts connected by The groups are given tasks to do, vocabulary and then try to go back to
theme or genre, or parts of a but the trick is that the whole group the text. Once the vocabulary is taught,
coursebook reading text. The students is responsible for making sure that it also provides a connection/bridge so
perform specific roles in preparation everyone knows the answer, how to that the students focus on what the text
for participating in discussion groups. get the answer, or knows how to solve is trying to say, not focusing on what
They may produce assessment tasks, the problem. When they have finished, particular words mean.
such as reports or speeches, as a a number is called out – say 3. All of
result of their discussions. the 3s stand up and give the answer, Read, pause, ask questions, pause,
work out the problem or whatever. This review (scaffolding)
Menus (differentiation) is a great activity to get the students to This involves showing the students one
As with restaurant menus, there are help each other out and to make sure strategy that might help them become
sections for appetisers, main dishes, that everyone succeeds. better readers. The teacher first reads a
side dishes and desserts. The students section of text and pauses while the
choose one or more ‘appetiser’ activities, Pairs compare (cooperative learning) students think about how it connects
which are small, targeted introductions Pairs generate ideas or answers, with what they already know. The
into a main activity. The main dish is an compare their answers with another teacher then asks some questions
activity that everyone must complete pair and then see if, working together, about what was just read. After another
and is the heart of the lesson/unit. they can come up with additional pause, the teacher reviews what was
The side dishes are supplementary responses neither pair alone had. This read and the questions that were
activities to the main dish. These could is a great activity to use with note- generated. This strategy can be
be presentation formats, or material taking or reading comprehension, modified to accommodate different
that needs to be inserted into a project. where the students can share answers lengths of text – maybe one sentence,
The dessert section is comprised of and find out why someone else came two sentences or a whole paragraph at
fun optional activities. up with something different. a time before pausing.

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 Game-based professional development • Teaching strategies 3
Reciprocal teaching (cooperative ideas. The discussion is not about valuable than knowing that they did it.
learning) particular right or wrong answers; it is Who cares if you underlined a word?
Reciprocal teaching is a great way to also not a debate. Students are What we care about is why that word
get students to help each other out. encouraged to think out loud and to was underlined.
Students can often explain things better exchange ideas openly while
than teachers do, or differently. Maybe examining ideas in a rigorous, Think–pair–share (differentiation,
this strategy can be effective when a thoughtful manner. Socratic seminars cooperative learning)
student is more receptive to peers than are all about sharing, questioning and The students think about their
to teachers presenting ideas. rethinking what we know about a topic. responses to a question and then
Reciprocal teaching also ensures that discuss their individual answers in
the students actually know what they Teacher-based read-alouds pairs. Each pair of students then
are talking about, because the (scaffolding) shares their ideas with another pair.
formative assessment consists of While getting students to read aloud
explaining it to a peer. can be a very effective strategy, Tic-Tac-Toe (differentiation)
teachers can also model reading Tic-Tac-Toe grids have nine boxes in a
Round tables (cooperative learning) aloud. This might be helpful to scaffold 3 x 3 matrix. The students must
In teams of four, the students take turns the fact that words/sentences have complete three activities in a row,
passing around the same paper (or iPad) differing tones, speed and emphasis. column or diagonal. Variations could
from one student to the next in order to be three in any location, or three with
draw, write, plan a video or audio Team jigsaws (differentiation, the middle square required of all
recording for that discussion item. cooperative learning) students.
The students participate in two groups
Scaffolded academic language as follows: They start out in a large Tiered instruction (differentiation)
(scaffolding) ‘home’ group, within which individual The tiering method allows teachers to
While we may assume that our students students choose, or are assigned, the design a lesson with multiple paths for
understand our directions and the responsibility of completing one facet learning a key concept. The tiered
terms we use, this is often just not true. of the group’s overall task, or covering tasks and instructions can be changed
What is a paragraph, indentation, one section of content to be studied, and modified according to student
double-spaced, etc? What does skim thus becoming an ‘expert’ in it. The interests, readiness levels and the time
mean? We, as teachers, need to make home groups then disperse and the allotted to each portion of the unit.
sure that our students understand the students reconfigure into groups
directions as well as the material they studying the same facet. When these Use videos, pictures and audio
are working on. expert groups are finished, they return (scaffolding)
to their home (original group) where all When teaching, add pictures of what
Show and tell (scaffolding) the experts take turns sharing, until the you are talking about or to remind the
This is basically a method of showing original task is completed and the students of what was covered. Add
the students what an assignment might content is understood. music to create a mood for a lesson.
look like when completed. Many Add videos that show the topic and
students find this helpful, because if Team–pair–solo (cooperative learning) add audio files to assignments, to act
they know what an assignment should The students solve problems (or as notes or reminders.
look like, they won’t waste time going answer questions) first as a team, then
off on a tangent. they divide into pairs to continue WebQuests (differentiation)
working, and finally work on those WebQuests may have fallen out of
Socratic seminars (differentiation) problems alone. favour recently, but they can still be
In the Socratic seminar system, the very powerful ways to help students
participants carry the responsibility for Think aloud (scaffolding) learn. They are basically full units
the quality and quantity of the This a method of simply explaining posted on a web page. The directions
discussions. Great discussions occur what you are doing and what you are are posted, the resources are posted
when participants study the provided thinking as you do it. This may involve with links, and tests/quizzes are
text or information closely in advance, explaining why you know to look for posted or links to them are given.
listen actively, share their ideas and something in a sentence, or how you WebQuests used to be held on specific
questions in response to the ideas and watch out for tricky words or WebQuest pages – now you can do
questions of others, and search for sentences. Knowing why somebody the same with a basic web page
evidence in the text to support their does something can be even more service like Weebly or Wordpress.

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10 ways to develop your knowledge

of technology
Teachers are usually very familiar with what they need to teach (the content) and how to teach it
(the pedagogy). These two areas – content and pedagogy – are covered thoroughly in most teacher
training courses. However, teachers often receive little or no training in how to use technology with
students. Even teachers who are technologically proficient in their private lives may feel unsure about
how best to integrate learning technologies effectively into their teaching. Luckily, technology itself
provides us with multiple opportunities to develop our knowledge online. Below are some online and
offline suggestions for ways to get yourself up to speed with technology so that you can feel more
confident integrating it into your language classes.

1. Watch videos
There are two main ways that videos can help you develop your knowledge of technology. One way is
to watch videos of teachers actually using technology with students in the classroom, for example, a
teacher demonstrating the use of an IWB (interactive whiteboard) in class. TeacherTube (teachertube.
com) is a good source of classroom demonstration videos. Another way is to watch video tutorials. For
example, once you have chosen a tool or technology that you would like to use with your students,
you can watch a tutorial of exactly how to set up and use the tool. YouTube (youtube.com) is a good
place to search for video tutorials.

2. Read books and blogs

When starting out with technology, the first thing many teachers do is to reach for a methodology
book to give them ideas and tips on how best to integrate new tools into their teaching. Another
option is to follow blogs written by educators that offer practical advice and tips on how to use
technology effectively with students. Reading books and blogs about technology in English language
teaching is certainly a good place to start. Unit 49 suggests some books and blogs to look at.

3. Join a teachers’ association

Many countries have English language teachers’ associations (TAs) that run annual conferences in
major cities, and some TAs run smaller regional conferences or day-long workshops around the
country. Many TAs are affiliated to larger teaching organisations like IATEFL (International Association
of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages). The easiest way to find a TA in your country is to explore the Associates section on the
IATEFL website (www.iatefl.org/associates/list-of-associate-members) and the ‘Upcoming Regional
Conferences’ section on the TESOL website (www.tesol.org/attend-and-learn/academies-conferences-
symposia/upcoming-regional-conferences). Apart from offering reduced rates to attend TA
conferences, many TAs produce electronic or printed newsletters that are sent regularly to members.

4. Join an online group

There are several online groups run by and for English language teachers that focus specifically on
learning technologies. For example, the excellent Webheads group (webheads.info) is an informal
group of English language teachers from all over the world, who are interested in exploring together
how best to use a range of technologies with their classes. The Webheads group communicates via
a Yahoo email group; it is a good place to ask questions or seek advice about using certain tools or
programs. It is also helpful for finding teachers who are interested in carrying out intercultural projects
online (for example, the Skype projects described in Unit 31). Other recommended online groups

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include the IATEFL Learning Technologies Special Interest Group, also known as ‘LTSIG’ (ltsig.iatefl.
org), which has a Yahoo email group as well as a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter presence. An
equivalent group is the US-based TESOL CALL-IS (Computer Assisted Language Learning Interest
Section: www.call-is.org/WP/about-call-is).

5. Develop a PLN
In Unit 36, we saw how social networks can help teachers to develop their own PLN (personal
learning network). Start to develop a PLN by connecting via social media with the educators/authors
mentioned in Unit 49 and slowly grow your own network of contacts through their followers and
contacts. Connecting with organisations like the IATEFL LTSIG (mentioned above) via social networks
will also help you develop your own PLN. Remember that developing a PLN takes time, but as you
start to connect with more teachers who are interested in working with technology in the classroom,
your network will grow and your confidence will increase.

6. Attend an online conference

Online conferences can take place over a single day or over several days. There are increasing
numbers of fully online free conferences available for English language teachers. Some publishers (for
example, Macmillan) offer an annual fully online conference. Other educational organisations such
as the British Council (britishcouncil.org) and IATEFL (iatefl.org) also offer fully online conferences.
In addition, some face-to-face conferences record and live-stream presentations online: the annual
UK IATEFL conference does this, as do smaller conferences, such as that organised by the IATEFL
Business English Special Interest Group, or ‘BESIG’ (besig.org). Following these organisations via
social media will keep you informed of the events they organise. Conferences for English language
teachers are not always focused exclusively on learning technologies, but there are usually several
talks on the topic at online conferences.

7. Join a MOOC
‘MOOC’ stands for ‘Massive Open Online Course’. MOOCs are online courses offered by universities
and educational institutions the world over, with the number of participants on a single MOOC
often running into the thousands. There are MOOCs on topics such as online learning, blended
learning and integrating technologies into education. The best way to find a MOOC on a topic that
you are interested in is to search on the main MOOC platforms, such as Coursera (coursera.org)
or FutureLearn (futurelearn.com). Some MOOCs offer additional certification on payment of a fee,
usually for assessed work. The US-based TESOL Electronic Village Online (EVO) also offers MOOCs
for English language teachers, which focus specifically on learning technologies. They take place just
before the annual TESOL convention, which is usually in February or March
(see http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/10708567/FrontPage). By taking an EVO MOOC on a
technology-related subject, you can interact with other educators around the world and improve your
knowledge of technology and your skills for free.

8. Take a formal online course

At the opposite end of the spectrum are small tutor-led online courses on a number of technology-
related topics for EFL teachers. These courses are paid-for, and range from short two-week courses
on topics such as live online teaching to full Certificate and MA TESOL online courses. For quality-
assured formal online courses, see the Aqueduto website (Association for Quality Education and
Training Online: aqueduto.com). The Consultants-E (theconsultants-e.com) is an award-winning online
training organisation that offers online courses for English language teachers on the implementation
of a range of digital technologies.

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9. Create digital champions

Digital champions are not necessarily experts in technology, but they are experienced teachers who are
interested in trying out technologies in their classes, typically experienced senior teachers or teacher
trainers. If you are a director, director of studies or teacher trainer in your school, try to identify those
teachers who are most interested in integrating learning technologies into their teaching, and support
them to become digital champions. Digital champions can run small in-house workshops for teachers
who are less comfortable with technology, and support them in trying out new tools and ideas with
their classes.

10. Develop a strategic plan

If you are a director of studies or a teacher trainer in your school, you can help the school to develop
a more strategic approach to implementing learning technologies. For example, you could develop
an in-house training programme for teachers to help them to learn how to use IWBs with confidence,
or how to integrate mobile devices effectively into the classroom. This is an excellent way to support
teachers on an ongoing basis, and to help them try out new tools and approaches while they gain
confidence with new technologies. See page 189 in the Appendix for an example of a strategic plan
for implementing the use of mobile devices in a school.

“I’ve done a number of MOOCs, and they offer an amazing

opportunity to expand your knowledge in the company of
an enormous and supportive learning community, all from
the comfort of your own home. However, with so many
people and so much activity going on, you can sometimes
feel overwhelmed. That usually leads to people dropping
out. To avoid this, set a clear aim for yourself about what
you want to achieve from the course. Sign up just for
one MOOC at a time and stick with it, making sure you
have enough time set aside to participate regularly.”
Graham Stanley, British Council Country Director Uruguay.
Twitter: @grahamstanley

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10 top tech tips

Being self-reliant and knowing where to look for help when you have technology issues is probably
one of the most important digital skills you can have. The tech tips below are very simple things that
you can do when you have common technology problems. Trying out some of these suggestions can
frequently save the day. The first seven tips are things that you yourself can do to sort out common
problems with your computer, and the last three tips suggest where you can easily find help to sort out
any additional problems.

1. Keep programs updated

It’s important to keep the software on your computer updated. Many programs will automatically tell
you when an updated version is available, and it’s a good idea to follow these prompts to install the
latest version. Hackers often exploit security flaws in common software in order to install malware or
viruses on computers, or even to steal information from computers. Updates often include security
fixes that can help keep your computer safe, so be sure to respond as soon as you see the prompt.

2. Reboot your computer

One of the golden rules in tech troubleshooting is to ‘reboot’. This means restarting your computer.
Typical issues that are fixed by rebooting include: your computer suddenly slowing down or freezing,
the appearance of a blank or blue screen (sometimes referred to as ‘the blue screen of death’), or loss
of wi-fi connection. Reboots apply not only to desktop computers, but also to any other device, such
as a smartphone or tablet, that is giving you problems. Not everything will be fixed by a reboot, but it’s
a good place to start.

3. Reset the router

When your computer or mobile device is having problems connecting to the wi-fi, and a reboot
doesn’t sort out the problem, try resetting the router: unplug your router from the electricity supply,
wait about 30 seconds, and then plug it in and turn it on again. This resets the router and can fix
many wi-fi connection problems. Routers usually have a reset button too; you can press that as an
alternative.

4. Close down a single program

Sometimes just one of the programs you are running on your computer will freeze. Everything else
will be working fine, but that one single program will not respond. On a PC, you can access the ‘Task
manager’ function by holding down the following three keys at once: Ctrl+Alt+Del. This will take you
to a screen with a list of basic computer functions. Click on ‘Task Manager’. This will bring up a list of
the programs currently running on your computer. Select the program that has frozen and click ‘End
task’. That will close the program. Try opening it again, and if it still doesn’t work properly, reboot
your computer.

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5. Check the cables

This is another very simple thing to try when things like your external webcam, speakers, headset
or printer don’t seem to work. Ensure that the cables are plugged in correctly, and that plugs are
inserted all the way in. For headsets that have two single jacks (usually one red or pink jack for the
microphone and one green jack for the headphone speakers), a typical problem is that they have
been inserted into the wrong port on your computer. Check that the red or pink microphone jack
is plugged into the port that has a microphone symbol, and that the green jack is plugged into the
port that has a speaker or headphone symbol. The computer ports are sometimes colour-coded
as well.

6. Install antivirus software

This is one of those essential pieces of advice that should never be ignored. When you buy a new
computer, you will usually be offered an antivirus software package. These frequently need to be
paid for, but are robust and well worth investing in. A reliable antivirus software option is Avast!
(avast.com). You can download a free version, or you can subscribe to the paid-for version. Both
versions have robust antivirus protection, but the free version is only for home use on a single
computer. The paid-for version has additional features, such as keeping your computer running
smoothly by clearing out unnecessary program files and cookies, and it can be used in office
environments on multiple computers. Whatever antivirus software package you choose, ensure that
it is installed immediately on a new computer. Run a scan with your antivirus software regularly,
and never download programs from unknown sources. Don’t open unexpected email attachments
or click on links unless you know exactly where they are going to take you. Keep your antivirus
software updated daily; new viruses are appearing all the time.

7. Install several browsers

Some browsers seem to work better than others with certain software programs. You might
benefit from having a selection of browsers installed on your PC (for example, Chrome, Firefox,
Safari, Internet Explorer). If you have problems with a site or a program on one browser, simply
copy and paste the URL into another browser to see if the experience is better. It’s worth trying
several browsers to see which one you feel more comfortable with. It’s also important to keep your
browsers up to date (see ‘Keep programs updated’ above).

8. Find help online

If you need help with learning how to use a specific program or how to fix a specific tech problem,
you can almost always find assistance online. Any tech problem that you have is likely to have
been experienced by someone else, and there is often a help tutorial online to help you solve the
problem. Search YouTube (or similar) for video tutorials to help you fix the issue. If you receive an
error message on your computer, copy the message and paste it into a search engine like Google.
The results page will list links to ‘help’ pages containing suggestions for how to fix it. You can find
online video tutorials or text-based tutorials with screenshots for almost any technical problem. By
following the step-by-step instructions, you can often fix a problem yourself without having much
technical knowledge or experience.

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9. Ask for help

If you experience a technical issue during class, for example, the IWB is not working, the audio
can’t be heard, or you can’t open your PowerPoint presentation, ask a student for help. Whatever
age your students are, there is very often a student who is fairly tech-savvy in the class, and who is
more than happy to help you. Rather than seeing this as a loss of face, think of it as an opportunity.
As teachers, we present ourselves as the experts in the classroom, but for once, there may be
a student who is able to do something better than us. This is empowering for students. And of
course, if you have a tech-savvy teacher on your staff, you can ask him or her for help as well.

10. Develop digital leaders

Some primary and secondary schools encourage students to be digital leaders. Digital leaders are
volunteers (for example, one at each grade level) who use their technical skills to support others.
These students help teachers and other students with any technical problems that are experienced
during class. Some digital leaders offer teachers and other students informal training in how to use
common software or hardware, and look after a school’s ICT equipment. See this article on how
to get started with digital leaders at primary school: www.digitalclassrooms.co.uk/using-primary-
aged-digital-leaders. The Digital Leader Network website is also a good source of information
(digitalleadernetwork.co.uk).

“Sometimes, despite our good intentions and

expertise, technology fails and you might need
IT support. If you are in the classroom, you will
need to stay calm and carry on with your lesson.
To avoid stress and disappointment, make sure
you are always able to answer the question
‘What will I do if the technology in my classroom
fails today?’ A backup plan might involve having
some handouts handy for a technology-free
activity, using your (and your students’) mobile
devices instead of class equipment etc. It usually
saves the day and keeps everybody happy.”
Sophia Mavridi, EdTech Lecturer and Consultant, IATEFL Learning
Technologies SIG Joint Coordinator: www.sophiamavridi.com

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10 ways to manage your time effectively

Many teachers feel that using technology with students will take up too much of their time. This is a
fair point. There are three main areas that we tend to spend extra time on when we use technology
with our students. The first relates to the time we take to learn how to use a new tool or piece of
technology. The second relates to the additional demands that are made on our time when technology
takes a student’s learning outside of classroom. The third relates to the time it takes to keep up with
what’s happening online and taking advantage of teacher development opportunities. Below are 10
suggestions for ways to manage your time more effectively in all three areas.

1. Accept the learning curve

If you are completely new to digital technologies, there is inevitably going to be an initial learning
curve while you get to grips with a new tool. This means you will need to invest time in the
beginning to learn how to use some of the tools described in this book. Learning to use technology
and tools is a bit like driving. At first it seems very complicated, but the more you do it the more
you learn, and the easier it gets. The time that you initially invest in learning how to use a blogging
platform, for example, means that it’s going to be much quicker and easier for you to learn to use
other technology tools. So think of the time spent on the inevitable initial learning curve as an
investment for the future: the more you use technology, the more proficient you become, and the
easier it gets.

2. ‘Just in time’ learning

Learn what you need only when you need it (an approach that is referred to as ‘just in time’ learning).
So, for example, if you decide to try out an activity with your students using virtual sticky notes (see
Unit 22), choose just one sticky note tool and teach yourself how to use it a couple of days before you
plan to use it with your students. If you do this every time you need to learn to use a new technology
tool, you will soon build up a repertoire of tools that you feel comfortable using with your students
both in and out of class.

3. Create and share

Creating digital materials for your students can be time-consuming, so encourage a culture of sharing
in your school. If several teachers are developing digital materials or lesson plans for integrating
technology into their classrooms, hold weekly meetings in which teachers share their ideas, materials
and plans. In this way, you can build up a bank of good ideas and materials for all the teachers in your
school.

4. Set ground rules

Some digital technologies can encourage students to communicate in English outside class time. For
example, if you set up a class blog, a class social network group, or a class group in a text messaging
app, students are likely to post and text between classes. Don’t feel you need to respond to
everything that students contribute. Whenever you set up an ‘out of class’ group with your students,
set ground rules before you start. For example, tell students that you will not respond over weekends
or after a certain time in the evening. Part of using digital technologies successfully outside class is
ensuring that students understand how much they can reasonably expect you to be involved.

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5. Encourage peer feedback

If you and your students use digital technologies to communicate with each other outside class,
ensure that students understand that they need to respond to each other, rather than expecting
you to respond to everything. The type of activities you set can also ensure that your input is not
constantly needed (see Unit 19). Ask students to give feedback to each other on blogposts, rather
than expecting you to correct everything. Students can comment on each other’s posts, and you can
note down common language errors for a correction slot at the beginning of a subsequent class.
Student interaction via digital technologies outside class time encourages them not only to practise
English and communicate with each other, but also to become more autonomous learners.

6. Avoid information overload

There is a massive amount of information available online that we can use for our own professional
development – and indeed for our own personal entertainment. Who hasn’t whiled away an entire
evening watching YouTube videos or catching up on Facebook? To avoid information overload,
we need to try to limit the amount of information we are exposed to daily. Use time management
strategies: for example, allow yourself to log into your social networks twice a day for 15 minutes at
a time, and no more, and limit the number of blogs or online articles that you read to a reasonable
number per week.

7. Filter your information

A good way to keep up with English language teaching developments online without having to read
hundreds of blogs, webpages or social network updates is to follow one or two educators you trust
via social networks. Educators who read widely, are well informed and are good at sharing news and
views can keep you up to date with trends in the profession. By doing the reading that you don’t have
time to do, they act as ‘information filters’. One highly recommended information filter is Stephen
Downes (http://www.downes.ca/index.html), a Canadian educator working in the university sector. It’s
worth subscribing to his weekly newsletters to keep up to date with what is happening in the world of
educational technology in the tertiary sector. Unit 49 provides examples of English language teachers
and trainers that you can find and follow on various social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.

8. Use online content curator tools

When you find useful content, such as an interesting website for your learners or a lesson plan,
use an online content curator tool like Scoop.it! (scoop.it) or Pinterest (pinterest.com) to save (or
‘bookmark’) these sites. You can then share your bookmarks with other teachers, and follow teachers
who already have a good range of materials or websites saved. This can save you time looking for
materials for a class (or trying to find materials you found months ago, but can no longer remember
where they were online). Examples of useful Scoop.it! sites for English language teachers interested in
technology are those maintained by Nik Peachey (www.scoop.it/t/nik-peachey) and The Consultants-E
(www.scoop.it/t/learning-bytes-from-the-consultants-e).

9. Work–life balance
In our hyper-connected world, many teachers feel the pressure to be constantly online and available
for their students, that is, to be at work even when they are not physically at work. However,
ensuring that you have a proper work–life balance is one of the best ways to avoid stress and
burnout. Ensure that you spend time with family and friends, participating in activities that you
enjoy. Healthy eating and regular exercise are, of course, key to a healthy lifestyle. Build regular
relaxation activities into your schedule as well, such as taking a walk, having a bath, listening to
music, cooking – or simply reading a good book.

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10. Switch off

This is probably the most important advice of all. Ensure that you regularly take time off line. This
means that when you go on holiday, resist the temptation to check email, keep up with blogs, or
be permanently on Facebook. Digital technologies can be a wonderful resource and benefit in our
lives, but as with all things, they need to be used in moderation.

“Develop a routine and stick to it.

Ensure you deal efficiently with online
work by aiming to log in on a regular
basis, and preferably at the same time
each day. Devoting short blocks of time
helps to keep the workflow moving
and creates a pleasant and stress-free
atmosphere. Try to operate a ‘zero
inbox policy’ by the close of day and
this means you can start afresh the next
day. This definitely helps me to avoid
becoming overwhelmed with work!”
Janet Bianchini, teacher and trainer, Italy and UK

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