I have never worked for International House World Organisation. However, as Sandy Millin, now Director of Studies at IH Sevastapol, referred to the other day, here, there are many great reasons for working for IHWO. Just about everyone working in ELT has had 'dealings' with the organisation at some point. My own connection is somewhat nebulous. I know about the organisation and its reputation through some of the people that work for IHWO. There are many teachers, trainers and writers who I am connected to on social networks, that either currently work for or with the organisation. I have actually visited the place where it all began - IH Cordoba - in 2010, at the invitation of Rene Lelong, who now works for IH Tblisi. This review begins and ends there.
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| My own photo of IH, Cordoba (Nov 2010) |
My only 'dealings' with IH, apart from chatting to those who do work for the organisation, is by attending their relatively recent online conferences. These are now biannual events, which are recorded and made readily available either on their own site on the dedicated IHWO You Tube channel - here. I discovered the channel earlier this year, when a tweet pointed me in the direction of Tessa Woodward's presentation on 'The Professional Life Cycles of Teachers' - here. This was recorded at the IH DOS conference in February 2013. The previous DOS conference, January 2012, was the first to be streamed following the success of the first IH Online Teachers' Conference in November 2011. and the second DOS conference to be made available online after one in January 2012. Earlier this year, a collection of 10 minute webinars were conducted for IHTOC60 as well as a collection of interviews called '60 Tips', with teachers and trainers who have worked or still work for IH.
On 29/30 November 2013, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the organisation, the latest conference took place in London and online. On the Friday, there were seven webinars given by current IH staff in Dubai, Coimbra, London, Bristol, Milan, Buenos Aires and from the 'iPadteam' in Cordoba. These are the sessions I wanted to focus on, rather than the big names. On Saturday, as well as being live streamed, the conference was a face-to-face affair at IH, London. The programme is outlined - here. The face-to-face day began as an idea between teacher training co-ordinator, Shaun Wilden, and IH trustee, former IATEFL president and event host, Simon Greenall. It was overseen by IH London. The event as a whole involved other staff from IHWO, including digital content manager, Alison Sturrock. The online connectivity of the event was referred to by Executive Director, Monica Green, in her welcome address:
{UPDATED} Viewing Figures:
Shaun organised the Friday sessions using Adobe Connect with Neil McMahon in Buenos Aries as cost-moderator. Heike Philp made sure the Adobe room and the simultaneous livestream linked. According to Heike, there were 281 unique (individual) viewers to the livestream, with a high of 75 at one point. There were between 250-300 participants in total in the room, with a maximum of 100 at any one time. The top countries of viewers were from the UK (316), followed by Columbia (124), Spain (124) and, interestingly, Saudi Arabia (123). As Shaun has also stated to me, the IH schools were also broadcasting the event. So the total audience was probably a lot higher. Many more, of course, will watch the recordings when they have time so these numbers will continue to grow.
"This is beyond the realms of anything that John and Brita [Haycraft] could have thought ... their idea of getting people to communicate with each other was sitting round the fountain in a patio in Cordoba."
{UPDATED} Viewing Figures:
Shaun organised the Friday sessions using Adobe Connect with Neil McMahon in Buenos Aries as cost-moderator. Heike Philp made sure the Adobe room and the simultaneous livestream linked. According to Heike, there were 281 unique (individual) viewers to the livestream, with a high of 75 at one point. There were between 250-300 participants in total in the room, with a maximum of 100 at any one time. The top countries of viewers were from the UK (316), followed by Columbia (124), Spain (124) and, interestingly, Saudi Arabia (123). As Shaun has also stated to me, the IH schools were also broadcasting the event. So the total audience was probably a lot higher. Many more, of course, will watch the recordings when they have time so these numbers will continue to grow.
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| The studio set-up - photo: Shaun Wilden |
On Saturday, the London studio was put together by Shaun and Heike, who also looked after the cameras. They were backed up by Nigel Russell in Sydney and RCS in Germany, who remotely controlled the studio. They all used the same 'livesteam' account and communicated to each other through Skype. At one point 175 were following proceedings and a total of 520 unique visitors watched the livestream - making 801 in total. There were a few technical difficulties, mostly concerning the wrong camera shot and audio levels, but these were quickly overcome. Fortunately, all the sessions were captured in several ways and these can now be seen on the Livestream account - see below - and will be added to the IHWO You Tube channel later this week.*
Click here for International House videos on Livestream
Speaking about the event on Saturday, CEO of International House, London, Steve Brent said:
The speakers at our events are either still working for International House or have worked, or trained, with us in the past. Their breath of knowledge, their expertise and the high esteem in which all of these individuals are held throughout their profession reflects the impact International House has had over the past sixty years.IH trustee and host, Simon Greenall, noted in the programme:
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| Simon Greenall OBE |
Any one of our presenters would be key speakers in conferences around the world. But to have seven of our alumni at our anniversary conference is surely a testimony to the professionalism and influence of International House, and the affection so many of us have for what has been called the 'IH experience'.
The only presenter not appearing in person was long-time IH teacher/trainer Scott Thornbury, who was 'beamed' in from his study in Barcelona. He stated that everything he's learned has come from IH. One of those things is how to achieve more with less which became a kind of mantra for him. He feels that Dogme came out of that, the history of which has been well documented. I don't know if Scott has ever done a talk entitled 'What's wrong with Dogme?' before, but I reckon that for many teachers this would invite a wealth of responses. Scott is well aware of the criticisms from the 'non adopters', which have been well aired and addressed already. He wanted to address the non-critical adopters, those who have taken on board principles of teaching unplugged. Any methodology requires the 'crap detector' to be turned up high, he stated.
The single biggest problem is a lack of input. Doesn't it [Dogme] just recycle language that students already know? Where is the input+1? where is the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)? It's no longer about emerging language, but the emerging syllabus, it appears. The syllabus is "a function of the learners own needs, desires, what they want to communicate about etc..." Scott went on to defend his approach, which he maintained in the Q & A is not a method. The full recording of Scott, as seen by the attendees in London, is now available - here.
The single biggest problem is a lack of input. Doesn't it [Dogme] just recycle language that students already know? Where is the input+1? where is the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)? It's no longer about emerging language, but the emerging syllabus, it appears. The syllabus is "a function of the learners own needs, desires, what they want to communicate about etc..." Scott went on to defend his approach, which he maintained in the Q & A is not a method. The full recording of Scott, as seen by the attendees in London, is now available - here.
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| 'Unplugged? - yes the camera was at one point' |
In London, there were six more speakers. In order these were:
- Jeremy Harmer - 'There were ten in the bed' - recording here - who began by showing a photo of 40 Shaftsbury Avenue, where he did his teacher training course in 1971, and reciting a phrase in Malay.
- Maureen McGarvey - 'The Circle Is Unbroken' - the title of which comes from The Incredible String Band song - here. A couple of quotes: "Teacher, we'd like to blow up the school," said pupils in her reception class; "It's a school, Jim, but not as I knew it," - the second Star Trek reference of the day - as she arrived in Shaftsbury Avenue. For Maureen's full talk - the recording is here
- Adrian Underhill - 'The unique atmosphere and practice of IH', including the debut performance of 'Talking International House Blues' - see below.
- Martin Parrott - personal experiences of working with John Haycraft - recording here.
- Gavin Dudeney - personal recollections of IH and technology, which typically included some funny anecdotes. One involved receiving a fax from Scott Thornbury, who asked him to bring him 'an Internet' so he could co-write a book with a guy in Australia. Recording here.
The day ended, appropriately, with an address by co-founder, Brita Haycraft, who earlier this year, at the ELTons, was awarded a lifetime achievement award. An "enormous debt of gratitude" was paid to her by Simon Greenall in his introduction. She spoke the origins of the organisation and about 'Teacher Training: the IH way', sharing memories and detailed methodology from 1962. Link here.{UPDATED 5 Dec} The full set of recordings from Saturday's face-to-face event in London can now also be seen on the IH You Tube channel - here.
Friday's sessions:
Rather than reviewing Saturday in detail, I thought I would focus on Friday's webinars. I have written about five in detail below, including the final session from the IH Cordoba Team on using iPads, entitled 'Changing Perceptions'.
Aside from these five, there were two more sessions - one by Chris Ozog - "The Accommodating Teacher" and one by Jonathon Spalton - "Putting Graded Readers to the Test" both of which can be watched here and here respectively.
What was clear to me throughout and following on my own recent LTSIG webinar debut
to a general IATEFL-y audience, was that each of the presenters had clearly considered
what makes a webinar works and what does not. Lots of interaction and
audience participation was in evidence, with many polls and sharing of experiences. Some read from script, but all of them had loads of enthusiasm for their topic. I recommend watching the recordings for yourself.
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| David Petrie, Eva Kyslikova, Hannah Pinkham & Pete Gibson |
David Petrie - "With a Nudge and a Wink: Helping learners change their behaviour"
David Petrie is currently the senior teacher for adult and exam classes at IH Coimbra, Portugal. His webinar was inspired by two TED talks given by Dan Ariely - here. Are we in control of our own decisions? Ariely looked at irrationality of decision processes and what motivates people to do good work. David wanted to apply these ideas to ELT. Four key areas he thought were applicable were choice, meaning, acknowledgement and pride.
David began with a number of simple polls to illustrate that the more complex the choice on offer the more difficult it is to make that decision. Ariely's findings suggest that people will default to the simple option. A common example these days is the 'unsubscribe' option found in the small print of widely circulated emails from a website or company. The decision for the receiver to unsubscribe involves many considerations. The easier option is not to change anything and, therefore, the emails continue to be received. Opting out is a more effective marketing tool, therefore, than opting in. Personally, I regularly sign up for things where I know there will be an opt-out later.
Sometimes we are presented with a 'useless' option which guides our decision making. David felt that offering students a choice of what area of language learning they want to focus on could be done with having a 'useless' option - eg why just do vocabulary, when we could do vocabulary and speaking? David expressed his desire to get past his own defaults - task based, engagement, student centred etc - to those things that his students want to be doing rather than them doing something that was provided for him, e.g. from a coursebook.
He suggested handing over choice to the students. This might be OK in theory, but students might not choose the most effective way of learning and, as one person joked, they might choose to go home. By framing questions, David wanted to show to his students that there are better alternatives to doing something, engendering informed choice, perhaps using limited choice rather than a completely free choice, as another participant clarified.
Sometimes we are presented with a 'useless' option which guides our decision making. David felt that offering students a choice of what area of language learning they want to focus on could be done with having a 'useless' option - eg why just do vocabulary, when we could do vocabulary and speaking? David expressed his desire to get past his own defaults - task based, engagement, student centred etc - to those things that his students want to be doing rather than them doing something that was provided for him, e.g. from a coursebook.
He suggested handing over choice to the students. This might be OK in theory, but students might not choose the most effective way of learning and, as one person joked, they might choose to go home. By framing questions, David wanted to show to his students that there are better alternatives to doing something, engendering informed choice, perhaps using limited choice rather than a completely free choice, as another participant clarified.
Meaning:
David took participants through a maths activity from ThinkOfAnumber - here - which, if done correctly, should have resulted with everyone having the same result. It worked for me, but not others. This activity was supposed to be pointless. It was used to demonstrate how students might feel when they don't understand the point of an activity. We invest ourselves in what we do and care about what we do. So how can we make things more meaningful? A negotiated syllabus would cover the language areas required for a particular course but topics might be chosen by the learners. As long as learners know why they are doing something, then it is meaningful. This concept is probably already carried out by many teachers.
Acknowledgement:
For the 'acknowledgement condition', David offered a scenario where a student handed over a piece of paper which was actually their homework. If a teacher takes it without comment, it has (almost) the same impact as tearing it up in front of them. A comparison was made with Ariely's analysis of acknowledging, ignoring or 'shredding' work. The same psychological effect occurs for the worker with the second and third responses. It was not entirely clear why ignoring homework if handed over at the wrong moment was such a bad thing. As long as it gets marked and feedback is given. But David feels that the effort of completing and handing in of homework requires acknowledgement. This is just as important as actual feedback. I suppose the younger the students are, the more this kind of acknowledgement is required. This was actually illustrated by his daughter's drawing and the reaction you would expect him to make in that situation.
Pride:
David displayed two crosswords, one far more complex that the other. He expressed that students value their result much more with something that really stretches them. Don't always default to the easy option. Something can be linguistically graded but still cognitively challenging. The notion of 'demand high' was raised and then referred to as a way to stretch students' output. A display of classroom produced output is certainly an example of showing pride and is done at all levels, especially with younger learners. Motivation to produce good work is a big area in ELT and I think of writers like Ema Ushioda, Zoltan Dornyei and Jill Hadfield's in this respect.
Pete Gibson - "Integrated phonology - Beyond initial level teaching training"
David Petrie webinar - link here
Pete Gibson is Principal and Director of Studies at IH Bristol. His session was all about the why, what and how of pronunciation. He shared his knowledge of the subject with enthusiasm.
Why?
Two reasons given for teaching pronunciation were the importance for learners' confidence in their international intelligibility (being understood) and it is frequently and uncovered and uncorrected area in the classroom. He quoted Robin Walker about pronunciation being the glue that holds everything else together. Pete disputed some excuses for not teaching it. Being a non-native speaker does not disqualify you, for example, as a non-NEST can model an internationally intelligible accent. Another excuse is that a teacher forgets the phonemic chart after training. However it easy enough to both have and use the chart or the ELTon award-winning Sounds App - here. He displayed a pie chart from research carried out by Jennifer Jenkins (2000) which emphasised the importance of pronunciation as a significant cause of communication breakdown.
What?
Pete used the phrase, 'Where there's a will there's a way', to demonstrate numerous phonological aspects. These included stress, intonation, rise and fall, weak forms and elision. These could be broken down into the segmental (e.g. vowels, diphthongs) and suprasegmental level (e.g. stress, rhythm, assimilation and elision). A straw poll was conducted which suggested that dipthongs, intonation, word stress was taught more than 'frilliy' aspects of connected speech, such as linking and elision. Further phonological aspects mentioned were paralinguistic, sequential and prosodic features.
Jenkins' study, which focused on English as a Lingual Franca NNS (non native speaker) to NSS, found that certain aspects can have a positive effect, no impact or even a negative impact on intelligibility. Mastering long vs short vowel sounds, for example, has a positive effect, which Jenkins calls the Lingua Franca Core. Likewise, 'nuclear stress placement', the main stressed syllable of an utterance, such as 'I live in BRIStol' vs 'I LIVE in Bristol', has a positive effect. Word stress and stress-timing, surprisingly, had no impact. Those features which had a negative impact on intelligibility for ELF speakers included vowel reduction, schwa and elision. Pete felt that these findings are controversial but come from Jenkins' much-referenced piece of research on what actually happens between one NNS and another. It comes with a health warning, and the golden rule, he suggested, is that you can only plan, teach, react, correct according to your learners' needs. Knowing what your students want and what they need in terms of productive and receptive phonological competence is a key question.
Pete used the phrase, 'Where there's a will there's a way', to demonstrate numerous phonological aspects. These included stress, intonation, rise and fall, weak forms and elision. These could be broken down into the segmental (e.g. vowels, diphthongs) and suprasegmental level (e.g. stress, rhythm, assimilation and elision). A straw poll was conducted which suggested that dipthongs, intonation, word stress was taught more than 'frilliy' aspects of connected speech, such as linking and elision. Further phonological aspects mentioned were paralinguistic, sequential and prosodic features.
Jenkins' study, which focused on English as a Lingual Franca NNS (non native speaker) to NSS, found that certain aspects can have a positive effect, no impact or even a negative impact on intelligibility. Mastering long vs short vowel sounds, for example, has a positive effect, which Jenkins calls the Lingua Franca Core. Likewise, 'nuclear stress placement', the main stressed syllable of an utterance, such as 'I live in BRIStol' vs 'I LIVE in Bristol', has a positive effect. Word stress and stress-timing, surprisingly, had no impact. Those features which had a negative impact on intelligibility for ELF speakers included vowel reduction, schwa and elision. Pete felt that these findings are controversial but come from Jenkins' much-referenced piece of research on what actually happens between one NNS and another. It comes with a health warning, and the golden rule, he suggested, is that you can only plan, teach, react, correct according to your learners' needs. Knowing what your students want and what they need in terms of productive and receptive phonological competence is a key question.
Two videos of choral drilling were shown. One was flat and uninspiring while the other featured rise and fall intonation, rhythm, hand gestures and other non verbal cues. The musicality of such drilling can be quite sophisticated, but nonetheless possible for new teachers. Pete highlighted five areas where drilling is more than just simple repetition. Whole body drilling, for example, came across in the video and Pete's explanation afterwards. As an aside I know that lessons in which I have drilled using paralinguistic features and, especially, whole body workouts, have been more enjoyable for me and, by the same token, more enjoyable for the learner.
How?
Pete showed 5 simple-to-use techniques...
- Humming and 'da daa ing'
- Hands for opening/closing fist, short vs long vowels, clapping, tapping...
- Fingers for eliciting words, sentence stress
- Straight foreman for rising/falling intonation
- Side profile diagram for showing the articulators (useful, but something I have hardly used)
...and some techniques/pronunciation features, which have been covered by Adrian Underhill in his famous pronunciation workshops - here. On the page displayed there were 36 (ticked) aspects. The aim is, for Pete, to push yourself more as a teacher - aim to increase your repertoire of techniques, applied to a greater range of relevant pronunciation features.
Pete finished by looking at boardwork. He presented a typically, well laid out IWB but with something missing. The same board was shown with more annotation. But even more could be done, as shown. Different colours for annotation, of course, helps in this situation. In this sense, he was demanding more of the teachers to integrate clearer phonological aspects.
In summary, five top tips were offered to ensure successful pronunciation integration:
- (Re)-learn the phonemic chart.
- Try to keep pronunciation work fun and light in tone.
- Approach problem sounds from two directions: receptive and productive.
- Make it memorable.
- Work to 'uncover the pronunciation syllabus'...
and as Pete suggested near the outset, where there's a will, there's a way.
At the end, some books were recommended. Knowing that I am lacking books on this topic, I purchased 'Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca' by Robin Walker (Oxford handbooks) - here, which was also later referred to in Hannah Pinkham's session - see below.
Eva Kyslikova - "Storytelling with Origami"
Czech teacher Eva Kyslikova was the first person earmarked for this conference and someone that Shaun had tried to get to do a webinar for over a year because of the idea of using digital technology to look at something so fundamentally non-digital. She has worked for three different IH schools and fell in love with origami when she started to work for IH Milano in 2010, when she still works.
Origami - the Japanese art of paper folding - is something I was into when I was child and vividly remember in the late 1970s having to make the most of bland, cheap, pulpy A4 sheets of paper - using a ruler to 'score out' a square - cutting, of course, not being allowed. I had a book on the subject, probably borrowed from the mobile library, which I had to amuse myself with, when I wasn't otherwise using the paper for Spirographs or stitching sheets together as basis for some creative town planning. I was never particularly very good at it and the only kudos I got from schoolfriends was making water bombs.
Back up-to-date and I have never heard of using Origami in English Language Teaching, short of making paper planes or for keeping kids occupied. Perhaps it is because I don't teach YLs or have done a YL extension course. Of course, it can be used for storytelling and that is what Eva demonstrated in this session, also known by the portmanteau, 'Storigami'.
Eva told a little story about herself, with paper props. She stated that, having arrived in Italy, her new husband bought her a book and a piece of paper in order for her to make something beautiful. At some, too, she discovered Origami storyteller Rachael Katz. Stories are part of everyday life and valuable to the language classroom, especially when teaching young learners. As an alternative to flashcards or other visual aids, Eva wanted to offer origami as it:
Eva proceeded to introduce a number of origami characters and, crucially, how to make them - a dog, a cat and a mouse, which could be turned into finger puppets. She then introduced us to her family, via unintentionally representing her sister with a monkey :O, and her boss, who is used to scare the naughty students at her school. Revenge is sweet, however, and they responded with a representation of Eva (below). She went through the step-by-step process of making this talking puppet or 'snapper', via a hat and a boat. Useful for speaking activities. The actual process was simple to follow, with several participants taking part. Similar to good cookery, the secret appears to be in the preparation (ie: folding).
Eva used a large, multi-folded, 'magic square' of paper to tell the Czech version of Cinderella. It was engaging, very creative and would have children hooked but requires no shortage of skill to pull off. Using proper 'kami' origami paper, which is coloured on one side - here - a step-by-step guide was given for making this versatile storyboard. The magic squre could be used in numerous ways - see below.
Eva finished with rhyming instructions to make the black & white 'Penguin Pete' and the final, seamless 'paper story'. Despite asking for donations, there was no way to put money (bitcoins, perhaps?) into Eva's collection box, although it left me with imagining a 'busking storigami-teller'. I wonder if that would work?
Telling stories has never required technology to make them feel engaging, although I am sure there are plenty of apps out there which try to do just that. Storigami provides an antithesis to modern day tablet-filled classrooms. This was an original webinar first!
Hannah Pinkham - "CPD: What? Why? How?"
Pete Gibson link <here>
Eva Kyslikova - "Storytelling with Origami"
Czech teacher Eva Kyslikova was the first person earmarked for this conference and someone that Shaun had tried to get to do a webinar for over a year because of the idea of using digital technology to look at something so fundamentally non-digital. She has worked for three different IH schools and fell in love with origami when she started to work for IH Milano in 2010, when she still works.
Origami - the Japanese art of paper folding - is something I was into when I was child and vividly remember in the late 1970s having to make the most of bland, cheap, pulpy A4 sheets of paper - using a ruler to 'score out' a square - cutting, of course, not being allowed. I had a book on the subject, probably borrowed from the mobile library, which I had to amuse myself with, when I wasn't otherwise using the paper for Spirographs or stitching sheets together as basis for some creative town planning. I was never particularly very good at it and the only kudos I got from schoolfriends was making water bombs.
Back up-to-date and I have never heard of using Origami in English Language Teaching, short of making paper planes or for keeping kids occupied. Perhaps it is because I don't teach YLs or have done a YL extension course. Of course, it can be used for storytelling and that is what Eva demonstrated in this session, also known by the portmanteau, 'Storigami'.
Eva told a little story about herself, with paper props. She stated that, having arrived in Italy, her new husband bought her a book and a piece of paper in order for her to make something beautiful. At some, too, she discovered Origami storyteller Rachael Katz. Stories are part of everyday life and valuable to the language classroom, especially when teaching young learners. As an alternative to flashcards or other visual aids, Eva wanted to offer origami as it:
- brings variety and colour
- helps students with different learning skills / abilities
- provides an opportunity for weaker students to excel
- is different and easy to tidy up afterwards (remember: no 'cutting')
Eva proceeded to introduce a number of origami characters and, crucially, how to make them - a dog, a cat and a mouse, which could be turned into finger puppets. She then introduced us to her family, via unintentionally representing her sister with a monkey :O, and her boss, who is used to scare the naughty students at her school. Revenge is sweet, however, and they responded with a representation of Eva (below). She went through the step-by-step process of making this talking puppet or 'snapper', via a hat and a boat. Useful for speaking activities. The actual process was simple to follow, with several participants taking part. Similar to good cookery, the secret appears to be in the preparation (ie: folding).
Eva finished with rhyming instructions to make the black & white 'Penguin Pete' and the final, seamless 'paper story'. Despite asking for donations, there was no way to put money (bitcoins, perhaps?) into Eva's collection box, although it left me with imagining a 'busking storigami-teller'. I wonder if that would work?
Telling stories has never required technology to make them feel engaging, although I am sure there are plenty of apps out there which try to do just that. Storigami provides an antithesis to modern day tablet-filled classrooms. This was an original webinar first!
Eva Kyslikova link <here>
Hannah Pinkham - "CPD: What? Why? How?"
Another What? Why? How? session came from Hannah Pinkham. She was introduced by Neil Mcmahon, both in Beunos Aries. She is an A-DOS at Recoleta and a tutor on the IH OTTI certificate in Advanced Methodology Course. She began by asking what Continuing Professional Development meant to the participants and sharing some quotes. This is already something in the blood of teachers and those who run training. Unsurprisingly, taking part in a webinar, such as this, already showed some belief in CPD, so a poll asking if it is important was unnecessary but still made the point. However, CPD can be laborious, not important for temporary staff or takes up valuable time, to mention some responses to why it is not valued. I would have added that some people have been working in the industry so long they don't think they could learn about anything new. I am reminded of an #ELTchat on this topic from May 2012 - here.
Why?
Hannah's second poll asked who CPD is most important for. The general belief was that it most benefits teachers, but it can be valid for students and institutions. Hannah continued to use participants' views a lot as she broke down the importance for teachers, students and institutions. For teachers, a professional justification, such as an investment in your career, was highlighted. For an institution, motivation, quality teaching, being up-to-date and the expectation of teachers was raised. This has a knock-on benefits for students, such as experiencing motivated teachers. It can be useful for rapport building, too.
Hannah displayed her own CPD in terms of swimming, from newbie to wader via toe-dipper and paddler. She's not quite a freestyler yet and certainly not a big fish - is that what we can call those who spoke on Saturday? It is a useful analogy. Certainly the idea of swimming, not sinking or waving, not drowning springs to mind. 'Dip' can also refer to Diploma, of course. Unsurprisingly our level of development varies if comparing formal qualifications or experience with, say, use of technology or the ability to storytell, like Eva.
How?
Some 'Views from the staff room' were shared and, again, participants were asked for their feelings. These views were then used to look at the more informal, self-motivating CPD options. At this point, Hannah's unbridled enthusiasm for the subject took off. For the newbie, the target is to set small, manageable goals. Peppered with a series of anecdotes, Hannah gave some practical tips for dealing with different aspects of development. If the feedback is too much TTT then objective is to reduce it by recording yourself and listening back, leading to mini goals, then focusing on eliciting.
In response to institutions paying lip-service to CPD, the answer is DIY. Reading Blogs, attending webinars and actively using Twitter for professional purposes were among the suggestions, although I noted @hannahpinkham is a relatively toe-dipper - or should that be sparrow? Hmmm. Writing your own reflective blog was also recommended and an example of this was the aforementioned Sandy Millin - especially her ongoing account of doing the Delta - here -which has CPD underpinning it. Action Research, which forces you to publish would also be a good idea in an area of interest. Sharing is caring. Another idea, which I had not heard of, is a ghost observation, for those who don't want someone else in the room.
Time-saving ideas included a sharing of the workload. That is, if you are studying for the Delta, then divide up the reading. If wanting to attend several webinars, divide up the viewing list, then invite colleagues to recommend webinars and share what they learned. Use online diary Penzu - which I wrote about here - or Vocaroo to record your thoughts.
Staying up-to-date can be difficult, but 'little and often' is the mantra here. The suggestion is to choose wisely. Make new things you learn more specific and measurable, rather than saying doing more grammar. Use the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time) approach. Being systematic helps, as does having an effective bookmarking tool, such as Diigo.
In the final part, once the participants had moved on from a philosophical debate about the value of paper, they were asked to write down their own CPD goals. Hannah's own were to use a wider variety of homework options and develop knowledge of ELF and, perhaps, buy that Walker book, as I subsequently did. She then used the chat window for participants to share their goals and suggestions. Just like an #ELTchat, but without the difficulty of following the numerous chat threads, this usefully demonstrated the earlier idea of caring and sharing.
Hannah Pinkham link here
Jennifer Dobson and IH Cordoba Team - "Changing Perceptions"
I finish this review the way I started it - with IH Cordoba. Jennifer Dobson introduced and later summarised the experimental iPad project which began in January 2012 as the school took ownership of four iPads. Further iPads and iPad minis were added to the collection later before all teachers eventually had access to one and they now tweet @iPadteam.
An extensive article, 'Learning through an ipad', was published in the IH journal - Issue 34 - here. This explains how the project came about and some of the advantages of using iPads. The SAMR model is referred to both in the article and, later, during the summary:
Each teacher took it in turns to talk about their experience based upon their particular interests. I was not able to see this session when it was broadcast on the Friday, so I sat down and watched it on the following. As I watched the recording, I took notes using Evernote, appropriately enough on my own iPad! so apologies for this one being written up in slightly note-form.
There were so many ideas shared in this hour that I probably have not done it justice. I suggest watching the video - here - to see for yourself. All the staff at Cordoba had some very positive experiences to share, along with some occasional difficulties to overcome. I understand that it was the first time each of them had used iPads in their day-to-day teaching.
An extensive article, 'Learning through an ipad', was published in the IH journal - Issue 34 - here. This explains how the project came about and some of the advantages of using iPads. The SAMR model is referred to both in the article and, later, during the summary:
However, the SAMR model (substitution-augmentation-modification-redefinition) developed by Ruben R. Puentadura, provides a useful way for us to examine our use of technology, through the consideration of activities regardless of level. Tablet devices lend themselves to the development of tasks at the higher levels through creative and collaborative use. (from the IH Journal, Issue 34)Jennifer also shared an ongoing webliography, hosted on Pinterest - here.
Each teacher took it in turns to talk about their experience based upon their particular interests. I was not able to see this session when it was broadcast on the Friday, so I sat down and watched it on the following. As I watched the recording, I took notes using Evernote, appropriately enough on my own iPad! so apologies for this one being written up in slightly note-form.
There were so many ideas shared in this hour that I probably have not done it justice. I suggest watching the video - here - to see for yourself. All the staff at Cordoba had some very positive experiences to share, along with some occasional difficulties to overcome. I understand that it was the first time each of them had used iPads in their day-to-day teaching.
Susan Mulquiney spoke about her students using mobile phones while she practiced using her new iPad. It felt like the beginning of something new and exciting, while remembering old skills of curating, searching, evaluating, social responsibilities, but now extended to digital literacy skills. It began with 'find someone who ... has the same phone'. The above montage shows photo taken by her students. Simple instructions: connect to class wifi, find the voice recorder, switch to 'airplane mode' to stop incoming calls. Use of Google Drive for note taking, filing and collaboration. Use of 'simple mind' a mind map app (android and iOS) for recording vocabulary. Twitter used for class communication. Students are more likely to do three or four drafts digitally than with pen and paper. Thesarus is good - the website, not the app, which apparently is rubbish. Ngram viewer can be used for collocation queries. Anecdotal evidence of students going through inverted snobbery - dressing down, using second-hand devices occurred. Recording their own voices is one of the most important activities. They record stuff relentlessly. They use QR codes, too, as demonstrated later in the Cordoba session. They go home with list of questions. There are issues but they are not without solutions. Sharing and collaboration are important.
Alexandra Purcell discussed the benefits for students. Clearly, iPads are not a technological whim. For starters, they combine a lot of educational tools and it really does enhance the learning. They are changing perception of the way that teenagers especially interact with the world. The term 'digital natives' was unfortunately used. I say unfortunately because this largely discredited term suggests some kind of generational divide. The Journal article referred to the big educational cliché that YLs know how to use technology better than their teachers and as Susan points out:
only a small minority of students have access to ipads/tablets and there are still quite a few students of all ages who have no idea where the Voice Recorder is on their mobile phone (just to give one example). The difference is that kids/teens find technology a much more natural platform for their learning than books, are not scared to play around, find things quickly: this means that I see all my iPad classes as potentially team-teaching situations. (from the IH Journal, Issue 34)The fact that the YLs in Cordoba do not own their own tablets was acknowledged in Alex's talk. It was also quite right to refer to them as 'tech-savvy' in the same breath as above. Benefits inside the classroom include research. It's authentic, real and personal to them. They can use online language forums, examples in real context. Interactive games can reinforce language practice. Outside of the classroom, Alex feels we should also change the perception on when the learning is actually taking place. The iPad has taken away limits of specific learning times and locations. This is what has elsewhere been termed 'the connected classroom' where a lot of the preparation and 'class' work is done away from the proximity of the teacher. The use of online learning platforms, which I presumed to mean Virtual Learning Environemnts, is also a feature. The iPad is a personal device. It provides instant access to so much authentic information, things they are interested in and is turning the learning experience into a leisure activity.
Podge, for that appears to be his name, talked about using iPads with impulsively creative 6-12 year olds. He expressed reluctance to throw away his students' drawings and wanted to find a way for the childrens' creativity to be less disposable. Podge described the numerous ways that Jimmy, the badly-drawn stick man, had been used to practice their English. Using the iPad to first scan photos and, later, videos using an app called Educreations, which allows voice to be recorded over a series of whiteboards. At the end of every grammar or lexical set, videos would be put together into a 'AB productions' film based on Jimmy. This resulted in a series of reusable videos which the kids enjoyed making and which helped them to remember the grammar perfectly. A memorable, permanent record of their learning was, therefore, being co-produced. Podge clearly enjoys the unscripted, organic, 'anything is possible' ethos.
Having been involved in film-making in ELT before, but only ever using video cameras, I was most interested by what Nick Cox was doing. One syllabus unit required the learning of film vocabulary, before requiring students to write a creative story. Taking the theme of Hallowe'en, the iPad was used to brainstorm (research) the genre of terror and horror. The students' stories were scanned and retold around the iPad as an 'open fire' - such as the one here I presume. They voted on the best and then wrote a collaborative screenplay. Budget restrictions demanded some realistic thinking. The vocabulary learned in class became real, roles were assigned. (I know this feeling!) The final outcome was produced using iMovie. The kids did everything apart from some editing from Nick. (Ditto) A trailer was also shown. Reviews were written by another class and even FaceTime interviews were conducted with a professional director and a film critic.
Tim Kelly, who I met in Barcelona earlier this year and worked with Rene this year, spoke about developing speaking skills. He has tried a number of apps, including the Macmillan Sounds App, Quick Voice and Soundcloud. With the latter, comments can be left on students' pronunciation issues. Using sound waves you can help students to learn what streams of speech looks like, which was relevant to sense groups in FCE. Tim also mentioned voice recognition software, Siri and Dragon Dictation. Adding voice to photos, doing 'show and tell' is really motivating. SpeakPipe, another app, allows for fluency practice, with students comments being added to websites. One challenge is how to share the material generated, via what platforms. He found students were also becoming better listeners and more autonomous.
A presentation on using QR codes followed in French which I could not follow as my French is limited and the text translation was hard to read. Susan returned to discuss gaming, reading from a pre-prepared text. As the IH Journal article stated, AirServer or Apple TV are used to mirror what is going on with the iPad, so that everyone in the class can see what is going on. The remarkable feature of playing games is that it is done in English and the discussion about games are in English, whatever the level, whether kids or adults. Susan felt she could milk this. Some serious gamers were found to be in the class, mostly of massive multiple online games. They felt that playing games had contributed to their success as language learners. Again, this was changing perceptions of how learning takes place. Interestingly, modal verbs appear more readily while playing games, whereas they do not appear early on in textbooks. Big Fish games - here - has thousands of games ready for mobile devices. These games need use of a lot of tenses, especially the past, and lots of questions. She would love for her class to play other classes around the world.
Jennifer returned to summarise at the end. She referred to the SAMR model, a theory mentioned in the journal article. This stands for Substitution-Augmentation-Modification-Redefinition. The focus is on using apps imaginatively to do things that would not otherwise be possible. One of the biggest changing perceptions is that of 'digital literacies'. Being safe online and protecting privacy especially for young learners is vital. Nick had to arrange, for example, permission forms for the film that they made. 'Digital literacy' also covers when to say no or when to turn off the device, and, as the article also stated, an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is in place at Cordoba. There were several more valid points made about the use of iPads, such as the non-linear characteristic. It also stimulates the imagination to want to create in or outside of class. The completed Pinterest board was more fun and achievable than laboriously going through a load of websites.
The webinar itself was conducted using their iPads, in a free hour, on a teaching day. It was a fast and fun session, with loads of ideas coming from a real piece of action research. It ended with what seemed like a plea to be invited to any school around the world, eg Brazil, to persuade the owners or directors of those schools on the justifiably pedagogic use of iPads. It left me rather breathless!
See the recording - here.
Last updated: 5 Dec 13. *Thanks to Shaun Wilden and Heike Philp for sharing with me the technical details and viewing figures .
