Paving the way for CHANGE!

During last month's IATEFL in Liverpool (was it really only last month? ...seems like years ago!), I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Round (@joshsround), who is Director of Studies at St. George International School in London. This chance meeting took place in a pub (where else?) during a highly-amusing karaoke night where stars like Shelly Terrell, Valéria Franca, Jeremy Harmer and Ken Wilson (amongst many, many others... too numerous to mention here) let their true colours shine, microphone in hand!!! I remember Josh also took to the stage, which is hardly surprising, since in addition to his ELT career, he has also been a theater, TV and film actor! If you'd like to know more about Josh and his work as a D.o.S, visit his blog at www.Be TheDOS.wordpress.com).

I recently came across an article of his on a topic which is dear to my heart and may be a big part of your life too... That topic is CHANGE. (See The Challenge of Change - Leadership and Management SIG Newsletter, Issue No. 44, 2013).

Much has been said and written over the years about the importance of reinventing oneself and dealing with changes in our professional environment as and when they occur (which is pretty much all the time these days!) but perhaps one of the most notable paradigm shifts in our profession (that is, if you are an ELT professional like me)... was/is the advent of educational technologies in the language school context.

In 2007, Cultura Inglesa S.A. implemented Interactive Whiteboards in EVERY classroom across their 50+ branches in 5 states of Brazil... and of course many other Culturas Inglesas and similar schools throughout the nation made such an investment at about the same time.

Of course, the changes and innovations did not stop there... nor could they, since the only CONSTANT in life is change (please let me know who first said that if you happen to know... just post it in the comments section!)... Indeed, over the past few years, we have encouraged teachers to experiment with Technological Integration and to freely explore the wealth of tools, platforms, apps and other resources out there to help us engage the hearts and minds of our students of English in Brazil.

However, such changes have not been welcomed or embraced by all. One of the biggest challenges faced by Directors of Studies (or pedagogical coordinators, managers or whatever job title your institution happens to use) is that of preparing teaching staff adequately for the implemention of new resources, whether such resources be new materials (from a new partner in the ELT Publishing World) or technology in its myriad of forms.

If you are faced with the challenge of implementing such changes in your teaching context, here are some of the key elements to consider, mentioned by Josh in his article:

• Communication (An open, two-way channel of communication needs to run through the whole process).
• Ownership (If a sense of ownership can be created among the team, the responsibility for change becomes a shared one).
• Piloting (Ideally, a small group will try out the proposed change and report back with suggestions for improved implementation).
• A Chamption (Identify enthusiastic 'early adopters' and perhaps a champion to help maintain momentum)
• Pace (Change won't work if rushed or too slow!)
• Review (keep reviewing until the change becomes BAU - Business As Usual)

I would love to hear from any of you (in the comments below) who have been involved in a process of change in the ELT context, whether as the implementer (or champion) or as part of the team charged with accommodating the change and implementing in your daily routines. 

Tell us about the last time you had to change textbook, for example... How did it feel? How does it feel now?

Why Teach Digital Citizenship?

According to the nice people at Wikipedia (people like you and me!)... Mossberger, et al. (2011) define digital citizens as "those who use the Internet regularly and effectively." 

In qualifying as a digital citizen, a person generally must have extensive skills, knowledge and access, using the Internet through computers, mobile phones, and web-ready devices to interact with private and public organizations. (These factors naturally preclude many from becoming fully realized as ‘digital citizens’... such as people who are illiterate and those who have no viable way of accessing the Internet).

In terms of teaching these skills and the knowledge that empowers digital citizens, what goes on in the classroom can play an important role... 



Although this video refers to an Education Authority in an English-speaking environment, I firmly believe we need to equip students of English in Brazil and elsewhere, who are learning to use English for Global Communication, with the necessary digital skills and awareness of issues like cyber-safety from an early age.

If you believe, as I do, that the purpose of education is to prepare the learner to interact effectively with their world and its inhabitants, there can really no longer be much justification for NOT integrating technology with the language we teach in class, since the majority of our students are most likely to use that language in an online environment first (or indeed exclusively). This may be in the form of the written word as in chats, e-mails, blogs, comments on social media etc.... or in the spoken form, as with skype, youtube and other platforms using voice, but however or wherever they use English, digital citizenship is a MUST!

If you are a teacher, how have you approached this topic? If you are a learner (aren't we all?) how do  you feel about this topic? I look forward to reading your comments.

You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it learn English!

I'm sure you're all familiar with this ancient English proverb... "You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink!". This has often been used in connection to the fact that we, as teachers, can point our Sts in the right direction and create the CONDITIONS for them to learn, but there is always going to have to be an element of intrinsic motivation in order for them to take the necessary steps and make the 'strategic investment' of effort (Douglas Brown) required for learning to take place.

I was recently asked by a friend and colleague I've known for over 15 years... Jack Scholes... to write a review of his latest book aimed at helping the Brazilian worker in different service sectors in Brazil to acquire the basic 'survival English' required to 'get by' in their jobs when foreigners who speak English appear before them.

Here's the review itself, if you're interested... but then I have a story to tell you below.

In order to write this short review for the New Routes magazine (https://www.disal.com.br/newr/nr50/) I obviously needed a copy of the book itself, which I was sent by post. Afterwards, having no need for it myself and in the spirit of generating opportunities for others which is inherent to most educators, I decided to donate my copy to a taxi driver named Pedro.

Pedro is a smart guy. He has managed to pay for his daughters' education and buy his own house all through his work as a taxi driver over the past 25 years (in Brasilia). He's also fully aware of the importance of giving good customer service as well as being polite, punctual, professional and pleasant (the 4 Ps???).

In his taxi you will never hear unwanted musical styles, loud conversations on his mobile as he drives or any kind of negative comment or complaint that could make a passenger uncomfortable (unlike some taxi drivers I've come across in my time, believe me!). He even has a machine enabling him to accept credit cards, making life easier for clients and broadening the market he is able to captivate through providing excellent service.

So, what's missing? And what's this got to do with Jack Schole's book, called "Inglês Rápido"? Well, our friend Pedro doesn't speak A WORD of English... despite regularly picking-up foreign diplomats and tourists at Brasilia airport, Ministries and hotels etc. He WANTS to learn English, or so he says, but just doesn't have the time.

So when I presented him with the book mentioned above, feeling pleased with myself as one sometimes does when practicing a 'good deed'... I was sure he would be dipping into the book during his long waits in the line of taxis at the airport, practicing new words and phrases with me during our frequent taxi rides together (at least twice a week!) and that he'd soon be telling me what a difference my gift had made to his life and the short but effective exchanges he'd be having with other foreign clients who perhaps didn't speak any Portuguese... Right?

..

Wrong!

Every time I inquired hopefully about his progress with the book... he'd say the same thing... "Ah, doutor... tive tempo não, ô?" (for non-lusophones, that's something like "Ah, sir... I couldn't find the time, see?".

Was it really a lack of time? I don't think so... As I said before, he has long waits between fares at the airport almost every day... but when I asked what made it so hard to get started, he said that he didn't feel motivated to learn English, although he knew he SHOULD... He preferred to chat to his friends, fellow taxi drivers... and that when he picked up foreigners, they'd usually have an address written down, which they'd show him, or the name of a hotel which he could recognise, even when mispronounced...

So I wonder... is English for everyone? Could we be overplaying the importance of learning English for some people? I don't think so!! I happen to believe that there are a number of benefits to learning another language, at any stage in life, that go beyond mere functionality or 'getting a job done'. Take a look at some of the reasons mentioned on these links:

http://www.omniglot.com/language/why.htm
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/07/26/50-reasons-you-should-learn-a-new-language/
http://www.adviceforyou.org.uk/blog/studying-foreign-languages/10-good-reasons-to-learn-a-foreign-language/
http://www.cla.auburn.edu/forlang/resources/twenty-five-reasons/

To close this post then... What have you found (as either a teacher of English or a learner of any foreign language) to be the most important reasons for making this 'strategic investment' of effort (and time and money!), beyond the use of English for Work? How can we best get this message across to people who can't seem to find that 'inner will' to learn English?

G.

CPD in ELT

I just read an article in the IATEFL Leadership and Management SIG newsletter on the topic of Continuous Professional Development.

The author, Fiona Dunlop, concludes that a successful and integrated CPD programme in a school is possible when:

¤ There is a clear school ethos and a universal staff belief in learning and development;
¤ Sufficient time and money are available to invest in structured and meaningful staff development;
¤ Academic management is aware and knowledgable of the teaching team, their strengths, areas for development and learning styles;
¤ Academic management show on-going interest in trends in ELT and lead by example in their own CPD;
¤ CPD systems and opportunities are known and available to all staff and their success is reviewed regularly;
¤ The school is welll staffed and with good working conditions.

Personally, I'm lucky enough to work in a context where such conditions exist, but I'd be interested to read your comments about what the INDIVIDUAL teacher can do to grow if their school does not yet provide this support,  and particularly how you use educational technology to develop professionally and, why not, as a person.

Comments in ANY language are more than welcome!

BTW... just wrote this entry in an airport departure lounge using the Blogger app on my mobile phone,  so I'm guessing CPD is also possible 'on the go'!

My first blogpost... and the reason why!

Hi Folks!

A few weeks ago I began taking an online course with my friend and colleague +Carla arena...

The course, entitled WebTools4Educators, has endeavoured to provide me with a richer understanding, collaboratively constructed, of course, of the resources, tools, apps, platforms, sites and opportunities for social bookmarking, LiveFeeding, application of Educational Technology and other benefits out there in the cybersphere.

This is not to say I have been hitherto oblivious to blogging... I've even had a few blogs over the years, which I've fed from time to time, but if all goes according to plan, I may actually keep this one 'alive' beyond the period of the 8-week course I'm taking.

I hope anyone reading this will, over time, feel like coming back here and seeing what's new on occasion... and I promise to at least TRY not to neglect the blog for too long! I guess you're most likely to find reflections on ELT here, since I'm a teacher trainer and ELT professional working for Learning Factory Ltd. in Brazil (www.learningfactory.net), the editorial branch of Cultura Inglesa (www.culturainglesa.net), but I may be tempted, from time to time, to muse about life, the universe and everything... the answer to which, as some of you will know... is 42.

See you around!!

G.