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?