A good teacher: someone who...

To provide an example of what podcasting involves, in the session on our CELTA course last week, you had to finish the phrase "A good teacher is someone who..."



In order to put (or "embed") the mp3 file here, I've first uploaded the file on to Divshare.com, which has then provided me with the code which I've pasted into a new post here on the blog. It gives me 5GB of (free) storage space for media files.

I've used other alternatives to Divshare in the past, am just slightly worried about the risk of storing them there but -- because it's so easy to use -- like it a lot, and am grateful to Merce Barrull, who did a course with me in July, for suggesting it.

Why don't teachers use technology more?

Still in its box: the inactive whiteboard (sic)

How much does the technology get used here, in this school? The question came up in the CELTA session we had Tuesday last week. I suggested that it (classroom computers, interactive whiteboards, a computer room with 15 PCs, video camera, digital camera...) is underused and someone asked "Why?"

For many reasons, I would suggest, most likely a combination of some or all of the following:

• Doubt whether or not using technology will actually lead to language learning
• Lack of ICT training
• Technophobia
• Unwillingness to try something new, to see if it works
• Fear that it might not work if they took it into the classroom, that something might go wrong with the technology
  
• Not actually having a computer in their own classroom (and therefore having to arrange to move to another)
  

The first I think valid and is a question I always ask myself: will my intended use of technology lead to more, better language learning? The last, to judge from feedback I took from staff at a recent workshop, would appear to be the biggest barrier at the school where I work, where only 25% of the 40 classrooms have a permanent, fixed PC and projector (the rest have to have the technology wheeled in, or else the class needs to go to the computer room).

The other reasons in the above list, which I fully understand and sympathise with are, I would suggest, things that as teachers we need somehow to overcome...

Technology and interaction

Learners first, technology last

In the technology session I do on the CELTA courses at IH Barcelona, I usually begin by asking people to rank the following in terms of their importance in the language classroom:

• Learners
• Materials
• Teacher
• Technology
• Other(-s)

As you can see in the image above, in Tuesday's session you ranked the learners first (red number "1"s), with technology coming roughly last (4,5...).

It's a rhetorical question, obviously, but I agree with the answer -- the technology itself is probably the least important thing.

Why use technology?
Why bother using technology in that case? I suggested that one of the "other" things that are of importance in the language classroom is interaction between the other elements (learners-learners, learners-materials, etc., the black arrows in the image above) and that technology can enhance that and provide further oppoortunities for interaction -- for example via a class blog.

Another big reason for using technology is face validity [definition]. You may well find yourself teaching digital natives, people who have grown up with technology. You may be a great teacher, but try and teach your learners with a blackboard and chalk and some of them at least will be wondering what cave you live in and, unfairly, not "like" you as a teacher.

As to how to use technology in the language classroom, the posts here on this blog labelled "using technology" address that issue...

Graffiti creator: would I want to use it?

Editing the letters individually, with greater contrast between them, would have made the word ("create") more legible

Here's one I'm not so sure about: graffiticreator.net...

It's fun, though I'd have liked an un-do button, but maybe that's just me: I've never actually had a go with an aerosol can and reckon true graffiti artists don't, ever, "un-do"... ,-)! But would I actually want to use this with students?

Criteria for using technology
When I'm lesson planning and look at a website or an activity of some sort involving the use of any technology, I ask myself the same questions I suggest in the technology session on our CELTA course:

• Is it a suitable level of difficulty, language and maturity for my learners...?
• Will my learners enjoy doing it...? Will it engage them...?
• How can / must I adapt it...?
• What are the aims...?
• What are the stages...?
• What language is being used, practised and learnt...?
• What are we going to do with what we've found / created...?
• What is the return-on-investment (time spent setting up, in class...)?
  

With graffiticreator.net, my doubt is really over the language that is going to be produced and used: is it merely going to engage my learners at the visual level and absorb them in understanding how the site works, or am I going to be able to create a task that will really produce a lot of meaningful (linguistic) interaction?

Decision time...
On balance, that looks to me like one that will go into my "For the kids" file in my favourites -- for my own kids, that is, they'll like it, but I don't think I'll be using it in the classroom with learners.

Now, on the other hand, if we had a class blog, and I wanted to decorate it, and we had -- say -- a new "graffiti word a week", and the kids wanted to do it in their own time, at home, or when I'd got someone finished all their other work, then I might consider it -- but my aim would not then be a linguistic one.

The classroom: not just a physical space

Learning together...

The photo, above, one of you (Adam?) took during the technology session on our current CELTA course this morning. (I promised I'd show you the picture, but neglected to ask permission before publishing it here: I hope none of you mind...)

We began the session attempting to rank teacher, learners, materials, technology or some other thing, in terms of their importance in the language classroom.

One of you (Rohan?) suggested "space" as the "some other thing" -- and mentioned an attractive, quiet, physical space with a welcoming arrangement of chairs (etc), an idea which I liked very much.

In the photo, I'd suggest that we can make out another aspect of that space, a more metaphysical one, if you like. We've got people close together, working together, enjoying working together... a space it's actually pleasant to be in, that learners want to be in.

Change the default start page of your browser

One of the suggestions made in the sessions yesterday on our Celta course was that you could change the default start page on your browser to something more useful to you as a teacher. Among my own default start pages are various sources of texts: with a quick glance, and without having to waste time trawling the Web for them, articles which I might be able to use in class come to me.

Also suggested was that your students should change their home pages on their computers at home/work to something of interest -- a page on which they would stop and read or listen to some English. I liked the idea of that being a class blog, if you have one, and here's another that site that you might recommend, Nik Peachey's Daily English Activities. Designed for students, every day it has "a new simple online activity to help you improve your English".

Personally, I always recommend my learners to set their home page to the BBC World Service; to stop when they get there; to pick the most interesting looking headline; then to spend 2-3 minutes reading (or listening); and -- because a lot of exposure is necessary for learning a language -- to do that every day.

It doesn't have to be the BBC: it could be any site on any topic that interests them. Someone in one of our workshops yesterday argued that if you didn't set them a task or an exercise to do with it, then they wouldn't bother to do it. My counter-argument would be that they don't need more tasks or exercises: what they need, as learners, is to get themselves into good habits.

Word(le) clouds, Paint pictures

Wordle cloud, Paint fish

Here's one that came from one of the sessions on our CELTA course in the last week...

I suggested Ananova.com (specifically the bizarre news stories in its Quirkies section) as a great default home page for both teachers and learners, with the Dead angler becomes fish food story an example of a text you could do in class.

We then took the story -- assuming that we'd already "done" the text in class -- to Wordle.net and converted it into a cloud. By a bit of simple editing, first with Wordle, then with Paint (which we used to add an eye to create a word cloud fish), we've then converted the text into a picture which we could use to decorate a class blog.

As I suggested earlier, I still have my doubts about using Wordle as a classroom activity -- principally because your learners will be manipulating the image, but not the words themselves: they want to be tinkering with the language not just looking at it, if we want people to learn language.

But as an "after reading" activity, to add some color to a class blog, to add some fun, you might still justify it...

And as one of you pointed out in at least one of the sessions this week, we might also possibly use the word cloud as either a prediction or a reconstruction activity...

>> How to change the default start page of your browser

Mobile phone pix

In the bar: "He was cutting a pineapple"

Here's one that came from the session on our CELTA course, July 24. I sent six of you out with your camera-equipped mobile phones to take pictures of people doing things. My instructions were to ensure that you asked politely for permission to take the photo, and thank the person for their assistance.

My assumptions were that you were teens; that you had such technology in your pockets; that we had been doing either the present or the past progressive; and that we had a class blog on which we could afterwards post the pictures with an appropriate caption (in the example, "He was cutting a pineapple...").

The point of the exercise was to raise the question of how much language would be learnt and/or practised and/or used relative to the amount of time invested in the activity. What is the return on investment, in other words, a question I would always ask myself with technology.

This isn't an idea that I've actually tried out with language learners, but I think I would: when are teens -- or adults -- more likely to learn: "doing" the language via a photocopied exercise or doing an activity in a way that is actually significant to them (and fun!)?

CELTA session, June 9

Hello, and welcome if you've come to today's session...

Your task
I'd like you to rank the items below, from most to least, in terms of how much language learning you think they would produce.

You should justify your decision. If your answer is "it depends", please specify: it depends on what?

Write your answer here on this blog, using the "comments".

Items

1. You finding images to use in some way in class (what way?)
   
2. Persuading your learners to change their default start page to the BBC World Service and to spend 5 minutes there every time they log on (ie. every day), listening or reading
3. A project in which your learners take photographs on their mobile phones of objects of value to their partners; write texts describing their partner's objects; and publish their work on a blog [see another example]
   
4. Using Glogster to create collages which they then describe orally (present) to the rest of the class; also then sharing their work online
5. You writing grammar exercises, posting them (and the answers) on a class blog
   
6. You sharing a blog with teaching colleagues (but not with your learners), on which you share problems and successes and reflect on what happens and what you are doing in class (etc)

Notes

• (2) is being done outside class, at home and/or at work
• (3) to (5) w0uld depend on our sharing a class blog with our learners, and could all be done on the same blog at different times of the term
  
• (6) might indirectly produce more, better language learning by improving the quality of the teaching
• There is, obviously, no right or wrong answer....

See also

• More about blogging
• Where to start if you know nothing about technology
• More basic things you should know
  
• Bibliography
  

CELTA session, May 9

Hi, and welcome if you've come to this morning's session...!

I'm going to divide you into three groups, and ask you to look at 3 different projects which involve language learners using technology:

1. A creative writing project
2. Pictures on mobile phones
3. Score your own wonder goal!
   

You've got about 20 minutes to actually do the project (or as much of it as time allows).

Then I'd like you to use the "comments" feature to answer the following questions:

1. Could you have done the project (or something similar) just as well without the technology?
2. What would the advantages/disadvantages of using the technology be?
3. Do you think the technology leads to a lot of language learning with these projects?
4. What else do you like/dislike about the project, and why?
   

Answer the above questions in the comments on the appropriate post (ie. via the links above, not in the comments to this post).

>> See also
For any of you who feel that you don't know much about technology, you might find the Technology 101 section here on this blog useful.

There are some books on using technology in the Bibliography section that you might also find useful.

And here's how to change the default start page of your browser, which was mentioned during the session.

Celta Session, April 7

Hi and welcome if you've come to today's session...

You have 15 minutes to do 3 of the 5 tasks below.

When you've done them, with your partners decide whether or not you think they are good tasks for the language classroom.

Use the "comments" to record what you think.

Task #1: Creating an animation

Go to www.dfilm.com, create an animation and email it to me.

Don't forget to add a comment (below) on what you think of this activity for use with language learners.

Task #2: A six-word biography

With a partner, create a six-word biography of a famous person.

Example: So much talent, all blown away (Ronaldinho)

Click "comments" (below) and add it to those already there.

Don't forget that you should create a second comment to record what you think of the task.

Task #3: A photo and text

One of the images we produced (text in comments, below)

Take a photograph of an object belonging to your partner (watch, photo in a wallet, piece of jewelry, etc).

Open a Word document, save it in "My documents" and then write about your partner's object: why is it of value to him/her?

Task #4: A blogging project

We're going to use the "comments" to this post (below) to brainstorm a list of the 25 greatest rock albums of all time. With a partner, agree on one that should be on the list, name it in the comments, and add up to 25 words justifying your choice.

If you disagree with an album someone else has suggested, say so (in a separate comment).

Don't forget that you should also create a comment to record what you think of the task.

Task #5: Podcasting

With your two partners, take the following roles: (1) interviewer, the Director of Studies (DoS) in a language school; (2) candidate, a newly qualified teacher looking for a job; and (3) observer.

Interviewer, you have 1 min to decide what questions you are going to ask.

Role-play the interview (max. 2 mins).

Observer: advise the candidate what s/he should have said...

Role-play it again, with exactly the same questions from the interviewer, and the candidate following the observer's advice.

Note that we are going to record the interview and post it on the Internet.

And here's one that we created:

CELTA sessions, January

Something of personal value: a Star Trek keyring (plus USB stick!)

One of the things we looked at in our sessions this week was an "image plus text" project, with the above picture being one that one of you took during the session. Here's a further example which we have been doing with people learning Spanish at IH Barcelona.

And here's a similar idea, suggested on Nik Peachey's blog.

That latter idea I picked up this morning via something else I mentioned in our session, an RSS feed, which comes to me via my Bloglines news aggregator.

One of the things I didn't mention was an excellent book on drawing pictures for your classroom, 1000+ Pictures for Teachers to Copy. Highly recommended!

You'll find a lot more ideas on images on the blog you are reading now.

A single digital image... plus text!

Things that matter to me...

In the CELTA session we had this morning I suggested a project using a digital camera -- and the image above is one that one of you took.

What I would suggest is passing the camera round from pair to pair and getting the learners to take the pictures, and then writing about each other's objects (which will lead to more interaction than if they just write about their own object...). In our session, we didn't have time to produce the texts, but basically the text would involve writing about why the object photographed means a lot to your partner.

Incidentally, among the pictures taken this morning there were some lovely pictures of the photos of your kids which some of you had in your wallets. I chose not to publish them, and picked the one above, because -- on the grounds of privacy issues -- I'm always very reluctant to publish images of children (and would never do so of my young learners without written, signed parental permission).

The original idea came from techlearning.com and we've used it with people learning Spanish at IH Barcelona, publishing the text and images on our En mi bolsillo blog.

From sessions August 9

One of the photos Aitziber (I think) took, as an example of project work. The project suggested was producing a "picture plus accompanying text..."

A couple of things from today's sessions on our CELTA courses...

This was the BBC article on the Yangtze river dolphin, which I suggested as the basis for a webquest. It comes from the BBC's Words in the News section, a great one to suggest to your learners as their default start page -- so that they get some reading and listening practice every time they log on to the web.

The link to the Dfilm animations that you created didn't actually reach me. If anyone likes to provide them...

In a separate post, Dan tells us about yesterday on the course, which he did as an example of podcasting.

And for any of you that feel you really don't know that much about technology, I think I mentioned the Technology 101 section here on this blog, with some of the basic things that it is useful to know.

Day 6 on the CELTA course

Celta course trainee Dan Arp tells us a little about Day 6 on the course which, among other things included looking at various language analysis issues:

At times it can be hard to take all the information on board, Dan tells us, but he sees what his tutor Gerard is doing as being "planting seeds to cultivate over the course of [our] teaching careers".

Footnote: We produced the audio as part of a demonstration of podcasting in the session on technology on Day 7 of the course.