At IATEFL Liverpool this year, there was special session where presenters were invited to come along and speak about the times in their life when things hadn’t gone as well as expected. The aim of the evening, as described on the IATEFL website was as follows:

This IATEFL Failure Fest will focus on innovation in language learning and teaching with short snappy presentations in which brave presenters reflect on what they’ve tried and hasn’t worked, and what we all might learn from the experience.

Alongside compare Ken Wilson, the seven special guests were Bethany Cagnol, Chia Suan Chong, Andy Cowie, Herbert Puchta, Jeremy Harmer, Rakesh Bhanot, Valeria Franca and Willy Cardoso, with some good #eltchat friends in the line-up.

You can watch the video of this event by clicking here.

Inspired by this event, we’d like you to share your teaching failure stories with us. You can write the stories on your blog, or we can post them for you here on the #eltchat website. Then, in a couple of weeks, we will discuss failure and what it means on an #eltchat discussion.

We’d like to know how you failed, what it felt like and what you learned from the experience. It’s something that every teacher will experience, and we can learn even more by reflecting on it afterwards. So join the #eltchat failure blog challenge and let’s share our failures together!

And just to prove, that we don’t just walk the walk, here’s #eltchat moderator James Taylor’s own failure story.

We can’t wait to read your stories!

Bikes photo taken from http://flickr.com/eltpics by @philbird, used under a CC Attribution Non-Commercial license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Blog Posts in Response to this Challenge

Teachers, learn from your mistakes

by Retno Sofyaniek

Failure Fest #1: Inspired by great educators

 by Rose Bard

POST FAILURE FEST POST

& THROUGH THEIR EYES by Ann Loseva

Unfinished Business: how I failed as a Business English teacher (and why that matters)

 by Wiktor Kostrzewski

Fest #1: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth…” 

My Failures
by Theodora Papapanagiotou

theodorapap.blogspot.com

 

The #ELTchat blog has been nominated and now it’s time to vote!

May the best blog win

First Chat  - 12 P.M. BST   Second Chat 21 P.M. BST

Getting off that Intermediate Plateau;

Classroom Ideas

It all started with this great slide presentation which got many #ELTchatters thinking about themselves reaching a plateau; how they often feel stuck and need to find ways to get out of it, whether they feel stuck and unispired in their jobs, or following a course of study, such as a DELTA or MA and they have reached that dreaded stage!!!!

The Plateau Effect: Why People Get Stuck…and How to Break Through from ThePlateauEffect

Then this theme reminded us of Katy Davies’ presentation at IATEFL on the famous intermediate plateau.

Have a look at Katy’s prezi below and read Jo Sayer’s summary of her talk and Katy’s own blog post about it.

During this second #ELTchat, we hope to share ideas of how to approach teaching intermediate learners so we can get them off that intermediate plateau and help them become advanced learners!

Hello #ELTchatters,

As #ELTchat regulars are well aware of, in the last few weeks we have been trying a different way of choosing topics for our weekly chats, not because we wish to be less democratic, but the recent IATEFL conference has provided us with a wealth of stimulating ideas and conversations which all three of us moderators felt would be a great idea to continue and develop with our PLN.

Royalty free image from www.morguefile.com

This week’s topics

12 P.M. BST     Motivation

We are going to be discussing two talks  dealing with the same subject. Follow the links in the titles of the talks to watch the videotaped sessions from IATEFL

This is a summary of the 1200 PM BST #ELTchat held on May 5, 2013. The topic of the chat was inspired by two IATEFL sessions The ELTJ Debate (a debate about whether coursebooks reflect students’ lives and needs with Scott Thornbury vs Catherine Walters) and The decline and fall of coursebooks (a talk by Simon Greenall). You can also read Scott and Catherine‘s follow up blog posts.

After the staid and dry way in which I wrote my first summary, I thought I’d try something different. What better way to summarize a great rambling chat like this than with a rambling infographic. The summary can also be downloaded as a PDF in case you need to copy any text.

About the Author

Adi Rajan is a Business English trainer and course designer with a global consulting firm in Bombay, India. He is interested in cross-cultural competence, disruptive innovation, MOOCs & Mandarin. His blog is No Wind, No waves

This is a summary of the 1200 PM GMT #ELTchat on the Process Approach to Writing held on March 27, 2013. It’s my first ELTchat summary and it’s come out looking like an extended and tortured reported speech exercise  I’m definitely not taking this route the next time round. 

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Definitions

The chat kicked off with @Marisa_C sharing a link to a definition of process writing (PW). The Teaching English site describes process writing as treating “all writing as a creative act which requires time and positive feedback to be done well” and lays out three stages to accomplish this: pre-writing, focusing ideas, and evaluating, structuring and editing. Additionally, @kevchanwow shared an insightful blogpost focusing on the practical application of PW. Later, @MisterMikeLCC tweeted a link to a presentation on PW.

Creativity or conformity

@adi_rajan felt that process writing forces students to conform and create output that is often very similar.  @kevchanwow commented that if students get caught up in group-think, especially if the teacher starts with a brainstorming activity, then similar texts are a very real danger. @adi_rajan echoed this view and felt that brainstorming activities could lead to similar content; and structuring exercises could lead to a similar look and feel. @Marisa_C questioned this perspective and asked whether @adi_rajan and @kevchanwow were suggesting that when left to their own devices, students couldn’t produce text independently of the group. @adi_rajan argued that especially in business writing, exercises to structure text often target an ideal response and he wasn’t sure if this was desirable. However, @Marisa_C and @efl101 didn’t see a problem in students producing similar texts especially in the case of business letters which as @Marisa_C pointed out are generally very similar making them more teachable. @Marisa_C went on to suggest that there wasn’t a problem with students producing similar texts unless you were teaching creative writing classes. @galactadon extended this idea by stating that she too doesn’t see a problem with similarity because imitation isn’t exclusive to ELT and that many creative writing exercises use imitation of style and form for mastery.

The group seemed to be reaching consensus about acquitting PW of accusations of limiting creativity. However, the original dissenters weren’t yet ready to concede. @kevchanwow contended that within the constraints of the genre, students should still be expressing some serious individuality. @adi_rajan questioned the goal of working towards a model text and added that he would rather see a diversity of responses in the absence of which he could just distribute templates and ask students to fill in the blanks. @Marisa disagreed and stated that this was a moot point for her in a language class because the training ground is not always where you display creativity. @kevchanwow clarified the issue of creativity by pointing out that the question isn’t whether texts are similar but if students have an opportunity to truly express what they wish to. In response, @efl101 shared the following formula: “creative = expression, most/rest = communicate message + don’t get embarrassed by writing”.  @Marisa concluded this part of a discussion when she sagely added “we can happily disagree. The ability to creatively use language and practice language use isn’t separable to me.”

Value or vapid

The chatters agreed that PW was generally useful. @efl101 commented that since communication is key and most writing in TL is for purpose, chunks are very useful; which PW helps with.  Despite his earlier comments about the drawbacks of PW, @kevchanchow admitted to still liking PW. He suggested that his students generally don’t like to take the time to write well and PW slows the process down. @shaunwilden highlighted the built-in time PW allows for feedback and its benefits.  @MarjorieRosenbe drew on her experience with teaching writing for CAE and BEC classes which require a lot of structure to illustrate PW’s value.

Product or process

The discussion, thus far, avoided contrasting the product and process approaches. However, @efl101 asserted that the overuse of PW causes problems in exams because there’s no time to process-write in an exam. @shaunwilden wondered whether @efl101 would recommend teaching product instead in an exam context. @efl101 countered this by suggesting it would be better to change the exam system. @Marisa_C recommended that just before an exam, a product approach, sans preparation, might be better.

A glut of writing

@efl101 asked the group to consider whether too much time is spent on writing.  When @shaunwilden responded that this might depend on the type of class, @efl101 clarified that he was referring to general classes where he felt that writing as a percentage of total time was overdone.  @Shuanwilden suggested that this imbalance could be the result of the school syllabus, course book, teacher or all three. @efl101 added that all three were responsible for the dominance of writing which is also measurable and perhaps easier to work on than speaking. @adi_rajan thought that the number of writing lessons was disproportionate to how often we write in real life.  @efl101 agreed but felt that this was personally also an area that he was least comfortable with when using L2 himself.

@muranava argued that writing is not over done because there are many problems in L1 writing.  @joannaacre had the same opinion and said that students often don’t know how to write in their L1 and are expected to write in L2.   @kevchanwow wasn’t sure whether too much time is spent on writing but thought there’s not enough time for the kind of feedback that leads to students’ development.  @michellegriffin and @alanmtait shared similar perspectives from Spain and Korea respectively.  @michellegriffin added that the issue is compounded when we consider the types of writing we are most likely to do in real life.  @adi_rajan concurred with this stating that students were more likely to write tweets and text messages as opposed to the elaborate texts that come out of writing classes.

Leveraging PW

After much deliberation over the challenges of process writing, as well as writing in general, the discussion turned to ways of leveraging PW to make it more effective. @efl101 quipped that PW is a process of diminishing intervention when it works best. @Marisa_C recommended including mini syllabuses of PW before moving to FW for each genre. @joannaacre echoed this idea by stating that it was like building and layering bit by bit. @muranava felt that product, process and genre are complementary and @Marisa_C agreed saying that ‘PW wholesale’ didn’t seem like a great idea to her.  @efl101 suggested combining PW with TBL, including real tweets, updates and forum comments. Others agreed that integrating writing with other skills was an area with a lot of potential.

Feedback in PW

@shaunwilden sensing that we were drifting from the topic queried the group on how we handle feedback during PW and here are the results:

Self & Peer assessment

• @bnleez lets learners correct what they can first (self/peer assessment) before intervening.
• @adi_rajan likes to use peer feedback with a simple inventory of things to look for as students review each other’s work
• @Marisa_C pointed out the importance of using criteria and acquainting students on how to use them.

Teacher prompts

• @Marisa_C suggested using PW time for teacher prompted (discreet) hints rather than correction to save time spent on explicit feedback.
• @bnleez suggested that when using teacher prompts, mixing up corrected feedback so the L2 writer doesn’t feel discouraged. @bnleez also added that a lot of corrected feedback tends to be indirect, creating teachable moments.

Error correction codes

• Negligible discussion on the ever-familiar codes except a zany link from @Marisa_C.

Color-coding:

• @Marisa_C offered colour coding as an alternative to  the well known error correction codes

Tech tools:

• @shaunwilden pointed out that the advantage of using tech tools such as Google docs and Wikis is the focus on PW.
• @adi_rajan recommended using social media for “redoing” which involves getting students to blog their writing, get peer and teacher feedback and then reposting.
• @Marisa referred chatters to @russell1955 for more on how screencasting can be used for giving feedback and @shaunwilden shared a link to Russell Stannard’s research paper.
• @adi_rajan has used online writing evaluation tools like Criterion but finds them lacking.
• @shaunwilden records himself talking about a piece of work then sending the recording to students.

Issues

• @efl101 pointed out that feedback which involves probing underlined items, attempting self correction, redoing, content analysis and discussion takes a lot of time. However, this is time well spent because he feels that concrete feedback and correction are motivating in writing particular if students can redo their writing.
• @kevchanchow finds that even with intense training, students identify less than 50% of their own mistakes and that feedback is for growth, not error correction.
• @Marisa_C queried the group about dealing with students who prefer the teacher to correct. @adi_rajan shared that his learners often feel cheated if they don’t get teacher feedback. He talks about the benefits of self-correction and peer to peer feedback with his students but they are not always convinced.  @Marisa_C suggested employing a good sales pitch.

Aside: PW banned in the DELTA?

@EBEFL wanted to know whether it was true that process writing classes were banned from DELTA module 2.  @Marisa_C explained that this wasn’t the case but she thought many DELTAs avoid PW because the lesson needs to be micro-planned to a very fine detail and the teacher is in danger of seeming inactive. She went on to add that if you have planned for 20 minutes of continuous writing and you are just sitting and monitoring, then it might suggest a poorly planned lesson for that context.

Conclusion

The overall trend of the discussion seemed to indicate that despite some drawbacks, PW is a robust approach to teaching writing to ESL students.  What’s more, it’s not all that difficult to run and as @Marisa_C puts it “if two people collaborate, they can experience PW in action.” Beyond ease of use, there were questions about effectiveness. @efl101 identifies purpose of writing as key i.e., writing that is translatable into real world experience.  @bnleez suggests an authentic audience in addition to purpose to make writing meaningful. In conclusion and in  defense of PW, we return to @efl101 and his pithy statement that most writing is structured and that genuine ‘stream of consciousness’ writing is best left to Joyce et al.

Resources

Here’s a list of links shared during the chat and the people who tweeted them.

• Approaches to process writing (@Marisa_C)
• Process writing: mixing it up (@kevchanwow)
• Reexamining the witting process (@MisterMikeLC)
• Information mapping® (@BobK99)
• International Pen Friends (@BobK99)
• Funny error correction codes (@Marisa_C)
• Russell Stannard’s research on feedback and screen capture (@shaunwilden)

All images in this post are sourced from http://www.morgueFile.com 

About the Author

Adi Rajan is a Business English trainer and course designer with a global consulting firm in Bombay, India. He is interested in cross-cultural competence, disruptive innovation, MOOCs & Mandarin. His blog is No Wind, No waves

May 1^st ELTChat Summary: What are your criteria for evaluating web based tools?

Summary contributed by Sue Annan – @sueannan on Twitter and first appeared on her blog

Thanks to the Secret DoS for the summary.

Officially we were gathered to discuss how research in the classroom was done and how it was then used for the improvement of teaching. I’m not overly confident that we fulfilled this aim, but we didn’t wander too far off topic for the hour allotted to (by?) us. A full list of participants is included as a footnote to this summary.

The first question of substance was raised by the redoubtable @sueannan: “what do you mean by ‘doing research’?” @shaunwilden set out the contexts that often give rise to research: it might be required for formal professional development, it might be because you are writing an article, it might be for less formal CPD. @Marisa_C chimed in to point out that research could be large scale and statistical as well as small scale and classroom-based. @simon_borg (note the underscore) did not join in, but it is worth pointing out that he has highlighted in the past that teachers have cited a  misconception that research has to be large scale and statistical as a reason for not getting involved. With this in mind, @Marisa_C’s reminder that oranges were not the only fruit was welcome. It also unleashed a torrent of questions about what could be categorised as research:

• Student feedback?
• Class polls?
• Lesson transcriptions?
• Interaction patterns?
• Analysing student writing?
• Evaluating new practice?  

Although I didn’t weigh in at this stage, I will now and will say that none of these are classroom research. They are all potentially useful means of carrying out classroom research, but to be considered as research, it’s not just what you do but what you do with what you do.

I put forward my views on what research might look like fairly late into the discussion, stating that I thought that it needed to be methodical, systematic, ethical, transparent and worthwhile. I also put forward the rather contentious statement that most ELT research was execrably designed. It was a question of minutes before @shaunwilden suggested that this was clearly opinionated and not based upon anything empirical. He was quite right, of course, and it was only half-heartedly that I put up the defence that most ELT research was small scale, inconclusive, had little to no random testing and was invariably beyond replication.

There was discussion around the validity of small scale research. The first thing in its favour was that all teachers can do small scale research (@Florentina_T). Nevertheless, help is often needed in order to make the research any good (@shaunwilden). What needs to be done is to prevent the research from becoming no more than whimsical opinions tied to a literature review (@thesecretdos).  Surely, it was asked, small scale localised research was good to  see? What do you mean by “good” was the rejoinder: is it endearing? Yes. Is it admirable? Yes. Is it reliable? Hmmm…

What to research was an area that we talked around. It was clear that there was agreement that we didn’t need to be reinventing the wheel and also that we didn’t need to be looking constantly for alternatives to the wheel either. Classroom based research is often relevant only within the context in which it is carried out. The idea of copying someone else’s research in your context is to test their hypotheses in other environments. If the same sort of results emerge, it lends strength to their tentative observations. If the same sort of results don’t emerge, it highlights areas for consideration that their research did not uncover. Personally, I think this is where some of my frustration at ELT research stems from: there are thousands upon thousands of small scale research projects that seem to stand in isolation. As a result, to paraphrase @Marisa_C, most research ends up being pretty inconclusive. @louisealix68 referred to reading previous research in order to avoid repeating mistakes, but I think it might be worth reframing this ever so slightly: it is worth reading research in order to try and repeat it with fewer mistakes: the difference (to my ears at least) is to highlight that when we try to replicate somebody else’s research, our work is an extension of  theirs – not just another individual effort to try and reach understanding, but and example of how standing upon the shoulders of giants can help us to see further. The individualism of much of western research focuses us away from the collaborative discoveries and also, as was pointed out in the chat, away from the publication of research that fails: it should go without saying that we need scope to publish much more upon failure because we learn from failure more than we learn from success: when our research fails to answer our research question, we need to publish this because we have learnt what doesn’t  work: valuable information for the researchers that come after us.

We discussed the reliability of research. @shaunwilden proposed that research can be reliable if it fixes an issue or helps teachers to teach better. @Florentina_T questioned my predilection for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and asked whether or not teachers could do them (and indeed, whether or not teachers should do them). Unfortunately, I am not yet swayed. I made the point that just wanting to do research is not enough. It is important to want to do good research. We have to be wary of the temptation to blind ourselves to flawed research because we want to be encouraging of teachers who are motivated enough to explore their practice. There is simply no point in doing research that isn’t up to scratch: the conclusions it leads to will be unsafe and it is not enough to say that it’s valid because it helps the teacher-researcher to improve their practice: we are susceptible to an impressive list of biases as I have highlighted elsewhere in my blog and I have yet to find research that suggests that the teachers were absolutely confounded by their findings. RCTs are worth doing (when possible) because they are the gold standard of scientific enquiry: so, to answer @Florentina_T: this is why they should be done and if the situation is such that they cannot be done by teachers, then we need to investigate to see what is stopping us from using them. What makes research reliable, I suggested, was research that was well-designed and replicable. At this point, I got the feeling that I was beginning to irritate some people with my grumpiness and more than one person put forward the view that I was being “a tad too esoteric”.  I will leave to one side any discussion about the fairness or otherwise of such characterisation, but will take advantage of this summary to highlight my main point which is that research which is worth doing is worth doing well. I am sure that all would agree with this (perhaps because it is an innocuously bland observation!).

So, the chat proceeded, how do teachers get into research? @louisealix68 suggested ongoing reflection and evaluation would soon enough throw up patterns that would spark curiosities. Only once a problem was identified could teachers be expected to start trying to identify ways of solving the problem. @lexicojoules made the observation that it was essential for teachers to feel interested in their research: investigating something worthy that isn’t of much interest is likely to lead to burnout. There was discussion about the use of observation checklists as a tool that could lead to research. Perhaps rather sulkily, I ventured the observation that checklists were limiting and encouraged observers to look for what was on the list (blinding them to whatever was not on the list). It was clear that I was not winning many friends with my gloomy outlook, but in my defence, this is an established criticism of such checklists.  Nevertheless, I am happy to concede @muranava’s point that “anything that helps teachers to systematize their teaching…is helpful” (with some guarded reservations about the “anything” word…). Common ground that emerged was that teachers should engage in reflective practice prior to embarking upon research: this can be done through reading, writing, wondering, observing and check listing. I am going to abuse my authorial position to argue that teachers really need to read a lot about the hows and whys of research before they embark upon it. The seminal Cohen and Manion belongs in every staffroom alongside the no less magisterial (and perhaps eminently more readable) Dornyei title.

The chat threw up some interesting avenues for those who wish to pursue this area of interest:

• Penny Ur’s wonderful talk on teachers and research: http://t.co.h3BSv6V0Wl 
• A teacher’s research toolkit: http://t.co/KnmOf3W6lm
• Simon Borg’s book on teacher research: http://t.co/vOcJhSpGMB
• Ben Goldacre’s contributions to UK Department for Education: http://t.co/9dlaptkAom and http://t.co/A0liDyPFIr

For UK-based teachers (and those who can afford to travel to the UK), it is also worth highlighting @researchEd2013 – an impressive grassroots conference for teachers who are interested in research within education: started by the admirable @tombennett71.

There was an uncontested assertion that this was an area worthy of revisiting in the future. I hope we do so.  

Participants:

@aClilToClimb, @bengoldacre, @bhrbahar, @bnleez, @evoks036, @Florentina__T, @idc74, @jobethsteel, @JoJoUppark, @lauraahaha, @lexicojules, @louisealix68, @Marisa_C, @MarjorieRosenbe, @MicaelaCarey, @muranava, @naomishema, @prese1, @pysproblem81, @Sharonzspace, @Shaunwilden, @SueAnnan, @TheSecretDoS, @UpparkHG, @web20education

A couple of weeks ago, the seemingly popular topic of moving from Teacher (T) to Teacher Trainer (TT) was hotly discussed by the #ELTchatters. Entering into a New Year means reflecting on our future dreams or ambitions. This topic was proposed by Sharon Noseley (@shaznosel) as she felt she needed to reach out to her fellow chatters for their advice as on-line information offers courses and training but no real ‘concrete’ guidance.

Am I ready to be a TT ? What do I need in order to be a trainer? How can I judge if I’m ready?

So what did the experienced TTs have to offer the teachers who lurked and took in valuable advice that Wednesday night??

Qualifications & experience required

Most chatters referred to Marisa Constantinides very informative blog  ‘Oh, To be a Teacher Trainer‘! This blog mentions a quote from H.G Widdowson (1984):

“teachers need to be trained in practical techniques, but also must be educated to see those techniques as exemplars of certain theoretical principles…”

These words changed Marisa’s focus on teacher education and added a new perception of what training and educating classroom teachers meant. Similar reflections were added by the #ELTchatters.

There was a mix of opinion regarding formal qualifications; some believed an MA was essential to give the TT in depth knowledge in order to take the step from teaching learners EFL to training teachers of those learners.  Marisa_C & @SophiaMav said that there are universities that offer MAs with a Teacher Education focus e.g. The University of Warwick & The University of Manchester. @Marisa_C also added that one of the best courses for teacher development is Marjon’s in Plymouth, although this is not an MA. @Frances Eales shared the point that IH and BELL have courses for people with a wide variety of backgrounds and offer core skills and project work. Also, @evingiddens suggested World Learning/SIT Graduate Institute @SIT_TESOL_Cert offers a Teacher Trainer License.

MAs seemed a popular choice and @shaznosel informed the group that at the university she works for in the UK, she was told in order to get involved in TT at universities, a MA not just DELTA is required. @Marisa_C added that she prefers TTs with MAs because of the reading and the research this involves. So if you are considering this path, do remember that quite a few MA courses will also give you credit if you already hold the DELTA (@Shaunwilden).

@Shaunwilden said that there are so many different types of teacher training that there is not a one course fits all. It was clearly established by @elawassell  that DELTA is a minimum for Cambridge if u want to be a CELTA trainer – but they also ask for TT experience., which should include some indication that you had done workshops, observed etc. @dalecoulter asked what do they consider as ‘concrete’ training experience? Which was confirmed by @Marisa_C as documented because too many teachers add the title “teacher trainer” next to their name without any real experience. There are also those who started TT a few years back (no offence intended!) that had not done any formal teacher training. @MarjorieRosenbe, for example, has been doing teacher training for the last 25 years but didn’t do formal training.

So how can teachers actually gain experience to apply for a TT position?

@Marisa_C suggested that doing a workshop at a conference does not make you a teacher trainer; however, presenting  is a very good beginning  and she advised us to get started!! @MarjorieRosenbe advised teachers to stay in the classroom as it helps in teacher training. @dalecoulter suggested that working as a director of studies at summer camps was a good way for him to gain experience, as they include seminars, observations and feedback (w/criteria).

It seems a course and experience go hand in hand as @OztrkOzge pointed out she started her  MA after 2-year-teaching experience but courses made her wish that she had had more experience as the experienced teachers were much more successful.

@cuppa_coffee always thought that teacher ‘training’ was about techniques, methods and that “education” was about issues, context and evaluation. It was agreed that every situation is different and @seburnt summed it up by stating experience and qualifications are viewed differently in different contexts.

In the classroom by @SueAnnan via eltpics

Skills required and reflections of experienced TTs

The chat naturally progressed to the WHAT and HOW teachers develop the skills needed to train. The ‘what’ consists of the content to be shared and the importance of keeping up to date with new methods or approaches, technology etc. The ‘ how’  is an ever-changing process, knowing what works and what to ignore and finding effective ways to process  tasks and successfully deliver the core ideas to Ts . A number of issues were debated: How to plan teacher training courses? Observe lessons? Give feedback ? Resources? Locality? Culture? Time? Personality? Psychology?

@Shaunwilden asked the million dollar question: Can any teacher become a teacher trainer?

The ultimate response was NO!!

@Marisa_C made the point that TTs should have a wide and varied teaching experience plus the ability to develop trainee’s ideas, not their own, to which @eltknowledge added that in the beginning, it’s easier for a trainer to suggest their own ideas, but the skill is in helping trainees to develop their own.

@MarjorieRosenbe felt that qualities like understanding but setting limits would be a starting point for her; she also added that flexibility and openness are also at the top of the list. @dale coulter mentioned organisational abilities especially regarding the administration load and @DanielaArghir added that good organisational skills will help/let you concentrate on the actual training. @shaznosel believes you should be open to other Ts ideas and opinions and be able to “listen” to them. For @toulasklavou good TT should really love their job, learn from it and care about the trainees and for @Shaunwilden similar teacher skills are required for TT such as empathy, listening, understanding.

@kevingiddens added that mentoring and learning skills related to TT (positive regard/emotional intelligence) must be part of the process and @FrancesEales stated the need to to be able to deal with people tactfully but firmly. @Marisa_C also mentioned counselling skills, ability to analyse and support in a developmental rather than prescriptive way.

@Shaunwilden argued that lots of psychology is involved in TT, especially in the feedback stage and added that he found this a challenge when dealing with CELTA trainees for the first time. @shaznosel agreed that it must be difficult to tell someone their weaknesses and @FrancesEales added that you need to be emotionally and physically quite resilient to cope with people’s emotional stress. @Marisa_C totally agreed and added that she had trained a good number of drama queens !

Inspiration plays a role too…@Marisa_C mentioned the importance of being able to inspire one’s trainees and to have  outstanding class teaching presentation skills. @shaznosel added to this point that an inspiring TT means inspired teachers which means inspired ss!

@Marisa_C and @cuppa_coffee  discussed an interesting concept- the need to apply  Knowle’s model of Andragogy. Here’s a link to help understand this theory http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/knowls.html

@FrancesEales thought observation is the most challenging skill/art and is still learning how to do it better and ask for feedback from ‘trainees’. @Marisa_C added the importance of handling feedback that builds on trainee’s reflection and ability to improve rather than destroy. This led to a very important point, the teacher as a reflective practitioner

@cuppa_coffee argued that a good TT is a reflective practitioner, critical thinker, and coach and @DanielaArghir mentioned reflective Ts make good TTs to which @Marisa_C agreed; she added, however, that although more recent courses are good at producing reflecting teachers, this is not always the case. @rapple18 suggested that there’s a strong case for building on reflection as it seems to be more upfront in TT than class teaching. To which @Shaunwilden added “you’re right there is a helluva lot of reflection in TT”. @shaznosel finally said that if we were not reflective, nobody would be chatting on ELTchat, thus Ts who are motivated and passionate about teaching may want to move onto TT!

Advice and best practices

It seems obvious from the above comments that as a T considers Teacher Trainingas a career move, the T sets themselves apart from their fellow colleaguesand learners. This move depends on the culture and context of where the T works. so , back to the original question:

Are you ready to become a TT? How can you judge if you’re ready? Are you enjoying teaching? Are colleagues turning to you for advice ? Are you reading this summary? May be it is time to move on!

Some advice…

• Staying in the classroom helps in teacher training. Plus, it is important as well, to try out methods in the classroom before training teachers to do them. Also  it is vital to establish rapport with participants in teacher training (@MarjorieRosenbe).

• Teacher trainers should not impose their ideas on trainees but help them develop their own (@Marisa_C & @elttknowledge).

• TTs need to be committed to continuous self-development, appreciate critical feedback and be able to act on it (@kevingiddens)

• Learn about the laws in certain countries, there are things forbidden in certain institutions (@natibrandi).

• Remember that you’re not dealing only with the language. Your trainees are not (only?) learners of language (@elawassell).

• Videotaping can be as a great tool for feedback and reflection (@natibrandi, Marisa_C, @seburnt, @shaznosel, @eltknowledge). However, according to @eltknowledge it might be difficult to get trainees to agree to be videoed. @Marisa_C also added that it can be time-consuming to watch on the spot and shared that she nowadays tends to videotape snippets which can be emailed or upload for trainees to watch.

Opportunities

After almost an hour of frantic tweeting  and debate , some sound advice was begged for!

How can teachers get into teacher training? (@ shaznosel)

So you have all these qualities and qualifications, which doors do you knock and who’s willing to hear? (@Toulasklavou)

@Dalecoulter suggested that getting in contact with local teaching organisations and offering to do workshops can definitely help; for @Shaunwilden, getting involved in local events and being prepared to do some voluntary work would be a starting point to get experience. Finally @Marisa added that doing TT work for publishers can also be a great step to start a career in TT.

Teacher training is becoming a big industry with CELTA centres around the world training 12,000 candidates annually. But how can someone become a CELTA trainer?

@Marisa_C said that you can apply to be trained up as a CELTA trainer at any centre that accepts tutors in training but you need to pay for this; @Shaunwilder added that you also need to be a DELTA holder to become a CELTA trainer.

Clearly from our chat, TT is not to be taken lightly but can be rewarding and motivating..so if this chat sparked an interest in you as a teacher then follow the advice and go for it. As @Noreen said “You can set your heart on whatever you want, as long as you work hard”.

Links

As usual, some great links were offered. At last! Especially for those of us who have searched mindlessly on the net!! Some links proved to be direct and invaluable in terms of guidance and others proved humorous and allowed the T to think about such a big decision in their career..

Oh, to be a Teacher Trainer 
How to move from being a teacher to becoming a teacher trainer 
The roles of a TEFL teacher http://t.co/17u8m6X8
Become an SIT trainer 
World Learning SIT TESOL

Note: This summary was produced in collaboration with the amazing Sharon Noseley and was my first  #ELTchat summary ever. Dear Shaz, thank you for being so supportive and involved. I really loved working with you 

 

About Sharon: Sharon has been teaching EFL to all levels and ages for the past seventeen years. She works in a Foreign Language School in Greece and starts her day with Pre-Juniors and ends it with the C2 or business classes.She teaches EAP at the De Montfort University in Leicester in the summer. She also enjoys  working as an oral examiner for the Cambridge and ESB examination boards. Sharon has completed her Module 2 and 3 of DELTA and is currently working on Module 1…this has taken her four years!! Which proves you can study whilst working and bringing up a family but you may need more time! Teaching is her passion and she would love to move into TT in the future, to share that passion!!

About Sophia: I’m an EFL teacher currently teaching in a private Primary & Secondary school in Athens and studying for my MA in EdTech & TESOL with the University of Manchester. I mainly blog about English Language Teaching and Educational Technology as well as Education and Professional Development. I started blogging because I need to connect and share with other educators. There is so much we can learn from one another.

Okay, I’m happy to hold my hand up and admit that this topic was my suggestion. My daughter is about to start teaching in China, and her classes will contain around 40 students each. Not able to give her advice from my own experience, I turned to the experts who take part in #ELTchat on twitter every Wednesday- and they came up trumps, as usual .

The chat was made up of teachers from around the world- some with experience of teaching large classes, ready to impart their knowledge. Others were there to gain information, or even just to commiserate with / take their hats off to those who taught large groups.

an #eltpic by @senicko

@Shaunwilden started the ball rolling by asking how these classes differ, apart from size. At this point the numbers began to appear: people taught classes of 25, 27, 32, 38 and 50. Classroom management appeared to be one answer to his question.

Another was the fact that these classes often contain mixed abilities, language levels, motivation, needs, interests, and goals. Certainly, many classes may present as mixed ability, but when working with 40 students it might prove difficult to measure effectiveness.

Does language acquisition actually take place in a large class?

How do you make opportunities for students to speak?

@SophiaMav and @AnitaJankovic suggested splitting the students into smaller groups. But it isn’t easy to monitor so many groups. Even spotting mistakes needs the teacher to be aware of what is happening in the class.@theteacherjames suggested that giving worthwhile feedback would be a challenge, and Shaun thought that monitoring wouldn’t really be much use.

Using the more able students as TAs was a popular idea, as was the idea of splitting the group so that the teacher could concentrate on the weaker students.

@MarjorieRosenberg suggested that large classes can be livelier and more rewarding than reticent smaller classes.@shaznosel asked how it would be possible to ensure that the weaker students were engaged and producing language.

James thought that large classes gave reluctant students a place to hide.It was suggested that a group should only have 3 members to avoid any of the students coasting.

Sophia agreed that it was important to find active roles for students to avoid them ‘lurking’. @CotterHUE thought that teachers were not reassured that they could reach all students and help with their goals in large classes.

@timjteacher suggested alternate assignments to focus on different student needs. Again you have the problem of monitoring and giving feedback in an effective way.

Technology to the rescue?

@naomishema uses edmodo to help her students feel ‘noticed’. Her students have the perception that they are being given individual attention. The asynchronous communication ensures that everyone has time to connect with the teacher.

@joannacre suggested study groups with students recording themselves for homework.

Shaun thought that phones would be available so the teacher could utilise the text function.

How does the teacher cope with 40-ish names?

Naomi found remembering names challenging.

Anita found that seating arrangements were helpful.

@prese1 used a register with a photo next to each name.

At the very least name tags would seem to be necessary!

How can the needs of ALL the students be met?

Ask students to draw up class rules at the start. Turn it into a contract  so that they know what they are working towards.

Concentrating on the weaker students is alright up to a point. The more confident learners also need the teacher’s attention or they could become bored and disruptive. The teacher needs to know the class well enough to know who is weak and who is just underperforming.

@louisalix68 told us about a school where she worked with large classes. Each class had 2 teachers so each could concentrate where needed.

Naomi said that her breaks were always taken up by the weaker students.

Challenges are needed for all students, so providing material that lets learners progress at their own pace is key, but difficult for a teacher to prepare and stay on top of without putting in a lot of time in the planning and marking stages.

@toulasklavou thought that large classes are not ideal for learning unless the teacher is skilful and the students motivated.

Should you pair weaker students with stronger ones? It was suggested that the weaker ones could feel intimidated, so the pairing of complete opposites wasn’t very practical.

Is the situation easier with a class of teenagers or adults?

Tonight’s participants thought that teaching adults might be better, as paying their own fees would motivate.

They could also be more demanding as they are looking for good returns for their money. Teens could be more difficult to manage and are less tolerant of the differences in likes/dislikes of others. Finding topics to engage is more of a challenge. If the teacher has to be concerned with discipline issues it is harder to get them to learn.

So, activities?

Naomi suggested having an answer key on the teacher’s desk for a group using worksheets. Students send a representative of the group to check the answers or look at hints. As there are always fast finishers it keeps everyone engaged and busy- great peer work in action!

@vmorgana gave us a useful link   Large Teenage Classes: some strategies to enjoy the lesson! http://t.co/ocSnhO7T via@barbsaka in Japan.

@CotterHue offered an idea for students to work on a series of questions with a partner and then add follow up questions.

@lewiswaitt includes his students in the preparation of resources for class and limits the amount of pre-made material.

@leoselivan shared another useful link with many immediately applicable ideas and tips from Penny Ur http://t.co/txHxdHNgG5

@designerlessons  collaboration on projects. This would engage all the students but might be difficult to monitor effectively.

For some learners using drama or humour might work, but it wouldn’t suit everyone.

What about the Class environment?

There was a discussion about the nature of the chairs and/or desks in the classroom. Being able to physically move the tables can turn a large class into small manageable units. Some of tonight’s contributors worked in places where this was not an option; chairs were in serried rows, bolted to the floor, or even had no appreciable space to set books out on. Some of the options were unsuitable for left-handed learners! Students being taught in a lecture hall have very limited options for collaboration in groups unless the teacher is creative J Anita explained that the online portion of her classes was essential. Did the setting also mean that some teachers lecture, or just go through the motions when faced with a large class in a unprepossessing environment.

 What should be avoided?

·        Correcting individual written work during class time

·        Activities that involve moving about the classroom

·        Going into class unprepared

·        Think about the syllabus

·        Mingling

·        Giving so much homework that you have no free time

What would you do for a first lesson with a large class?

 Provide a couple of packs of cards. Deal one out to each student. The number on the card is the number of facts about themselves that the student has to share.

Rory’s dice – lots of them so they can be used in a large group- students can write up the story.

And don’t forget to check out the links above- some excellent ideas there!

Thanks to everyone who joined in the discussion. The tweets flew and the advice just kept on coming. I’m sure that this chat will help people who find themselves in the position of teaching large classes in the future J