Monday, April 20, 2015

How it all started - Guest post by Anastasia Pistopoulou


 It's a great pleasure to host another wonderful person on my blog. Anastasia used to be one of my very first students. She has always been diligent, hard-working and enthusiastic learner. Now she is all that as well as a passionate educator and a loving mother. Here is her post on her first time teaching:

To be honest, I don’t remember details of the first time I entered a classroom. I do remember that I had just graduated from the School of English (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and found a job at a foreign language centre. I mainly taught grammar at all levels, from beginners to C2 level.
Although I had chosen to become a teacher in order to make lessons more interesting to learners, my first thoughts were to do the basics so as to “survive” having to deal with 10 children at the same time! The number sounds small, but this isn’t how you see it when you are totally inexperienced!
“The basics” meant that I explained the relevant grammar rule and then proceeded with exercises and lots of homework. That seems to be enough, right? That’s what I thought then, but completely changed my mind a few years later. Incorporating engaging activities that make learning meaningful has been an integral part of my teaching since then. Every year I think about my learners’ needs and interests and try to renew my creative activities.
 
Anastasia Pistopoulou is a BA holder of English Language and Literature (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). She has been working as a permanent English teacher at secondary schools in Greece since 2004 and since 2013 she has been teaching at the 2nd Vocational Senior Highschool (EPA.L.) of Amaliada.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Once upon a time....


A few weeks ago I asked my dear friend and colleague Theodore Lalos to write a guest post for my blog and he asked me if I had a particular subject in mind. I know that free writing is really difficult, so I said, why don't you write about your first time teaching?
When his post came out I thought ... this could be a great blog challenge!
So I am too going to write about my#firsttimeteaching today!

Well, I was still in my last year at the Aristoteles University, studying German lit. and language. In fact I only had 2 or 3 exams to get my degree, but I had to wait for a year since the one course was from the winter semester and the other two from the spring semester. So imagine that this was almost a gap year for me.
I had already started tutoring my cousins from my first year at the university but this does not really count for me.

That summer I went around the city giving out my CV to almost every language school there was, east, west, north and south, went through endless job interviews - people were saying to me, you are inexperienced, you don't have your diploma yet, but I kept going.
In the end I found a "job" for 3 hours a week, German beginners, kids.
My employer did not have a clue on teaching German, so I had to go to various book exhibitions and book stores and get the books, which was good because I  got the ones I liked!
So I put on my good clothes and make up, got my books and went into the classroom.
I did not know anything about pedagogy, methodology, psychology.
Just got in and started writing letters on the board "teaching" them the alphabet.
The kids were really curious to see what tis new language was about, so thank God for me they were not bored!
After practicing the letters and pronunciation we started talking about Germany showed them pictures and maps and then taught them some fixed phrases like "what's your name" and  "how are you"?
When I finished my lesson I was really happy that I pulled this through.... but now I know that I was not prepared well. I did not have a lesson plan, did  not ask advice from anyone, did not lay any games to make it more interesting for the kids.
This was the beginning ... during these 20 years I keep making mistakes, learning and sharing....

You can find the #firsttimeteaching posts over here:
The tale of a not that good novice teacher by Theodore Lalos
My First Lesson by Vicky Loras
How it all started by Anastasia Pistopoulou
First time teaching & first blog challenge by Rachel Daw 
Value the unexpected by Sophia Khan 
In Reverse by Christina Chorianopoulou 
Joanna Tsiolakis #firsttimeteaching experience
Waiting for your contributions. Send me a message if you would like to be on this list!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

#IATEFL2015: Engaging parents in their children’s English language learning - Karen Saxby

When I started watching this session, I started taking notes, but then I found myself a bit lost trying to keep up. Everything Ms. Saxby said was so interesting that I just wanted to sit back and enjoy what was being presented! So I thought ok, I will not report about this, but it IS worth following! 
Then I saw the presentation PPT and to my relief, it was so detailed, that I could actually write something myself!

In the beginning of her session, Karen Saxby showed what she was going to talk about:


explore why parents might want or not want to engage in their child’s language learning
rethink why we learn languages and then …
using those thoughts, consider how teachers could encourage parents to engage more
look at ways in which parents can help their children
 
She then explained why might a parent want to get involved in their child's English learning:
- They might have ambition for their child (maybe grow up to be bilingual)
 - They might seek wider education (for example other subjects taught in the English language)
- They might want their child to be integrated to an English language community 
- Or they might just want to do fun activities with their children
She then went on to state the 4 essential roles of the parents and teachers:
 
information  direction  caring  energising
Unfortunately it is not possible either for the teacher or for the parent to cover all four roles simultaneously.
Some parents hesitate, because they are not sure of their English level, or they don't have the time, or they just think that other subjects are important. 
So we need to go back to the basics, to find ways to engage parents.
First of all we have to explain why we learn a foreign language:
- To say what we think
-To express our personality
- To learn about the world
- To listen and answer
- To connect with people
We learn a language not only to pass exams, but also to communicate and be confident about ourselves.
So in order to help, we, teachers have to give parents more information on what we are doing in the classroom, share ideas with them . remind them how helpful they can be. 
Karen Saxby then shared some fabulous activities and gave links and where we can find more information:
Cambridge English Language Assessment
1 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB1 2EU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1223 553997
Fax: +44 (0)1223 553621
Keep up to date with what’s new via the website:
www.cambridgeenglish.org
For important information about Cambridge English exams:
For more activities for parents and children, visit:

I borrowed a lot from the slides and you can find everything ( video and PPT) over here:
 

 


Sunday, April 12, 2015

IATEFL Conference 2015: Interview with Jamie Keddie


I was actually not going to write about another interview today, but while I was watching Scott Thornbury, I saw on the right side of the page that Jamie Keddie was on as well.
He is one of my favourite people in ELT (yes, I have many favourite people) and I had the pleasure of attending one of his talks some years ago on the TESOL Macedonia Thrace convention, plus the fact that my last year's project was a video project - I have to say that after one of his webinars, I sent him a message with my students' work and my presentation and he actually gave me his feedback and I really appreciate it that he took the time to do so.
So of course I would watch this interview and write something about it!


Jamie Keddie started his interview telling thatthe IATEFL conference is just like Christmas, it happens every year and it's time for reflection, what we have done the past year and also there is a lot of food ( and fighting!!)
He then talked about his story telling - video projects and that he tries to find ways to get students to become storytellers themselves.
"Cameras hold the key"
Videos are a dominant subject in this convention and he also mentioned that YouTube has become 10 years old this February on Valentines Day.
Teachers have been trying to find ways to exploit video and how to use it to teach English.
He wants to move though from exploitation to creation.
So he puts cameras in the hands of the students. His projects are not collaborative in the classroom but more individual, he tries to promote "video-blogging" - so that students can tell stories on video.
There are a lot of ways to share the videos, students can give the m to the teacher with a flash stick or upload it on google drivers, but the best way is to upload them online so that they can be shared with the whole class. 
The follow up depends in the nature of the task. It can be feed back or asking questions.

He then gave us an example of such an activity.
Students make an 1-minute- video telling a "lost and found" story, telling what is the most valuable thing they have lost or they have found or they have won. This story can be true or a lie. The other students who watch have to decide if this person is telling the truth or not.

Jamie Keddie was then asked if there is a special preparation for the tasks and he answered that the teacher can give feedback on scripts for example but the activities can be done better individually at home with peace and quiet.
He also suggested some videos he has made with advice on how to make videos which can be found on his YouTube Channel.

He then talked about his experience talking on an online conference and how it is different form face to face conference and he pointed out that talking on a camera to virtual audience is also a new presentation skill that has to be crafted.

It was a real pleasure watching this interview
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-jamie-keddie

IATEFL Conference 2015:Interview with Scott Thornbury

Browsing the sessions and interviews today, deciding what to write about, I couldn't resist on watching Scott Thornbury talking about Blended Learning.
Since I have completed an iTDi course on Blended Learning with Pete Sharma last month and my main work right now is working on a Flipped Classroom, I just had to know more about this.

It seems that Scott Thornbury is currently writing a paper on Blended Learning especially about the use of technology.
He mentions that he is training teachers online.
He has developed a series of criteria that technology (apps, tools) has to meet in order to be useful.
There has to be comprehensible input, output, practice, feedback, correction, guidance, scaffolding ...
Of course no app could meet the all the criteria, but it would make a good guide for developers and designers when they create a new app.
Another thing he pointed out is that technology will always be the addition to the classroom learning and not the main source.

In order for learning to happen, we need a lot of repetitive practice which is not fun.
So why not make it fun and move the practice out of the classroom?
He also talked about the Flipped classroom, which is a balance way to pre-classromm work.

I am really glad that people like Scott Thornbury support new methods of teaching and giving us more guidance of the subject.

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-scott-thornbury

Saturday, April 11, 2015

IATEFL Convention 2015: Plenary talk with Donald Freeman

I feel so lucky that I can take part in this convention from my living room! Otherwise I wouldn't have the chance to follow all these wonderful talks and interviews.
First plenary talk of the Convention was the on with Donald Freeman " Frozen in thought".
Donald Freemas's talk started with the definition of the word "reason:.
Reasoning: figuring out, justifying, explaining


There are two ways using this word:
  • To reason about something
  • think reasons for something
Then he presented reasons as myths (common beliefs) that serve a purpose. They are not right or wrong, but useful.
He then gave us an example of the teacher playing Bingo with her students, saying that this is the only way they learn, explaining that teachers try to justify their actions to others.

He divided the myths  that organize our work into 3 categories:
#myth 1
Teaching makes learning happen which is not exactly true.
Teaching influences learning, but it does not cause it. Teaching and learning ahve a relationship as a spiral movement from both the teacher and the learner.
#myth 2
The teacher has a role: he / she makes critical decisions, he/ she plans,   he/she prepares, but when it comes to learning it is  like a chess board.
The teacher makes one move and opens up new moves for the students which in turn make their move and that's how the learning happens.
#myth 3
Teaching proficiency which is mostly related to "nativeness" in a wrong way, because nativeness has to do with a geopolitical idea and not a linguistic one.
The assessment of proficiency should be done maybe in a more general way with no boundaries?

Donald Freeman then talked about the boundaries of the classroom and he showed a picture of a sculpture showing a suitcase frame. The frame is the outline of the the classroom, while the backround is the world.
He talked about "Horizontal Knowledge" which is the horizon that extends.

He then talked about "bitfalling" English and how we create a version of English for teachers when we teach.
It was a delight to attend this talk even from far away. I really enjoyed every minute of it

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/plenary-donald-freeman



IATEFL Conference 2015: Interview with Carol Read

This is the interview I should have watched first!
Carol Read, the current president of IATEFL informed us about all the events during the conference. New things this year, including a Fund Raising Initiative, all the earnings will go to new IATEFL projects.
Another Charity Initiative is the one of Julian Sayarer and Thom Jones who cycled to Manchester all the way from Frankfurt, trying to raise some funds to support project promoting English.

You can find more info over here!

Coming back to the new events, they include:
Open Space
Interactive language fair, Story telling / Drama events
A Pecha Kucha night
An interactive quiz and a lot more.

Carol Read also gave a talk on the Pre-conference event for LMCS, it was a session about poetry in the primary classroom.

She then talk about her exciting two years as a president of the IATEFL and how important it is to strengthen the connections of the associates around the world and organize local events.

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-carol-read


IATEFL Conference 2015 : Interview with Herbert Puchta

Last year I have had the luck of attending one of his plenary talks on "emotional engagement of adults". This year I have the luck of working with one of his books' series with my classes.
It would be a shame if I could not watch his interview.

Herbert Puchta is giving two talks on this year's conference.
The first one is about teaching values to young learners, especially to teenagers.
Some teachers (like myself) do believe that they are not only foreign language teachers, but they also have to help their teenage students grow up responsibly in this difficult world.
Of course there might be cultural differences from country to country, but there are also some universal values that everybody agrees on, for example environmental issues, peace, empathy, things that could make people live better.
Teachers have to be careful though and not use the model of the "rules" (you shouldn't, you mustn't, you have to) because this would not work with teenagers.
The teacher has to be a model of values himself / herself and show patience, respect, tolerance, etc.
Also the content of the lessons is important, as in all cultures, values are passed through stories from one generation to the other.

The second talk of Herbert Puchta is about "emotional engagement of adult learners" and has to do with brain emotions and language learning.
Some people think that language learning has to do only with logical, rational thinking. But emotional engagement does not only have to do with motivation. It also has to do with the brain learning better.
So what should a teacher do?
  • Challenge students, because the brain rewards you for understanding
  • Work on learning oriented assessment, so that students can understand their learning progress
  • Use narratives which have an anticipated movement and make students eager to find out what is next
Herbert Puchta went on to say that he goes around the world as an IATEFL Ambassador and has given talks in many countries.
It was a delight to watch this interview indeed.
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-herbert-puchta

IATEFL Conference 2015: Interview with Jeremy Harmer

It is a bit strange to be an official blogger to an event I do not actually attend in person! But I joined just to increase my motivation to watch sessions, plenaries and interviews and who knows, maybe next year, I will join you people!

First interview I watched was Jeremy Harmer's. And I will  continue with more during the day!
Starting the talk Jeremy Harmer talked about the last day's event, which was a literature workshop, using poems.
There were eight presentations with different ideas how to use poems in the classroom. This is a great learning experience, especially when you find the right poem, with suitable length, it speaks to the heart of the students. This is actually real language meaning. But you have to choose an accessible poem to the students.
Considering the activities, they have to "force" students to dive into the poem, swim around it and learn. This way they can re-construct the poem and also write their own. A lot of language production is happening here.
Teachers should not just ask answer to questions. If you do that, the beauty of the poem is lost.

Jeremy Harmer then talked about his book and how it has been evolving, due to the fact that technology has changed a lot. The point of the book is to record what people say and do in ELT and it is actually a reflection.

His next talk is about assessment, especially now that the government in UK wants to start testing children from the age of 5-6. There is a big debate going on if testing is good or bad, although if we think of it a bit, the whole ELT industry is based on teaching.
So the teachers have to be trained to be test-literate before they actually form an opinion on this matter.
There is also the parents' concerns about the future of their children as well as the students' and teachers' concern on how well they do at school and studies in general.
 http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/interview/interview-jeremy-harmer

All in all it was a very interesting interview
Hoping to listen to some more wonderful people!

The Tale of a Not That Good Novice Teacher - Guest post by Theodore Lalos


About a year ago, while at TESOL Greece Convention, I met a very young but yet wonderful educator, who I knew would make the difference. Today, 1 year later, I can say that I have gained a wonderful friend.It is my pleasure to present his first real "guest" post on my blog. Enjoy!
Theodora

Since this post is going to be an account of my first experience as a novice teacher, I believe that I should start this blog-post in a different way, so here it goes:
‘Once upon a time, there was a young man who was stricken by the great Recession and decided to change his career course and settle in a new field - that of the English language teaching.
Young and not at all experienced, he started his venture by distributing his CV to all the available language centres. Fortunately enough, after a successful interview he managed to get the position and was informed that he would teach various, mixed-ability classes which would be comprised of false beginners to upper-intermediate students.
Elated and overeager, he returned back home holding all the coursebooks that would keep him company for the rest of the year and tried to prepare himself. Not that this action of his bore any fruit. He was inexperienced and with limited knowledge and awareness of what pedagogy and language teaching is.
Ultimately, the big day – Wednesday I think it was, he entered the classroom. Now that I take stock of that day – after a persistent request, I think that Gloria Gaynor’s ‘At first I was afraid, I was petrified…’ is mostly appropriate.
I can still – to my surprise - recall that day! I had to teach a class of 5 and 6yos that were extremely exuberant and naughty if I’m allowed to say. The lesson, as you can guess, was about teaching children how to recognise the first three graphemes of the alphabet. Even though, I don’t really want to share with you my amazing teaching techniques, I’m obliged to do so!
So, I entered the classroom, smiled at those little and cute faces and started my instruction.
Now here comes the interesting part, are you ready?


The procedure was quite simple. I switched on the interactive whiteboard, pointed at the grapheme and sounded out the name of the letter. Then I introduced three realias – an apple, a boat made of paper and a toy car. I pointed at each item, pronounced each word and invited my eager young learners to repeat after me. I definitely drilled and killed them. But that didn’t actually prevent me from taking my excellent teaching instruction one step further! To continue my recipe for disaster, I asked my students to practice their spelling skills by writing these words on the board. A great move of mine, indeed. I taught them A, B and C and I asked them to write words that were spelt out with different graphemes. And when this stage was over, I invited the whole class to sing along with me. What a wonderful song it was! It went like this: A, B, C … A, B, C… Finally, I asked them to name the letters again and recall the words we learnt. No seriously, wasn’t that a great lesson???
My thoughts right after the ‘lesson’ were out of this world. I was convinced that I did a great job and that I imparted my knowledge to the next generation! Was I right? Of course not, but that is another story! I’m not going to describe how I have advanced and enhanced my understanding of the underlying principles of teaching, because the aim of this account was to impress on you how bad I was as a novice teacher.’


Theodore has been teaching English since 2010. He’s a TKT, CELTA and Diploma in Teacher Training holder. In 2014, he presented for the first time at the 35th Annual International TESOL Greece Convention and presented again with some success in 2015.  He’s really keen on further developing himself, and, thus he engages himself in any CPD opportunities.
My blog: https://lalostheodore.wordpress.com/


Of course now that Theodore has showed me the "wrong" way, we all expect a sequel on how it's done "the right way"!!! To be continued!! 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Keep on moving aftermath

Although we did not have a lot of attendees, we would like to thank the people who did come to our workshop.
We will never lose our good spirit and our joy and our desire to try out new things!
A big thank you to Christina Chorianopoulou for her support and her reports both on the TESOL Macedonia Thrace blog and in her personal blog! It was a delight having you around!

If you want us to organize an event for your school, don't hesitate to contact us:
http://www.personalexperience.gr/

Until we meet again!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Teacher as Learner


Sometimes, we need to experiment ourselves, to go beyond our comfort zones, test our limits and be in our students' shoes sometimes. How do they feel? This is something we have to take into consideration, explore, learn new things and be open in new things.
When the iTDi Blog with the subject "Teachers as Students" came out, I wanted so badly to write about my experience as a Learner, I did not do it, due lack of time.
Then, last week when Ken Wilson mentioned in his plenary talk that we teachers have to go back into the classroom to learn something new, a new language maybe, to empathize with our students,  I knew I had to write something about this.

Well, last year, I decided to do something completely different to foreign language teaching.
Sine I am a gym freak and my passion is spinning ( cycling in a static bike), I thought why not? And I went on to a fitness school to learn how to become a spinning instructor.
My age was and still is a deterring factor and I knew I would never find a job in this profession, but I went anyway to gain a different experience and also prove to myself (and some others) that I could do it!
The training consisted of 2 parts: theoretical and practical.
In the theoretical one, which was not that much of theory, we were given basic info on the different brands of bikes in the market, their differences, also the parts of the bikes and what they do, the muscles that are being trained, heart rates and in the end how to find the right music for each training (depending of the difficulty).
In the practical part we took part in the 4-5 different types of trainings and the instructor explained to us why we do what we do.
We then had to take part in 10 sessions of the school as trainees.
To be honest, I did not learn much from the school, except maybe the medical information. I now know how much my heart rate should be when I am calm and how much my limits are. (so if I get angry I can measure my pulse and control my nerves). I've also learned all the leg muscles - before then, I had not heard the word "Iliopsoas" before....
The bike parts I knew already. The training styles I knew already ( I had been spinning way more than the other trainees, who were still at PE college).
And the music? I was already creating choreos, even before I attended the sessions...
No I am not a PE teacher and I will never become one, but yes I could spin.
What I found interesting though, was not when I was actually on the bike, but when I was observing a spinning lesson, sitting down.

Although I am a kinaesthetic learner, and I learn better by doing, this time I learned better watching.
I "shazamed" the songs that were used, counted the beat, watched how the music was used and the purpose of the training. I learned a lot.
Not only for my spinning, but also for my teaching. Sometimes, it's better to stand back and observe your students. Are they noisy? Are they bored? Are they happy? Tired? Can you do something about it? Do your activities have purpose?
Watch somebody else's lessons! Do you like them? What don't you like? Are they similar to yours?
Don't compare just watch!

BTW, I passed the exam! I am a certified spinning instructor!!
I know I will never work as one, but the whole experience HAS made me a better teacher!


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Convention aftermath

 
March is coming to an end, so are the conventions and the exhibitions.
It has been an exhausting month.


Preparation for the workshop, trips to Athens, reports, interviews….
The highlight of March was of course our own convention in Thessaloniki. I say “our own” because I feel like I am with my own family.
Great plenaries by Andrew Wright, Alec Williams, Marjorie Rosenberg and last but not least… Ken Wilson.

It was a great honor to be mentioned in Marjorie’s plenary and I am really grateful that my Facebook page on “trying out something new” has got so much attention!  It was just an idea that came up while chatting with my dear friend Vicky Loras.
Again, as a roving reporter, I met some wonderful people with great ideas, Juliana Dudas from Hungary who remembers the great ideas in her talk, Dagmara Mathes-Sobocinska, 


working on emotional intelligence and social skills, my personal friend Aphrodite Gkiouris with her fantastic work in the classroom, Danny Singh with his revolutionary Laughter Yoga (although I messed his report up – just a little bit haha), I got a hug from the one and only Ken Wilson who knew who I am (LOL), enjoyed assisting on Luke Prodromou’s interview (always a delight to be around him) and got really wonderful ideas for my lessons.


As for my team’s workshop, I would like to personally thank Nikos Maragkos and Penelopi Tourtourea who believed in this project and worked hard to make it happen. The number of our attendees was not as high as expected, partly because we did not have the right exposure (I guess nobody realized that this was the first time something like this was happening in Greece) and secondly because teachers were afraid to get out of their comfort zones and try out something new.

I am not afraid of my ideas and I know that there are innovative people who will try them out and make the difference.  #keeponmoving team thank you one more time.


The highlight of the evening was of course that I got to spend two whole days with my best friend, my new sister Christina Chorianopoulou. Thank you girl, you rock!



Will I make it next year? We will see….
The end (for now)

Reports and interviews over here:
 http://tesolmth.blogspot.gr/

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