My impressions on the Congress of Argentinian teachers of English as a foreign language

FAAPI Conference, Santiago del Estero, Argentina, September 18th., 19th. and 20th, 2014

This year the Conference of teachers of English as a foreign language was held in Santiago del Estero.  A city which is called "The Mother of Cities", because it was here where the first Spanish settlers decided to establish the first settlement before continuing funding cities such as Córdoba and Salta.  The whole province is also famous for its dance "The Chacarera", which is a lively folklore dance with clapping, easy choreography and swinging of skirts (on the women´s side).  In this province they manufacture an instrument which is an important element in all folklore songs: the "Bombo Legüero".  These drums made of emptied tree trunks and animal skin (my husband´s has goat and donkey skin) are beaten with sticks and they accompany most of our folklore songs with its rhythmic beat. The name of this drum "legüero" (league drum) comes from the fact that its sound is so loud that it can supposedly be heard from the distance (leagues) across the empty flat pampas.
What I heard at the conference was the voice of my fellow teachers.  And I liked what I heard.  Teachers who love their jobs and their students.  Teachers with no wifi connection in the schools.  Teachers who teach a first year of 60 teacher training college students trying to find a clean space on the wall to project their slides, again with no wifi connection.  Teachers who decided to get together with colleagues to study about autism and who decided to present in the conference in front of a full house of teachers who shared the same concerns and similar scenarios.  Teachers who volunteer their time to put together a journal of applied linguistics without getting any money out of it, just for the sake of the development of the profession.  Teachers from the "Plan Ceibal", from Uruguay, brave educators who partner with classroom teachers who don´t know the English language, but volunteer to offer their students the chance to learn a foreign language from the distance.  Teachers who came from Colombia or Ecuador to attend the conference.
The theme of the conference was "Teaching in the Post Method Era" .  The way I see it this is the best time to be a teacher of English.  We are freed from the dictatorship of a single method, but at the same time we have a huge responsibility: to question ourselves about everything we do, to share our practices and to reflect on what we do.  A call to theorize our practices.  A call to use our common sense, to work with what we have and to make the most of it.  A call to get together to start meaningful conversations.  The point of my presenting in congresses is to share my journey so that other teachers can benefit too.  I hope that in the future more colleagues embrace the challenge and make their voices heard  frrom the distance, like the sounds from the "legüero" drum.

AJAL, Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics

Digital Citizenship and the importance of including it in our teaching

Let´s begin by saying that if we talk about "digital" citizenship, some teachers may argue that they don´t need it since they don´t use any technology in school.  This is the case of many classes in Argentina where digital technology is being slowly introduced either through government or private iniciative.  What happens outside  the classroom may vary from children who have access to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and are already using it profusely with their friends to those who are not allowed to use any social media at all, this group is the minority.  As regards teachers, we range from those who are connected via facebook, to those who have a twitter account but never check it or don´t see the pedagogical implications of using twitter (or any other social media) for professional development or any other school purpose.  However the conversation in classrooms about "digital" citizenship has not started yet.  It seems that we are waiting for the computers to arrive, the wifi connection to work and the curricullum to adjust itself.  Meanwhile children are already producing content, interacting through social media, and using the internet to look for materials for homework assignments.  All these without having had the chance to actually do what we have been doing during these two weeks of DCMOOC:  reflect and share our opinions about the elements that should be present in the "good digital citizenship" equation.
Not having access to technology may not be that bad after all, since it would allow us to focus on different aspects one at a time, or to establish priorities.

Week 5 EVO Sessions: Becoming a Business English Teacher

Task 1
Branding, What is it?
For me branding is  My personal set of beliefs as a teacher.  In other words where I stand professionally as an educator.

Task 2
What is your story?

These are my notes on the material posted on the Wiki.
Reflections based on Seth Godin´s interview.
As regards someone´s personal story people will remember our stories rather than facts about ourselves.  Noone owes you their attention or money.  People (or rather our students) will tell their friends interesting things as regards you.  We have to put ourselves in our students shoes and ask ourselves the question: why should they choose me and not the other professionals in my area?

Interviews with entrepreneurs.
Alexandre Inneco, Brazilian musician.
"Necessity is what makes the frog leap." Brazilian saying.
Alexandre is generous, started small and suggests that our product should be fun as well as interesting. He also promotes himself by using his own name.
Henrick Oprea, Brazilian teacher of English.
We both learned English from scratch without travels or native speaker teachers and share our high motivation levels.  We worked in institutions such as language schools.  I agree with him in that we should earn people´s trust by being professional in what we do ie. know your subject, what you are talking about when it comes to language learning/teaching.  You have to tell the truth and believe in what you are saying.  I also believe in the power of networking with inspiring educators, if you receive you should in turn give as well.  Coaching students so that they become gradually independent is also my goal.  I also experienced the power of blogging as a tool to reflect on what you are doing and share your work.  It´s a way of validating what you are doing and keep a record of your professional practice.
Envision,  a language school based in Brazil.
Teachers should empathize with her students and identify their strengths to build from there, to make the L2 your own. There are different approaches to achieve this.  Hands on experience and professional development sessions are sources of professional growth.


My personal story

I told my personal story here in a presentation I did for a workshop at the Argentine Conference of Teachers of English.
In a nutshell:
After having worked for 15 years as a teacher I thought I had lost the magic and I decided to quit to become a photographer.  Then I discovered that the computer was a tool that could be used to connect to knowledge and  other professionals from different parts of the world.  And I re-discovered my vocation. Every day I learn something new by sharing and collaborating with teachers and students, not only mine (who are actually a small number) but other teachers`.  I take advantage of each opportunity for PD offered online for free and give for free as well if I can.  My students benefit from this, since everything I learn is reflected in my practice.  I continually ask myself: how can I use it with my students?  I am in the process of becoming an online teacher, gradually and at my own pace, I experiment and try out new things with my lovely students or with other teachers´students sometimes, or members of my family.   Above all I am having fun!

My Reflection on Week 5 of Crafting the e-Perfect e-Textbook, EVO Sessions 2014

Learning English, a handbook, by Maria del Carmen Colussa

After navigating the waters of the feeling of loss and frustration at not being able to check each and every amazing link and material put together by the Crafting the e-Perfect e-book EVO team, I finally got down to writing and eventually finished the first chapter of my first e-book.  And I managed to sail away without drowning in the attempt.  There was a reason for this, of course.  Our moderators crafted each stage of the process with a purpose in mind: putting us in the e-book frame of mind.  I have to acknowledge that I struggled with certain things such as templates or e-publishing options, which I will dedicate time to explore further in the near future.  However and thanks to having attended last year Podcasting for the ESL/EFL Classroom session I was able to embed audio to my book as well as image files, this comes from my previous knowledge of digital photography.
  Having gone through the process of crafting my first chapter of an e-book I have to say, no matter how much I till love paper books, a whole new world opens for us as teachers.  The potencial for language teaching use of e-books is amazing in the sense that it allows us to personalize our material, hence make it more memorable to our students by talking about what really matters to them.  I strongly support what Sylvia proposed in her presentation: Destination: Imagination.
This first chapter posed me an exercise of not only imagination but also of leaving behind presupositions which have been with me as a teacher from the very beginning of my career; eg. You can´t teach without a textbook, you should follow the textbook, etc.  In other words it was an invitation to think outside the box.
There´s still a lot of learning I have to do, yet I ´m looking forward to the future of what I strongly believe is the greatest time to be a teacher of English.

Evo Sessions. Becoming a Business English Teacher

Week 4, Task 2:  SAMR Model for integrating technology.

Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition
           Enhancing                           Transforming

REDEFINITION: The creation of a new task previously unconceivable.

I agree with the use of the SAMR model to evaluate the implementation of web-based tools. Especially in the ever changing world of business and technology we could make use of the tools that have to do with our student´s immediate needs. For example a scheduled Skype session would be very useful for someone who needs to brush up his/her English for a client´s visit. I have used LyricsTrainning successfully with shy beginners with a love for music, but I also have a student who doesn´t listen to ANY type of music, so I resort to different interesting articles taken from online newspapers, which I send via Facebook and we later comment in class. I like knowing what my students´interests are and fish for multimodal content related to their prefereces. In that way I catch their attention and make them practice at the same time. I often search for tv commercials or movie trailers on You Tube and I use them as the basis for later discussion. Last year a even used a short film in Spanish, but because I knew that the content had great discussion potential and I wanted to stimulate discussion in class. 
However I realize that I have to constantly monitor myself not to yield to the temptation to use the amazing material available in the in the internet in the "old school way". I am also aware that the more I reflect about my own teaching, something I do in my blog, the better I become at evaluating the way I use classroom material.

On Globally Connected Learning

It takes a very good reason to make one get up at 4:30 am on a Tuesday during Summer holidays.  A couple of times I did it because I had to go on a trip.  This morning I did it because a friend from Germany had asked me and six other friends from Hello Little World to co-present on our experience working globally with our students.  The presentation was via Google Hangout and the 5 continents were present from the following countries: Russia, Australia, Germany, South Africa and Argentina.
After the initial rush of adrenalin when all of us had tested our technical equipment with the aid of the amazing Steve Sherman, once everything was ready and we started everything seemed to flow and I can assure you I experienced what Sir Ken Robinson calls being in the zone.  A group of educators sharing their global experiences with no other purpose than that.  Only people who have put their feet in the waters of global collaboration understand each other.  The look in our students´faces of amazement and enthusiasm is the fuel that keeps us going.  Thank you Reinhard for taking the time to put all this together.  It was a pleasure to be part of this crowd of educators who went out of their comfort zones to reach out to the world and hopefully enthuse others to follow.

Here´s the link to the recorded presentation session.

Crafting the E-Perfect E-Textbook

Here´s my work for Week 2 of this session

Presentation of Design Elements, Outline and Discussion questions

On Rhizomatic Learning and Declaring

I have a problem with declaring.  The truth is that I don´t really know what I want to learn, I just try to enjoy what I see.  Eventually I will concentrate, focus on what I need.  Right now I am enjoying the ride. I have been learning by chaos ever since I started learning online.  As you can see from the picture, I´m up to many things at present and I am equally thrilled by all of them.
EVO sessions are instances of learning like no other I have ever had the chance to take part in.  I had been waiting all year for this one, because I would have all the time in the world to do the tasks and I have grown particularly skilled in most of the tools which would be used during the course of the sessions.  My plan was to squeeze as much knowledge as I could from my sessions while enjoying of the privilege of being on holidays.  However this Summer has proved to be particularly hot down here, making it quite hard for me to concentrate on any intellectual work! Plus my mother broke her wrist.  To sum up things didn´t quite go as planned.  Meanwhile a friend of mine asked me make a contribution in a PD session for teachers in Russia and a former friend-employer also asked me to submit a proposal for a brush up meeting about the use of tech in the English classroom for her teachers before classes begin here in March.  Needless to say that each of these instances of learning are events which I will also be looking forward to and enjoy preparing.
Last year, contrary to what a beginner should do I signed up for four sessions.  I need to make it clear that if I did it it was because I was so happy to have found the EVO that I was carried away by my own enthusiasm.  I lurked in three and was active only in one.  I not only lost my fear of audio files after completing most of the tasks in the Podcasting for the ESL/EFL classsroom session, I also dared to blog.  I cannot begin to name every aspect of my teaching that improved as a result of my participation here.  Every now and then I find myself relating things I remember having seen at one or other of these sessions. I ended up presenting a workshop in a teachers` conference under the guidance of my former moderator: Vance Stevens.  At the seminar I met face to face with another  EVO mod: Gabriel Díaz Maggioli.  I had not planned any of these amazing things.
This year`s session has started and I am trying to enjoy as much as I can from them.  I also wish I had more time to participate in the rhizo14 session too.  You can´t have everything in life!  As I turned the pages of my notebook I found an activity which related heavily to one suggested by my Becoming a Business Teacher mod Roy in his live session.  Rhizomatic implies connecting.  The connections a teacher makes between what she sees and what she can use now are personal and depend on many variables.  The fascinating thing is that these connections are in a constant state of flux, we don´t know what the future holds for us, what will happen when the door is opened on day one of any given class.  It would certainly be a good thing because this is the best time to be a teacher, let alone a teacher of English!

EVO Sessions, Developing Business English Teachers

Week 2 Task 1
Needs Analysis

 I will go on to reflect one experience with a student after reading the material outlined for this chapter.
Last September, Marcela called me with a very specific request.  She had recently started a job as a secretary at the Import/Export department in a car spare parts factory.  She wanted to have weekly one to one lessons to refresh her knowledge of the language because their German clients would arrive in December and she would have to deal with them.  Speaking and listening were the skills she said she needed more practice in since she had plenty of experience corresponding with clients and suppliers.  The classes would be held in my studio where I usually teach and have access to technology. (one pc with internet connection) and material. (books!)

I usually have an initial interview where I ask general questions about the kind of background of my student,  Where/when did you start learning English?; What do you usually use English for at work?; apart from work, What are you passionate about?  I now feel a bit shy to say this, but this is what I have actually been doing with her and with every student that came to me for help.  Up to now.  I liked the proposed chart by Charles Rei.  It would help both of us focus and evaluate tasks by displaying it visually.
A systematic approach to needs analysis could also provide an overview of the course objectives.  It will certainly help me stay stuned.

The Communicative Event, Charles Rei

 

EVO Sessions, 2014.

This is my list of favourite links I will probably use a LOT in the near future.  They come from my involvement in three sessions of the current EVO.  I have also included my responses to assigned tasks.

EVO Crafting the Perfect E-book Session

Creative Commons Resources

This is my creative commons license

This is the E-Book I need

The E-book I need to create is an interactive online book for my adult students with resources for them to practice English.  Ideally it could be something that they can have access to from home if they feel like practising what we have done in class or it could also be used as a flipped class material bank.  (ie. I could assign a task for them to pre-view/listen/read BEFORE we meet face to face).  However since IDEAL seldom happens, it can also serve as an online "place" for them to make comments, add content, etc when they are unable to attend the class.  (something that happens very frequently at least in my case!)




EVO Developing Business English Teachers Session
Tasks for Week 1

Former teachers who motivated me and what was so special about them that they inspired me


During my 20 (OMG!) year old career I´ve been inspired by many teachers I was lucky enough to come across.
Two of them during my trainning years (unfortunatelly both have passed away) María Isabel Recamán, my phonetics/diction teacher, Daniel Fernández, my methodology/applied linguistics teacher.
After I graduated I did an Adscription to Language II at the Teacher Training College and Adriana Diaz was the teacher there.
Lately I have come across so many AMAZING educators that I can´t begin to name them: Vance Stevens(https://twitter.com/VanceS), Elizabeth Anne (https://twitter.com/eannegrenoble), Anne Mirtschin( https://twitter.com/murcha) and all the people from Hello Little World Teachers Skypers http://hlwskypers.pbworks.com/w/page/36437388/HLWSkypers%20wiki.

Why was I inspired by them? What is special about them?  

Basically their enthusiasm about what they do for a living, what Sir Ken Robinson describes as having found their element, and a feeling I have when I come across these kind of individuals that in spite of being VERY good at what they do, they just don´t brag about their accomplishments, but seek to share what they know.  Another common quality is having a sense of humour, I have laughed a lot when I was in contact with them.  Their capacity to work a lot and stay calm when faced with problems, such as technical ones is also something I also admire in them.

Motivating the Unmotivated, By Jeremy Harmer
My reactions to this article.
Building a successful rapport with my students is KEY for any learning to take place in the classroom.  I have been concentrating on teaching adults lately and take it as a rule to find out what it is that they are passionate about, what their background is, as well as where they hope to or are required to use the language.  Once in the classroom I take special care to choose material that has the right level of challenge and praise their accomplishments.  I am always looking for opportunities for them to do things with the language in a meaningful way.

Roy, talking about reflection in Language Teaching

I was intruduced to the concept of reflection on our practice by Vance Stevens, but before that I was encouraged to write in a blog by Miguel Mendoza and his crew of the Podcasting EVO session in 2013.  Before that I thought I had nothing to reflect about!
Visiting Sonya´s ( https://twitter.com/vanschaijik )blog where she reflected on her learning using the SAMAR model was an eye opener.  I later applied it to my own pathway from a zero beginner in IT to whatever it is that I am now.  Reflection lets you know where you are and where you want to go.  It also helps you focus as Roy very clearly stated in the video.

Two Statements on Reflective Practice, By Roy

Reflecting in Action
Too many times I found myself wondering: Why are you doing this task which is obviously NOT relevant?!  Simply because it was in the coursebook! And the institution I worked in mandated that I should follow the book. The funny thing is that my poor students endured the tasks stoically!   When I started working freelance I noticed this and raised my filters to prevent this from happening.  It was difficult for me at first to question things on coursebooks (that was not a thing I was taught to do in the teacher training college!), until I started to trust my teacher instinct: there was simply no point in doing certain things just because they were there.

Reflecting on Action
Once I had the opportunity to pair up one of my adult students with three adolescents in a skype session.  Skyping with native speakers had proved on many occations to be  a very powerful tool to boost my students´confidence and add a little spice to our classes.    My student would benefit from the interaction and I assumed that she would enjoy the talk being a mother of a 12 year old boy.  However she later expressed that she felt more comfortable talking to adults.  I took notice and nobody died!  I mean: well, I made certain assumptions, took the risk, did the task, evaluated it and will later on take her preferences into account before scheduling another session.  That´s it!  We had enough confience to talk to each other in order to make things better.
We should strive to create in our classrooms an atmosphere of trust where our students know that we are all learning, and that learning is a complex process, could be chaotic but the teacher will be there for them, learning too.

Feedback and Motivation

One thing I have realised after reading about student´s feedback is that I don´t like it!  Why?  Well, it could be because I stopped having it the minute I left the teacher training college.  I am simply not used to having it!  Once you go freelance if a student`s feedback is not taken into account, he simply doesn´t come any more, so I am constantly asking for feedback from my students because not acknowledging my student`s views would mean that I´m not doing things right.

ManinEVO

Well, what to say about this session.  It´s like being born again and live my childhood this time with computers!!  Lost and brand newbie in the land of Second Life I had a brief experience in an online tour before my computer crashed or something,  however I REALLY enjoyed the ride to Renaissance Island.  So funny to wait until the world is loaded (the WORLD!) and my clothes are downloaded!  Several of us are waiting for Carol, our moderator to teletransport us! OMG, this is so much fun! And we have barely started!