The Dominant one strikes again!

               Classroom Déjà vu
I have been wondering the past few days about my online teaching style. I am actually starting to think that I am a softie online teacher, or am I just going with the flow?! For the past few weeks, I have been teaching a student who is the type of learner I fret...., the dominant one!

Blast from the past
About a year ago, I wrote a blog post about my Dominant Eap student. This is what I wrote:
We all have or have had one of them in our class. The student with all the answers, the one who happily shouts out the answer to the question sometimes before you even ask it! Now, in an EAP class, a class full of adults, who in my case are usually post grads students, dealing with the dominant student can be a tough cookie.
EFL tricks that may work in a classroom setting.
So, how do you deal with the dominant student?

• Nomination: The easiest way is to actually nominate students when asking questions. Avoid addressing the whole class with classroom questions, and just use names.
• Paperclips: The idea is you give each student some paper clips and tell them that they have to use the paper clips during an activity. Each time the student speaks, he hands in a paper clip. That way your dominating student will only speak a few times and the rest of the ss will also have to contribute to the conversation/task.If you do not like paper clips, then you can use pieces of paper, postit notes, or whatever you wish.
• Paper boards: This is quite fun! In order to know everyone is on task, give your students a sheet of paper (a paperboard). ask a question and tell them to write the answer on their paperboard. When everyone has finished, ask them all to show you their board. That way everyone answers your question. The limitation here is that you cannot use this paper board when you are practicing a long turn and it is not very practical during speaking tasks.
• Group/work/pair work: Group or pair work minimises the problem because your students are in pairs or groups so there are less chances of the dominant student to dominate the whole class.
• Role reverse: Actually, you could always ask your dominant student to be the teacher for a few minutes and ask questions instead of answer them!

A 'thorny' issue

Back to the present

All these ideas worked. My dominant student was less dominant and my classes ran smoothly.
BUT..........
What happens when you are having a one to one session with a very dynamic/dominant student and this is online? To make matters worse, what happens when the dynamic teacher is paired with a dynamic learner? Well, then ,fellow teacher, welcome to my world!
When teaching online, not everything you do in your nomral class works, so scracth everything I said in the previous section. I cannot give paper clips, I cannot give paperboards, this is a one to one session so, well, there are no groups or pairs. My student is an adult. He is always interrupting me and speaking over me! This learner does not like instructions, and enjoys to jump into things and do the tasks... his way. What can I do? I can't exaclty mute this learner (although to be totally honest, this has crossed my mind : P).
In this online classroom this is my solution
The talk: Of course, I have had a discussion about how different online learning is and how turn-taking is very important etc, etc.
Other solutions:
Problem: Learner speaking over me-----> I let the learner say his piece, and then I repeat what I said. I sometimes even write some of the things I said in the chat box, just to make sure my learner is aware of what I am talking about. I also laugh it off, because talking over each other is frustrating, so  being a bit light hearted, good willed can help.
Problem: Jumping into tasks ----> Instead of letting the learner read the instructions of the tasks (like I normally do with all my other online learners). I do the reading and then I ask the instruction checking questions.
AND some more ideas
Lesson notes When I teach online, I make lesson notes of corrections, grammar points, vocabulary and important lesson-related topics. I always make sure that everything I want to correct or give suggestions on is in these lesson notes. I highlight the points I may not have been able to highlight during the lesson.
Politeness and hedging: I am assertive, polite and use a lot of hedging with this learner. I very often say, "You may like to..., I am just suggesting....... You could also...."

Out of all the challenges I have faced whilst teaching online, I think this has been the biggest one. In the online classroom your posture, your non-verbal communication cannot be effective and  the Elt tricks do not work. You need to be even more creative and very patient. One to one sessions are also more delicate cause if you lose the student, the class is lost as well. If you have any suggestions, please DO share in the comments section below.


Till next time......

ELT Calendar

Holiday Season ELT Calendar

Taken from dreamstime. Link found  here

It is my favourite time of the year! Christmas and New Year's is right around the corner, so time to start planning for the Holiday season. In this blog post you will find an ELT Christmas calendar. Why so early? Well, some of these tasks need a bit of preparation.I have suggested different types of activities which can be used with your students. Everything I have suggested can be accessed for free online. Some activities are short and others can take up a whole teaching hour! If you do not teach the same learners every day, then you can mix and match. If you do have the same learners, then you have an idea for each day of the week : D

Monday 1^st of December

Christmas project. Get your learners to do research and make a project about Santa, Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer, Gingerbread men, the origin of the Christmas tree, the Holidays in different countires and so on. Put them in groups and give them ten days to complete their project. Once they have finished their project, they can give a poster presentation and you can decorate your class with the projects. If you or your students are tech savvy, why not make it a PowerPoint presentation? Don't forget to look at Tuesday the 11th.

Tuesday 2^nd of December 

Christmas gingerbread men streamers. Get a string of paper and get each student to draw a ginger bread man. Then cut out the men and make a hole on the top of the paper and hang it in the class. 

Picture from www.enchantedlearning.com. Found here

Wednesday 3^rd  of December

Time to make a Chritmas/ Happy Holiday card and write greetings in the card. Your students can make their own cards from scratch so bring out the paper, tinsel, colouring pens and the scissors. The sky is your student's limit. You can also find a website and use the templates there.

Thursday 4^th December

HO-HO-HO  Time to write a letter to Santa or get your students to write their New Year's resolutions! 

Friday 5th December

 Play Chritsmas Picture or word Bingo. There are many websites to go to and make your  own different set of bingo cards

                     

Monday 8^th December 

Time for some Christmas songs/ carols. Find a Christmas song you like, search for the lyrics and start singing with your students. My suggestion: Santa Claus is coming to town.

                              You better watch out

                                  You better not cry

                                          Better not pout

                                                   I'm telling you why

                                                               Santa Claus is coming to town

Tuesday 9^th December 

Secret Santa time. Write all your students' names and put them in a little bag. Then, ask each student to pull out a piece of paper. They must not reveal the name of the person that is on that piece of paper. Each student is that student's secret Santa.This means they must buy or make a present for their classmate. I would suggest you make some sort of guidelines. You can either suggest students buy something but give them a price limit or that all students make something for their classmate. Allow your students at least a week to make or buy the presents. Once all the presents are bought or made, the Secret Santa needs to put the recipient's name on the present ( also see December 19th).

Wednesday 10^th December

Christmas word search. Get your learners to look for and find words related to Christmas. Depending on their age, you can choose hard or easy word searches. You can even give them a time limit to make it even more challenging for them.

                                    

Thursday 11^th December

Poster presentation Day/ Powerpoint presentation Day (also see Monday the 1st).

Friday 12^th December

Time for some Christmas songs/ carols. Find a Christmas song you like, search for the lyrics and start singing with your students. Suggestion: Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

                    

                  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)

                            Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)

                              And if you ever saw it (saw it)

                                 You would even say it glows (like a flashlight)

                                       And all of the other reindeer (reindeer) 

Monday 15^th December

Pin the nose on Rudolph. How do you play? Your students have to pin Rudolph's red nose onto his face. If you want to make it more fun, you can blindfold your students and tell them to turn round in circles for a few seconds. Once they are twirling for 6 seconds they can then pin Rudolph's red nose. 

Tuesday 16^th December

Christmas word snake. How is this played? Each student takes turns to write a word connected to holiday season on the board. The final letter of student A's word is the first letter of student B's word.

                                      Christmas

                                                       Santa

                                                                 Angel

                                                                           Lantern                                            

                     

Wednesday 17^th December

Holiday Season hangman. Time to play hangman with your students! The words again have to be related to the holiday season.

Thursday 18^th December

How about watching a movie with your students? What you choose depends on their age and level.

Holiday season movie suggestions:

The Polar Express 

Home Alone

Frosty the Snowman

Miracle on 34th Street

The Muppet Christmas Carol

A Charlie Brown Christmas

It is a wonderful life

Friday 19^th December

Secret Santa Day (also see December 9th).  The teacher has collected the presents and starts handing them out. The recipient student then guesses who bought/ made him the pressie. 

Any other teaching days:

Carols+ Party= Happy teacher+ Happy students

Keep in mind that you students get to practice their English whilst doing all of these activities. If you want to add 'EFL' twists to the activities, you could make the Christmas carol singing activities into gap filling tasks. You can also ask your students to use the bingo words in the email they send to Santa or make them write a summary after they watch the video. The Secret Santa can be the production stage of a lesson on hypothesising and the ginger bread man can help you teach vocabulary connected to body parts or clothes.What you choose to do with this ELT calendar is up to you!!! 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any other suggestions, please add them in the comments section below so other teachers can read them!!!

You can download everything here
It is my favourite time of the year.docx

 Dear reader, if you do any of the activities and have comments or pictures, please let me know. Some of my teacher friends have already shared pics of some of the activities on facebook and I will be making a post about them later on this month!! I would be really interested in seeing how these tasks went for you.

Till next time..........

Business English homework

Something for your coffee break : )

I teach business English online and every week I send my learners an email. The subject line reads: something for your coffee break : ).
In this email, I send links to articles my BE students can read, short videos they can watch and quick listening tasks. I also send them links to websites with quick grammar or vocabulary building exercises (self-access links). I always choose tasks they can do quickly and articles they would be interested in. The links I send are varied and not always business English focused. I do this because they are already at work so maybe during their break they may want to read something non work-related. If my learners do the extra practice, we talk about it during our next session. If they don't, it is OK. I avoid using the word homework in these mails because I do not want them to feel they have to do it and anyway, it is not homework... it is coffee break work : ). If something I have found, is something I really want to do with them, then I do it during the next lesson.
Why do I choose this type of work/extra practice? Well, my learners are adults who are almost always busy, and asking them to do loads of homework doesn't really work (well, it hasn't worked for me anyhow). That's why I choose tasks that do not take more than 10 minutes to do. You may now ask, "Is that enough?" "No, it isn't, but it is better than nothing."
I send this email almost every week and my BE learners have given me positive feedback which is why I still send the coffee break practice email.

Where do I look for material?
Of course, there are loads of places. I am going to mention my go to places in this part of the post. Keep in mind that everything I mention is sent to them in an email, so they are links to websites.

• Twitter/ Facebook

Type  #BusinessEnglish on Twitter and there you will find loads of ideas from other BE teachers. If you are not in any Business English Groups on Facebook, then I would suggested joining some because teachers are always sharing something there as well! So, some of the links I send to my students come from blog posts, websites other BE trainers use.

• BBC capital

There are lots of articles to choose from. I also like the fact that there are articles that are accompanied by videos, so they can read and then watch something and that is great practice!

• British council-Learn English

I go to two places 6 minute English (this has been archived and does not get updated any more but it is great for some quick listening tasks) and Business Magazine where you can find short articles followed by a quick reading comprehension task.

• YouTube

You can find a lot of videos in the 6 -10 minute range and just send the learners the link to the video.

• Grammar and vocabulary websites

Once again, there is a plethora of websites with free access to grammar and vocabulary exercises. I often send links from Grammar bank .This site is free and your students can do quick exercises online and see the answers straight away.

Final thoughts
If you are interested in BE English lesson material suggestions, have a look here. I hope you enjoyed this post. If you are in France in November (14-16), come to the TESOL France conference! My talk will be about teaching online (Business English).

Till next time.....

I AM NO LONGER BLOGGING HERE. IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT THE DELTA AND SEE MY OTHER POSTS, VISIT WWW.MYELTRAMBLES.WORDPRESS.COM

L1 vs L2

When your learner says, " That's Greek to me!" Is it OK to use... Greek?
There is a lot of talk going around about whether or not a teacher should use the learners' L1 when teaching them English. I  speak two languages well. English and Greek. I also speak a bit of German. So, when I teach learners whose language I know, I do tend to use the students' L1. Is that such a bad thing? I don't think so. For me, from time to time (not always!), it is OK to use the L1 in class. OK, but when?

• To highlight the difference between the L1 and L2:
• For example, in Greek we say, " Πάω για ψώνια  (pao gia psonia)" which if when translated, is "I go for shopping". This is of course what my Greek learners very often say.  So, I resort to Greek and explain the differences between the Greek language and use of preposition and the equivalent English structure go + verb+ ing (go shopping). I also use the L1 to explain collocations. I highlight the different verbs and how the collocate with nouns. In fact, when teaching Grammar and vocabulary I often use the L1 to clarify terms, to show differences and avoid L1 transfer errors. I know learners are not supposed to translate from the L1 to the L2 and that I, the teacher, am supposed to instill in them the English way of thinking/saying but reality is not that simple.
• To focus on/teach an English word:
• When I am teaching young learners, I often sing to them and very frequently I sing a well known Greek song but add English words! The English words are translations of the Greek lyrics. My learners always remember the English words that accompany a Greek  tune!
• I use the L1 out of my own insecurity just to check (clarification/ comprehension or concept checking) that we are on the same page:
• What can I say here? I know this is wrong, but I still do it. I ask my concept checking questions, I do an example in class but there is always a part of me, a little devil that pushes me to say something in Greek. Just a little check to make sure that everyone is on board! I want to be 100% sure, especially with my younger learners.

  

  Being on the fence about L1/L2 usage

• I use it when I am giving feedback on writing (especially with weaker students):
• Sometimes some of the things my learners write in their essays do not make sense and then I ask them in Greek, " Do you mean ..........?" They tell me what they want to say. they give me their English version and then I guide them towards the correct version of what they wanted to say.
• To avoid frustration:
• there are times when my students are just simply tired of trying over and over to say something in English, so they just blurt out the Greek word. I then offer the English equivalent and they just repeat what I said. I try to discourage this, but at times, I do let my students get away with it. In Greece very often students come to class after a full day of school. Therefore, my learners are often extremely tired and frustrated and when it is 10 o'clock at night, they may resort to their L1.
• I use my (bad) German with my German students to show my students that I too have difficulty learning a foreign language:
• I often use German with my German learners because I want them to understand that I know where they are coming from. I understand. I know that learning another language is hard. When using my lower level German I show them that it is OK to make mistakes and that they should be willing to take risks. Another bonus? My students feel like teachers cause there is a reverse in roles. They teach me some language as well. They become my teacher and they love it : D

Learning a language is not something black and white. I am here to help my students learn and sometimes using the L1 simply does that. It helps them. Should the L1 dominate the class? Of course not, but it can facilitate learning, don't you think?

Till next time.......

Teaching ...

Teaching is like ........ acting

have you ever thought of how many professions overlap? When teaching, do you ever feel like you are an actor/actress? Of course my title is not a sweep statement nor do I believe that teaching is exactly or simply like acting, but in this blog post you will find a few reasons why I believe being a teacher is like being an actor/actress minus the Oscar nomination. So, here goes....

• No matter what is going on in your personal life, you got to put on a smile:
• You can't dwell on any hardships you are facing on a personal level, you have to teach, and teach well cause otherwise your students will not learn, enjoy themselves, be happy with your teaching.
• Your classroom is your stage:
• When you need to be the center of attention, you need to grab your learners' attention. Your classroom is your stage. If your teaching, like acting, is boring, you have lost your audience; your learners (I am not saying that teachers should be the ones talking all the time and learners should just listen. Just saying that when teachers talk, they got to be interesting).
• You need to sing and maybe even dance:
• Isn't singing and dancing part of your teaching especially when teaching young learners? Don't you teach your students songs that will help them learn the alphabet, the vowel sounds, the colors? Aren't you the one who shows them the moves to heads, shoulders knees and toes? That is some serious dancing and singing (you tap into the Fred Astaire you never knew you had in you, fellow teacher).
• You use props:
• You use everyday items and they are part of your setting (also see the stage bullet). These items help you get your message accross, make your lesson more lively. They are like special effects in movies. The only difference is that they make a 'special impact' on the learning process.
• You add drama, laughter, surprise to your sessions:
• In order to make your lesson more exciting you may resort to making jokes, being dramatic or adding a surprise element to your sessions. Aren't all good actors/ actresses versatile? As teachers, we are not one trick ponies. We add a variety of elements to keep our learners engaged.
• You cannot 'perform' well if you do not plan:
• You need to know what you are going to teach before you go into class. You may even rehearse some of the things you will do to make sure everything goes according to plan. If you are a new teacher or teaching something new, you may even resort to learning things by heart!
• You role play or... help them rehearse for plays:
• In order for your learners to learn very often you get them to do role playing activities. This makes the target language often easier to learn. Then there is the end of the year event which very often is a play! You, of course, are responsible for costumes, rehearsal of plays etc.
• You make your learners think, you broaden their horizons (self explanatory).
• You get letters. messages, flowers, gifts....:
•  You get lovely little cards from your students. You may even get a small gift or flowers as a way of showing that they enjoy your teaching.
• Paralinguistic features matter:
• You use your facial expressions, your body, your gestures to convey meaning, to get the message accross just like an actor or actress does.

Of course, you will not get an Oscar nor will you make big bucks, but then again who cares? You affect people's lives and you equip your students with something exceptional: you help them communicate their thoughts!

Picture taken from here

Till next time....

EAP writing

          Going from being a teacher, to being a learner

Isn't interesting how, sometimes you teach something, and then when you actually do what you are teaching, you see how hard it is? Well, that is what happened to me. I went from a teacher to a learner. I tried to go from what I teach, to actual practice, and this, my friend, was a tough cookie. But what am I talking about? OK, let's take things from the beginning.

Academic Writing. I teach it. I teach how to do research, how to use the research, paraphrase, summarise, make your voice stand out.I talk about having arguments and supporting them, but today while I was working on my Delta module 3 assignment*, I realised that this is really hard! So, let's see some typical learner problems, what I tell my learners and what I actually think.

Academic Writing: Learner (and my) problems

• Finding/ Choosing the right sources

I often tell my learners that they will/ should find a lot of sources to support what they want to say and that it is important to make their views stronger and valid by supporting them with research. I then go on to say, "When you do not have enough sources. Go to the library. Search more. Search, search, search. Be critical. Read what your sources say carefully. Make notes. If there is not enough research, synthesise information from various sources". 

What I really think: 

1. There is so much research out there and understanding what and how to use something is extremely hard. Searching online or in a library is time consuming. Not being able to access freely what you want is frustrating. This may lead your critical thinking down the drain and you may end up using what you found even though you now it is not always the best. It is like using a source just to use a source.
2.  There may not be enough research on what you want to argue because researchers focus on other things or because what you are writing about is fairly new or so on. In this case, you cannot support your views with a source, making your argument weaker than you want.

True story: Today, I wanted to write about some of the challenges NNS EAP students have when giving oral presentations and could not find sources mentioning anything about body language or intonation patterns. In fact, I could not support half of the things, I know as a teacher, are challenging for international students who have to give a presentation.

I often tell my learners that if there is not research out there that must mean something. But what does it mean in my case? Are these not implications or is it that someone has not written about them?

• Your first draft should not be your first draft

Or should I say, "always redraft before you give me your first draft." Often when I teach EAP, I ask to see a student's first draft. I always tell my students, "Please make sure that you have read, re-read everything before you give me your first draft. The better your first draft is, the better feedback I will give you".

What I really think: Spot on! My first draft was rubbish. I redrafted so many times before handing in my so called first draft. 

• Plan

I always tell my students, ''it is important to plan, make notes of what you will include in each section. This helps the flow of your ideas. It makes your writing more coherent and concise". Yes, it is time consuming and requires a lot of thought and coining of ideas BUT the end product is much better than just sitting on your chair and writing.

What I really think: Planning does require time and when you have been reading, reading, reading, the time constraints are really tight, it is much easier to start writing cause in your mind, you think you have your essay all mapped out. Unfortunately, the time you saved planning, is spent on redrafting, so I am adamant about the planning stage. It should be as meticulous as possible actually.

• Word count

I tell my learners, ''there is always a word count and you need to stick to it. It is important to be able to say what you want to say with fewer words and that is why you need to write and rewrite. Paraphrase and summarise.''

What I really think: Being able to summarise, paraphrase and be in the word limit requires a lot of training. It is not easy. Word count is something I always struggle with, I like to ramble and I am a chatter box (my blog is called myeltrambles for a reason). If I struggle, what do I think my students do? I need to see how I stick to the word count, and try to transfer the strategies I employ to my learners.

• Citing/Referencing correctly from the beginning

As the reference system I teach is the Harvard referencing system, one of the first things I show my learners is how to cite and compile a reference list. I do this during the first lessons. I do not just teach them how to paraphrase but I also focus on citations. I tell my learners, "if you leave the referencing and citations for the end, then it will be very time consuming (and boring). To make matters worse, you may even plagiarise and forget to cite a source (the word plagiarism always alerts them).Knowing when to use italics or '  should be something you do correctly from your first draft."

What I really think: Get it over and done with. As a writer of an academic text, you need to find out what the referencing system is and use it from the first line. Also start making the reference list when you first use the source in your paper. it saves you the turmoil of compiling a reference list at the end ( I do not like that. It takes so much time!).

• Tutorials/ Ask questions about your writing

First drafts are often followed up by tutorials. Students get a chance to ask questions about their first draft based on the worries / questions they have or their tutor's comments. I always tell my students to write these questions down, have a plan and ask, ask, ask. Some do. Others don't.

What I really think: Asking questions is necessary. Yes, I think I do know what I am writing about but I still need help. There are things I am already on the fence about, which is why I already have 5 questions about some of the things I wrote in my Delta assignment. I have already asked them. I actually sent a first draft with some questions.

Quoting my friend Vedrana, " being in your learners' shoes is a great way to see if you are focusing on the right things as a teacher!"

Word count: unknown : )

*Today is world Teachers' day and this is the day I wrote about what it feels like to do what you teach.Going from a teacher to a learner. If you ask me, a good teacher needs to know what it feels like to be a learner.......

Till next time.....

One to one lessons

My one to one lesson procedure
I have been teaching one to one sessions for a very long time now and I thought it would be a good idea to share with you the steps of my one to one lessons.
Step 1
Greet the learner and start the chit chat.
I like asking my learner questions about his/her daily life, what he/she did yesterday, what he/she ate and so on. I like asking content questions. I have been a witness to lessons where the learner says " Oh, I lost my bag yesterday" and the tutor's response is " Oh! OK..... so let's talk about the 2nd conditional..." That's a no no for me. Don't just ask him/her how his/her day was for the sake of asking. When you ask a question, ask it... I mean ask, ask. Follow up with another question. I always have mini conversations.

Picture credits: Iconarchive

Icing on the cake: These mini conversations are a great way to check their grammar needs, what kind of vocabulary they are lacking, what they are interested in and they get to speak. They also get a chance to ask me a question or two, so my learners get to know me better. It is a win-win.
Want more? This summer I asked my EAP students what they think makes a teacher interesting (post here) and they told me that the teacher must tell them stories. They like hearing about their teacher's life.




Step 2
The aims of the lesson
I tell my learner what we will be doing today (lesson aims). I talk about the grammar/vocabulary we will be using in today's session. I also tell them what they will be able to do by the end of the lesson (outcome).
Step 3
The lesson
Step 4
I make lesson notes during the lesson. I write down the mistakes my learner made and talk about them. Don't get me wrong, of course, I give immediate feedback but I like taking notes of some of the lexis or grammar my student struggled with. I then give my student the paper and we go over everyhing together. So immediate feedback + a feedback sheet with little mistakes/comments.
Step 5
I get feedback. I ask my student what he/she liked about the lesson and what he/she didn't like. I ask for any suggestions or if my student wants to go over something in the next lesson. Getting feedback from the learner is really important especially when you are having one to one lessons cause:
1. You have to keep the learner happy with the quality of your teaching.
2. Your learner chose you as a teacher but if he/she is not happy then adios... the learner will go elsewhere.
3. This is how you, the teacher improves. So, ok, you may think you are a super duper teacher (and maybe you are) but it is essential that you hear it from your learner as well. Teaching is about being flexible. If your learner is not responding well to the way you are teaching something, his/ her feedback will help you develop.
Step 6 
I end my lesson with a bit of information about the next lesson, just to whet my student's appetite for learning (or at least that is my intention). Then it is time to say bye bye and then go home.

 Feel free to comment in the comments section. Thanks for reading : )

Till next time......