Job Discussion Forums

[rtm]

[dackinator]

I expect more and more aspects of learning English to happen online.

Not just supplementary things like course enrolment or class blogs, but core activities like grammar learning, evaluations & feedback, and even communication practice.

Anyone living in Asia can see this happening already at the big budget schools such as Wall Street English. Students book classes on their smartphones, download vocab practice to complete pre-class, etc.

There's also a lot of potential for schools to develop social networks for students to interact on, building friendships and ultimately increasing the likelyhood they will re-enrol on the next course.

I expect this area to expand greatly in the next few years, at least in high-tech countries.

[Sashadroogie]

I think the opposite.

While the techie stuff is attractive to more shallow learners, and teachers, there is no getting away from the hard reality of slogging through language learning. Whether it is a paper book or app, learners have to make serious mental effort. So, social networks and the like will simply lose their sheen as soon as learners realise they still have to work ...

[suphanburi]

I don't think it is so much about the "sheen" as it is the engagement.

IF students are engaged then they will learn.

The focus is shifted from the "teaching" to the "learning" and more practical components of said learning.

It is easier to "slog" though the process of learning L2 when there is a reason (communication) to use L2. The more it is used the better the skill becomes.

Digital media just becomes one more tool in our toolbox. Whether a teacher chooses to use it effectively is a teacher matter not a tech matter (I know lots of teachers who don't use books very well either).

.

[Sashadroogie]

It is still just bells and whistles though. The tech itself doesn't shift any focus from teaching to learning, nor does it provide any extra reason for learning. And no matter how any of this techie stuff is used, I have yet to see it making much difference to learning. I'd even go so far as to say it can be detrimental to the learning process. Look at the appalling electronic translators out there now. Very often inaccurate, they also have another black mark against them: they have distracted learners from real, paper, dictionaries. For it is by using the latter that learners seemed to remember new vocabulary. With the former, they just remember where to access it online.

Wouldn't be guided by what Wall St or other chains get up to in this regard...

[MuscatGary]

I find the techie stuff useful in large, mixed ability classes. I often introduce a topic using chalk and talk and then get them to work through some interactive exercises, crosswords, gap-fill, matching, jumbled sentences, multiple choice quizzes on their laptops. The beauty for me is that they can work at their own pace and I can wander round and help the less able. The main issue is that the e-learning has to be relevant and well prepared.

[fat_chris]

I second Comrade Sasha's words. Bell and whistles. Nice but good, hard slogging it out is the way to get ahead in language teaching and learning. It's nice to have a familiarity with some of the tech and be aware of what's out there, but I still am "old school" (whatever that means) when it comes to language teaching and learning.

With that being said, just yesterday I conducted my first-ever online presentation. I found the whole experience to be a bit surreal. I just yelled into my computer screen and flipped through my PowerPoint presentation while a room full of teachers hundreds of miles away followed along. I have no idea what they look like, I couldn't see 'em. It could have been the Greater Duluth Rotary Club for all I know.

Warm regards,
fat_chris

[suphanburi]

[Sashadroogie]

No. Nothing new is going on. Sure, IT is changing many aspects of our lives. What a truism! But the idea that it will somehow unlock the mysteries of language learning, transform the process of learning, turn out millions of fluent students who previously couldn't make any progress - this is going to disappoint many. It won't do any of these things for the simple reason it can't. It would be like thinking Twitter will ensure freedom of speech and democratise the world. Nothing but naivety, and wishful thinking, based on nothing remotely related to reality.

Sorry, can't type too much. Don't have the time. I've just bought a shiny new synthesizer, and want to compose my new symphony. Could never master scales on my outdated piano, but that wasn't my fault. I wasn't engaged. And writing music on paper is so old school these days. There's an app for harmony and counterpoint you know?

[fat_chris]

[Sashadroogie]

The future is Red!!

[fat_chris]

[nomad soul]

With TEFL opportunities shrinking for those lacking at least a bachelor's degree, do you see employers (and/or visa regs) getting picky about the degree major for those who do hold a BA? This seems to be a growing, albeit sporadic trend for employers in Saudi Arabia, for example, who, just a year or so ago, accepted unrelated BAs without blinking. However, there have been posts in the Saudi forum about "unqualified" teachers being given the boot because the universities these teachers were assigned to were displeased with their academic credentials. (These teachers had been employed with various contracting companies that provide staffing needs to university EFL programs.)

What does the future hold for those with bachelor's degrees in history, religious studies, computer science, Russian literature, etc., in terms of scoring and keeping an entry-level job in TEFL in your neck of the woods?

[Sashadroogie]

Hard to say. In Russia, one can teach on a 'teacher' visa, or on a work visa. The regulations frequently change, but it is usually possible to meet the requirements of one or the other, from one year to the next.

[spiral78]