Job Discussion Forums

[spiral78]

[johnslat]

Dear spiral,

Sounds to me like you're in the catbird seat, you lucky stiff.

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Well ahead of the curve re teaching trends! Viva Europa!

[gaijinalways]

I'm not sure how Europe would be ahead of the trend, as negotiated syllabi and student-centered courses are available all over the world. And yes I agree with Spiral78, in Asia it can often be more difficult to do, though I disagree with him that it couldn't be done with teenagers (though it would require more work on the teacher's part).

And yes, the teacher is primarily a facilitator and a resource material in these kinds of classes, so it does require a very different style of teaching.

[fluffyhamster]

I wouldn't call a teacher a resource unless he or she is providing a decent quantity of quality resources, and if that is possible/being done, why would the lessons be lacking much? (Not saying that materials and methods don't need ever updating though...but I can think of some real classics in the teaching of other languages that have stood the test of time and don't need replacing half as much as most ELT lightweight rubbish seems to!). The only reason I can see for asking students to contribute to planning is when the area is genuinely new to the teacher...but the question to then ask is why they would really feel qualified to teach it in the first place! (Which is why I am leery, now that I know better, of doing even much Business English...I ain't no Apprentice candidate, Sir Alan/Mr Trump!).

[spiral78]

[Insubordination]

When I used to teach accredited curricula, I was required to negotiate the modules and electives with my students. I guess for some, it provided a sense of autonomy. For others, it was confusing. They thought it should be my job to choose.

I like to give the students some input into lessons, even if it's just a choice of essay topics or news story. Anything which deviates from chalk and talk or long-winded anecdotes about the teacher's own life is something to aim for.

This should be on the peeves thread but what I can't stand is those good-looking teachers (male or female) who do no prep and try to teach by sitting on their desk and chatting about their past and present social life. Some students (usually the ones who are attracted to them) love it and flock around. Sometimes a few of the students who are there to learn can see through it and change classes.

They have the appearance of confidence, but I think their egos need massive amounts of attention from their disciples. Then again,
perhaps I'm just jealous because I can't pull it off (no pun intended).

[spiral78]

[fluffyhamster]

[artemisia]

I worked in much more negotiating way with course participants when dealing with business professionals � either one to one or in groups. In some cases courses followed a more traditional route; others gradually unfolded with the participants mostly providing the course (work) material. We worked on whatever was important at the time and not necessarily a series of planned classes. These classes were not traditional language classes as the participants already had high levels of English. I liked this way of working the best as it seemed the most creative to me and allowed students to shape what they wanted and needed rather than following a curriculum that would be more hit and miss.

In my current situation, the students want to get into tertiary courses and so I�m obliged to follow a set curriculum that means they�ll have covered enough to pass and move on. Apart from that, I find it hard to move outside of students� expectations that I�m the teacher and I�ll be the one telling them what to do. Recently, I�ve been looking at how much of what I do follows PPP and how much follows a more discovery based approach (eg consciousness raising tasks) that puts the students more in charge of their own learning. It�s still learning within a set framework but could allow for some negotiation and a shift more to student managed and determined.

Within the restrictions of my current position, that's what I'd describe as student centred learning and I don't think it'd be limited to a particular nationality, especially not when (high level) classes are usually mixed. That's what I'm interested in and see as most beneficial to them. How far that can be taken in terms of students being responsible for materials selection and directing a lot more for themselves remains to be seen.

[gaijinalways]

spiral 78 posted

[spiral78]

[fluffyhamster]

Point taken about the personal meaning of the term, though I still think it's important to "debate" what it might mean to the 'you' that is the unavoidable 'all teachers who might latch onto the term'.

Obviously it won't be too difficult to implement given the right circumstances - "for example", a class comprised of students from the same profession and with the same goal(s) - and in fact it would be preposterous to do otherwise in such circumstances i.e. the students will have gathered for the specific reason of learning something very specific, and for which their input will probably be very welcome if not essential. (I still would not see the point in repeating the exercise to any great extent if/when one had another very similar class at some future point). The further one goes from these ideal circumstances however, the less relevance and use there is in the methodology.

One thing I wish teachers would do is read beyond the soundbites and potentially the parodies (and who doesn't engage in a bit of strawmanning every now and then, for the sake of a good ol' discussion ) . For example, Thornbury's 'Dogme' approach attracted (has ~ ?) quite a number of detractors, but actually reading about his thoughts on conversational pedagogy (in e.g. his and Slade's Conversation: From Description to Pedagogy) would show the teacher that what Thornbury was implying if not saying was actually a lot more than any supposed "Lacksitall Approach" ('Hey, this Dogme lark is great, I don't even need to do any photocopying now!').

I'm really not into Headway or any other shoddy book-driven teaching, by the way. (I actually turned down a job once because of their insistence that I use only Headway ["Advanced"], combined with photocopiable activities from Ur[gh]'s activity books).

[spiral78]

[scot47]

It is B****ks. It does not work with teaching Quadratic Equations or German Grammar. Why should it work in ESOL ?