new forms of observation for new forms of teaching (tesol spain 2015)
TRANSCRIPT
NEW FORMS OF
OBSERVATION FOR
NEW FORMS OF
TEACHINGDavid Lind
http://www.britishcouncil.org
https://todaysmeet.com/te
sol
http://www.britishcouncil.org
NEW ROUTES IN ELT
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What comes to mind when you hear the word
“observation”? https://www.facebook.com/davidlind.elt
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NUMBER OF OBSERVED LESSONS
1990-2015
AS OBSERVEE AS OBSERVER
60 40
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PROS AND CONS
"We teach in a way that minimalises risk taking and
highlights the buzzword EFL wisdom of the moment
that our managers have felt to be the latest way to
up quality in the classroom.” - an EFL teacher in
Spain
source:
http://doodle.com/fqczqkgkyi3kmv88
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BEYOND TRENDS
L2 input
“Is there a lot of input, so as to optimise the chances of repeated encounters with language items, and of incidental learning?”
source: https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/
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PROS AND CONS
“I felt (and still feel) that I was not myself when I wasbeing observed. I continuously felt the pressure ofbeing observed by the [supervising] teacher on oneend, and the students on the other. In trying to beacceptable to both, I seemed to lose all focus on thelearning demands of the students.”
– Vidya, CanadaRichards and Farrell (2011: 91)
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“I have an observation on Tuesday and I would say Iput in ten times the prep time.”
– Maria, inSpain
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Prep time“For me the number is somewhere between 8-10
times, simply because I always seem to creatematerials for the observation in an effort to lift oradapt the course material, which I wouldn’t normallydo.”
– Jacob, in Spain
PEER OBSERVING
“I think that I have learned more from
observing other teachers than from being
observed myself. Observing others means
you can learn from their mistakes and from
the wonderful things that you see them do in
the class.” – Harry
source:
http://doodle.com/fqczqkgkyi3kmv88http://www.britishcouncil.org
http://www.britishcouncil.org
Yes:24 No:5
Not sure:3
http://doodle.com/fqczqkgkyi3kmv88
TWO SCENARIOS
Spain Uruguay
SCENARIO A: NATIVE SPEAKER
ASSISTANTS
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source: http://comoconsultingspain.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-auxiliar-what-teaching-is-like-for-a-language-and-
culture-assistant/
SCENARIO A
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“I teach English, Science and Arts
and Craft in a public school. The
students are 11 years old, 6th grade
of Primary School. We are working
on a bilingual project, and there are
some [native] assistants with us.”
- Marta, in Madrid
SCENARIO A
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“Most assistants aren’t trained
teachers and are often
undergraduate university students
who do the year abroad as part of
their course.”
- James, former assistant
CO-TEACHING
How does the presence of native teaching
assistants in the room influence your teaching
experience?
“In one hand, assistants are a very helpful
resource in order to have a clear and accurate
model of language. ” -Marta
OBSERVATION
Have you been observed?
“No, I haven´t. I think it would be necessary
because I guess that everybody needs
feedback to know if what you´re doing is
correct, but...no one comes to see you in the
class.” -Marta
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CO-TEACHING
Did you feel supported by the teachers?
“Yeah, they were excellent. They were very
friendly and helpful ” -James
OBSERVATION
“I wasn’t ever observed” -James
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SCENARIO B: PLAN CEIBAL
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-2lJdutHAw 4:38-
6:15
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Can a teacher who doesn’t speak English teach
English?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNBhEv_4ZpU 3:32
OBSERVATION OF CEIBAL
LESSONSThe content covered in each remote
lesson is reinforced by two follow-up
lessons taught exclusively by the
classroom teacher.
OBSERVATION STRUCTURE
Mentors
OBSERVATION CRITERIA
“Does she still try to use the target language as much as
possible being aware that she might and will make
mistakes?” –Alfred
“Does she/he help build a learning environment (by
setting up billboards, signs, using classroom language
regardless of her pronunciation)?” –Joanne
“I would say the best thing a CT does is to show sts how
to learn, what habits a good learner has. CTs learn with
their kids so what they do is actually show kids how to
learn.” -José
REMOTE TEACHERS
REMOTE OBSERVATION
http://www.britishcouncil.uy/en/programmes/education/ceibal-en-
ingles
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David Lind
Ceibal en Inglés
The British Council
https://www.facebook.com/davidlind.elt
References
Ceibal en Inglés subtitulado 2013 (video file) Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNBhEv_4ZpU [1 February 2015]
Como Consulting Spain 2014 A Day in the Life of an Auxiliar Available from http://comoconsultingspain.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-auxiliar-what-teaching-is-like-for-a-language-and-culture-assistant/ [2 February 2015]
Richards, JC and Farrell T, 2011 Practice Teaching: A Reflective Approach
Thornbury, S 2015, S is for A-Z of ELT: SLA Available from https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com [26 February 2015]
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http://www.britishcouncil.org
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SOURCES
Photographs:
Slide 2: http://instituto2005.org/2013/09/plan-ceibal-entrega-la-
ceibalita-numero-millon-en-escuela-publica-no-177/
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