You may or may not have noticed that I've been out of the loop for a while.Since I am now in a new role, where the majority of my clients are late adopters of digital learning, I thought that it would be fitting to go there my first time back in the saddle.There seems to be an assumption that moving into the digital space is a big, scary deal. But consider the mistakes that have already been made, that the late adopter can avoid. If - that is - the late adopter is prepared to learn from the experience of those who are further down the path.I have found, though, that some late adopters are reluctant to go that route, so they wind up dealing with poor uptake for the very reasons early adopters struggled. But the early adopters persevered and found all sorts of ways of making digital resources more engaging. The wheel has been invented. We have figured out a lot of things along the way.We've figured out that throwing content on a screen does not constitute elearning. We've discovered that people don't actually read screens for the most part - they scan them. So we've learned to work with that.We've figured out that workplace learning is more about what you want people to do than what you want them to know. So we've learned to design solutions accordingly.We have moved past the idea that e-learning needs to be the complete solution. In the early days of 'blended learning', there was precious little blending going on. We were so excited with our digital goodie bag, that we abandoned everything else for a while, there. We're getting better at it now. It finally dawned on us that (and I forget who originated this expression) if you want to learn to swim, you're going to have to get wet at some point. So we learnt how to look at a learning requirement and allocate modalities as appropriate.We figured out that throwing the boring stuff online so that we could do the cool stuff in workshops also didn't work. If it was boring when it was in a workshop, it was going to be way more boring (and way easier to opt out of) on a screen.We've figured out how to go mobile. We can use tablets, smart phones, mp4 players... all that stuff.We've rediscovered the value of point of need support, and figured out how to design digital performance support tools.We've come to realise that we don't need to be precious. That the 'bloke at the next desk' is a valid and valuable resource. Some of us even factor them in to our solutions.That's not all, but it's a pretty good start. And instead of following the trail to where the early adopters now find themselves, the late adopters can simply choose to be airlifted into that space and join the conversation. It's an exciting journey...and I'm curious as to where it's going next.How about you?

Have you ever used e-books in your English classroom? Stacey Hughes, our Professional Development Services teacher trainer, tried out a lesson with adult learners using an e-book on the Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf. Watch the video below to see how she got on I was really excited about trying out the American English File e-book and also a little bit apprehensive. My excitement came from knowing students would be able to watch the video at their own pace - pausing if needed to take a note or jumping back to catch something said. I was also interested in seeing how often students used the repeat function for the audio. This ability to focus bottom-up on a phrase or word was a real bonus since my students came from different countries. At first, I was slightly nervous about using the Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf tools so experimented with the different tools and functionality. I wanted to find out what was possible and also get comfortable with using the tools. I did some of the exercises as a student would. To my surprise, I enjoyed using the audio notes the best and I wondered if fast finishers might be encouraged to create some audio notes about vocabulary that would help them study later. During the lesson, I found I could do the same activities that I’d always done, but with some that I wasn’t able to do before. I really liked that the students could watch the video and listen to audio and their own pace and I was also pleased that students could check their own work automatically. One thing I did miss was having something to write on, so next time I’ll bring in a flip chart or shrink the e-book when I need to write on the Interactive Whiteboard. See how my lesson went here: Are you interested in using e-books with your students? Visit www.oup.com/elt/fingertips to see our wide selection of coursebooks and Graded Readers available via the Oxford Learner’s Bookshelf. We have e-books for all ages, levels, and interests.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital Tagged: Adult Learners, E-books, EdTech, m-learning

Yves Morieux delivers this very interesting talk about counteracting the increasing complexity of the workplace. My favourite quote from it comes from Jørgen Vig Knudstorp (CEO of the Lego group) "Blame is not for failure. It's for failing to help, or ask for help."

Magali Trapero Turrent is an ELT Editor at Oxford University Press, Mexico. She is the co-author of several books published by OUP as well as a teacher and former OUP Educational Services teacher trainer. In her posts, she shares her ideas for using Web 2.0 tools to develop learner’s language skills. Listening is a difficult skill to develop for ELLs or any other foreign language learner. And yet, it is critical for language acquisition. In the past, we mostly used the audio materials included in textbooks to help our learners develop listening skills. However, with the advent of new technologies and the Internet, we have been able to add richness to our lessons by using podcasts, short videos or live radio programs from stations in other countries. Despite this, there are times when we want to create specific audio materials to suit our learners’ needs without having to record our voices. Fortunately, using Web 2.0 tools can give us the opportunity to create our own engaging and fun listening materials without having to record our voice or, better yet, we can engage our students in the process of creation. Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology is extremely helpful because we can select the speech rate, the gender and the accent of the voice that will be created from our text. iSpeech and Voki are examples of tools that employ TTS technology. iSpeech can be used with computers or with tablets and smart phones through the mobile apps. Voki allows you, or your students, to generate fun listening activities through the creation of avatars to represent you, a fictitious character, or your students. You can use TTS, upload audio files or use your smart phone to record. You can place your listening activity (avatar) in your social network site or blog, or even email it for homework. Figure 1: Sample Voki development page—Text extract from the OUP series Discover Science Level 3 Student’s Book In designing a lesson, we can apply the pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening framework. Once the topic of the lesson is decided and after the instructional goal of the activity is established—top-down or bottom-up skill development (Rost, 2011)—we can begin developing our listening materials. During the pre-listening stage, learners can begin work on top-down processing skills. Top-down processing takes place, for example, when learners use their previous knowledge on a topic to interpret a message. If they do not have any knowledge on the topic, regardless of how fluent they are, it will render a listening activity quite challenging. This principle applies even to native speakers. Imagine having to listen to a conversation about astrophysics—if you are not an astrophysicist, having to answer comprehension questions based on that conversation can be an overwhelming challenge. Therefore, establishing a context, pre-teaching vocabulary or sociocultural elements and activating previous knowledge are needed for comprehension of aural input (Ur, 1999). In preparing a science lesson, I can use Google Earth to engage my learners and activate their previous knowledge on ecosystems and biomes during the pre-listening stage. As they engage in their virtual exploration of the Earth, I can begin eliciting content-specific vocabulary and teaching any lexis they will need to successfully complete their listening task. Figure 2: Image courtesy of Google Earth Moving on to the next stage of the lesson, besides top-down processing skills, more skills will need to be developed that are just as necessary—namely, bottom-up processing skills. The while-listening stage provides a great opportunity to develop decoding or bottom-up processing skills. In bottom-up processing, some degree of phonological, grammatical and lexical competence is needed. This is because when learners engage in bottom-up processing, they attempt to make sense of the message based on chunks of input, such as sounds, words, clauses or sentences—to name a few. Top-down and bottom-up processes do not happen in isolation—they interact (Vandergrift, 1999). Continuing with the example of a science lesson, for the while-listening activity, I can use Woices to develop a guide to different biomes and the services they provide. I can embed the guide in a blog or a social network page, or use it directly from the site. Woices can be used with computers or with tablets and smart phones through the mobile apps. In a while-listening activity like this, depending on the instructional goal, I can have my learners complete a mind map in Mind42 with information from the aural input or follow the information on Google Earth as they capture images mentioned in the Woices guide for the post-listening activity. Figure 3: Image courtesy of Woices Figure 4: Images courtesy of Mind42 and Tiffany @Making the World Cuter In fact, Woices, iSpeech and Voki can be used for the post-listening stage. You may decide, for example, to have your learners create their own Voki as a response. The advantage of using TTS technology is that if students have memorized words with the wrong pronunciation, once their text is converted to speech, they will notice the difference. After all, research shows that learners have consistently reported that memorizing words with the wrong pronunciation greatly interferes with their listening comprehension performance (Goh, 2008). The downside of TTS is that it may not provide the desired intonation if that is one of the instructional goals of a lesson. In the next article in this series, we will explore the use of Web 2.0 tools for writing activities.   References and Further Reading Goh, C. (2008). Metacognitive Instruction for Second Language Listening Development: Theory, Practice and Research Implications. RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 39(2), 188-213. Rost, M. (2011). Teaching and Researching Listening (2nd ed., pp. 132-133). New York, NY: Pearson Education Limited. Ur, P. (1999). Module 8 - Teaching listening. A Course in Language Teaching (pp. 41-47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vandergrift, L. (1999). Facilitating Second Language Listening Comprehension: Acquiring Successful Strategies. ELT Journal, 53 (3), 168-176.Filed under: CLIL, Multimedia & Digital, Young Learners Tagged: CLIL, Digital tools for learning, Discover Science, E-learning, EdTech, Listening, listening skills, Multimedia, Science, Skills, Teenagers, Web 2.0 tools, Young Adults, Young Learners

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed how there seems to be an increase in the number of people identified as being autistic. Any number of theories have posited as to why this may be. I'm not going into that today. I'm looking at a slightly different angle.A while back, you might have seen this TED talk by Jacob Barnett. Let me refresh your memory:I hope you found that inspiring (and a little challenging). But, had it not been for his mother, this lad might never have even be able to function in a socially acceptable 'normal' way. Here's some insight into how this woman threw away the labels, rejected the professional prognoses and adopted a child-led approach to learning.You might notice during the video clip in the link, that Jacob appears to be slightly uncertain as to how to hold himself when he is being spoken about, but not spoken to. But there is nothing about him that announces that he is a person with 'learning disability' or a 'special need'. In fact, I'd say he's a lot less socially awkward than most fifteen year olds!I have observed in my own sons - and in myself, truth be told - some markers of the autistic spectrum. None of us has ever been formally diagnosed (or even assessed), but none of us fitted comfortably into the educational model. I only wish I had had this woman's courage when it would have made a difference. In the absence of that, may I encourage parents not to allow labels to become self-fulfilling prophecies. Not everyone can go on to win a Nobel Prize, or even to be predicted to win one. But wouldn't life be so much more fulfilling if we were able to explore the thing that lights the spark in our eyes, rather than the thing some official board says we need to know? 

In January we asked over 450 teachers from around the world to vote for the biggest writing challenge they face in their classroom. Since then we’ve dedicated a month to each of the top three voted for challenges with a series of webinars and blog posts from some of Oxford’s top teacher trainers. During our survey we also received some fantastic comments from teachers telling us about other writing challenges they’ve encountered. Join us as we take on 3 extra challenges raised by teachers like you. In this blog Elna Coetzer addresses the first of these challenges: ‘My students struggle to organise their ideas on the page’. I wish I were Stephen King then I could also spend weeks and months writing my first line, but realistically speaking… So here goes! Today we are going to look in more detail at a number of ways that we can help students organise their ideas more successfully through targeted practice tasks. I have also included some brainstorming techniques. Firstly, what are targeted practice tasks? Let’s think of lessons in which we expose our students to specific reading sub-skill practice: - in these lessons we focus on helping students develop a specific sub-skill like guessing meaning from context, and - the aim if achieved, is that our students are then better equipped to perform this type of reading sub-skill. Linking this with targeted writing tasks, a lesson might focus on writing a blog post and the targeted tasks would then focus on using extreme adjectives. Another lesson could be writing an online profile in which the targeted writing task could be focused on working with the layout of profiles and the type of information that needs to be included. Over a period of time you can then help your students develop a whole range of writing skills or writing-related skills like structuring ideas or organising outlines, one targeted practice task at a time. Why are these tasks so useful? 1. They allow students to focus on one achievable aspect of the writing process, 2. they raise students’ awareness of a specific facet of writing a certain type of text and 3. this is a more memorable way of helping students with specific writing challenges. In addition to the above-mentioned, it also gives students a greater chance of success, because it only focuses on a certain part in the writing process. Now let’s turn to the ‘how’ of these tasks! This time around we are going to look at ways to help students with organising their ideas. Here are my tips… TIP 1: Exposure In order for our students - many of them coming from a very different L1 writing background - to organise their ideas into an effective whole, they need to be shown many examples of texts. For this reason we need to: - make sure that we expose our students to a variety of text types and overtly discuss the components and ideas that make up the text. This type of activity is often part of Solutions writing lessons where students are prompted to answer questions about the content and layout of said text. - use a content checklist which can raise our students’ awareness of the variety of ideas within a text and how these ideas are organised into a whole. These kinds of checklists can be compiled for any text type. For example if you are looking at an online blog post about a hotel recommendation (your text type), you could include the following points: 1) Put the following in order: information about the staff, where did you find the hotel, information about the location of the hotel, how to make a reservation, reason for the visit, the facilities at the hotel, a short recommendation; 2) Did the writer include a description of the hotel? 3) Did the writer remember to mention all the details that are necessary for a specific type of traveller? Etc. Students look at the text and by discussing the various items on the checklist, they are helped to notice how texts are organised and how ideas are combined to form these texts. TIP 2: Deconstruct For this type of activity one can use graphic organisers, flow charts and mind maps. In this tasks students again look at a text and take it apart, transferring the ideas onto a graphic display of some kind. One could use a text of any type for this activity, just make sure that you choose the best graphic display for your text type. In other words if you are working on writing stories, then using the following graphic organiser would be the best: In this way the students deconstruct the story focussing on both the outline and the ideas included in the story. This can then lead to tip 3… TIP 3: Reconstruct Here the students use a given outline, either prepared by you or by the students (using the brainstorming techniques and graphic representations you have already taught them) to write their own text making sure that they include all the details mentioned in the outline. When they have completed this task, the students are given the original text for comparison. Again the purpose of the activities in both tip 2 and 3 is to help students notice the various building blocks which combine to form a well-written text. TIP 4: Highlighters and colours Introduce your students to a variety of brainstorming techniques - see some examples below: - using the journalists technique: you answer the questions (what?, where?, when?, who?, why?, with whom? etc.) in order to gather all the information which should be included in the text. - using mind mapping Every time when you introduce a new technique, make sure that you also show your students how to link the ideas into a logical order by using highlighters or different colours. You could highlight ideas that belong together or underline ideas supporting the same main topic using the same colour. In this way students can organise their writing in a more visual way. What students then need to do is combine their ideas that are colour-coded in order to form a text. Remember as with other targeted practice tasks, the purpose of these activities is to help students actively and overtly develop a specific skill: that of how to organise and structure their ideas to form a coherent text. Thus the students do not necessarily have to actually do the writing when doing tasks focussing on tips 1,2 and 4. By practising the specific tasks over and over again, the students will be able to structure and organise their writing better. All that is left for me to say is: try these ideas, make them your own and let us know how it went! And as I said, you do not have to write a complete text to be working on your writing. In terms of writing with our students, it is about one focussed task at a time! Good luck!Filed under: Professional Development, Teenagers Tagged: EFL, elna coetzer, Professional Development, Solutions writing challenge, Teacher Development, teaching english writing, teaching writing, Teenagers

Lysette Taplin is an experienced English language teacher, editor and author of a number of ELT materials. Ahead of this year’s Teacher’s Day in Mexico, she discusses the changing role of the teacher and the implementation of digital tools in the classroom. Teacher’s Day, celebrated in Mexico on May 15, honors the role educators play in providing students with quality education. Ten to twenty years ago, that role was to be the primary information giver who stood at the front of the classroom "pouring knowledge into passive students who wait[ed] like empty vessels to be filled"[1]. However, now that the 21st century is well under way, our role needs to shift towards becoming a facilitator: giving students an idea, a topic to discuss and providing them with the confidence to communicate. This type of teaching is known as student-centered learning, and has been favored in recent years as it puts the students’ learning experience at the center. Our responsibility as teachers is to make sure our lessons are tailored to the individual needs of our students, understanding that each student is unique and that they come with prior knowledge and their own perceptual frameworks. I’m not saying that we need to completely relinquish the traditional role; there are certain moments in the classroom when teacher-instruction is necessary, but we must encourage learners to contribute and communicate using their own ideas. The next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates may be sat in your class, but if we spoon-feed them the information, they are never going to reach their true potential. Today, being an English language teacher is not just about teaching students the language, but teaching them how to think critically, how to communicate and collaborate, and how to be creative: the famous 4Cs. We also need to take into account that our world and consequently our lives are becoming increasingly more digitalized. Students need to learn how to use technology and with recent advances in web tools and apps, technology-based methodologies, such as blended learning, hybrid learning, the flipped classroom and MOOCs, have attracted more interest among educators as they create learning environments which propel students into the 21st century. However, what if we don’t have access to technology at school? What if the technology we do have is slow and outdated? As teachers, we have to be creative with the technology that is available to us. Most students today have cell phones, so rather than try to eliminate them as a distraction, we should try to capitalize on the technology that students already possess. With the built-in camera tool cell phones have, we can ask students to document their work by taking photos or videos, or use the voice recording feature to create podcasts which encourage communication and collaboration. We can also turn traditional writing activities into blogs to be published online or even have students write a short book review of 140 characters to publish on Twitter. There are also a wide range of user-friendly apps available for iOS and Android. One of my favorites is Book Creator, a free app which lets students create eBooks using photos and images from their tablet or cell phone library, from the web, or by using the device’s camera. They can also add videos and music, record their own voice, and annotate their books using the pen tool. This is a great tool to use to bring together students’ work or evidence project work. Another great app for iOS users is iMovie. This app allows students to drag videos and photos taken on their device into a movie clip to which they can add music and voiceovers. Depending on the task students are carrying out, they can use different movie templates, creating presentations which become more relevant to the real world. By using interactive technology, we make learning more engaging and memorable. It is also important to understand that when our students graduate, they will have an advantage if they can work successfully with other cultures, and as teachers, we can promote that skill by setting up email or social network exchanges between students in different schools and countries. I believe technology in the classroom is not just a new fad, but rather a vital empowering tool that engages students and brings discovery, excitement and fun into the classroom. The dismal fact is that, as teachers we will never know all there is to know about technology. So, why not create co-learning environments where students teach you how to do something techie. As facilitators, it is important to relinquish some control of the learning to the student which reinstates student-centered learning and will give students confidence to communicate their ideas. For me, one of the most important aspects of being a teacher is be passionate and enthusiastic. We need to be so excited about what we are teaching that every single student wants to be involved. We need to tell our students that it is OK to make mistakes, and we need to show students that we are proud of what they CAN do, and not focus on what they can’t yet do. The best satisfaction a teacher can have is to be a facilitator, engaging and motivating their students to succeed. Happy Teacher’s Day! References [1] Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning, Thirteen Ed Online. Date of access: 08/04/2015. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index_sub1.html  Filed under: Multimedia & Digital, Professional Development, Skills Tagged: Digital teaching tools, EdTech, Professional Development, Skills

Today I came across a newspaper article in which we read how a body builder/personal trainer was advised by an NHS nurse that her BMI (body mass index) was too high and that she should eat less and exercise more. The newspaper article was accompanied by a picture of the body builder. She is what my sons call 'stacked'. Maybe you don't like that particular kind of body shape, and that's fine. But this woman has clearly worked very hard on getting her body to look the way she wants it to look. I'm pretty sure her body fat percentage is very low, but muscle weighs far more than fat, so a very muscular person, on the basis of BMI alone will register as overweight or even obese. I think it's safe to say that the nurse in question made no effort to address the woman's unique case. She unquestioningly followed a single set of guidelines as issued by the NHS.We seem to have guidelines for everything these days. So much so, that I wonder whether we're in danger of giving up the effort of thinking for ourselves.Sometimes guidelines are treated as inflexible rules. I mentioned once before on this blog about a friend of mine whose baby was struggling with reflux problems. She was worried about him, because when she laid him down to sleep, he would spit up and start choking. Because I had a son with a similar problem (apparently it's quite common for baby boys to have a slightly underdeveloped valve between the end of the oesophagus and the start of the stomach - it usually resolves once they become able to sit up by themselves), I suggested that she try laying him down on his side with a rolled up towel behind him to hold him in position, so that if he spit up in his sleep, it wouldn't get caught in his throat. Her response was "Ooh, no. We're not allowed to do that. The health visitor says we have to put him down on his back." Not allowed to. Not allowed to make a decision in respect of your own child that is contrary to what the health visitor has recommended based on the guidelines handed down to her by a faceless organisation that has never met the individual child in question.A few years back, we read glowing obituaries for a traffic engineer in Europe (I wish I could remember more details about him) whose view was that more information to drivers made roads less safe. He was credited with revolutionising traffic safety by removing most of the information given to drivers and allowing them to take ownership of their own driving habits.Now that I have health and safety guidelines that tell me it isn't safe to stand on a chair on top of a desk to change a light bulb, and warning signs over the hot taps in public facilities telling me that the water is hot, and labels on bags of nuts telling me that they contain nuts... do I need to do any thinking for myself? Perhaps the rationale is that it frees up my brain for important things. But I maintain that the more we are protected from the possibility of making stupid choices, the less likely it is that we will make inspired ones.I have no research to go on here, but I wonder if it isn't a bit like a sine wave. The ubiquitous 'they' are trying to remove the bottom half of the wave, but actually what's happening is that the entire wave pattern is getting flattened as the top half is reduced proportionately. Spike Milligan is reported to have hated the medication that took away the swooping lows of his bipolar disorder (or manic depression as it was known back then), because it also robbed him of the soaring highs. The two things aren't directly related, of course, but I wonder, if in the process of trying to move the whole wave upward, we don't actually just reduce its amplitude. And if we reduce it enough, will we all just, well, 'flatline' a la the movie Serenity?Surely being allowed to make a few stupid mistakes, will encourage us to think a bit more? Surely looking at a competitive body builder, a nurse can set the BMI guidelines aside? Surely the mother of a baby with reflux can experiment to see what works best for her own baby?

Many secondary second language learners face numerous challenges as they develop language and literacy in a second language at the same time they are learning subject area content in that second language. Fortunately, L1 academic literacy is not separate from L2 academic literacy. They are both manifestations of a common underlying proficiency. In this post Dr. Marylou M. Matoush, introduces her forthcoming webinar highlighting the ways that academic language and literacy proficiency can be developed through active reading, writing, speaking and listening in either or both languages. Secondary schools are commonly structured as if all students need the same type of instruction, for the same amount of time, across the same curriculum. While this is far from ideal, it may not seem too problematic in some second language and literacy instructional settings, such as foreign language classrooms, where second language (L2) learners share somewhat similar first language (L1) language and literacy knowledge.  However, the structure of secondary most schools can be very problematic in where diversity reigns. Many teachers of second languages are painfully aware of the fact that the emphasis on "sameness" built into most secondary schools is at odds with the needs of L2 language and literacy learners, who are remarkably diverse. They know that it is not uncommon to find secondary school settings where L2 learners who have never been to school may be sitting, in at least some classes, among L2 learners who are partially literate in one or more languages, L2 learners who are fully literate in L1 but not in L2, bilingual students who are also fully biliterate, and native English speakers who also display a wide range of literacy development. These teachers of second language learners also know that there are often notable differences between individual learners who happen to fall in each of those categories. Learners may begin second language instruction with very different first languages. Then, first language and literacy use is gradually mixed with second language and literacy use, in ways that are necessarily unique to each individual.  As learners develop their abilities to use their languages and literacies, the varied effects of cultural backgrounds, life experiences, personal interests, academic background, linguistic understandings, and literacy skills accumulate with each passing school year. Fortunately, becoming biliterate involves developing an interlanguage that is flexible enough to be useful in various L1 or L2 language and literacy contexts and the process underlying that development takes place in a generalized fashion, although not in the synchronized or linear fashion suggested by school structures.  Therefore, despite considerable diversity among students, academic language and literacy learning that must occur alongside content learning can be grounded in single set fundamental principles: Languages and literacies and the strategies associated with meaning making are interdependent, not separate. Reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing are all meaning based ways to communicate and compliment one another. Integrating them enables students to make flexible use of them as they make meaning of academic content. Academic learning in one’s first language and academic learning in one’s second language are also interdependent, not separate or isolated from each other. Instead, they are manifestations of a common underlying proficiency that can be developed and applied to reading, writing, speaking and listening about content in either language. Further, since the use of L1, mixed language, or a student’s developing interlanguage represent varying manifestations of a common underlying proficiency, affording students opportunities to choose among them as they learn academic content enhances L2 academic language and literacy learning. Active participation in actual language and literacy activity serves the needs of all students as they acquire language and literacy, but is particularly valuable for L2 students who may need the active support available from both teacher and peers that collaboration affords. Further, active languaging drives thinking just as thinking drives languaging and literacy. Therefore, carefully designed collaboration among flexibly grouped students can work to create an age-appropriate, cognitively compelling setting and exposure to diverse ideas and perspectives for diverse learners. The forthcoming webinar will briefly discuss that interdependence among languages and literacies and the transferability of L1 literacy strategies to L2 learning. It will also present specific strategies and techniques that are effective for supporting academic second language learning during active languaging while reading, writing, listening, speaking and viewing. Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Professional Development, Teenagers Tagged: Academic language, Adults, Literacy, Professional Development, Teenagers, Young Adults

Recently, I engaged in a discussion on Facebook with the friend of a friend. The topic of the discussion was autism. It wasn't unfriendly, but there was disagreement. And I haven't stopped thinking about it since.The FOAF - let's call her Tanya - is on the autistic spectrum. In the UK, in terms of the Disability Discrimination Act and its associated guidelines, we are discouraged from referring to people like Tanya as 'autistic' or 'suffering from autism'. We are to say 'people with autism'. Because to say that someone is autistic (or diabetic or cerebral palsied or whatever) is to imply that they are defined by their condition. To say that they suffer from autism (or diabetes or cerebral palsy or whatever) is to imply that they are victims defeated by their condition. I mentioned this in the exchange. Tanya was not impressed.She referred to herself as autistic. And she had a fairly strong and succint argument as to why.She pointed out that the very political correctness around the way that labels are used is in itself discriminatory because - and here's where she completely took the wind out my sails - labels that we perceive as not implying any shortcoming are not applied in that way. We say the slim woman, the athletic man, the intelligent child, the blond woman, the healthy man, the honest child. We don't get hung up on saying things like 'the woman with slimness', the man with athleticism' and so forth.She also took another stance I found unexpected and interesting.I mentioned that I have long considered autism to be a spectrum we're all on somewhere. She didn't like that.For her, discovering she was autistic was a revelation. It explained why some things were a challenge for her, that came easily to others. Better than that, autism enabled her to do things that other people can't do. She was unique. She was special. And she wasn't about to give up on that to some warm and fuzzy liberal who wanted to paint the entire human race in varying shades of her colour.Fair point, Tanya. Fair point. 

Magali Trapero Turrent is an ELT Editor at Oxford University Press, Mexico. She is the co-author of several books published by OUP as well as a teacher and former OUP Educational Services teacher trainer. In her posts, she shares her ideas for using Web 2.0 tools to develop learner’s language skills. It never ceases to amaze me the eagerness with which young learners begin the writing process—from tracing letters to learning to write their own name or their pet’s name. At that stage, the writing world seems so exciting—and it continues like this when they start forming sentences and, later, a complete paragraph. However, maintaining that zest for writing as they grow older is a completely different dynamic. As complexity increases in their development and more demands are placed on their attention, the desire to communicate in writing begins to decrease. But it does not have to be that way. Young learners love to tell stories and their imagination seems boundless. Yet, what sometimes seems missing is that much desired audience—the very reason for writing—and the knowledge on how to transform thoughts into an engaging, coherent and cohesive text. While we cannot escape the necessity to scaffold the writing lessons (Kendall & Khuon, 2006), we can certainly make the reason to write a lot of fun for our learners through the use of Web 2.0 tools. Scaffolding our writing lessons depends on the purpose for writing (e.g., inform, keep in touch, persuade, entertain, express emotions, remind, etc.) the text type and other elements we need to consider when planning lessons. It is also useful to provide our learners with a model of the intended final product. Because it is difficult for young learners to create content, prompts such as pictures, music, maps, real objects, short videos, or story starters can give them support as they activate prior knowledge on the topic, in addition to vocabulary and other linguistic elements they will need to complete the task. In providing a model for the final product, it is advisable to do that with a reading activity that shows the target text type and ideas about shaping content. Two of my learners’ favorite award-winning, free, creative writing tools are Storybird and Pixton. With Storybird you can create a class and add students to it. You can also create specific assignments with a large assortment of illustrations to choose from. You and your learners can create poems, short picture stories or books. The advantage that Storybird and Pixton provide is that the image prompt can be chosen by you or your learners to begin brainstorming right on the page since it can be edited as many times as necessary. This is truly a lot of fun. Storybird and Pixton can be used with computers, tablets and smart phones through the mobile apps. The final version of the short story, poem, book or comic strip can be placed in your social network site or blog, or it can even be emailed. Figure 1: Sample Storybird picture story development page—Images courtesy of Storybird and FranBravo. Prompts used for scaffolding, such as sentence starters or word banks, along with the large assortment of beautiful illustrations found in Storybird and Pixton can be highly motivating and engaging for your learners. And it is just as motivating for them to have a large audience, including family and friends—as opposed to only their teacher. As a matter of fact, the Storybird poem function provides a word bank along with punctuation marks for learners to drag and drop to create their poem. Of course, you have to make sure that the vocabulary is familiar to your learners and let them know that they can also use their own words. Figure 2: Sample Storybird poem development page—Images courtesy of Storybird and novoseltsev. In planning a creative writing lesson to celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity, you can encourage your learners to write a picture story, a poem or a comic strip using Pixton— like the ones shown in the images. These activities can be collaborative. Pixton offers a user-friendly, fun way to develop comic strips. It contains a wide variety of characters to choose from and backgrounds. Figure 3: Sample development page - Courtesy of Pixton. I can attest from experience that when students know their work will have a large audience, they work very hard during the editing stage to develop a fine publication. I certainly hope that your learners feel as excited about these award-winning creative writing Web 2.0 tools. Remember, good writing skills are usually the outcome of diverse and constant exposure to good reading materials as well as systematic practice. In the next article in this series, we will explore the use of Web 2.0 tools for reading activities.   Reference and Further Reading Kendall, J. & Khuon, O. (2006). Best Practices. Writing Sense: Integrated Reading and Writing Lessons for English Language Learners (pp. 16-36). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.Filed under: Multimedia & Digital, Young Learners Tagged: Digital Learning, Web tools, Writing, Young Learners

Fancy livening up your classroom with some ready-made video activities? This is the final part of a series of four articles in which Keith Harding and Rachel Appleby share ideas for using the stunning new International Express video material. Each unit of the course features a video directly related to the unit topic. Here, Rachel offers ideas for using the clip from Upper Intermediate Unit 6 - PleaseCycle, which focuses on conditionals. Before you watch Try out some of these ideas to get your students thinking before they watch. 1. Discussion You can focus on cycling from a number of angles, for example, you can think of it as a sport, a relaxing activity, or a method of commuting. Or you could discuss cycling equipment, safety issues, or infrastructure (for example, cycle paths). Find out quickly, open-class, how many of your students… a. own a bike b. cycle regularly (why/why not?) c. participate in biking activities 2. Decide if these statements are true or false: a. There are more bicycles than residents in the Netherlands. b. In Groningen (in the Netherlands), the station has ‘parking’ for 1,000 bikes. c. Spain has over 100 bike-sharing schemes. d. The ratio between the number of cyclists in a city, and the number of bike-car accidents, is in inverse. e. An adult regular cyclist has a fitness level of someone 20 years younger. 3. Brainstorm benefits and barriers Move the discussion more closely to the video content by focusing on the benefits of and barriers to cycling. Put students into two groups: one group brainstorms the benefits, the other the barriers. Elicit 1-2 ideas per group, for example: Benefits: keeping fit; saves on petrol Barriers: you may need a change of clothes; lack of cycle paths 4. KWL Chart Again, before they watch, you could do this with the audio. It’s an idea that works well with most listening or reading texts. Ask students to fill in a "KWL" chart: this looks at "what I know already, what I want to find out", and - later - "what I’ve learnt". Ask them to complete the first two sections alone (Know and Want), and then compare with a partner. Then, finally complete the third section (Learnt) afterwards (see exercise 8). This is very student-driven, as they are effectively making their own comprehension task. 5. Check key words Tell the students they are going to watch a video about a new London scheme which aims to get as many people cycling to work as possible. Before watching the video, check students understand, and can pronounce, the following: a. workforce b. initiative c. portal d. gamification While you watch To maximize the learning opportunities, you need to set tasks for the students to focus on. The following exercise is taken from the video worksheet that comes with the International Express Teacher’s Resource Book DVD. All the worksheets are also available for free here. You just need your Oxford Teachers’ Club log-in details to view them. 6. Multiple choice After you watch 7. Quick questions Ask students for an immediate response. What did they think? Would they like to be involved in such a scheme? Would PleaseCycle work for their company? Why/Why not? How competitive would they be? Would they encourage their company to register, and log their trips on the app? 8. Return to the KWL Chart Go back to the KWL chart (see exercise 4) to check and complete part three. Refer back to the "benefits" and "barriers" lists they brainstormed too. 9. Going into more detail Before playing the video again, ask students what they can remember about Aegus Media, and Stravel. Both are mentioned in the video. Watch the video again, asking students to take notes about each company. Afterwards, let them compare notes in small groups. Use the following questions to focus their ideas: a. What did Aegus Media achieve using PleaseCycle? b. How was their success measured? c. What plans are there for Stravel? 10. Create a proposal Each small group should imagine they are working together at a company. They need to create a proposal to convince the company managers to start using PleaseCycle. Answers: Ex. 2 a. T b. F: 10,000 c. T d. T e. F: 10 years Ex. 6 1. a 2. c 3. c 4. b 5. c 6. b 7. a Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Grammar & Vocabulary, Multimedia & Digital Tagged: Adults, EdTech, International Express, Teaching adults, Video

This Friday, June 5th, marks UN World Environment Day, a day recognised to encourage worldwide awareness and action for the environment. With the theme this year being: ‘Seven Billion Dreams. One planet. Consume with care’, it’s worth looking at our every day practices, particularly in the classroom, and asking where we can conserve and reduce our consumption of resources. With the online resource of our Oxford Teacher’s Club and thousands of digital materials ready for download, we thought this week would be a great time to put together a collection of articles supporting paper-free and digital English language teaching.  Teaching a lesson with e-books Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools (Part 1) Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools (Part 2) Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools (Part 3) Flipping and Creating Video Presentations Getting English language students to practise out of class How do you use OUP digital resources in your class? Using Social Media and Smart Devices effectively in your classroom #EFLproblems - Facing your technology fears The value of Virtual Learning Environments for Business English Edmodo: Introducing the virtual classroom 5 Apps Every Teacher Should Have So you want to teach online? White paper on Tablets and Apps in School Adapting online materials to suit your students Using blogs to create web-based English coursesFiled under: Multimedia & Digital Tagged: Digital Learning, EdTech

I believe it was David Lloyd George who said you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. And for late adopters of digital technologies in learning and development, that chasm is becoming ever wider.A chasm is a scary enough thing when it's narrow. The wider it gets, the scarier it gets. Fortunately, the technology exists to create stepping stones across the chasm. One of the things I have noticed, talking to late adopters is that many of them are of the opinion that their target user audience isn't ready to use digital technologies as part of their working/learning day.I'd like to address this from two angles. First of all, digital tech is here to stay, and it's evolving all the time. At some point, the chasm will have to be crossed, and I reckon sooner is better than later. That much is pretty inevitable to both providers and consumers of learning solutions. In five or ten years' time, the learning landscape is going to look very different, and as for the learner profile..! There seems to be a general consensus that by that time, even our late adopters are going to have to be functioning in that space. One very positive aspect to being a late adopter is that you don't have to follow the path taken by the trailblazers - they made a lot of mistakes. Just check where they are now, and plot a path to join them there.But I am seeing a tendency to postpone thinking about how they're going to get there. It is possible to introduce aspects of tech that set things in motion. You could digitise your happy sheets, for example. Such a small thing. You could move assessments online. You could introduce a tip/challenge of the week sent out to mobile phones. User manuals/process documentation could be moved online (or if that's too scary, locally based on computers/tablets), leveraging the navigational advantages that that brings, and paving the way for a full blown point-of-need performance support tool.Secondly, the user audience is seldom as digitally incompetent as the stakeholders seem to think. Many people, who are not regarded as being particularly digitally literate:Search for information using a search engine such as GoogleHave Facebook accountsCan take a photo with their smart phone and upload it to Facebook or send it to someoneCan use a satnav, either a purpose-made one or on their smart phonesFind and watch clips on YouTubeBook flights/holidays onlineBuy their groceries onlineBuy goods from Amazon and/or eBay and pay for them via PayPalAccess their children's VLEs in the school portaletc. etc.So I think we can gently challenge the perception of the stakeholders on that score - their user audience can often do more than they're given credit for, and there's no reason why they can't start to do some of those things as part of their learning experience.

Today, we feature a post from a guest blogger. Irina Lutsenko is a teacher of English from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Over her 10 years in the profession, Irina has taught teenagers, university students and adults. The courses she has taught include General English, Business English, IELTS preparation and TOEFL preparation. In this post, Irina explores how learning English can be much more than just following a course book, and how to fit ‘extra hours’ of English into the learning practice.  Being a teacher of English, I deal with piles of course books on a daily basis. Course books are really engaging these days, and I inevitably draw a lot of inspiration from them. Sometimes, a single sentence can start a long train of thought. In this post, I’m exploring one such instance, which led to a surprising realization! Lesson 9A in English File Intermediate (Third Edition) centers around the topic of luck. In this lesson the students read a text called ‘A question of luck?’ which explains why certain people become extraordinarily successful, and what factors contribute to their success. Have a look at the final paragraph of the text: I don’t know about the specific number - 10,000 hours seems a little excessive! - but the theory behind it makes a lot of sense for language learning. When deciding to embark on the journey of learning English, many students pin their hopes on the teacher and the course book. Unfortunately, just going to classes and following a course book is not enough. You do need to put in a lot of extra hours to become a successful language learner. So how can you increase the amount of time you spend on English? We’ll need to do a little maths here. Let’s say you have English classes twice a week and each class is one and a half hours long. That’s three hours of English a week. If you don’t do anything else - that’s just three for you. However, you can (and should) add the following: Do your homework. That’s at least one hour per week. I love giving my students ‘enormous’ (in their words) homework. That’s at least one to two hours more. Add: three hours. Start your day with a TED talk. These are short - 15 minutes on average, which gives you around two hours more per week if you start every day from listening to a TED talk. Add: two hours. Read or listen to something in English on your way to work / school. Read a book if you go by metro or listen to an audio book if you go by car. Optimistically speaking, your way to work / school takes 30 minutes, multiply it by 2 and then by 5. Add: five hours. Watch a series and/or a film in English. Most episodes of most series are only 20-30 minutes long. One episode each day multiplied by five working days gives you two and a half hours. At the weekend, watch a film. Add: four and a half hours. Do some speaking. Find an English-speaking partner online, speak to your friends, join a Speaking Club. Add: one and a half hours. Let’s throw in an additional hour for times when you check some vocabulary and/or make notes. Add: one hour. Adding these together comes to seventeen additional hours of English - plus three hours of classes with a teacher. Combined, they total twenty hours of English a week! It is overwhelmingly obvious that students who put in twenty hours of English a week will be more successful than those who put in just three. The extra hours - tens turning into hundreds, hundreds turning into thousands before you know it - they truly work wonders!Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Grammar & Vocabulary, Teenagers Tagged: grammar and vocabulary, Teaching adults, Teenagers, Young Adults

If you know anything about me, you'll know that I have many passions and hot button topics in life. I am passionate about learning, and am embarked on a lifelong, lifewide learning experience.I am passionate about equality. Including - and perhaps especially - gender equality. I am hesitant to call myself a feminist, because the stereotypes associated with that term don't fit me comfortably as the happily married mother of sons, but I suspect I am often described as such. I will probably write more on that subject another day.I am also passionate about sport. Like many South African women, I can happily join in a conversation about almost any sport, without feeling as if the conversation excludes me or goes over my head. Almost any sport. I'm not a fan of the sport known as football in the UK and soccer in most other parts of the English speaking world. I do love cricket - pretty much in any format, 5-day tests, one day games, day/night games. I get a little tired of the endless T20 competitions, though, I confess. I only played cricket once, briefly, which 'epic fail' you can read more about here. My husband is even more passionate about cricket. He is possibly the only Swede ever to have opened the batting for a first division South African cricket team. I has been a source of frustration in my life that sportswomen have endured the uphill struggles that they have. So, when my husband shared this link on my Facebook page today, it filled me delight, and I felt the need to share it with you.Here's a potted history of women's cricket in England, from Enid Blakewell to Charlotte Edwards. I am thrilled that Blakewell's role in the women's game has finally been recognized by Wisden, if a little late in the day. I am also delighted that she's alive to see it. Too often these sorts of oversights are rectified posthumously.

This year Oxford University Press is excited to join IATEFL in the effort to bring more teachers to the 50th annual IATEFL conference in Birmingham through the Scholarship scheme. Sponsoring a scholarship seemed to be the most natural way to celebrate our own anniversary - the 70 years of ELT Journal, a quarterly publication for all those involved in English Language Teaching (ELT), whether as a second, additional, or foreign language, or as an international Lingua Franca. The ELT Journal has long had strong links with IATEFL, and the ELT J Debate has become an eagerly anticipated fixture in the IATEFL conference programme. We hope that through this scholarship practising teachers will get a chance to take advantage of the IATEFL conference as a professional development opportunity - both in terms of ideas and theory shared at the talks and workshops, but also as a great time to network with fellow teachers from around the world. The IATEFL annual meeting gives a truly global overview of contexts, experiences and practices, and to many delegates that is most valuable aspect of the conference. It is not necessary to be a member of IATEFL to apply, and the applications must be submitted to IATEFL by 23 July 2015. Detailed criteria for the scholarship are available on the list of current scholarships. APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP: http://www.iatefl.org/scholarships/scholarships-how-to-apply The award consists of: Registration for the Pre-Conference event of the winner’s choice Registration for the IATEFL Annual Conference A year’s IATEFL membership GBP 1500 towards conference related costs, including travel, accommodation, and visa costs An annual individual subscription to ELT Journal online An Oxford Teachers’ Academy online course of the winner’s choice To qualify you must: Be a practising teacher in primary, secondary, tertiary or adult education, state or private Be interested in continuous professional development Agree to submit a blog post about your conference experience by June 2016, to be published on the OUP blog: oupeltglobalblog.com Agree to be interviewed (on video) by OUP about your conference experience, to be published on the OUP ELT global YouTube channel To be considered for this scholarship you must submit a statement between 400 and 500 words in which you: Outline your teaching context, including a brief description of your teaching community and the part you play in it. Outline the professional development opportunities available to you in your context. Identify key professional challenges NOT addressed by the professional development opportunities available to you in your context. Outline an action plan for how you intend to take the learning gained during the conference to your teaching community. APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP: http://www.iatefl.org/scholarships/scholarships-how-to-applyFiled under: OUP ELT News, Professional Development Tagged: ELT J, ELT Journal, ELT Journal scholarship, IATEFL, IATEFL 2016, IATEFL Birmingham, IATEFL scholarship

A lot of blood, sweat and swearing has gone into the back story behind today's post. I am preparing to run a short internal workshop about the use of technology in learning. As part of that, I thought I might start with a brief, fun quiz, designed to demonstrate to my largely tech-shy colleagues that they are not as digitally illiterate as they think. Of course, it makes sense to deliver that quiz using technology in an intuitive enough form that it supports my message, right? Devising the quizSo I opted to use Articulate Storyline. I am fairly adept with Articulate Studio, having used it to build solutions for several of my clients when I had my own business, but I have only recently been coming to grips with Storyline. It's very handy for this sort of thing. So here we had learning experience 1. I made a few mistakes, and oversights, which revealed themselves in the test stages, but I managed to sort them out (I think). The challengesCreating the quiz proved to be the easy bit. The difficult bit comes when we start looking at the tech for the workshop. Here are the challenges I faced:There isn't enough cabling in any of our meeting rooms for everyone to bring along their laptops and access the quiz on our shared drive. There is only one, rather feeble, wifi network in our offices, which doesn't reach the meeting rooms.We have no supported tablets in our offices. We do, however, have some unsupported ones. These are generic non-iOS devices.The unsupported devices don't have access to our network drives.I don't have a space suitable for hosting the quiz module in a workable format.Normally speaking, in order to run an Articulate module on a tablet, you have to publish an html5 version and download the Articulate Mobile Player app from iTunes. That means it's only available to iOS devices.With the help of my remarkably supportive husband for some bits, this is what I will be doing:Creating a wifi hotspotI will create a wifi hotspot in the meeting room by bridging the networks on my laptop as follows (I hope - this bit has yet to be tested!): Hosting spaceThe tablets can then use that wifi to access the quiz. However, as I mentioned, there isn't a suitable space for me to host the quiz. So I'm hoping that I will be able to impose on the good graces of the people at Articulate to host the quiz on their tempshare space for the occasion. It is a little frustrating that I need to do this at all, but let's not go there for now.Accessing the quizOf course, the resultant link from the tempshare space will be a long-ass string of letters and numbers and I don't have a way of storing that link on the tablets, so I will use Bitly to shorten it and then, rather clunkily, ask my attendees to enter it manually into the address bar of the browser.BrowserThis brings me to the matter of the browser. As I mentioned, these are non-iOS devices. In order to run an Articulate module on a mobile device, said device needs to have the appropriate app. This app is only available from iTunes, so applies only to iOS mobile devices. However, thanks to this post by Robert George on the Articulate forum, I discovered that the way forward on my cheap and cheerful tablets was a browser called Dolphin.Having done that, I no longer needed the mobile player app. The tablet could run the quiz without it.So, at about midnight last night, my husband and I high fived each other and dragged our exhausted butts to bed.Now to see if I can replicate this in the office! It all hangs on that wifi connection!Wish me luck.

Dr Jenefer Philp is a senior lecturer at Lancaster University, and Director of Studies of the MA  in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching. She is interested in what research on second language acquisition has to say for the classroom. She has recently published two books related to the topic of peer interaction: Focus on Oral Interaction, with Rhonda Oliver and Peer Interaction and Second Language Learning, with Rebecca Adams and Noriko Iwashita. Today, she joins us ahead of her upcoming webinar, Peer Interaction in Foreign Language Settings. In many language classrooms pair and group work between learners is common. In other settings, especially where numbers are high and seating is fixed, students can spend relatively little or no time learning from their peers: most of the discourse is between the teacher and the whole class. I suggest that in most classrooms peer interaction and teacher-led interaction can be complementary: learners benefit from both, and in different ways. In this session we will focus on the potential benefits and problems of peers working together in foreign language learning classrooms. How useful is it for learners to work together? Should we try to use pair and group work, or is it a waste of time? What is the role of the teacher? I will discuss with you some of the research on peer interaction that has been carried out in foreign language classrooms among children, adolescents and adults. We will look at the potential benefits and discuss some of the challenges of peer interaction. By working out what students can gain through talking with one another, and how this complements the work of teachers, we can think about the strengths of peer interaction and how to make the most of peer activities in our classrooms. Whether you are a teacher, researcher, or student yourself, I hope you’ll bring your stories of your own experiences, concerns and successes to share with us - through a combination of lecture and discussion,  we’ll wrestle with the best ways to use peer interaction in your various classes, and ways to avoid common problems. Topics we’ll cover: What do we mean by "peer interaction"? What types of peer interaction are there? How can peer interaction support learning? What about correcting errors? What about large classes - the noise, the space, the time? What does really useful peer interaction look like, and how can we get there?   For more on this topic do join Jenefer’s webinar, Peer Interaction in the Foreign Language Classroom,which will be held on the 24th and 25th of June. Register to join below. Filed under: Professional Development, Skills Tagged: Peer work, Professional Development, Skills, Webinar

At a recent meeting, one attendee made an observation about how, when it comes to learning solutions, young people are comfortable with the use of technology, while older people are not. I challenged this, pointing out that I (being north of my 50th birthday) fall into the 'older' category, and I am perfectly comfortable with digital solutions (just as well, since I design them!). The person responded with, "Yes, but you're the exception."It wasn't an unfriendly exchange, that was simply her perception. One that I'm finding to be fairly widespread, and many late adopters are citing this as their reason for delaying the deployment of digital learning components in their learning solutions - they still have some older people on the staff.But is time we put this perception to bed, now. For one thing, it's ageist.Jane Hart and Harry get techie togetherI think generational labels like digital immigrants/natives, millennials, GenY, etc are anything but helpful in this regard, because they carry with them implications which the reality simply doesn't bear out. In fact, many of the movers and shakers in this field are no longer in the first flush of youth by any stretch of the imagination.Let's look at some case studies:Today, I read a blog post by Tony Bates, announcing his retirement. Tony recently turned 75, and many commenters are skeptical that he will be able to stay retired, because he lives and breathes online learning.Jay Cross is often credited with being the first person to use the term e-learning. Whether or not this is true isn't really the point. What is the point is that Jay is one of the movers and shakers in the field of digital learning, and - as far as I know - his 60th birthday is in the past. The link takes you to a website, but you'll find him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Diigo, Pinterest... Jay is the CEO of the Internet Time Alliance, a collective which helps organisations become more networked, collaborative, distributed and agile. The other members of this group are Harold Jarche, Charles Jennings (think 70:20:10), Clark Quinn and Jane Hart (of the annual 100 top tools list - see photo). I'm on hugging terms with all these people, so I hope they won't mind me telling you that none of them will ever see 50 again. On his Facebook page, Charles recently shared a video of himself playing the banjo (the man is a skilled musician, as so many learning geeks appear to be) on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Jane Hart's Facebook page is full of photos of her adored grandchildren.Stephen Downes is a highly regarded "commentator in the fields of online learning and new media" (as his wikipedia page asserts). His OLDaily blog posts are varied and interesting - required reading for anyone who wants to keep up to date with developments in the field. He celebrated his 55th birthday earlier this month.Together with Stephen Downes, George Siemens developed the Theory of Connectivism as a way of describing learning in the digital era. In his early 40s, George is probably going to be the baby of this group that I'm throwing together here today.  I just hope he doesn't mind being lumped together with all these oldies ;)There are many other examples of luminaries in the field, and I could sit here all day, listing people - purely from memory - who are leading lights in the field and north of 50. But let's come down a notch to more everyday people:My Facebook friends list includes at least two people in their 80s.I keep in touch with my 74 year old Mom by means of WhatsApp and Skype. When a WhatsApp message arrives from her, my screen announces her as 'Barbara the Legend'. And that's what she is.My doctors' surgery has an interactive screen by which patients of all ages make their arrival known. I've seen them do it.Buying groceries online and having them delivered is a boon for elderly and/or infirm customers. I have no concrete examples, but I'm confident they exist, and that more people would use the facility if they just got a little help with the initial learning curve.Autobanks are used by people of all ages. Next time you use one, take a look at the demographic of the other users.eReaders are a great tool for bookworms with arthritis and/or grandchildren. Imagine being a grandparent with an entire library of books in your handbag/pocket! I'm not a granny yet, but I know all about how the pain of arthritis! There are some fabulous interactive ebooks to explore with grandchildren.I've read Amazon book and product reviews by people of all ages.And on and on and on We have got to stop thinking of digital spaces as being the comfort zone of the 'young'. Jane Bozarth often refers to herself as 'the oldest millennial'. I think there are several others who might give her a run for her money (caveat: I have no idea how old Jane is).Give your older staff members some credit. I'm pretty sure they'll surprise you.Before I go, let me share this BBC article (with video) about 'cybergrannies'.

Emily McLaren is an English language teacher and travel blogger who is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland. She has taught English in Thailand and continues to travel and use her TEFL qualification and skills wherever possible. In this post, Emily discusses what a new English language teacher should consider and prepare for before starting their first job. After earning my TEFL qualification a few years ago, I spent a summer in Thailand for my first English language teaching job. It was one of the most challenging but enjoyable times of my life. I thought I was prepared before I left, but after speaking to some other EFL teachers, it was apparent that we all had different experiences of our first job teaching English abroad. With that in mind, and based on my own personal experiences, here’s a few points that I think are the most important things for new EFL teachers to consider before taking on their first job. Do as much research as you can before you go. Not just on the country, but for the logistics of the move too. Your passport must be valid for at least 12 months and you’ll likely need a visa to confirm your eligibility to work abroad. Not only that, but you’ll need to consider what items you take with you. In my case, I left large winter coats and boots at home and picked up quite a lot of things after I’d settled in and figured out what I did and didn’t need. It’s much easier than trying to squeeze your whole life into one suitcase! Something to pay particular attention to is the dress code of your school. Come prepared with formal clothes such as a shirt, smart trousers or skirt, and comfortable and practical shoes (you’re on your feet all day!). Don’t show up for your first day in a baggy t-shirt and sandals - teachers in Thailand, specifically, are held in high respect and as such, you should dress to reflect this. If it turns out that your school is more relaxed with what you wear, then great, but don’t be surprised if you’ll be expected to wear formal clothes. Bring plenty of classroom essentials. I didn’t think of this and thought I’d have access to coloured pens, paper, stickers, and all the other items we use day-to-day in the classroom - but I didn’t! My school had a few textbooks and that was more or less it. Thankfully, a more experienced EFL teacher had plenty of stationery to share, but if you’re going to be working in a developing country, you’ll need to come prepared with your own supplies. So you’ve got your stationery covered, but what else should you bring? I had access to a small CD player, so I loaded up a few CDs with songs my students could sing along to. Be sure to choose songs that are sung in a clear accent with minimal use of slang terms - here’s a list if you’re really stuck for ideas, and I found that my students loved to sing (and shout) along to Jingle Bells! I incorporated music into my lessons by playing the song a few times and having my students sing along, which was great for practicing their pronunciation. I also made up worksheets of the lyrics with a few missing words for them to fill in. Finally, it’s well documented that realia can make your lessons even more memorable. You’re creating a link between the object and word, which is an excellent way of getting your students to remember the new words they’re learning. There’s no limit on what you can use - some soft toys, your favourite food from home, train tickets, or small items of clothing are all safe bets. I brought some sweets and asked my students to describe them to me - some described the taste, some spoke about the shape, and some told me the colour. All of their answers were accurate, and this is another small way of encouraging students to practice their use of adjectives. Your lessons need to be fun. For the most part, I attended school in the United Kingdom, where lessons were very formal and there wasn’t much time for laughing. However, in Thailand, my students loved jokes and I found it much easier to teach in a classroom that was having fun. Most teachers find it difficult to motivate their students to write, but there’s a huge number of digital resources on offer, such as apps, videos, and social media, which can all be harnessed to reinforce what your students are learning. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone of writing on a board and try out some new things. As I mentioned before, not only is incorporating realia into your lessons a great way of teaching your students new words and phrases, it’s also a lot of fun! You can use realia to role-play real-life situations and to put words and phrases into practice. I brought some restaurant menus from home with me and some accessories such as a hat, false moustache, and glasses, and would role-play ordering food with my students. They thought the false moustache and glasses were hilarious, and would always wanted to wear them to "look like a waiter"! Prepare yourself for cultural differences. I think this is one of, if not the, most important thing to consider. You’ve probably already given some consideration to this, but as this post points out, many schools are much less structured than the Western ones. I was taken aback at how relaxed the education environment was and it took a few weeks for me to get to grips with everything, but I enjoyed just being able to teach without the usual bureaucracy. Remember, you’re there to teach, not overhaul the education system. That’s just how it is! Go with the flow and try not to get stressed out over things you can’t control - focus on your students and teaching them as best as you can. Teaching English abroad can feel overwhelming to begin with, but you will settle in and succeed. Preparation really is key, so although you can get caught up in the excitement of moving, make sure you put aside some time to do as much research as you can before you head off.Filed under: Professional Development Tagged: EFL, Professional Development, teaching english abroad, Travel

Shaun Crowley has worked as an EFL teacher and a marketing manager for an international ELT publisher. He is the founder of www.linguavote.com, an e-learning platform for learners of English that features social learning and gamification. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @shauncrowley In ELT we often regard our profession to be independent of teaching subjects like maths and science. That said, many of the approaches and materials we use are influenced by wider trends in education - from constructivist thinking in the 80’s that influenced the publication of Headway, to the recent "flipped learning" approach that’s inspiring some EFL teachers to rethink blended learning. In American mainstream education there is an increasing emphasis on a concept referred to as "21st Century Skills" - a collection of various competencies that are regarded as being important for success in life, such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, digital literacy, creativity, problem solving, environmental awareness and self-expression. Now let’s be honest - it’s a bit of a buzzword, with a meaning that’s open to interpretation. But the essential concept is pertinent: the ability to combine the subject you’re learning, with the skills and awareness that you need to apply your knowledge of the subject successfully. In ELT terms, I would interpret 21st Century Skills as: Analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating materials written in English Developing a "voice" on a topic and expressing it in English Researching materials and solving problems that are presented in English Being creative in English and taking communicative risks in pursuit of fluency Collaborating in diverse international teams, communicating in English Respecting international cultures and sensitivities Presenting yourself professionally in English Being able to use software to express yourself in English Being able to navigate software and digital content that’s presented in English Having the self-discipline to study English independently, and "learning how to learn". This probably isn’t an exhaustive list but already it is clear how relevant 21st Century Skills are to ELT, particularly in today’s interconnected world where English is the lingua-franca. And when we look specifically at the expected outcomes of English classes in schools and universities, it is even more evident that 21st Century Skills have increasing importance. 21st Century skills and the changing ELT landscape When I first started promoting ELT materials 10 years ago, there was a sizable market of end-users we playfully referred to as "EFNAR" (English for no apparent reason). These days, English is considered in most places as a foundation subject, a universal requirement for success in later life. Students are aware that English is a necessity for their CVs, particularly if they harbour ambitions to work for an international company. In many countries, English has become a preparatory subject in universities, partly because of the rise of English medium instruction on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. These trends have implications on the type of English students must learn, but they also have implications on the interpersonal, cognitive and technical skills that students need to apply to function effectively in English. Meanwhile, our students’ online worlds are bringing 21st Century skills to the surface even when they are at home… in gaming (collaborating as part of an international team on the Xbox), social networking (sharing thoughts with an international audience), and internet browsing (being able to quickly evaluate the validity of English websites found on Google). So if we ask how ELT will be influenced by future trends in mainstream education, I would suggest that 21st Century Skills will become a lot more integrated into the language learning process. What might that look like?  In my next posts I will offer four ideas for integrating some of these competencies in class and as part of a blended learning curriculum.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, English for Academic Purposes, Multimedia & Digital, Skills Tagged: 21st Century skills, Blended Learning, Critical thinking, Digital literacy, EFL, ELT, English medium instruction, Technology

Yesterday, I came across this TED talk by Ramona Pierson, CEO of Declara. Pierson was seriously injured in a car accident several years ago. In fact, that she survived is nothing short of astonishing.Please don't get so lost in the sensational story of her injuries and the fact that she now looks so unscathed that you lose the message that this young woman was moved into an old age home, and that fact probably saved - if not her life - her ability to function and lead the life she has.This was radical collaboration. A bunch of people came together and taught her some vital skills. Sometimes they were skills the bunch of people didn't have themselves, so they more or less made it up as they went along. Others were skills some members of the bunch had honed and flexed decades previously. This was outside the box/left field/pick your cliche thinking in action. Was this bunch a collection of young buck mavericks, known for flying off at a tangent? Not even a little bit. This was a bunch of senior citizens in an old age home. They didn't hold a thought shower. They didn't run a few ideas up the flagpole and see who saluted. They all just pitched in and did what they could. It was probably quite messy, because it was life and not corporate business. And just look at their results.By and large, people in old age homes are considered to have done their bit for society. They are now being afforded the chance to put their feet up and take it easy in the final years of their lives. They can even be quite disempowered. They are as likely to be 'done to' as school children - not consulted about their schedules and preferences, but with activities planned and scheduled by well-meaning people who believe they know what's best for them. Old age homes aren't exactly sought after harvesting grounds for recruitment agencies. And yet, and yet.I find this story inspiring on so many levels.I am also inspired by Pierson's approach to recruitment (among other things). However, rather than diluting this particular slant by going down that rabbit hole, let me leave you with a link to an interview she did with Business Week, so that you can explore more on your own.

Dr Charles Browne is Professor of TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan,  a recognized expert in vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading, especially as they apply to online learning environments. In addition to creating two well known high frequency word lists for second language learners (known as the New General Service List and New Academic Word List), he has created several free online learning sites including an extensive reading and listing website known as ER-Central, and has helped advise many publishers and companies working in these areas including SecretBuilders, who recently launched a set of ER reading apps using graded readers published by Oxford University Press. Did you ever notice how whenever you try a new online game, that the first level is almost ridiculously easy to complete but the final levels are incredibly hard? This is done for several reasons, and some of the basic principles of online gaming can be usefully applied to online learning environments as well. First, most online games provide a way of leveling up - for example if you kill enough monsters in Warcraft, you will gain enough experience points to go up to the next level. Games usually have many levels and make the first level(s) purposely easy both to help gamers to build confidence and interest in the game, to teach them how to use the basic features of the system, and to instill a desire to play the game more to reach higher levels.  Second, most good RPG (role playing games) as well as many other types of online games, provide players with an interesting or compelling storyline which helps to pull them deeper into the world of the game, as they become motivated to find out what happens next. And third, online games usually give players a way to accumulate points as well as to rank themselves against other players. This, too, leads to higher levels of motivation and commitment since most players want to achieve the highest score, or at least higher than others around them. When we try to apply the use of game thinking and game mechanics to learning environments such as second language learning it is called "gamification", something which, when done correctly, can lead to higher levels of learner motivation, engagement and time-on-task. Interestingly, one popular approach to second language acquisition, extensive reading (ER), echoes many of these ideas.  In 2002, Day and Bamford wrote a very influential article on the 10 most important principles of a successful extensive reading program, with the following 3 principles often cited as the being the most important: 1) reading materials should be easy 2) learners should be able to choose what they want to read 3) learners should read as much as possible First, if the reading material is easy, it instills leaners with a confidence at being able to read well, as well as the desire to read more and more in order to reach higher levels, very similar to the principles of gaming. Second, when learners are able to choose whatever story they want to read, they get pulled into the book’s storyline and become motivated to find out what happens next in a very similar way that gamers are pulled into the storylines of RPG games. And third, when teachers have students keep track of how many pages they’ve read and post those numbers to the whole class (which is common in many ER programs), it leads to higher levels of motivation through a friendly spirit of competition in much the same way this is achieved in the gaming world.Filed under: Graded Readers, Teenagers Tagged: Games, Gamification, graded reading, learning games, Reading