Every cloud has a silver lining: professional learning from teacher educators
If COVID-19 has a silver lining, it undoubtedly is the learning opportunities the shift online has provided. Even though there have been challenges, most ELT teachers and teacher educators have developed digital knowledge and skills, pedagogic beliefs and confidence with technology which would not necessarily have happened without the forced transition online. This blog post below, […]
Reflecting in times of COVID-19: keep calm and keep GROW-ing
In this blog article written for CAE, I explore the benefits of reflective practice. Learn the benefits of reflecting, to promote a self-improving culture of learning and increase your ability to adapt during these unpredictable times.
Professionalising global TEYL practices – Focus on global skills
Although some teachers might wonder if global skills have a place in teaching English to young learners (TEYL), I am a strong believer that we, as English language teachers, have an important role to play in raising learners’ awareness of the significant challenges the world is facing. Focusing on global issues in an age-accessible way and […]
Reflections as Professional Learning
Happy 2022! A new year has started offering us a chance to develop some new good habits: regular reflections! Dewey stated it clearly “we don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” Reflective practice is a powerful tool and key for development because it enables ‘continuous learning’ as Schön highlights. Teachers who want […]
Looking back to move forward…
If COVID-19 has a silver lining, is it definitely the learning opportunities this shock-event has provided us with as ELT teachers and teacher educators, even in 2021. This year most of us started with more awareness and knowledge about online education and teaching live online, but personally, I feel I’ve come out with more knowledge, […]
What makes a great teacher?
What is it that makes a great teacher? Is it passion? Empathy? Belief – in themselves and their students? Knowledge? Creativity? Flexibility? Dedication? Enthusiasm? Patience? Being a good listener? Having the willingness to try new things? Being able to reflect? Willingness to learn from mistakes and to keep on learning? And the list goes on…… […]
Back to School: Motivating Learning Online for all Students
While most teachers are now more confident teaching with technology and online, many teachers are still reporting that student motivation remains a challenge. In this interactive webinar, I explore the concept of motivation and highlights the importance of shifting away from teachers motivating learners to student-generated motivation and found ways to ignite the fire from within.
KEYS to guide your tech choices
Normally, when institutes move to online or blended programs six to nine months of preparation have gone into designing appropriate learning systems (Hodges et. al, 2020) and enabling teachers with technology-enhanced teaching skills. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, most of us were thrown into online teaching overnight, and herein lies the danger that […]
Teaching Online – Less is more
Even when learning in a F2F environment some students think our lessons are too long! However, when teaching online it is even more important to be aware that we should not teach at the speed we talk, but at the speed learners can follow us and process the information we want to get across. Keep […]
Teaching Online- Connect
One of the most important foundations for learning is that learners feel safe and have a sense of belonging. In remote teaching learners are not in the same classroom physically or perhaps not even in the same country so the distance created by the technology can have an impact on your classroom dynamics. Learners don’t […]