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The End Is the Beginning

From the window of my study I see a father and son in tribal costumes settle a goat and two kids into the back of a pickup truck. The sonic eruption of the morning call to prayer has long died down, but since it is Thursday, and hence the beginning of the weekend, the road running through the Al-Khalew oasis that gives my neighbourhood its name is still quiet.

My past four years in Oman have been the most challenging time of my adult life, and yet I am painfully aware what a unique world I have experienced here. Unique, not only because of the nation’s strong traditions, but also because rapid economic development is changing the physical and social landscape. Whatever the difficulties of living and working at the friction point between ancient ways and modern means, I have been blessed to share this snapshot of a society in evolution. This is one of the things that makes teaching English abroad a persistently adventurous mission.

The last day at work was simultaneously deeply emotional and profoundly anticlimactic. So much so that after an hour of trying to write about it, I eventually gave up. With so many colleagues and students to whom I am so deeply indebted, no goodbye does justice to a long-standing professional relationship. Thanks to the multitude of online networking facilities, it is possible to keep in touch with these people who have been my surrogate family for so long. But of course, it will never be never quite the same.

The emotional load of leaving my job and home of four years aside, there remain several mountains to be moved in the coming month. Most urgently, an assignment for the final taught module of my MA remains. The course is Language Learning through Information Communications Technologies (ICT), the most inspired and inspiring I have taken yet. An explosive project is brewing at the back of my mind, but with the load of previous modules, and of course wrapping up and handing over my job, I haven’t quite made it concrete yet. With the deadline on 30 June, and my flight out of Oman at 5 AM the next day, things will have to happen very quickly.

In addition, there are the small matters of securing a decent new job with Critical Study-friendly hours and reasonable pay in a reasonably free society, tying up all logistics here in Oman, packing my home into two suitcases and preparing for my month in Europe. Though technically unemployed, I am certainly not under-occupied.

It will be a demanding month, but I am extremely positive about the open possibilities it offers. It feels extremely good to be a free agent again, if only for the ninety days until my next job begins. Just ninety days, but a great deal hangs in the balance.

After all, one of the perks of being a gypsy is licence to reinvent yourself and your life around the next corner. The end of one incarnation is the beginning of another.

Though the goat scene this morning was to far to capture clearly on film, another goat scene is attached. These goats were roaming outside the local supermarket here in Rustaq.

NEW ADVENTURES IN ACADEMIC ENDEAVOUR

This morning, as the local weekend began, I got up at 6 AM, brewed some coffee, sat down and lucidly plotted out my entire upcoming assignment in detail. After months of muddling through a murky mind, I can think again now that my coordination job is done. The assignment is still far from finished, and the deadline is frighteningly near, but I now know that a quality assignment will be ready on time, against all odds.

I do not like flying by the seat of my proverbial pants. This time there was simply no other option than the trade-off: my professional self-respect depends on doing my job as well as I can. But that is done now, and I can concentrate on my studies, my slightly wilted self and finding a job where they need not be neglected.

Equanimity or Enquiry? Two Views on Student Absence

Equanimity, or evenness of mind, is a quality that is valuable in all zones of life. In the English teaching profession, it is invaluable. Though I can hardly claim to have harnessed my rampant mind to achieve complete and constant equanimity, time and experience have certainly helped. (Unless, of course, it is simply what seems like the rapid onset of old age that tends to accompany the end of semester?)

Today marked the middle of the fourteenth week of our sixteen-week semester. It also marked the mass exodus of students from campus, eight teaching days before the exams begin. Of course, the choice is theirs to make ? they are young adults, after all. Stunned as I was to find that nobody in my weakest class had shown up for today?s class, I willed myself not to feel disappointed or hurt. Their actions are not a reflection on their progress, my teaching or my value as a human being.

Or are they?

What could a young adult possibly want to do more than spend two hours in my scintillating company exploring the language in which they will study for a degree next year, the ways they can learn it enjoyably beyond the classroom walls, and most of all revelling in the progress they have made in this near-miraculous three months we have spent together?

Well? they obviously prefer what life beyond the classroom has to offer. Truth be told, most students do. The question is, what can we do to make the classroom an equally tempting contender for their attention. In short, what?s life got that I aint got?

The people have spoken, and they have spoken with their feet. Although this doesn?t justify self-flagellation, it certainly is cause for concern. If formal education is to be meaningful, educators have a responsibility to make our classrooms a destination tantalizing enough to compete with the best life has to offer.

And that is worth our sincere and astute enquiry.

"It's All Make Believe, isn't It?": Online Play in Language Learning

The personal experience of an online role play activity was eye-opening to me not only as a student and educator, but also as the rather anaemic individual that ekes out an existence behind these roles that have permeated, infiltrated and completely run amok in my life of late. I will, therefore, begin this reflection with the insights of my malnourished individual self, before exploring my views “in character” as a student, teacher and educational administrator. Just this once, indulge me.

Personal insights
A profound personal insight was that every human being is far more than the roles that we are assigned by the necessities of daily life. Our behaviour is often dictated by time and circumstance rather than our own choices. Stepping out of our true identity (or day-to-day mask) and into another is both liberating and empathizing.

Another revelation was that participants in a role play may benefit from the traits of the characters they play. In my own case I was assigned the identity of the ultimate blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe – my diametrical opposite. My behaviour as a professional is always spearheaded by reason, logic and frankness. Feminine wiles are simply not in my artillery out of principle. Marilyn Monroe, on the other hand, built her entire career around her womanly appearance and charisma, ingénue behaviour and disarming charm. While I am hardly on the verge of exchanging my rhetoric for eyelash-batting, some re-evaluation may be in order.

Finally, I was reminded that deepened understanding of people often reveals unexpected depth. Monroe is often typecast as the quintessential dumb blonde. Yet my research on her revealed her capacity for profound thought and emotion. In fact, at least 90% of my contributions to the chat were direct quotes of her. The effect was poignant and showed a very different side of the legend.

In short, on a personal level the chat session was both thought-provoking and invigorating.

Student insights
As a student, I very simply enjoyed this chat session, and its preparation, far more than any other within and possibly beyond this course. The value of enjoyment in learning is self-evident.

As a student who is often self-conscious about the imbalance of contributions in the chat seminars, usually with myself dominating, I found the session a great relief. The participation was far more balanced than in any other session I have attended, with all students getting involved. A cursory word count of previous chat sessions showed that there was also far more activity on the whole. The MS Word word count in this session’s transcript was 6 396, as opposed to 3 621 in Unit 2, 3 421 in Unit 4, and 4 672 in Unit 6 transcripts.

One problem is that the activity’s effectiveness suffers if participants come unprepared. The solution in itself, however, points out the strength of CMC for social construction of meaning: other participants helped characters by providing more information on their history.

Educator insights
As an educator, actually participating in an activity of this nature allowed me to uncover potential benefits and drawbacks of online language play, particularly role play, in general and among my current students.

General benefits include those cited by Warner (below): increased motivation, increased participation, increased language input and output and potential for social construction of meaning, decreased contextual information and liberating power of anonymity. I would add to this that the nature of the activity can guide learners towards practice of particular target language. In this case, for instance, all but one of the characters was no longer alive, necessitating the use of the past tenses. The necessity to find out more about other characters, and later also their true identities, makes the use of question and answer forms an absolute requirement.

Benefits in my teaching environment would centre around the particular cultural constraints. Social taboos on communication between the genders severely cripple face-to-face classroom interaction. The mere use of pseudonyms could have a dramatic impact on the quality and quantity of interaction in mixed-gender classes if CMC became a reality in our under-resourced classes. A further benefit of anonymity would be its potential liberating effect on students who are self-conscious, or are more comfortable with computer use than English use.

General drawbacks can include learners’ avoidance of correct or more challenging language forms. This would include learners giving overly brief answers rather than fuller sentences, as well as copying and pasting information when not feeling confident to formulate their own expressions. In the longer term, instructors would be wise to provide ongoing feedback on frequent language errors, since the converse of learners’ increased use of the language is the danger of entrenching a fossilized interlanguage. Finally, systems should be in place to support learners to move from increased confidence in their language use on the screen to increased confidence in the real world. It is important to consider the character or pseudonym as a tool, not a crutch for life.

In my own context, the drawbacks may once again be related to the cultural taboos, which have an inhibiting effect on the possibility of many kinds of language play. Among the small samples of language play that have come up in the reading and in the activity, there were numerous examples (crude language, sexual banter etc.) that would be unacceptable to students and would compromise the teacher legally. Detrimental instances of flaming, due to student frustration in a mandatory course, are a further potential hazard. Since so many social norms are not always overtly expressed, and the price for transgressing them is so high, serious thought would have to be given to the ways in which online language play can be fostered in this environment when infrastructural development finally makes it possible.

Conclusion
Personally engaging in an online role play can provide valuable insights on a personal, academic and professional level. Such an activity can have a multitude of potential benefits. Optimal implementation will demand careful construction of the activity, taking into consideration ways to exploit the potential benefits of CMC and control the potential drawbacks within a particular teaching context.

LAST LAP

That last lap around the field is the one where we truly see what we are made of. It is the time when every athlete has gone beyond the limits of strength and is running on the fumes of willpower alone.

That last lap is not unlike the end of semester.

For me, this is the last lap in many things. Not only are my students’ courses drawing to an end, I am also preparing to move to a different employer and a different country, in addition to completing the last modules of my MA before taking on the dissertation. It seems that each of these things demands the full cognitive capacity of one human being (or perhaps more!), and giving each its due is the greatest challenge I have faced in my adult life.

Perhaps blogging about this is a cunning procrastination strategy. Yet articulating the demands on are an important part of preparing to meet them. Stepping back to see what must be done is, sometimes, more important than to “just do it”.

Which is what I will now proceed to do.

THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

As the end of this semester rapidly draws near, I am delighted at the strides my students have taken. Yet I wonder how their triumphs will show up on the ruthless radar of assessment.

When I first met these students, they needed an interpreter to find out when and where their first classes would be. A month ago they rather actively participated in videoed interviews where they had to introduce themselves and talk about pictures they were shown. They show up for every lesson, doing their part, asking questions when they need guidance. They grasp every opportunity to apply expressions they have learnt, spontaneously and in context. I have never been as grateful for a sneeze in class as when the formerly most reluctant student piped up “Bless you!” without missing a beat.

My brave soldiers have come a long way in the eleven short weeks that we have worked together. All of them passed the midterm exam safely. And yet it is not certain that the final, external examination will do them justice. After all their efforts – and, yes, my own as well – the achievement is clear to see. But will it show up in the finals? I have to hope and pray that it does. It is extremely important that they see evidence that hard work and passion pay dividends. While it already has, my goal for the coming weeks is to ensure that both my students and the powers that be see what they have accomplished.

Failure is not an option. Mostly because they have succeeded. We just need to prove it.

OMANTEL BLOCKS ACADEMIC RESEARCH WEBSITE GOOGLE SCHOLAR

The importance of education in Oman's development is a matter of which the nation is aware at all levels. As an educator and researcher who has been based here for several years, I am acutely aware of the value access to quality information has for Omani students. Due to the dearth of academic books and libraries in the country, the tertiary education sector is largely dependent on the Internet in this respect. While search engines such as Google offer general information, academic research is enabled far more effectively by the research-specific Google Scholar website (http://scholar.google.com/schp).

To my great shock I have discovered that this website - perhaps one of the most vital to research development in this emerging nation - has been blocked by Omantel for the past week (http://www.omantel.net.om/new5.html?category=Pornography). Although I have emailed the company for a reversal of the decision, there has been no response as yet, and five calls to the company's internet helpline have delivered no satisfactory explanation.

The implications of disabling one of the most powerful research tools available - and one of the few available in Oman - send shivers down the spine of any academic community this nation may aspire to. While the World Wide Web teems with morally dubious potential, this is not usually the concern of dessicated academics such as ourselves.

Information, of course, is a dangerous thing. However, we have to weigh that up against the greater danger of the lack of information. Yet the greatest peril of all is the lack of wisdom to select and use information wisely. That is the peril that actions such as these - justifiably - inspire.

GIFTED, TALENTED AND HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC

When teachers speak of the squeaky wheel getting the grease, it usually refers to the conventional problem student: the one having learning difficulties. We easily fall into the trap of thinking that gifted and talented learners are achievers, the superstars that buoy our classes along and serve as an example to others. Yet sometimes gifted and talented learners do not carry their gifts with grace. As educators, our responsibilities here move beyond teaching them information to equipping them with the skills to benefit from standard education and contribute socially at the elevated level a gifted person is capable of.

My dilemma this week is a bright young woman with a strong personality, a will of her own, an unusually powerful command of English and a serious attitude problem. Stuck in our Foundation Programme – which is intended to teach students English and study skills – she is intensely frustrated by work that is too easy for her (although classmates battle) and a course of study she did not choose. Her response has, sadly, not been particularly intelligent or at all considerate: disrupting classes, flouting regulations and most recently disrupting an exam session to the point where two of my highly trusted colleagues saw no option but to take her paper and remove her from the room.

At this stage, there are sufficient grounds for her expulsion, even from this lenient nationalized free education system. But if we expel here, have we done our part for this young woman who oozes potential (and, I have to admit, attitude)? Have we done our part for the country?

Although placed in the business programme, she insists that she wants a career in acting. In this society, that would be unacceptable. However, we may be able to coax her into transferring to the Communications programme, in order to start a career in broadcasting. Interestingly, this will put pressure on her English ability, which is great for a student but not quite ready for TV. However, she will have to sign an agreement to cooperate and participate for the rest of the semester. She will also have to do a demanding project – scripting and presenting a documentary – in the place of the exam she missed. And maybe, just maybe, a potential tragedy will be the making of one of Oman’s first female television superstars.

Because teaching English is not really my job. It’s just an alibi.

WHO WILL CHEAT THE CHEATERS?

In an industry like TESOL, particularly for expatriate teachers, one cannot survive without realising that many things are driven by local culture. No matter how dedicated, driven and diligent you are, no matter how much you care about educating your students and opening worlds for them, sometimes the local way of doing things simply overrides the foreigner’s judgement. Judging whether this is good or bad only leads to sleepless nights and white hair that I would rather devote to more worthy causes, like my students’ actual learning. At least, in theory.

The local way usually wins out, certainly wherever I have taught. In Oman it may involve more student collaboration than independent work, more guiding questions to ensure accurate reading of content, and of course the fact that people are always more important than facts, rules or information. This I have come to accept, and in some cases even adopt.

However, I am unwilling to accept the fact that when students cheat on exams, there are no consequences. This is absolutely unimaginable, particularly in a place where the great current drive is for “Quality Assurance” and accreditation. Apparently there is no understanding of the fact that accreditation will not be granted to institutions that do not control cheating.

During an invigilation yesterday I found a second year student copying from copious notes written on his left hand onto his exam paper. I alerted my co-invigilator to this, and we intercepted him. He immediately started wiping his hand clean, and moved it away when I tried to take a photograph with my phone, which was at the ready. Since there is no legal protection for teachers who intercept cheating, we had to allow him to finish his exam. When he finished, I confronted him, and he continued to deny everything, swearing profusely by God as is customary here.

When I returned the exam papers to the local course coordinator, he had already been to see her. She refused to even hear about the incident, and the cheater will go unpunished. This attitude makes me suspect that the majority of cheaters, in fact, even go uncaught, since local invigilators accept this practice. After all, that was how many of them got through college.

Although I will report this to the Quality Assurance committee, the local way is likely to win out once again. This hurts me more than I can even put into words. It is barely any consolation that accreditation will not be granted to an establishment where such incidents take place. It is also not much comfort that, ultimately, the nation is making decisions about the future of their own country in these seemingly insignificant actions. It appears that they really don’t understand the importance of academic integrity.

And much as I try to reason with myself that maybe honesty is a perverse form of cultural imperialism, I simply can’t swallow that one.

AN EMPIRE STUMBLES AND EDUCATION EVOLVES

I have a confession to make. My past weekend was devoted to professional development. Supposedly. I forked out the hefty eight hundred-odd UAE dirhams for the TESOL Arabia annual conference with a light heart, looking forward to a few renowned speakers, an enlightening exhibition and the chance to see what was happening in the profession regionally.

I attended the first hour of the conference. Couldn’t stay another minute.

The atmosphere in the plenary session was oppressive. The credit crunch and rising costs came up several times, even in that hour. It was as if the whole profession had the blues. (An it tends to be a rather blue profession in this region as is.)

Leaving the conference to head for the greener pastures of Dubai’s infamous malls, I found another transformation in the city. The notorious traffic jams were gone. The malls were virtually empty. The boldface capitalized SALE 75% OFF signs were ubiquitous enough to lose their lustre – even to a die-hard bargain hunter like myself.

The economic crisis has obviously left Dubai reeling, and I couldn’t help but feel empathy for the many individuals who have been hit so hard. Every taxi driver, sales clerk and random member of the public had a tale to tell: rising costs, jobs lost and other woes.

Yet I can’t help but wonder if this confrontation with true crisis won’t be a good thing for education in the region. Until now, the need for quality education has been more cosmetic than genuine, thanks to the availability of cheap foreign labour. If there is true need for quality local staffing in the workplace, this may drive the education system in the Gulf to greater heights.

At least, that is one promising possibility.

WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN EDUCATION – THE SEQUEL

In the past post I blogged about a vital aspect of education outside the classroom: extracurricular activities. This post looks at a further key component of successful education: developing teachers.

Like most TESOL teachers abroad, I stumbled onto and into the profession (a reason, indeed, to question the relevance of that word?) without much prior training. Although I have been lucky enough to gather a growing collection of knowledge in the field, I am aware that professional development is seldom a high enough priority in TESOL, despite the fact that so many migrant English teachers have little training. This keeps TESOL practitioners in a rut, and limits the basic level of our performance. In short, we often have a bad name, and there are often few grounds to defend ourselves on. Staff development is, however, a two-way street: professionals are responsible for their own development, but employers are most certainly accountable for supporting this and, where possible, providing opportunities.

In something of a surprise move, our staff were presented with a great PD opportunity yesterday. A ministerial arrangement with the AMIDEAST organization allowed us to host a workshop by Dr Liz England of Shenandoah University (US). It was astonishing to see how hungry our teachers were for a chance like this. They all gained new insights – often from themselves and each other – and left with renewed faith in each other, restored hope and the vim to tackle the remaining half of the semester.

This led me to a great many questions regarding my own role. The position as coordinator is one that has no job description as yet, and until yesterday it seemed to me like an administrative function, which is what is ostensibly required from above and below. Yet the greater investment of my time in this job has been in setting up systems that will allow teachers to connect with each other, self-train and hopefully inspire them. What makes the work meaningful for me is not administration but leadership. Until yesterday I was questioning my own legitimacy in this focus – at the workshop I suddenly felt that it has not been great enough.

Among to the many ideas that struck me about the workshop (even though I could only attend short segments), this new questioning of my role is perhaps the most important, especially as I prepare to leave this employer. I would like to leave with a sufficient handover period, all my things in order, and not a burnt bridge in sight. But there is more than that: I would like to see what can be done with the opportunity I am presented, though I never asked for it.

WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN EDUCATION?

Year on year students attend classes with varying degrees of enthusiasm and results. To be honest, enthusiasm and results are seldom exceptionally high. Yet when there is an extracurricular event, it is often those students who somnambulate through the academic day that shine. Students prepare for months in advance, often going without sleep in the weeks preceding a special event. They love every minute of it – and they often learn far more than they do in class.

There is no doubt in my mind that extracurricular activities are where a great deal of students’ learning takes place. In many cases this is the spark that can light the fire of learning.

This year an ambitious young local student advisor has organized a glittering theatre festival – the first on our campus. When offered the chance to get involved, my work and study duties weighed heavily on my mind, and I seriously considered passing up the opportunity. After much thought, I decided to stick with limited “consulting” rather than full-scale involvement, because although I really don’t have the time, if I am a true educator I should realize that this is where the true education happens. And I want to be a part of that.

After a few meetings with the student team organizing the “fringe festival” I will also present a Chinese cooking class – in Mandarin and yes, in costume – on the fringe. Because this is too important an opportunity to miss.

Learning should not be imprisoned in the classroom walls.

The image is the logo for the festival, designed by a student.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE. A GLOBAL ONE.

It has been a gruelling week of teaching and studies and, to top it all off, life. Yet it has been immensely inspiring to see gradual progress among my small group of miracle students. It is now week 6 of the semester, and where five weeks ago they were using an interpreter for the most basic things, all the students are now actively involved in each activity, they are showing a healthy grasp of the material and, lo! they are even joking in English. While these results hinge largely around grace, I am very well aware that this would never have happened in a class of normal size. However, there may be lessons to be learnt here. The lessons may even apply to larger classes.

A number of pressing obligations have descended this week, as they often do, all at once. I am just infinitely grateful to have some solid ground to stand on: the support of my students, co-workers, and dear dear friends. But I am also especially grateful for online networks that give support and encouragement and knowledge and all those wonderful ideas.

It does take a village. Mine is global.

The Global Village Idiot

THE ENGLISH ACTION NETWORK

The overwhelming majority of male students in our General Foundation Programme (GFP) have not reached the threshold language level where they can benefit from the twenty hours of English instruction they receive each week. Because the female students are coping, instructors are forced to try to educate whole classes at divergent levels. The result is that the stronger students are under-stimulated and bored while the students at false beginner level are confused at best and apathetic at worst. And, yes, bored.

The wonderful teachers I work with on these challenging groups have been devising inventive ways to deal with the problem. Some solutions we have implemented between us include rich supplementation, additional and authentic materials, flashcards, tutorial sessions and the use of class blogs in addition to games and activities. In discussion with some of the teachers, we also found a time slot where all the guys can meet for additional instruction in language learning strategies and English practice.

I was not expecting the best turnout, and was surprised when all the male students save one – who had excused himself in advance for a doctor’s appointment – showed up. Not only that, but for a raucous gang of young adults with low English levels they were astoundingly cooperative.

The highlight of the class was sold as a traditional drumming session – a favourite pastime in these parts – which insidiously served as the basis for a self-introduction chant. What stunned me most was that the most intricate drumming came from a student who NEVER speaks any English whatsoever, and actually delivered the chant flawlessly over his breathtaking rhythm solo. Note: Grammar textbooks make great drums!

I am hoping they will also get involved in the social networking site I am setting up especially for them. This may get a bit complicated since I simply can’t moderate everything for accuracy, but I still believe it can open a door for them.

It is deeply moving to see that moment when a student sees the light. It is not a moment that is for any teacher to claim or keep, but it is one that we can continue to work for. Even if we ourselves may not be around to see that lightbulb flash on.

STATE OF EMERGENCE (Y)

Teaching is a job that, for anyone who realizes its gravity, is never easy. Inspiring, rewarding, edifying, yes, in so many ways. Easy? No. Teaching in an emerging nation adds to this a whole new set of challenges.

The seemingly impossible challenge of taking learners from false beginner levels in English to tertiary study within one year is one of these. Since the greater majority of our instructors are foreigners, and often westerners at that, there are many things about our students that we simply do not, will not, cannot understand, no matter how hard we try.

We simply cannot understand why our students do not read. We cannot understand why they do not do homework. We cannot understand why they believe it is their duty to “help” their friends cheat on exams, the blind merrily leading the blind into the abyss. We cannot understand why they are not intellectually adventurous.

Today I had an unusually successful outing to the capital – enough so that the usual annoyances didn’t disturb me too much: the rest-centered working hours, the lateral driving strategies, the shopgirls who seem to think that I am the one responsible for providing a service, the job creation candidates who pack my groceries with their appetite for destruction (especially when I can convince them to use ONE bag- and that alone is a breakthough). Because today I saw that all this incongruence is simply the most up-to-the-minute response of a nation that has had to wake up so rapidly to a time of such radical change in the world.

If English is a suitable alibi to take my students by the hand and show them other options, not as being better than their own way of doing, but as mere alternatives, then I am grateful for the chance.

PEDAGOGY AND PARABLES

In the parable of the sower, among the many seeds sown only a very few meet the right conditions to grow. While the parable did not refer to education, I most certainly believe it does apply.

As a teacher’s practice broadens and deepens, and a principled, personal pedagogy takes shape, it is easy to place so much faith in our philosophies that we expect perfect results. I am particularly guilty of this, and I am likely to refuse failure as an option: if students do not understand, it must be my fault.

Today a dear colleague and friend, who has invested faith and heart and lifeblood in my students, withdrew from teaching the course. Despite her tireless creative endeavours to inspire and educate them (and she certainly inspired me in the process), she had witnessed no progress during students’ classes.

The parable of the sower could be interpreted to mean that some of the seeds of learning will never sprout. Yet later this afternoon, one of these students actually asked for extra homework to improve his English. Another initiated a casual conversation when I passed him on campus. Four weeks ago these students would not talk to me without an interpreter.

Perhaps some seeds just take longer than others. And I have my colleague to thank for even sowing that seed. Where there is learning, we all reap the fruit.

A WONDERFUL THING IS A WIKI – BUT IS IT NEW?

Wikipedia defines a wiki as “a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.” Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.”

Etymologically, “ “Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is a Hawaiian word for "fast. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication. "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is", but this is a backronym” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki).

So wikis have been big news for several years – but are they really so new?

Recently I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a number of inspired professionals to enrich my practice, study and life at large. It is, in essence, an offline wiki. The sparkstorm of ideas that often ensues is one that simply cannot be tied down to one member of the group. Who is the author when an idea when it is built on contributions of different people?

This is social construction of knowledge at its finest. In fact, it is construction of knowledge that often does not yet exist. Construction at the very last outposts of knowledge.

Collaboration and the exhilarating synergy it brings is not new. But wikis have reminded us that the whole can be so much greater than the sum of the parts.

NEW BEGINNINGS FOR FALSE BEGINNERS

Although this is a teacher-research blog, there hasn’t been all that much research to report on so far. But as the time to do my critical study is approaching, my awareness is moving in that direction. My new course is a prime candidate for research, and today’s first class was a little breath of serendipitous grace.

This semester I am scheduled to teach 11 hours of Reading and Writing to the only three students in our college who failed their first semester in the Foundation Programme. Thanks to discussions with my wonderful colleagues, allies and friends, some very exciting ideas have emerged. I am also considering compiling the activities that are effective in getting these students motivated and helping them learn as part of my critical study. Maybe…

The students, however, have been pursuing me all over campus for days to persuade me to raise their marks so that they can stay with their group- with the use of an interpreter, since they can’t even express this idea in English. Clearly, raising their marks will not help them, but a healthy mix of empathy, discipline and creativity just might. I have arranged that they can attend any classes they wish with their former classmates, while their classmates can attend certain of their sessions, which will be dedicated specifically to language learning strategies.

The miracle happened today, when only one student, Ayman, showed up long after I had given up on seeing any students. Ayman’s lone and late arrival shook me completely out of “teaching mode”, and into genuine interaction, which involved uncovering the language for choosing and requesting a fruit juice to drink using the bilingual labels on three bottles of juice. Although like all Omani students, Ayman has studied English for over a decade, some interesting features of his language showed up:

1. His vocabulary and collocation repertoire is extremely limited.
2. He does not understand the connection between sounds and symbols (letters), and has no grasp of the short vowel sounds. This has drastic implications for his spelling.
3. He writes letters using the movements he would in Arabic, starting from the lower left.

I handed Ayman the student “lucky dip”: a folder containing a pen, pencil, post-it booklet, notebook and portfolio. Some time after he worked out and wrote the words on the whiteboard and we practiced the pronunciation and request collocations, he wrote these down in the notebook, which students will also keep as language learning scrapbook journals. The first thing written in the book was the semester, week, day, and date with a basic entry starting “Today I feel…”. Although I modelled this exercise, he could not find the basic words happy, sad, angry, scared to complete his sentence or put together the reason why. After some cajoling he gradually built up and wrote down the full sentence, which he then read back to me. He also asked the words for certain meanings, like “a little” and “a lot”.

We also set up contact groups on our mobile phones and sent a text message to the absent students. One of them even replied!

Towards the end of the lesson, two senior female students dropped in to see what was going on in the classroom. Ayman had a chance to offer them some juice, practicing his new knowledge in a practical way. I was stunned to see that the lesson time was over, which is how the expressions “Time flies” and “Time flies when you’re having fun” landed on the whiteboard.

Where a day ago Ayman was refusing this course, this non-lesson may have been one of the first chances he has had to use English for an actual purpose. All that because a “lesson” was out of the question.

There will obviously be considerable ground to cover beyond today’s practical nuts-and-bolts, and it won’t always be this effortless. But a glimmer of hope is a precious, precious thing and deserves to be cherished.

The photo is of the whiteboard at the end of the session. Vocabulary is on the left, writing practice in the middle and collocations on the right.

TRAPPED! WHY THE DIGITAL DIVIDE STILL YAWNS BEFORE US

In yesterday’s entry I mentioned Warschauer’s suggestion that the divides of EFL/ESL, the digital and technology divides have been overcome, and my personal objection to it.

During the first online chat session for my ICT course, the persistence of the digital divide was eloquently demonstrated. Telecommunications facilities in my region of Oman were interrupted for several hours, resulting in my late arrival and some of my classmates’ inability to log in at all. Here, like in many places worldwide, internet access is crippled by infrastructure problems.

In the discussion, some agreed with Warschauer to the point of saying that internet access is now universal. From my tenuous foothold on this side of the digital divide, I am quite simply gobsmacked. Somewhere there exists a world where that is true. I haven’t visited it.

THE PLACE OF ENGLISH IN INTERNET COMMUNICATION AND E-DUCATION

My readings for the ICT module have included some think-work based on an article by Mark Warchscauer entitled Wiring English into our Technological World and another by Seth Mydans called Across Cultures, English is the Word. Some thoughts on these…

Warschauer’s central argument is that emerging technologies eliminate three perceived barriers:
1. The distinction between ESL and EFL
2. The digital divide (lack of resources among the world’s poor)
3. The technological divide (the lack of tech skills, even among those who have access to technology.)

Although I can agree with the general argument, as a citizen and lifelong resident of emerging nations, I feel entitled to some criticism of these opinions,

1. ESL/EFL: While English immersion is becoming prevalent in many international workplaces, and fluency increases, inaccuracies may persist, and even be entrenched as a shared interlanguage among L2 speakers. This may be the evolution of the international language, but that does not eliminate prejudice that may exist against L2 speakers. And as a speaker of English as a second language, I am actually allowed to say that!

2. Digital divide: Warschauer's claim that even among the very poor of the world, there is increased accessed to certain shared tech resources is justified. However, many are still left behind, and the divide becomes more and more difficult to cross.
It should also be considered that the vast majority of ICT requires literacy, which cuts out a further segment of the world's population.

Although most languages are represented online, English still rules the waves, and not knowing this world languages sets users at a further disadvantage. In short, Warhschauer has a point, but I can't agree with him completely.

3. Technological divide: The most endangered species here is the technophobic teacher! Even as a one-time internet addict and reincarnated blogger, I often learn shortcuts and new uses for computers and other gadgets from my students. There is a certain threshold of computer skills that will be necessary for teachers to mine the potential of ICT for education. Guiding educators to become e-Ducators will require fundamental attention, particularly in TESOL, where professionalization is not yet prevalent in many contexts worldwide.

BRAVE NEW WORLD, VIRTUALLY

There is something of the scent of danger about my study session tonight. Where I am usually cozily surrounded by my fortress of chunky books and printed-out articles when I sit down to study, tonight my desk is bare except for my laptop.

Stripped of my reams of stationery I feel cold and lost and bare and afraid. Even though I am no luddite, learning this way is an unaccustomed adrenaline-throbbing terror of a thrill. The endless abyss of options gapes at me: while unit notes are sensibly sitting on my screen, they open up into a myriad of fractal possibilities: hyperlinks scattering off into an unseen horizon, mp3s on classes (and every other imaginable soundtrack) thronging for my attention along with the rest of the wondrous wilful wilds of the web.

This is a whole new mode of learning, and it may very well be true that a new generation of ‘digital natives’ will feel extremely comfortable in it. I am not- and educators from previous generations probably feel even more intimidated than I do.

But if learning is to reach new generations, it will have to be in a medium they understand. And interactive e-learning certainly speaks their language.

The only question is… do I?

RESURRECTION

Justifying the disappearance- temporary or otherwise- of a blog is so standard that I will not even go into the reasons. We all know how it goes. My nutshell justification would be my virtual bumper sticker of the moment: Life was so easy before I got one. Nuf said.

The resurrection in question is not only that of my blog. Blogs, especially those related to a personal passion- tend to follow the waxing and waning of the passion. Throwing myself into what I am doing- work, study, life- became such a time- and energy- consuming activity that the fire behind it was reduced to embers in the past months. I was beginning to wonder if it had been doused completely.

But stepping away can be the best medicine. After working my fingers to the bone in my coordination duties at work over the past semester, and finding that it was still not enough, I had the sense that everything else had suffered, including my teaching and my studies, not to mention my personal wellbeing. For three weeks in January, though, I have the luxury of stepping back from work to attend classes for my masters program. From this, new developments have emerged.

Taking time to re-invigorate my theoretical interests and regain perspective on what it is that I do, and disciplining myself to relax (not as easy as it sounds), while entrusting colleagues with matters at work, has kindled those fragile embers. The flames are returning, and with care they may blaze again.

There are many educational mistakes of the past semester to learn from, in all areas from my teaching to my coordination to my studies to my work-life balance. That is what mistakes are for- and in fact they only are mistakes if I do not learn from them.

I am fortunate, blessed, downright lucky. I have so many opportunities, inspired colleagues, wondrous friends and a ragbag bucketful of abilities and experience and hard-won skills. To say that these could be wasted is not entirely correct. But that they can be used in ever better ways would be fair.

Resurrecting my blog is one of them.