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.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, February 2, 2009
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.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
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?
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?
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