Dave Gatrell (#FLTeachEnglish educator)
I started teaching for the British Council in Prague in 2002. I now work in Hong Kong for the global teacher development team. I have an MA in digital technologies and education.
Twitter: @legaladvert
Location Hong Kong
Activity
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Natalie, apart from the excellent discussion here about learner motivation, you've raised an important point about teacher motivation and the importance of getting to know your learners online.
I work in online teacher development, rather than online teaching, but one thing I find common to all online communication is that people tend to share more online,...
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Marie, it's really interesting to hear about your experience of developing American pronunciation through your work. In this kind of work, I imagine having native-like American (or British) pronunciation is extremely important. My own feeling is that as teachers, we need to consider our learners' needs - and when it comes to pronunciation learners may not need...
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Now that you are qualified and experienced, I hope you're able to find ways of sharing these insights with colleagues where you teach.
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Hi Paola. Thanks for the positive comments! Feel free to go back and look at any of the materials after the course has finished.
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Keita, I'm glad you got so much out of the course. Thanks for all your comments too!
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Ana, speaking as someone who's into using technology in teaching and learning, works in teacher training, and believes NNES and NES teachers can be equally good, I'm really pleased that these are your main takeaways from the course. Good luck with your continuing professional development!
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Padmakshi, I'd strongly encourage you to start your own online group about the areas of the course that interest you most. One really good example of this is We Are The World: https://www.facebook.com/groups/965366963494300/
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Elica, I'm pleased you've got a lot out of the course. Perhaps by learning through connectivism you'll develop useful skills that you can share with your students - not just those you currently teach, but also those you later teach online?
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Kima, I'm also a big fan of TBLT. If you're interested in finding out more about how to use the approach in practice, you could try these resources:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/six-types-task-tbl
http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-task-based-learning/146502.article -
Myat, that's great news! How do you think your approach to teaching will change as a result of this course?
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Hi Theingi. Which do you think are the most useful learning strategies you've learned during this course? Can you share any of them with other participants?
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Rahul, that's great. In what way has your opinion changed towards online learning and e-tutoring?
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Hi Olga. Why do you find this surprising? In what ways do you feel teaching methods ought to be the same?
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Keita, I agree with you, and I think this is a good example. I think English speakers are used to the idea of regional differences in the way the language is used.
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Rajaa, I'm pleased to hear this. I'm glad you got the job because of your knowledge and expertise.
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Christian, you read my mind! https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5060131. Perhaps having a native teacher with "correct" pronunciation (whatever that may be) isn't as important as some people think?
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Really good points, Charlotte. I'm proud that British Council Hong Kong has quite a high proportion of non-native teachers, and most of the online teacher trainers I work with do not have English as their L1.
However, it's a sad fact that many language schools worldwide prize "nativeness" above all else. I guess, as you say, this is something a lot of...
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Rupert, I definitely agree with what you're saying here about the importance of continuing professional development, which should involve - among other things - keeping up with new trends in English.
If teachers aren't confident in their own grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, can they not make use of other resources - such as the coursebook, dictionary...
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Me too, Valerie!
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Tim, this is another great post and you've also summed up many of my own thoughts on ELF. I particularly like what you say about students realising that the mistakes they fear so much do not hinder communication - as well as your point about making resources more culturally relevant (and therefore more motivating).
Andreea, do you not think that being a...
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Ekaterina and Begoña, some people might argue that non-native speakers of English can make better teachers: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5058375. What do you think?
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Marisa, what do you think of the argument that non-native teachers have certain advantages over native speakers: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5058375?
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Interesting post, Marie. Do you think learners of English need to learn all aspects of native-like pronunciation? If not, which aspects are most important?
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Really valuable points again, Rupert: "teachers and course writers need to recognise that most students aren’t trying to sound like a native, that their first priority is communication in a specific field, and base their courses around that". Am I right you're saying that teachers do need to teach native-speaker English, but only concentrate on the areas of...
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Moses, you seem to echo some of the things Carmen, Valerie and I have said below: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5058375. I think what you write about non-native teachers' "interest and gift in learning other languages and encouragement in going further to explore more about that language" is also very true. When I...
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Valerie, you seem to share Carmen's and my own thoughts on the value of non-native teachers of English. What do you think of the argument that non-native teachers may even have an advantage over native English teachers: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5058375?
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Carmen, these are great points. I think many people would agree that training, qualifications and skills - teaching as well as personal - are much more important. Some people would also argue that non-native teachers, as people who have actually learned the language themselves, have greater empathy and understanding than "natives" who acquired it as a mother...
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Really interesting question, Rupert. I wonder what other people think? There's a discussion below on this: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/5008673
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Yes, Rajan and Fwanshishak, you've summed it up very well.
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Rajaa, what Will is saying is that there are varieties of English - Indian English, Singaporean
English, Nigerian English - but ELF isn't concerned with these "geographical and national locations and uses of English", but rather English as a language of intercultural
communication.So, who do you think "owns" English?
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Ha ha, interesting point, Nataliya!
For me, as a native speaker, it's about being prepared to adapt my English so I can communicate with non-native speakers of English - a point Rupert makes very well in the post below this one.
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Louise, I think you make an important point about speakers from different cultural backgrounds using English to express other cultural values. Just because someone is using English to communicate, it doesn't necessarily mean their culture is being lost.
Megan, I think you're right that the evolution of different Englishes means that no single group has...
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David, I like your point about how English can serve "as a window to introduce native culture globally" - perhaps English can therefore be a force for good in preserving local cultures? What do other people think?
I also agree it's important that native speakers - who, as Mariko points out, are in minority - have an obligation to make themselves understood...
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Fwanshishak, I think a lot of other people share your view that the spread of English has led to improved communication between speakers of different languages, and that this is a positive thing. However, do you feel that this is also leading to a decline in Nigerian languages?
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I agree - May, this is an excellent description. Whose role then do you feel it is to preserve the status of Tagalog, and how should they do it? How can this be achieved while maintaining the very high level of English spoken in your country?
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Interesting points, Rajaa. The spread of English has led to significant changes in the language and the development of different varieties of English, as we shall see later in this week's materials. Is the English spoken in your country different from what you would see as "standard" English?
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Thanks for your post, Maria. Is there a social divide in your country between people who know English and those who don't? If so, is this because English speakers have greater opportunities, or is it because people need economic power in order to learn English?
Does anyone else feel that people in their country use English to demonstrate their social status?
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Really interesting posts, May and Analyn, thanks for sharing them. Is anything being done at a national level to address the decline in Tagalog?
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Gajalakshmi, how do you feel about the widespread use of English in your country? Do you feel it has had a negative impact on other languages, or is it generally a positive force in bringing people together?
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Hi Abraham. When you talk about "offering tuition to certain areas of society", are you referring to the way that sometimes only people with economic power can learn English? If so, is this something you've witnessed in countries where you've lived?
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Hi Paula. You can find the discussion here in the post from 6 May: https://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil?fref=nf. E-tutoring is another name for online teaching.
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Thanks all of you for the great discussions that made the review possible!
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Good questions, Anuradha. Kindergarten teachers, like lots of other teachers the world over, use social media to share their experiences and ideas about best practice:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/kindergarten
https://uk.pinterest.com/misskinder/Some of my colleagues have also created private Twitter accounts for their students to share photos of their...
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Thanks Alli. I was also sitting in my room in Hong Kong!
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Thanks for your post, Sarwar. I'd like to qualify this by saying you don't need to follow a strict methodology when using social media as a teacher or learner - though you do need to be aware of what you're doing and how it will support learning.
Something I really like about Neil's approach - and what his team are doing - is that learners of English in the...
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Thanks Pepe. Pleased to hear you're going to consider using social media with your students!
I talked about how learners of English could use Pinterest, but, as with Twitter and Facebook, it's a tool I find really useful for my own professional development. For example, I have a keen interest in digital game-based learning in ELT, and found this...
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Great to hear you found the session useful, Juliana!
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Hi Timite. Sorry to hear you weren't able to join in live, but I hope you've managed to watch the video, and I hope you can make next week's session!
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Rossana, I'm sorry to hear some parents had that reaction to your class blog. Using social media does take a lot of careful planning and effort - and certainly isn't an "easy way out of teaching"! I'm sure a lot of the other parents were really impressed with your approach, and I'm sure your students got a lot out of it - using a blog or other social media...
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Thanks a lot for taking part, Graciela. I think you're right to bring up oral communication skills. If we use social media in the classroom, it can form the basis of really communicative, collaborative tasks that learners can do in pairs and groups. There are lots of other social media tools which in themselves develop learners' speaking and listening skills....
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Thanks for taking part, Dr. Bhanegaonkar. These are really good points! Something I would mention is that F2F learning can be just as learner-centred as online learning, as in classrooms we can also ask learners to create content or, depending on our context, design the curriculum with them. Some of the social media-based tasks I outlined, like pretending to...
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That's great, Wien. I hope you can part in next week's live session!
If you're interested in more sessions like this, check out http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/continuing-professional-development/webinars too.
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Brian, thanks for this. I've contacted my colleagues and they should have this fixed soon. In the meantime, the link is http://languagebox.ac.uk/
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Yes, Juliet, this is such an important point. People often think of social media as being something we passively consume, but it's also an opportunity for our learners to be active, creative and collaborative.
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Thanks Jacqueline! These are all things your learners could do using mobile phones as well - in or out of the classroom.
If anyone hasn't seen the discussion Jacqueline started on this important topic, it's here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/comments/4707657 -
Tayyaba, look out for the recording on Tadou: http://www.tudou.com/home/_323684955
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Great to hear that, Louise. I also really like taking part in these kinds of events. If you'd like to join in any of our British Council webinars, visit http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/continuing-professional-development/webinars - the next three are on teacher burnout, dyslexia and primary teaching.
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Thanks for watching, Yumiko. These issues are important for learners of all ages, and particularly important when it comes to using social media tools with children.
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I agree, Marino. Social media tools are a great way of guiding learners to useful learning resources - or having them guide each other to useful resources. The tools you choose will depend on the needs of the students you teach.
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Thanks for adding to this thread. It's such a good one that I mentioned in my summary of this week!
I think phones can be a really good tool for note taking. You can create shareable, multimedia notes using something like https://evernote.com/ and include photos and videos. I find Twitter useful for this too. However, I really wouldn't advocate taking a...
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I did the MA DTCE with Manchester - https://madigitaltechnologies.wordpress.com/ - and found some modules took longer than expected, others around the same. What I liked about learning online was, as mentioned in Step 3.5, being able to work and study at the same time, and fit my studies around my job. It was usually around ten hours a week!
If you decide...
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If your students can't use their phones in class, there are some great free apps out there:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps
http://www.macmillaneducationapps.com/ -
Emily, if you have a small group of younger primary learners and access to a laptop and an IWB, there's a lot you can do! How about trying out some of the activities on http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/?
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Hiroe, thanks for taking part in the Facebook chat yesterday. I agree that online tutoring is, if anything, more demanding than teaching F2F - I hope this course helps you to convince your colleagues how challenging your role is!
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Erika and Anna, I agree that it's a nice exercise. When designing activities online, we need to provide meaningful feedback, links to further resources and then opportunities for learners to discuss their answers!
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Don't worry, Tim - you don't need to be an expert in web design to teach online! Good Learning Management Systems like FutureLearn, Moodle and Edmodo make the technical role of tutors a lot more straightforward, allowing you to focus on the areas you've identified: creating and delivering engaging content, assessment and feedback, and even real-time...
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Good luck teaching online, Rossana! As you point out, planning and addressing students' needs to make sure they participate are both very important. I hope you find Step 3.8 useful too.
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Harpal, it's great that you integrate technology into your classes at school. Do your students have mobile phones or internet access outside school?
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Elena, I hope you can take part in the live discussion tomorrow in Step 3.10: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/steps/26717. Even if you can't attend the live event, post your questions there and we'll try to answer them!
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Abdulmajid, I'm really pleased to hear this! Discussions are a great way of building knowledge together, and also very rewarding.
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Dave Gatrell (#FLTeachEnglish educator) replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Laura, you've hit upon an important point here - as tutors and course designers, we need to put together engaging content as well as provide opportunities for learners to interact and collaborate. What other things keep you interested in online courses?
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Thanks for your post, Bryan. On many of the online courses I've done, learning has taken place in much smaller groups than on this course - and there have been collaborative group projects and assignment deadlines that have forced me to work hard. Remember, the course we're doing is just one example of online learning.
I also think with blended learning,...
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Shahrzad, have your other experiences of studying online been on MOOCs like this one, or in smaller, closed groups on other types of platforms? Which do you prefer?
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Great discussion. I also did my MA online and found the "consistent smaller bite-size chunks" Connie recommends to be the best approach. On our online teacher development courses, I always recommend "little and often".
Steve's advice for this MOOC is also important - focus on topics of interest to you and then revisit other materials after the course has...
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Sharon, these are great points. I think guidelines are really important when it comes to online skills such as posting in a discussion, giving feedback or posting a reflection.
One way we try to keep people motivated on this course is by providing summaries of each week's discussions. Other approaches include live events and allowing people to "like" each...
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Moses, you've made a really good point here. While learning F2F allows you to provide more immediate answers, learning online can give you more time to think and reflect before answering. It also allows more people to take part in the discussion.
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Salvatore, I agree that tutoring online can seem daunting - but I feel that good experienced teachers can also be good online tutors. Online platforms, such as this one, do allow you to monitor students' progress and give meaningful feedback. You're quite right to point out that the human element, or social presence, is fundamental to online teaching - in...
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Glad to hear you're enjoying the course, Ulas. Hope you can make the Facebook chat and Hangout this week!
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Great point, Svetlana. This is one of the things I like most about online learning too!
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Roxana, thanks for your post. Your point about shy and less confident students is a good one - as mentioned earlier, online learning can neutralise dominant personalities and give other people the confidence to take part. Do your students have access to a computer outside the classroom, either at home or at a library, which could enable them to learn online?
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Dave Gatrell (#FLTeachEnglish educator) replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
Andreea, very good point about tools like Skype - for people unable to meet F2F, these video conferencing platforms are a great way to develop communication skills.
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Anna, I'm glad you found this course! Your point about age is a good one. Does anyone here have any experience of teaching young learners online, or as part of a blended course?
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Jamin, great to hear you've also taught online. Why do you feel it takes longer to learn a language online? From your experience, are there any added benefits that come with studying online?
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Good point, Jorge. From my experience, both modes can be very successful if the learners are motivated, the course is well designed and the tutor or teacher is effective. In Mexico, what tools do you use to develop speaking skills on online courses? How can we as tutors and course designers help make online learning less daunting?
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Paola, great question about the challenges of online teaching. Hopefully this will be answered in today's live Facebook chat. In the meantime, I wonder if there are any other online teachers here who can share their experiences?
Something I would emphasise is that online learning can be an effective way of developing speaking skills - this can be done...
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Jacqueline, thanks for starting this important discussion! Mobile phones are a powerful tool for learning, both in and outside the classroom. As mentioned by Hong and Nancy, there are apps like Nearpod and Poll Everywhere that can be used to assess learning. For assessment, I also like https://quizlet.com/ and http://www.socrative.com/.
Besides quizzes and...
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Megan, one thing you could do is have students work on projects outside the classroom - perhaps using their mobile devices - and then upload their work to a class website or blog. You could then use your laptop to look at their work together in the classroom.
There are a lot of whole-class activities and websites you can use with a single laptop. One of my...
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Carolina, you're quite right that there is no single method when it comes to teaching and learning. Have you read https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/methods-post-method-m%C3%A9todos?
Plus you might enjoy this discussion: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/understanding-language-2/steps/26702?page=17#comment_4642551
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Sara, I hope some of the activities in http://www.onestopenglish.com/clil/ will convince you that it can work in practice as well as on a theoretical level.
For different ways of using TBLT to support student output, have a look at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/six-types-task-tbl.
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Consuelo, I've also found it fascinating to see classrooms from all over the world. Did anything surprise you about the classrooms you saw? How about other people?
Something I've learned about TBLT and CLIL is that there are many ways of implementing each approach; as you say, the best way comes through practice, reflection and not giving up after the...
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Glad you're enjoying the course, José! One website I've found really useful when it comes to getting practical ideas for CLIL is http://www.onestopenglish.com/clil/
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Thanks for your positive comments, Viktoria. I really appreciate the interesting posts I've read this week, including yours!
If you'd like to explore TBLT and use it with your students, you might be interested in these resources:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/six-types-task-tbl...
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"None of us have got it all together but together we have got it all" - excellent quote, Glenn!
Is there anything you (and others) might change about your own teaching practice and learning strategies as a result of this week's activities?There are a lots of great ways of sharing your teaching and learning experiences...
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Jacqueline, that's great. If you and other teachers on this course are interested in trying different TBLT activities in the classroom, look at the following:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/six-types-task-tbl
http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-task-based-learning/146502.article -
Fatma, you seem to agree with Ömer and many other people in this thread. What is it about the Chemistry teacher's approach that is more effective?
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Fiona, it's interesting you say that CLIL might work better with younger learners - elsewhere in this week's discussions, some people have said it could be better suited to students at secondary school. In what way do you feel English hindered their learning?
My own thoughts are that CLIL can work well with both age groups, and that teaching...
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Really good points, Marianne. The Chemistry teacher in the second video had clearly thought carefully about his students' level of English and how he would need to support them in mastering the curriculum content. Asking different questions was one really effective technique he used to engage students, get them thinking deeply and check their understanding....
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Interesting points, Glenn. The aim of this lesson - of which this is only a snapshot - as with any CLIL lesson, is for students to learn about the subject through the medium of English. In this case, as you identify, the students used all four skills and worked in groups; it could perhaps be argued that the instructions helped keep them on task, using...
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Suzana, one of the reasons many schools are adopting CLIL approaches is to raise the level of English, and CLIL is often felt to be more effective than relying only on traditional English classes. Is this approach used where you live in Serbia?
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Marta, I think it's very likely that the teacher's background is in Maths rather than English language teaching, and she has a strong Catalan accent. However, she does use a lot of what I think are highly effective teaching techniques: eliciting, visuals, appropriate tasks, modelling, group work, and providing students with sentence starters and frames to...
