Barbara G.
English language enthusiast. Learner by choice, teacher by chance. Loving every bit of it. CELTA certified.
Location Italy
Activity
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Barbara G. replied to Khin Chaw Su
Yes, role play is something I learned at a very early age, too. I have several cousins around my age. We used to spend a lot of time together when we were very young. We would prepare, rehearse and finally perform skits in front of an audience (our parents). Our skits were normally based on some movie or cartoon we had watched before. We had so much fun with...
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Barbara G. made a comment
What I found really interesting is a comment that one of the teachers made about young children 'being used to not understanding everything about the world', and that's key, in my opinion, to their success in learning at a faster pace than their older peers or adults. In my experience as a teacher who currently works with adults, I've observed that adult...
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Barbara G. made a comment
As a teacher that works with adults only, I'm really intrigued by the way very young children don't actually notice the language they are exposed to but are focused on the message only. This, combined with what level of skills a teacher can expect from a child of a particular age, makes all the difference when you compare the different approaches one has to...
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Barbara G. made a comment
The biggest challenge that most of my students face is related to intonation and change of pitch (they aren't used to the "music" of the English language and oftentimes say they "feel stupid" when they imitate the natural intonation of a fluent speaker). Then of course come all those problems related to word stress and single sounds, which are mostly...
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Barbara G. made a comment
This resonates with me as an English language learner. I now realize I've been really limited by negative washback. Back then, the focus was all on grammar, and since we were tested at the end of each term, there wasn't much language skills practice, apart from the occasional debate. I remember a lot of controlled practice on grammar points and little to no...
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Barbara G. made a comment
I think students benefit much more from continuous assessment than from testing in language learning. While for example some school subjects lend themselves to testing better, I read somewhere that language learning can be compared to a journey. If you are focused on your destination only, you may get there all right, but you are going to miss most of what...
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Barbara G. made a comment
There are so many things I don't know about assessment that it's hard to say what I'm expecting at the moment. I guess right now I just have a very general idea that this course will help me become more aware of all the aspects that are involved when assessing learners.
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I couldn't agree more. Learners aren't just a small army of robots all programmed the same way. Being a learner myself, I had some things to add when I read about the typical mistakes students from my country make. I'd say the book is a very useful springboard to get a teacher acquainted with what issues English language learners might have, but then you...
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Barbara G. made a comment
'Task' and 'construct' are the only words that have a general meaning in English, while the others are related to assessment. While 'task' is used in a very similar way in both general English and language teaching/assessment, i see that 'construct' is used differently in language assessment.
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Barbara G. made a comment
Hi there, I'm Barbara, I'm from Italy. I joined this course because I've never received any professional training on this important part of the job, and I really look forward to learning how to assess students in a more holistic way without relying on numbers only, which is what I've been doing so far. Happy studying to everybody!
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Hi Luke, try Learner English by M. Swan and B. Smith, they sort learners by nationality and analyse the most common pronunciation mistakes and reasons why they are made.
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Barbara G. made a comment
We could use a listening text to help students develop their listening for specific information sub-skill, for example by giving them a list of vocabulary items and getting them to number them in the same order they hear the words in the listening.
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Barbara G. made a comment
We could come up with a title for our story and disclose only the title at first, asking students to talk about what they want to find out. We can have them brainstorm ideas in pairs first, then note them down on the whiteboard. Then, after they have listened, get them to discuss in pairs which questions were answered and which weren't.
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Barbara G. made a comment
One downside of sharing your screen is that, depending on your or your students' connection, they might actually not be able to read it (e.g. it'll be all pixelated), so it is always good to have a plan B at hand, such as sending the students the material beforehand. I find changing the orientation of the page to landscape really helpful if I want to show a...
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Try the book "Developing Reading Skills" by F. Grellet. There are lots of good examples of exercises for developing all types of sub-skills.
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Barbara G. made a comment
I think writing can be really challenging if we don't use the right tools to ensure good monitoring. This is going to save us some valuable time and let us maintain a good pace, which is always an issue in online lessons. GoogleDocs is very useful, for example. You can see what students are writing in real time and give appropriate feedback without even...
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Barbara G. made a comment
We could ask students why they are learning English, their goals for the future, what their previous learning experiences are, what they like doing when in class, how they're planning to include English in their everyday life and what their interests are.
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Barbara G. made a comment
I think first off there should be a couple of minutes of small talk at the beginning of each lesson, which might help students feel more confident, especially those who feel shyer in front of a camera. Secondly, a teacher should create a friendly environment by joking a little bit whenever sensible and culturally appropriate. Teachers could use pair work and...
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Barbara G. made a comment
Students would need to plan what to say beforehand. This way they are going to be more confident when they roleplay the child-parent conversation required in the task. We could put them into breakout rooms in small A+A / B+B groups (2-3 students per group) so that they can brainstorm ideas and make notes. Then we could rearrange the students in A+B groups and...
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Barbara G. made a comment
I'm currently using Zoom, so I tried WebRoom, which I'd never heard of. I have to say it looks really good, it has lots of functions that Zoom doesn't have (embedding videos, for example), plus all the functions that Zoom has (whiteboard, breakout rooms, chat and so on). I have to say that I am definitely considering switching to it. Although, considering that...
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Yeah, it happens here in Italy, too. First grade: the teachers have asked the other moms to teach the students coming from other countries to use the platform and print forms for those who don't have internet connection. I think that since a stable internet connection has become a requirement for basic learning, the govt should address this and provide schools...
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Barbara G. made a comment
My biggest challenge with one-to-one lessons is overcoming the technology issues on the student's part, that could range from connection problems to old PCs being used (no webcam!) so slow that they can't open a simple .doc file, and have to rely on their phone. This gets really distracting as it interrupts the flow of the lesson all the time and I myself...
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Consider trying Zoom too. Its free version enables you to use all its features for one-on-one lessons. For group lessons, there is a 40-min time limit with free accounts.
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Barbara G. replied to Myradio Donn
Breakout rooms work even better than in-class pairwork or group work, as students aren't distracted by other students talking at the same time. They really help them be more focused!
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Barbara G. made a comment
I use Zoom, and use the screen sharing feature to show students PowerPoint slides, I also use the audio function for muting them while they read or listen to a text, the chatbox for games, the breakout rooms for pair work and the whiteboard to highlight language points and for error correction.
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Barbara G. made a comment
I think all of them are good reasons and apply to my situation to a different degree. Perhaps the most relevant now is Jade's reason. Keeping up-to-date is fundamental in these times in order not to be left out of a job.
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Barbara G. made a comment
I'm currently teaching adults who are learning English for their jobs or for travel. I'd like to start teaching young learners, too. My students are all from Italy, and I'd love to challenge myself with a multi-lingual class, and with all the different approaches to the English language that it would bring. I really think it would improve my skills as a...
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Barbara G. made a comment
Hi there, I think what I most hope to get from this course is to fully grasp the new opportunities that online teaching has to offer. Now that we'll soon be out of a job if we don't learn how to deliver effective online lessons, it's best to make the most of whatever life is giving us.
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Hi Tineyi,
I think it definitely will open doors. Plus, you can get to work for conpanies that aren't based in your own country. This is something that can't possibly happen with classroom teaching now, is it? :) -
Hi Irina, from what little experience I've had with groups (I do one on one lessons mainly) it takes a bit of organization, but it really is achievable and it can also be fun!
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Hi Cesar, I find Zoom to be very useful for online teaching. Lots of interesting tools for sharing screens and files and you can make students work in small groups via the amazing breakout rooms! I am eager to see if there are other teaching tools as effective. How is Google Classroom working for you?
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Barbara G. made a comment
Hi there, I'm Barbara. I've just completed my CELTA course and, having given my last 2 teaching practices online, I feel like I've only seen the tip of the iceberg of the potential of online teaching. So here I am, eager to learn everything there is to know about it. Good luck everybody with the course!