Return to the Blogosphere!

So it's been a long time since I posted in my blog and a world of things have happened!

Since I last posted in this blog I relocated to Asia and have had 3 different jobs in 3 different countries.

Here' s a quick Summary of what I've been doing.

South Korea 2013 - 2014

For 16 months I was based in Seoul, Korea where I worked as the ICT coordinator in a large teaching centre. My role was to help the teachers to integrate technology into their English lessons especially using the iPads we had. I found and researched educational Apps and then trained the teachers in how they could use these apps during classstime.

Malaysia 2014 - 2015

During this time I lived in a town called Sandakan in Sabah on the Malaysian part of Borneo. Apart from having Orangutans for neighbours I was here working as Teacher Trainer to Malaysian Primary and Secondary School English teachers. This was an amazing experience not only due to the unique location but because of the fantastic and inspirational teachers I got to work with. The picture below was from when I was lucky enough to visit one of the schools and watch one of my teacher's classes.

The Philippines 2015 until...

So now I'm currently living in Mandaue City on the Island of Cebu in The Philippines. In my new role I am working as one of the Quality Managers provided by The British Council to support with the academic training of the Filipino remote teachers who are working on a very special project with British Council Uruguay.

I help our provider to ensure that the Filipino teachers have all the support they need to provide high quality remote lessons to primary school children based in Uruguay. This is a challenging but rewarding role.

The Filipino teachers are so enthusiastic and passionate about their job it's a pleasure to have this opportunity to work with them.

What's next for this blog?

So I've decided to relaunch my blog and blog along with my Filipino remote teachers who are currently completing an online course about learning technologies inspired by the wonderful Ana Marie Menezes.  I hope to share with my teachers here some of the amazing skills I learned from Ana Marie and have since put into practice in my classroom. 

This blog will be where I share my experiences here in The Philippines as a teacher trainer and showcase the achievements of the fantastic teachers here. 

Emma's Elearning

Well I've finally taken the plunge!! I am now available to teach English online! Having already spent a few months teaching for a very credible company called Learnship as an online English trainer, I have also decided to independantly offer my services as an English teacher online.

So please take a look at my new Facebook page Emma's Elearning and take the time to like and share it. Having already got 39 likes in 9 hours I'm determined to reach 100 by Friday and also of course have some new students. But I hear many of you say "But I don't want to learn online I want a face to face class" but of course a face to face class you will have. Online doesn't mean it isn't face to face infact it will be more face to face than any classroom class you've ever had because you can't start staring out the classroom window without me noticing! You'll have my full atention and consistent communication IN ENGLISH will be obligatory :-)

 If you're still not sure check out this infographic that explains exactly why online learning is the perfect way to learn.

My classes will be adapted to every students needs. They can be as complex or simple as you the student likes. We can practice conversation in English, prepare for exams or even practice specific skills in English. The best thing about this method means the course adapts to your needs you're not obligated to follow a boring text book that doesn't help you achieve your specific goals and of course it fits round your timetable rather than you having to fit your life round your English class.

So guys please do get in touch soon before my timetable fills up. I don't want to have turn you away :-)

My latest fascination: The Flipped Classroom

I've recently been reading and hearing more about "flipping" and I'm really keen to see how this can be adapted to language learning. I am currently doing the CERT IBET course with The Consultants E and am considering trying to do my final project on this topic. Here's a great infographic that sums up what it's about. How do you think this concept could be used with English language learners? Is it really feasible? Could it really be the future for education?

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Odd one out with Glogster

I recently set this activity for my students as a start of course warmer. You can see the original post on my student blog.

Can you guess which one of my facts is a lie?

#IATEFL Glasgow Interview with Russell Stannard

Since my first post about IATEFL Glasgow I have been frantically trying to keep up with things that are going on whilst also working my usual 35 contact hours week...so up until now I have resigned myself to the fact that I am just about finding time to scoop.it thanks to Nik Peachey's inspiration the other day from his interview. It really is so quick and easy to do! I'm an addict already! In fact I found myself dreaming about how I could turn this in to an activity for my students...if only I could have seen Nik Peachey's talk...anyway I digress.

So I've found a quick 20 minutes to watch the Russell Stannard interview and summarise what he had to say. Russell Stannard, as most people know is the creator of the fantastic website teachertrainingvideos he is another inspirational figure in the ELT world for me so I was keen to see what he had to say. How pleased I was to discover that he too has the same doubts as me. I too have been setting speaking activities as homework for students. The tools Russel mentioned were Vocaroo, Mailvu and eyejot. I (most probably inspired by him) have been using Vocaroo also, Voxopop and Voicethread (check out the previous links to see what I've been doing) have also be facing the problem of  working out how to practically give students feedback on their oral work. Russell mentions the following solutions:

1. peer feedback
2. e-portfolios
3. self evaluation

Considering my students who are all adults and Spanish speakers I would certainly not consider the peer feedback as students would just not accept any kind of criticism from their peers as beneficial. However, the idea of eportfolios or self evaluation does appeal to me and I may try to pilot this in my next semester. Watch this space for my results.

Russell also mentioned a scholarship that he now offers due to donations received for his website. I think this is great initiative and think it's a wonderful way to give people an opportunity they otherwise might not have. So thumbs up for that. 

I also wanted to add that for those of you that don't already know teachertrainingvideos.com now has a facebook page so if you want to keep up with what Russell is posting then make sure you like this page.

 

Glasgow IATEFL: Interview with Nik Peachey

Nik Peachy the self-confessed Learning Technologies Guru was interviewed yesterday live on IATEFL online. Here's a mindmap summary of what he talked about:

He brought up some interesting points all of which I personally found to be very relevant especially his point about how educational institutes need to rethink their syllabus offer to incorporate perhaps blended learning and develop students' digital literacies. Something myself  am pushing for where I work.

He mentioned the tool Scoop.it this can be used to make digital magazines, which you can follow in the same way you may be following people or topics on twitter. I currently follow 2 scoop.its.

Learning Bytes from The Consultants E

ESL Interactive Games and Quizzes for IWBS

I've just spent about 5 minutes having a play with the tool and it's very simple to register and set up so I've created this one.

Glasgow IATEFL Bloggers

Glasgow IATEFL 2012

Over the next few days I am going to blog about what's going on at GLASGOW IATEFL 2012. I'll share my thoughts on certain speeches and be keen to hear other peoples opinions. You can find the conference here on a live stream throughout the week. There is also a list of all upcoming sessions here. There are a number of register bloggers involved in reporting Glasgow IATEFL so check out that list too to see what they have to talk about. Just because we're not there doesn't mean we have to miss out!