TEFL All Inclusive

Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash I've now come to the end of the input on the MAPDLE Trainer Development module. There were 8 units in total, although the final one was a revision and reflection on our learning throughout the course. Towards the end of the course, the level of expected autonomy increased and the workload became heavier. I absolutely loved the course. I know that I love every course that I do - and that's why I continue learning- but this course was quite unique. My fellow participants and I formed a strong bond, and we really worked together as a team. The level of interaction on our forums and our Zoom meetings made this feel very unlike the typical online course, where people can feel anonymous and isolated. We all came from extremely different contexts, and we were able to share our experiences with each other. This made a very rich and productive learning environment. In the second part of the course, we focused on principles of session design and evalua...

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  Photo by Leon on Unsplash   MAPDLE (Part 1) Trainer Development module   Many people have been asking me if I’m going to blog about my MAPDLE module. Well, others have done this recently. However, on the other hand, I can’t resist documenting my exciting journey on this new MA. I don’t want just to copy them, so I’m going to focus my blog on, not so much the content but my progress on this course, and my own personal development. For the MAPDLE, I have to complete two modules and a dissertation. Due to the fact that I have completed the DipTESOL, I am exempt from the core module, but unfortunately, my previous PG study does not closely enough align with any of the NILE modules to allow me a further exemption in credit transfer. At first, I was disappointed to hear this, but now I’m glad, as it gives me the opportunity to complete two modules here. I know that I will benefit immensely from this, and I’m just so glad that I get the chance to be part of a course lik...

  Kolk, Melinda.  earthdrawn.jpg . Oct-00. Pics4Learning For a number of months now I have been taking groups of students on virtual tours to all corners of the world, and beyond! We have been learning about different countries, increasing vocabulary, improving  communication and cooperation skills and growing in autonomy. In this lesson, I wanted the learners to reflect that, although enriching, there is always an environmental price to pay when travelling. Like many others, I have recently been commenting on the continued patchy cover of environmental issues in tefl materials. As well as this, I have noticed that interest in this topic is not continued over time by many teachers. They will address some small aspect of the environment in one or two lessons, then that's it! There also seems to be a general lack of ideas about how to incorporate resources into interesting and motivating lessons. I feel that it is important to do what you can to remedy this – no matter ho...

Photo by Free Birds on Unsplash If you have students who are interested in art and culture, this is the perfect virtual tour for them! It is suitable for all, as the resources I made are all easily adaptable for all levels. As always, these virtual tours have a strong focus on learner autonomy and group participation and communication. In particular, this session will help the students to develop listening skills in a variety of ways. They will use Total Physical Response (TPR), Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), and collaborative and cooperative learning throughout. To lead in and create interest in the topic, I created a simple Zoom poll to get the group talking about art galleries in their countries. After this, they are asked for their ideas about the location of the virtual tour. I elicited that it was France and that it was The Louvre and one of the students was able to guess the Mona Lisa.  The students then take part in a sensory activity, designed to stimulate the...

  Photo by >>> niedblog.de on Unsplash My latest virtual tour is to the world-renowned Kruger National Park in South Africa. It became South Africa’s first national park in 1926 and is the largest game reserve in the country. Kruger National Park is reportedly home to 500 species of birds, as well as 100 reptiles and almost 150 mammals. In addition to taking a 4x4 safari   with the ranger, which is what we do on the virtual tour, visitors can take take a bush walk or view the park from a hot air balloon. This session has a strong focus on learner autonomy running throughout all the activities.   We use peer teaching for vocabulary building,   a KWL graphic organizer to allow the students to take more control over their own learning and track their own progress and to decide if they have met their objectives, a quiz where the students are in charge of the questions, and finally we use an activity based on Twitter to allow for self-reflection. To activate...

Edward de Bono’s Thinking Hats is a tool that is used by individuals and groups, often in business- in industries such as finance, healthcare and manufacturing- for problem solving and brainstorming. It has recently been used in online teacher training. See here for an interesting article on training physical education teachers. It can also be used in the classroom to develop the students’ skills of analyzing things from different perspectives, as well as to develop their critical thinking. It additionally promotes inclusivity and ensures that all participants are actively engaged in group work. In case the technique is new to you, basically it involves six hats – blue, green, red, yellow, black , white- and this allows for a group of people to explore a problem from a range of perspectives instead of looking at it from a narrower point of view only. Each hat represents one particular way of thinking (blue = process, green = creative, red = feelings, yellow = benefits, black = cau...