https://youtu.be/_sqWJGK7LPE
“With the return to in-person instruction, what we thought would be the ‘new normal’ is far from it. And we are facing a variety of situations that we must navigate and overcome,” said Dr. Gabriel Díaz Maggioli, academic coordinator of the Specialization Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
In that context, during the webinar “Overcoming New Challenges: Exploring Possibilities,” he suggested reflecting on three key areas to consider in a hybrid learning environment: communication with students, materials for foreign language teachers, and, finally, assessment.
How can we encourage communication in the classroom?
“How can we get students to communicate?” and “How can teachers help them achieve that goal?” are two questions that Mag. Nicolás Dantaz is always asked.
The instructor for the Specialization Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, based on his research over the years, noted that there is often a “misunderstanding” about what communication really is, as well as a lack of a “full understanding” of what it actually means.
To begin with, it is essential to understand that communication involves more than just speech; written communication, nonverbal cues, body language, and facial expressions also convey meaning and communicate.
So, how can we ensure effective communication in the classroom? First, according to Dantaz, we need to consider the class objectives from a functional perspective. Second, we must not forget the importance of the teacher’s silence: “The less the teacher speaks, the more opportunities students have to communicate.”
And third and finally, promote peripheral learning—for example, by creating posters—rather than teaching isolated words, since in real-life communication, they are always part of a lexical unit.
“According to my research, using posters and encouraging the teacher to remain silent can increase student interaction in the classroom by more than 200%. Simply by implementing these two strategies, in less than five weeks,” concluded Dantaz.
Why talk about materials?
What are learning materials? Is this the same as talking about “resources”? Can photocopies be considered learning materials? What about apps and games? Does it matter who creates these materials and in what context?
During her presentation, Marina González, an instructor in the Specialization Diploma Program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, clarified that the term “materials” refers to resources that have been “adapted for teaching purposes.”
However, González mainly posed various questions and encouraged the teachers participating in the webinar to reflect on the issues. For example, he pointed out that, in Uruguay, most English textbooks come from the Northern Hemisphere.
“Let’s say teachers aren’t satisfied with those materials. What steps should be taken?” he asked. In his view, people sometimes think it’s as simple as “making a copy, printing it out, and that’s it.” However, creating these materials takes a lot of time and effort.
First, you need to choose a topic or area. Next, create a work plan and gather similar or previous resources. Write a draft and identify which elements can be improved so that you can ultimately refine it and rewrite it.
“A guiding principle and a destination”
“We all faced significant difficulties and challenges in teaching during the pandemic,” said Díaz Maggioli. For that reason, during her presentation, she outlined a series of practical ideas—designed to promote student well-being—that she has tested and implemented in her courses.
Focusing on the future rather than the past is one of them. While teachers are often concerned about what students failed to learn during emergency remote learning, according to the academic coordinator, a good practice is not to focus on what they don’t know, but rather on what needs to be taught in the short term and what the requirements are for doing so.
Taking it one step at a time and focusing on microlearning, as well as explaining the purpose of learning specific content and structuring courses with safety in mind, are other key factors.
According to Díaz Maggioli, students would come to her class eager to learn, but also feeling quite anxious. So, to help ease that anxiety, she decided to start each lesson with an activity. She then usually shares the learning objective (so students are aware of what they’ll be able to achieve by the end of the class and can assess for themselves how close or far they were from meeting it) and, finally, outlines the agenda for the day.
“Many people say it’s boring and doesn’t work,” he declared, but he argued that it gives students “direction and a sense of purpose.”
Finally, Díaz Maggioli emphasized the importance of providing effective feedback to students. To that end, he developed a strategy: “show that you CARE” (in Spanish, “demuestra que te importa”). This is a mnemonic device that can be used to provide feedback both verbally and in writing, and it consists of:
- Clarifyany areas that are unclear.
- Recognizethe things the students did correctly.
- Thinkabout what they didn't complete successfully.
- Empowerstudents by focusing on two or three areas where they can improve.
About the Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
In the webinar “Overcoming New Challenges: Exploring Possibilities”—which took place online on Wednesday, March 16, 2022—Díaz Maggioli, Dantaz, and González offered some insights into the various topics that will be explored in depth throughout the Specialization Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
In November 2021, the Institute of Education at Universidad ORT Uruguay this graduate program, which aims to provide highly specialized training so that participants can identify problematic situations, develop innovative proposals, and design strategies to intervene effectively in the teaching and learning of English.
The main goal of the program is to contribute to the professional development of English teachers and those who use English as a medium of instruction.
The Specialization Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language is a one-year program. It will be offered entirely online and in English, and will begin in April 2022.