Education New Zealand (ENZ), the New Zealand Embassy in Thailand together with the Sisaket Provincial Office and the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Office organised an online webniar entitled "Conquering Mount English for Thai teachers and learners from New Zealand" to nearly 300 Thai secondary school English teachers with an aim to share New Zealand best practices in both onsite and online teaching techniques.
The webinar was facilitated by Ms. Erina Hunt, an Online Blended English Language Programmes Coordinator, from the University of Otago English Language Centre, New Zealand. Ms. Hunt is a highly qualified content developer of blended e-learning curriculum and tele-collaborative teaching and learning between countries and has extensive experiences in English language development trainings for Thai teachers for many years.
In this webinar, Ms. Hunt highlighted her experiences with the common difficulties that Thai speakers have with English language learning in both online and onsite environments. Her focus on the webinar was on speaking skills and the common difficulties in the transfer of Thai phonological patterns into English. Case studies were discussed, and real-life video recordings of teaching tips and strategies, observed. She also shared tips and New Zealand best teaching practices for Thai teachers for effective English language teaching and learning in an onsite and online environment as follows:
- New Zealand's English Language Teaching Techniques: "In New Zealand, English language teaching best practice uses dynamic and engaging contemporary and communicative methodology with an integrated skills approach that inspires, produces positive outcomes and promotes critical thinking in learners. The use of multiple modalities is of importance, as is the blend of communication, activities, collaboration, assessment and management. A learner-centric approach is ideal, whether online or face-to-face in a classroom setting, alongside a good balance of teaching and learning receptive (reading and listening) and productive (speaking and writing) skills," said Ms. Erina Hunt.
- Recommended skills for English teachers: According to Ms. Hunt, to increase teaching skills, of course, is to accumulate experiences. Naturally, knowledge of the English language and experience in learning any second language are invaluable to a teacher of English. Learning how to analyse language and how people learn languages as well as how languages are effectively taught, is very important. The fundamentals would be a strong understanding of English listening, speaking, reading and writing development, vocabulary and grammar acquisition, discourse analysis, and English phonological systems. In addition, interactions and learner identity and autonomy are important aspects of language teaching and learning. In New Zealand current teaching climate, task-based and computer-assisted language learning would be of additional use.
- Techniques for creating positive interactions between teachers and English learners: Ms. Hunt also added that, "My first and foremost goal of establishing any classroom environment is to establish trust and rapport within the group by sharing some personal narratives, identifying strengths and weaknesses within the student cohort, being aware of individual learning challenges within your student group, and ensuring that the classroom is a safe place to make mistakes. Having some kind of non-assessed open forum discussion board (or physical 'suggestions box') can enable students who are shyer to interact, and query things related to their learning. In a physical space, a rich and varied range of English language accessible resources (games, posters, conversation cards, books, magazines, etc.) also gives the space a community feel and one where engagement can continue outside of English class."
- Tips for teachers and students to reduce and manage homework stress amidst online learning: It's no secret homework causes stress for many students, especially during the lockdown where no social interaction isn't possible. Ms. Hunt said, "open-book quizzes help. Or teacher can give homework with some hints which have unlimited answers or no time limit for thinking or maybe give homework to write articles then bring it to talk with friends in the classroom of the other day in which students will begin the critical thinking process and consider the English words used to describe the pictures to the concepts needed to describe the picture.
During lockdown, and if the students are studying online all day, it is of great benefit to encourage them to have some off-screen time doing something to help their physical and mental well-being. They can then share their choice of off-screen activity with others the next day.
In addition, Ms. Erina Hunt also advised that successful online teaching is not too difficult to achieve. The important thing to remember that autonomous online learning can happen at any time, but in an online class, quality face-to-face time with the teacher is vital. Allowing students reflective time, as you would in a physical classroom, is also important and ensuring that all students get equal opportunity to answer and ask questions. She also noted that majority of literature about online teaching and screen fatigue states that 50 minutes per session is an advisable maximum in order to retain focus.
She also stressed that setting clear online protocols during the teaching session is essential, such as
- Always muting the microphone unless speaking, video on, sitting and dressed as if in a classroom (not in bed), speaker view turned on, etc.
- The teacher should give students the opportunity to talk and has an equal opportunity to ask and answer all.
- If any teacher uses the "Zoom" application, the "Poll" is a useful way of anonymously seeing how students are managing with the content or for getting group feedback quickly.
- Also changing the way lessons are presented in online classes by using video clips, group work, spot quizzes and the shared screen function, as well as "teacher-speak." It is also very important to encourage social interactions within the lesson and beyond (such as a group research project or problem-solving team challenge). Do not sit still and be bored.
However, Ms.Erina Hunt provided interesting information from her experiences in conducting blended online English language programs.
She found that 4 hours per week of autonomous study with individualised teacher feedback on productive skills, alongside 4 hours per week of face-to-face live class time (not pre-recorded), over a 16-week period, shows improvement across all skills as well as a substantial increase in confidence levels in using the language. This time frame keeps enthusiasm high and materials can be regularly revisited for consolidation. However, in spite of the above, there is no real 'rule of thumb' for this as everyone learns a language at a different pace, depending on their particular stimulus and innate motivation for learning that language and the learning environment - total immersion, in an English as a foreign language setting, or English as a second language setting.
"For those who are of working age and want to be good at English, it is not difficult. Because age is just a number. The higher numbers do not affect the learning of English in any way. But everyone feels that people who are young may have more incentive and motivation to improve because of a specific learning pathway, it is my firm belief that often more mature students will have a greater understanding of their own learning processes and time management abilities, and therefore be better equipped to identify issues more quickly and better able to attend to multiple tasks. Confidence in life can also aid confidence in speaking out and questioning, without discomfort. Wonderful learning can happen when older learners are paired with younger and these experiences can be shared and scaffolded", said Ms. Hunt.
New Zealand is one of the few countries where English is the lingua franca and is recognized as a leader in education innovation and digital technology for learning. It is also famous for raising students to future skills. It is ranked No. 1 in English-speaking countries for the best educational management in preparing students for the future based on the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index 2019 ranking by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Source: Communication and More