2/2015English Language Teachers’ Association Stuttgart

10 Adaptive Learning Predictions by Philip Kerr

Learning English in the Mobile Age by Margarida Pereira

Adaptive Learning in ELT with Ania Kolbuszewska

IATEFL 2015 with Kirsten Waechter

3 | ELTAS NEWS3 | ELTAS NEWS

NavigateYour direct route to English success

www.oup.com/elt/yourdirectroute

Innovative approach to reading and listening based on academic research as

to how adults best learn languages

Thoroughly tested and piloted in ELT

classrooms around the world

Truly adult and truly international

texts and topics

Based on the Oxford 3000™, so that learners are learning the most relevant

and frequent vocabulary

Find out more by joining us on 17th October for the ELTAS-OUP Day in Stuttgart

http://www.eltas.de/eltas-events

Navigate - 210x275mm German v1.indd 1 27/05/2015 11:54

ELTAS EVENTS 2015

Location: EBC Hochschule (Euro Akademie), Olgastrasse 86, Stuttgart, 70182

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST: China beyond the “Dos and Don’ts Lists”with Dr. Ines Böhner July 11, 2015, 2:00 – 5:30 pmFew countries have fascinated the Western mind the way China does. Limited cultural contact prior to the country’s

opening and the economic boom are fuelling our curiosity. Yet, the thresholds to cross when communicating with

Chinese are high and quite often one finds oneself without the communicative tools to negotiate

the differences. Hardly any cultural spectrums seem more opposed than those of East and West.

Analysing critical incidents we will take a look at the seemingly vast differences between China and

the West as far as those norms and values underlying communication are concerned, become

aware of possible areas for misunderstandings and come up with explanations for these situations.

Based on this we will discuss ways out of communicative deadlock and have some fun!

Dr. Ines Böhner studied English and German. She teaches for the Language Centre of the Univer-

sity of Stuttgart, where she also has courses on intercultural communication and media studies.

THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM with Chaz Pugliese Sponsored by Helbling Sept. 19, 2015, 2:00 – 5:30 pmIn this participatory talk I will suggest that teaching creatively may have an impact on the students’ enthusiasm and

may fuel their interest and curiosity to learn. I will firstly debunk a few myths and look at the different types of creativity.

I will then outline strategies that may enhance our creative potential, and finally, I will illustrate with numerous practical

examples how these can be implemented in the classroom.

The ultimate goal is for the teacher to come up with teaching ideas that are engaging both

affectively and cognitively, are simple to use, require little or no preparation and are fun and

challenging to do in the classroom.

I’m a trainer, presenter and author working out of Paris. Past Director of Teacher Training at

Pilgrims, I’ve been a regular presenter at international conferences over the years, have trai-

ned teachers in over 30 countries and have contributed extensively to several ELT journals.

Books: ‘Being Creative: the Challenge of Change in the Classroom’ DELTA/2010.

‘Principled Communicative Approach’ with Zoltàn Dörnyei and Jane Arnold - Helbling 2/2015.

I’m a founding member (with Alan Maley) of the C-group (Creativity for a Change).

www.thecreativitygroup/weebly.com

ELTAS - OUP DAY - English 24/7 with Heather Buchanan Oct. 17, 2015, 2:00 - 5:30 pmIn this workshop Heather Buchanan, co-author of Navigate, will share ideas for encouraging learner autonomy inside

and outside the classroom, including flexible activities to increase relevance and ways to improve our learners’ lan-

guage by exploiting the English resources around us. You will go away from the session with practical ideas for using

both digital and more traditional resources to supplement your coursebook and to cater for the varying needs of

adult learners.

Heather Buchanan is an experienced teacher trainer and English language teacher. She has taught English in France,

Germany, Japan and the UK, and has experience of teaching General English, EAP, ESP and One to One classes.

She has written published materials for primary and junior high schools, for teacher development, for examination

boards as well as numerous inhouse materials for schools and universities.

She currently leads a Cambridge Delta and Masters course in the North of England.

She is particularly interested in speaking and listening skills, in teacher development

and in materials writing.

5 | ELTAS NEWSELTAS NEWS | 4 5 | ELTAS NEWS

E LTA S N E W S

W elcome to the summer edition of the ELTAS News.

This edition covers adaptive learning (interactive

teaching platforms that adapt to the needs of the learn-

er) and the use of technology in ELT, themes which both

inspire and alarm teachers all over the world.

This edition’s feature article by Ania Kolbuszewska covers

the concept of big data in adaptive learning. We also have

an excerpt from Philip Kerr’s guide to adaptive learning with

his top ten predictions for the future of ELT (some of which

are already coming true).

Mikhail Grinberg is in the hotseat and we have a rundown

of ELTAS and IATEFL events.

I’m also happy to say that the majority of our contributors

in this edition are non-native English teachers and we also

have some first-time contribu-

tors, so many thanks to all of

you for your support.

We particularly welcome

first-time writers!

So for all you technophobes

in ELT, you can run but you

cannot hide, adaptive learning

is here.

E D I T O R I A L B Y J E N N I E W R I G H TADAPTIVE LEARNING IN ELT 4 ANIA KOLBUSZEWSKA

TOP TIPS FOR TEACHING PRESENTATION 7SKILLS IN A DIGITAL AGE ELENA MATVEEVA

WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY? 8KRYSTYNA KEY

BOOK REVIEW 10JENNIE WRIGHT

BOOK REVIEW 12GARY ANELLO

MIKHAIL GRINBERG IN THE HOT SEAT 14

THE NEXT 4 TO 5 YEARS OF ADAPTIVE 16LEARNING IN ELT - 10 PREDICTIONS PHILIP KERR

ELTAS EVENT REVIEW 18AUGUSTO VIEIRA

ELTAS EVENT REVIEW 20MIHAELA TILINCA

ELTAS EVENT REVIEW 22KATRIN BERINGER

LEARNING ENGLISH IN THE MOBILE AGE 24MARGARIDA PEREIRA

TECH REVIEW: LINGUA TV 26KATE BAADE & BETH HAMPEL

THE LEARNERS’ VOICES AND 28TECHNOLOGY IN ELTKATRIN LICHTERFELD

IATEFL MANCHESTER 2015: 30BIGGER! BOLDER! BETTER?KIRSTEN WAECHTER

IN THIS ISSUE

EN

GLI

SH

TE

AC

HE

RS

’

A

SS

OC

IATI

ON

2 /2015

FEATURE ARTICLE

Adaptive Learning in ELT

Author: Ania Kolbuszewska

T o explain what adaptive learn-

ing is, and how it can and in fact

has already affected language teach-

ing and learning, one of the under-

lying concepts in AL, namely that of

big data, needs to be examined.

Big data is a relatively new concept.

Data as such has always been there:

our names, addresses, educational

history, history of illnesses, phone

numbers, employment history are

all kinds of data which has been

collected and analysed – some for

a surprisingly long time. There is

also data relating to geography,

physics, astronomy, weather, etc.

However, it is only with the advan-

ces in technology that the amount

of data produced has literally explo-

ded: so much so, that we create a

vast majority of currently existing

data in the two-year period preced-

ing any present moment. This is

also reflected in language change:

we no longer talk about analysing

data but about data mining and

data miners.

By the year 2018, the number of

people working specifically on

and with big data is predicted to

exceed a quarter of a million. This

number is not accidental: it is only

the analysis of these enormous

amounts of data that allows us to

see patterns which are otherwise

impossible to detect. These patterns,

in turn, are used to predict what

may happen in the future in an in-

creasing range of human activity.

Examples of these include predic-

tive policing, which allows for a re-

duction in crime rate by using data

to predict where crime is most like-

ly to happen and prevent it more

effectively. Predicting customer

behaviour and beaming just-in-time

marketing of a particular product

or service to the customer’s mobile

device is already happening and

is likely to become an increasingly

important form of marketing. The

world of finance uses data to find

patterns in seemingly unpredictable

market trends.

Big data has also entered educa-

tion and is the basis for a new

generation of online systems called

adaptive learning (AL) systems.

These are systems which, by

analysing huge amounts of data,

create individual learning paths for

each individual user of the system.

Early adaptive learning systems

were only able to show what the

learner was getting wrong; current

adaptive learning systems claim to

do much more: to show not only

what the learner gets wrong, but,

by analysing the reasons for the

mistake, to be able to construct a

learning path which will teach the

learner to avoid making the same

mistake in the future.

Adaptive learning systems have

received a mixed reception in the

world of education. They are rapidly

gaining in popularity in some parts

of the world, especially in tertiary

education which has in recent

years become a battleground for

students/customers. The battle

lines seem to be drawn between

traditional, college-based tertiary

education, for which AL systems

may be an attractive, cost-cutting

alternative, and free, massive open

online courses (MOOCs). At the

same time, the fact that AL may

facilitate cost-cutting measures

Adaptive learning systems are able to construct learning paths which will teach the learner to avoid making

the same mistakes in the future

ELTAS NEWS | 6 7 | ELTAS NEWSELTAS NEWS | 6 7 | ELTAS NEWS

FEATURE ARTICLE

has sparked strong and well-artic-

ulated protests among parents and

educators.

It is in the world of language teach-

ing that adaptive learning systems

have become the topic of one of

the hottest professional debates in

recent years. As in other areas of

education, one of the major con-

cerns is the issue of data collection

– or rather, of data protection. The

other concern touches an even

more basic issue: are adaptive

learning systems suitable for lan-

guage learning and teaching at all?

From a purely business point of

view, AL systems are very attractive

for publishers: they allow publish-

ers to use a subscription model

for their materials on a much wider

scale. This model is more profitable

than selling printed materials (e.g.

individual coursebooks); in addition,

the amount of investment needed

for modifying content is significantly

lower than in the case of printed

materials. It is therefore not sur-

prising that AL systems are very

actively promoted as a solution to

almost everything that ails educa-

tion these days.

Let us analyse how adaptive learn-

ing systems work. In order to arrive

at the “why” of making a mistake,

an adaptive learning system needs

to work on a set of prerequisites

with regard to the subject matter

taught. This set of prerequisites, a

so-called knowledge graph, shows

what learners need to know in

order to perform a task at a given

level correctly. In terms of lan-

guage teaching and learning, this

means that the knowledge graph

will show what learners need to

know in order to, e.g. produce a

correct sentence “I haven’t been

here for 10 years”. By defining the

knowledge needed, the knowledge

graph will contribute to determining

why a learner makes a mistake if

they say, e.g. “I wasn’t here since

10 years”: is it a problem with the

present perfect tense, or a problem

with the auxiliary verb, or perhaps

a problem with the use of “since”

vs “for”.

To construct a knowledge graph,

language would need to be broken

down into minute elements, and

a way of putting these elements

back together in a certain order

would need to be defined. This

can be done if language is viewed

as a wall constructed of individ-

ual bricks which are put together

layer after layer. This seems to be

a very simplistic view of language

as a sum total of a finite number of

quantifiable elements (bricks), with

little or no regard for the human,

unpredictable factor of language

use, or the social, cultural, symbol-

ic or creative dimensions of using

language for communication.

There have been attempts at cate-

gorising what language is acquired

in what order, such as the CEFR

or Pearson Global Scale of English.

Although very useful for assessing

the level a learner has achieved in

a foreign language, their value as

knowledge graphs is not clear: the

categorisation of certain language

as belonging to a given level is

debatable; there are linguists who

claim that deciding what one level

a certain piece of language be-

longs to is extremely difficult, if not

impossible.

The “brick to wall” approach to lan-

guage is also worrying on another

level. As language teachers we know

that of all the features successful

language learners have (fluency,

accuracy, creativity and confidence),

the very last to develop is accuracy.

Grammar and vocabulary are the

language systems which are most

easily broken down into minute

units, and so most readily usable

in adaptive learning. However, if

adaptive learning systems focus

too much on grammar and vocabu-

lary, with the resulting strong bias

towards accuracy, learners will

either not develop, or will lose con-

fidence, creativity and fluency and

will thus become unsuccessful

language learners – which in itself

defeats the purpose of language

teaching in the first place.

Another important controversy is

...education could be reduced

to a money-making machine which does not have

sufficient regard for its key human players – teachers would seem easily

replaceable...

that surrounding data collection, or

rather data protection. Adaptive

learning systems need big data in

order to be reliable. The leaders in

the adaptive learning systems mar-

ket claim that they will be collecting

data from hundreds of millions of

learners. If this is the case, sufficient

safeguards need to be in place to

ensure that the data collected is

appropriately protected and that

individuals retain a degree of con-

trol over their personal data.

Education is becoming increasingly

data-driven in an attempt to make

it more quantifiable, in line with a

market-driven demand for measur-

able returns for the money invested

in education. On a practical level,

this may mean that education could

be reduced to a money-making

machine which does not have

sufficient regard for its key human

players: teachers and learners.

This could also mean that, to those

decision-makers who believe in

education as a mechanical, additive

experience rather than as a human,

transformational experience, teach-

ers would seem easily replaceable.

Such a belief is likely to bring about

a decidedly negative response to

AL systems from teachers who might

see these as a threat to their jobs.

There is a whole host of other prac-

tical issues which arise in the wake

of adaptive learning systems enter-

ing education. These are connected

with teacher training: deciding who

pays for training teachers to use AL

systems effectively, potential widen-

ing of the ability gap in classrooms

where AL systems are used as sup-

porting systems, or dealing with the

aftermath of the novelty effect wear-

ing off once AL systems are more

widely used.

Whether we like it or not, big data

is here to stay – and so are adap-

tive learning systems. However,

because AL systems seem to have

rather serious limitations, it is our

role as educators to make sure that

we can maximise the potential of

such systems for our students and

for ourselves, while avoiding, or at

least minimising, the dangers they

may bring.

This article is based on a presen-

tation summary published in IATEFL

BESIG Bonn Conference Selections

(Summer 2015) and is published

with their permission.

Ania’s interest in adaptive learning

has been inspired by Philip Kerr’s

blog Adaptive Learning in ELT

https://adaptivelearninginelt.

wordpress.com/

ANIA KOLBUSZEWSKA has worked in ELT for over 25 years as

a language coach, trainer, manager, consultant and inspector for

international and national quality assurance schemes Eaquals and

PASE. She is a founder member of IATEFL Poland and a member

of IATEFL.

FEATURE ARTICLE

9 | ELTAS NEWSELTAS NEWS | 8 9 | ELTAS NEWS

LESSON ACTIVIT IES

B efore the introduction of com-

puters and the Internet, the

focus in public speaking was main-

ly on the speaker. The charisma,

the power of persuasion, the ability

to get the message across and

produce an impression that lasts

were some of the most important

characteristics of a good presenter.

With the advance of technology

things have changed. However, we

would still argue that the person-

ality of the speaker and the ability

to tell an exciting story are key fea-

tures of a good talk. Nevertheless,

it can’t be denied that the digital

world has had its influence on the

process of creating presentations.

In this article, I have provided some

tools to make the process of pre-

paring a presentation more efficient

and productive.

1. YOUTUBE

There is no doubt that YouTube is a

magnificent storage of materials. For

a teacher who is willing to explain to

students what it takes to be a good

presenter, there are myriads of video

clips showing what to do and what

to avoid doing (for example, Death

by PowerPoint by Don MacMillan,

Present like Steve Jobs and many

others).

2. POWTOON

There is an interesting article on

PowToon where the features of

talks given by successful pre-

senters are looked at and the

conclusion of what makes a great

presentation is drawn (see below

for link). According to the article,

one should strive to use only one

idea per slide, use minimal text,

avoid using bullet-points, focus on

telling a great story that will get the

audience hooked, stay animated

and enthusiastic and use props to

support the story. Together with

containing interesting articles like

the one mentioned, PowToon is a

tool which helps individuals and

companies create bright, animated

presentations and also has expla-

nation videos.

3. BRAINSTORMING

The process of preparation of any

presentation starts with brainstorm-

ing and organizing ideas. A pen

and paper are still considered to

be the best tools for this purpose,

where writing one idea on a post-it

note and then structuring the talk

by organizing these post-it notes in

a sequence works great. However,

there are some Internet tools which

can make the process more excit-

ing and animated. Word clouds cre-

ated in Wordle can be used to give

some food for thought to students,

thus initiating their thinking process.

Such web tools as bubbl.us, Mind-

meister or Spiderscribe can also

turn the process of brainstorming

into an engaging activity, involving

students and making them excited.

4. SLIDES

Nowadays it is impossible to imag-

ine a presentation without slides.

There are numerous resources

such as Prezi, Emaze, Slidebean,

Slides, etc. which can compete in

efficiency with the well-known and

widely used PowerPoint. Russell

Stannard creates simple, clear

and understandable explanations

on the use of the different online

resources, including the ones

mentioned above. His tutorials

for teachers can be found on his

Top Tips for Teaching Presentation Skills

in a Digital Age

Author: Elena Matveeva

With the advance of technology things

have changed – the digital world

has had its influence on the

process of creating presentations

LESSON ACTIVIT IES

website TeacherTrainingVideos (see

links below).

5. VOICE

In the global world there might be

people of different nationalities in

the audience and that is why it is

vital to sound clear. There is a free

tool suggested by Jennie Wright

for practising intonation and voice

power. Speech Analyzer 3.1 is down-

loadable software which allows the

user to record their voice. It then

shows visual images of their into-

nation and sentence stress raising

awareness of how to speak in order

to be understood.

6. REHEARSAL

There are very useful tools which

allow the user to record and upload

slides together. They can be helpful

for a teacher who is monitoring the

process of preparation but does

not have enough classroom time

to check how it is going or the final

presentation. These tools can be

used to upload slides in the form

of PowerPoint, Prezi or just pdf.

Afterwards, it is possible to record

audio and even video of the person

presenting, adding a voice to the

presentation. MyBrainShark and

Present.Me are the tools highly

recommended for this purpose by

Russell Stannard.

In conclusion, when using the tools

mentioned above for preparing a

presentation, it should be remem-

bered that the main principles

to keep in mind are “restraint in

preparation, simplicity in design,

and naturalness in delivery” (Reyn-

olds, 2012).

REFERENCES AND LINKS:

Glickman, D. & Raisen, J. (n.d.).

The 5 best presentations ever –

what makes these so special?.

Retrieved from https://www.pow-

toon.com/presentation/5-best-

presentations/

Reynolds, G. (2012). Presentation

Zen. California: New Riders.

https://www.youtube.com

http://www.wordle.net/

https://bubbl.us/

https://www.mindmeister.com

http://www.spiderscribe.net/

www.prezi.com

www.emaze.com

www.slidbean.com

www.slides.com

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.

com/ Russell Stannard

http://www.brainshark.com/my-

brainshark

https://present.me/content/

http://www-01.sil.org/computing/

sa/sa_download.htm

Speech Analyzer 3.1

ELENA MATVEEVA is an English teacher in Russia. She has been

teaching English for 16 years. Her primary target learners are

adults and University students. Now she is teaching at University

as well as at a private language school. Elena Matveeva is inter-

ested in teaching Business English and ESP and using technology

in teaching English. She is an active participant of ELT confer-

ences, online courses and webinars.

ELTAS NEWS | 10 11 | ELTAS NEWS

NEW general English course from A1 to C1

Combines best-practice classroom methodology with a uniquely innovative assessment package.

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Q: If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared, what would be the most difficult thing to ex-plain about life today?

A: I possess a device in my pocket that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. I use it to look at pictures of cats and get in arguments with strangers.

T his quote from www.iflscience.

com was posted by an ELTAS

member organising a technology

workshop in 2009. For many of us,

it opened the door to the digital

world and offered practical advice

on how, by being connected to

social media, one can build up a

Personal Learning Network (PLN).

Only 6 years ago, many of us

thought of ourselves as being

‘digital immigrants’ learning DSL

(Digital as a Second Language).

Today, most of us talk about evalu

ating, downloading and adapting –

the most important skills needed

to navigate our way through cyber-

space to ensure what we have

found is valid, true or original before

adopting or integrating it into our

lessons.

By joining different teachers’ groups

on Facebook and Twitter, or read-

ing blogs, we are able to share our

findings and ideas of how to use

technology best. The internet is a

rich source of lesson ideas as well

as a forum for keeping abreast on

what’s up in the teaching world.

A majority of ELTAS members are

freelancers, working on their own,

without time to socialise with fellow

teachers. These forums offer an ex-

cellent opportunity to communicate

using mobile devices.

Those who still remember life with-

out email, Google, YouTube, might

also admit that blogs, tweets, chats

and texts are another step along the

road of evolution. There is no way

back, but there is an option to choose

your own path and our association

has set up many different ‘roads’

for members.

Besides being able to attend many

workshops regarding how to use

technology in the classroom,

ELTAS members can exchange

ideas, discuss controversial issues

and find new career opportunities

in the safety of the members-only

ELTAS Yahoo Group or our Face-

book page. The ELTAS Facebook

page is open to other professional

teachers’ groups such as IATEFL

Business English SIG Group, Busi-

ness English Teachers, Teaching

online, Native Speakers in Germany

(just to mention a few). Joining any

of these groups opens yet another

door to bags of information on

technology-enhanced learning, not

just for the students but for us too.

New technologies are enhancing

our understanding of how students

learn by helping us customise

coursebook materials and create

personalised learning experiences

tailor-made to individual students.

The big news this summer is our

new website. After being hacked

recently we had to change our pro-

vider and our webmaster has been

working hard to restore it. We are

going to use WordPress as our host

and if anyone has any experience

with it, please contact Frances at

webmaster@eltas.de. Our aim is to

make the ELTAS site user-friendly,

LETTER FROM THE ELTAS CHAIR

What is Technology?

Author: Krystyna Key

Blogs, tweets, chats and texts are another step along the road of evolution.

There is no way back.

with a focus on functionality, en-

abling members to book workshops,

access worksheets and

reviews, find out about training

events and more.

The ‘Find the Trainer’ function offers

all members an opportunity to market

themselves professionally online.

Why sign-up? Posting a well-written

professional profile on a respected,

frequently updated website such as

ours will help you to get noticed by

companies.

If we want to make our ‘Find the

Trainer’ area recognized as a profes-

sional database in the Stuttgart area,

we need more members posting

their data. Being visible opens many

doors and the technology is there

to make it happen! We can all use

technology to enhance our teaching

in unique and effective ways or use

it to meet learning goals for both

ourselves and our students.

This edition of the ELTAS News is,

therefore, dedicated to technology

in ELT and I hope you enjoy reading

it as well as learning something new.

Krystyna Key, ELTAS Chair

LETTER FROM THE ELTAS CHAIR

ELTAS NEWS | 12 13 | ELTAS NEWS

BOOK REVIEW

Coursebook Review: Open Mind

Author: Jennie Wright

Open Mind Intermediate, Student’s Book Premium PackAUTHORS: Mickey Rogers, Joanne Taylore-Knowles, Steve Taylore-KnowlesPUBLISHER: MacmillanISBN: 978-0-230-45818-5Media reviewed: Student’s Book plus Online Workbook and Student’s Resource Centre

WHO IS THE RESOURCE/

MATERIAL FOR?

Adults – with a focus on young

adults entering the world of work

or heading to college with content

covering academic, professional

and personal skills.

Level: B1

LAYOUT & CONTENT:

There are twelve units which each

include all four skills, pronuncia-

tion, grammar, vocabulary and life

skills. The Premium Pack comes

with a code to access the Online

Workbook and Student’s Resource

Centre which has videos, word lists

for each unit, audio and transcripts.

Plus CEFR checklists for students

to assess their progress after each

unit.

Each unit starts with a double-page

spread with huge visuals and

theme-focused questions or some-

times a fun quiz. Each unit ends

with a focus on a different life skill,

a language wrap-up page and a

‘workshop’ which focuses on either

writing or speaking.

DID I TRY THE RESOURCE OUT AND

WITH WHOM?

I tried out different sections of

the student’s book with my adult

students, using parts of units, not

going from page to page. I also

used some of the online content,

specifically the videos.

WHAT EXPERIENCE DID I HAVE

WITH THAT/WHAT WAS THE FEED-

BACK FROM THE PARTICIPANTS?

My students enjoyed the topics as

they are thought-provoking and

stimulate more engagement than

your everyday themes. Their favou-

rite was the Think Again unit where

they completed a quiz to find out if

they were a left-brain or right-brain

thinker. This stimulated a lot of

vocabulary, questions and interest

from my learners.

STRENGTHS

• The modern feel – everything is

linked to our online world (blog-

ging, internet safety, etc).

• The attractive, huge visuals to

get learners talking at the start

of each unit

• The videos are really profession-

al and you can access them on-

line or with the DVD that comes

with the book – very handy

• You can use small sections of

each unit and even the videos

on their own without having to

work through the entire unit – it

does not feel incomplete using

the book this way which allows

you to tailor it better to your

learners

WEAKNESSES

• Some of the elements and

themes are definitely for younger

adults

• It takes time to figure out all

the elements – the Online

Workbook and the Student’s

BOOK REVIEW

Resource Centre – so you need

time to really go through it all

before using it which takes

more time (although I guess we

will have to get used to this with

coursebooks adding more and

more online content)

• Sometimes the pages within

the units feel a little busy and

packed, especially when you

turn from the double-page

visual to so many activities

on the next page.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?

I highly recommend it! Even if your

students are older, there is some-

thing here for nearly everyone. You

can use the Life Skills sections with

business managers, e.g. to talk

about memory skills and develop-

ment. Use the CEFR checklists with

students who need a confidence

boost or an awareness-raising

session. Or use the quizzes as

warmers or for groups that need a

fluency session with an engaging

topic.

RECOMMENDATION I give it four stars ******** This reviewer highly recom-

mends it

*** This reviewer recommends it

** This reviewer recommends

it with reservations

* This reviewer does not

recommend

NB: the review is subjective and

does not necessarily represent the

opinion of ELTAS

JENNIE WRIGHT works with Target Training as an

InCorporate Trainer ®™. With 15 years of experience,

her blog http://teflhelperblog.wordpress.com features

professional development resources for teachers.

She co-authored Experimental Practice in ELT:

Walk on the wild side which is published by

www.the-round.com.

ELTAS CHRISTMAS PARTY

DEC 12, 2015, 2:00 – 5:30PM

SAVE THE DATE! DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

SAVE THE DATE

!

SAVE THE DATE

!

ELTAS NEWS | 14 15 | ELTAS NEWS

Heads Up 1: Spoken English for Business AUTHORS: Mark Tulip, Louise Green, Richard NicholasPUBLISHER: DELTA Publishing ISBN: 978-1-905085-96-5Level: A2-B1

PRESENTATION

Heads Up 1 is divided into 40 units

of two pages each. There is often a

listening section or a discussion at

the start of the unit, pronunciation

work, a section which prepares

them for the task, and the task itself.

Though this concise structure is re-

peated throughout the coursebook,

it is not tiresome. It is possible to

move through the units quickly, or

if necessary, at a more deliberate

pace.

I found the three units dealing with

meetings especially useful. The

first two units focus on fairly typical

functions: giving opinions, agreeing

and disagreeing, and making your

point and checking understanding.

The language is clear and authentic

and allows learners to incorporate

phrases they may already be famil-

iar with. I am less convinced about

the third unit – managing meetings

– and set out those concerns

below (see weaknesses).

PRACTICALITY

One of the most difficult challenges

facing students of business English

is time. If a teacher is working in-com-

pany with learners, the hurdles are

less often to do with ability or level

of commitment, and much more

about learners’ availability and time.

Here the structure of Heads Up 1

really pays off. Usually starting with

a brief focused discussion, or a

listening activity, moving on to lan-

guage presentation / input, then on

to pronunciation, task preparation

and finally the task itself, the short

units are dense but not restrictive.

There is plenty of flexibility within

each unit for learners to practice a

range of language and – particularly

with skills and functions – contribute

some of their own based on their

own experiences. Thus, the book

can be used as it is, or as a good

gateway to other material.

As I often work with learners who

are logistics specialists, I was happy

to see some language that is useful

for their work too, rather than what

often seems to be a disproportion-

ate emphasis on the language of

finance, sales, or management.

ORIGINALITY

Testing yet another business English

coursebook is not for the faint of

heart. There are many already avail-

able. What, then, makes Heads Up 1

original? The subtitle gives us a hint:

Spoken English for Business. There

is little in the way of dry grammar

presentation or laborious writing ex-

ercises. The book hits the ground

running and has students speaking

right away – a major asset when

dealing with learners of business

English. The emphasis is really on

their talking about the work they do,

not on the work the coursebook

presumes they do. The units are

short and the learners complete a

specific task at the end of each one,

allowing for good focused practice

in each of the areas the unit covers.

The functional language feels, for the

most part, realistic at this pre-inter-

mediate level.

A welcome feature of the book is

the pronunciation section in nearly

BOOK REVIEW

Coursebook Review: Heads Up 1

Author: Gary Anello

all of the 40 units. The pronuncia-

tion practice is specific and integral

to the lesson. Too often books seem

to treat pronunciation as an after-

thought, or just something to be

tacked on to the end of a lesson.

It’s not always the case but it’s

often enough to be a source of

frustration. It’s heartening to en-

counter material that incorporates

pronunciation work this well.

STRENGTHS

The short straight-to-the-point units

cover a lot of ground in a short

amount of time and space. The

presentation is snappy and the

material moves along nicely. With

each two-page unit culminating in

atask, there is plenty for learners to

focus on.

If learners are inclined to want de-

tailed explanations or rote practice,

this may not be the coursebook for

them. But for learners really inter-

ested in practical speaking skills in

a range of settings, it’s an excellent

choice. Also, having been published

so recently, the material feels quite

topical and current.

WEAKNESS

My only question is whether the

section on managing meetings is

particularly helpful. Though I can

see someone at the language level

the book is written for creating

agendas and kicking off meet-

ings, it is my guess that someone

at this level would not often find

themselves in a position to lead or

manage entire meetings. The pre-

sentation is great but I wonder if it’s

not better suited to a coursebook

at a higher level.

I think this works particularly well in

a company setting. I am not sure it

lends itself quite as well to class-

room use outside of a work context.

Nevertheless, I think the material

is engaging, strong and varied

enough to make it work there as

well, though it might be slightly less

effective. That said, I think it’s an

excellent coursebook – 4 stars!.

RECOMMENDATION Would I recommend it? ******** This reviewer highly recom-

mends it

*** This reviewer recommends it

** This reviewer recommends

it with reservations

* This reviewer does not

recommend

NB: the review is subjective and

does not necessarily represent the

opinion of ELTAS

GARY ANELLO is an InCorporate Trainer®™

(language and communication skills) with

Target Training GmbH. A PMI-certified project

manager (CAPM®™), a former profession-

al actor in the US, and with an MA in Hu-

man Rights, Gary has been involved in EFL,

language, communication and human rights

training throughout Europe since 2004.

BOOK REVIEW

ELTAS NEWS | 16 17 | ELTAS NEWS

HOT SEAT INTERVIEW

In the Hot Seat

Mikhail Grinberg

Mikhail Grinberg holds a CELTA

and DELTA modules 1 and 2. He

is an ESP and Business English

trainer. Michael (as people often

call him) lives in Koblenz, Rhein-

land-Pfalz and works in Frankfurt,

Cologne and Leverkusen. For his

Hot seat interview, Michael answers

the usual questions, but also gives

us his take on technology and

adaptive learning.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I’m from Moscow, Russia.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO

GERMANY?

My wife, who is a sculptor, and I

were able to see a better future for

ourselves in Germany than in Russia.

We looked at different countries and

chose Germany for its art schools

and its market for business English

training services.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO TEACHING?

I moved out of my parents’ home

and I had to pay the bills! At that

time I was a history student, so

giving private lessons of French

and English was one of the few

things I could do to get some cash

reasonably quickly. I will never for-

get my first lesson of French. I was

shaking with fear, and yet I heard a

voice in my head saying “This is it”

(interestingly, in English!). Very soon

I got totally immersed in teaching

methodology. I kept reading Scott

Thornbury instead of working on

my PhD, which I eventually aban-

doned.

WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE YOU

STARTED TEACHING, AND HOW DOES

IT INFLUENCE YOUR APPROACH?

I majored in French medieval legal

history. Being a medievalist involves

a lot of slow reading (Latin and Old

French in my case). I guess it was

then that I got interested in linguis-

tics, and I’m still using many of the

analytical tools I acquired at that

time.

However, going right back to sec-

ondary school, I was really inter-

ested in programming. This led me

to managing a web development

project and I find this experience

very useful whenever I work with IT

professionals. Being familiar with

the field of artificial intelligence also

provides an interesting perspective

on human behaviour.

CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT

WHAT APPROACHES AND METHODO-

LOGIES INFORM YOUR TEACHING /

TRAINING?

When it comes to course design,

much of what I do is described in

two books: The Business English

Teacher by Debbie Barton, Jennifer

Burkart and Caireen Sever and

How to Write Corporate Training

Materials by Evan Frendo. On the

‘implementation’ level, things get

more complicated. I guess that to

a large extent, I can be described

as a task-based / lexical approach

trainer. I deeply believe that language

is inseparable from behaviour, and

so I’ve recently been exploring the

fields of storytelling, coaching, and

applied psychology.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU AND / OR YOUR

STUDENTS?

On my side, being praised and get-

ting paid! On a much deeper level

though, I’m eager to learn more

about how people learn languages

and develop new forms of behaviour.

Working in companies also allows

me to constantly learn about new

HOT SEAT INTERVIEW

professions. It’s hard to say what

inspires my students. If I knew it, I

probably wouldn’t have to work

at all! I guess many people learn

languages by identifying with the

speakers of these languages – with

somebody they like or respect.

HAS TEACHING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

CHANGED YOU AS A TEACHER?

When I started teaching, the digital

revolution was well underway.

I guess I can be called a tech-savvy

teacher. I use Moodle, Skype, Ado-

be Connect, Google Documents,

all sorts of apps, etc. On the other

hand, I don’t really think these tools

transform the nature of my profes-

sion. They only enable me be more

efficient in what I do.

ARE YOU FOR OR AGAINST THE RISE

IN ADAPTIVE LEARNING?

I think it’s here to stay, and I think

that it could replace many of the

learning materials teachers use –

coursebooks and workbooks for

example. Large corporations like

Bosch or Siemens might benefit

from using it in an ESP context.

However, I don’t think that even

a sophisticated adaptive learning

system could replace a human

trainer. Trainers who develop and

run highly-specific, tailor-made

courses will always have work to do.

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO SPEND YOUR

FREE TIME?

Travelling, cooking, walking or

cycling with my wife Paulina. Going

to all sorts of ELT events. Reading

occasionally and in bursts. I recent-

ly rediscovered programming and

HTML/CSS coding and I’m enjoy-

ing it a lot.

ELTAS NEWS | 18 19 | ELTAS NEWS

ARTICLE

The Next 4 to 5 Years of Adaptive Learning in ELT

– 10 Predictions

Author: Philip Kerr

T he technological and business

landscapes are changing so

rapidly that making predictions

about adaptive learning is a haz-

ardous game. However, given what

we know from the statements and

claims of the major publishers and

software providers, there are a

number of strong probabilities that

can be identified.

1 Major publishers will move

gradually away from tradi-

tional coursebooks (whether in

print or ebook format) towards the

flexible delivery of learning content

on learning platforms. At its most

limited, this will be in the form

of workbook-style material with

an adaptive element. At its most

developed, this will be in the form

of courses that can be delivered

entirely without traditional course-

books. These will allow teachers or

institutions to decide the extent to

which they wish to blend online and

face-to-face instruction.

2 The adaptive elements of

these courses will focus

primarily or exclusively on discrete

item grammar, vocabulary, function-

al language and phonology, since

these lend themselves most readily

to the software. These courses will

be targeted mainly at lower level

(B1 and below) learners.

3 The methodological approach

of these courses will be sig-

nificantly influenced by the expecta-

tions of the markets where they are

predicted to be most popular and

most profitable: South and Central

America, the Arabian Gulf and Asia.

4 These courses will permit

multiple modifications to

suit local requirements. They will

also allow additional content to be

uploaded.

5 Assessment will play an

important role in the design

of all these courses. Things like

discrete item grammar, vocabulary,

functional language and phonology,

which lend themselves most readily

to assessment, will be prioritized

over language skills, which are

harder to assess. Assessment,

itself, will be moving towards online

and adaptive delivery.

6 The discrete items of lan-

guage that are presented

will be tagged to level descriptors,

using scales like the Common

European Framework, English

Profile or the Pearson Global Scale

of English.

7 Language skills work will be

included, but only in the more

sophisticated (and better-funded)

projects will these components be

closely tied to the adaptive soft-

ware.

8 Because of technological

differences between different

parts of the world, adaptive courses

will co-exist with closely related,

more traditional print (or ebook)

courses.

9 Training for teachers (espe-

cially concerning blended

learning) will become an increas-

ingly important part of the package

sold by the major publishers.

10 These courses will more

than be ever driven by the

publishers’ perceptions of what the

market wants. There will be a con-

comitant decrease in the extent to

which individual authors, or author

teams, influence the material.

This is an excerpt from A Short

Guide to Adaptive Learning in

English Language Teaching written

by Philip Kerr and published by the

round.

ARTICLE

The complete guide is available for

free here:

http://the-round.com/resource/

a-short-guide-to-adaptive-learn-

ing-in-english-language-teaching/

PHILIP KERR is a teacher trainer

and materials writer based in Vienna.

His publications include the

coursebook series ‘Straightfor-

ward’ and ‘Inside Out’, and the

methodology title ‘Translation and

Own-language Activities’ which

won the Duke of Edinburgh / ESU

Award in 2015.

He blogs about technology and ELT

at https://adaptivelearninginelt.

wordpress.com/

ELTAS NEWS | 20 21 | ELTAS NEWS

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EVENT REVIEW

ELTAS Event Review

Author: Augusto Vieira

A fter a long week of teaching

14 different classes, spending

a Saturday in a workshop is the last

thing on anyone’s mind. This was

essentially me on Saturday January

17, the day of ELTAS’ first work-

shop in 2015. Despite the initial

difficulties, the effort necessary to

get there was more than worth it.

I am new to ELTAS and have made

a commitment to participate more

often in ELTAS events. The venue

was terrific and the presenter as

well. Now, he was English, but not

your typical 5 o’clock teatime English.

He did have an English accent, which

made him sound 20% smarter than

me, but all in all a great presenter,

and a very knowledgeable one

might I add.

I was asked to write a review of

the event, and as you can see, I

am on the positive side of things.

So instead of going on and on

about how great the event was,

I will simply provide you with a

glimpse of four great ideas from

the event and let you decide for

yourselves if it was worth the effort

on a cold and rainy Saturday after

a long week of teaching.

TECHNIQUE 1 – TECHNICAL ENGLISH

WORKSHOP

Use the students’ knowledge of

technical English. They provide the

technical vocabulary; you provide

the means of using it.

TECHNIQUE 2 – TECHNICAL ENGLISH

WORKSHOP

Have students scratch out certain

words from texts (or cover them

with small post-it notes). Students

then exchange books and try to

figure out which words are missing.

TECHNIQUE 3 – BACK OF THE BOOK

WORKSHOP

You know those wonderful pictures

in the back of books? We can take

those and play games with them.

For example, give students some

time to look at them and memorise

as much as possible. Then, have

them close their books and see

how much they can remember. The

class can be divided in groups and

a little competition can be enjoyed.

TECHNIQUE 4 – BACK OF THE BOOK

WORKSHOP

Word lists are often ignored. Have

students describe words from the

lists to each other. Run the activity

as a competition where every cor-

rectly identified word is a point for

that team.

When I arrived in Germany in

2012, my goal was to learn

German in 1 year and return

back home with the same

foot I got here. After more

than 2 years in Germany, I

am now bracing myself for

another 3. Yes folks, my sole

purpose in Germany is to

learn German. In Canada I

was into Event Management.

I consider teaching a new

career and am very happy

with and intent on continuing

with it.

TWO WORKSHOPS SPONSORED BY PEARSON: TECHNICAL ENGLISH – TECHNICALLY SPEAKING & THINGS TO DO WITH THE BACK OF THE BOOK WITH ROBERT DEANHELD AT EBC HOCHSCHULE, STUTTGART, 17TH JANUARY 2015

ELTAS NEWS | 22 23 | ELTAS NEWS

EVENT REVIEW

ELTAS Event Review

Author: Mihaela Tilinca

F ull house at the May ELTAS

workshop. In spite of the Deut-

sche Bahn strike and the unpredict-

able weather, ELTAS members old

and new showed up at the meeting.

The Klett team and the venue –

cosy, luminous, full of eye-catching

books and invaded by the scent

of freshly made coffee,

made us all ready to work

and talk. The ELTAS team

only added quality to the

meeting, by greeting us all,

offering information and

materials and by making

the event flow effectively.

The task of the presenter,

to foreground CUP/Klett’s

Business Advantage B2

as a desirable textbook

and, at the same time, to

offer us ready-to-apply

activities for teaching the language

and the behaviour of business-fo-

cused persuasion and negotiation,

was multi-layered, and thus, not an

easy one.

I believe Adele Greaney balanced

the two focuses well throughout

the workshop: a topic-relevant

icebreaker signalled the relationship

between success in business and

well-worded casual conversation.

Peter Drucker’s words “More busi-

ness decisions occur over lunch

and dinner than at any other time,

yet no MBA courses are given on

the subject” were set as a sort of

motto for the series of activities

presented. Then, a number of

language sub-functions configuring

persuasion and negotiation were

introduced: e.g. ‘sounding friendly’,

‘framing collaboration vs framing

competition’, ‘signalling identity’,

‘foregrounding ideas’, ‘giving friend-

ly advice’; each language function

was associated with at least one

language representation: e.g. the

‘inclusive we’ / ‘exclusive we’ as

language instances of the ‘signal-

ling identity’ sub-function, ‘stress,

pause, intonation’ as para-linguistic

instances for ‘foregrounding ideas’.

The presenter organised her review

of the language functions and their

representations under two ‘chap-

ters’: Spoken language and written

language. She chose activities from

the textbook and we,

the participants, worked

in groups to try these

activities, thus having the

opportunity not only to

experience the student

perspective, but also to

formulate practical teach-

er questions for further

discussion.

We appreciated the

energy of the presenter:

her ability to immediately

establish rapport with all

of us and to engage us in activities.

Probably the role-play activity when

we had to negotiate a raise with our

line manager and the one where we

had to sell snowballs, dirty combs

or roofless houses (using language

on handouts) were the most vivid

of the interactions. However, for me

it was clear that group work was

an opportunity to get to know each

other better and to exchange prac-

PERSUASION AND NETWORKING WITH ADELE GREANEY 9TH MAY 2015, SPONSORED BY KLETT AND HELD AT TREFFPUNKT KLETT, STUTTGART

EVENT REVIEW

tical teaching experiences. During

these activities, only an attentive

eye could see that our colleagues/

organisers from the ELTAS team

and the Klett representative were

as busy as bees, acting discretely to

make sure we had all the resources

necessary.

I would only add that

maybe such good

hands-on presentations

can be well comple-

mented by workshops

that take a step back

into meta-learning and

meta-teaching, and

that would enable us to

better situate classroom

teaching and learning

into the wider context,

and would invite us to

reflect on the methodology and

mechanisms behind what and how

we teach in the language class-

room. In the case of persuasion

and negotiation, one could look

back at, for example, Aristotle’s

three appeals (Ethos, Logos and

Pathos) as all behavioural and

linguistic strategies and techniques

underpinning persuasion originate

from there. Through discussion and

reflection, we would gain the ability

to construct our own lesson plans

and activities for when we need

to target persuasive language or,

simply, to navigate more conscien-

tiously through available textbooks.

To conclude, I would say that the

workshop achieved its objectives:

to bring the ELTAS com-

munity together, to present

the Klett textbook and to

draw our attention to how

everyday needs, from the

workplace (for the learners)

or from the classroom (for

us and our learners), are

shaping and shaped by

language.

MIHAELA TILINCA is a freelance trainer and researcher. She

holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Lancaster. In

the past twenty years she has been training teachers and trainers,

teaching Applied Linguistics and Research skills and examining

policies and practices around literacy and adult education.

ELTAS NEWS | 24 25 | ELTAS NEWS

EVENT REVIEW

ELTAS Event Review

Author: Katrin Beringer

W e were fully booked when

John Sydes gave his work-

shop on “Red Tape” at the Euro

Akademie in Stuttgart – the reason

for this was probably that freelanc-

ers feel great uncertainty about

which German laws and regulations

apply to them. What a relief that

there is an expert out there who

explained the jungle in a neat

PowerPoint presentation!

Being a freelancer himself, John

was the ideal speaker for us

because he knows where the soft

points are. In a very entertaining

way he talked about compulsory

contributions, pseudo employment,

expenses, tax matters, putting a

contract together and dealing with

late bills.

The big frustration is that – unlike

other professions – teachers

and midwives belong to the ‘risk

category’ and therefore have to

pay pension contributions to the

Deutsche Rentenversicherung

(DRV – the German social insur-

ance authority). And there is no

way out. One of us asked “Can I

get caught?” The answer was “Yes!”

Once they find out, you even have

to pay for the previous five years

in a lump sum or in instalments.

And being super smart by stating

that you are more of a consultant

doesn’t work here.

So, what do we get in return?

The rule of thumb is about 1 euro

a month for every 1000 euros you

earn. If you want 1000 euros pen-

sion every month, you would have

to earn one million euros. However,

good news for those who want to

stay just a couple of years in Ger-

many: they can claim their money

back or they save it and get a few

pennies when they are pensioners.

Another issue that always crops up

with freelancers is pseudo employ-

ment or Scheinselbständigkeit

(self-employed in name only). If

80% of your freelance work is for

one employer only, the employer

has to pay half of your social insur-

ances.

Further helpful advice was that

when comparing private and public

health insurers, keep in mind that

fees of a public insurer are pro-

portional to your income, those of

private insurances are not. Partic-

ipants pointed out that there are

attractive deals if your partner is

insured with the same company

– they sometimes offer rates for

Nebenverdiener (secondary earner)

which can be less than 200 euros

per month. Unfortunately, world

cover is not included so make sure

that you take out holiday insurance

before your next trip!

John showed us a list covering

what should appear on invoices

and that’s when the issue of VAT

(Mehrwertsteuer) was raised. You

don’t add VAT on bills for clients

who are released from VAT: usually

Volkshochschule (VHS), university

and the Industrie und Handels-

kammer (IHK – the chambers of

commerce and industry). When

in doubt ask to prove that §4 Nr.

RED TAPE WORKSHOP WITH JOHN SYDESHELD AT EURO AKADEMIE, STUTTGART, 21ST MARCH 2015

Teachers

discover the

characteristics of

their own

teaching styles

EVENT REVIEW

21UstG is applied in a written doc-

ument. And don’t forget that you

don’t count such income in your

Kleinunternehmertum (small entre-

preneur / business) which is limited

to 17,500 euros turnover a year.

So in fact you can earn far more

than that and still be exempt from

charging VAT on your bills.

John gave a catchy example of

how nitty-gritty the rules for set-

ting off expenses are. He himself

changed the layout of his apart-

ment to prove that his study is not

a Durchgangszimmer (through

room) as rooms with two doors are

not accepted to be written off. The

bad news was that not only had

John already been audited – several

people in the audience had too!

To give a complete summary of

what you can set off would be too

much to mention in this review so

let me just highlight the flat rates

when you are out of the office:

more than 8 hours, but less

than 24 hours: 12 euros.

More than 24 hours: 24 euros.

So there is lots of potential for

claiming money. Also note that

there are flat rates for doing

business outside Germany – sur-

prisingly they are the highest when

travelling to African countries!

I can imagine that there are a lot of

members like me who started small

but have grown over the years and

all of a sudden you have to deal

with all that red tape.

John motivated us not to bury our

heads into the sand – quite the op-

posite. The lesson I learned is that

there is no excuse not to know how

things work in Germany.

Thanks to the ELTAS team and John

for such an informative session!.

After she finished her degree in English and Theatre Studies,

KATRIN BERINGER first started as an event manager and

copywriter. For more than 10 years now she has been teaching

Business English in companies, at university and for the chamber

of commerce. Currently she is the deputy chair and yahoo group

moderator of ELTAS.

ELTAS NEWS | 26 27 | ELTAS NEWS

ARTICLE

Mobile Learning in the English Language

Classroom

Author: Margarida Marques Pereira

T he use of mobile devices

(smartphones and tablets)

in English language teaching has

been met with mixed feelings.

Some teachers consider these de-

vices to be disruptive and ban them

from their classrooms, while others

see them as useful tools and have

integrated them into their lessons to

support learning and teaching.

STARTING POINT

But how can current smartphones

and tablets with their advanced

capabilities connected to wireless

networks be used as learning tools

in the English language classroom?

As part of my post-graduate stud-

ies at the University of Manchester, I

set off to investigate how real teach-

ers were successfully integrating

mobile devices into their teaching

practices.

With this purpose in mind, I ob-

served several lessons and carried

out interviews with a few experi-

enced and successful mobile-tech-

nology-using English language

teachers. These teachers worked

for two private language schools in

the North of England that offered

EFL and ESP courses to interna-

tional students.

In one of the schools, some teach-

ers were using a Bring Your Own

Device approach (BYOD), while the

other school had acquired a set of

iPads for classroom use and had

an iPad implementation plan.

MOBILE DEVICES AS LEARNING

TOOLS

My small-scale research study

provided interesting and relevant

findings. One of the most important

findings was that mobile devices

are multimedia communications

tools with a multitude of functional-

ities and a plethora of apps that can

promote innovative ways of learning

and teaching in language education

(as also noted by Viberg & Grön-

lund, 2012). Nevertheless, when

integrating mobile technologies

into the language classroom, it is

important that teachers understand

how they can be used effectively

to support learners and learning

processes, and that they develop

appropriate methods and materi-

als for Mobile Assisted Language

Learning (MALL) (as also argued by

Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008).

MOBILE-BASED LEARNING ACTIVI-

TIES IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

The teachers who participated in my

study seemed to be aware that mo-

bile-based learning activities can be

designed with different purposes:

• To deliver content, such as using

mobile devices to access web-

based content (e.g. YouTube

videos, news websites, Google

Maps), or to access dictionary

or pronunciation apps (e.g.

Macmillan)

• To offer students the opportunity

to practise and revise language

when playing games (e.g.

Kahoot) or doing quizzes (e.g.

Quizlet) on mobile devices

• To provide students with oppor-

tunities to create their own con-

tent, often in cooperation with

others, as in taking pictures for

classroom discussions (e.g.

using inbuilt cameras), creating

a comic strip story (e.g. Comic

Maker app), or producing audio

and video texts (e.g. Voice Re-

cord Pro app, Loopster app)

• To allow students to share the

content they created by collab-

orating on a class blog, sharing

digital posters (e.g. Glogster) or

presentations (e.g. Keynote) on

a classroom website

These different types of mobile-

based learning activities did not

necessarily stand alone in the les-

sons I observed, but were intercon-

ARTICLE

nected. Even though content and

tutorial activities had their place in

certain learning stages, they seemed

to be more beneficial when combi-

ned with creative and communicative

activities (for more on the different

types of MALL, see Pegrum, 2014).

Creative use of mobile-based

learning activities in one two-hour

lesson that provided a particularly

good example of mobile-based

learning activities, students created

an audio-recorded text giving direc-

tions to a certain building in town.

In pairs, the students used specific

iPad applications to carry out the

several steps of the task.

They:

1. used the i-nigma app to read

QR codes and discover the

name of a building

2. located the building using

Google Maps

3. wrote directions from the school

to the building with the help of a

dictionary app

4. audio-recorded the directions

with a voice recorder app

5. swapped iPads, went into town

and used the audio-recorded

text to find the building

6. took pictures of the building

using the inbuilt camera

7. used the Chirp app and class

screen sharing (iPad connected

to Apple TV) to share the pic-

tures back in class

8. in the following lesson, created

short videos with the pictures

using a video maker app (e.g.

iMovie)

CONCLUSION

The teaching practices observed

in my study give evidence of how

the purposeful and contextualised

use of mobile technologies in the

English language classroom can

enable a higher level of learner in-

volvement, more engaging learning

opportunities, and the transforma-

tion from traditional teacher-led

instructional methods to a more

student-centred pedagogy.

REFERENCES

Kukulska-Hulme, A., & Shield, L.

(2008). An overview of mobile

assisted language learning: From

content delivery to supported col-

laboration and interaction.

ReCALL, 20(3), 271-289.

Pegrum, M. (2014). Mobile Learn-

ing: Languages, Literacies &

Cultures. Basingstoke: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Viberg, O., & Grönlund, Å. (2012).

Mobile Assisted Language Learn-

ing: A Literature Review. Paper pre-

sented at mLearn 2012 Conference

on Mobile and Contextual Learning,

Helsinki, Finland.

MARGARIDA MARQUES PEREIRA has extensive

experience teaching English as a foreign language at

different school levels in diverse contexts. Currently,

she teaches English to primary school children and

works as a research assistant at the Thurgau University

of Teacher Education in Switzerland.

ELTAS NEWS | 28 29 | ELTAS NEWS

TECH REVIEW

A Review of LinguaTV

Authors: Kate Baade & Beth Hampel

Creators: Sandra Gasber, Philip Gienandt

Media reviewed: Training videos and interactive

exercises for business and general

English learners

(https://www.linguatv.com)

Who is the resource for? Adults, A1 – C1.

LAYOUT & CONTENT:

Courses are based on CEFR levels

and business skills. It’s clearly stat-

ed how many hours of training are

offered and what kinds of activities

are offered, e.g. the A1

course has 60 hours of

learning with 20 videos

and 500 interactive ac-

tivities. Courses and vid-

eos are based on stories

and cases which reflect

real situations, e.g. the

lives of four friends in

America, an assistant to

a CEO in New York, etc.

DID WE TRY THE RESOUR-

CE OUT AND WITH WHOM?

After seeing LinguaTV demon-

strated by Philip Gienandt both

at the BESIG conference in 2014

and Learntec in 2015 (an interna-

tional trade fair and convention for

learning with IT), we were given

free access to sample some of the

units. There is a free sample unit in

each level and course, so you can

try it before buying.

STRENGTHS:

LinguaTV’s main strength is their

videos. We both tried out videos

from several units and found that:

• they feature plausible real-world

situations, close-to-authentic

interactions

• the length is manageable for

learners

• they can be introduced with

prediction tasks (a key listening

strategy)

• they feature lexical chunks

typical to everyday general/busi-

ness scenarios

• they feature level-appropriate

lexis and grammar

• they have subtitles you can

blend in and out as required

• they offer downloadable scripts

and glossaries (and will soon

also have vocabulary tools)

• there is a translation tool

We also found the practice activ-

ities to be engaging, user-friendly

and varied. They can either be

selected by the learner or you

can choose which ones you want

them to do. They can be watched

any number of times. With some

activities, e.g. ‘wordfall’, there is

some variation from one

practice to the next to

avoid straight repetition

of exercises.

This may not strictly be

part of the review, but

we would add that the

LinguaTV seems to be

very approachable, open

to suggestions, and

interested in listening to

what you actually want.

WEAKNESSES:

Both of us found the video play-

back to be choppy and that it

freezes every few seconds. This

can apparently be fixed by chang-

ing your computer settings, but if

TECH REVIEW

you and your learners are based

inside a large corporation, it could

be tricky to persuade their IT de-

partment to make these changes.

You would need to make sure this

worked smoothly before using it

with your learners.

The quizzes at times feature some

questionable definitions, synonyms,

spellings, inconsistencies and lim-

ited options for word families. Also,

some of the exercises are a little

pointless and the aim is question-

able, e.g. sorting excessively long

sentences.

CONCLUSION:

We would recommend it as there

are a number of ways LinguaTV

could be successfully integrated

into what you already offer clients

and learners. With a wide range of

clients, that flexibility is something

we welcome.

In general we would envisage

recommending the videos and

activities to our learners for self-

study. An interesting feature is that,

if you buy the right licence, they will

customize what your clients see

and your logo will be used.

RECOMMENDATION

Would I recommend it? ******* This reviewer highly recom-

mends it

*** This reviewer recommends it

** This reviewer recommends

it with reservations

* This reviewer does not

recommend

NB: the review is subjective and

does not necessarily represent the

opinion of ELTAS

KATE BAADE and BETH HAMPEL are both involved

in client management, trainer development and

support, as well as training at Target Training GmbH

www.targettraining.eu.

ELTAS NEWS | 30 31 | ELTAS NEWS

ARTICLE

The Learners’ Voices and Technology in ELT

Author: Katrin Lichterfeld

W hen I was accompanying

Huw Jarvis on his journey

from CALL (Computer Assisted

Language Learning) via a stop-

over at MALL (Mobile Assisted

Language Learning) to his final

destination MALU (Mobile Assisted

Language Use) concerning the role

of learner autonomy at the IATEFL

2013 Learning Technologies

Pre-Conference Event in Liverpool,

my learners’ voices were constantly

echoing in my ears. What about

my technological support for their

pursuit of learner autonomy?

My CALL journey seemed to go

with a bang. The participants of my

in-company course are so pleased

with their new course book as it al-

lows them to practise English online

with their computer in a conscious

way. But what about the one who

confessed after the next lesson that

his home computer did not meet

the technical requirements and that

he preferred handing in handwritten

and printed exercises? A quote

from Albert Einstein came to my

mind: “Life is like riding a bicycle.

To keep your balance, you must

keep moving”. What about different

learner types and their individual

learning strategies?

I took a deep breath when we

had a break at MALL. Due to the

availability of personal or insti-

tution-owned portable devices,

MALL can take place anywhere

and at any time. There seems to

be an endless and ever-growing

number of apps and programmes,

(Hockly & Dudeney 2014, Barrett

& Sharma 2013). As the ‘grammar

experts’ among my learners love

the MyGrammarLab app (offered by

Pearson at three levels), it can oc-

cur in different social forms for for-

mal learning inside the classroom

or – as boundaries tend to dissolve

in this area – for informal learning

outside the classroom. Further-

more, technology is to be used in

a task-based framework. Thus,

the app ThingLink (lite version free

of charge) offers opportunities for

individual or collaborative activities

in different settings. As an interac-

tive media platform you can make

your images come alive with texts,

music, videos or even tell stories

and share them easily. However,

it is important to give very precise

instructions.

All of a sudden Huw Jarvis made

us arrive at our final destination:

MALU. In spite of constant availa-

bility of a high number of digital

devices outside the classroom,

learners’ voices still seem to be

underestimated. Apart from con-

scious learning, they access and

pass on information for studying,

doing their job or social reasons.

They act as ‘globally networked

citizens’ and can be considered as

‘digital residents’ spending a big

part of their lives online, using not

only their L1 but also English as the

most important L2 in the Internet.

Moreover, English is frequently

used in order to take part in online

gaming either as an individual chal-

lenge or in order to build up social

relationships and solve problems

collaboratively. The app QuizUp can

be regarded as an easy game ver-

sion compared to far more complex

ones, e.g. Second Life. It might not

only be interesting for enthusiastic

language learners when competing

against people from all over the

Teachers

discover the

characteristics

of their own

teaching styles

ARTICLE

world – within only 10 seconds – in

areas like spelling, word definitions

or tenses. QuizUp offers more than

700 different topics, which are con-

stantly updated, presenting a lot of

variety and covers many hobbies.

At the end of our journey we were

fully aware of the importance of

our learners’ voices, not only when

using technology. As a conse-

quence, we will be able to function

as facilitators for their life-long

learning and encourage them to

use English in their own, individual

way. By the way, after an update

of the online workbook and getting

a cutting-edge smartphone, the

handwritten exercises disappeared.

Sometimes it also makes sense to

push your bicycle before you can

go on riding it or to use tailor-made

bicycles.

REFERENCES

Barrett, B. & Sharma, P. (2013).

Apptivities for Business English.

Available from:

http://the-round.com/

Hockly, N. & Dudeney, G. (2014).

Going mobile: Teaching and learn-

ing with hand-held devices. Lon-

don: Delta Publishing.

Jarvis, H. & Achilleos, M. (2013).

From Computer Assisted Language

Learning (CALL) to Mobile Assist-

ed Language Use (MALU). The

Electronic Journal for English as a

Second Language, 16,4.

Retrieved from:

http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/

issues/volume16/ej64/ej64a2/

After working several years with an international team in the export

department of a beverage group Katrin Lichterfeld started making

use of her practical experience in her jobs as translator, business

English trainer, examiner and intercultural trainer for in-company

courses.

ELTAS NEWS | 32 33 | ELTAS NEWS

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EVENT REVIEW

IATEFL Manchester 2015: Bigger! Bolder! Better?

Author: Kirsten Waechter

A part from meeting old friends

and finding new ones, IATEFL

this year seemed to be looking

more at regions outside Europe

and English speaking countries:

teacher education all over the world

was a big topic, including what it is

like to teach in Nigeria after Boko

Haram and Africa made it also on

the map thanks to the excellent

plenary by Ann Cotton. Many pre-

sentations also acknowledged the

increasing voice of teachers whose

first language is not English.

It seems that IATEFL is getting

bigger every year. So this year,

we were back in Manchester at

the Manchester Central Convention

Centre. As the numbers of partici-

pants, presentations and panels

grows, I wonder what the takeaway

is for those people who are new to

IATEFL. How do they cope?

For new presenters, there is the

mentoring programme which I took

part in (as a mentor) and really en-

joyed (my mentee did so as well).

But what about the others?

Six ‘newbies’ freely answered my

questions:

Rob Szabó, new BESIG events

co-coordinator and materials de-

veloper

Sagun Shrestha, head of Nepal

ELTA and Regent Scholar

Bophan Khan, presenter at the

interactive language fair about his

project in Cambodia

Olya Sergeeva, in-house company

trainer in St Petersburg and blogger

Jaime Miller-Rapp, online English

teacher and blogger

Maribel Ortega, teacher and

newsletter editor in Munich

Andres Cuenca, Uruguay, who

works in a pilot project on teaching

school children online

Federico Espinosa of ALLC

International House in Beirut

responsible for teacher training.

HOW ARE YOU COPING WITH THE

SIZE? WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION?

FE: I’ve been to other ELT events,

but it’s amazing how enormous this

is, it blew my mind when I came in

and saw all the people.

MO: It’s a great place to learn and

make contacts, it’s an enriching

experience that makes this ‘lonely’

profession less lonely, as you don’t

have that contact to other teachers,

and this balances the whole feeling

of being in the teaching profession.

JMR: This is the place to come

for newbies if you feel isolated and

that you’re the only one, because

I used to feel that way, that I was

the only person in the universe who

was thinking this or that, and then

you come here and suddenly there

are so many other people who are

questioning and asking and de-

bating, and that’s so fantastic, this

feeling that there is a huge commu-

nity totally big enough for all of us,

we can all fit in here no matter what

shade of thinking.

AC: Working in a local context like

Uruguay, you don’t really get the

picture of what’s going on in the

world of English teaching. And par-

ticipating in such an event encour-

aged me to follow a different way,

thinking also about the possibilities

you’ve got to stretch your chances.

HOW HAPPY WERE YOU WITH THE

PLENARY AND SESSIONS?

FE: The variety and the level of a lot

of the talks are really just phenom-

enal.

RS: The PCE between BESIG and

TESIG was amazing. There were

some very experienced researchers,

and I learned what really goes into

making tests work, what makes

them useful, and how we should be

thinking about creating new tests.

››

ELTAS NEWS | 34 35 | ELTAS NEWS

EVENT REVIEW EVENT REVIEW

BK: The conference is actually

a platform where voices from all

levels get together and share with

pedagogic excellence … there are

so many things to take away.

OS: What I loved the most is

that there has been a very good

balance of the practical items that I

can take to the classroom straight-

away and some theoretical issues

that I had never thought about or

maybe had but did not know how

to bridge that gap.

SS: I’m also impressed by the way

presenters have presented their re-

search, for example, when I visited

the interactive language fair, where

presenters have well-designed

posters which they used to attract

the attention of many passers-by.

WHAT IS YOUR TAKEAWAY FROM

IATEFL THIS YEAR?

AC: I had the opportunities to

create bonds with different teach-

ers from all over the world, which is

very important, and there were all

these kinds of job positions avail-

able, something which gave me

a perspective of the requirements

you need to meet if you want to

apply to international positions.

SS: As we are organising a NELTA

conference back in Nepal, we will

be taking away two different things

for our conference: Wordfest – reci-

ting poetry, songs and so on in

English which we have not done so

far, and the quiz they have organ-

ised. Since we are 11 delegates

from Nepal, we are cascading what

we have learned here to be used at

our own conference back in Nepal.

BK: This conference is interdis-

ciplinary, it touches on so many

aspects of learning and teaching,

it broadens my horizon on how

language is learned, what meth-

odologies can be developed for

learners in this century, to look

into the future, to reflect on what

we have done and what we are

doing at the moment.

RS: I met a lot of publishers and

editors looking for content and who

are interested in what I write, and

I met a lot of very, very interesting

people from all different aspects of

the education area who provided

a lot of takeaways.

HAVE YOU SPOTTED ANY TRENDS,

ANY BIG TOPICS?

MO: Not really. Since I’m a news-

letter editor, this is what I’ve been

looking for, because I wanted to

see if there is anything going to

happen like last year, you know,

‘forget the teacher’, but I haven’t.

RS: Gender inclusiveness seems

to be a theme which is quite inter-

esting to me and globalisation of

English or English as a lingua franca,

these are the themes I identified.

AC: I attended different presenta-

tions about art, jazz, relating them

to English teaching, and also

methodologies for video conference

teaching, and one thing many ses-

sions have in common is that the

teacher is not the centre of the class-

room. We also have to motivate

our students: of course they have

to learn, but it’s not only about go-

ing to the class saying “open your

books”, you have to be creative

and find the emotional side of the

student to create some kind of

self-motivation.

BP: I think we have gone back to

the basics, reflecting on what we

do, on our roles as teachers, for

example, Donald Freeman’s talk

on freezing our thoughts. We need

to look at ways our teaching has

been shaped by myth, and how we

restrict ourselves when it comes

to teaching learners in a way that

makes learning successful. We may

be thinking: I’m doing a good job

as a teacher, but how about the

learners?

JMR: That phrase ‘demand high’

is sticking out in my mind, gami-

fication, there were a lot of things,

even across skills, that were

about challenging assumptions,

even challenging teacher training

programmes, sessions where

CELTA and DELTA teachers where

just very open about the fact that

maybe these courses can be

made better, and I found that

really refreshing.

FE: The gamification talks that

I went to, and I found that very

interesting, useful, and very well

developed, something that is very

different from doing games in class,

but turning your classroom into

something much more engaging.

SS: I found that within ELT there

are so many ideas to explore, for

example, visualisation, one of many

methods often forgotten, and I

have never realised that it is such

an effective tool.

WOULD YOU COME AGAIN –

AND WHY?

RS: Absolutely, it’s my first IATEFL

conference here in Britain, I go to

the Business English ones, but

there is too much to take in in one

trip. Even though I’m here for the

four full days, I am only scratching

the surface of what’s available.

AC: Of course, it will be a great op-

portunity to come again, because

this is the place where you have the

big reference framework of English

teaching, otherwise, it will be like

being disconnected from the world

of English teaching.

BP/JMR/SS: Absolutely, definitely,

yes.

MO: It’s my first visit to the UK, I

have fallen in love with this country,

and now I’m hooked, so I’m defi-

nitely coming back.

OS: Absolutely, this is such a

fantastic place and I’ve learned so

much and I’ve met such incredible

people.

FE: Absolutely. I’ll be in Birming-

ham next year, so I’m planning on

attending for sure.

KIRSTEN WAECHTER has been a regular BESIG attendee and

presenter since Dubrovnik 2011. She teaches business communi-

cation skills, English for special purposes and intercultural cours-

es. She is also a translator, author and copy-editor (“I get bored

easily!”) and divides her time between Germany, Scotland and

Sweden. info@tailored-trainings.de

Editor:

Jennie Wright

Designer:

Christian Köhler

Project Coordinator:

Katrin Beringer

Webmaster:

Frances Boettinger

Advertising:

Andy Yarahmadi

Proofreading:

Chris Stanzer

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Publisher: Verlag Durchblick

GmbH, Mühlacker,

www.durchblick-online.de

English Language Teachers’

Association Stuttgart (ELTAS)

was founded in 1989 as a

professional association based

in Stuttgart, Germany, with the

aim of providing a forum for the

professional development of

Teachers of English as a Foreign

Language. Since its inception,

ELTAS has grown into a rec-

ognised body registered under

German law as a non-profit-

making charitable association

(gemeinnütziger e.V.).

ELTAS NEWS is a non-com-

mercial publication serving

the professional interests of

English language teachers in

Germany. This association in its

production and distribution is

a non-profit-making, charitable

organisation registered under

German law.

The views expressed in ELTAS

NEWS are not necessarily

those of the editorial team nor

of ELTAS. All material (contents

and layout) is copyright and

may not be reproduced without

express permission.

All enquiries for permission to

reprint should be directed to the

editorial team.

Copyright: ELTAS accepts full

responsibility for the originality

of the content of the contribu-

tions. Where copyright material

has been reprinted, every effort

has been made to contact the

copyright owners. We apologize

for any omissions and will rectify

them when details are supplied.

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All rights reserved.