Revisiting learner-centredness -adapting your classroom to engage and include all students

Presenter: Diane Hoggins

CELTA Teacher Trainer / Assessor

English Australia Conference, Melbourne – 19 September, 2019

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In common?

Discuss.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

ARRRRR!!!

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.

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19 September =

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Pawpaw Day

Butterscotch Pudding Day

Twiggy's 69th birthday

Happy Birthday,

Happy

Birthday,

Twiggy!!Jane!!

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In pairs:

1. Why did we begin with this activity?

2. Did it take a long time?

3. Who did the talking?

4. Were you engaged and did you feel included?

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.

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Who am I? My context.

CELTA and other training courses

Academic English teacher on pathway programs

Who are you? Your context.

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Learner-centredness - beliefs

https://www.slideshare.net/amernajmi/the-silent-way-approach

http://www.quotehd.com/imagequotes/TopAuthors/confucius-philosopher-i-hear-and-i-forget-i-see-and-i-remember-i-do-and-i.jpg

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https://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2019/02/17/when-do-inquiry-teachers-let-go/

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Is this learner-centred?

s

s

s

s s

s

s

s ss

Zzzzz

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Is this better?s

s s

s

s

s

s

s s

s

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Student Talking Time (STT)

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But …learner-centredness is more than getting students talking to each other.

more than just achieving S-S

So …

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Learner- centredness

1.What is it?

2.Why is it important?

3.When can we achieve it?

4.How can we achieve it?

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Activity – Wall crawl

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What?

focusing on

engaging &

challenging the

students

encouraging students

to reflect on what

and how they are

learning

including every student

by adapting

materials to be

relevant to their

needs still involving some

explicit instruction from the teacher

empowering

students to

direct & monitor

their learning

increasing

S-S

talking

time

getting students to

collaborate and

discover/notice target language

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Why?

motivation -students have

ownership of their

learning

learners feel

confident &

included

they rememberwhat they learn

(deeper learning)

reduces

boredom &

behavioural

issues

engageslearners &

increases

classroom

energy

encourages

independence

&

responsibility

It’s more

fun!!

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When?

as often as

possible

all the time

every daythroughout

a class

always

any stage

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When? – my belief

Adapt to engage and include at all stages ...

• Lead-in

• Discovery tasks / noticing activities

• Practice

• Feedback

• In both language and skills lessons – reading and listening

• In all types of ELT classes – GE, AE, Business, Exam Prep...

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How?

At all stages I ask myself,

“How can I get my students to do this?”

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1990

21

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1. chooses

the topic?

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6. do the

students look

at?

7. chooses

the seating

arrangements

?

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8. talks more /

listens more?

22. repeats what has

been said if others

haven’t heard?

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Consi

Anderson, J. (2017)

TTT

= teacher talking time

vs TTQ

= teacher talking

quality (Harmer)

= comprehensible

input (Krashen)

= Zone of Proximal

Development (ZPD)

(Vygotsky)

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TTT STT

• context, eliciting, CCQs

• instructions using imperatives / ICQs / demonstrations

• discovery tasks / noticing

• activities / monitoring e.g. rather than give comprehension

questions students write their own / pairchecks – not testing

• feedback - empowering students (decreasing parroting)

- wall crawls, board rushes

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Teacher's instruction The language is ... A better instruction ...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Adapted from: Thaine, C. (2010) Teacher Training Essentials CUP

Could you imagine for this exercise that you

are an engineer?

Pop a few ideas on a piece of paper, hop up

from your seat and chat to your mates.

Would you mind talking to the person who is

seated on your left, please?

First talk to your partner on your left, then check with your other partner on

your right, then get up and share your ideas with other learners and find out

who has the most similar ideas and talk to that person about why.

Having made notes, you will then be able to

check your ideas together.

Everyone. Talk partner. Make conversation.

I've chosen some really nice pictures here which I got from the

Internet. Match them to the paragraphs I've printed on a

different coloured paper from this fabulous text.

Next, try to establish, by analysing the text, why

each discourse marker is suitable in these utterances.

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Match: a. is too polite.

b. contains

commentary is too

descriptive.

c. is too colloquial

d. contains

unnecessary jargon.

e. is too hypothetical

f. contains too much

information at once.

g. is overly simplified

and unnatural.

h. contains complex

grammatical

structures.

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Teacher's instruction The language ... A better instruction ...

1. e. is too hypothetical.

2. c. is too colloquial.

3. a. is too polite.

4. f. contains too much

information at once.

5. h. contains complex

grammatical structures.

6. g. is overly simplified

and unnatural.

7. b. contains

commentary & is too

descriptive.

8. d. contains

unnecessary jargon.

Adapted from: Thaine, C. (2010) TeacherTraining Essentials

Could you imagine for this exercise that you

are an engineer?

Pop a few ideas on a piece of paper, hop up

from your seat and chat to your mates.

Would you mind talking to the person who is

seated on your left, please?

First talk to your partner on your left, then check with your other partner on

your right, then get up and share your ideas with other learners and find out

who has the most similar ideas and talk to that person about why.

Having made notes, you will then be able to

check your ideas together.

Everyone. Talk partner. Make conversation.

I've chosen some really nice pictures here which I got from the

Internet. Match them to the paragraphs I've printed on a

different coloured paper from this fabulous text.

Next, try to establish, by analysing the text, why

each discourse marker is suitable in these utterances.

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Monitoring your teacher talking time (TTT) your teacher listening time (TLT):

• script - especially for instructions, language boxes, CCQs, feedback

- use imperatives, direct questions

• record your lesson

• have a peer sit in to monitor

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20. corrects

the errors?

10.writes on

the board?

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Think, pair, share…

What belongs in the gap?

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S is for ________.

S______ is what students need to

organise their own thoughts and

find something to say.

Teachers are frightened

of s______ in their

classrooms. Listen to the Sound of

S______.

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S is for silence.

Silence is what students need to

organise their own thoughts and

find something to say.

Listen to the Sound of

Silence.

Teachers are frightened

of silence in their

classrooms.

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23 & 24. Who

creates / breaks

silences?

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Four reasons to value silence in the classroom

https://barefootteflteacher.com/blog/value-of-silence?rq=silence

‘Critical Thinking’ Silence e.g. 3-10 secs rather than 1 sec after asking a

question / modelling

‘Cooling Down’ Silence e.g. to review lexis before an activity

‘Creativity’ Silence e.g. before an activity when we want them to imagine

something

‘Concentration’ Silence e.g. after a difficult or important point to emphasise it

Do you consciously use silence in the classroom? How?

How does silence relate to the cultural background of your students?

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The reality – still some issues? Two big ones…

1. Resistance from students? From teachers?Discuss with challenge students’ and teachers’ (yourself/peers) their beliefs about learning and

the role of the teacher. Challenge these beliefs. Use examples/demonstrations.

2. Larger classrooms

Be creative:

• Pairs, turn around 4 or 6

• Space between rows for monitoring

• Space for mingle tasks

• Alternative space – hall, outside, gym

Warn your colleagues/managers that there will be good noise in your classroom!!

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Consider in your planning and teaching:

Weimer, M. (2013) Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice 2nd Edition

• Role of the teacher

• Balance of power

• The function of content

• Responsibility for learning

• Purpose and process of evaluation

40INCREASING LEARNER-CENTREDNESS

I believe teachers are doing too many learning tasks for

students.

You don’t have to be the best in the group, be the best for

the group.www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/five-characteristics-of-learner-centered-teaching/ Maryellen Weimer (2012)

Adapt, engage, include, …

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References

Acklam, R. (1994) The Role of the Coursebook, Practical English Teacher. March, 1994. pp. 12 -14

Anderson, J. (2017). Trinity CertTESOL Companion. Delta Publishing.

Catapano, J. (n.d.). Classroom Management: Silence is the Sound of Thinking Available at: https://www.teachhub.com/classroom-

management-silence-sound-thinking (accessed 28 March 2019)

Deller, S. (1990). Lessons form the Learner. Longman.

England, N. (Forthcoming). Incorporating an explicit focus on epistemological beliefs into a train-the-trainer program. TESOL Quarterly.

Four Reasons to Value Silence in the TEFL Classroom. Barefoot TEFL Teacher. Available at:

https://barefootteflteacher.com/blog/value-of-silence?rq=silence (accessed 28 March 2019)

Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Pearson.

Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.

How can we get learner centredness working in our large classrooms? eltcampus. Available at:

https://eltcampus.com/blog/how-can-we-get-learner-centredness-working-in-our-large-classrooms/ (accessed 28 March 2019)

Kennedy, M. (2015). Student Centered vs. Teacher Centered Learning. The Synapse. Available at:

https://medium.com/synapse/student-centered-vs-teacher-centered-learning-2184a7521720 (accessed 28 March 2019)

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References:Kerr, P. (2014). Translation and Own-language Activities. Cambridge University Press.

Nunan, D. and C. Lamb. (2001)Managing the Learning Process in Hall, D. and Hewings, A. eds. Innovation in English Language Teaching

A Reader. Routledge.

Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning Teaching. Macmillan.

Shuell, T.J. (1986). Cognitive Conceptions of Learning Review of Educational Research Vol. 56, No. 4, pp411-436

Thaine, C. (2010). Teacher Training Essentials. Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2012). S is for Silence. An A-Z of ELT. Available at: https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/s-is-for-silence/

(accessed 28 March 2019)

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice 2nd Edition. John Wiley & sons.

Weimer, M. (2012). Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching. Faculty Focus. Available at:

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/five-characteristics-of-learner-centered-teaching/ (accessed 28 March

2019)

Wesley, C. (2013). Sanctioning Silence in the Classroom The Chronicle of Higher Education. Available at:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Sanctioning-Silence-in-the/141369 (accessed 28 March 2019)

When do inquiry teachers let go? What Ed Said. Available at: https://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2019/02/17/when-do-inquiry-teachers-let-

go/ (accessed 28 March 2019)

All visuals have Creative Commons rights, unless otherwise acknowledged.

Presenter: Diane Hoggins

diane.hoggins@insearch.edu.au

English Australia Conference, Melbourne – 19 September, 2019

Questions?Thank you

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Take away:

Top tips to adapt your lessons to engage and include your learners

Planning stage:

Consider the “who does what” questionnaire – revisit this every so often.

Think at every stage, “Can I do this S – S rather than T – Ss.”

Silence. My teacher trainer said, “Do not fill moments of glorious silence with your idle chatter.”

Record yourself on your phone. Monitor your interaction patterns

C A R S – Choose, Adapt, Reject, Supplement, according to use students’ needs or interests,

when using your course-book (after Acklam, 1994)

Lead-in:

Delay opening their books – otherwise they read the questions to each other!

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Presentation of language:

Consider how students can be encouraged to notice patterns / discovery tasks.

Reduce use of metalanguage. Don’t use it to replace meaning

e.g. refer to a timeline rather than saying present perfect.

Use students as models for language when drilling, rather than the teacher.

Pair-work / group work. Think about how to reallocate pairs/groups easily.

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Activities:

Remember pair checks before feedback. Monitor to inform feedback and “catch” weaker

students with the correct answer.

Consider options: Can I cut up this matching task? Can I use a running dictation / a

dictogloss to reinforce this idea?

Facilitate judicious use of L1

Feedback:

Active feedback – wall crawl / board rush / ask pause nominate

Reducing TTT in feedback. Ask students to repeat rather than parroting e.g. “That was a great

answer, Zhang. Can you say it again for everyone?

Exploit peer correction.