Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 4; July 02

Continuing Professional Development

edited by Julian Edge, IATEFL, 2002 ( to buy: contact richard@iatefl.org)

Julian Edge from Aston University in Birmingham, UK has brought together eighteen people to write their reflections on Continuing Personal Development CPD. He has mixed exciting fresh names with staple names ( yawn) like Viljo Kohonen, Mario Rinvolucri, David Hill, Kathleen M. Bailey and himself (Julian has a piece opening the collection and closing it.)

Let me offer you two of the "fresh " voices:

Xu Hainu ( Nanjing University of Traditional Medicine, China)

After attending the IATEFL Dublin Conference in 2000 on a scholarship, Xu Hainu writes about the experience there:

At the conference I made full use of the time and attended 19 lectures and workshops, all of great value. They really opened my mind to new approaches to teaching . Besides this professional enhancement, I had two weeks of immersion in the English language. I was delighted to find that I could easily follow English speakers from all over the world on academic issues in the lectures and workshops. I discussed a variety of issues fluently with many English native speakers…… It was a wonderful chance to strengthen my confidence as well as improving my language skills.
My self esteem took on a sharp upward learning curve!

The point that Xu Hainu brings out for me is the immense importance of the EFL teacher's relationship to the language taught and how this can develop over a lifetime.
This is central, though differently central, to both second language and native speakers of the target language.

Fresh Voice 2: Alison Perkins from the USA. At 35 she gave up a successful career as a physiotherapist to move into EFL.

Here she gives some of her reasons for switching to EFL:

The basic education in physical therapy that was a prerequisite to licensure had given me the knowledge base that I needed to evaluate and treat patients. As a new graduate, I was competent in the clinic. With experience I expected this competence to blossom into excellence.
It didn't.
My patients could not tell me something was lacking, but I could; and I felt that my patients deserved better. I wasn't bored, but I wasn't passionate. One way that the disquiet I felt with my work exhibited itself was through a lack of interest in continuing professional development.
A lack of curiosity about what one does is not a good thing. Where is the catalyst for refection, enquiry and growth? Without such a catalyst you are left searching for protocols: "Just tell me what to do."

There is no chance for excellence to blossom in that scenario, and who wants to be mediocre? Can one be passionate about competence? I can't.

The occupational fit is now much better for me. Career A felt like a jaunt. Career B feels like a journey.

But Alison is pretty critical of the mood she finds in US ESL:

I have learned that it is a OK to ask an ESL colleague for ideas for classroom use, but it is not OK to ask them why they do what they do………. Many teachers seem to be of the mindset that theory and practice are indeed inseperable. Teachers tend to downplay what they know. I have never before met professionals who shied away from understanding their own field.

What is excellent about this collection of pieces is that Julian has brought together a wide range of very different perspectives.

What is lacking, for me, is the trade union aspect of teacher development. Teachers often work in a context in part conditioned by third rate managers. This is the reality of their everyday lives. If you don't believe me, have a look at the news pages of www.repseak.info, which document some of the frustrations of teachers working in British Council Schools round the world. If you want a deeper and more principled approach to CPD, go to Paul Davis' major article in HLT Feb 1999. It is interesting that Julian does not seem to found, or perhaps wanted to find a Paul-like voice.

The Minimax Teacher Minimise Teacher Input and Maximise Student Output.

Jon Taylor, ETp Delta, 2001

Jon Taylor has produced a book of 90 exercises that are all based on the principle expressed in the title, a principle enshrined in the Silent Way, and well illustrated by Sheelagh Deller's Lessons from the Learners, Longman, 1990

In the introduction Jon suggests that … teachers are overloading themselves and underloading the students. Considerable effort is normally required for learning to take place and the teacher who takes on too much of the burden deprives the students of an integral part of the learning process.
A squash coach is a true MINIMAX artist, taking two steps to send the pupils running all over the court. They won't learn half as much just by watching, so they do most of the work, pay for the lesson and thank the coach.
Preparation can often be creative and satisfying, and as you prepare you often think about your students, their attitudes, needs and progress. But, with a busy timetable, it is desirable to keep preparation time to a minimum, so you need to build up a collection of activities which require little preparation…………

Both The Minimax Teacher and Lessons from the Learners are ideal books for those of us who are "over-conscientious" and who spend too much preparation time doing "busy-work", preparing exercises for the computer lab, laminating flashcards, pasting and sticking, or writing special handouts for our students.

And here is a exercise to give you taste of the way the book works:

1. Brainstorm the parts of the car on the board. Get as many named parts as you have students in the class.

2. Write the name of a student next to each part and ask that student to copy down the name of the part onto a slip of paper.

3. Collect in the slips , shuffle them and give one to each student.

4. The student now have to get up and position themselves so that they physically make up the car, with the headlights in front and the roof-rack on top!

5. "Break up" the car, redistribute the slips of paper and repeat step 4.

6. Now ask the students to say what they were, where they were, who/what they were near and what their function was.

7. Make the car up again and pretend that some one gets in , starts it and drives off. The students act out the journey.

If there were more exercises like this done in lower secondary school, there would be less kinaesthetic kids struggling hopelessly to learn in ways that the teacher likes but which are no good for them. There would also be less teachers tearing their hair out over kids who keep on fidgetting, going to the toilet, touching their neighbours, and generally being physically disruptive.

The Language Teacher's Voice

Alan Maley, Macmillan Heinemann 2000

Alan was invited to write a review of his book for HLT but declined. Maybe he believes in the virtues of peer review more than HLT does.

Since Alan won't review The Language Teacher's Voice, let the text speak for itself:

Introduction

Nothing remains but the human voice, this tiny instrument inside the throat endeavouring to carry a world inside it. Amit Chaudhuri

Why a book on Voice?

• Because, quite simply, we are our voices. Our individual voiceprints are every bit as distinctive as, and a great deal more public than , our finger prints. Others judge us by them. It is through our voices that we tell others who –and how- we are. It is surely in our own interest to become aware of how we sound, and to change it if we wish to do so.
• Because, by developing a confident, natural speaking voice, which can sustain prolonged use, we have the capacity to change our relationship with our students. A tired voice conveys a lack of enthusiasm which students pick up on immediately. A richly textured voice, resonant with confidence and vitality, raises the energy levels of those who come into contact with it.
• Because, through better understanding and control of our own voices, we can share the benefits of voice work with our students. This has the double benefit of making them more confident and more motivated to learn…………………… ……………

Contents

Chapter 1 - Developing voice
1. Relaxation
2. Posture
3. Breathing
4. Onset of the voice/resonance
5. Articulation
6. Modulation
7. Volume

Chapter 2 - Voicework in class
1. Sensitizing activities
2. Physical warm-up activities: relaxation and breathing
3. Work on sounds, words and sentences
4. Working with texts

Chapter 3 Voice for personal Growth
1. Activities without voice
2. Toning/chanting activities

Chapter 4 Care and Maintenance of the Voice
1. Environmental problems
2. Physical problems
3. Self-induced problems
4. Some ideas for voice maintenance.