Greetings,

My name is Brenda Townsend Hall and I'm pleased to come aboard as writer of this newsletter after Patricia Dean's authorship of over a year now.

With that said, I’d really welcome some feedback about the topics you’d like me to cover. With a new start, we may take the content of this newsletter in any direction you'd like.

I, of all people, know just how diverse the ESL schools around the world are, so it is difficult to be sure the information in the newsletter is addressing the issues that really matter to you.

For the time being, I'll continue the basic format that Patricia has established but this may evolve slightly over time. You can post your feedback, news of events, and ideas for future topics HERE!

This month I suggest that you might want to reexamine your ideas about the kinds of teachers you hire; give you some suggestions about how to combine personal and professional development for teachers and look at the topical subject of blended learning.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes,

Brenda Townsend Hall
Writer, ESL Expert Newsletter
Visit My Associated Blog: ESL School (at www.esl-school.com)

P.S. Do you know . . . the origin of the idiom “on a wing and a prayer”?
Look nearer to the bottom of this newsletter to find out!

When we think about professional development for teachers we often restrict our ideas to what is directly connected with professional competence. Yet teachers need a lot of skills and qualities that apply to other aspects of life if they are to be effective in the classroom. It might be worth looking for ways of encouraging teachers to develop some “life” skills that would help them personally as well as have a positive spin-off for their teaching.

For example, being good at time management is a useful skill both professionally and personally and, as teaching can easily encroach into one’s private time, your staff might appreciate learning how to achieve a better work and personal life balance. Another useful skill is leadership. Whether as the class leader or as a team leader, teachers can benefit enormously from improving their knowledge of effective leadership techniques. And stress management is especially beneficial for teachers working away from their usual support group of family and friends. Other possibilities include memory training, problem solving and learning a new language (always good for language teachers!). As well as benefiting the teachers, these life skills can be passed on to students. Once you start discussing these possibilities with your staff, I’m sure they will come up with further suggestions.

The practical aspect of actually finding and enrolling them on courses will need to be addressed of course and much will depend on local availability and budget; I have listed some useful websites below to help you investigate further.

Have something to add to this article? Please do so HERE!

Do you agree with the following statement?

Most ESL schools expect teachers to work short-term rather than carve out a career.

Yes

No

Maybe

No opinion

Please give your answer to this month's poll HERE!

-----

To see the results of last month's poll entitled "Four Weeks for a TESL/TEFL Certificate Course: Enough Time?" please click HERE!

Modern technologies offer opportunities for new learning patterns that have become increasingly popular. Blended learning involves a combination of methods of delivering tuition so that you achieve the flexibility to adapt to your learners’ needs. It is possible to accommodate part-time students, pre- and post-course students—in fact anybody who needs a course should be able to find an appropriate means of access no matter what their circumstances. The traditional face-to-face classes can be supplemented with interactive web-learning, telephone lessons, CD-ROMs, live tutoring using a webcam—all that modern technology enables. Learners can pick and mix the learning program that suits their timetable and their pocket. Schools can offer a greater variety of programs and thus, in theory at least, attract more students.

However, the implementation of blended learning requires careful planning and monitoring. Supposing, for example, you set up some web-based modules that students can follow at home. How will you ensure that they complete the work and don't skip the parts they find difficult? To avoid this it is a good idea to have a debriefing session with a tutor for each e-learning component that a student undertakes. Another potential problem with e-learning is that the student can be frustrated if technical or user problems arise. You may need to think about a hotline to support students when they have such difficulties. And that of course could really raise questions about cost-effectiveness.

You need also to plan what activities are suitable for e-learning: will you be testing, consolidating, or extending their knowledge? And who will design the courses: can your existing staff do that? Will you need to outsource or can you buy into an existing system? The question of who will be responsible for the e-learning must be raised too. Can the D.O.S. take this on or should it be a separate post?

Be careful too not to give the impression that your technology-based modules are somehow less important than face-to-face teaching—you could incorporate an assessment of the e-learning in your final evaluation of the student’s progress to ensure that it is seen as a crucial course component. As with all the services you offer, to be competitive you have to get the formula right.

Comments or suggestions? Please leave them HERE!

Problem:

Brenda,

I am very keen to improve the way we assess our students when they have completed a course. I think it would be helpful if our reports contained a list of levels of language attainment with descriptions of each one so that each student could be assigned a level on completing a course and know exactly what they can do. I wonder if there are any widely accepted level descriptions that we could use.

Stumped in Seoul

My answer:

Dear Stumped,

Yes, it is so important to give students meaningful feedback, isn’t it. I would suggest that you use the descriptions developed by the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE). The ALTE “can-do” statements (see http://www.bulats.org/tests/alte_levels.php) for each language level provide a clear guide to what tasks a person with a certain level of attainment is able to perform. Can-do scales are made up of some 400 statements, organized into three general categories: Social and Tourist, Work, and Study. These are the key areas of interest for most language learners. The ALTE levels framework used for the can-do statements is:

•ALTE Breakthrough Level: basic ability to communicate and exchange information.

•ALTE Level 1 (Waystage User): can deal with simple, straightforward information and begin to express oneself in familiar contexts.

•ALTE Level 2 (Threshold User): in familiar situations, users can express themselves in a limited way and deal in a general way with non-routine information.

•ALTE Level 3 (Independent User): users can achieve most goals, and express themselves on a range of topics.

•ALTE Level 4 (Competent User): users are aware of appropriacy, sensitivity, and have the capacity to deal with unfamiliar topics.

•ALTE Level 5 (Good User): This level indicates a capacity to deal with academic or cognitively demanding material, and to use language to good effect. This level may in certain ways be more advanced than that of an average native speaker.

I hope this helps you!

Brenda

Need to share a problem? Leave your question HERE or e-mail me privately at:
btownsend [at] eslemployment.com

Personal and Professional Development

Mind Tools: www.mindtools.com/What-SelfDevelopment.htm

Personal development: www.personal-development.com

Leadership: www.managementhelp.org/ldrship/ldrship.htm

Self improvement: www.higherawareness.com

Blended Learning

Learning circuits: www.learningcircuits.org

Blended learning: choosing the right blend: coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/blendlearning

Macmillan English Campus: macmillanenglishcampus.com/page/whatismec.html

Virtual classes: www.tutopia.ca

USA
March 2-6
2006 MATSOL-MABE Conference, "Excellence in Teaching English Language Learners: Building Best Practices"
Sheraton Four Points, Leominster, Massachusetts, USA.
E-mail: matsolmabe@yahoo.com
Website: www.matsol.org

UK
March 10 -11
English UK ELT Management and Practice Conference
E-mail: info@englishuk.com
Website:www.englishuk.com/resources/events_calendar.php

Taiwan
March 10-11
Ming Chuan University, 2006 International Conference and Workshop on TEFL and Applied Linguistics, "Language Teaching in the 21st Century: Trends, Policy, and Needs"
Taiwan
Contact Teresa Hsieh, Academic Affairs Project Manager, Department of Applied English, Ming Chuan University, 5 Te-Ming Rd., Ta-Tung Village, Kuei-Shan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, R.O.C.
E-mail: hhj@mcu.edu.tw

Egypt
March 24-25
The American University in Cairo and Oxford University, the Second AUCOXF Conference on Languages and Linguistics, American University in Cairo, Egypt
E-mail: mariam@aucegypt.edu

Since coming aboard the goodship ESLemployment, I have been reading a lot of posts on message boards like ESL-Jobs-Forum recently about teachers’ concerns over recruitment issues: they fear rejection on grounds of being too old, too inexperienced, under qualified, the wrong gender, over qualified, too experienced…well, you get the picture. It’s understandable because in a global industry such as ESL no single set of hiring criteria could possibly exist, hence the amount of anxiety among would-be teachers about whether they stand a chance of finding a job or not. But what if we look at the process from the employer’s point of view? I might have a good idea of what qualities my ideal teacher would have but perhaps I’m less certain about what I don’t want in a teacher.

I think this is a serious point. When drawing up a shortlist from a sheaf of CVs what is it that makes us put one on the rejects pile and another on the possibles? Before we write a candidate off, perhaps we should be clear about our reasons for rejection. Take age, for example. A teacher over forty could have many of the advantages that maturity brings. If you do find yourself sifting out the older candidates, at least examine your reasons. An honest enough motive may be that you simply can’t pay the salary that an older candidate ought to expect. But if you feel a mature teacher would bring some gravitas to your staffroom, you might at least check first to see if they are willing to work for what you offer. The older teacher might be financially secure and seeking interesting new experiences rather than monetary gain.

It’s sensible too to examine the teaching qualifications you expect. Many TESOL and TEFL-trained teachers have been led to expect small groups and lack techniques for handling large classes. It is also true that most of these training courses reflect a western model of progressive educational practice. A teacher trained for primary or secondary school teaching, given the right in-service support, might be more suitable if you have large classes and use very traditional teaching methods. By instantly rejecting non-TESOL qualified people, you might be screening out the very teachers most suited to your class type.

You may have culturally appropriate reasons for preferring one gender over the other: a man would not be the appropriate choice for an all-female group in a Muslim country, for example. But if there is no obvious cultural influence, then try to have the sexes equally balanced among the teaching staff.

Is height an issue? This is no joke. I once drew up candidate shortlists for a Japanese kindergarten and was surprised after the interviews to be told that most of the candidates were too tall! I hadn’t thought to ask about height, but tiny Japanese tots, it seems, would have been intimidated by towering westerners. The same organization rejected a very promising young teacher because he had dyed his hair. Our attitudes to physical appearance may be influencing our choices: perhaps that’s okay if there are good reasons, but, as the saying goes, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

The point I really want to make is that we need to look at candidates as individuals and think about what they have to offer: inexperience could be compensated for by enthusiasm, qualifications mean nothing unless the person has the right qualities to be a teacher; a physically unprepossessing person might have excellent teaching skills.

Why not share your ideas about this topic HERE!

Think you know your ESL School inside and out?

It might be helpful if you knew what your English Instructors were saying about the industry. Curious?

Now, there are two "heated" blogs that provide the voice of the English teacher as "employee." Get the scoop on what these instructors are saying about how your schools are being operated, the programs you've worked so hard to design, upper-level management, and other pertinent issues at these two well-visited weblogs:

http://www.esl-lesson-plan.com

(and)

http://www.english-blog.com

Peruse their inflammatory posts and do leave a comment or two. It's so easy these days to be a cynic! Remind them that they could use YOUR professional perspective too!

Do you know…the origin of the idiom “on a wing and a prayer?”

It simply means relying on luck and is thought to originate from the experience of fighter pilots trying to return home in damaged aircraft.

Dear ESL Expert Readers,

We are pleased to formally welcome aboard Brenda Townsend Hall, Ph.D. as the newest writer for ESLemployment and this newsletter.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with her work, Dr. Townsend Hall is a communications consultant trainer and course designer. Now, in addition to authoring this newsletter, she’ll be blogging for ESL School.

Elsewhere in the ESL world, she offers face-to-face and distance training in the fields of interpersonal communications, business English, written communications and cross-cultural awareness. She also has a distance-learning training course for teachers wishing to enter the field of business English.

Brenda, as she would have us call her, is presently a freelance writer, editor and trainer with assignments for Capital One (design of training modules for call centre in India), TASMAC, India (design of ‘train the trainers’ course), Mckinsey (business English and cross-cultural awareness training course) the London Press Service, the EC, International Hydropower Association, Chadwyck Healey, and various publishers.

You should be pleased to learn that Brenda has worked on a range of projects for the European Commission for Qwentès - a Brussels-based agency - writing brochures on sustainable development and organic farming. She has written chapters for a new guide to town-twinning, rewritten a project descriptions under the Leonardo programme, and authored articles on a range of EC themes for the Directorate General of Education and Culture's, The Magazine, copy-editing for the same publication and rewriting descriptions of e-learning projects.

Currently, Brenda is an internet tutor for IQAL English language teacher training courses. She has developed training materials in English for Business for a Dutch company, 123teacher training in business communications and cross-cultural awareness, through her own distance-learning course which is called Teach Business English.

Brenda is not only an accomplished entrepreneur in the ESL field, she is also an accredited scholar. She earned her B.A. Hons in English from Queen Mary College, University of London and her Ph.D. in Middle English from the University of Southampton. On top of this impressive list of qualifications, she also holds the RSA Dip TEFLA.

Like us here at ESLemployment, we hope that you too will fully enjoy the opportunity of learning and sharing our own experiences with such a well-accomplished persona in our field.

With kind regards,

Lee Hobbs, ABD
Editor-in-chief, ESLemployment Publications
E-mail: lee.hobbs@eslemployment.com
Blog: http://www.english-blog.com