Tony Gurr

Archive for the ‘Our Universities’ Category

Special GUEST POST on ‘Native Speakerism’ in canım Türkiyem: TÜRKSE İSTEMEM…

In ELT and ELL, Guest BLOGGERS, Our Schools, Our Universities, Quality & Institutional Effectiveness on 17/08/2019 at 4:59 pm

Aydan ERSÖZ

Aydan (blog photo) (1)

President, INGED – Ankara / TURKEY

 

Hepinize merhaba. Çok sevdiğim ve saydığım bir meslektaşım olan Tony Gurr’un sayfasına konuk oluyorum bu sefer. Yazımı Türkçe yazmamın sebebi İngilizce bilmemem değil tabii ki. Çok şükür derdimi anlatacak kadar İngilizcem var. Üstelik derdim (dertlerim desek daha doğru olur) çok ve karmaşık. Belki eğitimlerden sorumlu idareci / yöneticilerden bazıları okur diye ümit ettiğim için Türkçe yazıyorum.

Geçenlerde yurtdışında yaşayan bir arkadaşımla sohbet ediyorduk. Bana “Burada Türklere iş imkanı neredeyse hiç yok. Türk istemiyorlar” dedi. Bir an düşündüm, burada da aynı durum geçerli değil mi diye. Ve sonuçta bu başlık ortaya çıktı.

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Fez 03 (cat) (1)

Gerek hizmet içi eğitimlerde gerekse üniversitelerde iş bulma hususunda “native speaker”lar için pozitif ayrımcılık olduğunu eminim sizler de fark etmişsinizdir. Türk’seniz, İngilizceniz ne kadar iyi olursa olsun, alanınızda ne kadar iyi yetişmiş olursanız olun sizi tercih etmiyorlar. “Native speaker” iseniz neredeyse hiç başka vasfınız olmasına gerek yok. Tabii ki ülkemizde görev yapan bir kısım liyakat sahibi ELT uzmanı “native speaker” var ama her “native speaker” (aslında yabancı olması bile yetiyor) uzman olacak diye bir kural yok. “Türk olmayan herhangi bir kişi Türk olan bir uzmandan daha kaliteli ve iyidir” önermesi ırkçılık değil mi sizce de?

British Colonists

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Damian J. Rivers, “native-speakerism” kavramının ELT alanında önyargı ve ayrımcılığın en önemli unsuru olduğunu vurguluyor. “Native speaker” olmayan uzmanlar (ki bu yazıda Türk uzmanlar oluyor) bu adaletsizliğin baş kurbanları haline geliyor.

Chris Holmes’un dediği gibi kurumların eğitimlerde yabancı eğitimci kullanma isteğinin arkasında bazı sebepler var: yabancı bir eğiticiye sahip olmanın “hayali prestiji”, hedef kültürün temsilcisi ile birlikte olma arzusu ve dil hakimiyeti. Bana göre ise bu giderek artan bir yabancı hayranlığından başka bir şey değil. İyi bir eğiticinin vasıfları arasında doğuştan yabancı olmak diye bir madde hiç görmedim. Ülkemizde dilde son derece yeterli alanında çok iyi yetişmiş pek çok eğitici varken sırf Türk diye onları tercih etmemek nasıl bir mantıktır gerçekten kafam almıyor.

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Çay ve Simit 02

Görevlendirmelerde liyakat olmadığı sürece hiçbir eğitim amacına ulaşamaz. Liyakat yani bir işi verilen görevi layığıyla ve başarıyla yapabilecek kişiye verme her görevlendirmenin tek şartı olmalıdır. Bu durum aklıma Mevlana’nın meşhur sözünü getiriyor: “Bir kunduracının elinde kuyumcunun aleti, kuma ekilmiş dane (tohum) gibidir”.

Ehil olmayan kişilerin verdiği eğitimler gereksiz yere kaynak israfına sebep olur ve bilimsel bir nitelik taşımaz. Bu durum eğitim alanları da duygusal olarak olumsuz etkiler. Hizmet içi eğitimlerden yaka silken, kaçmak için sebep arayan öğretmen arkadaşlarımıza bir sorun isterseniz. Eğer eğitimlerde başarılı bir sonuç isteniyorsa, kurum mutlaka işin gerektirdiği bilgi ve beceriye sahip, deneyimli, kurum kültürüne aşina ve saygılı, iyi iletişim becerilerine sahip ehil kişilerle çalışmalıdır. Bu kişilerin milliyeti bir vasıf değildir. Sırf “native speaker” diye eğitici uzman seçilemez; tıpkı sırf “Türk” diye uzman seçilemeyeceği gibi.

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Bakkal ve Papağan Story (book cover)

Yazımı Mesnevi’den “Bakkal ve Papağan” öyküsünden ilgili kısımla bitirmek istiyorum. Vaktiyle memleketin birinde bir bakkal vardı. Bakkalın sahibi yeşil tüylü, güzel sesli, akıllı, konuşkan, nüktedan bir papağan satın almıştı. Bu papağan gelen müşterilerle sohbet eder, onlarla şakalaşır, iyi vakit geçirmelerini sağlardı. Bir gün bakkalın sahibinin eve gitmesi icap etti. Papağana: -Dükkana göz kulak ol. Koruyup kolla. Dükkan sana emanet, deyip çıkıp gitti. Aksilik bu ya…tam da o sırada kedinin biri bir fare yakalamış halde dükkandan içeriye daldı. Papağan azgın kediyi görünce korkudan ödü koptu. Ne yapacağını bilmez bir halde oradan oraya uçup dururken dükkanı darmaduman etti. Papağan bir köşeye sinmiş tir tir titrerken, dükkanın sahibi çıkageldi. Adam durumu hemen anladı, pişman olmuştu olmasına da ne yazık ki iş işten geçmişti. Bu durumda asıl suçlu bir papağana bakkalda bekçilik görevi veren, onda yeterlilik, ustalık ve uygunluk aramayan dükkan sahibinin bizzat kendisidir.

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Kalın sağlıcakla.

 

What can I do for YOU?

In Educational Leadership, ELT and ELL, News & Updates (from the CBO), Our Schools, Our Universities, Uncategorized on 13/07/2018 at 11:35 am

The recent parliamentary and presidential elections here in canım Türkiyem left a lot of the so-called ‘white Turks’ a wee bit unhappy (to say the least). Muharrem İnce put up a brave fight as the CHP candidate…but most of knew it was always going to be a one-horse race!

Screen Shot 2018-07-13 at 11.45.16

The real surprise came, however, when Erdoğan announced his new cabinet. In the line-up, there was a face that many described as ‘totally unexpected’!

Screen Shot 2018-07-13 at 11.45.31

No…not that one…the ‘Son-in-Law’ just sent investors running for the hills and helped the dollar make a bloody great hole in my newly-painted ceiling!

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This one…

Screen Shot 2018-07-13 at 11.46.26

Ziya Selçuk…a well-known Professor from Gazi University…a progressive educational thunker and founder of Maya Okulları (originally in Ankara and now in Manavgat and Diyarbakır)a teacher’s teacher!

A surprise? A surprise?

Shouldn’t every country have a Minster of Education with this type of background… pedigree…sense of humour, even?

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I guess many people thought it was unexpected because ‘Ziya Hoca’ had been the Head of the Instruction and Education Board (Talim Terbiye), a key arm of the Ministry of Education (MEB) when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in the early 2000s…at the time Dark Lord Hüseyin Çelik held the reigns of power.

Ziya Hoca walked away.

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Others might have thought it was a surprise that Ziya Hoca agreed to take the appointment!

The MEB has the reputation for changing its ‘leader’ more often than its underwear (5 times since 2002 and the start of AKP rule). Sadly, all these leaders also demonstrated amazingly low levels of Educational Literacy and Turkish Educational policy, some might think, was produced by this type of discussion…

Talking Ass

…and those very decisions then frequently falling foul of…

Baby U-turn

…’revisions’ that totally confused parents, students, teachers…even God herself!

This is not how Ziya Hoca does busyness and his appointment has, on the whole, been met with a lot of praise and given a lot of educators ‘hope’ (whatever you may think about Erdoğan, stupid he is not…not at all)!

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So, why am I writing this post?

Well…on a lot of the Leadership and Middle Management Training programmes I run, we talk about what ‘new leaders’ have to do in their first 90 days in office (regardless of experience, qualifications and ‘personal vision’)…

Top of the list:

  • SHUT UP!
  • ASK QUESTIONS!
  • LISTEN!

Hence, the title of this post…

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I’ve been chatting to a lot of friends on the phone since the appointment (mostly because I can’t leave the house…after a ‘fight’ with a 6cm step left me with 4 fractures in my foot, a ripped calf on the other leg, bruised ribs…and a shiriously red-faced ego! Size really doesn’t matter!!!) and talking about what Ziya Hoca could do to improve the quality of language learning, teaching and assessment across canım Türkiyem.

A few ideas are:

  • Work closely with the Council for Higher Education (YÖK) and Universities with ELT Departments to ensure teachers-in-training are given more opportunities to actually graduate with higher levels of fluency and accuracy (at least a minimum of CEFR – B2+/C1 or GSE 70-78) – via language support across all 4 years of their courses, 6-month exchange programmes with schools in the UK, US or Canada, etc.
  • Ensure every school has access to a Professional Learning Budget for its language departments and has the authority to use this budget to meet the ‘bottom-up’ needs of teachers.
  • Create training opportunities that tackle the serious issues of ‘content-driven’ or ‘activity-based’ teaching that are the product of schools’ obsessions with ‘covering the textbook’ and develop teacher ability to meet commonly-agreed learning outcomes by creating motivating and engaging learning opportunities – not simply turning pages like a burger-flipper at Macdonalds.
  • Remove the current conventional wisdom that language tests have to be dominated by ‘objective’ multiple-choice questions and prepare the groundwork for a fundamental shift towards ‘formative assessment’ in our language classrooms and the use of valid and reliable ‘communicative tests’ which prioritise the importance of speaking.
  • NEVER, everever…repeat the ‘cock-up’ that was the Fatih Project!

There are many, many more…

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If Ziya Hoca asked YOU, what would you tell HIM?

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Tony (logo new) 260316 ACG

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HERE’S the graphic on ‘trust’ that I could not add into the comments section (15/07/18):

Workplace Trust (Jacobs 2012)

 

So…What Exactly Should Curriculum Planning Look Like – for 2017/18? (Part 02)

In Curriculum, ELT and ELL, Our Schools, Our Universities, The Paradigm Debate on 22/10/2017 at 12:35 am

Urbanski Quote

Have you ever done a blog post that totally leads people down the garden path – then promises to make up for it by saying that Part 2 will be more focused, useful and better-written?

Have you ever forgotten to write that Part 2?

Whoops!

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So, as I was saying – ELT has been using this ridiculous, ‘best practice’ model for curriculum-developing and syllabus-making for over 40 years (teachers have also incorporated it into their lesson-planning)!

CPD Blog Post 170717 slide 09 TG

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It just don’t work…and we have (in our heart of hearts) known this for years!

Why not?

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Well, it ain’t that hard to work out:

Screaming Teacher

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OK, OK – I get that when we look at our ‘content’, we get pretty scared:

Curric Content

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We can panic about much of this ‘content’ we have to ‘cover’ in the limited time we have available with our learners – especially, if we are also working in an EGAP or EAP context:

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Academic Literacy

Academic Literacy is a total bi’ach to plan for!

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Covey Quote

But, the solution is NOT to ignore the learner…it is to make sure we put the learner at the heart of our decision-making.

Wiggins and McTighe Quote 2

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We have to recognise that more of the same is not the solution…

Do Different ZAMANI

Indeed, we just have to listen to some of the ELT Jedi Masters (although they may be few in number)…

ELT Jedi Masters

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Recognising the power of questions…

Mackenzie Quote

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Wiggins and McTighe gave use a new planning model with 3 phases:

OUTCOMES

ASSESSMENT

IMPLEMENTATION

…and gave use us 3 disarmingly-simple questions to help us get it right!

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The first of these drew attention to the fact that learner outcomes (not teacher inputs) are here to stay – and, if we are to have a hope in hell of expanding and improving student learning and success, we have to begin with the end in mind or recognise that curriculum-developing needs to begin where it ends – with the learning of individual students.

Backwards Model (1st questions) 2

That’s the essence of the job, guys – always has been!

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The second phase has frequently raised a few eyebrows – because we, so often, just tag on assessment at the end of the learning process. We forget that, for students, assessment IS the curriculum!

Backwards Model (2 questions) 2

Come on! How many times have you heard a student say:

“Hocam, that was a great lesson! I loved the way you combined the 21st century skills of critical thinking and collaboration with a truly communicative, task-based activity based on a meaningful information gap…and the way you supported us with just-in-time instruction and helped with all that emergent vocabulary and lexis – you are a great teacher…I love you”!

How many times have you heard this one?

“Hocam – will this be on the test…or what”?

You get the point…

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The fact is that if a teacher really knows and understands the nature of the assessment processes and tools that students need to engage with (and these are more than simplistic, high-stakes, multiple-choice tests) they can create lessons that promote more of a learning-driven culture…where learners welcome the type of formative feedback that helps them grow and succeed.

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Backwards Model (all 3 questions) 2

The final phase is where teachers can get creative – developing a lesson (or series of lessons) that both meets student needs and is engaging and, dare I say it, useful! Rather than starting with a textbook (and following up with content-driven and activity-driven lessons), we design learning opportunities and tasks that can make a difference…and be fun!

Surely, I do not have to sell this any harder…it just makes so much sense!

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OK, I may have simplified things a wee bit – but just jump back to Part 01 and tell me this is not an improvement…that this approach can’t help us deal with the challenge identified by Rogers…over 35 years ago!

Rogers Quote 1982

How to Spot and ‘Nail’ an EDUfraud!

In Conferences, Educational Leadership, News & Updates (from the CBO), Our Schools, Our Universities, Quality & Institutional Effectiveness on 21/10/2017 at 1:23 pm

 

As I was finishing up the 2017-18 Conference Calendar yesterday, I was also glancing at a couple of the more recent conference programmes and biodata of speakers. It dawned on me that so many speakers describe themselves as consultants, trainers, teachers and coaches – all in the same breathe!

Fraud alert (sign)

Oh, and the worst one is when they feel the need to tell you ‘I’m the FOUNDER of so-and-so (insert Company Name here)’ – that’s when you know you have got an egotistical twerp who loves to exaggerate or stretch the truth to breaking point!

I did actually talk about these wonderfully-talented, multi-skilled individuals – who love nothing more than to project the image that they are ‘the smartest and most experienced guys (or gals) in the room’in an earlier post.

Lucky for us…they very rarely are!

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However, I did not really come up with any suggestions or solutions for how we can ‘pop their little bubbles’, expose them for what they are, and protect ourselves from them:

Snake Oil Sellers (TG ver) 080517

or

Blog Post (Curric Pt 02) Image 02 230717

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It’s actually not that difficult to sniff them out:

  • Their biodata just seems too good to be true!
  • Their actual age just does not seem to match the number of years experience they claim to have!
  • Their ‘sessions’ are just not as authentic or passionate as those from ‘real’ teachers who really know their stuff – and smell like they have been ripped off from some blog listicle!

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I know, I know…you just can’t trust anyone these days!

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Questions (Chinese proverb and donkey) Ver 03

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I’ve often found that a good way to sort the wheat from the chaff is to corner one of these EDUfrauds and Snake-Oil Salesmen and ask them a few simple questions:

  1. So, how many actual (full-time) years of experience have you had in the classroom?
  2. What type of teaching qualifications do you have? Where did you get them? Was there a practicum component?
  3. What about your coaching qualifications – where / when did you get those? Did you complete every module?
  4. And, teacher training? What type of experience and training have you had for that? Where they accredited programmes?
  5. So, a consultant? I guess you have an MBA or PhD, then?

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Some of these chaps can be quite entertaining (with their unlikely but well-rehearsed stories) and are often voluble and verbally facile – so put them on the spot:

  1. What type of formal leadership positions have you held in institutions? How long did you hold these positions?
  2. What type of training did you find most useful to help you succeed in these positions?
  3. What successes are you most proud of implementing when you were in these roles?
  4. Tell me about 3 or 4 of your long-term coaching relationships. What areas have you helped clients develop in? How many coachees do you currently have?
  5. What about your consultancy projects? Could you give me a list of 5-6 recent clients that I can approach for references?

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These questions are also great when these people come cold-calling trying to ‘flog their wares’ – and really help you sort out who has the experience and talent to help you…from those who are just ‘faking it till they make it’.

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Take care…sadly, it’s a jungle out there!

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That having been said, it’s always good to know:

Doner

Photo Credit – Elwyn Gabriels (“Keser döner sap döner gün gelir hesap döner.”)

 

So…What Exactly Should Curriculum Planning Look Like – for 2017/18? (Part 01)

In Curriculum, ELT and ELL, Our Schools, Our Universities, The Paradigm Debate on 22/07/2017 at 7:37 am

Blog Post (Curric) Image 01 220717

I know, I know…most of us are still on holiday…but I am sure there are a few of us out there that are (already) experiencing anxiety about some of the tasks we have to complete when we get back to the factory floor. Especially, if a new textbook was selected just before the semester ended…

Do NOT worry…I am here to help you get over that anxiety and give you the PERFECT curriculum planning toolshiriously!

Blog Post (Curric) Image 02 220717

…and it won’t cost you any more than the price you paid for this blog post!

 

Blog Post (Curric) Image 03 220717

As with any planning system, we need to decide on the key concepts that will guide us – and I have found, as we are in ELT, that 3 work wonderfully:

PLANof course!

IMPLEMENTbecause we have to take stuff into the classroom!

TESTwell, just because…we love doing this! OK…we want to check what has been learned!

 

The first of these steps is sooooooo easy…and involves 3 more mini-steps – take a gander:

Blog Post (Curric) Image 04 220717And, here’s you getting all worked up during your holiday! Most of you have already done mini-step 01 (hey, some of you might even be using Headway…even though the authors died 10 years back)! The key, however, is mini-step 03 – once you have the pacing guideline (the weekly ‘checklist’ of stuff to teach), you are more than halfway home. Indeed, if you work in a Curriculum Unit you can start planning your holiday for July 2018!

 

Now, the teacher steps up to the plate – ready to breathe life into the wonderful documents you have created.

What do they need to do?

Again…easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy:

Blog Post (Curric) Image 05 2207173 more mini-steps even a burger-flipper at McDonalds can execute! Again, the trick here is to make sure you stay on track…covering every activity (except those pesky ‘pronunciation boxes’ and maybe that last ‘speaking task’after all, who needs them…and besides…you’ve run out of time)!

 

 

Blog Post (Curric) Image 07 220717

Ahhh, now we come to the home stretch…because we all know that ‘assessment’ is really the ‘curriculum’ for every single student. I mean…come on…have you ever heard a student say, ‘Hocam, that was a wonderful lesson – I loved the way you blended those two Learning Outcomes with the notion of critical thinking and creativity through that truly authentic and communicative information gap task’!

Voilà – this is how:

Blog Post (Curric) Image 06 220717

3 final mini-steps even the most mathematically-challenged ELT teacher could follow (with a calculator and a pre-prepared spreadsheet)! OK, OK…that last one can be tough on the old heart-strings… ‘but I did warn you to study more and not play with that bloody phone of yours so much’!

AND, that…ladies and gentlemen…is how you do it!

 

Tried and tested all over the globe – a model that has found its way into…

Blog Post (Curric) Image 08 220717

…and I gave it you HERE…for:

Blog Post (Curric) Image 09 220717

Life doesn’t get better than that…for a teacher (and that means most of us) on a salary less than 50% of what she is worth!

 

CPD Blog Post 170717 slide 09 TG

Well, as a great Jedi…sorry…Reiki Master told me,

‘You get what you pay for’!

Want to Build a GREAT School? Follow These 10 Commandments…

In Educational Leadership, Our Schools, Our Universities, Quality & Institutional Effectiveness on 12/07/2016 at 9:39 pm

LEARNing Monkey (Abigail Adams quote TG ver)

This was the post that I planned to use to re-launch my bouts of bloggery this summer…

 

In the end I went with an ‘easier’ option…because it was so bloody difficult to plan, draft and finish! I started by reflecting on all the schools I had worked with this year…and all the ways I had tried to support their plans and initiatives (an ‘annual’ review, if you will).

 

It wasn’t enough! So…I went back 5 years (and almost every blog post I had ever written)…still didn’t quite cut it!

Blogging sucks (sign)

I found myself going back to the work of EDU Jedi Masters and their discussions of ‘what works in schools’…combining this with the THUNKS of those that helped me consider ‘what matters in schools’…and, reflecting on all the pearls of wisdom I had picked up from the school improvement, accreditation and institutional enhancement programmes I had worked on.

exploding head

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That got me closer (but I had close to thirty pages of notes) – it was time for a procrastination pill!

Netflix Pill TG ver 100716

In the end, I decided to do a ‘career review’ – yes, reflect on the successes I had witnessed and LEARNed from, all my failures (because they helped me more than the successes I may have had and helped co-create) and all things I still have on my EDU Bucket Listafter over 30 years in the busyness of LEARNing.

 

The listicle of my ‘Magic 10’ Commandments started to take shape…but then the last episode of this year’s Game of Thrones forced me to binge-watch the earlier 50 episodes!

Procrastination (dice now never later)

What? I’m on holiday, too!

 

So…just to prove that all those quotes you can pull up (if you google ‘procrastination’) are hogwashhere you go:

IMAGE CREDIT: https://creativetheology.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/10-commandments.jpg

If you want to build a GREAT school…

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Thou Shalt ‘begin with the end in mind’ and ensure that your school is built on a focussed and clearly stated purpose – and make sure that all members of the school community understand, share and are committed to this purpose and the goals of the school…

Purpose CoP TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt believe in the transformative power of LEARNing, place LEARNing at the heart of your decision-making and walk-your-talk…

Change and Thinking TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt recruit the best TEACHers you can, retain them (at all costs) and renew their talents, skills and knowledge at every opportunity you find…

Good School (quote) TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt plan, implement and renew a curriculum / assessment framework that emphasises LEARNing the ‘right’ things in the ‘right’ way…

Delivering LEARNing TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt provide caring and effective leadership, create the conditions for wider shared-, teacher-, and student-leadership – and evaluate the quality of this leadership in terms of the level of trust you build and the amount of LEARNing co-created across the school…

Leadership TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt create an environment and climate that is organised, secure and safe – yet provides for risk-taking, creativity and imagineering at the student, classroom, departmental and school level…

Success TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt create a culture that is driven by professionalism, collaboration, and stakeholder involvement – and is fuelled by an ethos of feedback, improvement and results… Leader Shadow TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt build and maintain a classroom-focussed LEARNing culture grounded on high expectations for both students and TEACHers, dialogic TEACHing practices and an approach to the adoption of EdTech driven by ‘fitness-for-purpose’ and ‘LEARNing first, TECHnology second’… 

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Learning WoG TG ver 100716

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Thou Shalt adopt a research and evidence-based approach to change and planning – and balance the use of external best practices and internal research findings, as well as ‘big’ and ‘small data’…

EBP TG ver 100716 

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Thou Shalt use a range of policies, processes, and practices designed to evaluate and enhance the quality of decision-making, curriculum and assessment systems, classroom teaching, professional learning communities, allocation of resources, and stakeholder involvement across the school…

Quality TG ver 100716

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That’s 10, right?

 

As I was boiling all the Commandments down, I did ask myself whether I need to ‘spell them out’ more. I hope they are clear…as I hinted, they are all backed by solid research and evidence-based practice (EBP) – but I have seen them ‘work’ and know they ‘matter’!

 

Can I rank them – in terms of importance or priority? Not really – but I’d be interested to see how you might…or (even more) see if you would add any others…

 

T..

 

 

How Good Are Your TEACHers?

In Classroom Teaching, ELT and ELL, Our Schools, Our Universities, Quality & Institutional Effectiveness, Teacher Learning on 07/07/2016 at 10:29 am

 

This is one of the first questions I ask when I sit down with a School Director or Teacher Trainer to develop a new PD (or CPD) initiative at one of our many Schools (both State and Private) and University Prep Schools (Hazırlık – also both State and Foundation) here in Canım Türkiyem.

Questions (Joseph O Connor quote) Ver 03

It’s not a bad question to kick off with, if you believe (as I do) that the talents, skills and savvy of language teachers is one of the critical determining factors in determining the level of LEARNing and success that LEARNers ultimately achieve.

 

Some TEACHers do not like it!

 

I guess that is because they assume I am only talking about the quality of their language and that I am taking on the role of the judgy-judger Native Speaker (NS) TEACHer – pushing elitism…and native speakerism!

 

I’m not – and my question is wider, closer to the advice of David Crystal:

“If I were in charge of a language-teaching institution, I would want to know four things about applicants: are they fluent? are they intelligible? do they know how to analyse language? are they good teachers? I would not be interested in where they were born, what their first language was, or whether they had a regional accent. There are absolutely no grounds for discrimination these days”.

 

Like David, my question is both about language quality and TEACHing ability – and, for safe measure, it is also about what a TEACHer knows about language / student LEARNing and what s/he does with that knowledge in (and out of) the classroom. It’s a question that touches upon the core ‘Educational Literacies’ that all TEACHers need.

Sith army knife (TG)

 

However, that question of mine is so often boiled down to a Language TEACHer’s knowledge and skills in English – their ‘Disciplinary Literacy’. And, I’ve been asked (a lot more than once):

So, what should the CEFR / GSE minimum level be – for a TEACHer?

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GSE vs CEFR

 

I’ve spent a lot of time thunking this one over, reading journals, and jumping around blogs this year. There are many that are pushing for minimum proficiency levels for TEACHers (including major ELT organisations and those that produce/administer ‘tests’…wonder why, acaba) – especially since the ELT paradigm shift towards performance-based understandings of what it means to ‘know’ a language. There are others who are resisting this idea…for many reasons.

TELLing the truth

 

Just like we would not want our kids to be taught maths by someone that did not know their multiplication tables (or even use a calculator effectively), the vast majority of LEARNers / administrators / parents (esp. parents) want their language TEACHers to be as good as they can be. Undergraduate TEACHers-to-be want their programmes to prepare them to be the best version of themselves before they step into the classroom. Being able to hear the answer to my question is surely the ‘right’ of each and every one of these critical stakeholders.

 

The problem is, of course, we all know (well, at least those that have LEARNed a second language) that language is not a finite or clearly defined entity, which you either know in its entirety or not at all. You do not ‘know’ a language in the same way you know ‘content’ – a poem, mathematical theorem or chemical formula. You can only know it more or less thoroughly. I know many people that ‘know’ Turkish grammar far better than I…but still struggle to win a battle with the Tax Office! I’ve also met many TEACHers with off-the-charts ALES scores (the m/c test all TEACHers need to pass to get a job in a Turkish university – and ‘technically’ the only tool these universities can use to hire their TEACHers)…but cannot have a half-decent chat with me!

 

However, most people seem to agree that language TEACHers need to:

  • be fluent
  • be intelligible
  • know the language they are TEACHing
  • be confident language users
  • know how to analyse language
  • know something about the language their students use (L1)
  • be an active language LEARNer themselves (improving their own language day-by-day)

 

The question, it seems to me, is how exactly a TEACHer (both NS and NNS TEACHers) ‘knows’ these things about him/herself – and how they ‘evidence’ these abilities to others.

What if 06

What do you thunk – remembering, for now, we are are only talking about the language skills / talents (or ‘Disciplinary Literacy’) of our TEACHers?

  • Could we add anything else to this list?
  • Should there be a minimum proficiency level for TEACHers here in Canım Türkiyem?
  • How should we ‘measure’ this proficiency level (do not say ALES)?
  • If not, how can we ‘know’ exactly how good our TEACHers are?
  • Should NS TEACHers here also be required to demonstrate the same proficiency level?

 

T..

Tony (logo new) 260316 ACG

Why on Earth Do We Need Teacher Training?

In Adult Educators, Classroom Teaching, ELT and ELL, Guest BLOGGERS, Our Universities, Teacher Learning on 28/04/2015 at 5:52 am

Adams Quote (for Steve)

I have had intriguing tidings from some of my final year learners recently.  They are currently engaged in their second semester of “school experience,” where they spend one day a week under the tutelage of their mentor educators in local high schools.  In theory they are supposed to watch their mentors in the first term, and gradually be allowed to assume responsibility for teaching their classes in the second.  In the end they are asked to teach one, perhaps two entire classes on their own.

 Thinkers wanted (blog ver 02 TG)

The idea sounds a practical one – it’s often best to learn the rudiments of teaching from a professional.  In practice what has happened is this:  learners spend most of their time sitting at the back of the classroom watching their mentors undertake a series of repetitive exercises involving little or no language practice – gap-filling, cloze procedure and the like.  They are easy to mark and require the educator to undertake little or no extra-curricular activity.  It’s an easy way to pass the time in class.

Consequently many learners have complained of wasting their time on “school experience.” Not only do they have little or no involvement in classroom activity, but they are introduced to the jobsworth mentality in which educators do the minimum amount necessary to keep their learners amused and collect their salaries at the end of the week.  When the learners are given the space to teach their own classes, they are told to do the same gap-filling activities, as their mentors cannot be bothered to think up anything new.

 21C LEARNing Culture (TG ver 02 upgrade)

I am not in any way suggesting that this state of affairs prevails at every high school; I have encountered many enthusiastic educators willing to challenge existing approaches to pedagogy.  But what proves particularly disconcerting is that this jobsworth mentality is allowed to prevail at any institution.  It suggests that all the teacher training initiatives spearheaded by the British Council, the book publishers and other institutions have little or no influence on the way in which educators handle the day-to-day business of working with their learners.  Resources are spent to little effect – except, perhaps, to encourage institutions to spend more money on glossy textbooks and thereby increase author royalties.

Is there any possibility for change, or at least create the conditions for change?  Institutionally speaking, the prospect is a pessimistic one: many educators are so imbued with the jobsworth mentality that they perceive little or no reason to change their methods.  Even if they wanted to change, there is little or no incentive to do so.  Personal development assumes less significance than the monthly pay-check.  Even if individuals want to change, they will have to negotiate with their superiors, who might disagree with their views entirely.  Why rock the boat when things are going fine?

 Hocam will this be on the test

Perhaps the only workable solution is to begin from the ground up: to find ways outside the institution to set up initiatives dedicated not to teacher training per se, but to investigate methods of learning, both virtual as well as face-to-face.  This might require us to rethink the way institutions work – perhaps technology needs to assume a more important role in facilitating communication between educators and learners.  Much of the teacher training I’ve encountered has been fundamentally top-down in approach; follow the example of the trainer (like the mentor educator), and you too can learn how to work in class.  I’d favor a flipped approach, in which educators tried to listen to their learners and reshaped their classroom strategies accordingly.  Undergraduate learners could be made part of the collaborative process; the insights they have acquired in the three years of their university curricula might prove invaluable in creating new learning strategies.  While jobsworth educators are difficult to shift, there are still opportunities available to create new generations of educators with a genuine and lasting commitment to listening to and learning from their learners.  Who knows – even the learners might want to become educators in the future.

 Creativity (Einstein Quote ver 03)

Yet time is running out: frustrations increase.  My fourth-year learners have a disillusioned view of their chosen profession.  For them it is not a matter of learning about the way people think and react, but simply a matter of rehearsing time-honored drills practiced by their mentors.  Perhaps the teacher training institutions and the publishers need to rethink their approach to working with institutions; rather than trying to foist their products on their so-called ‘customers,’ they might be better advised to take a lengthy time out and listen to what people want, especially those at the lowest end of the pedagogical scale.  Otherwise we are simply reinventing an educational wheel which will very soon come off the axle that drives it.

Laurence Raw

Ankara, Turkey – 27 Apr. 2015

The 2014-15 EDU, EDTECH and ELT/ELL Conference Calendar for Canım Türkiye Ver 3.2 (…the Çanakkale “Upgrade”)!

In Conferences, News & Updates (from the CBO), Our Schools, Our Universities, Teacher Learning on 16/01/2015 at 8:32 am

I’ve decided to make a few tiny, tweeny-weeny changes to this year’s Conference Calendar!

8

Betting against canım Türkiyem (1915)

8

Yes, that image is the first one – heck…if Warren Buffett can say something outrageous about the States (and 1776), I thought I’d just borrow his words a wee bit (and apply them to our conferences here in canım Türkiyem)!

“Bizim konferanslar”, here in Turkey, have been getting a pretty good reputation over the last few years…and this year is shaping up to be the same!

8

The second change is that I am not kicking off with the International “big boys” this time around. Yani, those conferences that are far too far away (and too expensive for most of us to get to) …unless we work for an EDUorganisation that sends all its TEACHers on an “international jolly” (while all the administrators / managers stay back at home to look after the “shop”)!

You can find all the major international events at the end of this post.

8

The third change was not really up to me!

With the events this year (well, the ones that have been confirmed thus far) we are starting to see a bit of a “shift” towards…more and more joint events (this is good…cool even!) and a lot more EdTech Conferences (but not as many online or UNconferences as perhaps we should).

For this reason, ’tis no longer just the ELT/ELL Calendar

…but rather the EDU, EDTECH and ELT/ELL Calendar!

8

As usual…big, bad İstanbul dominates the calendar but word has it that a couple more are in the pipeline for “mother Anatolia” (a few schools are still being a bit coy about publishing their dates) – I’ll update this post as and when we get more information on these…I think we got up to Version 6.2 last year!

So, without further ado…here we go:

8

  • I. Eğitim Kongresi (1st Education Congress – Turkish) – 21.Yüzyılda Bir Eğitim Felsefesi Oluşturmak Ve Özel Okullar
  • Antalya, Turkey
  • 28 – 30 November 2014
  • INTCESS15 – 2nd International Conference on Education and Social Sciences
  • İstanbul, Turkey
  • 02 – 04 February 2015
  • 11th ELT CONFERENCEA Portrayal of Great Teaching
  • Çevre College – İstanbul, Turkey
  • 28 February 2015
  • LIF2015 (Language in Focus) – Contemporary Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Praxis in ELT and SLA
  • Caddadocia, Turkey
  • 04 – 07 March 2015
  • GlobELT 2015 – Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language (with Hacettepe University)
  • Antalya, Turkey
  • 16 – 19 April 2015 
  • edtechİST 2015 – International Educational Technology Conference in Istanbul
  • İstanbul, Turkey
  • 18 – 19 April 2015 
  • AGUSL15Blended Learning into Autonomy
  • Abdullah Gul University (AGU) – Kayseri, Turkey
  • 24 – 25 April 2015
  • 5th BİLGİ ELT Conference  – The Post Method Era in ELT
  • İstanbul Bilgi University (Santral Campus) – İstanbul, Turkey
  • 09 May 2015
  • ICEFIC 2015 (International Congress on Education for the Future: Issues and Challenges)
  • Ankara University (Faculty of Educational Sciences) – Ankara, Turkey
  • 13 – 15 May 2015
  •  UDES 2015 (1st International Symposium on Language Education and Teaching)
  • Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversity – Nevşehir, Turkey
  • 28 – 30 May 2015
  • 6th T-PLUS Event – The Impact of Training and Development
  • TOBB Unıversity of Economıcs & Technology – Ankara, Turkey
  • 12 – 13 June 2015

ELT & ELL Conf Calendar (TG ver)8

As promised – the International (and Regional) “BIG BOYS”…

8

  • LeWeb
  • Paris, France
  • 09 – 11 December 2014
  • BETT
  • London, UK
  • 21 – 24 January 2015
  • TACON2015 (21st TESOL Arabia International Conference) – Teaching and Learning in the Digital World
  • Dubai, UAE
  • 12 – 14 March 2015
  • TESOL 2015 – Crossing Borders, Building Bridges
  • Toronto, Canada
  • 25 – 28 March 2015
  • IATEFL 2015 – 49th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition
  • Manchester, UK
  • 11 – 14 April 2015
  • BALEAP 2015 EAP in a rapidly changing landscape: issues, challenges & solutions
  • Leicester, UK.
  • 17 – 19 April 2015
  • ISTE 2015 – Connected Learning. Connected World.
  • Philadelphia, USA
  • 28 June – 01 July 2015
  • BAAL 2015 – The British Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference
  • Aston University – Birmingham, UK
  • 03 – 05 September 2015

8

AND, a little bit of “sauce”:

8

  • LAL4 4th Language Arts and Linguistics Conference
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • 25 – 26 October 2014
  • Innovate ELT Conference – Now and into the Future
  • Oxford TEFL – Barcelona, Spain
  • 08 – 09 May 2015

As ever, please forgive me if I have missed any (just let me know and I’ll fix it, promise)…if you are still planning an event at your institution, get your skates on and let us all know (with a comment).

8

Take care…sevgili hocalarım!

The 2014-15 EDU, EDTECH and ELT/ELL Conference Calendar for Canım Türkiyem…Ver 3.1 (…even NEWer “Upgrade”)!

In Conferences, Our Schools, Our Universities, Teacher Learning on 23/10/2014 at 2:05 pm

OK – the “quiz”how many differences can you see – from Ver 2.3?

8

I’ve decided to make a few tiny, tweeny-weeny changes to this year’s Conference Calendar!

8

Betting against canım Türkiyem (1915)

8

Yes, that image is the first one – heck…if Warren Buffett can say something outrageous about the States (and 1776), I thought I’d just borrow his words a wee bit (and apply them to our conferences here in canım Türkiyem)!

“Bizim konferanslar”, here in Turkey, have been getting a pretty good reputation over the last few years…and this year is shaping up to be the same!

8

The second change is that I am not kicking off with the International “big boys” this time around. Yani, those conferences that are far too far away (and too expensive for most of us to get to) …unless we work for an EDUorganisation that sends all its TEACHers on an “international jolly” (while all the administrators / managers stay back at home to look after the “shop”)!

You can find all the major international events at the end of this post.

8

The third change was not really up to me!

With the events this year (well, the ones that have been confirmed thus far) we are starting to see a bit of a “shift” towards…more and more joint events (this is good…cool even!) and a lot more EdTech Conferences (but not as many online or UNconferences as perhaps we should).

For this reason, ’tis no longer just the ELT/ELL Calendar

…but rather the EDU, EDTECH and ELT/ELL Calendar!

8

As usual…big, bad İstanbul dominates the calendar but word has it that a couple more are in the pipeline for “mother Anatolia” (a few schools are still being a bit coy about publishing their dates) – I’ll update this post as and when we get more information on these…I think we got up to Version 6.2 last year!

So, without further ado…here we go:

8

  • I. Eğitim Kongresi (1st Education Congress – Turkish) – 21.Yüzyılda Bir Eğitim Felsefesi Oluşturmak Ve Özel Okullar
  • Antalya, Turkey
  • 28 – 30 November 2014
  • INTCESS15 – 2nd International Conference on Education and Social Sciences
  • İstanbul, Turkey
  • 2 – 4 February 2015
  • 11th ELT CONFERENCEA Portrayal of Great Teaching
  • Çevre College – İstanbul, Turkey
  • 28 February 2015
  • LIF2015 (Language in Focus) – Contemporary Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Praxis in ELT and SLA
  • Caddadocia, Turkey
  • 4 – 7 March 2015
  • GlobELT 2015 – Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language (with Hacettepe University)
  • Antalya, Turkey
  • 16 – 19 April 2015 
  • edtechİST 2015 – International Educational Technology Conference in Istanbul
  • İstanbul, Turkey
  • 18 – 19 April 2015 
  • AGUSL15Blended Learning into Autonomy
  • Abdullah Gul University (AGU) – Kayseri, Turkey
  • 24 – 25 April 2015
  • ICEFIC 2015 (International Congress on Education for the Future: Issues and Challenges)
  • Ankara University (Faculty of Educational Sciences) – Ankara, Turkey
  • 13 – 15 May 2015
  • UDES 2015 (1st International Symposium on Language Education and Teaching)
  • Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversity – Nevşehir, Turkey
  • 28 – 30 May 2015

8

ELT & ELL Conf Calendar (TG ver)8

As promised – the International (and Regional) “BIG BOYS”…

8

  • LeWeb
  • Paris, France
  • 9 – 11 December 2014
  • BETT
  • London, UK
  • 21 – 24 January 2015
  • TACON2015 (21st TESOL Arabia International Conference) – Teaching and Learning in the Digital World
  • Dubai, UAE
  • 12 – 14 March 2015
  • TESOL 2015 – Crossing Borders, Building Bridges
  • Toronto, Canada
  • 25 – 28 March 2015
  • IATEFL 2015 – 49th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition
  • Manchester, UK
  • 11 – 14 April 2015
  • BALEAP 2015 EAP in a rapidly changing landscape: issues, challenges & solutions
  • Leicester, UK.
  • 17 – 19 April 2015
  • ISTE 2015 – Connected Learning. Connected World.
  • Philadelphia, USA
  • 28 June – 01 July 2015
  • BAAL 2015 – The British Association for Applied Linguistics Annual Conference
  • Aston University – Birmingham, UK
  • 3 – 5 September 2015

8

AND, a little bit of “sauce”:

8

  • LAL4 4th Language Arts and Linguistics Conference
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • 25 – 26 October 2014

8

As ever, please forgive me if I have missed any (just let me know and I’ll fix it, promise)…if you are still planning an event at your institution, get your skates on and let us all know (with a comment).

8

Take care…sevgili hocalarım!