Sharing EMI, international video conferencing, and lesson planning strategies with
a live demo and a series of hands-on tasks
This
series of workshops are held in each city and county around Taiwan annually. I
had the honor to get invited by the event planner, who is also a fantastic
English teacher that many look up to, and shared this passion of life with
forty or so teachers of New Taipei City. I enjoyed using only English to share
my activity ideas and lesson planning strategies, with the teachers involved in
the tasks. The following are the eight stages of my presentation in the format
of ABCD Learning Objectives:
1. English-Medium Instruction Principles
With
the listening comprehension game, teachers working in groups of four are able
to finish the task collaboratively and have a basic understanding of
KISSER.
2. A Skype Session Demo
With
the activity, A Cup of Conversation, teachers are able to go into the English
mode by interviewing each other and then interact with a native speaker via
Skype.
3. Skype Settings
With
the PPT slides of some important Skype settings, teachers are able to
experience how to configure audio and video settings, add contacts, and make a
test call.
4. School Life
With
the activity, Backs to the Board, teachers use English to get their partner to
shout out the preferred words and phrases about school life.
5. Skype Models
With
some factors in mind, including the number of students, the topics, the setup,
and the time frame, teachers are able to talk about which model best fits into
their setting.
6. Backward Design
With
the deck of cards, teachers working in groups are able to elaborate, order, and
rank the cards of connected tasks aiming to help every student better prepare
for a Skype session according to the principles of this teaching
approach.
7. How to Talk about Anything in English
With
the assigned topic, My School, teachers are able to create a mind map, put
three key phrases for each category, decide on the structure, write a
paragraph, and decide where to put the blanks.
8. Gallery Walk
With
the mind maps and the worksheets, teachers are able to elaborate on their
step-by-step tasks.
I
did an outstanding job today. It would also be a great comeback story in my
career as a keynote speaker at workshops. Last year, I lectured too much. I was
eager to show off my fluent English and all the fantastic things I've done in
my school. With the lesson plans and video clips, I thought I proved to the
participants that I was a doer, not just a talker. I assumed that they would
pick up the skills and give a try in their English class. Well, it did not turn
out that well, and I felt so guilty about it.
Then
I began to revolutionize my way of presenting. I'm good at task-based lesson
planning, so why not think of workshops as a class? In a three-hour-long class,
you wouldn't lecture for the first half and then do activities the second.
People get bored quickly when you ramble about something irrelevant to their
needs. Besides, information overload is a presentation killer. However, time
passes by fast when it is fun and dynamic, complete with the skills you pick up
along the way. People would be so motivated to apply what they learn, too.
Today, I once again proved it worked like magic.
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