Learning2gether Episode 194
On Wed Dec 18 Learning2gether hosted Klaus Michelsen on the topic of Social business and blended learning in cash-strapped Lima public schools? Panacea or deadly combination?
Audio and video content removed at request of presenter
This webinar took a look at some of the insights gained from a recent four-month-long professional development course aimed at a small group of EFL public school teachers based in Lima, Peru. The whole project was run via blended mode. It was put together by Klaus and run with the great help of two hard-working American colleagues – the first based in Santa Cruz (Bolivia), and the second in sunny California.
Text chat transcription
Here’s the abstract for the case study Klaus is currently working on:
This article reports on a blended teacher development course currently being piloted in Lima, Peru. The course, which the author designed at the request of the Ministry of Education in Peru, is designed for a group of practicing English language teachers who teach both in Lima and across the state (cash-strapped) high school system, where English is mandatory.
The course addresses two common problems identified by both the Ministry and the author: first, the need to improve teachers’ basic English speaking skills and second, the need to design oral fluency activities that are neither book-driven nor dominated by a grammar or lexical syllabus approach to language teaching and learning. Many high school teachers are not English teachers by training and do not possess a fluent command of the language. As in most other parts of both Peru and the region, an alarming number of state school teachers lack the motivation to move out of their comfort zones and are therefore unwilling to explore more situated and creative pedagogical models. Not surprisingly, both traditionally assigned teacher and ICT roles (i.e. teachers as suppliers of knowledge, digital technology as a tool or tutor, etc.) remain largely unchallenged.
In light of the above, the author proposes a tailor-made blended learning framework which draws on a number of blended learning principles outlined in a recent publication (2013) commissioned by the British Council. The suggested framework is then grounded on a situated pedagogic model which is in turn informed by the following three learning approaches: Web 2.0 pedagogy, TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching) and gamification. Through the current professional development course, the article seeks to demonstrate the extent to which the proposed framework has met the aforementioned objectives.
Since the blended learning principles and suggested pedagogical models (Web 2.0, TBLT and gamification) have not yet been empirically tested in any of Peru’s state school classrooms, it is hoped that the lessons gained from this case study can be used in the design and implementation of future pre-service and in-service professional development programs, not only in Lima, but also across Peru.
In conversations with Klaus, he explains further about Social Business – a business not run for profit maximization but to solve a social problem
As he explains,
“All language schools I’ve worked for in the UK, Saudi Arabia and here are for profit only. In other words, they are run like any other regular business. BUT is education a business? And when you prioritize making money, what happens with quality education? Second question, what happens with teachers’ salaries? Social business is a totally unexplored concept in English Language Teaching and Learning.”
Klaus cites three writers who have influenced his thinking in moving forward this project:
- Muhammad Yunnus’s book Creating a World Without Poverty
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/muhammad-yunus/social-business_b_4074094.html
summarizes really well the busniess model behind Blended English Peru. - Slahberg’s book is absolutely brilliant too. Follow his blog, http://pasisahlberg.com/
- And Diane Ravitch’s, http://dianeravitch.net/
Muhammad Yunnus has been interviewed on Democracy now by Amy Goodman
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/12/nobel_laureate_and_banker_to_the
I was thinking of another Amy Goodman interview, with Chilean “barefoot economist” Manfred Max-Neef
http://mediaforpeacebuilding.com/manfred-max-neef-on-democracy-now/
Announcements
- http://taedtech.ning.com/events/18dec2013
- http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/evonline2002_webheads/conversations/messages/30826
- http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/multilit/conversations/topics/1950
Earlier this week
Wed Dec 11 0800 GMT Delin and her students at Taiwan Air Force Academy in BbC / Elluminate
On Dec 11 there was a workshop with Delin Xiao archived here:
https://learning2gether.net/2013/12/11/contacting-delin-and-her-students-at-taiwan-air-force-academy-in-bbc-elluminate/
This followed an earlier Learning2gether recording made Dec 5 to show teachers where Vance works how to use Bb Collaborate / Elluminate, and to document the training for them.
https://learning2gether.net/2013/12/05/vance-stevens-introduces-teachers-in-al-ain-uae-to-bb-collaborate/
Fri Dec 13 2000 GMT Headless ds106 Campfire
https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c3qcs2l28jdpdjhivdc92g96sos
What’s it about?
Join us for a live hangout around the ds106 campfire as we celebrate the stories and accomplishments of headless ds106. Help us now by tweeting links to your best work with a #ds106headlessbest tag. If you join us around the campfire, please come ready to talk about some of your favorite moments and the work you saw others do that inspired you. This was going to be via Google Hangout and crosscast to ds106 radio, but now …
Because the lighting is tricky around a campfire, and as our camera person really would rather be toasting marshmallows than hoisting the camera, we will be broadcasting discussion LIVE on ds106 Radio (audio only, that’s how radio works. folks).
To tune in, use the web player athttp://ds106rad.io/listen or for a media player, use http://ds106rad.io:8000/ds106radio_64.m3u
cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Giulia Forsythe: http://flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/5394469018/
Dec 14 Featured Teacher-Wes Fryer on “Coding & Games with Kids: Hopscotch, Scratch and Minecraft”
http://live.classroom20.com/archive-and-resources.html
You can find recordings at the link above and at Wes’s blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
Dec 14 and 15 Maria Collusa invited Webheads to chats associated with the Global Classroom Project
Dec 15 1400 GMT IATEFL seminar – Plan Ceibal English with Mercedes Viola and Graham Stanley
http://ltsig.org.uk/events/13-future-events/314–151213-webinar-plan-ceibal-english.html
Fri Dec 20 at 2030 GMT Heike Philp Christmas Party on Avalon
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