Monday, January 19, 2009

The Importace of Innovation

Most of ESL and EFL teachers worry about how to make their classes interesting and catchy. However, most of teachers just worry, but they don't move forward, I mean, they don't try to find new alternatives and options to achieve their subject goals. Teachers must understad that creating change across cultural boundaries requires both a careful analysis of the target setting, one which takes into account the potential barriers to change, and an appropriate implementation strategy to overcome those barriers. That's why ESL and EFL teachers are compelled to change what they see it's not worthy in their classes. Change those methods and strategies which don't come up with goal achievement. So, teachers must analyze what they teach (contents) and think how those contents can be taught by finding the Students' identification with those. In short, ESL and EFL teachers must work on curriculum change and improvement, new technologies, and concepts of language use, communication, and instruction vital to guiding the organization and practices of teaching English.


For you to think about it. The upcoming lines mention the new international category of this year's British Council English language teaching innovation awards.


UAE college teacher wins innovation award for English course
Liz Ford
guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 March 2008 12.39 GMT
Article history
A "ground breaking" vocabulary course for female students in the United Arab Emirates was named the winner of the new international category of this year's British Council English language teaching innovation awards.
Emma Pathare, who works at the Dubai Women's College, won her "Elton" for developing the vocabulary course, which helps elementary English language students with Arabic as their first language get a better understanding of targeted words.
The internet-based course comprises more than 150 quizzes, 4,000 questions and 30 learning modules to help students grasp English. It also has a maths component, which builds the vocabulary required to learn basic numeracy in English. More than 1,500 students have already used the course.
Collecting her award at a ceremony in London last night, Pathare said she was grateful to the college for allowing her to "go ahead and develop materials that our students really need".
In the UK category BBC Learning English won two awards for its online, interactive soap opera, Flatmates, and its learning English blogs.
Flatmates is a weekly online soap opera, which allows students to read, listen and write English while they follow the escapades of a group of characters. Each week students take a quiz to see if they have understood that episode's language point and vote on how the storyline should develop.
Judges said the soap was "practical and effective".
Flatmates was created by Nuala O'Sullivan and has been running since August 2005.
O'Sullivan said she was pleased the resource had been recognised by the sector.
"It's a simple idea, interactive and student-led, which is what being in the classroom is all about," she said.
Learning English blogs, created by Paul Scott, gets students and teachers communicating outside the classroom. Student bloggers write about topics they are interested in and teachers respond with comments on their use of language.
The third UK prize went to the Bookworms Club Reading Circles, created for Oxford University Press by Mark Furr, Jenny Bassett and Nicole Irving.
The resource provides all that is needed to run a reading circle, in which groups of students meet in class to discuss stories to improve their speaking and listening skills.
Judges said the Bookworms Club was a "strong entry". "It creates a reason to communicate, which is what many teachers are looking for."
Judge Caroline Moore said: "It's a turn of events that last year's winners were all small publishers and this year sees the return of the large UK publishers. We congratulate them, of course, but look forward to seeing more entries in future from smaller publishers and course providers too."

10 comments:

  1. The innovation on teaching process is really important. We have to take account that nowadays there are many technological tools and instruments that catch students attention like internet and so on, for that reason we like teachers need to innovate our methods trying to involve and catch students attention on the way they like, or activities more interesting for them. These innovated tools could bring good results on the learning and teaching process; just we need to know how to apply this on the best way possible to get those results. The teaching process like everything on this world need to get actualization day to day, trying to understand and know what students like and interest, for that reason the innovation is really important an a good help for teachers teaching process.

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  2. The importance of innovation

    Commentary

    Nowadays teaching is a big problem because everything is changing day by day, the students are getting a lot of rights so it is so difficult to teach the students because they think they are like tarzan in the jungle. In addition of this situation the teacher or professor has to think in better ways to transmit the knowledge not only the knowledge to make the students interested in the different subjects that they have at Elementary School or High School. A good teacher has to think in all the aspects that we can use as a tool to guide the class for instance the environment, the structure, noise and so on. We as a facilitator must motivate the students with different games or strategies so they can feel confidence in class and work better.

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  3. Innovation in our educational system will be the best, if we change the content, goals, methodologies, and so on and we try to make the change in our classes thinking in innovate it will be different. Innovation is hand by hand with growing up countries and we should taking advance of that, the problem is that most of the teachers are worry only for gives the class and no more... in that way we couldn´t change.

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  4. Changing our minds of how we teach in our classrooms will lead us to an innovated perception of what we are doing with our students. Being concious of the real needs of each learner can provided a better learning process for them.
    Teachers must change the old standards of teaching for new ones with a more open minded view.

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  5. It is absolutely demanding to innovate in our English classes. Not only to pursue the interest of the students towards the subject itself, but also to obtain real efficient learning and to develop English skills successfully.

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  6. About the article of the importance of innovation:
    For sure, is very important for teachers keep in mind the differences among students regarding to personality factors and cognitive level when innovation is wanted and applied. some kind of innovations can really works on the majority of the class, but what happen if there are other students in class whose need more than innovation, I mean students with special needs and curricular accommodations? will be the innovation different for them?. That is a fact who make me think about how can I innovate for all my students...
    On in other hand, I consider really important take in to account how students feel about the new techniques, strategies or activities that the innovating purposes involve, so is interesting listen to students' opinions likes or dislikes about your job.

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  7. Hi teacher, really I don`t read any of your articles, because I am trying to make my blog, I think that already I can make it. If you want see it, www.lyherrera.blogspot.com
    Bye, Lynnette, sintaxis II,

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  8. Survey Project Final Results Wednesday February 25, 2009
    By: Cristhian Hidalgo Chaves


    Colegio Tecnico Profesional Padre Roberto Evans Saunders
    of Siquirres

    Population of study

    Downtown Description
    - Siquirres downtown center community it’s a small place which is the canton of Limon province for the same reason very influence by Caribbean culture, foods- drinks, activities. People from this place likes to enjoy a relaxing lifestyle; they don not like to work a lot and students community wants everything easily and without a lot of effort, also there exits some exceptions.
    - Siquirres is not just conform by the center of a community, also it has a lot of different places some of them near and others not so much where the people needs to take one or two even three buses to be in Siquirres center for work reasons or any other situation.
    To conclude it’s a place of humble people, where young people have to take care a lot in order to grow up as a good person in life, because drugs and all kind of bad influences are around everything.

    Students High school description
    As in everywhere there are a lot of good behavioral students, but unlucky there are more the ones which not appreciate parents effort to send them to a institution to receive a education which will give them the basic tolls to develop knowledge, skills abilities and others important things to advance in life. A lot of students come from unlucky marriages, divorce families, or very poor economical resources where the family members are many of them and just one parent work to give the economic support to the family. It’s frequently to look cases where the mother or father works in a banana plantation and have three or four songs at the same time in the high school and they need to pay bills and give teenagers money to pay the bus and everything they need, and in the first grades report at home the ones with bad grates are taking out from the high school and send to work in the banana plantation to help support the family needs.
    Also these situations provoke a lack of interest at home for student’s high school behavior and situations, to much freedom for the teenagers and that help to create them a divorce from the institution with the home and cause students waste of time- money – knowledge and in the worse cases life results. In my personal opinion this situation provoke that other people who look for young teenagers to involve them in drugs or other bad situations have a easy work to take advantage of them, causing the destructive situation of separate them from their studies and sending them to a bad and disappointing waste life.

    Colegio Tecnico Padre Roberto Evans Saunders of Siquirres
    - This High school was found on 1963 by the priest Roberto Evans Saunders; it is located on the main entrance of Siquirres downtown. It was a result of a very difficult process, because at that time in these area teenagers had to travel to Limon center, Matina, to have the opportunity of study. For this reason a lot of young people could not studied (lack if educative institutions and economical resources) because to pay every single day a train ticket to travel for study just well economical families could do it and also it was so far from the different communities. The priest using his influences and talking with different companies as Standard Fruit Company – Chiquita Company, etc; found a farm on the main entrance of Siquirres town and after an extenuated fight obtained the permission to build a high school in this area. Finally the high school was created and it was just three different pavilions with seven smalls classrooms in each one, where people from all near and far places (Batan- Pacuarito- Monte verde- Siquirres center- La Perla- Cairo- Herediana- even people from Guapiles ) travel to have an opportunity to study in this new institution.
    - At the beginning its original institution name was Colegio Agricola of Siquirres, then change to Colegio Tecnico Agricola of Siquirres, After that Colegio Tecnico Profesional of Siquirres and nowadays is Colegio Tecnico Profesional Padre Roberto Evans Saunders of Siquirres. It counts with seven different pavilions- some of them with fifteen classrooms, a occupational healthy lab – a land studies lab a conversational English lab and different classrooms for the technical department education. It unfortunately has not drinkable water, but right now it’s in process the construction of what it’s necessary to solve this situation. In conclusion it is an old institution which started under a vision of a priest which had advanced a lot and continuous in the process of searching the best to impart a quality education for students of many different places.

    Survey
    Questions: (Relate with the High school)

    1. Where do you work?
    R/__________________________________________________

    2. What is the High school name?
    R/__________________________________________________

    3. What do you do exactly in there?
    R/ __________________________________________________

    4. Which are two strengths or two weaknesses from your High school related with your material?
    R/__________________________________________________

    5. How is the student’s community base own your personal opinion?
    R/__________________________________________________

    6. Is there any problem in the community that can affect the students learning process?
    R/__________________________________________________

    7. How is the downtown community place?
    R/__________________________________________________

    8. Are the students affected or not for it?
    R/__________________________________________________

    9. Mention two advantages or disadvantages from the community related with your work as an English teacher?
    R/__________________________________________________

    * Survey Innovation Questions:

    10. Do you have any kind of innovative resource in your classroom?
    R/ YES NO

    11. What kind of resources do you have?
    R___________________________________________________

    12. Do you like to use them?
    R/ YES NO

    13. Are you an innovative teacher- professor?
    R/ YES NO

    14. What kind of innovative strategies/ techniques do you apply with your students (at least three of them)?
    R/____________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________

    15. Do consider your students learn better with them or not? Why?
    R/ YES NO

    ____________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________

    16. How are the students’ reactions facing with your innovative classes?
    R/ ____________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________

    17. Are they motivated it for it?
    R/ YES NO

    18. How is your personal attitude related with your students in the classroom environment?
    R/ ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________

    19. Does it provide a good and healthy environment to work and learn? Why?
    R/ YES NO

    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________

    20. Are the students’ innovative product of your classes? Why?
    R/ YES NO

    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________

    21. How the students prefers their classes innovative- different and challenging or normal and monotonous (book-board /board-book)?
    R/ ____________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________

    22. Base on your experience as an English teacher, What do you consider are three basic elements students’ needs to be successful in the English learning process?
    R/ ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
    ____________________________________________________

    23. Base on your experience as an English teacher, What do you consider are three basic elements Teachers/Professors needs to be successful in the English teaching process?
    R/ ____________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________
    _____________________________________________________
    Final survey results:

    This part of the final survey results is about after been applied the survey and collect different information about the high school institution, downtown – community, and the students from a data information basis and the different English teachers opinions, I am going to express you my personal opinion of this research project.

    First of all, I want to tell you (readers) for me it was a nice, interesting and beneficially research project in which I could obtain different valuable information from many diverse aspects which enrich my knowledge, personal ideas and opinion about this entire innovative topic. I hope you would have the same or better results in yours.

    Base on the different answers from the diverse English Teachers my survey obtains a positive final result four from the six total interviews express they have receiving the innovative teaching classes, techniques, materials- information in an excellent way. The final results shows innovations makes teachers teaching classes more interesting, easy to prepare and handle during the class period, also save time and presents some brilliant diverse ideas to facilitate students and teachers life time period of lessons. Creating a new perspective from both sides the one who imparts the classes and the one who learn from it, receiving as a product a good new positive energizing environment to share information and to work in it.
    Teachers find students motivated to attends the classes and work nicely in it, producing an enthusiasm in them to continue preparing new different materials and to apply innovative techniques each classes time, so catching a nice answer in the acquisition of the knowledge in the learners. Teachers express technology in classrooms helps to obtain students interest and wakes up the desire to continue learning more and more information day by day, and if does not exist this kind of facilities at least to create different materials not to use the normal ones (board- books- photocopies) because students interest fold down as a rock in the water container, this means that it does not takes all the potential they can give in the foreign language, it helps but not the necessary. One important data is not to complain about the materials or the time factor, in the educational teaching career is not a secret the excess of work we teachers needs to do, even take it at home, but like it or not it is part of our professional life, and if we want to makes the difference between the rest of educators we need to star with our thinking way and the work style we have in that way we are going to start collecting the rewards in our job, with the students, place of work and the community we make the difference.

    Also, as soon we start applying this different innovative classes the motivational part plus the background and new knowledge information, starts producing in to us as English teachers and students several brainstorming ideas about how to improve the English student’s level in consequence our teaching style will be up dating day by day having as a final results the enrichment in all the aspects we can imaging and others we did not too; all this is base on the teachers survey final results and comments.
    To conclude Technology, innovative resources, new methodologies, teachers and students generations are impossible to avoid so we need to adapt, learn about it and use it in order to continue evolution as a human been and professional in your job. We are the ones who have the mental capacities and skills for new generations which one day are going to become in to the future of this country lets help them from know and creates a better hope- opportunity to grow up as much complete as possible in this educational life. Innovations are not teachers’ enemy the fear of change it is.

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  9. I think, that one important thing already mention is that teachers just worry and don`t do anything to change the situation.
    Nowadays, upgrade ourselves is a must, because technology is so advanced and students know it, teachers need to understand what students want, need or wish, because if teachers work based on this, the class is going to be better for everybody, so for this, is important to use every tool possible to make the things better and to give something new and different to the students that they are most of the times to learn something that looks nice and attractive to for them.

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  10. Innovate in classrooms is very important not only for students but also for teachers. if students find lessons attractive they will change their mind and of course will help them to produce more in the class. Even we, as teachers, can innovate facing students to technology in which the challenge will provoque on them demanding skills development. They will learn about culture, social, and others as well. we need something that is challenging for them and interesting, funny at same time among others.

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