Q: When using an authentic audio or video it is important to use only ‘native speakers’.

Q: When using an authentic audio or video it is important to use only ‘native speakers’. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons.

A: I disagree, and don't think I can give any better reasons and support for it than Phil already has! (Thanks, Phil!).

I would just add that I think the 'awareness raising' aspect is really key. And not ONLY if it's true that learners will, in fact, be constantly exposed to different English speakers and varieties. There's basically intrinsic value in the diversity of voices that share the space.

This question also made me think about another issue, perhaps smaller on a planetary level but looming large in certain quarters - English "native speakers" listening well to non-native English users. Having taught back in the US for my previous 6 years, this was a big deal. I was sometimes the only person around who could easily understand the English spoken by any number of people, and the only person who could respond and interact strategically, offering affordances for both building understanding and requesting clarification.

So, I wanted to share this amazing resource related to this specific issue, but I think that it's not only full of food for thought and strategies for NSs but also an NNS-NNS ELF cross-cultural contexts like, say, a campus full of international students.

Here: http://www.cornell.edu/video/playlist/improving-communication-with-non-native-speakers
http://www.cornell.edu/video/playlist/improving-communication-with-non-native-speakers

So in thinking about "principles" I did a little reflecting while: a) looking at/through shelves full of course...

So in thinking about "principles" I did a little reflecting while: a) looking at/through shelves full of course books at work for a while b) at random times while surfing the internet or doing some other work c) looking back over Week 1's slides and googling more stuff by Tomlinson.

My favorite thing I found was a paragraph (image below) from https://bit.ly/2ubns2t (Tomlinson & Masuhara's "The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of Materials Development for Language Learning"). In it, they describe the sheer variety of materials used, the multi-directionality of materials, the particularities in the countless contexts (English) language is taught.

So that got me thinking that the principle that maybe is most important to me is actually something like "complexity". Not as in 'complicated' or anything like that, but more in the sense of openness to a) difference and b) change. Good materials can be different than other good materials. What constitutes good materials can/will change.

This got me thinking about Kumaravadivelu (http://www.bkumaravadivelu.com/), one of my favorite ELT thinkers. In his book "Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching" for two reasons. #1 is: he describes different and evolving teacher roles: passive technician --> reflective practitioner --> transformative intellectual, where the first is primarily concerned with delivering prescribed content (very often via commercial coursebook materials), the second learns to be more responsive and skillful via teaching and their learners, and the third considers the larger picture and makes highly conscientious teaching decisions.

So, another principle may be that materials "don't trap the teacher". As a novice Teacher's Books were extremely valuable resources for me - in them I found precious guidance, sometimes even wisdom, for teaching as I struggled to make the materials "live" in my classrooms. But now I'm not sure that those materials always did enough to push and focus my mind on the most productive and developmental things. Reading them back now, they often seem to ignore my potential for reflection (or pre-flection, as I planned how to teach with the materials in MY classroom, not theirs); they were not as educative as I think they could be.

Reason #2 is Kumaravadivelu's rather beautiful wheel of 3 parameters and 10 macrostrategies. I often come back to this when thinking about "principles" to follow. I think what I'm getting at above is the two parameters of "particularity" and "possibility". And the macrostrategies that are most salient to me right now and I think were active in my Week 1 activity are: "facilitating negotiated interaction" (my emphasis on S-S interaction) and "contextualize linguistic input" (when I showed where the text came from, etc.).

Finally, from Tomlinson's 6 principles I'd like to highlight 5 and 6. Why? Because I want classroom materials to match the vibrance of a great person-centered classroom that is, ideally, already intellectually and emotionally arousing & involving. The materials ought not be any less so. But sometimes I've felt like sighing (and heard students doing it) when it's time to look down again at the page, after some particularly enjoyable discussion or something in class. So prioritizing this is key for me - and perhaps it's both a quality and quantity issue...

OK, see you all again soon for class #2 and thanks Katherine for this first 25% of a great course so far! :)

Here is my Week 1 project.

Here is my Week 1 project. It's a google doc that can be commented on by anyone following the link, so feel free to comment directly on it if you feel the spirit! Would love any and all feedback!

A few quick thoughts:

1. This was a fun exercise, and I approached it in an entirely experimental mood.

2. I surprised myself by writing quite a lot into the task instruction bits. It's almost like stuff you might find mentioned in a teacher's book (details and options for facilitating tasks, directed to the teacher)? But here, it's right there for the students to read, too.

The basic maxim "keep instructions short n' sweet" is one I recognize as a wise guide, but then...I'm sort of trying the opposite here. But I think you'll notice the instructions have less to do with superficial logistics and a bit more to do with "what to do in order to do" a task (to suggest something I heard Adrian Underhill talk about, along with doing things with learners' "inner voice").

3. Doing this has helped me keep exploring the question about "principles"...but I'm still not sure what to say beyond what I mentioned in my 'intro' post last night about "style". Can't wait to post about principles more later...

Thanks!

Here's my thing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F_68n1LBWhPa1q8Tt3MjabCUBeBRPwlGUJTt0ncww18/edit?usp=sharing

Hey everybody

Hey everybody,

Very happy to be along for the ride on yet another iTDi advanced skills course. Not sure how many I've taken now but it's a handful over several years - starting with Breaking Rules w/ John Fanselow. I'm also an occasional iTDi blog author and, well, overall enthusiast. Barb and Steven and everyone else involved with iTDi have created the kind of teacher-friendly vibrance in a professional learning and development community that just feels so...right. To the point it kind of makes you scratch your head and ask "why in the world is this so unique?!?!".

Anyway, I started in ELT in 2004 in Sri Lanka, moved to Thailand in 2005, back to the US in 2011, and returned to Thailand this year. I'm currently at Silpakorn University in a small city an hour west of Bangkok supervising young local future English teachers and teaching English to college students. Beyond participating in iTDi happenings I engage in various online professional community activities like ongoing discussion on twitter, IATEFL TDSIG's annual web carnival and bi-monthly podcast, #ELTchat, etc.

It's late Friday night and somehow during a very busy week I managed to get the basics of my Week 1 assignment thrown together but it does need more attention. So, hope to be able to post it tomorrow night or at the latest Sunday morning (on the late side, I know!) and catch up with the pack.

It's been great so far!

The picture is me earlier this evening - my wife took me out for a (gulp!) 40th birthday dinner, and although I love, love, love the local Thai food it was special occasion that called for American beer and a big ol' cheeseburger! :P

The restaurant really had STYLE, which makes me think about one thing I'd say I like about certain materials (not sure if it's quite a 'principle' or not) is actually style. It seems maybe superficial, but I think good aesthetic quality can really support cognitive engagement and flow. And what type of style? I think many...but I have found myself inching more and more towards appreciation of more minimalist, streamlined design (maybe this has something to do with turning - gulp again! - 40?).

I think this is because I want the 'action' to happen within and between the people in the room, not 'stuck on the page'. I think a streamlined, basic approach to written materials puts a certain trust in the teacher and the students to have the ability and the energy to make something happen with just enough input, delivered in style.

Speaking of energy, I'm out of it! Goodnight and I sincerely look forward to the rest of this course! :)