Implementing new teaching ideas

"I might not be able to pay teachers more money, or give them the public recognition they deserve for the amazing work that they do, but I can teach them about a coaching approach. And that will be my contribution to a better world.", Martin Richards

Welcome to my House

I taught English at AEC, an Adult Education Centre (not its real name).

The language teachers were invited to go on a short cruise and take part in an in-service training that was aimed at helping us to better engage the adult students in our respective language classes.

One of the methods we learned about was called House.

We were taught to get the course participants to represent characters who are tenants living in a large house. In the target language (English) they would describe - and act out - the day-to-day activities of their character, interact in house parties, talk about their ambitions and careers, and solve mild conflicts that arise from sharing a house.

The characters were designed to be mostly successful and good-natured, but would soon take on a flavour of the participant’s personal character (!) The idea was that the participants could act out real or imaginary issues through the medium of role-play and at the same time develop their use of the language in near-realistic situations.

Returning to the AEC, the challenge was, even with the explicit support and encouragement of the management team, to implement such innovations with adults who knew what they wanted, what they had signed up for, and expected their ACE teachers to deliver.

Participants expectations

The teacher shall teach from the board, ask questions about what they had just taught, call on students who raised their hands, correct any mistakes. Practical exercises shall come from the course book, and there should be one correct answer to each question, and the teacher should be able to explain the correct answer - referring to a printed rule or example in the book. The teacher shall keep good order in the classroom, and keep notes about participants’ attendance and progress through the course, awarding grades and final certificates.

A shift in teaching strategy

During the cruise and in-service training, there had been many exchanges of looks and glances as the more experienced teachers wondered how they were going to change their well-established and successful teaching strategies without losing participants from their courses, and thereby losing their income. I was newer to the profession and looked forward to using the exciting methods that had been ordained by the management team.

Up until this time, I had been teaching English the way I had been taught English at school; I had not yet learned to teach English to adults.

My traditional start

Following my memories from school, I taught from the board, asked questions about what I had just taught, called on students who raised their hands and corrected any mistakes they made. I used the practical exercises from the course book, and often got into long discussions about the correct answer to some questions. Sometimes, I was not able to explain the correct answer, even if there was a printed rule or example in the book. I relied on the fact that I was a native speaker and could say with authority, “That’s the way we do it” and knew I would be believed.

I kept good order in the classroom through using humour and appealing to the fact that I was younger than most of the participants. They were in their fifties and I was thirtyish.?

I often forgot to keep notes about participants’ attendance and never wrote down anything about their progress through the course. I awarded the participants no grades or certificates. This was not an exam course. It was ‘only’ a conversation course.

Basically, I got away with playing the role of English teacher whilst I learned how to do the job.

How does a traditionally-trained teacher change their teaching methods when their authority as a teacher comes from knowledge of the subject, the discipline comes from keeping their distance, and measurement of success comes from the grades and certificates that the participants are awarded?

Opportunities for change

The turn of the year can be useful. New year, new students, new methods.

But it would still take a leap of courage to trust a different teaching method that has not yet produced any results locally. Perhaps knowing that another school had had success with these progressive methods would help allay fears of failure? Perhaps pressing issues with the results from the traditional method would prompt a review of the traditional method? How likely is it that the method would come under review if only a few participants had failed the exams? How likely is it that the participants will be blamed instead?

Luckily, I was untrained. All I needed to do was to challenge my teaching memories and ask the participants what they wanted to get from their English conversation lessons.

Opening the Language Learning House

When I asked them, the participants told me they didn’t care how I taught them - they were okay with whatever I was doing - as long as they got the chance to practice speaking English and become more fluent and less afraid of speaking English at parties and work meetings. They hated being corrected in front of the other participants, even if they knew that correction was a good way to improve. They disliked doing the gap-fill exercises, because they would likely never use those phrases and sentences in real life.

With that as an introduction, the idea of using the House method was an easy sell.

We would switch from focusing on correct use of grammar and vocabulary, to practising speaking English in our own soap opera where the participants could hide behind the mask of pretending to be someone else for the evening. And it would be those characters who were responsible for any language errors made, freeing the participants to dispassionately observe the errors being corrected. My role would be to guide the participants in creating the next episode for their evening performance, supporting them with the grammar and vocabulary that they asked for. We had a lot of fun and expanded on the House method, bringing in many elements that the participants wanted to practice.?

The new normal

Later, when I taught exam-preparation courses, I began with House.

The participants accepted that this was the way I taught and got on with the task of becoming someone else for the evening, for the sake of learning to speak fluent English.

As part of House, we had Quiz Nights, a role-play that focused on knowledge of the grammar rules and relevant vocabulary. We incorporated study sessions as role plays and even had exam practice as one of the House Events. The House grew to become what we wanted it to be, we made it serve us.

I later learned that House was inspired by Georg Lazanov’s Suggestopedia, aka Accelerated Learning.

Summary

• New teachers come with new methods. Untrained teachers come with old experiences.
• New participants, new methods. We cannot assume that last year’s methods will work this year
• The turn of the year can be a time to turn to new methods
• In-service training must include new methods and training in how to implement them
• Letting go of what we think others want from us is part of taking on the new methods
• Trusting that any method is subordinate to the participants’ willingness to learn
• Asking participants what they want to learn, and co-designing the learning activities, means they are invested in the methods being used
• Teachers remain the authority, of the methods used and the subject being taught