Karenne on teaching- interview Part Two
An Interview with Karenne of Kalinago English, part 2
Where are you teaching and what kind of teaching do you usually do?
I mostly teach at software and IT companies and also at one of the biggest banks in Stuttgart, Germany. My students are adults, mainly top level management and CEOs.
I’ve also maintained a connection with one of the language institutes here even though they don’t pay very well: in order to keep my fingers in ESP Financial English and thus not niche myself too firmly in only ESP IT.
What’s your teaching philosophy?
Give students what they need disguised as what they want.
You seem to be an enthusiast for both Dogme and Technology, two things which by recent online exchanges, don’t often go together.
Do you have a philosophy of how they can?
I’d rather just refer to Any Given Dogma, a blog posting of mine where I offer Scott Thornbury’s latest thoughts on that question – although I should add that even this ‘change’ is in a current state of development – opinions from the tech team Graham Stanley, Gavin Dudeney and Howard Vickers and opposing counsel Diarmuid Fogarty, Rob Haines and others contributing to some rather thrilling discussions within the dogme group.
How would you describe your teaching approach – e.g. percentages of Dogme, CLT, etc?
It’s not really possible to break down what percentage of my classes are dogme and what percentage is anything else – dogme is a mindset not just an approach.
I am a dogme teacher – no matter what I teach, whether it’s with the students and the bright blue sky before me or using a exam preparation textbook, a computer hooked up to a data projector: it’s all conversation driven, student-centered and focused on emergent language, materials-light.
Does a love of teaching with technology come naturally to you or have you had to force yourself to use it?
We all use technology in our classes: tape recorders are technology.
Whiteboard and their markers came out during my teaching career and I don’t miss chalk dust, not in the slightest.
Books… when did every student having a textbook become the norm?
I didn’t start using gadgets or web 2.0 tools with my learners until about 2-3 years ago but yes, have taken to it like a duck to water, simply because of the effect this practice has had on my ability to co-source materials within my students’ interests and because my students enjoy the challenge of the activities we decide on together.
I am an advocate for teaching with technology because of the marked motivation and progress in learners and because it is a part of the world I live in, part of our global future.
What is your favourite TEFL book ever and why?
Finally an easy question!
How to Teach Speaking by Scott Thornbury, published by Longman Pearson.
This is one of the most accessible books about teaching English available in the market. My copy is dog-eared, bookmarked, notes in the margins of things I’m not sure about or that I want to examine more closely.
What makes it unique is this: many, many methodology books are written for teachers doing higher study – the diploma or their masters in TESOL – i.e. written to be read so elements of this can be quoted in an essay, used to pass an exam or to be frank, just written to show off one’s higher command of the English language to the author’s academic peers while confusing everyone else into not realizing that the tosh written was not researched properly, not tried out in real classes, nor does it actually make sense.
How to teach speaking is not like that.
Written fluidly, each chapter flowing comfortably into the next, aimed at normal, everyday TEFL teachers going on about their teaching day, looking for some good solid advice on how to teach this very vital skill without having smoke blown in their face, without being intimidated by complex diagrams and illegible jargon.
It starts off by talking about the concepts, what the students know and how speaking in L1 is different to speaking in L2. Then provides language awareness-raising activities (my favorite part of the book) and lastly, offers practical tips to put these into practice.
What’s the most recent TEFL book you liked and why?
Two books:
Teaching Unplugged , also by Scott Thornbury (with Luke Meddings) and Drama and Improvisation by Ken Wilson.
Teaching Unplugged is billed as the dogme bible however is useful for anyone interested in delivering student-centered lessons.
It offers background and philosophies, a solid understanding on how to teach effectively and also encourages teachers to become reflective of their teaching practices.
The first part is better than the second – it’s not that the activities therein aren’t golden but the presentation of them can be a little hard to understand – to put a finger on it, perhaps too much talk-text for such a materials-light approach.
The third part provides ways of incorporating “unplugged” activities into exam classes, large groups, working with young learners and specialized English.
Wilson’s Drama and Improvisation is a brilliant book offering endless creative real-play (simulations) and role-play activities which can be easily incorporated within any lesson.
Although it’s mainly aimed at general English, I see much scope for adapting the ideas to any group type e.g. Murder of a Superhero.
In my opinion it’s an important book to buy if you want to add personalization to your lessons and if you’re a teacher looking for a way of having fun while sticking to the learning objectives yet exiting the dullness of using a textbook from cover to cover.
Any non-TEFL books or persons who have influenced your teaching?
Not just my teaching: my approach to business, my life philosophies.
Is there anything you do in the classroom that you hate as a student?
Oh lord, yes.
Whenever I am learning a new language I hate it when I don’t know a word and someone tries to explain it me by explaining around the word, using more words I don’t understand, rather than just simply translating it.
But I do do this, because that’s what we were taught to do, isn’t it. LOL.
I really should have a conversation with my students and ask what they think – I didn’t reflect on this point until you asked, Alex!
To read part 1, Karenne on blogging come here
Tags: Interviews
October 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Dogme is experience disguised as methodology. I fully appreciate what you’re saying and see its positives, but would you recommend it as an approach to a new teacher, rather than, say, allowing dogme to gradually come into the way you handle your time in the class?
I love your blog, Karenne, and thank Alex for some thoughtful and probing questions.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Quite a good point, actually. I’ve had the same ＊whisper＊ at the back of my mind for a while…..
October 11th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Actually, I think that was one of the questions I sent that Karenne didn’t choose (part of the plan- there were far too many!):
“Are there any kinds of classes or students you think your approach wouldn’t work with?”
October 11th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Oops, sorry Alex – you’re right, sorry I didn’t answer that (not intentional – I cut and pasted and missed it).
“Are there any kinds of classes or students you think your approach wouldn’t work with?”
I don’t know.
It has always worked for me. My colleagues have always put the way I turn any student/ any group of students into fluent speakers down to “personality” -something that has always pissed me off because in fact, I’m not always nice… but I always work for the people in the room and not my bosses (when I had them).
I’ve worked with so many different kinds of students, from the little ones to exam groups to mature (60+ students) – my BEC group were the first to get the BEC in Ecuador… but whether this approach works for all students, how could I possibly answer?
Adam, Darren –
When I started teaching I didn’t know what I was doing yet taught for 2.5 years before getting certified.
Without blowing smoke myself, I’m an intrapersonal learner and teacher – the only real resources I had in Hong Kong were my learners.
In most cases, in the beginning, they knew much more about grammar than I did so to be honest, I sneakily let them teach each other – when this worked, I simply continued it and found that in general, the more that actually came from the learners themselves and their peers, the more they retained the vocabulary and structures.
I was dogme way before I knew what dogme meant.
Even when I eventually got around to doing my certTESOL I instinctively knew that “my way” of teaching – using the learners in the room – was much more effective than the PPP I was taught to do so I ditched it and continued focusing on figuring out what the students needed and wanted.
But can any new teacher do this, I’ve no idea!
October 11th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Some can but some can’t Karenne. I used to “train” unqualified, inexperienced teachers recruited in their home countries to come and work in private language schools here in Japan. Some had a natural ability to make things simple, to respond to the students as fellow humans, but others just found it hard. I helped a few people hone techniques and access their creativity, and after a few months most teachers in the job most teachers improved from their starting position – some became excellent teachers, most were decent.
But sometimes you would come across a person who didn’t have the personality for it – they couldn’t connect to people. So shall we say dogme is an attitude to life, that becomes far easier with experience?