Teaching and learning global english using social media and social interaction

Teaching and learning global English using social media and social interaction

Contents
What is English Out There (EOT)
Judge for yourself
How it works
What it looks like
What the English speakers do
Useful links

What is EOT

What is EOT?
Highly effective series of modular English courses:
800 hours, 6 levels, beginner to advanced (CEF)
60 hours approx. per level
illustrated student worksheets
digital and print, audio (MP3)
translated into 5 languages
Three styles: Self-study/Teacher 1:1/Teacher Group
covers all skills
focused on speaking and listening i.e. where students need most practice
perfect complement to any core course or curriculum
step-by-step student, teacher and tutor instructions

USP – Social media
EOT is the world’s first social media English course
Works with all online social media platforms and free web telephony
Every lesson involves integrated and structured listening/speaking practice with fluent and native-English speaking practice partners using social media

Why was EOT created?
To improve on what existed
To make language learning much more memorable
To facilitate focused real practice
To socialize the learning experience
To boost confidence, fluency and motivation fast
To combat the fear of speaking

How was EOT created?
Lateral thinking
“ Why can’t students speak after years of teaching?”
“ Why do many learners’ minds go blank just before they try to speak?”
“ How do we make it real and more relevant to the core aim, communication?”
Research
Psycholinguistics (e.g. Skehan, Krashen, Vygotski, Pinker, Ellis, Kuhl, Proulx & Heine)
Real feedback from students and teachers
teach, adjust, teach, adjust...

What method is it based on? EOT is based upon the Communicative Method (used by most language courses in the world), but it uses a redesigned lesson plan format that is used in every single session. This new format means that real practice of the target language happens minutes after the language has been studied. The course includes elements of psycholinguistic research and the application of practical memory enhancing techniques that lead to improved ‘memory mapping’ . All of this helps learners to remember the target language better and to feel much more confident .

Can you hear a difference?

Real online EOT case studies
Jane, 27, Chinese, architecture student in Strasbourg, fluent in Chinese and French, Beginner, after 18 hours of EOT – click here to listen and compare two clips
(6 mins)
Waldek, 29, Polish, small business owner, fluent in Polish, pre-Intermediate, after 30 hours of EOT – click here to listen and compare two clips (6 mins)
Skype chat with Czech English teacher: "Nina: Jason, great work on Jane!! Nina: I just listened to it Jason West: she turned passive knowledge into active knowledge...fast. Nina: yes, indeed! Jason West: Like unblocking a plug hole ;) Nina: amazing :) Nina: so how did you do that :) From a Greek English teacher’s blog http://brainfriendlyesl.blogspot.com/2010/04/whats-future-of-education.html

How research-based
EOT works

Links that create understanding and help recall . i.e. “ This new language…”  ” is similar to…”  ” is related to…”  “ is because….” EOT language focus i.e. language studied Existing language + Out There Task for the session + the real experience of what was actually said and understood. What is Constructivism and how does it relate to EOT? Original source: www.geoffpetty.com or in Mujis, D. & Reynolds, D. (2001) Sounds, images, emotions and context.

The Learning Pyramid: The recall rate of different teaching strategies. The National Training Laboratories (US) Source: www.geoffpetty.com or in Mujis, D. & Reynolds, D. (2001) 5 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 50 % 75 % 90 % Listening Reading Audio -Visual Demonstration Discussion groups Practice by doing Teach others/immediate use of learning Students Receive Information i.e.Conventional classroom based teaching Students Apply their Learning i.e. EOT Students are Increasingly active, and challenged. Experience is increasingly practical, social and multi-sensory Student’s recall rate

Latest research into 'social learning‘
Dr. Patricia Kuhl (Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington) 'a new view of language acquisition‘ which was followed by 'Neural substrates of language acquisition‘ (Kuhl & Rivera-Gaxiola 2008)
"Which causal mechanisms underlie the critical period for second language acquisition - why are adults, with their superior cognitive skills, unable to learn as well as young infants? Can techniques be developed to help adults learn a second language?”

Latest research into ‘implicit learning‘
Proulx & Heine - 2009 'Exposure to Meaning Threats* Improves Implicit Learning of an Artifical Grammar (Connections from Kafka)' (click)
“ Priming motivational states has been found to improve performance on implicit-learning tasks.”
“ ..the cognitive mechanisms responsible for implicitly-learning novel patterns of association are enhanced by the presence of a meaning threat.”
* Trying to communicate in a second language involves naturally occurring meaning threats

EOT is both a pedagogic and a psychological process… It proves that good preparation before socialization quickly helps learners to speak with more confidence and fluency ‘ Bonjour, deux baguettes, s’il vous plait’ Or ‘Doh!’ (i.e. no sound or slow, faltering and hesitant speech) "Monitor "overusers" are performers who feel they must "know the rule" for everything and do not entirely trust their feel for grammaticality in the second language. One case, "S", described by Stafford and Covitt (1978), remarked: "I feel bad... when I put words together and I don't know nothing about the grammar." In Stevicks terms (Stevick, 1976, p. 78), overusers may suffer from "lathophobic aphasia", an "unwillingness to speak for fear of making a mistake"." Stephen Krashen Yerkes-Dodson law (first observed by Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson, The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation (1908) Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18, 459-482) EOT © Languages Out There Ltd

Does it work? 1 day = a 3 hour lesson 1 week = 15 hours Sample size 726 Age of clients: 14-65 Nationalities: 35

Regular feedback comments about EOT: “ not boring”, “exciting”, “helps me to memorise”, “it helps me to speak after class”, “real English”. First independent review: “ These materials have an extra dimension …the Out There tasks encourage students to speak with others, either face to face in a public venue or using VoIP technology such as Skype in order to speak with a partner or small group. There are many things that I like about these well-structured worksheets. There are a mixture of activities, such as work-definition matches, sentence gap-fills and picture descriptions which get the students practicing the target language. Vocabulary expansion and speaking skills are core components of this course which I think would be very useful to many students. The topic areas covered are interesting and relevant, introducing everyday language and colloquial and idiomatic expressions to students. The thematic worksheets include a wide range of topics including travel, music, technology, beauty, fears and idioms/slang...” (TEFL.net, October 2009) http:// tefl.net/reviews/english -out-there

The EOT course
Highly flexible – three styles
TD (group taught), SS (self-study) and new OO (1:1) style lesson plans
Real world or online use, or a combination
Allows learners to get focused real practice of language studied
Works in different ways at different levels:
Beginner – increases confidence and helps ‘survival’
Advanced – very high level language + real ‘street’ vocabulary
Six levels
60 hours per level
3 hours (approx. per learner session)
50% input, 25% activity, 25% result
Tried and tested and now ready to market
6 years of teaching, 2 of editing, 250,000 contact hours, 85,000 lessons

Stage 1- Input
Classroom,
Virtual classroom,
Self study
Grammar
Vocabulary
Skills
Controlled practice

Use language just learnt by talking to people on the telephone, online or on the street
Enjoyable, exciting and memorable learning experience
Real focused practice of listening, speaking, reading and writing
Stage 2 - Speak

Focused conversation becomes free conversation
New language and vocabulary are heard and explained
Correction happens naturally
Personal contextualization of the learning experience makes it much more memorable
Social learning ‘buzz’
Stage 3 - Result

What EOT looks like

Meet the family

I do some self-study or a teacher guides me through the EOT materials.. ..then she talks to me on the telephone, online or in the street. We start by using the language from the lesson.

Clear instructions for both teachers and learners Six levels: 1.Beginner (A1) 2.Elementary (A2) 3.Pre-intermediate (B1) 4.Intermediate (B2) 5.Upper-intermediate (C1) 6.Advanced (C2)

Student worksheets 20 lessons per level Each input session lasts approximately 1.5-2.5hrs* Unlimited speaking time * self-study and 1:1, depending upon the individual

Out There Task Gives you a way to start talking Uses the language in the lesson Speak for as long as you like with as many people as you want – on the phone, online or on the street Let the conversation take its own course Have fun and connect socially

What makes EOT so different from other courses?
Integrates structured listening and speaking practice using social media (USP)
Motivates and boosts confidence, lowering the student’s anxiety level and creating a ‘buzz of success’
‘ Passive knowledge becomes active knowledge’ – Belgrade Univ. ELT students
Quickly improves speaking and listening skills
Totally flexible - works in all social and technological environments
Global English – hear modern language use from fluent English speakers of all backgrounds
Tried and tested over 250,000 hours
Lots of fun and never ever boring

How does the social media practice in EOT work?

Simple steps to creating a Personal Learning Network
Join an international social network and make some online friends
Contact them using the words “Hi, I am doing English Out There can I practise with you, it will only take a few minutes each time”, in the text chat system and using the special pre-written EOT message
Make as many English speaking friends as you can, preferably in different time zones and with different accents
The more practice partners you have the more likely you will be able to practice 24/7 and be able to hear global English
Do the lesson and prepare the Out There Task questions
See who is online and text them to see if they can talk
Call those who say ‘yes’ and use the language from the lesson to break the ice and get going

EOT tools

Consumer and Institutional product
Current file formats
PDF, MP3, print
Environments where EOT can currently be used
real classroom, virtual classroom
free web telephony (Skype), PSTN telephone (landline)
free online social media (Facebook), face-to-face social interaction (street)
virtual worlds (Second Life)
Future file formats
XML, SCORM, SWF and so on...
Ebook
Future environments where it will be utilised
any and all
we have plans that we prefer not to divulge at the moment
Future proof

The last word…from a student…
“ I’ve never thought that I would enjoy this school this much. I think everyone must try something like that once in a lifetime, it is just not good for your English, it is also good for your entire life. ”
Arda Ozdemir, Turkey.
www.languagesoutthere.com

Useful links:
Listen to some students doing some EOT by phone in these case studies:
http:// languagesoutthere.podomatic.com /
Watch some video presentations about EOT, video newsletters and meet some learners:
http:// www.youtube.com/user/LanguagesOutThere
http://www.facebook.com/EnglishOutThere
Using EOT materials to guide learners in a virtual classroom:
http://www.wiziq.com/English-Out-There-Intermediate-lesson-3
Real world social learning using EOT materials:
http://www.meetup.com/English-Out-There-London-English-conversation/
Download a free EOT ebook endorsed by Professor Steven Pinker:
http://www.scribd.com/For-Want-of-a-Better-Word-endorsed-by-Steven-Pinker-

http://www.languagesoutthere.com	234
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Teaching and learning global english using social media and social interaction

by Jason West on Apr 26, 2010

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Teaching and learning global english using social media and social interaction — Webinar Transcript