Instructional Media and the Digital Divide

I taught briefly at a language school in Cambodia, which made me reflect on my use of instructional media and technology in the classroom. I was conducting a class in which the textbook reading was about relationships between people and animals. The night before, I happened to stumble on the most amazing relationship between humans and animals: the African hero rat which clears land mines and can detect tuberculosis. You can find out more about these incredible animals here. I was so excited about showing my students this incredible animal. Then, I realised I had no way of doing that since the classes had no SmartBoards, no computers, no screens. In previous teaching positions, I used SmartBoards and all of my students had a smart phone or tablet, so I could really bring technology into the classroom. In Cambodia, however, the scope for technology is so limited.

Reflection on Let’s Make a Bucket List

I made this word cloud using Wordle

In my line of teaching, I am constantly employing new methods to reach my students. I teach English for Academic Purposes, English for Business Purposes, English for General Purposes, and English for Specific Purposes. So far, I have taught a wide variety of students: high school aged Korean boys learning ESL, college aged Omani students who need to be able to study in English, Portuguese families learning everyday English to get by in a foreign country, pilots who must learn English before they can achieve their dreams of flying, German medical practitioners who speak English perfectly, but need to touch up on jargon for translating medical texts, businesspeople who need specific terms to ensure the success of their companies, and the list goes on. Needless to say, I need to be very flexible so I can meet my students’ needs, and ensure that cultural differences do no impact on the learning process.

Reflecting on Learning Theories Related to Adult Education

Examining various learning theories related to adult education is a crucial step in ensuring that I keep up to date, both with well-established and the latest paradigms, in order to improve my teaching process. It is too easy to get into a rut and merely do what is simplest or most familiar. I have a responsibility to improve my teaching practice, and contribute to existing educational knowledge bases. Familiarity with learning theories is a necessary foundation.

Let’s Make a Bucket List

Lesson Outline

In the last few years, while I have been working as an English Second Language instructor, I have had the opportunity to develop my own lesson material and assessment procedures. I decided to adapt an existing lesson, and make it available as an e-class. The lesson is about idioms, specifically writing a bucket list.

Writing a bucket list is a great way to think about your goals and dreams for the future. In this e-class, aimed at upper intermediate and advanced second language speakers, you will learn about the idea of a bucket list, complete a video comprehension based on The Bucket List, answer a few reflective questions about what you might want to do someday, and write your own bucket list.