I am a passionate non- native English teacher from Poland. Teaching is a crucial part of my life. With that understanding, I am a lifelong learner.
I am applying a blended learning/ training and flipped classroom method.
The traditional physical classroom settings are not efficient enough for my lessons.
In my opinion, technology gives us countless new possibilities.
As I have already specified, I prefer blended learning, which means taking advantage of both traditional f2f techniques and opportunities confronted with new technologies.
An occasion to meet and connect with people from the entire Globe is one of the reasons I appreciate online communication very much.
I retired in October 2013 and signed for a freelance Senior Lecturer occupation at the Wroclaw University of Technology.
At present, I am going to continue taking and giving online English courses.
Thinking in a foreign language is precisely what I want my students to accomplish. I teach without a bridge language or lingua franca also known as a common language, trade language or even vehicular language. Students do not share any mutual language. I focus on practical communication skills which cover the ability to speak appropriately to a wide variety of students while maintaining good eye contact, demonstrate a varied vocabulary and tailor the language to your audience. We need to listen effectively, present ideas appropriately, write clearly and in brief and work well in a group. All of these abilities and competencies require excellent communication skills.

When I teach Polish, my foreigners and I have to speak only Polish, and my English classes are run entirely in English.
This means they are required to forget about their native language and start speaking as well as thinking in a foreign language.
My students learn English in different contexts, mostly singing phrases, expressions, collocation, idioms, and phrasal verbs, and also telling stories.
I correct only substantial mistakes. I do not want them to stop talking. I also encourage my students to listen to songs, watch movies with subtitles in a language they learn, read a lot and so forth.
Additionally, to improve a student’s pronunciation, I often use YouTube videos as well as movies with English subtitles and songs.

Polish Christmas Tradition and Customs

By Halina Ostańkowicz--Bazan

TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY
By Halina Ostankowicz- Bazan

What does teaching with technology mean to me?
To me, teaching with technology involves the development of my approaches that includes four major modules: the course content, the coach, the students and the technology implements.
After over thirty years of teaching, I felt bored with my traditional technics and wanted to find some inspiration, as well as improvement.
My motivation, to search for the updated coaching methods, was an eagerness to get my classes more challenging and more exciting.

Determining how to teach with technology has assisted me to make progress as an instructor and a scholar. Educational activity with technology can deepen student learning by supporting instructional objectives. Nevertheless, it can be challenging to choose the “best” tech tools while not losing sight of your destinations for student scholarship.
In the classroom, technology can encompass all sorts of tools from low-tech pencil, newspaper publisher, and chalkboard, to the utilization of presentation software, or high-tech tablets, online collaboration, and conferencing tools, and more. The new technologies allow us to try things in physical and virtual classrooms that were not possible before. What you use depends fundamentally on what you are attempting to reach.
I like this model;
http://www.nowhereroad.com/twt/animations/TechAdopt.html
According to Gregory and Denby Associates significant implications for teaching with technology state that education should attempt to build upon each student’s experiential base.
What a teacher / student learns from education is, to a great extent, a purpose of prior knowledge.
One function of engineering science, thus, is to bridge personal experiences and formal in traction. Technology should also be sufficiently flexible to adapt to teachers’ / students' on-going instructional needs. One of the symbols of a master teacher is the ability to recognize and repair student’s misunderstandings and misconceptions.

What answer I expect students to learn from the online class?
I would like to get my students interested in learning, improving general understanding of the need to ask questions as well as to search for resolutions.
I expect my learners to change their studying habits so that can grow an appropriate background education and become more receptive to fresh ways of acquiring knowledge.

What skills and knowledge do I want them to acquire by the end of the course?
By the end of the course, students should improve speaking and listening skills as well as become more confident in communication in English.
Students / participants will possess a solid apprehension of what the communicative approach to language teaching is and how it pertains to them.
Learners will practice updated, efficient studying methods and will make implausible progress through self-study.

Finally, course participants will achieve a high fluency level of conversational English.
Also, to enhance their pronunciation, improving speaking skills and language fluency, students will be prepared for a variety English speaking module exams.
After my https://www.wiziq.com/course/64625-halina-s-conversational-english
Halina’s Conversational English online course I would like my students to;

• Improve speaking competence and English fluency
• Increase communication efficiency
• Use strategies for making Small Talk effectively
• Come ready for a variety English speaking environments
• Prepare for different Spoken English, examinations, and audiences

What teaching strategies (lecture, discussion, group work, case studies, and so forth) will best assist students to attain these ends?
The best teaching approaches for my learners are speaking as well as listening strategies. Apparently we run-through presentations, discussions, conversations, dialogues, teamwork and case studies. I would like to point out that I just use actual, real texts, from the books, newspapers, the song’s lyrics, movies. We often take advantage of different kinds of listening comprehension such as listening to the news, interview presentations, et cetera.
In my view, the most imperative teaching method is encouraging students and motivating them to be active learners.
Broadly talking, in my course I will take advantage of both synchronous lessons and asynchronous communication supported with PowerPoint presentations, recording as well as listening assignments, discussions, and a diversity of jobs such as melting down or giving interviews, making English speaking videos, creating classes.

http://youtu.be/RVf0eN4Qxpw
Being creative is a must in the language classroom.
In one of the TED talks, Sir Ken Robinson said that creativity is as important as literacy and as such must be promoted in any classroom. Nowadays, however, most Foreign Language syllabuses follow the testing-oriented approach to allow for more objective assessment of the students.
For recognizable reasons, the testing-oriented approach does not generate a context for learners being creative. Therefore, creativity is not promoted or is even booted out in total.
In my course, I will argue that in the context of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching creativeness is essential. It leads to a better and faster assimilation of language material, and it generates a richer language environment. Moreover, inventiveness unpredictably enough may make better test results, no matter the learner's level is.
Halina Ostańkowicz- Bazan

References
Online publications, virtual communities and more blogs
• Campus Technology.
• EDUCAUSE is an online research community
• EdTech: Focus on Higher Education.
• eLearn Magazine
• Learning through Digital Media
• HASTAC: Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory
Videos
• Clickers in the Classroom and other short educational videos from the University of Colorado
• Creating a PDF with video: “One easy way to make readings come alive for your students.”
Resources from other teaching and learning centers
• Technology, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Texas, Austin
• Technology in the Classroom, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan
• Educational Technologies, Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia

Technology engages students in learning
• Flipping the classroom
• Encourage active learning
• Student developing writing skills
• Discussion
• Large lecture instruction
Teaching and learning with technology
Service learning option
Face-to-face
Learn to Blend and Flip with Technology
http://www.integrating-technology.org/enrol/index.php?id=507
Teaching with Technology
http://www.integrating-technology.org/enrol/index.php?id=493
Micro Teaching in Pairs
http://www.integrating-technology.org/course/view.php?id=501

Learning Theories

By Halina Ostankowicz- Bazan

February 2016

There are 12 learning theories:

• Constructivism

• Behaviorism

• Piaget's Developmental Theory

• Neuroscience

• Brain-Based Learning

• Learning Styles

• Multiple Intelligences

• Right Brain/Left Brain

• Thinking

• Communities of Practice

• Control Theory

• Observational Learning

• Vygotsky and Social Cognition

http://www.funderstanding.com/about_learning.cfm.

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Learning means bringing changes, by learning human enters new society and culture. When they learned new understanding, they perform on it. Otherwise, they lose it.

As stated earlier, learning transfers changes (behaviorism) and creates new knowledge or increases information (cognitive skills).  Education empowers our brain and beliefs, so it encourages our intellectual power to improve knowledge.

Relevant Theories of Language Learning

1. Behaviorist Theories

2. Universal Grammar Theory

3. Krashen’s Monitor Theory

4. Cognitive Theory

5. Conversation Theory

6. Schumann’s Acculturation Theory

The conversational theory is a transdisciplinary learning theory. Developed by Gordon Pask in 1975, it is influenced by a range of cybernetics, linguistics, computer science concepts, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology.

What learning theories do you follow and why?

How do you incorporate them into your teaching? Try to be as specific as you can. 

I use the mix of different theorists depends on the kind of my students.

In my view, theoretical concepts do not yield concrete prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

Non-formal education and informal learning are vital for improving language learning.

How People Learn and What are their Learning Styles?

This is my video about the topic

https://youtu.be/ANObYwBfmu0?list=PLSY4veVfjc63CFZvyfcU96ZodmJp3h5xV

Nowadays the dominant theory is socio-constructivism which can be defined as an approach according to which individual knowledge relies on its social construction of it. (Piaget, Doise and Mugny, 1984). Particularly relevant in this respect are the communication processes (learning dialogs) occurring in situations where at least two persons try to solve a problem. The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activities. Accordingly, learning designs should enhance local collaboration and dialogue, but also engage other actors (e.g. domain experts) to participate in certain ways. Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.

Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:

• Reflection & Exchange
• Scaffolding & Storyboarding
• Facilitation & Content
• Monitoring & Assessment
• Production, Investigation, etc.
• Psychological support & Community.

         http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Socio-constructivism

Theoretical concepts do not produce actual prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory increasingly relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Additionally, I would like to highlight Constructivism as one of the hot topics in educational philosophy right now. It potentially has profound inferences about how current traditional' instruction is structured, since it goes with several highly exposed educational trends, for example:

• the transition of the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" (fount/transmitter of knowledge) to "guide on the side" (facilitator, coach);
• teaching "higher order" skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and reflection (for example, see also creative learning);
• enabling learners to learn how to learn;
• increasing flexibility in the evaluation of learning outcomes;
• cooperative and collaborative learning skills.

For me, language learning through conversation and open communication is the most effective teaching technique.

I want my students to become active learners. As the brain works on a use-it-or-lose-it style, means students must apply whatever they learn.

It is necessary to use the new phrase or a character in a real situation. Also, learning the words and phrases through original videos helps to learn faster.

Moreover, I encourage my students to make language learning a passion.

I combine the fun of language learning with the commitment to follow through. They should remember that feeling the need to learn a new wording is not enough to take an action. Give yourself clarity on what exactly compels you to learn a new language.

My tips are;

• Figure out the how to comprehend a desire to learn.
• What’s the goal behind it?
• What’s the bigger picture?
• How will learn a new language open opportunities in future?
• Just answering these questions will motivate learners to get to the much higher level to take action when necessary.

             http://www.learning-theories.com/

             http://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/

            http://infed.org/mobi/learning-theory-models-product-and-process/

            http://tip.psychology.org/

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/heycoach/1197947341/

            http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/theories.htm

            https://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/sara%C3%ADs-e-porfolio/theories-language-learning

            https://youtu.be/YPcBPNRTjmQ

When we decide to teach adults, the awareness, as well as comprehension of whom we teach and what we learn, is essential here.

1) Adults do not want to waste the time.

Some adults take language courses because of a job requirement while others have their particular goal to attain (such as a language exam or a professional interview). Adults expect direct, practical benefit. All of them will raise the similar questions
• Why,
• What for,
• How,
• Who (is my teacher?),
• What else could I achieve instead?
• Is the time well spent?
All lessons must have a definite outcome, perhaps even a practical takeaway. It is necessary to define specific profits at the end of the lesson and associate the benefits to the individual learning purposes.
2) Adults are reflective learners; they think about
• what is challenging or where I require more support
• different learning strategies and self-evaluation
• maintaining a sense of responsibility for learning and achieving goals
3) Motivation is varied, and flexibility is crucial.

Teachers have to be flexible and ready for different approaches, wide-ranging content or even unconventional paths to lead to the same goal.
Creating a context for meaningful learning is one of the tasks.
4) Mature students feel the need for direct benefit as well as valuable language skills.

• Learners are looking for a solution to an exact problem at hand, immediately.
• The fundamental question is: “What should I do to get this to work?”
• Mature learners usually want to accomplish a particular task, or at least, see a noticeable benefit for the future.
• Adults want to use language for a real-world reason.
5) The different abilities of adult learners are evident.
The following chart identifies some fundamental differences between children and adults as learners:

Child and Adult Learning Characteristics
 Child        Adults

• Rely on others to decide what is important to be learned.
• Decide for themselves what is important to be learned.

• Accept the information being presented at face value.
• Need to validate the information based on their beliefs and values.

• Expect what they are learning to be useful in their long-term future.
• Expect what they are learning to be immediately useful.

• Have little or no experience upon which to draw, are relatively "blank slates."
• Have substantial experience upon which to draw.
• May have fixed viewpoints.

The adult learners need a greater sense of cooperation between the student and teacher as they go on through the educational process (Zmeyov, 1998).
Furthermore, experienced individuals may bring supplementary skills such as a higher level of maturity and a different understanding of world matters and geopolitics than traditional students (Byman, 2007).

Personally, I am against using grammar boards, linguistic terms and other abstractions in language teaching. However, if they can help the mature student why do not explain the grammar rules?

http://www.mysdcc.sdccd.edu/Staff/Instructor_Development/Content/HTML/Adult_Learning_Page1.htm

Learning Theories

There are 12 learning theories:

•    Constructivism

•    Behaviorism

•    Piaget's Developmental Theory

•    Neuroscience

•    Brain-Based Learning

•    Learning Styles

•    Multiple Intelligences

•    Right Brain/Left Brain

•    Thinking

•    Communities of Practice

•    Control Theory

•    Observational Learning

•    Vygotsky and Social Cognition

http://www.funderstanding.com/about_learning.cfm.

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Learning means bringing changes, by learning human enters new society and culture. When they learned new understanding, they perform on it. Otherwise, they lose it.

As stated earlier, learning transfers changes (behaviorism) and creates new knowledge or increases information (cognitive skills).  Education empowers our brain and beliefs, so it encourages our intellectual power to improve knowledge.

Most important theories related to language learning.

1.       Behaviorist,

2.       Cognitive,

3.       Constructivism,

4.       Chomsky’s Universal Grammar

5.       Schumann’s Acculturation / Orientation in a new culture,

6.       Krashen’s Monitor

7.       Conversation

The conversation theory is a transdisciplinary learning theory. Developed by Gordon Pask in 1975, it is influenced by a range of cybernetics, linguistics, computer science concepts, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology.

What learning theories do you follow and why?

How do you incorporate them into your teaching? Try to be as specific as you can. 

I use the mix of different theoriesIt depends on the kind of my students.

In my view, theoretical concepts do not yield concrete prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

Non-formal education and informal learning are vital for improving language learning.

How People Learn and What are their Learning Styles?

This is my video about the topic

https://youtu.be/ANObYwBfmu0?list=PLSY4veVfjc63CFZvyfcU96ZodmJp3h5xV

Nowadays the dominant theory is socio-constructivism which can be defined as an approach according to which individual knowledge relies on its social construction of it. (Piaget, Doise and Mugny, 1984). Particularly relevant in this respect are the communication processes (learning dialogs) occurring in situations where at least two persons try to solve a problem. The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activities. Accordingly, learning designs should enhance local collaboration and dialogue but also engage other actors (e.g. domain experts) to participate in certain ways. Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.

Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:

• Reflection & Exchange
• Scaffolding & Storyboarding
• Facilitation & Content
• Monitoring & Assessment
• Production, Investigation, etc.
• Psychological support & Community.

         http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Socio-constructivism

Theoretical concepts do not produce actual prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory increasingly relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Additionally, I would like to highlight Constructivism as one of the hot topics in educational philosophy right now. It potentially has profound inferences for how current `traditional' instruction is structured, since it goes with several highly exposed educational trends, for example:

• the transition of the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" (fount/transmitter of knowledge) to "guide on the side" (facilitator, coach);
• teaching "higher order" skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and reflection (for example, see also creative learning);
• enabling learners to learn how to learn;
• increasing flexibility in the evaluation of learning outcomes;
• cooperative and collaborative learning skills.

For me, language learning through conversation and open communication is the most effective teaching technique.

I want my students to become active learners. As the brain works on a use-it-or-lose-it style, means students must apply whatever they learn.

It is necessary to use the new phrase or character in a real situation. Also learning the words and phrases through original videos helps to learn faster.

Moreover, I encourage my students to make language learning a passion.

I combine the fun of language learning with the commitment to follow through. They should remember that feeling the need to learn a new wording is not enough to take an action. Give yourself clarity on what exactly compels you to learn a new language.

My tips are;

• Figure out the how to comprehend a desire to learn.
• What’s the goal behind it?
• What’s the bigger picture?
• How will learn a new language open opportunities in future?
• Just answering these questions will motivate learners to get to the much higher level to take action when necessary.

What challenges are involved in learning online?

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for teachers is to deliver a consistent experience to a large and varied general populations.

Teachers and students should not carry through device management. Their priorities should be placed on learning.

Technology is not the creator. Substantial belief in innovation is less important than the requirements of students and teachers.

Teachers have a well-defined responsibility with implementing, and identifying, the best combination of digital learning tools for each student.

Different approaches to learning, such as project-based learning,  active education, game-based learning, and more, is a part of personalized blended learning models. Consequently, such innovations will call for demonstration how their package improves learning outcomes.

Most challenges have to do with the procedures, but they have nothing to do with the teaching itself. To make it simple, if you know how to teach, all you need to do is learn about the elementary online tools available for online teaching, and begin using them.

As mentioned earlier, teaching an online class can be time-consuming. Also, developing an online course can be overwhelming. Learning and becoming proficient using an LMS takes time, and uploading materials to the online environment is also demanding and takes much time. Once you learn how to use the LMS, you need to get to teach students through it.

The time required to generate a new class can be a problem with developing online classes.

The instructor should be able to take care of the subject matter rather than spend

countless time is managing difficulties connected with the technology.

One of the most recommended ways to cope with the additional time required for teaching online classes is to decrease the class size.

Students also regularly run into technological problems and they need support with technology issues.

Navigating the Unique Challenges of Online Teaching. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/undergrad/ptacc/online-teaching.pdf

LEARNING AND TEACHING ONLINE
by Halina Ostankowicz-Bazan
There are numerous definitions of online learning in the literature, definitions that reflect the diversity of practice and associated technologies. Carliner (1999) defines online learning as educational material that is presented on a computer. Khan (1997) defines online instruction as an innovative approach to delivering instruction to a remote audience, using the Web as the medium.
However, online learning involves more than just the presentation and distribution of the materials using the Web: the learner and the learning process should be the focus of online learning.
Teaching face-to-face and teaching online are both teaching, but they are qualitatively different.Online education starts when faculty move from the traditional classroom to the online classroom. There are some things that the two have in common, but there are also plenty of differences.
1. The online teacher plays the role of guiding students through one or more online learning experiences. These experiences are every so often designed and planned long before the course starts so that the teacher can devote more time to guiding the students and less time preparing lessons. Within this role, the teacher directs and redirects the attention of learners toward fundamental concepts and ideas.
2. Learning is hard work and studying online can sometimes feel isolating, confusing, or discouraging without the guide.
As a result, the effective online teacher makes intentional efforts to communicate precise encouraging messages to individual learners and the group as a whole. Moreover, even when providing constructive feedback, the teacher as supporter finds a way to promote positive messages alongside the critiques. Encouragement and welcoming support are an important approach to maintaining an overall positive morale in the class. At times, learners may fall into negative comments about themselves, the class, or their classmates (even the instructor, on occasion). The coach makes every effort to find ways to listen, respect the learner’s frustrations, but also to help them reframe the situation in a manner that students are more active and creative.
3. Many people focus on the role of the teacher as role model, and that is valuable. However, the role of the coach is just as important, even more, important if we want learners to develop high levels of competence and confidence. The online teacher must move beyond just modeling a depth motivation for the subject and personal skill with the content. The mentor needs to find ways to hand the matter over to the students to do something with it. Applied projects and papers work well for this, and it gives the teacher an opportunity to be a coach and advisor.
4. Learners need some feedback about their work. How are they doing? Are they getting closer to meeting the learning objectives or not? The effective online teacher finds ways to give thoughtful feedback to individual learners and, when appropriate, groups of students.
5. Without intentional efforts to build a positive social environment, online learning can feel lonely and impersonal. As a result, the online teacher must serve as an encouraging host, facilitating introductions, using discussion starters to enable conversations among students, and taking the time to get to know students and referencing that knowledge in interactions with them.
6. The whole thing is documented in an online course. The teacher can tell when and how many times a student logs into the course, what pages were viewed or not, how many discussions posts the student contributed, and much more. This data can be abused, but it can also be used to make adjustments and informed decisions by an online teacher. If a student is not logging in or failing to visit pages in the course with the direct instructions, the coach points that out to the learners or reorganizes the content so that it is easier to find.
7. Online courses are rich with content and sometimes students can get lost in all that content. The teacher as regulator intentionally releases content in chunks that are appropriate for students. Sometimes this comes in the form of only publishing content one week at a time. Other times, the teacher releases it all at once but directs students only to focus on individual parts at a time. Another key is to break content into smaller segments. Rather than a twenty-page document of instructions, it is better to consider breaking it into ten two-page documents.
8. Good teachers are lifelong learners, and they can model that learning for their students in a variety of ways in the online classroom. The teacher can be active (but not too active or it will silence students) participant in online discussions, sharing what they are learning about the subject, and even complete all or fragments of some assignments, sharing their work with the students. The procedure goes a long way in building an exciting and dynamic online learning community where one and all in the community commits to exemplifying the qualities of a lifelong learner.
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/eight-roles-of-an-effective-online-teacher/

What is pair teaching?
What are its benefits and drawbacks?
Index Terms—Pair teaching, pair lecturing, team teaching, reflective practice, reflection-in-action, constructive alignment, teacher development.
Pair lecturing enables a more thorough reflection-on-action since the teaching experience is shared with a pair professor. It also enables deeper reflection-in-action, incorporating student interaction into the lecture plan while keeping the assessment methods and the teaching activities affiliated with the course objectives.
A quick search on the phrase “pair teaching “using Google or Scholar gives many definitions.
http://wiley.force.com/Interface/ContactJournalCustomerServices
https://www.teachervision.com/group-work/cooperative-learning/48547.html
http://wiley.force.com/Interface/ContactJournalCustomerServices
https://www.teachervision.com/group-work/cooperative-learning/48547.html
https://www.teachervision.com/cooperative-learning/resource/48649.html

According to Pair Teaching – an eXtreme Teaching Practice by
Roy Andersson and Lars Bendix
https://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/genombrottet/konferens2006/Insp06-final.pdf
Pair Teaching, is working with a partner who can help and support you during some or all of four fundamental values: Feedback, Communication, Respect, and Courage.
Pair Teaching is highly repetitious or frequentative and covers some specific practices. The objective of cooperation is to support the improvement of student learning.
The partner is supposed to help verify the whole process of going through all of the stages of the learning cycle – and carry on doing it.
In the general remarks, we read about the eXtreme Programming concept.
The Pair Programming practice of eXtreme Programming uses the model of a driver, who does the work and takes care of the details, and a navigator, who observes, comments, asks questions, makes suggestions and, in general, takes care of the big picture. Additionally, it recommends switching between the roles of driver and navigator within a pair. There is also the suggestion that taking turns should apply to the practice of Pair Teaching.
The considerable common definitions of Pair Teaching have absolutely nothing to do with the real setting of teaching in pairs (some of the hits deals with teaching pairs). Pair Teaching is not a well-known and well-defined concept. Searching instead for “team|group|collaborative teaching” gives the impression that these are the words or phrases that are frequently used because of its usage popularity.
However, by insisting on the use of Pair, we want to stress the difference between two people solving a task and a group of people building a product (student learning) and for which they might make use of PT or collaborative teaching.
The cost-effectiveness of Pair Programming is observable, in part, because the two activities (writing the code and reviewing the code) are carried out in parallel. In point of fact that there is no tradition of accurate reflection on teaching in PT, we have to rely more on the benefits to justify the added costs of two people presence. Furthermore, the pair will also be able to take care of larger groups than one person.
Teaching a course together seems to have more benefits than drawbacks.
In conclusion, teaching should not be a solitaire activity, but something that is done in pairs. Done the right way, Pair Teaching can bring many benefits that compensate the additional costs.
Some of these benefits are immediate and explicit – like having someone to brainstorm with, someone who can help “sort out” your ideas, the possibility to handle larger groups of students and the ability to step in for each other in the case of absence. However, most paybacks are more long-term benefits.
Alternatively, “hidden” glitches – like communicating information, assuring quality aspects, educating colleagues are significant. It is important to put an accurate value also to these benefits when judging if Pair Teaching is cost-effective or not.
REFERENCES
1. Andersson, R., Bendix, L., eXtreme Teaching, in proceedings of 3: e Pedagogiska Inspirationskonferensen, LTH, Lund, May 31, 2005.
2. Andersson, R., Bendix, L., Towards a Set of eXtreme Teaching Practices, in proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Science Education, Koli, Finland, November 17-20, 2005.
3. Andersson, R., Bendix, L., eXtreme Teaching – a Framework for Continuous Improvement, to appear in Journal of Computer Scienc Education, 2006.
4. Beck, K.: Extreme Programming Explained – Embrace Change, Second edition, Addison-Wesley, 2005.
5. Boyer, E., L., Scholarship Reconsidered. Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation, 1990.
6. Hedin, G., Bendix, L., Magnusson, B., Teaching eXtreme Programming to Large Groups of Students, Journal of Systems and Software, January 2005.
7. Kolb, D. A., Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning, Prentice-Hall, 1984.
8. Pair teaching in preservice teacher education P Medgyes, E Nyilasi - Foreign Language Annals, 1997 - Wiley Online Library
9. Medgyes, P., and Nyilasi, E. (1997), Pair Teaching in Preservice Teacher Education. Foreign Language Annals, 30: 352–368. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1997.tb02358.x
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1997.tb02358.x/references
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1997.tb02358.x/abstract
http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/genombrottet/konferens2006/Insp06-final.pdf
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1997.tb02358.x/citedby
http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/genombrottet/konferens2006/Insp06-final.pdf

Dear Friends,

I am collecting data for my presentation on MMVC15 Conference on WizIQ.

Here is the link to my session;

https://www.wiziq.com/online-class/2898151-mmvc15-future-of-education

Everyone is invited.

And... this is the link to my form.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1X_Af1tPOwGV44q5ujsOgpQbVtJjqvJCccaNFwqay7Hg/viewform

Could you please, take a moment and fill in the questionnaire?

Thank you very much.

Halina

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1X_Af1tPOwGV44q5ujsOgpQbVtJjqvJCccaNFwqay7Hg/viewform

What are authentic objectives of education?

What is LEARNING?
What is KNOWLEDGE?

What is EDUCATION?

What is THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION?

How do people learn anything?

What do you remember about reading without using technology?

What and how do you learn?

What is your definition of text?

Is education a right or a privilege?

Online or not online?

http://https://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/928605-sbf15-halina-on-competence-in-communication-and-interpersonal-skills

The presentation is about how to communicate efficiently and the ways of improving communication skills.
My online activity inspired me to get reverting to my earlier research about effective communication.
From my view, connecting with the use of the Internet seems to be creating new questions about the way people communicate.
I am working to present a theoretical backdrop to the principles of the process of communication, as well as communications skills models.
My approach is based on the well-known model of the functions of language introduced by Roman Jakobson. Although it is recognizable that Jakobson’s theory can be challenged on numerous grounds from a theoretical perspective, I have always been linked with his theoretical explanation of the purposes of linguistic communication.
“Jakobson and Halle’s initial statement of the principles of linguistic organization should be made available to all future generations of linguists. It builds a solid foundation for Saussurean thinking about linguisic oppositions and establishes distinctive feature theory as the basis of their formal treatment.”
Prof. Dr. William Labov, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics
Along with Roman Jakobson’s functions of the language model, we can formulate some basic queries.
• What is Communication?
• The Categories of Communication.
• The Communication Process.
• Communication Channels.
• Principles of Communication.
• Interpersonal Communication Skills.
• What is an online communication?
• The Benefits of Blogging.
https://www.academia.edu/11562219/Competence_in_Communication_And_Interpersonal_Skills
https://www.wiziq.com/tutorial/928605-sbf15-halina-on-competence-in-communication-and-interpersonal-skills

http://www.wiziq.com/course/14339-blogging-reflective-learning

Course Description
Many teachers feel alone. They wish they could share information and ideas with other teachers around the globe. This course provides teachers with opportunities to collaborate with other teachers on how to blend and flip their classes with technology.

This is a free hands-on professional development course for educators and/or anyone who wants to share information in a socially meaningful way. The course includes live online classes (with recordings), content (via the courseware), discussions (via the course feed), and hands-on activities.

Participants will learn how to create videos using Webcams via WizIQ classes, screencast-o-matic, PowerPoint presentations, and Google drive. They will upload the video files to Youtube and Vimeo for blended learning, the flipped class, and to market their online courses. Participants will learn how to teach with web technologies such as blogs, wikis, google drive, badges, the WizIQ live class, Moodle, social networks, and videos.

In my opinion, introducing new techniques and approaches to language learning seem to be relevant these days.  This is why we, language teachers have to understand the implication of learners’ development to the need for lifelong language education. Therefore, communication skills should be worked on continuously.

 Firstly, teachers should introduce the new possibilities and reflect on engaging students in lifelong language learning. Secondly, teachers should look into the role of a coach/mentor and get learner/teacher in collaboration with students. Education needs to be focused on teaching students how to learn a new language, online and in the community. The teachers should be facilitators, who present new training tools and help students to cooperate as well as act as a team, so they are in control of their language knowledge.  This way students can become independent, mindful learners. 

Moreover, students should be in charge of their own studies. Language tutor ought to be helping them to identify their unique language learning style and then select the suitable activities they would be working on. This means that eventually students will be prepared to take responsibility for their own improvement as well as develop a remarkable learning experience.

Furthermore, grades would be no longer the goal; on the contrary, the primary reason could be described as flexibility in spoken language and confidentiality in communication with diversity of speakers.

Additionally, there will be still high quality self-assessments of the ability to communicate in the language. For instance, learners will be requested to confirm true commitment and relationship with native speakers. Connecting based on verbal conversation or written communication is THE MUST nowadays.

 Since the Internet is such a rich resource, we can use it as a key component in a language learning/teaching contribution. It is a powerful instrument that allows us to make a significant contribution to students’ progress. At the same time, we should bear in mind that the Internet is correspondingly the perfect tool to have beneficial communication with native speakers.

To sum up, what I have just written are my thoughts about XXI century teaching/ learning regarding optionally and supplementary techniques to be considered. 

Being a language teacher for a very long time has made me look for some new ways and inspirations to encourage independent and self-directed learners.

I would like to hear from anybody who is involved in language education. Discussing new methods and technics available in the 21^st century education as well as having some communication and creative dialogue with learners / teachers from all over the world. It is my passion and vision of general improvement.

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught.”
   – Oscar Wilde

I am going to talk about active teaching.

For me - teaching online is using technology in the classroom; as an additional method of traditional teaching.

I am for blended learning which means - taking advantage of both, traditional f2f techniques and possibilities given by new technologies.

Some say that: participants in online classes seem to be more involved and engaged in lesson activities than students in traditional classes.

In my view, we can activate our learners in the same way in both situations.

Getting decent communication in different educational settings requires altered teaching approaches.

This way we are able to change them from passive learners to active students.

But how to help them learn actively and meaningfully, it is a separate issue.

Active learning includes providing chances for students to discuss and listen meaningfully, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject.

(Meyers & Jones, 1993, p. 6)

Confucius’s aphorism:

I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.

(Page 75 Instruction at FSU Handbook 2011)

Should not be forgotten.

By doing and practicing, we build our long term memory library.

Short term recollection is formed mostly by memorizing, which is, unfortunately, assessed in the majority of schools.

My experience tells that I ought to practice active learning principles to progress activities for my students that best mirror my particular communication style and the topics, forms of thinking, and strategies to the problems which are needed to understand and relate to the topics.

This is how I work on creating my “active learners”.

Looking for answers to the most common questions: what, when, where, who, why, why don't, how etc. is always the starting point.

As a result of our discussion - we are able to put together part of incompetent content knowledgeable student with fully involved learner and self-motivated thinker.

Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Taking part in free study lessons and online Speaking Groups, will help a lot. This would also increase our confidence in speaking, as well as improve vocabulary and pronunciation. Additional excellent setting to practice is   Virtual Classroom such as WizIQ, where teachers would encourage us to work on all language skills.

Standards for Foreign Language Learning

Communication

Communicate in Languages Other Than English

Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information,

express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a

variety of topics.

Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of

listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

In my view, the most important skill to master is speaking the language. This is difficult assignment especially if you don’t live or work in a native speaking count. We can look for reliable supports to talk to via Skype. It is essential to find someone whom we’re comfortable speaking with.

The process of natural assimilation, involving intuition and subconscious learning. It is the product of real interactions between people in environments of the target language and culture, where the learner is an active player. It is similar to the way children learn their native tongue, a process that produces functional skill in the spoken language without theoretical knowledge. It develops familiarity with the phonetic characteristics of the language as well as its structure and vocabulary, and is responsible for oral understanding, the capability for creative communication and the identification of cultural values.

A classic example of second language acquisition is the adolescents and young adults that live abroad for a year in an exchange program, often attaining near native fluency, while knowing little about the language. They have a good pronunciation without a notion of phonology, don't know what the perfect tense is, modal or phrasal verbs are, but they intuitively recognize and know how to use all the structures.

The traditional approach to the study of languages and today is still generally practiced in high schools worldwide. Attention is focused on the language in its written form, and the objective is for the student to understand the structure and rules of the language, whose parts are dissected and analyzed. The task requires intellectual effort and deductive reasoning. The body is of greater importance than communication. Teaching and learning are technical and based on the syllabus. One studies the theory in the absence of the practice. One values the correct and represses the incorrect. Error correction is constant leaving little room for spontaneity. The teacher is an authority figure and the participation of the student is predominantly passive. Schools will teach how to form interrogative and negative sentences, force to memorize irregular verbs, study modal verbs, etc., Therefore, students hardly ever masters the use of these structures in conversation.

The efficient teaching of languages isn't that tied to a packaged course of structured lessons based on grammatical sequencing, translation or oral drilling, nor is the one that relies on technological resources. Well-organized teaching is personalized, takes place in a bicultural environment and is based on the personal skills of the facilitator in building relationships and creating situations of real communication with comprehensible input focusing on the learner's interests.

Krashen, Stephen D.  Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.  Prentice-Hall International, 1987.

Krashen, Stephen D.  Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning.  Prentice-Hall International, 1988.

Web source:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-objective-of-education-is-learning-not-teaching/_truncated
http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning/docs/Active_Learning_Florida.pdf_truncated
http://summit.k12.co.us/curriculum/forenlang/forenlang.htm_truncated
http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/authority-professionalism-preplanning-important-skill-person-30641/_truncated

http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning/docs/Active_Learning_Florida.pdf_truncated

Polish Easter Traditions

http://youtu.be/ZHJ1Y9G9ah0

Halina's Blog

As a lifelong learner ,I participate in these courses
http://www.wiziq.com/course/9160-moodle-for-teachers-m4t-tesol-call-is-evo2013
http://www.wiziq.com/course/36159-moodle-mooc-3
http://www.wiziq.com/course/12066-connecting-online-for-instruction-and-learning-conference-co14
These are my current courses.
Why don't you join?

I believe that learning a foreign language is an established training. I've spent my whole life working on mastering languages.
We have to practice every day and should communicate with natives as often as possible.
If we do not have the time or a chance, we will lose our conversational skills.
They say practice makes perfect; whatever I think about this slogan, it seems to be true.
At the same time, I am aware of the fact that I will never speak like a native.
For me, the most noteworthy is communication. In my view, pronunciation is significant as long as the meaning is concerned. Nowadays we talk about “standard English” which has been used internationally.
Many people want to talk like a native. I would like to announce that accents are acceptable as long as they are understandable.
I never force learners to sound like native speakers, simply because they are not, besides I am also not a native English teacher. We must teach towards intelligibility, rather than a 'native' accent. Accent reduction in my opinion means increasing correct and easily understandable accent.
Moreover, I use a lot of songs in my teaching. Through songs, students discover the natural stretching and compacting of the stream of English speech.
Students may orally summarize the spirit or matter of a song or give oral presentations about a song or musician. Many songs tell a story, and these stories can be rewritten or retold to practice narrative or summarizing skills.
This method works for my learners exceptionally well.
Generally, I think that we learn languages to communicate, and accurate delivery is not the most valuable skill to develop.
All in all, everybody needs to improve communication skills, and it is an entire lifetime job, including native speakers.
Therefore from my point of view, the answer to the question - how long does it take to speak a language? – is….
It takes a lifetime.