ELC (283)
The Professional Development and E-Learning Committees of English Language Centre, UTAS, Ibri, organised an online workshop on Tuesday, 20 October 2020 on 'Use of Class Notebook and Moodle for Effective Online Teaching' which was conducted by Ms Lubna Zia. Ms Zia is a CELTA qualified English Language teacher with more than 15 years of experience of English language teaching in diverse teaching contexts. The workshop started with a brief introduction of MS Teams’ Class Notebook for online teaching. Lubna demonstrated how to use some of the following key features of Class Notebook: creating the content, distribution of the pages, reviewing students work and giving real-time and delayed feedback, locking the page, etc. The presentation was appreciated by the ELC lecturers for its practical approach toward finding solutions to the problems faced by them while they are teaching online via MS Teams..
The English Language Centre Professional Development and E-Learning Committees of UTAS, Ibri, arranged a webinar on Thursday, 8 October 2020 on “A Foreign Language Practical Use as the Main Source of Motivation”. The presenter of the workshop was Natalia Pavliuk, an Associate Professor at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine. She is also a professional translator and interpreter, and the president of the Ukrainian Association of Translators and Interpreters. She teaches English for professional purposes (students of economics, IT, humanities, international relations) and translation at university level. In the webinar, she shared her teaching experiences of making learners enthusiastic about studying a foreign language, which is of high importance for their success. One of the best ways to achieve this is to involve them in the process of teaching, considering their professional and personal interests. She also showed that when learners feel responsible for themselves and each other, they will have a right to choose the material to study and share it with their groupmates. Natalia also discussed multifarious strategies employed by her to keep her learners involved in the process of teaching. Towards the end of the workshop, Dr Abdusalam, the Head of Centre, and Mr Faisal Shamali thanked Natalia Pavliuk for sharing her experiences.
COVID-19 has changed the whole world. It has also affected the academic arenas of schools, colleges and universities. The teachers have faced a new challenge of teaching online. They are upgrading themselves day by day. The ELC of UTAS arranged a workshop on “Teaching online: Fresh ideas to start the new academic year”. Isabella Keilani, the presenter, is a language coach and communication skills expert based in Graz, Austria. She is highly passionate about teaching online and has a great interest in this area.
In the workshop, she shared her engaging and memorable learning experiences about teaching online. She also discussed strategies about how to keep the learners motivated. Her brain-friendly, inclusive tasks and activities made her workshop all the more interesting.
At the end of the workshop, Dr Abdusalam, the head of Center, and Mr Faisal Shamali thanked Isabella Keilani for sharing her experiences.
One of the challenges faced by teachers all over the world during the pandemic is how to effectively replicate classroom teaching, online. Traditionally, writing is best taught in classrooms. The pandemic, however, has forced teachers to make use of online alternatives. Technology has made teaching online easier and faster, irrespective of the student’s location and time.
Effective teaching starts with an effective teacher. A teacher has to conform to the changes in the environment to deliver quality education to students. On 16 September 2020, lecturers of the University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Ibri (UTAS-Ibri) attended a teaching demo of Mr Dennis Primne Corbita on Retooling on Teaching Writing Online. The presentation explained the use of mobile apps and online technology in teaching grammar and writing. Although many were not able to attend, most indicated that they enjoyed the demo class.
The ELC Professional Development and E-Learning committees organised a demonstration class conducted by Ms Archana Gupta for the ELC staff members at 11 am on 17 September 2010. The purpose of this demo class was to give a general idea about how to manipulate some simple tools and platforms through MS Teams while teaching reading skills. The presenter manipulated some interesting activities such as collecting a survey and eliciting vocabulary. This engaged the ELC participants by utilising common websites such as Mentimeter and Kahoot as well as using other programmes such as MS Word and PowerPoint. Productive discussions were held on topics like ‘pronunciation’ and ‘reading in class’. Staff collaborated through chats and shared their ideas. It was a wonderful idea to share experiences on how classes would work in a real scenario, what problems to anticipate, and what solutions to implement.
Learning is a dynamic process. The EFL teachers are upgrading their teaching skills to facilitate the students through online classes across the globe to meet challenges surfaced due to pandemic times. The English Language center of UTAS-IbriCT conducted an online workshop titled Engaging the Disengaged Online on 17.9.2020. The presenter, Dr Gena Rhoades, uses engaging websites for teaching English as a foreign language. She has led projects and workshops as the US Department of State’s English Language Specialist and previously worked in the University of Southern California’s Master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language Program. She strongly believes that learning can happen, only if students are motivated and engaged in a productive way.
In the workshop, she shared interesting information on websites and language learning apps that engage and enhance the language skills of EFL learners. A variety of activities that encourage the use of technology both in and outside of the classroom were discussed. She oriented and encouraged teachers to use different apps like Kahoot for enhancing vocabulary, speaking and listening activities through using WhatsApp, Quizlet for vocabulary quiz , GooseChase and many others.
Dr Abdusalam, the head of Center and Mr Faisal Shamali appreciated and thanked Dr Gena Rhoades for sharing her expertise and interesting views.
Extra-curricular programmes have been a useful asset for students of the General Foundation Programme and the Post-Foundation Programme in the ELC. In this regard, the Students Activities Committee decided to continue its activities by creating an official Instagram account. The purpose of this account is to conduct live teaching sessions for the benefit of the students. The account functions as a platform to assist students with their writing and speaking skills. It provides opportunities for our students to speak, write and learn English through Live Free Discussions, Posters and Tutorial video clips, made by our colleagues.
To date, five live streams on the ELC Instagram account have taken place. The first Live was a teaching session about Technical Writing 1. Dr Mohsen hosted the session, which focussed on a review of the TW1 course. This goal was to assist students in their preparation for the final examination. The Live was scheduled for 3 May 2020.
The second session was on 1 June 2020. The Students Activities Committee decided to provide a platform for the students to give their input. In this regard, the committee decided to organise free discussions sessions, giving the students the choice to speak on various topics. The first topic for the Online Free Discussion was on “The Challenges of Learning English and Motivation”.Dr Mohsen hosted the session. The session started at 9 pm and ended at 10.40 pm. More than 60 students participated in the Live stream. Three students succeeded to speak and share their experiences on the challenges they face whenlearning or using English. In fact, many students showed an interest to take part in the conversation, but due to the poor internet connection, it was not possible. Three teachers from Iran, Malaysia and Oman attended the Live, and shared their comments on the topic. The session was highly interactive, and students gave good feedback.With each Live, the number of followers increased. Many thanks to Ms Samah Al Ghafri, our most supportive student, who works hard to ensure that the account is updated and managed. The committee wish to thank Dr Abdulsalam for his support in creating the account and supporting the activities.
The third Live stream was on 12 June 2020, and the topic was on “The Best Ways to Improve Speaking Skills”. Based on votes from the students, this topic was selected.
We had three guest speakers:
- Mohammed Al Sikiti (Lecturer at IbriCT)
- Mansoor Al Balushi (Toastmaster, Public Figure, English Teacher in Oman)
- Roya Sadeghimand (English Teacher from Iran)
All three speakers highlighted important and effective ways and practices for enhancing your speaking skills. The session was interactive and received positive feedback from the students.
During the Live session, six students appeared on the Live video and shared their ideas on the topic.
In continuation with Live streams, the fourth session was organized for 27 June 2020. The topic of the Live was,“Formal versusInformal English”.
We hosted two guest speakers:
- Ms Sandra Bruce (from the USA, Lecturer at IbriCT)
- Ghaith Al Ghafri (Public Figure, Translator, Tour Guide)
Ms Sandra presented a fruitful session by covering theuseful ways of using formal and informalEnglish when greeting people, writing email, and have everyday conversations. The important use of idioms and expressions when speaking English, were also addressed.
The second guest speaker, Mr Ghaith, spoke about the importance of using informal English, working as a tour guide in the tourism sector. He stated that the learning of English idioms and expressions are ignored. Colleges and students do not realise the importance to this aspect, when learning English.
Overall, the session received excellent feedback from the students. It has been decided to have another session on the same topic in an upcoming Live stream.
The last Live Instagram was organized on 6 July 2020. The theme of the session was “Personality Development and leadership”. This session received the highest viewers and the feedback showed that 96% of students were satisfied with the session. This session received two guest speakers:
- Ms Hiyam Al Jabri ( English Language Teacher, Public Speaker and Social Media Influence )
- Ms Roya Sadeghi (English Teacher & Entrepreneur- Iran)
Both guest speakers highlighted the most important elements of having an advanced personality with soft skills.
Change is constant and challenging. Educators at UTAS, IbriCT have been embracing changes and challenges with utmost professionalism. The covid-19 pandemic has compelled the educators across the world to come up with various alternative and encourage the students to continue with their education.
The English Language Center at IbriCT, conducted a series of workshops titled “Microsoft Teams for Educators” scheduled on September, 1,2,9, and 10, 2020 for the teachers who taught different levels of foundation and post foundation programs. a The presenter, Ms Maha Al Hosn,i demonstrated how Micro teams can be used to conduct online classes. She oriented teachers on various aspects and features of MS Teams. She made teachers conversant with various functions of chat, how to schedule meetings using calendar, to mark attendance, share different kinds of files to the students, and many more.
The following teacher received training on Microsoft Teams:
Workshop 1 for Level 2 and Technical Writing 1 Lecturers
Workshop 2 for Level 3 and Technical Communication Lecturers
Workshop 3 for Level 1 and Public Speaking Lecturers
Workshop 4 for Level 4 and Technical Writing 2 Lecturers
The training instilled confidence in the teachers and also became a platform to explore more to make their classes innovative and interesting.
Dr Abdusalam appreciated her hardworking and Mr Faisal Al Shamali thanked Ms Maha for her commitment and sincere efforts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide. Despite the challenges thrown by the pandemic, educators across the world have come up with interesting alternatives to keep the teaching and learning process continuing.
UTAS, IbriCT has always been in the forefront to embrace the changes and the challenges and prove its mettle. The English Language centre (IbriCT) has come up with a resourceful platform to encourage ELT professionals, to share their innovative ideas on English language teaching.
As part of this initiative, Mr. Tahir Alam Awan gave an online presentation on August 24,2020 on the topic titled “How to Teach online.” He delivered his sixty minutes presentation in two parts: the first part was the theoretical aspect and the second part focused on the practical aspect of the online teaching and learning process.
The interesting part of the presentation was the three different categories of the teachers with different perspectives on online teaching process. It came as a natural progression to the first category of the teachers and the teachers of the second category were compelled to learn and third category was interested but had constraints. Another interesting observation was, online teaching has been a boon to many teachers with disability.
The presentation highlighted the emotional aspects of teachers and other pros and cons of online teaching. The educational technology is dynamic and has plethora of information on teaching and learning tools. As a word of caution, he stated that the ELT teachers should be prudent enough to choose the right ones to generate interest towards learning in their students.
Mr.Tahir also underlined the smart choices of technologies which meet the combination of two elements: the institutional policy and learning objectives of the classes we deliver. He drew the attention of the presenters to open access technology and the institutional supported technology. He also opined that technology as a standalone medium is inadequate to make teaching complete. A teacher’s exposure to right technology, pedagogy, content and knowledge becomes the pre-requisite to effective online teaching and a conducive environment gives an edge to the teaching and learning process.
A sample reading lesson along with relevant activities were also discussed during the presentation.
He ended the presentation by extending heartfelt thanks to Dr Abdusalam, Mr. Faisal and all the attendees who added value through their interaction.
The English Language Centre at Ibri College of Technology conducted its 1st International Virtual ELT Web Conference with the theme “The Importance of Using Innovative Methods in ELT Classrooms” on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The event kicked off with an opening speech from Dr Abdulsalam Maktoum Ali Al Manthari, the head of the ELC, in which he stressed the efficacy of virtual web conferences in enabling teachers to impart language skills through digital classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. He mentioned that teachers around the world had embraced technology and were well-equipped to handle virtual classrooms and stay connected with their students. He emphasized that virtual web conferences would emerge as a platform for sharing ideas, expertise, and trends among teachers.
The conference included 56 presenters from 23 courtiers in 6 virtual rooms with 6 concurrent sessions including 8 keynote speakers, who shared their know-how with more than 3600 participants from around the world. Heike Philip from Belgium, Dr Christine Coombe from the UAE, Georgios Kormpass from the KSA, Rana Khan from Kuwait, Dr Ali Al-Issa from Oman, Joshua O’Neil from the UK, Dr Christel Broady from the USA and Prof. Hisham Al Saghbini from the UAE shared their rich experiences as keynote speakers. Their themes covered a wide range of topics, primarily related to innovative approaches to teaching and assessments, integrating technology in ELT, and strategies and activities for online classrooms.
For many participants, it was the first time that they had been involved with an online conference. The feedback shows that the experience was positive for many and offered a promise for the future of instruction in ELT classrooms.
At the end, Mr. Faisal Shamali, Head of the Staff Professional Development Committee in the ELC, delivered closing remarks