A Blog for traning teachers 45th IATEFL Conference

Hello,

I would like to share with all the teachers and teacher trainers my Conference about a Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class. I talked about it last April at the 45th IATEFL Annual International Conference, Brighton, UK.

If you couldnt see it, I am posting it on my Blog now, so please have a look at it and leave any comment about it.
Thank you!

A Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class.
Author: MSc Yordanka Brunet Valle
English Teacher Trainer
Havana Medical University
Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”
Havana city, Cuba.

Good afternoon, my name is Yordanka Brunet Valle, I am from Cuba. I am an English teacher trainer since 2004. Since that time I worked at the prestigious Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona” and at the present I am working as an English teacher at Havana Medical University in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”.
Before starting I would like to thank all of you for being here with me today.

I must also thank to the IATEFL Organization for inviting me to come to the conference and for becoming a dream into a reality.

Thank you very much to the Trinity College London for all its support.
Finally I must thank to the tutor of my MA dissertation in TESOL Mr. Russell Stannard, because his assistance was very important for the design and development of this blog.

So, as you can see the title of my presentation is “A Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class”, which is the main result of the MA in TESOL done at Westminster University in 2008.

So, I would like to share with you some ideas about:
-The use of videos as a support of the English lessons.
-My experience about the design of this blog, its content and improvement since that time until the present.
-The results of some questionnaires applied to validate the blog.
-The benefits of the blog to better other teachers’ training regarding the use of videos in ELT lessons.

That is why the objective of this presentation is to share the experience about the design of a Blog and its content for training teachers to integrate videos into the ELT lessons.

As Dudeney G. and Hockly N. State:
“Technology in language teaching is not new. Indeed, technology has been around in language for decades – one might argue for centuries, if we classify the blackboard as a form of technology.
Tape recorders, language laboratories and video have been in use since the 1960s and 1970s, and are still used in classrooms around the world.”
(Dudeney G. and Hockly N. 2007: 7)

Despite the fact, new technologies have emerged for enriching the teaching learning process of the languages; teachers still use videos in class due to their contributions to the lessons in general. However, there are some language teachers who still don’t feel enough confident when using videos in ELT lessons, because they are not trained enough with respect to their use.

-Besides they don’t have enough knowledge concerning the most appropriate activities according to the level of the students.
-Another element is that they don’t sufficient materials to support their training regarding the use of videos in class.
Due to the advantages the use of videos allows to better the foreign language acquisition and in particular the English language, I wanted to focus my MA dissertation about the use of videos in general.

Because as you know Through a video the students could:
1.Increase the motivation towards any topic.
2.Develop the listening skills allowing them to get global understanding and also to get only details.
3.Improve the speaking skills: because the students after watching the video could interact in pairs or groups by means of debate about its title, content, its final part, giving their opinions regarding the topic.
4. Expand their vocabulary: it is probably that they don’t have the meaning of some words, so the teacher should provide the meaning by means of synonyms, antonyms, gestures or just giving the meaning of the word.
5. Reinforce the grammatical structures.
6. Acquire not only the knowledge concerning the target language, but also the culture: I am teaching to 3er medical students in a multicultural class, where my students´ mother tongue is not the English language. When teaching Unit IV “Travelling here and there”, I showed the video “Most beautiful cities around the world” which is posted in my blog. So, when they watched that video, they added new information regarding the cities presented in the video because some of them have been in those places with their families, so they talked about their experiences when they got there.

The students developed a set of activities regarding the video in class and as a final project; they had to prepare an oral presentation about their own countries. They should work together according to their nationalities and they could bring any souvenir or typical costume that identifies their country.

It was a beautiful activity where they talked about their traditions and costumes, putting into practice all the content they have learned before. They learned a lot about their countries from each other and me as a teacher learned different aspects related to their costumes too, that I did not know before.

Develop of Input: because the students while watching and listening to the video are absorbing and making an effort for understanding and comprehending the information, so they are receiving an Input that after doing the activities and discussing in class with the teacher and in pair work, this Input will become Output and the target langue will be highly developed.

So, it is clear evident that USING VIDEOS IN CLASS STIMULATES THE PRODUCTION OF THE LANGUAGE and offers excellent opportunities for improving the English lessons.
However, it is not easy when the teacher is planning a lesson, to find the appropriate video content from the web, as a support of it, because as Stannard, R. states:
Stannard R. (2007) argues it can take a long time to find things that are suitable for use in class. The trouble is that lots of the videos are too crazy, contain sexual images or really don’t have much of a storyline. Teachers should take time selecting short videos and not very difficult to understand, otherwise, students could feel uninspired and don't pay attention to them. “The key issue is the selection of the videos”.
So, teachers have been incorporating videos in their English lessons, trying to achieve better results in the ELT lessons. However, as I mentioned before, there are some English teachers who don’t feel enough confident when preparing their English lessons by means of videos, because they are not trained enough with respect to their use.

So, when analyzing which could be a different way for showing teachers and teacher trainers around the world, how to use different videos with a variety of activities the idea of designing a blog emerged.

Results of the research
- The blog among wikis and podcasts, which are all social software, is the most attracted computer tool, allowing its author to add among other elements, videos.
This is what I wanted to do, to find a computing tool that allow me to post videos and examples of activities taken place in class, so teachers around the world could consult them and learn from my personal experience about the use of videos in ELT lessons.
- Besides, as part of my research, I realized there was not any blog in Cuba with educative purposes. So I decided to design a blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class.

What is a Blog?
According to del Toro, M. (2009), a Blog is a Web site for people to publish news, articles (called post) in chronological order or according to dates. It gives the chance to leave comments and ideas about what you see and read. Besides, it allows people to contact the author by email.

Let see some characteristics of blogs.
As Dudeney G. and Hockly N, (2007:87) state:
The most common type of blog is kept by one person, who will regularly post comments, thoughts, analyses; experiences of daily life, interesting links and also it may include pictures, audio and video.

Most blogs will allow people to comment on blog entries, thereby creating an online community around a common topic, interest or person, that is why, blogs are referred to as social software.
Let see some important issues related to blogs.
1.-Teachers can keep their own edublog as a diary.

2.-Teachers can use an edublog as a Web Page, so they can find it through Internet, learn and develop their knowledge about the use of videos for example, in the English lessons.

3.-Teachers can write comments about the labels presented in any edublog and send emails to the author as a way to keep in touch with him/her. So the edublog would be highly improved after getting some immediate feedback from teachers, students and professionals in general.

Lest see my blog now!
“Videos and activities for improving ELT”
web page: www.ybrunet.blogspot.com

OBJECTIVES:

1- To train teachers about how they could integrate
videos in the classroom.

2- To allow teachers learning a different way of
improving the English lessons through videos and
activities divided into three main stages; the
Preparatory and Understanding activities and the
Extension Work. Besides, in the Blog there is an
article that makes reference to the design of Blogs
in general.
Content of the Blog
-Some short videos from YouTube about different general topics such as; the environment, culture and traditions regarding English spoken countries among others.
-A set of activities based on the videos watched. They are divided into three main stages; the Preparatory and Understanding activities and the Extension Work.
-Examples of video lessons which show how teachers could work with the videos and the activities in class and also the reaction of the students towards that experience.
-Different articles about the use of technology for teaching English at the universities, the process of designing blogs and the methodology for teaching English as a foreign language.
-A summary about the author’s curriculum in English and Spanish languages.
-A link that allows people to leave comments about the content of the Blog, and the author’s email with the purpose to send and discuss people’s opinions.
Application of a questionnaire to validate a series of activities selected (Preparatory, Understanding and the Extension Work).

Objective

This questionnaire was created for asking some English teachers about the usefulness of the activities selected in order to improve the students’ acquisition of the English language and to better their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills through the use of videos in class.

The questionnaire was answered by 20 English teachers from different universities and countries who were studying the MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Westminster University, London in 2008.

Results
The results from the questionnaire evidence:

- The activities selected are very useful for using in the video lessons due to they better the teaching-learning process of the English language through videos.

- The activities are good examples for using with videos in class taking into account the stage of the lesson, favouring students to improve their knowledge regarding the English language and to enrich the cultural aspect.

Application of a questionnaire to validate the Blog.
Objective
This questionnaire was designed for showing teachers, students and teachers’ trainers around the world how to use videos with different activities in class and train them how to integrate videos in the classroom.

In addition, the Blog designed should contribute also an example for teachers in general about its design and content, so after receiving some feedback from teachers the author could realize if the purposes for designing this Blog were successfully accomplished.

The questionnaire was answered by 20 English teachers from different universities (the ones mentioned before).
Results
The results from the questionnaire evidence:

- The Blog created is a very useful and interesting tool which favours the development and improvement of the English language in the students. But also it contributes with respect to the students’ acquisition of some ethical and socio cultural values.

- It’s design shows how teachers, students and teachers’ trainers can use videos with different types of activities in class, allowing them to learn not only about the use of videos but also about its design and content.
WHY USING VIDEOS IN ENGLISH FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS?
The English language subject is part of the program of the Medicine career and the students should learn English from the 1st year until the 5th one.

They get a general background of the English language from the 1st year to the 3rd one and after that, they start learning English for Specific Purposes by means of different medical topics.

Interviews to 20 English teachers from Havana Medical University working in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”, about the use of computing tools, mainly videos for teaching English lessons and the results were that there are not enough computing tools which allow to improve students’ motivation towards the English language and also to better its acquisition.

Teachers mainly use the book and the blackboard; there are some video cassettes and some interesting software that have plenty of useful grammar activities which enrich the English lessons, however, teachers argue that those materials are not enough for their lessons.

Besides, in the Faculty there is not any video in English related to the topics the students learn in each unit, such as Hypertension or Tropical diseases.
That is why; I started looking at some appropriate videos in English from YouTube about different diseases. After, I posted some examples of those videos to my Blog which I consider valuable for enriching the English lessons with 4th and 5th year medical students.

The teachers started using those videos as a support of their English lessons and after having watched them they developed different activities in class such as, Seminars and Oral presentations related to the topic presented in the videos. I filmed some of those activities and I posted them to the blog too.

That is why the Blog also shows some short videos from YouTube about different diseases, such as Tropical diseases, Cataract and Glaucoma, Hypertension, among others and some examples of video lessons where students are making oral presentations regarding some diseases.

A questionnaire was applied to the 20 English teachers from Havana Medical University working in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”, who teach lessons to 4th and 5th year medical students for gathering information about the videos posted to the Blog and they really liked them.

Besides, the medical students from the same Faculty started looking at the Blog and writing favourable comments about the videos, the activities and articles posted to it. This fact makes me feel more confident and happy with respect to the work done.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Positive arguments:
-It is a very useful way that allows sharing educative knowledge around the world.
-It is important to design the blog in a very attracted way, so people could feel motivated towards its content and consult it.
-The blog designed should be updated; otherwise, people won’t be interested in consulting it.

CONCLUSIONS
1.The Blog created, is a very helpful tool that train teachers in general to integrate videos into the classroom and use them in ELT lessons efficiently. Besides, the Blog allows teachers to improve their knowledge about the use of blogs when teaching the English language in class.
2.Besides, it has been very favourable to get positive feed back and recommendations from a variety of English teachers, teachers’ trainer and students around the world with respect to the design of the Blog and its content.

RECOMMENDATIONS
-To better the Blog adding new materials to it in order to improve the ELT lessons.
-To consult the Blog at the web page www.ybrunet.blogspot.com and leave any comments for enriching the English language teaching using videos through it.

Some examples of my articles:
-Design of English educative software. “Premédico” (Premédico Colection) Cuban Edition (Organo) ISBN: 959-18-0136-X 2006.
-Methodology for improving the use of videos in teaching English lessons at the University. Revista Ciencias.com
Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/publicaciones/EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx.php Code: EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx 2006
-What makes a good teacher? Teaching English British Council BBC. 2008. URL:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/what-makes-a-good- teacher - 27k
-Video Content from the Web. Monografias.com. 2008. Category: Technology URL:http://www.monografias.com/trabajos65/video-content-web/video-content-web.shtml
-Diseño de un blog para elevar la calidad del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del ingles como lengua extranjera. Tecnología e internet http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/diseno-de-un-blog-para-el-proceso-de-ensenanza-aprendizaje-de-ingles.htm 2009
-La creación de un blog con fines educativos. ¿Simple o complejo? Tecnología e internet.
http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/creacion-de-un-blog-con-fines-educativos.htm 2009
-Integrating videos into ELT lessons. IATEFL Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. November-December 2009 Issue 211. ISSN 1814- 3830
- “The acquisition of culture through English lessons by means of a video".
URL: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/acquisition-of-culture-through-english-lessons-by-means-of-a-video.htm 2011.