News and Information for LearnIT2teach participants

April 30, 2020 - Issue #97

Project News

H5P EduLINC Update
It is now possible for teachers to add the H5P learning objects on the Tutela repository to the EduLINC courses. New help files on this LearnIT2teach portal page explain how teachers can find and use these resources:"How to find and download an H5P activity on Tutela.ca" and "How to add an H5P activity to EduLINC using a .h5p file"
https://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/help/moodle-more-help/

New PBLA Modules
Teachers on the EduLINC site can access five new four-skill, multilevel PBLA-compatible modules found in the "PBLA Module" course on their Dashboard. The LearnIT2teach team produced the Roles and Responsibilities in Workplace Meetings (CLB 5/6) module for blended and 100% online delivery. The other modules, from the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, were designed for blended delivery. The topics for those modules are: Dealing with Household Problems (CLB 3/4), Dealing with Issues in the Community (CLB 5/6) and Dealing with Common Health Issues (CLB 5/6). Teachers can have these modules added to their course by requesting them from their mentor.

Webinar Series
The LearnIT2teach team has begun offering weekly webinars to help EduLINC teachers develop their e-learning skills. These webinars are archived on the LearnIT2teach YouTube channel. Direct links to each archived webinar and information about upcoming webinars are displayed in blocks in the EduLINC Teacher’s Only Forum course. Upcoming webinars are also announced by presenters in forum postings and they are displayed on the LearnIT2teach portal.

Annotated Bibliography 2020
Entries in the Adult Settlement Blended & Online Learning bibliography summarize the contents of more than 100 articles from the research literature. Offered as an online resource, the bibliography provides summaries of key research into the application of learning technology and modernized approaches in the settlement language training sector.
http://bib.learnit2teach.ca/

Web News

Amid coronavirus, students flock to Kahoot! and Duolingo. Is it the end of language teachers?
... As children nationwide settle into weeks and months of remote learning, educational technology companies are having a heyday, marketing their products as must-have solutions to keep students with internet access connected and engaged. Few were poised to do so as well as language-learning software companies, which have spent years honing the digitized, personalized, gamified experience of a self-paced education. ... “We believe that teachers and technology are intertwined,” ... “We don’t believe there’s a self-learning trend that’s going to replace teachers.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/04/07/coronavirus-online-learning-language-app-kahoot-duolingo-classroom-rosetta-stone/5114864002/

Imagine Online School in a Language You Don’t Understand
Like many parents, Zainab Alomari has spent the last month trying to help her children learn at home. But unlike most, she has been talking to teachers and working through lessons in a language she barely understands. ... Remote schooling poses a special challenge for families who are not fluent in English. About five million American schoolchildren are classified as English-language learners, meaning they lack fluency, and even more come from homes where their parents speak a different language. ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-immigrants-school.html?smid=em-share

Is your laptop the right height? How to work from home without getting stiff and sore
.As thousands of people work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many are turning to tables and kitchen islands as desks. An occupational therapist is offering advice on how to make your home workspace — whatever it looks like — easier on your back, shoulders and wrists. "You really want to settle into someplace that's going to be really good for your body," ..
https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5534378

Language Learning Apps Are Seeing A Surge In Interest During The COVID-19 Pandemic
... The coronavirus crisis has been a boon to business for language learning apps like Pittsburgh-based Duolingo, London-based Busuu, Berlin-based Babbel and Shenzhen, China-based HelloTalk, as well as online language tutoring platforms like Kyiv, Ukraine-based Preply and Shanghai-based iTalki. ...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mergermarket/2020/04/15/language-learning-apps-are-seeing-a-surge-in-interest-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/#193fcefe48f4

The reason Zoom calls drain your energy
Video chat is helping us stay employed and connected. But what makes it so tiring - and how can we reduce ‘Zoom fatigue’? ... Being on a video call requires more focus than a face-to-face chat....
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting

Zoom is watching you. Here’s what you can do about it
Using Zoom carries a lot of privacy risks. But there are other alternatives—that don’t want to monitor you. ...
https://decrypt.co/23283/zoom-is-watching-you-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it

Blogs

10 Ways to Increase Student Engagement Online
Student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing." ... 01-Student-centered tasks ... There is a misconception when teaching with video conferencing tools such as Zoom that it's impossible to operate a student-centered classroom. Fake news.!! ,,,
http://elt-connect.com/10-ways-to-increase-student-engagement-online/

So you have to teach online… Now what?
If you’re new to online teaching, getting familiar with the new technology, pedagogy, and classroom management techniques with little notice and preparation can be daunting. But don’t worry, we are here to help. Here is a practical guide to running a successful and engaging virtual class. While the focus of this article is higher education, many of these tips will work equally well for running high school level courses, and meetings and trainings for remote workers. ...
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/so-you-have-teach-online-now-what-paige-wilcoxson/

6 Critical Best Practices for Online Teaching: Be Prepared
With a move of traditional classes to an online platform, there is a challenge for many educators to adapt to a virtual environment. ... To help you prepare for the requirements of online teaching, there are critical best practices you can implement to ensure you are effectively and substantively engaged in your class. ... You can use these best practices as a checklist for the development of your own online teaching practice, regardless of how long you've taught online classes. ...
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-critical-best-practices-online-teaching-prepared-johnson/

Teaching Speaking Online
Like many of you out there, I’ve found myself doing a fair bit of online teaching recently and I won’t lie – I much prefer face-to-face. I miss the way I can read a room full of students with just a glance, I miss the energy that’s created by a whole-class drill, and I miss being able to overhear what one pair are chatting about while I’m monitoring another. I still believe that the real value of tech lies in what it allows students to do outside of the lesson. However, given the current global situation, it’s worth considering in more detail how we can best help our learners maintain and develop their speaking online. ...
https://infocus.eltngl.com/2020/04/08/teaching-speaking-online/

30 Skills Every Online Teacher Should Have
... Now that my team of online teachers ... has expanded considerably, I’m seeing over and over what the core skills are for teaching online. When teachers have these skills, the technology facilitates learning instead of creating obstacles. With that confidence, teachers can relax and focus on helping the student. Eventually, this translates into more valuable lessons. The following is a list of skills that I make sure my teachers know. If you master these as well, you’ll have a really strong foundation for teaching online. ... Skill 1: Searching YouTube ...
https://teach.englishsuccessacademy.com/30-skills-every-online-teacher-should-have/

The Outrageous Refuse of PBLA
This blog and the ensuing discussion highlights the need for an ePortfolio. This is coming to LINC classes everywhere with launch of IRCC's new national LMS, Avenue.ca, coming this fall.
http://blog.teslontario.org/the-outrageous-refuse-of-pbla/

Professional Development

The 4 Ps of delivering a webinar presentation
With much of learning and teacher development moving online, webinars are becoming a welcome alternative to the costs and risks of travelling to conferences. Delivering an online presentation though can be a very different skill from presenting at a conference with a physical audience present. Here are a few tips and suggestions that I’ve gathered over the last 10+ years of delivering online training. ...
https://peacheypublications.com/the-4-ps-of-delivering-a-webinar-presentation

Is teaching online overwhelming you?- Some useful tips & solutions
This video tutorial provides useful tips and practical ideas on teaching online more efficiently. Many teachers are finding teaching online overwhelming. If you are looking for useful tips and practical ideas to make your online classes more efficient then you might find this video really useful. :...
https://youtu.be/A5USvzCo-Bg

First data on the shift to emergency online learning
This is a report of a survey conducted by a team of researchers and U.S. organisations, and with some participation from Canadian organizations ... What did they find?... experienced online instructors were less likely than their peers to use synchronous lectures or discussions and more likely to distribute information using the LMS ... instructors with previous online experience were 15 percentage points less likely than their peers to lower their expectations for how much work students could do ...
https://www.tonybates.ca/2020/04/22/first-data-on-the-shift-to-emergency-online-learning/

Jobs

Online English Teacher
Click on the Blue Register button in the top right hand corner of this page to apply for Online English Teacher Jobs today!
https://comforteducation.com/teach-online/

The Jobs section of this newsletter has demonstrated the growing demand for teachers with online teaching skills. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the value in developing these skills. We hope more teachers will use LearnIT2teach to develop this skill set.

e-Resource Corner

BBC Skillwise
An exciting collection of resources designed to improve your English, including sections on reading, writing, spelling, word grammar, sentence grammar and speaking and listening.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/skillswise/english/zjg4scw

 

New Language Solutions Inc.

 

Send an email to admin@learnIT2teach.ca or call 1-855-522-2221 to inquire about the training.

Disclaimer
The links to external web pages and job postings are for information purposes only. Neither LearnIT2teach nor its funder endorses or is responsible for their content.

About LearnIT2teach
Through funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the LearnIT2teach Project provides LINC teachers with online tools and resources and extensive training to help them implement blended learning in their programs. Visit http://learnIT2teach.ca for more information.

LearnIT2teach News is researched and compiled by Jim Edgar