The many audiences of our Facebook live sessions.
I'm reposting Diana's blog as I think it's good to be reminded that, although we can't see our audience's faces or hear their voices, there's a whole world out there sharing in what we do.
I work as an English teacher of young learners in Gaza and also a lecturer at university as well. I would like to share my reflection about Hup sessions. I think they are important not only to students but also to many other groups of people as well:-
1 Newly appointed teachers:
Curriculum based sessions give them golden tips on how to teach each period effectively and interactively at the same time. They become more aware of the importance of each step. After following these sessions , they become more confident as they imitate lessons delivered by experts.
2-Supervisors:
They can spot tips, activities, and suggestions and share them with teachers. Supervisors can give opportunities to motivated teachers to be co-teachers with specialists in curriculum based sessions. Furthermore, they can recommend following hands up curriculum- based sessions to their teachers as part of their CPD ( continuous professional development)
3-Experienced teachers:
Hup provides them with a new variety of activities such as different warming up activities that are used in every session. In addition it gives them an opportunity to participate as co- teachers in curriculum –based sessions. They can also lead storytelling sessions as well.
4-Student in faculty of education who receive field training in teaching.
The Curriculum based sessions are free demonstrative lessons presented by experts. They are the practical version of the teachers guide book. These sessions assist those students to answer their questions about how to teach lessons effectively. Moreover, they increase their pedagogical dictionary by listening to educational tips. The most interesting thing here is that the teachers in curriculum based session don’t only focus on teaching but also they share with audience anticipated problems and how to overcome them.
5_Parents:
Parents always want to know how the teachers teach. Similarly, teachers want the parents to understand how they teach. Parents can develop a deep knowledge of the content objectives because of the Curriculum- based sessions. They know how to help students to master key structures. How to consolidate the content in their minds. Parents’ pronunciation becomes much better as they listen to native speakers. Thus, there will be fewer students’ fossilized pronunciation errors because of their parents pronunciation.
5- Researchers: The hands up sessions spark new topics to be investigated such as the power of storytelling, co –teaching, and many others educational and intercultural topics.
6_Students:
Storytelling sessions support students in linguistic and cultural aspects:
First, the linguistic aspects:
1-Vocabulary: each session they learn new vocabs presented in various ways ( puppets, flashcards , context …ect.).
2- Pronunciation by listening to native and more advanced speakers.
3-Speaking -learning new chunks, collocations and phrasal verbs in an authentic context.
Secondly , the cultural aspect :
Students know more about other cultures because of international storytellers from different background who tell stories from all over the world.
Researchers: they can find new topics to investigate and new topics such as The power of storytelling, co-teaching etc.
Finally, nothing more important than values and skills:
Discussing the morals of the stories helps in creating good citizens.
Creative & critical thinking skills ( the story telling sessions are loaded with divergent questions that evoke thinking)
T/ Diana Abu Zayed /Gaza