Remote Teaching? Plan Ceibal English

Graham [email protected]

Remote teaching, distance learning, team teaching or

blended learning?

Remote teaching, distance learning, team teaching or blended learning?

• The British Council works in 6 continents and 110 countries, with the aim of bringing high quality English materials to every learner or teacher who wants them.

• We have 2,400 staff teaching English directly to more than 350,000 students and trainee teachers a year in over 80 centres, partnership branches and on English projects around the world.http://www.britishcouncil.org/about

What happens when you attempt to use cutting-edge online technology and post-method pedagogies to solve specific educational problems?

•What solutions are there?

•How successfully can they be implemented?

•What does it mean for learners?

•What about teacher training?

•What about teacher development?

•What does it mean for teachers?



Plan Ceibal is a Uruguayan project, developed by MEC, the Uruguayan Ministry of Education and Culture; the National Telecommunications company ANTEL, (Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones); the Board of Public Education, ANEP (Administración Nacional de Educación Pública); and LATU (Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay).

http://www.ceibal.edu.uy

Plan Ceibal


• Started 2007 with distribution of XO-1 laptops (ceibalitas)

• By 2009 Uruguay became first country in world to have given one laptop to every primary school student

• By 2009, 350,000 children & 16,000 teachers had received ceibalitas

• No cost wireless Internet connection in all state schools

• Fiber optic connections progressively replacing these

• Video conferencing equipment being installed in all schools

http://www.ceibal.edu.uy

Plan Ceibal


• In 2012 the British Council was selected by Plan Ceibal to project manage Ceibal en Inglés (Ceibal English), delivering remote teaching via video conferencing in Uruguayan primary schools.

• Goal = provide access to English language learning to primary students (grades 4-6) and their teachers all over Uruguay.

• Because of a lack of trained/qualified English teachers, Ceibal English uses remote teachers (RTs) via video conferencing

• Additionally, classroom teachers (CTs) are taught English via moderator-supported English course (LearnEnglish Pathways)

http://uruguay.britishcouncil.org

Ceibal English


• Proof of concept pilot phase 2012 - 20 primary schools; 1,000 Year 4 learners (aged 10-11)

• March 2013 expansion: 500 classes; 96 schools; Years 4,5 & 6

• July 2013 expansion: 1,000 classes • March 2014 expansion: 2,100

classes• By June 2015: Total of c.4,000

classes (c. 100,000+ learners)

http://uruguay.britishcouncil.org

Ceibal English


3 x 45 minutes per wk.

Lesson A – RT via VCLessons B & C – CT

RTs from Uruguay, Argentina, Philippines, UK

Team Teaching

CTs learning English through self-access course

Remote Classes


Detailed scripted lesson plans for A, B & C

Coordination to allow CT to do the B & C practice lessons

RT & CT have weekly coordination in Spanish

Materials

Online technology is becoming more commonplace in language education. How does this change the role of the teacher?

•Remote teaching

•Distance learning

•Blended learning

•Team teaching


Distance learning


a method of studying in which lectures are broadcast or classes are conducted by correspondence or over the Internet, without the student's needing to attend a school or college.

Blended learning


a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace

Team teaching


coordinated teaching by a team of teachers working together

Remote teaching


teaching of learners using an instructor based in another physical location

Technology requirements for teaching live online


Maria Bossa (Argentina) and

Ayat Tawel (Egypt)


http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/innovations-learning-technologies-english-language-teaching

New skillset required for teachers


The importance of ‘presence’


RT Daisy & CT Omar RT Maria Eugenia

The importance of teamwork


Supporting teachers


Supporting CTs and RTs: face-to-face training


Supporting CTs and RTs: online training and observation


Sharing student work

Between classes


RT

Mariela Masuyama

and

CT Maria Ines Cuadrado

and

CT Andres Amilivia





Results: Assessment and Evaluation: surveys

Evaluation of digital materials of the programme (songs, videos, games, images)


Results: Assessment and Evaluation: Testing

August 2013 (baseline) and

December 2013

Aims:Evaluate differences:-

Pilot groups March 2013 groups

July 2013 groupsGroups not studying English

grammar/vocab test only

Excluded children studying English outside school


Results: Assessment and Evaluation: Testing

Average scores by grade and time of test

“Times have changed, teachers have evolved…And that is just the beginning – because just as technologies have begun to change the way that English is learned in the classroom, even bigger changes seem to be taking place outside it.”

Martin Peacock, in Motteram, G (Ed.)(2013) Innovations in learning technologies for English Language Teaching, London: British Council


Remote teaching, distance learning, team teaching or

blended learning?

Thank you!

Graham [email protected]