Pilgrims Humanizing Language Teaching Scholarship

Implementing the Dogme Approach in the EFL classroom

Candidate s name: Paraskevi Andreopoulou (DELTA candidate)

(To be submitted before 22nd August 2011) Word count: 500 words

Introduction:

Overview:
As part of my DELTA assignment specifications for the Experimental Approach, I would like to try an exploratory project, which is based on the assumption: Education is communication and dialogue, not transference of knowledge (Freire Paulo, Brazilian educationalist and author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed). With this quote in mind, I travelled to the IATEFL Brighton 2011 conference, to explore person -centred methods of teaching that aim at individualized teaching instruction, free of technology and materials burdens that overload the mind of my elderly students, whose primary aim is at interacting in the target language. I teach in a language school and I teach mainly retired, elderly students, extrinsically motivated ones, who visit the island as tourists and survive in the EFL context. They have no familiarity with technology, nor do they cover a syllabus within a specified time limit; in bottom line, they communicate as survivor EFL learners, for as long as they reside in the area. For this reason, I attended the Dogme ELT Symposium on Monday 18 th April, 2011, with Scott Thornbury , Luke Meddings , Anthony Gaughan, Candy Van Olst and Howard Vickers focusing on the 3 core precepts that establish the approach and define it as more humanistic: y y y Materials light teaching Conversation driven Emergent language

Returning to classroom , I knew it was going to be of avail not only to my students,who consider textbooks not to meet their real world needs, but, also to menable me to view teaching life from a different perspective we've grown up to believe in so far, as instructors; that is, implementing the assigned teaching approach set out by school p olicy guidelines (that involves a coursebook with digital components -and not only, covering syllabus requirements and typical exam prepearation, which will guarantee immediate ,fast results for English language learners and will enable them to obtain an i nternationally recognised language

qualification , useful for university entrance exams and/or occupational appointment in the state sector and decent, well-paid job prospects in the private sector. For all these reasons aforementioned above, I've decided to have a change of heartnamely, not to serve the system anymore, but, to revert to the pure joy of teaching, that is communicating genuinely in the TL by using all language means we have in our disposal and without putting excessive pressure on our stu dents or overloading with materials that turn out to be of little use to their real life needs; materials that are glossy, pleasing to the eye, attractive and are of wide acceptance, but seem to be of neutral or negative value to students, wha are well awa re of their real life needs, especially my retired, elderly aged learner group. Therefore, I have a firm belief that attending the Dogme Symposium and reading the noble authors' work "Teaching Unplugged" was just I was really in need of to develop a love for teaching anew, to realise that the teaching procedure involves "humanising the learning approach and using emergent language."

The Dogme Approach: Think about it People enjoy talking about themselves and this generates a lot of relevant language; a simple framework may set the basis for authentic interaction.

Get it ready Prepare a flight of stairs with percentages and in between them, you will mark adverbs of frequency indicating the number of times we perform daily activities.

Set it up Draw a flight of stairs on the w/b and mark in between the steps chronologically (Never 0%, maybe 25% - Ss added it themselves-, sometimes 50%, always 100%).

100% always (I cook lasagne ala Bolognese)

50% sometimes

(I go swimming)

25% maybe (I play football)

0% never (I smoke a cigar)

Let it run y y y Ss note down daily activities related to their frequency, i.e. I never drink coffee,( but, not on the flight of stairs , yet.) Each learner looks at the activities of their partner and tries to guess which one belongs where. T circulates, keeps notes, helps with language, and pays attention the correct word order Ss are working on, as appropriate.

Round it off Now, Ss, in pairs, are invited to the w/b, where they guess and write their partner s activities, i.e. Marian never drinks coffee. On the appropriate column; the rest of the class questions their validity and the other partner has either to agree or disag ree. T/Ss discuss these as they go along and highlight form, word order, and pronunciation.

Follow-Up For h/w, the class writes a report of their classmates habitual actions. T suggests formulaic expressions, such as: Most people enjoy Quite a few like Very few dislike

Author s examples Always Marian Crystal doing shopping taking the dog out for a walk Never smoking, dri nking coffee sleeping late

References: 1. Thornbury Sc., & Meddings L., 2009 Teaching Unplugged- Dogme in Language Teaching , Delta Publishing 2009 2. Thornbury Sc., & Meddings L., The ELT Dogme Symposium 45th IATEFL annual conference, Brighton 2011

Returning to classroom , I knew it was going to be of avail not only to my students, who consider textbooks not to meet their real world needs, but, also to amenable me to view teaching life from a different perspective we've grown up to believe in so far, as instructors; that is, implementing the assigned teaching approach set out by school policy guidelines (that involves a course book with digital components -and not only, covering syllabus requirements and typical exam preparation, which will guarantee immediate ,fast results for English language learners and will enable them to obtain an internationally recognized language qualification , useful for university entrance exams and/or occupational appointment in the state sector and decent, well-paid job prospects in the private sector. For all these reasons aforementioned above, I've decided to have a change of heart- namely, not to serve the system anymore, but, to revert to the pure joy of teaching, that is communicating genuinely in the TL by using all language means we have in our disposal and without putting excessive pressure on our students or overloading with materials that turn out to be of little use to their real life needs; materials that are glossy, pleasing to the eye, attractive and are of wide acceptance, but seem to be of neutral or negative value to students, wha are well aware of their real life nee ds, especially my retired, elderly aged learner group. Therefore, I have a firm belief that attending the Dogme Symposium and reading the noble authors' work "Teaching Unplugged" was just I was really in need of to develop a love for teaching anew, to realise that the teaching procedure involves "humanising the learning approach and using emergent language."

Curriculum Vitae

Full name: Paraskevi Andreopoulou Institution: Foreign Language School Job title: Language school Owner Address: Alyki 317 Alyki City: Paros County: Cyclades P.C.: 84 400 Country: Greece Citizenship: Greek Marital Status: Married Date of birth: 09/03/1976 Age: 35 Phone/ fax: 0030 22840 91538 Mobile number: 0030 6999822222 E-mail: pandreop@otenet.gr pandreopoulou02@gmail.com

Education: y Secondary School of Paroikia Paros June 1993 - grade: 75% y Saint Michael s College, School of International Studies, Winooski Park, Colchester, Vermont 05439, March 2000 : Diploma in Teaching English as a Second/ Foreign Language- grade: Pass y First Certificate in English- University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations ,December 1993, Prefecture: Kyklad on- Grade :C y Certificato Superiore di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana: PALSO, Maggio 1996, Prefecture; Kykladon- Grado: Sufficiente y Michigan Proficiency The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A., March 1997- grade: Pass y Teaching Licence Protocol Number: 2714 Greek Republic , Ministry of Education, June 1998

Teacher Training: y TKT Modules 1 (Language and language background to learning and teaching) Band :3 y Module 2 (Lesson Planning and Use of Resources in language Teaching) Band: 3 y Module 3 (Managing the teaching and learning process) - Band:3 University of Cambridge, ESOL Examinations , Athens, June 2008 y Preliminary Methodology (36 hour programme in TEFL Methodology)Hellenic American Union, Athens, September 1997 y Advanced Methodology (72 hour programme in TEFL Methodology) Hellenic American Union, Athens, June 1998 y Sensitivity in Staff Management 8 hour training workshop with Mario Rinvolucri, in September 2001, Athens ETC Consultants- Lilika Couri & Suzanne Antonar os y Hillside Press Teacher Training Workshops , September 2000, Athens y DELTA teaching award September 2007- to date DELTA candidate, CELT Athens, course tutor: Marisa Constantinides , www.celt.edu.gr , Academias 87 ,Athens, Greece

Memberships: y y TESOL Greece, Athens, 16 th March 2003

th

Chairperson, Anne Nebel

TESOL Greece, Athens, 20 March 2011- Chairperson, Kostas Pytichoutis y IATEFL Conference, Harrogate , April 2010- President, Herbert Puchta SIG Group: Learner Autonomy- Chairperson: Leni Dam y IATEFL Conference, Brighton, April 2011 - President, Eric Baber, SIG Group: Learner Autonomy- Chairperson: Leni Dam y Modern English Teacher annual subscription y Cambridge Journals annual subscription y ELT Oxford Journals annual subscription y www.teachertrainingvideos.com Russell Stannard (University of Warwick) y www.teachingenglish.org.uk- My English Teaching Blog- The British Council

Employment: 1. Language Teacher in the Foreign Language School Nikos Sarris , September 1997-1998, Paroikia- Paros 2. Language Teacher in the Foreign Language School New Horizons , September 1998-1999, Paroikia + Lefkes, Paros 3. Language Teacher in the Foreign Language School Evangelos Sarris , September 1999-2002, Alyki Paros 4. Language Teacher in the Foreign Language Schools Chain Arambatzi , September 2002-2003, Red Mill + Kamatero - Athens as part of my Teaching Practicum for award of the Diploma in TEFL/TESL, Saint Michael s College, Colchester, Vermont, U.S.A. 5. Foreign Language School Teacher, Language School Owner and Director of Studies (Self-employed) in the Foreign Language School P. D. Andreopoulou , September 2003-to date.

Interests: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Reading Methodology Books Attending Conferences Travelling Abroad Swimming Cycling Attending theatrical performances Listening to music