Author: Anna Loseva

Anna Loseva is a Russian teacher of English in a university in Tokyo. She curates the iTDi Blog, writes (mostly about teaching and learning) on her own blog at http://annloseva.wordpress.com, and co-runs Reflective Practice Group in Tokyo. Other than that, Anna spends time reading, travelling, doing yoga, and learning more about sketchbook art. Anna is passionate about teacher AND student self-development and she strongly believes that fruitful education process is driven by the mix of positive thinking, inner as well as outer motivation and avid curiosity.

iTDi Research Issue – Ann

My Issue With Research

I’ve got a perception of research and it’s a twisted one. Since I graduated from university I have been going to extremes in my attitude to research work, and it seems a cyclic process which I can’t find a way to put an end to. I’m torn between my aspirations and the saddening view of reality.

The Oxford dictionary definition states that research is “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions”. Well, I would expect to see NEW as the key word here. Maybe because I’ve been teaching science students for more than three years, I’ve grown to seriously believe that research should be based upon an Extraordinary Idea — an idea which, when well thought over, explored and refined, will if not change the field, definitely make a whole lot of difference. Research in my understanding encompasses innovative thinking and its further practical applications ideally enabling change of some sort.

Research can be controversial and provoke debate (take Sugata Mitra’s SOLE project, for example), but one thing research can’t be is trite. Now let’s get down to the grounds of my skepticism towards research, especially as I have experienced how it’s done.

The “research” I was doing for my graduation thesis was neither interesting (to me or my supervisor) nor convincing. It was done solely to fill the necessary amount of paper with a certain type of a structured academic writing, enveloping unexciting ideas into even more unexciting cliché phrases. I do realize that my diligent flipping through the pages of captivating Fowles’ stories in search of contexts of several words and later categorizing them meant (and still means) nothing. Most of my mates had the same feeling. We could probably excuse this type of research for being obligatory and thus not necessarily inspirational or groundbreaking and move on, but should we?

As a general rule, a teacher has to do some research in order to teach in a higher education institution here in Russia. They are expected to be writing papers and publishing their results in local academic journals that, to be honest, I doubt anybody ever reads. I don’t believe that quality research can be an outcome of imposed will. A year ago I was rejected (actually denied even a chance for an interview) by one of the universities with an email saying that the department needed either a post-graduate student or an experienced degree holder to fit an English language teacher position. Never mind, there are lots who are willing to fit.

Finally, people “carry out research” as they want an impressive title. This looks the most pointless and least attractive reason of all to me. To feed this demand there are special agencies which help you get a PhD in any area for a fixed price. As you can imagine, there are lots who are willing to pay.

From what I’ve read in Russian since I got over my first round of frustration with the academic system here, research papers in Russia are compilations and rephrasings of somebody else’s (mostly European and American) ideas and theories. Maybe my expectations are set too high as I want to read an academic article and be thrilled. This, on second thought, only proves that I don’t have the slightest idea of what academic research is really for, as it doesn’t seem to be conducted to please or surprise the reader.

Don’t mistake what I say for a scornful attitude, please. Yes, my view is personal as always, but it doesn’t mean I oppose research. I just don’t feel sure that the way it is offered, expected and encouraged to be done here is right. I would welcome a counter opinion — which I hope you will give me in comments below — and would be more than happy to shift my perspective, and start believing that doing research is, in fact, meaningful. As non-professional as it might seem, my whole view of the problem is entirely through the lens of subjectiveness, so it should be crushed and criticized paragraph by paragraph by those who know better. I’m willing to listen.

“If you steal from one author it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many it’s research” – W. Mizner

Or is it..?

ELT Global Issues – Ann

ELT REPORT FROM RUSSIA

To be honest, I am rather confused as to from which angle to approach this issue. I have worked with all age groups at all stages of education system except for pre-school. I have friends and fellow teachers who work in different types of institutions. I hear plenty of teacher talk in my staff room and just a little bit of it beyond its doors. Yet my experience is limited. It’s one particular private school, one university, one in-company ELT service provider, all located in Russia’s capital. Do they reflect the overall situation in Russia’s education? Probably they do. And yet I don’t feel comfortable drawing conclusions judging by my experience only. I am cautious to make generalizations here. For every point I could mention from my years of work or personal beliefs there would be found a dozen counter-arguments. It is a slippery way.

Education issues are causing heated debates everywhere in Russian media now. The Bologna process, state exams and subsequent changes in secondary education curricula, the introduction of paid secondary education in state schools across Russia: These are burning problems and, as it happens, they are followed by a lot of rumours, negativity, rejection and public disapproval, to put it mildly. What I’ll speak about may not be the most critical issue but it’s something that bothers me, something that I can relate to and that I can hopefully bring change to.

My concern is young teachers of English. I know dozens of young teachers, girls my age or younger, teacher training university graduates like myself, who flee from schools or education system in general. But wait… didn’t I run away from a school myself? That’s exactly what happened. I could no longer stand working in a school. Of course we should take into account all the factors and in each particular case of escape the factors might vary, but I dare say they won’t vary all that much. Low salary, work overload, teacher-parent issues and (as 90% of my case) the working atmosphere in general. Well, I’ve found my place after all but many don’t.

And yet the above-mentioned are not the reasons that worry me the most. There are a certain percentage of teachers willing to work in schools. After a while some of them burn out. A school year’s routine can be tiresome and can easily turn to a bog. This comparison is not accidental. I’ve heard the term more than once used by older, more experienced, and tired teachers. Burn-out results in further passivity towards development. It is caused by lack of motivation, inspiration and drive. I’m sure wherever you are you know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen these educators who might have once loved teaching; educators who used to be creative, unconventional and daring but over time have lost their interest.

There are two qualities that unite disinterested teachers: they are closed-minded and not informed. Well, it can easily be fixed, if you ask me! We need to show how exciting it is to be a connected English language teacher. We need to introduce them to web tools, international groups, communities and social networks. We need to encourage them to always remember to develop. My strong conviction is that at pedagogical universities would-be teachers of English should have a chance to learn about the global side of ELT.

I don’t know whether I will be a teacher for all my life or if there’s something else in store for me. Yet if I do teach for the rest of my life, I hope I will never turn into a Whining Teacher. It’s easy to find a Whining Teacher. They are ubiquitous and universal. It can be true that their universal whining is fair and logical, whereas their complaints reflect a teacher’s realia in any given country. I don’t want to become one as I want to believe, as I take my own little steps in order to look back one day and say, “Yes, I’ve tried. It might not have worked but I did my best trying to make a difference.”

What I learned in 2012 – Ann

Becoming A Better Me

I always enter the weeks before the end of a year with an uncomfortable feeling. There is a lot of pressure at work with papers, credits and exams, and there’s this fussy pre-New-year time, but those are not the prime reasons. The uneasiness comes when I, following my tradition, I open up one of my notebooks and write down 20__ __ at the top of a blank page. Then I stare at it — and I contemplate.

I approached the end of year 2011 with a bitter feeling of things going wrong. Being overwhelmed with numerous online activities and new connections, I totally fell out of REAL life. I lost important bonds and unconsciously devalued what is of true worth. Realizing this fact and overcoming its consequences I consider my biggest success of year 2012. By reflection and action, I’ve learnt how to come to terms with these two parts of my life, assigned each of them their own place, established the difference, and I now always remember my priorities.

I am slowly learning to get over my unflattering qualities. I am learning to be less judgemental and critical. I am getting to grips with the fact that everyone has his/her own place and that’s the only place you can succeed in, by doing what is in it for you. I’m learning to be forgiving, too. I used to be very individualistic, but now I’m teaching myself (and my students with me) to cooperate and value the opinions of others. It is not the wise quotes in my Facebook feed that have given me the motivation to change, but the conversations, the kindness of people around me, the diversity of opinions, the good attitude and openness of my PLN. Thanks to them, I have learnt to be more mindful and less skeptical. I have learnt how to socialize and take pleasure in it (something I couldn’t boast of for several years).

As a teacher I have acquired new practical skills. This year I have used several web 2.0 tools for the first time, read insightful professional articles and blog posts, and tried out activities from webinars and conference sessions that I visited. Going to conferences has proven to be especially beneficial as I not only learnt a lot but, more importantly, gained confidence and got an energy boost that empowered my teaching for weeks after the conference itself. With this uplifting feeling I discovered the will power to take action and step out of my comfort zone – to be bold in my ambitions, to formulate my ambitions.

On a more practical level, I’ve learnt how to optimize my note taking and goal-setting with the use of devices and good old pen-and-paper. I am still learning to set priorities and keep promises though, but I’ve learnt not to give myself too hard a time for sometimes failing to do that.

From this year on I want to carry into my classroom what I learn myself in order to share with my students, be it a new word or a phrase, an interesting fact, or a fresh idea. It looks to me that I’ve learnt to teach with intuition: Not too afraid to make a mistake, not too reproachful for being imperfect. Being a teacher, I can allow myself to keep my own personality in the classroom now. It’s another success of this year – I have stopped even the slightest pretense. In my class and after the final bell goes off, I am one and the same person.

I know this post is neither practical nor useful to readers as it is just as personal as a page of my diary could be, more like a revelation. Yet I know that iTDi is a safe place for me to share and exactly the right place where I would love to share. Everything I have mentioned above has had its effect on my teaching. Every positive change I’ve had in my understanding of myself has altered my way of teaching. Changing as a person, I change as a professional, and that means so much to me. It might seem too bold but that is probably the main message of this post. It is useful to aspire to be a better you.

Learner Autonomy – Anna

Independent Adult Learners? — Ann Loseva

I’d like to start with confessing that I don’t quite like autonomy as a term. An autonomous learner sounds somewhat robot-like to me and rather impersonal. Independence and self-reliance look way more appealing and, besides, in my understanding they carry a more positive attitude and the right concept. I hope to see my students independent in their language learning, self-reliant while making choices, self-directed on their way to orienting themselves in the overwhelming abundance of resources and opportunities available in order to improve their knowledge without a teacher’s helping hand.

I know there are plenty of posts online offering theoretical explanations of why we should encourage learner autonomy and practical ideas on how to bring our students to their independence. So I decided not to share my obviously typical suggestions, but rather express a concern that has been worrying me for a while. I would like to focus on one particular group of students who I find it especially hard to encourage towards independent learning. These are adult learners of English.

The problem with adult learners is that they can sometimes be too settled in their ways. I realize I must sound like a grumbling unhappy teacher now, but what I aim to say is that from my experience a vast majority of grown-ups will not do OR wish to do much to be independent learners (which to my mind is sort of paradoxical as the common image of grown-ups surely implies independence). They will do what they find easiest and least troublesome — which in most cases will also be what’s most conventional, or nothing at all. For many students a teacher is an integral part of their learning process, “pushing power” which is powerful enough to get them organized, guide and sometimes even take decisions for them. Due to the lack of time for grown-up students this particularly is a case in point.

As with everything else in life there are individual cases which break the tendency and are exceptions to rules. On the whole, though, after my 5+ years experience of working with adults, I’ve clearly traced a certain pattern. While being in a course environment, within a frame of a system that each teacher builds up, learners are ready to work and try out something new and maybe even get inspired to continue on their own. As soon as the course finishes, the frames break and let students go their own learning way, dramatic changes usually happen. Learners get frustrated or lack control or get lost in the list of resources you provide, being put off even before trying out for themselves. A teacher’s “pushing power”, their driving force, is missing! Most importantly (and also sadly), their independent and free learning will be largely passive – like reading, or watching a movie. Is it beneficial? It sure is. Is it productive? Not necessarily.

Such is the story with one of my recent private students. Ms M used to be in my General English class organized by her employer a couple of years ago. An incredible student, one of the most diligent, responsible and motivated adult learners I ever had. A month ago she called me to ask if we could have classes together as her English “totally deteriorated”. During our first lesson she explained that she had been trying to continue learning English all the time – self-studying for an exam in her field of work, reading books, watching films, trying to watch series. None of this worked for her. Just didn’t feel right, and there never was any feedback or active process. So we’re happily together again and she’s enthusiastic about regaining control over her English – with a teacher’s help.

I guess it’s fair enough that people find it difficult to learn by them selves. I have faced it many times myself. Autonomous learning, in my opinion, relies a lot not only on genuine interest, but also on will power, determination and more than anything else on practical relevance. I hope you will share some stories of success as I truly believe there must be some! 🙂

Technology in your classes – Anna Loseva

My Tech Journey

I’m a teacher on a journey. On the one hand, I realize that one shouldn’t rely on technology too much. On the other hand, I can’t keep from using it more and more, almost like an addict. I’m neither a webhead nor a noob, but I’m thrilled by technology’s potential in our profession, and I don’t think I’m about to quit exploring what’s possible with what’s available, becoming available, and still at this moment, though not for long, unavailable. I’m figuring it all out, and I’m fascinated. It wasn’t always like this, though.

Six years ago, I was teaching at a private school where the most advanced technology I had available was the CD player we used to do coursebook listening activities. Four years ago, while teaching my first in-company classes, I got the chance to use a laptop in classes, and we used that to do coursebook listening activities, watch BBC news and browse business company websites — when we had an Internet connection. That’s it. My knowledge and understanding of what I could do with tech in classes was very limited and very unimaginative.

Things went on like this for a while, but as I began to explore more a light began to go off in my head. About a year ago, that light became so bright I simply had to get my students involved and I over-excitedly plunged them into a technological world with a kind of hyper-zest. I introduced them to social media, web 2.0 tools, various applications, mobile learning solutions, numerous resources of numerous kinds and the wealth of materials available online. Following those early unimaginative days, I wanted desperately to make up for what I’d been missing and I simply had to take my students with me. Don’t worry, though. That was last year.

I have now calmed down a bit, and will share with you the more measured ways I’ve used technology with my university students this term.

We used a Vkontakte (the Russian equivalent of Facebook) group for announcements, course requirements, links, lesson materials, and interactive home tasks. This was our online learning hub.

We used Google Docs. Once a week my students watched a Youtube or TED video and copied the link into the spreadsheet I prepared. Each Monday we started the lesson with 2-minute timed summaries of the videos. We found some real Internet diamonds that way and have a nice record of them all.

We kept a class blog on which we made short mobile phone recordings that we posted. Students drew posters, supplied these with recorded descriptions, and posted those as well. We also posted student work – with permission.

We used Linoit once to recap a discussion, and I shared a list of web 2.0 tools to try when preparing a presentation. Some of my students used Prezi, Go Animate and Voicethread.

During lessons, there wasn’t much chance we could use the Internet, so we explored the possibilities of mobile devices: taking pictures, playing podcasts, recording stories, using dictionaries, Googling things, and the like.

When I stop to think about how I’ve used technology, I realize that I went from not having it, to not using it imaginatively, to using it excessively, to now using it more judiciously. I hope that every time I encourage the use of this or that app or resource it is justified and appropriate. I hope it does not look like I force the use of tech as it is, in most cases, just one of the options available.

I know that what I’m doing is feeling my way through the abundance of possibilities, but I want to see what works and what fits into my teaching style and my learners’ learning styles. As I figure it out, I’ll be able to make better choices. By experimenting, I will find what’s best. It’s a journey, and the journey continues.