Naoko Sensei puts a digital countdown timer on the board. Sets it to 40 seconds. All pupils stand up: it is time to practice, in pairs, the months in English. One of the students says 2月, the other one responds in English: February. A boy says 4月, and after some hesitation, a girl says April.Continue reading “How much time do we have? On Countdown timers in Japanese schools and the first week of my “minigration” to Japan”
Tag Archives: teaching
Getting out of the comfort zone, again? On our AI-Write project, Limerick, and the future of higher education (in Europe)
We are living in the times when at least half of the LinkedIn users1, AI-influencers, or people you barely know are telling you to get out of your comfort zone, before you have had enough time to spend in and enjoy your “comfort zone” (i.e. doing what you know best – apparently it is “notContinue reading “Getting out of the comfort zone, again? On our AI-Write project, Limerick, and the future of higher education (in Europe)”
“You need to be reminded about those small things that make differences”: Classroom interaction and language teaching
I was invited to write a guest blog for Karlstad University, Centre for Language and Literature Education. I wrote about the importance of classroom interaction in language teaching, arguing for a focus on classroom interaction in initial teacher education and continuous professional development. The full text is available at https://sola.kau.se/cslblog/2023/05/31/you-need-to-be-reminded-about-those-small-things-that-make-differences-classroom-interaction-and-language-teaching/ I would like to thankContinue reading ““You need to be reminded about those small things that make differences”: Classroom interaction and language teaching”
On “Armchair Teacher Education”: Some observations and humble suggestions
Teaching is an embodied practice. You get your hands dirty with chalk and board markers, or by collaboratively annotating a document with your students in a Zoom room. You go around in the classroom in-between desks, receive questions, respond to students, laugh out loud together with your learners. For your own professional development, you thinkContinue reading “On “Armchair Teacher Education”: Some observations and humble suggestions”
Who is the expert? School teachers and university teachers in Swedish teacher education
Teacher education in Sweden and other Nordic countries is highly practice based. Student-teachers spend a significant amount of time in schools during their studies, engaging in teaching and other daily school activities under the supervision of school-based mentors. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the success drives of Northern European countries in education.Continue reading “Who is the expert? School teachers and university teachers in Swedish teacher education”
John Gordon – Teacher education and researching classroom talk around literature
It was a pleasure to host a webinar with John Gordon on the 16th of September as part of the SOLD Research Environment seminar series at Mälardalen University (Sweden). John managed to attract participants from 14 different countries, including Chile, Turkey, Austria, France, and many others. John’s webinar brought together a diverse group: school teachersContinue reading “John Gordon – Teacher education and researching classroom talk around literature”
Olcay Sert 