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June 2021 - Year 23 - Issue 3

ISSN 1755-9715

Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: How I Became Mr Lazy

Richard Lacy was a senior teacher at IH Torun for a few years and taught a year at IH Donetsk in Ukraine before that. Now he is a teaching manager at English Excel in Hong Kong.

Email: riclacy@hotmail.com

 

A brief summary of the talk

I tried to present some quick ideas on how to adopt a more relaxed approach to teaching, mostly by using class time to ask students to prepare, plan and run lessons themselves to some degree. Eg. A debate about what pages to tackle in the course book. This keeps things student-centred, increases their investment and increases the likelihood that the work will be relevant to them. And it also provides a real authentic focus to those activities, since what they produce will actually be used.  That authenticity is what I interpreted ‘From the Heart’- Showing students not only how the sausage is made to some degree, but giving them more of a stake in doing so.

 

How you felt before the conference

I’d spoken at Teacher Training Days in Bydgoszcz and Torun before, but I was still a little nervous. The time zone difference between Poland and Hong Kong had been a bit of a headache to organise around, and it meant that I’d be presenting in the evening after our busiest work day. Can’t be helped though! And I’m still grateful to have the opportunity at all.

To prep, I brainstormed some notes during commutes over the couple of weeks leading up to it. Then I threw together the slides from those notes, with enough broad topics to allow me to waffle. I certainly appreciated the tight 30 minutes duration! Just beforehand, I had time to run through it once, talking to the air, and then away we went. 

 

What your feelings were during the talk itself

I wasn’t sure how the group interaction was going to play out. I was much relieved watching Elzbieta’s presentation just before that the chat box was nice and active. Talking to a camera alone, and trying to still be responsive and engaging, is no mean trick! The lag time between my questions and the group’s typed answers was still awkward occasionally, but it wasn’t too onerous. Time passed pretty quickly and it was fun, but I have to say I still prefer to see who I’m talking to!

 

Post-conference reflections

If I was going to do it again, I would make insincere promises about prepping more thoroughly and then something would come up at work and I would end up doing much the same, I think. I would recommend it to anyone though - if folks are stressed by talking in front of a big room, then this might be a great step to try. Sharing ideas is a big part of what makes this job fun for me! 

 

Please check the The Art and Skills of the Humanistic Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.

Tagged  Voices 
  • On Organising an Online Teaching Conference: Reflections on the First International House Bielsko-Biała Online Teacher Training Day
    Christopher Walker, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Interactive Activities for Young Learners
    Alexandra Tieanu-Koppandi, Romania

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Freer Speaking Activities
    Glenn Standish, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Hybrid Learning – Challenges and Benefits
    Prem Sourek, Italy

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: How COVID-19 Influenced My Teaching Beliefs
    Chris Bain, Czech Republic

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Senses Working Overtime
    Lisa Phillips, Italy

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Lessons Learned through Writing Feedback
    Christopher Walker, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: How I Became Mr Lazy
    Richard Lacy, Hong Kong

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Exciting Experiments, or How to Interweave Science into Language Teaching
    Aleksandra Zaparucha, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: Common Teaching Mistakes
    Elzbieta Chudoba, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: The Vulnerable Teacher
    Zuzanna Szatanik, Poland

  • Reflections on Presenting at an Online Conference: My Journey
    Doris Nneka Egwu, Italy