Using the English Language to Connect with Teachers around the World
Learner Perspectives
Aliaa Hamad has been teaching EFL to adults in Egypt for over thirteen years. In that time, she has developed, adapted, and evaluated reading, listening, writing, and speaking materials for General English, EAP, and ESP courses. After being nominated by her superior at the American University in Cairo, Aliaa was invited to participate in a distance education program as part of the Engaging Materials for Global English project at Iowa State University. Every week the participants were assigned readings and lectures around a theme, such as Language and Content in ELT Materials, which they would then discuss in online forums they contributed to via text, voice recording, or webcam video.
“The discussions helped participants envision how the theories learned could better inform our materials writing,” Aliaa explains. “There were also collaborative materials development projects conducted in small groups via web-based document sharing applications.”
After participating in the online course, Aliaa saw a change in the way she incorporates technology into her lessons, her teaching environment, and her own professional development.
“Although technology was an integral part of my classroom before, I’d never thought of using it for my own professional development, not before the online course anyways,” Aliaa explains. “I knew it was not simply used for the sake of it, or because it was available; it is used for a purpose, a purpose that nothing else could serve.
The course taught Aliaa that a laptop, a VCR, the Internet, and social media can bring the whole world to the classroom. It can introduce students to the cultural aspect of language, something the online course helped reinforce.
“I now use technology, not just for my students, but also for me as a teacher,” says Aliaa. “I look at lesson plans, corpuses, discussion groups, and the problems/solutions posted and adapt them to my situation.”
Participating in the online course also gave Aliaa a chance to revisit her own teaching techniques while connecting with other English language teachers from around the world.
“Learning different languages and understanding their cultures is a prerequisite for accepting and embracing different peoples and being inducted into the ‘global village’ community,” Aliaa says. “Materials writing and teacher training programs educate people, not just in terms of literacy, but also about their rights and how to get them, how to accept and live harmoniously with others, and how to make a difference in the world.”
The Engaging Materials Online course changed the way Aliaa looks at teaching, English, materials development, and humanity.
“It has definitely made me a better teacher, a better materials writer, and more of a world citizen than I knew was ever possible,” says Aliaa. “I learned a lot on a professional and personal level. Not only do I feel like a better teacher now, but I also feel validated by the experiences of fellow teachers from the world over.”