7th confession. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

 

As I mentioned on my second post, most of Chinese students are not even interested in learning their major and they are at the university studying what they do not like because their parents forced them to do so. Like many Asians parents, they push their children to choose careers that permit them obtain high salaries jobs in order to provide for their families.

Due to the lack of interest in studying, some students are playing online games (online gaming is becoming such a serious problem in China that it is considered like "electronic heroin". There are even boot camps for teenagers to treat this kind of addiction), chatting with their friends on their phones or even sleeping during classes. As it can be perceived, motivating Chinese students to be involved during English classes is a real challenge. Harmer, J (1998) says that “Teacher are not, however, ultimately responsible for their students’ motivation. They can only encourage by word and deed. Real motivation comes within each individual.”

As an English teacher, one should promote an English environment; for instance, all my students have English names (because it is very difficult to pronounce and memorize their Chinese names). When students are doing speaking activities, I go around checking that they are speaking in English all the time. Using English is a must inside the classroom even if they make mistakes; I have told them that using single words, gestures or pointing out are valid in order to make themselves understood. They should communicate with their classmates all the time in English, when students speak in Chinese (mandarin) in my class they will get a negative point; if they complete 10 of those negative points, their final grade or mark will be reduced by a 5%.  Chinese students are obsessed with having high grades and they are very respectful with the teachers, under this circumstance this technique has had great results and most of the time they are using English when speaking to their classmates even if they are talking about something else that is not part of the class. The purpose is not to become an “English Nazi” correcting grammar, spelling or pronunciation all the time but rather to motivate students to always use English, even though they are making mistakes, the idea is to make them confident when using English inside the classroom creating an environment that forces them to use it.

Having said that, one of the objectives of applying digital technologies is to promote responsibility, independence and encourage the students to become good learners. They should not be passive and wait to be taught. According to Hammer successful learners should be “willing to listen, to experiment, to ask questions and to think about how to learn.”

With this in mind, when using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) like Edmodo, it is important that students have an active participation in it, not just to see it as a source of content but instead as an environment where they can actively participate in the creation of knowledge by sharing materials and reflecting upon their experiences or ideas. In other words, learners need to change their roles and be responsible of their own learning and see the teacher as an advisor and guide when necessary.  As Goodyear (2002) states there are a number of indicators that show how students’ role might change when moving into an online environment:

·        From passive receptacles for hand−me−down knowledge to constructors of their own knowledge;

·        Students move from memorising facts towards solving problems;

·        Students view topics from multiple perspectives;

·        Students devise their own questions and search for their own answers;

·        Students work as group members on more collaborative/co−operative assignments: group interaction significantly increased;

·        Increased multi−cultural awareness;

·        Students work towards fluency with the same tools as professionals in their field;

·        Increased emphasis on students as autonomous, independent, self−motivated managers of their own learning;

·        Discussion of students' work in the classroom;

·        There is a change in emphasis from receiving information from the teacher and learning to pass the test' towards using knowledge;

·        Emphasis on developing effective learning strategies (both individually and collaboratively);

·        Students have greater access to resources.

Next week students have a nice opportunity to share and reflect upon a video (with subtitles) they are making. They already have an account on Edmodo so videos can be posted in Edmodo and analyse them, work as a group and help their classmates find out what their mistakes are when speaking and use their knowledge to give suggestions on how they can improve their speech and the video itself. At the same time, I can provide some feedback and guide to reflect on their own work and give advice on how they can find different resources to improve their speaking. I can conduct some polls in order to receive feedback and analyse how I can improve these types of activities with them.

As Harmer, J (1998) affirms “Students need to be aware that we cannot teach them English unless they themselves are prepared to take some of the strain. Learning is a partnership between teachers and students.”

Reference

Goodyear, P (2002) − Psychological Foundations for Networked Learning in Networked Learning: Perspectives and Issues Steeples C and Jones C (Eds) Springer−Verlag: London.

Harmer, J (1998)-How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman Edinburgh