NILE Online Taster Course (CAIM)

Orientation

In the Orientation you will find out about the NILE Online course: the course structure and dates, your tutor, what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. You will also find out how to navigate around the course and find answers to questions you may have. Finally, you have the chance to plan out when you will be able to work on our NILE Online course. You can look at this Orientation at any time before Unit 1 starts and you might like to return to it during the course if you have questions.

Please complete this XXXX.

This is the only unit that isn't interactive. You will meet your course colleagues and tutor in Unit 1.

Estimated Time: 1 hour 

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Introductions

In this unit you will learn to use the learning platform, introduce yourselves and get a general overview of the content, your teaching contexts and discuss what we mean by classroom activities.

There are seven activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 28 September.

• Activity 1.1: To introduce yourself to others on the course
• Activity 1.2: To make contact with your tutor through the messaging facility
  
• Activity 1.3: To make contact with other participants 
• Activity 1.4: To read a set of guidelines for effective online communication
• Activity 1.5: To create metaphors for good classroom activities
• Activity 1.6: To explore different aims and roles of classroom activities
• Activity 1.7: To consider how different teaching contexts affect classroom activities
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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Effective Classroom Activities

This unit looks at what makes good classroom activities. You’re going to learn to say what the aims are for some activities. There will be a focus on vocabulary learning, so here we will think about the importance of vocabulary recycling and look at a range of activities for reviewing vocabulary. Finally you will either teach a vocabulary activity or watch one being taught.

There are five activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 5 October.

• Activity 2.1: To look at different elements of a good classroom activity
• Activity 2.2: To understand the learning aims of some classroom activities
• Activity 2.3: To look at the importance of vocabulary recycling
• Activity 2.4: To discover a range of activities for recycling vocabulary
• Activity 2.5: To try out, or watch, a classroom activity
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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Interaction

In this unit we are going to look at why we need to encourage students to interact with each other in classroom activities. There are many different interaction patterns we can include in a class. You are going to think about the benefits of each of these. Then we will focus particularly on speaking activities and you are going to explore several different speaking activity-types. You will then watch a presentation about setting effective discussion questions. Finally we will meet online for a live webinar where we will have a discussion ourselves about common problems teachers face in speaking classes and how we can encourage students to interact more.

There are five activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 12 October.

• Activity 3.1: To think about why students need to interact in class
• Activity 3.2: To see the benefits of different interaction patterns
  
• Activity 3.3: To discover and categorise a range of activities for speaking
  
• Activity 3.4: To understand the characteristics of good discussion questions
  
• Activity 3.5: To share ideas and solutions for encouraging interaction and dealing with common problems in speaking classes
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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Motivation

In this unit we are going to look at motivation. You will start by thinking about what motivates people in general. And then you will use this knowledge to discuss how to make language learning activities more motivating. The other focus for this unit is writing, as teachers often ask how to motivate their students to write. We’ll ask why students may not want to write and then you’ll look at several classroom writing activities that should make them much more enthusiastic about writing. Finally, we’ll take a look at a collaborative writing project and share your ideas for one you could use to motivate your own students.

There are five activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 19 October.

• Activity 4.1: To find out what motivates people in general
  
• Activity 4.2: To see how we can make language learning activities more motivating
  
• Activity 4.3: To suggest ways to motivate our students to write in English
  
• Activity 4.4: To discover and evaluate some motivating writing activities
  
• Activity 4.5: To share ideas for setting up collaborative writing projects
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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MID-COURSE BREAK

There are no formal activities or content this week. You may like to use the time to:

• Review the work you have done so far
• Think more about how it relates to your context
• Revisit any activities you missed*
• Download anything from the course that you want to keep
• Look at any resources (e.g. extra reading) your haven't had time for
• 'Clear the decks' for the second half of the course
• Just have a break before the second half of the course.

*Please note tutors don't usually go back to look at any extra work on previous units.

Classroom Management

In this unit we are looking at classroom management for different stages of activities. We will especially look at giving good instructions. We’ll see that classroom management is different for different contexts (where you work, who your students are, etc.).  Then we’ll look at a range of short activities that can be used at the beginning or end of a lesson, or when we need to wake students up or calm them down. Finally, we’ll plan the stages and instructions for one activity. We’ll share this with our course colleagues.

There are six activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by XXXXX.

• Activity 5.1: To explore the teacher’s role at different stages of a classroom activity
• Activity 5.2: To explore and practise ways to give clear effective instructions for classroom activities
• Activity 5.3: To explore some classroom management issues for different teaching and learning contexts
• Activity 5.4: To look at the need for warmers, fillers, stirrers and settlers
• Activity 5.5: To review a range of warmers, fillers, stirrers and settlers
• Activity 5.6: To plan the aim, stages and instructions for one activity
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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Building and Sharing a Bank of Activities

In this unit you are going to look at different ways that teachers can find new classroom activities. You will think about both paper and digital sources. Then you will focus on grammar activities and try to find some useful activities to satisfy particular grammar learning aims. After that you will look at some ways of storing and organising the classroom activities that you discover so you can easily find them the next time you need them. Finally you will look at ways you can share activities and resources online with colleagues. The work in this unit will be particularly useful for your final assignment.

There are five activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 9 November.

• Activity 6.1: To explore ways of building a bank of classroom activities
• Activity 6.2: To find reliable online sources of classroom activities
• Activity 6.3: To find online grammar activities to meet specific aims
• Activity 6.4: To discover some effective ways of storing and organising classroom activities you have found
• Activity 6.5: To look at some ways of sharing your classroom activity bank with colleagues
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 6 hours

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Evaluating, Adapting and Devising Activities

In this unit you are going to look at some ways of evaluating classroom activities. Then you will learn about some ways to adapt them where necessary, so they are more effective for your students. Finally there will be some hints for creating your own activities, and this will help you to make an activity yourself. The focus of this unit will be receptive skills – that is listening and reading activities.

There are four activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 16 November.

• Activity 7.1: To decide what the most important considerations are when evaluating activities generally
  
• Activity 7.2: To evaluate listening and reading activities for your students
• Activity 7.3: To explore some ways to adapt activities to make them more appropriate for your students
• Activity 7.4: To create some classroom activities suitable for your class
• Unit Review: To review what has been looked at in this unit

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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Course Review and Assignment Preview

In this final unit we will review the whole course and look at what you need to do for your assignment. You will have the opportunity to try out tasks from both assignments, so you can choose which one you want to do and get some feedback before you start the real thing. Finally we’ll have a virtual goodbye party! There is also a course evaluation task to complete.

There are six activities in the unit. All activities must be completed by Wednesday 23 November.

• Activity 8.1: To review major areas of the course
• Activity 8.2: To think about your individual contexts and needs
• Activity 8.3: To find out about the two assignment options and assessment
• Activity 8.4: To try out part of the assignment you have chosen and receive written feedback
• Activity 8.5: A closing activity for the group
• Activity 8.6: To evaluate the course

Estimated Unit Time: 5 hours

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ASSIGNMENT

This is the place to submit your Pre-Assignment Task and Final Assignment.

You will receive feedback from your tutor on your Pre-Assignment Task to take into account before submitting your final Assignment. 

Your tutor will give you a grade and comments on the Assignment and Reflection Task.

Please submit your Pre-Assignment Task by Wednesday 30 November and your final Assignment by Wednesday 21 December.

 

SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT