Prem Sourek works as Director of Studies for a language school in the north of Italy, where he is in charge of academic management. He also teaches young learners, teenagers and adults as well as provides IT support to anyone in the school who needs. At the moment, he is also training on one of the few face-to-face CELTA courses in Europe, which is taking place in his school. Email: premek.sourek@gmail.com

 

A brief summary of the talk

Hybrid teaching (when face-to-face and online students attend the same lesson at the same time) has been the buzz word of the past few months. In the session, I reflected on my school’s experiences with hybrid teaching, identified the challenges and asserted my belief that it can be a beneficial experience to all – the students, the teachers, the parents, and the school. In the first part of the talk, I recapped the technology for hybrid learning used in our school – a computer, an IWB/projector, a webcam, an external conference room speaker/microphone + two programmes: Zoom and ActivInspire. In the second part, we looked at some key classroom management principles for hybrid lessons – giving spot-on instructions, interacting with the face-to-face and online students, monitoring, or giving feedback. In the final section, I claimed that hybrid lessons are here to stay even after the pandemic is over – it can be an important product in the portfolio of language schools that enables to attract both students from the area as well as those who would rather join online in order to save time on commuting, etc. Therefore, I believe this product to be from the heart of the teachers/school managers to the students.

 

How you felt before the conference

I had given talks at numerous face-to-face conferences before but only had one recent experience with speaking at an online event. Three weeks before this conference I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the first PARK online conference organised by PARK School of English in Brno, Czech Republic.

The PARK conference organisers arranged a series of online trials where speakers would join and test their microphone, screen sharing, etc. to make sure everything went smoothly on the conference day. IH Bielsko did not organise any meeting like this prior to the Training day so I was a bit unsure about everything working smoothly. Fortunately, it was well organised and we have all become very proficient users of Zoom that it went swimmingly.

 

What your feelings were during the talk itself

The worst and unfamiliar feeling during the talk was talking to empty space – no faces, no other speakers in the session with me, no breakout rooms – it was a talk to no one and everyone. I knew the participants were there but I wasn’t getting any feedback (i.e. facial expressions, etc.) from them relating to what I was talking about. As a result – and because it was my first ever experience with an online talk like this – I know my voice and my energy dropped as the talk progressed. I’d have preferred to see their faces or at least have the opportunity to interact with them and have them interact with each other through breakout rooms.

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

 

Post-conference reflections

I learnt that it’s important to imagine there is a live audience (I know there is!) even if you can’t see them and ensure that the talk is energetic throughout. It’s a bit like talking to yourself in the mirror and making it a performance. I’d definitely like to take part in further online training events like this – I have experience with talking to live audiences and small online groups (with cameras on) and I see the potential of webinars or online meetings where participants are off camera.

 

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