The Importance of Student Self-Reflection on Their Own Learning


Written by - Gonul Turkdogan

What is self-reflection in learning?

It is a cognitive awareness that occurs when students are aware of and can articulate what they know and what they need to learn. Thus, it examines the ways an individual learns.

Self-reflection is a huge and often overlooked part of education. While students are often asked to reflect on their own learning, their teachers typically do not coach them in how to do it most effectively. We already know that teacher reflection is a very important part of our professional development. TESL training usually offers great opportunities to learn how to do that. But students have similar needs. Neither teachers nor students can maximally improve their performance without self-reflection.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 6

Boosting your Career with the OCELT Designation – Growth. Recognition. Community.


Written by - teslontario
TESL Ontario Certification
Image source: TESL Ontario

Written by Reza Mazloom-Farzaghy, Accreditation Services Manager, TESL Ontario

Hi there. My name is Reza Mazloom-Farzaghy. I am the TESL Ontario Accreditation Services Manager. I am also an OCELT. Do you know what OCELT stands for? We see OCELT in email signatures, resumes, title slides of presentation decks, and presenter biographies quite often these days, which is excellent for our profession! The OCELT professional designation acknowledges the professional status of certified practitioners and enhances their professional prestige as members of a dynamic ESL community. If you are an OCELT but haven’t started using your professional designation yet, or if you are not an OCELT but are planning to start the application process soon, this blog post may encourage you to start today!

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

A Look Back: History and Impact of TESL Certifications


Written by - teslontario
Image source: TESL Ontario

Written by Reza Mazloom-Farzaghy, Accreditation Services Manager – TESL Ontario

Hard to believe, but TESL Ontario is turning 50 this year! Throughout the years, the association has made great strides in the area of setting professional standards for certification of English language educators.  We invite you to join us for a look back on the history of certification at TESL Ontario.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 1

Language Never Stops


Written by - Bei Zhang
Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Is it possible for a language to become outdated? Daniel Tammet (2018) answered this question in Every Word Is A Bird: “Language never stops.” “Language evolves over time to reflect the way understanding and beliefs change” (Lellman, 2021). Some expressions that were common a few years ago might not be so common now. This has made choosing good materials more challenging when it comes to real-world language learning.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 1

Fostering Equity and Engagement Through Narrative


Written by - Sarah Martinez

A narrative is a series of events that can be described through words, images, performance, or a combination of these forms. Often, the manner in which the story is told can impact how it is told and how it is received. Stories can convey complex concepts and perspectives, invoke strong emotions, and leave a lasting impression on our minds. This is why using narrative to facilitate learning can be so powerful.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Web Accessibility for Language Teachers


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz

Educational digital accessibility is often viewed as a set of practices  dedicated that assist disabled individuals with challenges to participate in online and blended courses.  In fact, accessibility practices endeavor to more than eliminate barriers to education; they ensure that digital content is enhanced for everyone. Digital accessibility practices are something we all should practice because: 

  • they remove barriers to education and training
  • legislation requires accessibility across Canada 
  • many Canadians live with at least 1 disability 
  • they improve all digital resources for all users 
  • it is the right thing to do 

Continue reading →

Categories:
POST COMMENT 1

My Transformational Journey as Interlanguage


Written by - Setareh Dabbagh
Source: pixabay.com

Hello everyone! My name is Interlanguage and I’m here to share my transformational journey with you! A journey which was supposed to take me to my dreamland of Second Language! Instead, this journey made me an excellent version of myself!

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 0

Introducing the Colleges and Universities Committee


Written by - Guest Contributor
Image source: TESL Ontario

Guest Contributor: Jim Papple

Well, hello there!  I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced, but we’ve probably bumped into each other before…maybe at a conference, or a webinar.  Allow me to introduce TESL Ontario’s College and University Committee! 

Over the last 3 years, a small but dedicated group of people have been toiling to put together the infrastructure to have a new committee and a voice for College and University educators.  For a committee to work effectively, a lot of things need to be in place including terms of reference, a strategic plan, a call for volunteers.  We accomplished these tasks and many more within our first year and have looked to grow and expand.   Our mission is to develop leadership for professional development and practice among English language and TESOL educators working in both the college and university sectors.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 3

The Curse of Knowledge or Groundhog Day? – Take Your Pick


Written by - Cecilia Aponte-de-Hanna
Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

I blame the title on sitting in front of a computer day in and day out, setting up breakout rooms, and talking too many times into a dark screen divided into little squares, each one imprinted with names and hardly any faces; despite it all, there I was, on that particular day, hair fully brushed, looking good from the waist up, and full of burnt-out enthusiasm, ready for my lesson on “paraphrasing.”

Groundhog Day

On that morning, as I have been doing for a while (two years minus a few days), I turned on my computer before class time to make sure everything was in order and that my Google Jamboard was shareable and editable for my students to work in groups.

Continue reading →
Categories:
POST COMMENT 2

Learning the Art of Critical Pivoting


Written by - Guest Contributor
Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Guest Contributor: Christine Smart-Wiseman

Like many others in the field, I am always looking for new ways to improve my teaching. My research as a PhD student at York University led me to examine teaching from a critical pedagogical approach. The guiding principle of this approach is to construct equitable and democratic classrooms with a goal to positively transform students’ lives (Canagarajah, 2005).

While I was doing my research in an ELL classroom, I uncovered many ways in which ELL environments contradict the goals of critical pedagogical approaches. In many cases, planning and preparing ahead to foster a classroom environment that supports critical learning can overcome these challenges, but at times, there may be a dynamic need to shift classroom spaces towards empowering teaching and learning. I have developed a strategy I call critical pivoting to address this problem and would like to share it with you.

Continue reading →

Categories:
POST COMMENT 2