The idea of this training program emerged based on the actual need of the Program in Global Languages and Communication (GLC) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The main purpose of the program included offering the program's faculty the instruction in how to teach live (synchronous), self-paced (asynchronous), and blended (hybrid) online courses/programs in translation and interpreting. The program was also aimed at providing clear, simple guidance on how to teach interpreter/translator professional ethics, standards, protocols, practical interpreting skills, addressing communication barriers, and more in an online medium.
Below it is possible to see an example of the slide deck accompanied with facilitator notes. I created this presentation for a 50-minute virtual instructor-led training session about communication autonomy and interpreter mediation/interpreter intervention, including requesting clarification.
A slide deck for a 50-minute live session
(with facilitator notes)
English as a Second Language (ESL) Reading & Vocabulary
(Eco-Tourism & Environmental Protection)
This synchronous online course was designed to promote extensive reading among international University of California, Irvine (UCI) students. It was based on the use of Canvas as an LMS and of Zoom as a video-conferencing platform for online class meetings. The course included extensive reading and discussion with emphasis on popular science writing, journal articles, textbook chapters, information from blogs and other websites, and the interpretation of charts, diagrams, tables, and figures as well as of visual metaphors and social advertisements. It was expected that this course would also help its participants effectively discuss and present information from reading while expanding their range of the English vocabulary related to the main topic of the course ("Eco-Tourism and Environmental Protection").
Please watch this walk-through video presenting the main idea of Canvas space designed for the UCI English as a Second Language (ESL) Reading & Vocabulary class in particular. It also contains some information about the design of the related Canvas class space and its main components as well as the examples of the materials, activities, and assessments developed for and used in this online synchronous class.
English as a Second Language (ESL) Reading & Vocabulary Canvas Class Space Walk-Through Video
Now you are welcome to take a look at the examples of the visuals which I created for enhancing different online asynchronous and synchronous discussions and assignments from this course, including the examples of a word cloud, text-based chart, infographic, electronic poster, social advertisement, crossword puzzle, and electronic mind map with the videos from YouTube embedded in them. Most of these visuals were created with the help of Canva, Wordle, Venngage, MindMeister, and Paint 3D. (A few more examples of such visuals and the related activities can be found on the class website, including the class blog, as well.)
It's also possible to see here an example of the reading material adapted to the needs of the learners in this ESL class. The adaptations made in this and in the other reading materials for this course included the use of appropriate dictionary definitions in English as well as the visuals illustrating the meaning of some scientific terms and a few other words or expressions that could potentially be not familiar to the learners before they started reading and analyzing the related text in English. All reading materials for this class typically included some discussion or assignment prompts so that the learners were aware of the purposes of reading a specific text included in the course before beginning to explore its content in detail.
An example of adapting ESL reading material
to learners' actual needs
This part of the ILT &VILT section presents an example of a weekly screencast walk-through video for the ESL Reading & Vocabulary class recorded with the help of Yuja and incorporated directly into Canvas, as it served as the LMS for this class.
Below the video, you will see the screenshots of several webpages from the Canvas class space which I used for facilitating this synchronous instructor-led online course, including the Home/Modules page of the course, an example of an online discussions on Canvas, and several examples of the practical activities and the final creative assignment I designed for this course.
Drama in the English as a
Second Language (ESL) Classroom
This in-person instructor-led course was originally designed for the ESL Certificate program at Illinois Institute of Fine Arts (IIFA). Learners in this situation were the international college students and adult learners who wanted to improve their English communicative skills while developing their acting and public speaking skills at the same time. The learners participating in this class could be from different cultural, linguistic and social backgrounds as well as from all levels of ability in the program, which had much influence on my decisions involved in the process of creating the necessary materials for this class. This included the development of the infographics and several other visual materials which were supposed to make this course more appealing and easier-to-follow for different categories of learners.
Below are presented the visual materials I created for the course, including the slide deck for one of the lessons of the course developed with the use of Storyboard That and several examples of infographics prepared with the help of Canva and Microsoft Paint. The visual advertisement and the expectations flyer for this class created in Canva are included in this part of the portfolio as well. Although those materials were originally designed for a face-to-face instructor-led class, most of them could potentially be used for a fully online or hybrid (i.e. partly face-to-face/partly online) variant of the same class as well.
A Lesson Presentation Slide Deck