Hollie
Hello Malcolm, back to English and maths Boo my name is Holly Barnes and today I'm joined by the wonderful Karen Gowlett.
Karen
Hi Holly, lovely introduction.
Hollie
Hi Karen.
Hollie
Hi how are you?
Karen
I'm fine, thank you. How are you? I'm good.
Hollie
I'm good, thank you.
Hollie
Thank you.
Hollie
Um, so can't you just want to introduce yourself and and tell us a bit about?
Hollie
What you do and where you're based.
Karen
Okay, so I'm in Essex and I'm in adult learning adult community learning and have been for quite a long time over 20 years.
Karen
So I started off teaching dance and cake decoration and then moved into being an assistant in supported learning classes. When I moved to a different area.
Speaker 3
I don't know.
Karen
And then I I really was interested in what the sole teachers did. It looked really, really fascinating, so I volunteered in an ESOL class, loved that, and then took my teaching qualifications. So went to.
Karen
University and specialised in ESOL?
Karen
I'm from then was teaching ESOL, functional it and functional English or literacy as it was then an GCSE English and supported learning at one point.
Karen
So I was in for curriculum areas at one point, but now I'm a teaching and learning mentor, so I work with teachers from all over our county, one to one and in small groups supporting them in anyway that they need.
Karen
And I still teach GCSE English. That's still my love as his easel, but I decided to to keep with the GCSE for now.
Hollie
Wow, your woman of many talents covered I I didn't realise you've done so much. That's insane.
Karen
Well, I think for a lot of teachers who come into Adelaide you coming in strange ways. You come in via your specialism.
Karen
And then maybe you find different things that you enjoy or that you could out once you're now. So it is probably quite a lot of people who do similar sort of things.
Hollie
Yeah, that's that's.
Hollie
The beauty of further education isn't it? I mean, I can't speak for other sectors cause I've only worked in EFL myself and an FA, but the beauty of other fears, you know there's a lot of freedom to move around, and the training and you know you can go into different areas and see what's happening, which is great.
Speaker 3
Boots.
Karen
Yeah.
Hollie
And you always know you always know if you know like you.
Hollie
Need a plumber or someone to look at. Your car is also.
Speaker 3
Yes.
Hollie
Available as well, that's worth reading and is much.
Speaker 3
That's true.
Hollie
So, um.
Hollie
Have you been teaching online recently, then?
Karen
Yeah, so when we went into lockdown this time last year, we went straight online with no idea like everybody of how to do it and very very basic tools in our out on our Vialli and Big Blue button then moved into teams.
Karen
So I was teaching ESOL online and GCSE, although at that point when you GCSE students won't work and have an exam.
Karen
So.
Karen
They weren't lessons as such. There were more get togethers where we did a bit of poetry. We did, we did.
Karen
Everything is quite was quite freeing, but with these are we still had to work towards exams which we thought at that point?
Speaker 3
Woo.
Karen
So that was probably the more challenging one with begin at ESOL learners. Getting getting them online. But yeah, we did it and it we've stayed online or year in as an adult college with very small small centres. Small.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Karen
Rooms.
Karen
Um, we felt that it was going to be difficult to go back into centres because our rooms just weren't big enough to socially distance.
Karen
And now you know I learners at all ages, and so we decided for the majority. We've stayed on teams or on a Big Blue button. An only beginner levels of ESOL, English and maths and supported learning have been incentive.
Hollie
Wow, and how? How is your your learners been finding that cause we're will nearing towards the end of term Now aren't we an yeah we've seen since last academic year.
Hollie
There's been another academic year joined online, so how's it going for you? If you got something that you will maybe take away from the online learning experience that you're going to use, maybe in elements of online learning or in the face to face classroom.
Karen
I think it's changed over the year drastically so and not just for me. So for maybe 6-8 months ago me and quite a few other English teachers were.
Karen
Lamenting the lack of discussion, the the pace, the the, the digital problems, they still there to an extent, but we've managed to maybe overcome some of them or just get used to how things are.
Karen
But quite a lot of us are saying that we want to keep an online element into our classes come September, and we are planning for blended learning.
Karen
For me it's been attendance. I mean, I've only been teaching one main class, and I've dropped into a fast track GCSE that we started in January.
Karen
I do odd classes on there.
Karen
But my evening class I'm getting 100% attendance and that just did and in the centre. Now if I had a week with 100% attendance, I was elated because childcare, jobs, shifts change and people just not able to. Yeah that to attend and I was in in a centre last week during the summer. Shoes were doing mock exams although they're not mock exams but you know they are going to be assessed but they were there in the centre and the invigilator said to one of the students.
Hollie
Wow.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
Life, isn't it?
Karen
What's it like working online? It's not the same, is it? And she said I love it. She said I wouldn't be here should I haven't got a car?
Karen
You know, living a little coastal town, she said, I would have to get the bus into college and there isn't a bus back.
Karen
I would have to rely on lifts, she said, whereas now I can finish work and I can just open my computer so she has some computer issues and it's a pain.
CNET.
Karen
Haha but we fight with it. She wouldn't be.
Hollie
Coming home.
Hollie
It's incredible, isn't it? Actually? How much online learning has opened doors for many people, and I agree that in the adult community it's been a huge huge success because life just get in the way, doesn't you know? Like you're saying getting buses? Yeah, sometimes.
Hollie
Sometimes people have to get two buses rushing home from work, finishing at 5:00 o'clock. And of course we have we have day classes. Don't we're at college.
Hollie
Transport they again they don't fit with everybody, is kind of all this life cycle of working 9:00 to 5:00.
Karen
No.
Hollie
So being able to go home and still be at home a lot, maybe look after children. Or you know if you're working late and still be able to access education at a time that that's more suitable for you without having to be in a building is is brilliant and it reaches reaches out to the wider community. Just knows it is what makes us inclusive.
Karen
I think it reaches out to people who maybe wouldn't have got there, but then the other side of that is other people who left so along the way I've had students leave Becausr. Their devices were not hold.
Hollie
By having that online learning.
Karen
Yup, that was home schooling children and they just work exhausted at the end of the day and couldn't get any of their own work done. So if I'm looking at I'm getting 100% attendance which I would have done. But equally I've lost people along the way. Online learning wasn't wasn't working for them, so they need to be thought of as well. We need to remember and where I work is.
Speaker 3
Movies.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Speaker 3
Karen
Not a very rich area and there are people who I know would have come into college to join and they just wouldn't even access their website so our numbers were much lower to start with, so we've got to go and offer face to face learning.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Karen
For lots of people, but you know, great that we can keep them in online and keep the assignments online.
Karen
Keep them engaged. If there's a snow day, or if someone's ears because you know they're not going to want to come into college with a cold.
Hollie
Yeah.
Karen
I won't want me to come into college with a cold. Everyone will be very wary.
Karen
Of that is.
Hollie
Yeah.
Karen
So we need an online element so they know where everything is online, so I'm hoping that we can.
Speaker 3
Karen
In the first few weeks of the September term, be able to coach learners in how to use to find things online to find their assignments, to find their work, to find the live lessons so that we can adapt if we need to.
Karen
If we have to go into further lockdowns, or if we for any reason we can't run the lesson, so that's what.
Speaker 3
Karen
For the future.
Hollie
Yeah, and you so true right? Kind is never going to be a car. Can't come in today the.
Hollie
Bus was stuck in snow or.
Hollie
Or can't even say the Tradesman Council did? You know, especially for our younger learners, it's very much black world.
Hollie
Well, just pop on pop on your phone and join the lesson with this bill. This you know big big heavy cloud and digital poverty line around is there? You know it's.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
It's no longer a luxury to have Internet and have a an A device. It's now one necessity to move forward in the current climate, especially so that that we've still got to address that.
Hollie
And you're right with what you're saying about losing learners, to not having that, that space and and we have to remember as well, like you saying.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
The classroom is a safe space for some adult learners, much like our younger learners. Is the safe spaces and getaway it supposed to focus on their their own personal growth?
Karen
Definitely.
Hollie
Isn't it as well?
Hollie
That well.
Hollie
Karen
Yeah yeah, I'm over the years I've been astounded by people who have such massively busy lives. Remember that Lady was a foster carer to so many chill.
Karen
And someone was moaning in the class about how busy their life wasn't. The homework that had turned, she said.
Karen
This is my time, so this is the thing I do for me. I don't mind homework at all and so many people see is that there they can, finally focusing more on what they want to do, especially with English where you can have brilliant discussions and you can talk about things that you don't get to talk about home necessarily because of what you're reading in class. So yeah, is it? It's a special time for a lot of people.
Speaker 3
Spean
Hollie
Definitely. So what would you say has been your most successful resource online? Maybe a.
Hollie
Digital tool that that's worked well.
Karen
I think if a digital tool I would say any form of screen recording. So using flipgrid flipgrid shorts has been really good.
Hollie
Who knew?
Karen
Maximum 10 minutes to explain a concept to show people around the team. Because in my in Microsoft Teams it's great, but it can be well confusing if you don't know where things are. So I've made videos for that.
Speaker 3
Play my life.
Speaker 3
Hollie
Could you elaborate on what Flipgrid is current? So maybe people will listen that have never accessed it before.
Karen
Yeah, so it's it's a stand alone app but it is part also part of the Microsoft Sweet and so I think if you've got the Microsoft, it's free.
Karen
Free to an educator, I think, and you can make 10 minute maximum videos where it could be just video in your face and they're very straight forward.
Karen
You know click here to record. Or you could scream record so you can flip the screen and show a document on the screen and talk over it. There are a few philtres where you could change backgrounds. Put smiley over your face if you don't.
Karen
Want to be seen?
Karen
But quite basic ones, so it's not too hard to use and and it at the end it generates close captions, so it's accessible and then you copy a link and you copy and paste that link into a document into an email into anywhere and whoever you paste it to, cut them, send it.
Karen
Clue can access that video can hear and see you, and they don't have to sign in, which is always a good thing because I'm finding that's that's always the problem. So if you start a lot and also quicker.
Karen
Which is qw IQR quicker for edgett.
Karen
Station set up by a physics teacher a few years ago and you can either use QR code.
Karen
Produce a link where it's a voice recording so it's a really quick. Why again, whoever you send this link to doesn't have to log in anywhere you record your voice, it generates the link you copy and paste that link.
Karen
They can hear your voice, so it's great for explanations. Great for a bit of feedback, just quicker then maybe posting a big long piece of feedback on an exam paper.
Karen
They read the exam paper and they listen to your voice at the same time, so anything that enables.
Karen
Not just typing, not just written. Feedback is has been really good.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Hollie
Quickens really good. I attended a talk that you run with with Bob Reid, actually.
Hollie
About quicker one of the.
Hollie
About quicker one of.
Hollie
PDG groups and I've used it few times and it's really good. Like you say to take away from that. That typed feedback that they are having to read all of the time because we don't learn.
Hollie
Typically don't read feedback, they they want to immediately look for the grade or they really want to look for the number of figure it out or they look at the positives and not necessarily the the action points of where to go from it.
Hollie
And I think the best thing about the recording element of it as well is that it kind of makes it more personal. And it brings the element of the classroom together a bit more, doesn't it? You know, you're not just sending receiving emails that were in as an admin task itself.
Hollie
You know you listen to your teacher actually talking through your work or reading through your work as you go along, which is also really handy to do.
Hollie
You know, kind of processing it for recording for yourself to think about how you can reflect on it.
Karen
No, I really like that it in the classroom as well. When Jenny and you can record your voice into a QR code, love that in the sole classroom because you could have maybe a a page full of photos of animals or something. Something we did. They love the animals and I would just read out the names of all the animals, sometimes with sounds. Sometimes we like moves and meow.
Karen
Wasn't things and record that onto a QR code that was there. Homework to listen to me and learn all the names of the animals so that next week when we're talking about animals, they had the pronunciation and the names of them and they could listen to that time and time again and I can copy that worksheet with that QR code sticker on it 100 times and everyone who scans it with their phone can listen to the voice.
Karen
So yeah, I love quicker and it's a very. It's a. It's a free tool, but it's also it's cheap for the licence as well if you want to get it for your organisation.
Hollie
Yeah, I mean, we've I've used it. I don't say we I used it for, you know, um?
Hollie
For sending a message to somebody as a is a happy birthday and using all the different tools and features, actually it's really, really handy to send something quick and I think I first saw it by Sarah Simmons would sooner talk with the AOC and she was talking about how to use it in ESOL lesson as well. And you know, saying can you find?
Karen
Yeah.
Hollie
Hollie
Hollie
55 things around half start with the a certain sound and then they all record themselves with all five things. I thought that was really brilliant because it's not speaking and listening exercise that we we don't necessarily explicitly practise all of the time. You know functional skills, it's it's a core element in for some of GCSE. If you've not done it before. It's something we focus on, but inside it's there.
Speaker 3
Read that.
Hollie
It's that that practise is required, isn't it that constant drilling of words and sounds?
Karen
Yeah.
Hollie
It's needed in order for fluency and accuracy.
Karen
And if you can, if you can provide that for homework is often homework is really the reading in the writing, but if you can provide speaking and listening for homework, and like you said quicker has a conversation element. So if you can send conversation so they can reply to you.
Karen
And answer questions and all hear each others conversation as well. If you send send the same link. See I like I love that sort of thing.
Hollie
So would what would you say has been maybe your secret to keeping learners engaged other than all their fabulous digital tools had been used in, and the fabulous work that you do. What's your secret to keeping learners engaged online?
Karen
I think I'd bludgeon them with enthusiasm.
Karen
I just think I just love my subject. I think English when people say I don't like English. We always trying to breakdown. What do you mean? What is English? English isn't a lesson English.
Karen
Is being able to read and understand if you're being manipulated or if you're supposed to laugh at this or being entertained.
Speaker 3
Loom
Karen
English is about expressing yourself in so many ways for transactions, but also just to literally express yourself. English is about the vocabulary that you used to be precise, to get just quite your right meaning across so.
Karen
Yeah, just I just I want to show students how exciting it can be to be able to do those things, how it can change your life to be able to express yourself, Welland, to understand other people well. And I love to. I remember reading something once. I'm very keen on good questions.
Karen
Each other should remember he was, but saying that he likes his students often said to him, Sir, we often think that when you want ask this question, you don't really know the answer and I like that feeling that when I ask my students a question, I am intrigued and interested in Excel.
Speaker 3
So.
Speaker 3
Karen
So it's not yet correct. You got that right? I I I, I do it sincerely and I am excited about the fact that they've come up with an answer.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Karen
It might need a bit more drawing out and might need some. Why do you think that? What makes you think that? But yeah, just enthusiasm and interest in them and.
Karen
Expectations that they'll be interested as well.
Hollie
Yeah, how's it is? Expectations high is really keys. Are there allow allow you saying there about what what we getting out of English and you know is that it is a lot of interpreting language and especially the.
Hollie
The younger learners
Hollie
They don't really see why that is important, but actually there is trying to make that link that they do that all the time. You know they interpret language in a text message. Are they trying to?
Hollie
Be back in a joking way or a hateful way. We know the barriers of the screen after that, so it's like the barriers of the book as well, or the barriers of the text.
Speaker 3
Yes.
Hollie
Did they mean that in there in a manipulative way, did they mean that in a humorous way, or they refering to somebody further on in the book earlier in the book, you know?
Hollie
And they it's about making those Connexions to you already doing this actually, but it's about why what you do in everyday life when you're talking to people, when you, when you're thinking about the words that come out of their mouth.
Hollie
And being able to process that English is a huge process, isn't it? The writing is a process. Reading is a process, and it can be really personal processing experience. Reading a book while processing your life through it as well.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Karen
Yes, definitely, and that the process is very different for everybody. So um, yeah, especially the writing process. We always talk about.
Speaker 3
Karen
You know having we shouldn't? We should never judge each other on our language, but we know that when we send an email, we are being judged on how well we write, how much authority we have, how you know.
Karen
Right?
Karen
Karen
Do we sound like we know what we're talking about? So if we want people to risk to respect what we are?
Karen
Acting there is an expectation that you know if we want to get a job or if we want someone to respond to a complaint then you know we need to know how to express herself.
Karen
Well, I'm not so keen on the language analysis to be honest, so you know you can end up with sporting features.
Karen
I don't see that as a really useful tool, but understanding somebody's viewpoint and the way they write to engage us for me is interesting. So I I tried to pass that on to students.
Hollie
Yeah, definitely. And the whole there. The idea of structure. You know, teaching this early last week the importanceof structure.
Hollie
You know it's about the way you would do things.
Hollie
Going through your.
Hollie
Normal day, you know. Trying to teach it.
Hollie
Would you put your socks on first before you brush your teeth? It it you know that's how the authors had to think about it in Attica way.
Hollie
Do they use the cliffhanger at the start rather than at the end, and why have they done that you know?
Hollie
Why would you know? You know, having those those little arguments? Why would you put your socks on first before you brush your teeth? What's there?
Hollie
Explanation okay, so why do you think that's been put there and that's been put there I think.
Hollie
You know the beauty of being able to make Connexions across things.
Karen
Connexions Connexions everything in the Connexions. For me, is is learning someone of students asked me otherwise? Said So what is intelligence then?
Hollie
Yeah.
Karen
You know it was not trying to catch me out then you know you should know this and so don't ask me that. I don't know the answer.
Karen
There was intelligence, but for me it's making Connexions its remit. This memory involved with is making Connexions between what I'm doing now and what I learned before, and what I learn outside the classroom and what I will do in the future, not just for getting.
Karen
So it is about remembering it's making Connexions.
Hollie
Absolutely. So with that in mind, we're coming to the end book. Our famous podcasts question is what is your most memorable lesson? Karen, it could be a positive. Could be a negative. It could be a mixture.
Karen
Okay, okay, it probably wasn't an English lesson. It was one of my wonderful wife supported learning lessons few years ago when I used to teach car valiting while they chose me instead. I know nothing about cars, so it's instant learning curve.
Karen
Wow.
Karen
Speaker 3
Karen
May, but it was sort of employment based, so we do a lot of reading writing in it. But I said two brothers in my class who loved a bit of a scrap in class where that to sit separately and every time so one of them I'll call.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Karen
I'll call him Charlie and Michael, so Charlie would have his head in the boot of a car hovering out and Michael would come up to me and I know what it would say and he would say it would be really bad, wouldn't it?
Karen
If I just push that boot down on Charlie's head, wouldn't it? And I have sent you don't do it, and the next week with the with the jet washing his hand.
Speaker 3
Karen
Karen, yeah it would be really awful if I just quite this all over Charlie with Michael. So every week was it was and you adventure on what Michael wasn't going to do but desperately wanted to do to Charlie so you know they were there were real fun lessons and very much outside outdoorsy lessons. But yeah, there were great.
Hollie
Very much, I think that's what some people feel like when they're in.
Hollie
And certain meetings or.
Speaker 3
Did you?
Hollie
See anybody this just happened right now while we talked about this.
Karen
I thought about that you will be now.
Hollie
But it's been lovely. Thank you so much for joining us so we cause the end. Do you want to share your Twitter handle so people can follow your work on Twitter?
Karen
All across schedule.
Karen
Yeah, Okay, thank you. It's at Karen underscore gowlett GOWLETT.
Hollie
Fabulous thank you very much for joining us today. Karen and have.
Hollie
Hello.
Hollie
Hollie
A lovely week.
Karen
You too, thanks Holly.
Hollie
Bye.
Speaker 3