Episode Thirty-six

Interview with Jessie Ebersole: How ELT Organizations are Adapting Online and Virtual Volunteer Teaching

Show Notes

I’m happy to welcome back a returning guest this week on Expand Your Horizons: Jessie Ebersole. Jessie joined me on the podcast in the fall of 2019, but in case you missed our previous conversation, let me briefly introduce her before we dive into our conversation. Jessie is the Director of Academic Programs at Washington English Center, which is a non-profit English language school for adult immigrants in Washington, D.C. WEC offers 14 levels of ESL classes, and they rely on volunteer teachers for all of those. Jessie started out in the TESOL field as a volunteer herself, and she later went on to complete a master’s degree in TESOL at American University. She has a lot of experience in this field, including teaching at American University’s English Language Training Academy, and working as a draft writer for parts of Intercambio’s textbook series Confidence and Connections.

I’m thrilled to have Jessie join me here again, because I have a lot of respect for the work she does and for Washington English Center as an organization. In our conversation, Jessie and I catch up on how WEC is adapting to online teaching, discuss her take on the current state of the ELT industry and share opportunities for volunteer teaching online.

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In this Episode

  • How Washington English Center serves the community and what Jessie does there

  • How WEC quickly adapted and moved their programs online when the Covid-19 pandemic began

  • What a typical WEC class looks like now that everything is fully online

  • The benefits of online learning and what students and teachers have gained from the change

  • How online learning is making local organizations global

  • The challenges of moving classes online, for staff/ teachers and for WEC as an organization

  • If you’re interested in doing volunteer teaching online: what you should know

  • The process of becoming a paid staff member at an organization like WEC

  • The benefits of volunteer teaching and working with an organization like WEC

  • What Jessie loves about the ELT industry, and how that’s changed since we’ve all gone virtual

  • Jessie’s predictions for the future of online teaching: where she thinks we’ll go from here, even post-pandemic

  • Her thoughts about whether WEC will continue to offer online classes, even after it’s safe to resume teaching in person

  • How to get in touch with Washington English Center or learn more: check out their website, find them on Facebook, or reach out to Jessie directly at jebersole@washingtonenglish.org

Want to get certified to teach English online? Check out TEFL Horizons’ Online English Teacher training course

Episode Twenty-nine

Conversation with Orlando Delgado: Taking ELT Online in the Time of COVID-19

Show Notes

We’re kicking off Season 2 of Expand Your Horizons by welcoming a returning guest, Orlando Delgado. Orlando is the Director of Teacher Training & Development Operations for IH Mexico and has been a teacher trainer and CELTA and DELTA assessor for over 10 years around the world. Orlando is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about online teaching and training in particular – and this week, we’re talking about what’s going on in the world right now and how that affects the ELT industry. We’re currently in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is impacting how we’re thinking about teaching, learning, professional development, and communication in general. In this episode, Orlando joins me for a less formal conversation in which we reflect on what all of this could mean for our industry and bring you some general insight and advice on teaching online.

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In this Episode

  • A special announcement: you can now take the CELTA course completely online through Ih Mexico: find more information here.

  • Our free webinars are back! Register here to save your spot.

  • Orlando’s initial thoughts on how the Covid-19 pandemic has immediately affected the ELT industry

  • How teachers and professors around the world have had to adapt to remote teaching

  • How this situation has made us reconsider how things might change more permanently

  • The potential long-term effects of our adaptation to online teaching

  • What some teachers are finding stressful about online teaching

  • Different generations of teachers and coping with online teaching

  • The new apps popping up for online teaching and tutoring

  • How our view of online teaching is shifting from a “backup plan” to the first choice for a learning method

  • Our predictions for how online teaching and learning will increase

  • Whether there will still be a desire to travel to physical classes even after it’s safe to do so again

  • Whether online services are actually superior to in-person options

  • Benefits of remote learning - what’s possible online

  • “Flipping the classroom” - what this means and how it works online

  • Homework as an afterthought to a class vs. homework as preparation for the upcoming lesson

  • How flipping the classroom can motivate the students and promote learner autonomy

  • Teacher training and professional development opportunities online

  • How you can still make classroom management techniques work through technology: monitoring, interaction patterns, student talk time, etc.

  • Ideas for making online activities collaborative in a group

  • The benefits of getting trained to teach online specifically

  • How CELTA online can work and the unexpected upside to conducting teaching practice online

  • Why employers may jump at the chance to hire a candidate who has received training for online teaching

  • Our predictions for the future of teacher training

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