A Stranger in a Strange Land:Risk-Taking for Success

Will RennieEdinburgh School of English

A Stranger in a Strange Land:Risk-Taking for Success

2. Application to Teaching

3. Creating the Right Environment

4. Examples

1. A Beginning

A BeginningMadrid, 2011

Lesson Learned

“I can do this.”

Application to Teaching

• We should aim to instil that same belief in our students.

• We can’t always be there when they need to get through a communicative situation like mine, but we can help them get through it regardless.

Application to Teaching

• Successful communication depends to some extent on the audience, and particularly their impression of the communicator

• Especially true for work in:- business- medicine- public speaking roles- teaching

Application to Teaching

• What contributes to this impression?- accuracy- fluency- pronunciation- knowledgeability- manner/demeanour- confidence

Application to Teaching

• We should aim to instil that same belief in our students.

• We can’t always be there when they need to get through a communicative situation like mine, but we can help them get through it regardless.

Application to Teaching

• Confidence: - arguably the least precise area to focus on

in terms of lesson aims - also arguably the most important factor in

impression-makingWhy? - most people aren’t from a TEALS

background

Application to Teaching

• We should, and can, do more to instil confidence in our students.

• What’s the key to this?

- make them comfortable taking risks.

Creating the Right Environment

• things that need to be established to facilitate the right environment for risk-taking:- allowing students to make mistakes

(don’t always insist on accuracy)- having them practice language in real-life

contexts- getting them out of the school!- pushing them out of their comfort zone

Examples

• directions practice• museum challenge

Examples

• directions practice• museum challenge• plenary sessions• charity work• making videos for social media• Powerpoint karaoke

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Needs

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Architecture

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Iden ty

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Challenges

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Innova on

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Collabora on

Examples

• directions practice• museum challenge• plenary sessions• charity work• making videos for social media• Powerpoint karaoke• lip sync battle• refocusing TESOL resources

Negotiation