Workshops+Available

= Here is a description of available courses; others can be developed upon request. Most of these courses are 1 to 1.5 hours long. They can be adapted to suit the needs of your staff. =

1. Multilevel Teaching: the one room schoolroom for the 21st century
Do you feel like you are trapped in a one room school room while operating a three ring circus? This practical workshop is for those teachers (especially in rural settings) who have a variety of English skill levels exhibited by their students in one classroom. The workshop will present ideas of how to incorporate activities for this multilevel setting. Rather than planning several activities for a range of proficiency levels, this workshop aims to present how one activity can be used by all students, regardless of the extent of English competencies.

2. Summarize, not Plagiarize
Summarizing is a skill that often eludes the international student and sometimes the work that is handed in is considered plagiarism. Since we do not want our students to suffer these consequences, we need to teach the students how to extract the main ideas and key points. This workshop will present teaching strategies that will encourage the summarizing skill. Participants will be engaged with the various activities and walk away with ideas that can be readily used in a classroom setting.

3. Preparing to Teach Writing
The writing skill seems to be the last skill worked on, especially in the lower levels. There is only so much time! Textbooks seem to give language teachers little variety in attempting to provide written exercises for students. This workshop will investigate not only the reasons for teaching the writing skill, but also providing variety to the age-old statement “turn to page ___ and complete the exercise.”

4. The Process of Writing
The process of writing can seem like a daunting task, but by using the acronym POWER, participants can learn how to break down the writing process into manageable tasks.Participants will soon learn that writing does not need to be an individual activity. There will also be a discussion on the evaluation of writing. What is the best way to mark the papers received by the students without it being such an overwhelming task? The process of writing becomes the greater focus as opposed to the end product.

5. The Product of Writing
Teachers will come away with a toolkit of strategies that are appropriate for beginning students with adaptability for higher level students. We will also look at how to adapt the textbook in order to help students produce meaningful writing exercises. There is merit in both the process of writing approach and the product of writing approach; and the reality is, that as teachers we can use both to our advantage.

6. Understanding Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication contains many cultural complexities. It is necessary, in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication, to examine the significance of paralinguistics, gestures and facial expressions. There are also cultural differences in personal space, posture, physical contact, displaying emotions and personal appearances. All of these factors help the participants develop an understanding of the subtle dynamics of nonverbal communication.

7. Developing Cultural Competence
We live in a world where our workplaces are multi-cultural. Sometimes miscommunication happens because we are not aware of cultural dimensions that exist between differing cultures. This workshop helps staff become aware of several cultural dimensions and how this affects communication. There will be an emphasis on self awareness and how to adapt our cultural preferences to accommodate for differences. This workshop can be adapted from a one hour to a six hour workshop. It is very suitable for workplaces with multi-cultural staff.

8. If you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em
Cell phones in the classroom can be the bane of a teacher’s existence. It sometimes would seem easier to ban cell phones from the class altogether. Yet, are teachers missing out on an available tool that certainly seems highly accessible in Canadian classrooms? Can teachers really compete with this mobile technology and the distraction of Instagram and texting? This presentation will show how cell phones can be used towards educational purposes within the classroom. The emphasis will be on strategies used with the cell phone as a tool rather than recommending or demonstrating specific applications for the phone.

9. How to use Wikispaces in the classroom
This workshop is for the beginner who does not know much about wikis. We will start from the very beginning as to how wikis can be used, how different ideas can be adapted for the wiki and depending on the setting of this workshop, we could even start a wiki together. A computer lab would be the most beneficial for this workshop; however, not necessary. Teachers do need to come with ideas that they would like to use so we could adapt them for the wiki. 1.5-2 hours are needed for this workshop.