Tamara is a teacher at the British Council Bahrain. She has been teaching English for 4 years and has taught in the UK, Ukraine, and Bahrain. Tamara has an LLB in Law and an interest in teacher training. She has presented sessions at conferences in Ukraine and Bahrain on topics such as English as a Lingua Franca and Effective Use of Flashcards with Young Learners.
Tamara has an LLB in Law and passed CELTA in 2010. She obtained the YL Extension to CELTA in 2012. She has also passed the IH certificates in teaching Young Learners, Business and One-to-One. Although she has experience teaching Business and General English to adults in Ukraine and Bahrain, the majority of her current lessons are with Young Learners.
Workshop (with Emma McKie)
Using social networking to encourage learner autonomy.
Encouraging learners to take control of their learning and become more autonomous is a crucial step in their development. With the abundance of social media and phone apps available in modern life, should teachers not take advantage of the opportunities they present? This presentation will explore the possibilities and help teachers exploit the potential of social networking in the modern-day classroom.
Through the medium of this presentation we hope to demonstrate the benefits of social networking in encouraging learner autonomy. We seek to define learner autonomy and the role of teacher and student in developing it. Further, we will discuss its value for learners and the difficulties teachers face in establishing routines that promote learner autonomy. We will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using social networking to this end, covering a range of mediums. To support this, we will present 2 case studies of a teacher using social networking (WhatsApp and Edmodo) with students. The case studies will show the practical application of published theory. Finally, participants will work together to brainstorm solutions to potential issues and discuss how to implement them in their own teaching environment.