Project Flip: Flipped Language Learning

Guest blogger Jennifer Gonzalez proposes the In-Class Flip, a modified version of the flipped-learning model that incorporates the video lecture element as one of several stations that students visit during their class period.

Flipped Classroom Field Guide The Flipped Classroom Field Guide is a compilation of best-practices and community resources centered around the flipped classroom and blended learning initiatives of the Coursera-partner community. In addition to the resources outlined in the table of c

Students learn better when their "thinking" includes thinking about the material plus how to dig in, break it apart, understand it, and build on that.

Most ELT classes are not teacher centered. Students are often working in groups and pairs and teachers are aware of the need to get students to communicate and use the language. This is largely due to the impact of Communicative Language Teaching. In other classes teachers may even be using discovery techniques and inductive/deductive approaches to learning as well as task based approaches. In reality then, in ELT we already flip our classes to a certain degree.

That doesn’t mean that the Flipped Classroom doesn’t have a place in ELT. We don’t have to flip all our classes, but the model could be useful for certain lessons or certain part of the syllabus. For example we often need to teach grammar, explain different writing genres, or focus on the construction of paragraphs. A lot of this ‘teaching stuff’ could be put on-line so that the teacher is able to spend more time in the class getting the students to use what has been taught via the homework.

For example, let’s imagine that we are looking at the construction of paragraphs. We could make a video/screen cast that explains to students how a paragraph is normally made up. It might include an explanation of what a subject sentence is and how it should be supported by the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps there is also a simple quiz that the students have to do to check understanding after they watch the video. In class, the students are giving a series of paragraphs where the sentences have all been mixed up. The students work in groups and order the sentences, making sure the topic sentence is at the start of the paragraph. They then have a second exercise where they been provided with a topic sentence but are asked to write the rest of the paragraph in groups. The different groups could then present their answers to the second exercise to the rest of the group. The idea is that in the class time the students are applying and using their knowledge. The teacher’s role would be to move around providing support, making sure the students clearly understand the task, etc. The lesson may even include time for reflection on the task itself.

This video compares a traditional to a flipped class. The two videos were taken 1 year apart and cover approximately the same topics. Please enjoy,

How students are learning is changing, just ask Aaron Sams, a Flipped Learning Pioneer. In Flipped Learning, students watch podcasts of their teacher's lectu...

Learn more and print the Flipped Classroom white paper: http://bit.ly/STUnyI. Jon Bergmann, lead technology facilitator at the Joseph Sears School, Kenilwort...