Effective Workshop Program Writing for EFL Teachers

1 Workshop Program Writing Student’s First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor’s Name and Title Assignment Due Date

2 Workshop Program Writing Participant’s Profile  Audience: a group of 20 English teachers tasked to teach immigrant students are working, in particular, at a school that exclusively offers English lessons to non-native immigrant students in Oregon, United States.  Level of teaching experience : Ranges from 2 to 15 years in teaching language in EFL  Educational Background: Teachers had varying qualifications depending on the year of certification and level of expertise. According to Ilana Kowarski (2021), one must have met the following condition to be a certified teacher in Oregon. 1. one must have a degree in English 2. A certificate of completed a state-approved training program, 3. Passed teacher certification examination 4. A solid score on the subject test English language All selected language teachers met the minimum qualification.  Gender: 7 males, 13 female English teachers  Age Group: from 25 to 46 years old  Nationality: 4 Participants Were Mexican Nations, 5 Were of Ukrainian Origin, 6 Iranian, 3 Chinese, 1 Scotland, 1 English  Typical Class Size: each educator work with a class of 20 to 26 learners  Class Type: General Basic English program, TOEFEL and SAT classes, and test preparation.

3  Student Type: educators attend to students who came to the United States as immigrants and enrolled in special schools to help them acquire basic skills in English for easy communication.  Class timing: morning lessons 8.00am to 11 am (4 hours) on weekdays; Evening classes 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm on weekdays Context In 2021, the Oregon immigration department embarked on the program to train educators on several ways to organize cooperative learning in EFL. A small group as instruction methods is a technique in cooperative learning. Students are arranged in a group of 5 by their teachers and given a question in English for discussion. Group members are set to discuss the English grammar component as they prepare for final tests on language use and mastery. Group discussion is effective in helping learners communicate freely and share views in a given language (Slavin, 1996). Students will use the groups to process grammar rules rather than cram. The goal of the discussion will help immigrant students to practice thinking about grammar mastery through practice. Lastly, groups acquire vital skills in collaboration and teamwork; organizing cooperative learning will give instructors a passive role where students will actively participate in the teaching. Group work is learner-centered, and the teacher is a facilitator. Participant’s Needs Teachers are critical facilitators of classroom learning, guiding and directing students using teacher-centered techniques. Professional development aims to provide an alternative methodological approach for educators to help them move from teacher-centered learning to student-centered methods of instruction (Slavin, 1996).

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4 Participants’ Strengths  Teachers occasionally arrange learners into groups to discuss several question after the lesson to recap the key issues of great importance.  The classroom already has several groups  Every group under a group leader  A teacher has allotted time for group discussions  Group members met every Friday  Every group has a board used for note-taking. However, educators use the group in reading comprehension and writing down answers as a group for marking. The groups help educators build collaboration among students of diverse cultural backgrounds (Sachs et al., 2003). Through collaboration, students learn how to work as a team and enhance the interactive session, boosting language mastery.  Professional development activities are annual programs organized by the state ministry of immigration to help immigrants acquire basic English skills so they can interact with the locals and amongst themselves well. Language centers for immigrants in Oregon are among the state initiatives to facilitate free lessons to learners in the immigration centers. Teachers come together through professional development programs to be equipped with new ways of helping the new students master English quickly (Slavin, 1996). Objective/Outcomes of the Workshop A workshop is a short-term training session to equip trainers with specific knowledge and skills to help address a problem.

5 Therefore, this training session would have 3 aims as follows: 1. As the rate of immigrants keeps increasing, language teachers must have specific skills on how they will facilitate the mastering of the English language as the common mode of communication in diverse cultural backgrounds. The aim of this workshop is to help participants(educators) acquire new ways of cooperative organizing learning in EFL and present a step-by-step methodology on how they can effectively achieve it (Sachs et al., 2003). 2. The second objective is to help educators overcome challenges when organizing cooperative learning and develop new ways of addressing the hurdles. The workshop seeks to help the teacher change the instructor method from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered approach. 3. Instructors’ engagement in group work with their students is critical in helping them establish a good rapport. Discussion is health practice, and students can only freely interact with their educators when presenting the finding for evaluation. The program would be brief and efficient; teachers would give group questions, supervise them and give recommendations on time. Program outline Pre-Workshop activity: organization cooperative learning session Activity 1 : a review of organizing cooperation learning and group activities Goal : receiving briefs on organizing cooperative learning techniques Duration 15 Minutes

6 Activity 2 : post it tags techniques  ascertain educators’ beliefs, values, and perceptions regarding organizing cooperating learning approach  to deliberate on pertinent issues that might arise in organizing cooperative learning Duration 15 Minutes Activity 3: group forming  Helping the learners to subdivide into small groups  Understand the basics of how the group operates Time 15 Minutes Overview of Research Background on the Topic What is organizing cooperative learning? When organizing cooperative learning, group projects are mentioned in the minds of many. However, this is not the case; collaborative learning is a teaching approach that helps students learn new material or accomplish a task. In other words, this form of teaching requires group participants to take part in the learning process since everyone is responsible for the group to complete the specific task. In such groups, there is no uneven distribution of responsibility or conflicts among members. Every group member utilizes time well to help the group complete assigned duties. Cooperative learning usually uses small groups to improve the learning process. This approach to learning aims to enhance teacher-student interaction and build teamwork. Why use Small Groups in the classroom?

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7 A teacher’s role in a learner-centered approach, like group work, is critical. Even though the teacher might remain inactive during class activities, he must understand group work is being employed as a teaching method and its benefits to the learner. 1. First groups will give a chance for every learner to give views on English as a second language, identify challenges in grammar masters and find the best approach to addressing them. Groups help students to think critically and have meaningful interactions with their peers. Such interactions would be reflected in the students’ teamwork and collaboration when addressing common problems in grammar. Learners will develop critical thinking skills faster and enhance their mastery of a foreign language. 2. Small groups give every learner the to share with others grammar basics as they discuss some vocabulary using their first language hence getting a deeper understanding of the second language. Learners can seek assistance from their facilitators when they find it difficult to understand some vocabulary when discussing. 3. Groups increase learners’ exposure to a foreign or second language. They can discuss new vocabulary as they find the names of several objects in the second language. 4. The facilitator’s role in group discussion helps to enhance teacher-learner relationships. Students get to appreciate the contribution and benefits of group work as opposed to classroom learning which boring 5. Subdividing the class into a group for effective learning would benefit teachers of second language learning and assist other educators during discussions. Created groups will remain under the leadership of group leaders who lead them in other subject discussions.

8 Group will promote the team and collaborative learning in every subject. Refer to appendix 1. Why is this workshop needed? These are likely problems an educator may face. The teachers are facilitators of any learner-centered approach. They always take part in selecting group members, appointing group leaders, and generalizing group presentations. The downside of this is that the teachers must find it challenges lead to group formation and operation activities (Tuan, 2010). For instance, the facilitators might be overwhelmed with other duties. Teachers face several challenges when working with groups. First, the group might need learning materials which might be missing because of lack of funds. the success of a small group depends on instructor’s willingness to take part. When an educator is not finding free time to assist the learners in their respective groups, this approach to teaching will not be practical. Problem 1: Lack of Understanding of how and what topic to discuss in small groups. Redesigning teaching activities and incorporating group sessions might be challenging for some educators. When lessons and schemes of work are not aligned with the new teaching methods, getting time to arrange students in groups is not easy. Shifting methods and aids to small groups may appear challenging to facilitate a learner-centered approach.  Identifying challenging grammar sections to be discussed by learners  Identifying the right way of evaluating groups  Problem in redesigning activities that enhance team and collaboration

9  Linking teacher-centered activities done in the classroom and what is being deliberated on in small groups. Problem 2: challenged instructor’s authority Students are used to conventional teaching methods where teachers are perceived as the custodians of knowledge. It becomes challenging to convince learners that they can acquire the same knowledge they could have gotten from their teacher through group work. There is a paradigm shift in the role of a teacher. Instructors always lead learners throughout the lesson to remain a spectator. Change in the teacher’s role might affect the effectiveness of the group discussions. Learners may find it challenging to apply what they have discussed during examinations. Problem 3: conventional method of instruction may seem the best way’s perceive. Shifting instruction methods may not be the ultimate way to improve language mastery. Furthermore, a change in methods might not mean students’ behavior toward the teaching approach is also altered. Furthermore, some teachers might find it not important to improve new instruction methods and continue using the traditional approach believing it to be the best way to disseminate information and skills to international students. Dividing the class into small groups and allocating tasks on language mastery may appear strange to students hindering comprehension and understanding. The above concern can be solved through the following initiatives Detailed Workshop Program Pre-workshop: cooperative learning professional development session

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10 What: Watching a presentation of cooperative learning activity, “how to use small groups in a classroom” guide. Why (rational): To help teachers have a glimpse of small group activities organized in the classroom How (steps of how to form small groups):  Form a small group and video record and send it to teachers to help them differentiate group work and cooperative learning as an instructional method  Alongside a video, attach a step-by-step learner’s activity  Outline the teacher’s role in the small groups At-Workshop Activities: activity1: formation of small groups and group activities Duration: 15 minutes Why (rational):  To encourage teamwork through small group discussions  To improve collaboration through interactive learning, where students learn more from their peers as they interact  To explore the small group selection process and how each student can take an active role in the learning process

11 Material and medium:  A book on how to note down steps in the group formation process  A pen and manila paper to draw how the classroom will appear with small groups activity  A video illustrating how small groups are formed and teachers’ role Preparation: How to subdivide a class into small functional groups How (instruction of forming a group) Cooperative learning recap: 1. As the workshop begins, a manila paper is passed out. On it there a question? How would you subdivide your class into small manageable groups? i. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. ii. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. every participant to seek more clarification on small group formation, particularly on a step where they did not get it right during presenting 3. read out every teacher’s questions from the manila paper 4. provide a summary of answered teachers’ queries and critical steps on the use of the small group instructional method Sequencing Activity:

12  Distributes a manila paper with detailed instructions on how to make and use small groups in a classroom  Tell the teachers to act out how a small group could be used as an instructional method; for instance:  Record the teachers’ activity on the use of small groups  Choose a vocabulary topic to discuss in those group tutorial groups  Evaluate the level of learners’ concentration during the tutorials and write down key issues between teacher-centered teaching and learner-centered method Workshop Instructor Role: The instructor plays a facilitator role leaving all the work to the learner. Small groups allow learning to interact freely and discuss the subject matter from different viewpoints (Corden, 2001) . Activity 2: Post-It Notes Activity Duration: 15 minutes Why (Rational).  To evaluate educators’ viewpoints and altitudes towards small group learning as a mode of teaching Materials and medium:  manila paper  20 pens

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13  markers How (steps of conducting evaluation activity): 1. Ask teachers to identify and note down the challenges of using the small group as the method of instruction. 2. Instruct the teachers to display their manila papers showing the challenges of using cooperative learning( small groups) 3. Ask the reader to go around reading their colleague’s identified challenges 4. Ask the teachers to identify the common challenges across the all displaced manila papers 5. Rewrite challenges all the challenges as a group. 6. Ask one teacher to read out all possible challenges noted when teaching using the small group approach 7. Discuss the listed challenges and propose ways of overcoming them next time Workshop Instructor Role: The workshop instructor should be very keen and adhere to ethical standards when leading teachers as they conduct cooperative learning trials. Teachers may give negative and positive views regarding the applicability of the new teaching method ( Matthew, 2006) . For instance, those who are used to the traditional teacher-centered approach will give an opposing view demeaning small group approach. In such cases, the instructor must accommodate all opinions and try to explain the importance of embracing the new method when teaching English to culturally diverse learners.

14 Activity 3: Micro Teaching Cooperative Learning Duration: 50 Minutes Wallace (1991) described micro-teaching as a method of developing knowledge and skills related to “professional action in a controlled environment ” (p.87). In this case, it is a min group lesson where teachers are instructed to subdivide learners into small groups and assign them to work to discuss and present the finding together (Huang et al., 2018) . The exercise is usually controlled, and trial and error-experimentation is generally allowed. Why (Rational):  The exercise is critical in the implementation of workshop teaching. Teachers can try out what they have been taught and identify its merits and demerits (Corden, 2001) . It gives a chance to teachers who have already used group work as an instructional method to improve on its shortcomings .  The exercise provides teachers an alternative ways how they can use groups more effectively in teaching  The small group provides an alternative way for teachers to showcase their capability to lead others (Lee et al., 1998). Materials and Medium:  A list of essential words in English Beginner: meaning of words Elementary: simple sentence construction

15 Pre-Int: complex sentence construct Intermediate: simple paragraph development Preparation:  Select a topic  Arrange the participants into 4 small groups How (instructions on how to conduct the activity): 1. Allocate each group to a teacher to serve as a facilitator 2. Group 1 to contain immigrants who have been recently recruited into the school 3. Group 2 to contain learners who have mastered basic grammar 4. Group 3 t composed of participants who can read simple sentences 5. Group 4 to include participants with the ability to construct complex English sentences. 6. Every group is to take 15 minutes to discuss the assigned activity 7. After 15 minutes of discussion, invite all of them back 8. Get the finding from every group 9. Every teacher to give feedback to their respective small group as an encouragement 10. Every group should summarize key deliverables from the workshop and give their views on using the small group approach as a new instruction method. After-Workshop Reading The teachers would be provided with several sources on cooperative learning for further reading. The sources give an elaborative method on how a small group approach to education can be implemented in a classroom. According to Richard (2015), it is vital to pay attention to and

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16 respect the time a teacher uses to listen to professional development voluntarily. For this reason, nobody will be forced to read all the recommended readings. Some of the listed readings will be deliberated on in the next workshops program. Instructors may continue exploring more on small group instruction methodology from: Lee, C., Ng, M., & Jacobs, G. M. (1998). Cooperative learning in the thinking classroom: Current research. Educational Practice and Theory , 20 (1), 59-73. Slavin, R. E. (1996). Research on cooperative learning and achievement: What we know and need to know. Contemporary Educational Psychology , 21 (1), 43-69. Tuan, L. T. (2010). Infusing cooperative learning in an EFL classroom, English Language Teaching , 3 (2), 64-77. Sachs, G. T., Candlin, C. N., & Rose, K. R. (2003). Developing cooperative learning in the EFL/ESL secondary classroom. Regional Language Centre Journal , 34 (3), 338-369. Conclusion From the above presented professional development program, it is evident that it starts from simple activities and gradually moves to the creative aspect of the task. The complexity level helps the participants develop the necessary skills automatically as they move on to the next step. Teachers have been used to the traditional method of instruction that can deter the adoption of a small groups as a new method of teaching in the classroom. It is high time for teachers to adopt new ways of teaching in which their role is limited to a facilitator. Small group instruction improves learners’ critical thinking and teamwork which are vital in helping them understand vocabulary when learning a second language. Cooperative learning will go a long

17 way in creative richer learning activities and captivating the environment. Shifting from a teacher-centered to learner-centered approaches improves learners cognitive functioning as they engage their minds in daily active learning.

18 Appendix 1 How to use small discussion group as an instructional strategy in a class? Procedure Step 1 : Select a topic to be discussed Step 2: Dividing of a class into 4-6 smaller groups Step 3 : Select a group leader Step 4: Avail materials for every group Step 5 : Monitor and Ensure Every Student Is Actively Participants Step 6 : Instruct a group leader to take notes on the finds Step 7 : Evaluate the effectiveness of group discussion in meeting learning objectives

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19 References Corden, R. (2001). Group discussion and the importance of a shared perspective: Learning from collaborative research. Qualitative Research , 1 (3), 347-367 http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18670/1/185951_3632%20Corden%20PostPrint.pdf Huang, H. H., Zhang, Q., Okada, S., Kuwabara, K., & Nishida, T. (2018). Adopting Functional Roles for Improving Participants’ Communication Skill in Group Discussion Conversation. In Proceedings of the Group Interaction Frontiers in Technology (pp. 1- 9). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3279981.3279989 Kowarski, I. ( JULY , 2021). How to become a licensed or certified teacher. U.S News. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/how-to-get-a-teaching- degree-and-become-a-teacher Lee, C., Ng, M., & Jacobs, G. M. (1998). Cooperative learning in the thinking classroom: Current research. Educational Practice and Theory , 20 (1), 59-73. Matthew, T. A. (2006). Language learning theories and cooperative learning techniques in the EFL classroom. Doshisha studies in Language and Culture , 9 (2), 277-301. https://www.academia.edu/443286/Language_learning_theories_and_cooperative_learnin g_techniques_in_the_EFL_classroom Sachs, G. T., Candlin, C. N., & Rose, K. R. (2003). Developing cooperative learning in the EFL/ESL secondary classroom. Regional Language Centre Journal , 34 (3), 338-369 Slavin, R. E. (1996). Research on cooperative learning and achievement: What we know, what we need to know. Contemporary Educational Psychology , 21 (1), 43-69.

20 Tuan, L. T. (2010). Infusing cooperative learning in an EFL classroom, English Language Teaching , 3 (2), 64-77. Wallace, m.(1991). Training foreign language teachers : a reflective approach. Cambridge: CUP.

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