Continuing Professional Development Report

The Resource

I have chosen to participate in the Canadian and international TESL community through the social media resource Twitter, and in particular the #LINCChat biweekly online discussions. These discussions take place every second Tuesday at 8 pm Central Time. The topics are announced several days in advance, and followers are given an opportunity to contribute discussion questions through an online bulletin board (currently Padlet). During the approximately one hour discussion, the leaders, usually one or two, post questions related to the topic, and participants share their answers by posting a tweet that includes the #LINCChat hash tag. Answers include opinions, experiences, links to blogs and publications, photos, GIFs, and links to many other sources of information. Those who are participating are encouraged to identify themselves and where they are from, and to “follow” other participants. In this way, many connections are established with other ESL/EAL teachers in Canada and around the world. It is also possible to follow the discussion without participating. A curated summary of the discussion is usually posted to the BCTeal blog within a week or two.

My Participation

I have been interacting with this community since I began my TESL training in October 2017. In order to participate, I opened a Twitter account and searched on #LINCChat. I began following the people who are listed as the leaders of this resource, in order to receive notices of the conferences through my Twitter notifications. I have participated in several of these discussions, as well as monitoring some of them. I introduced myself as a TESL student, and have found the group to be very welcoming. I have contributed ideas that come from my course material, made some suggestions of my own, and asked many questions. I have been able to follow more than 80 teachers, organizations and authors through the connections I have made with this resource. I have been able to take advantage of some of these connections to assist me in researching assignments for some of my TESL coursework. I have also become aware of many of the provincial and national ESL/EAL organizations and have found links to their websites through their Twitter home pages.

Ease of Use

Twitter can be accessed through the website on a computer or by an app on a tablet or smart phone. It is only necessary to sign in once on a private device. It is also possible to sign in on a public computer, with a user name and password. Once you learn a few steps, it is easy to participate or just follow a discussion. The key is to search for the #LINCChat hashtag, and then select the “Latest” tab. When contributing to the discussion with a new tweet, the hashtag is already inserted, but when replying to another’s tweet, it is necessary to type the hashtag. BCTeal has a post called “How to Join a Twitter Chat” on their blog page. Sometimes many replies are made simultaneously, so there is a notification at the top of the feed that one must click on to see them all.

 Benefits and Drawbacks of the Resource

The benefits of this resource include interaction with ESL/EAL teachers who are willing to share their experience and expertise with other teachers and teachers-in-training. Because it is web-based, it is possible to share information from many sources without the need to be in the same place. Whether participating in a bi-weekly discussion in real time, or asking a question outside of the discussion time, one can expect to get a thoughtful answer from another teacher (or several) who has experience and insight. Twitter has a private messaging function, so it is also possible to direct questions to particular individuals.

One drawback is that a reliable internet connection is required, which is occasionally a problem in rural Manitoba. A second is that in order to participate in the live discussions, one must be available at the time they occur. Thirdly, there is sometimes a delay of a week or more before the discussion summary is available. It is possible to review the discussion by scrolling back through the Twitter feed on the #LINCChat page, although it is not organized and is in reverse order.

Learning Takeaways

This is a very valuable resource for both beginning and experienced ESL/EAL teachers. These professionals are a relative small community which is distributed across Canada and around the world, but they are willing to share their knowledge and experience with each other through a medium accessible to nearly everyone interested. Many of the topics of discussion have aligned with my coursework and served to reinforce much of what I have learned through the experience of other teachers. I intend to continue to interact with this resource/community as I complete my studies and begin my ESL teaching career.

Recommendations for Others

I recommend this resource to other TESL students and ESL teachers. It is a great way to connect with other teachers and to understand their challenges and share their resources and successes. I also recommend following the other ESL related hashtags (#CdnELT, #ellchat, #eal, #esl, #eap, #tesol, #tesl) and the organizations and individuals behind them.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Anna Bartosik (@ambartosik) for introducing me to this resource. I would also like to thank Bonnie Jean Nicholas (@EALStories), Svetlana Lupasco (@StanzaSL) and the facilitators of @BCTeal for continuing to provide this resource. 

#TESL0170
#CPD 
#networking
#CdnELT