I Sem – General English – Study Materials – Skill subject

Teaching English as a Skill Subject
Introduction:
Language is skill subject as it involves the various skills like listening, speaking, reading and writing. It has to be developed by oneself by constant effort and with proper training of senses. In a skill there is a co ordination of muscular activities along with the intellectual activity.
Differences between skill and content subjects:
Skills cannot be taught but rather caught. Language is skill subject and not a content or knowledge subject as history or science is. While learning history what the student learns is the subject matter or facts. One learns certain facts about history. But in language work one does not gather information about the language, but learns the language itself. Knowing a language is different from knowing how to use the language.
Emphasis on Repeated Practice:
As Thompson Wyatt say, “The power of expression in a language is a matter of skill rather than of knowledge; it is a power that grows by exercise, not by knowing merely meanings or rules”. Language is a skill subject like painting or dancing. The basis of learning a skill is practice. So language has to be learnt through constant and sustained practice.
The rules of grammar and the meanings of words are taught as another abstract subject. Knowing them is not sufficient to acquire mastery over the language. Students have to be provided ample opportunities to use the language. Each of the four skills, viz. listening, speaking, reading and writing has to be mastered.
Co-ordination of muscles & Intellect:
            Though a skill does not need only the intellectual activity, it is more a matter of doing than of knowing. In case of listening, enough practice has to be given to the hearing nerves so as to be familiarized with the speech sounds of the language. Apart from the intellectual competency of comprehending the new words and grammar, the ears must also be trained so to accustom with the new speech sounds of English as it is a foreign language.
            In case of speaking, the speech organs like tongue, lips, palates, nostrils are to be trained by constant efforts to produce the speech sounds fluently. Some may know how to pronounce the words / sounds, but they cannot do so because of the lack of co ordination of speech organs. In case of reading also the nerves have to be trained to recognize the new symbols (English alphabets) and know how to read them. One has to develop eye span also.
            In case of writing also, without the co-operation of the finger muscles one cannot write the letters in their appropriate forms. There comes the need of training.
Division of skills:
            In any language, the skills can be divided into two major divisions;
1.      Productive or Expressive skills
2.      Receptive or Comprehensive skills

 


RECEPTIVE / COMPREHENSIVE SKILLS
Listening & Reading

 

PRODUCTIVE / EXPRESSIVE SKILLS
Speaking & Writing

 

                                                   

Receptive or Passive Skills:
Listening and reading skills are comparatively passive and require less exertion on the part of the person. They are receptive because when listening and reading, the person is at the receiving end of the communication channel.
Productive or Active Skills:
Speaking and writing are active skill since the person being at the transmitting end of the channel has to take the initiative. So that only they are called productive skills.
Audio – lingual / aural oral skills:
Listening and speaking which demand the exercise of te auditory and speech organs may be called audio –lingual or oral – oral skills.
Graphic Motor skill:
Reading and writing involve the psycho motor organs. Hence they are called graphic motor skills.
Conclusion:
The language is not just a conglomeration of diverse skills, but one of the integrated skills. Hence we have to use more than one skill simultaneously in many situations. For instance, when one engaged in a conversation, he/she has to listen and speak at the same time. So is the case of reading and writing

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Short Essay on ‘Bhaichung Bhutia’ (200 Words)

‘Bhaichung Bhutia’ was born on 15 December 1976, at Tinkitan, Sikkim. He picked up football very early, since that was the only game which everybody played in his village. At the early age of eleven, Bhaichung’s skill in football earned him in SAI (Sports Authority of India) scholarship at the Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok.

In 1992, for the first time he played for India at the under-16 Sub-Junior Tournament at Dacca. His mastery with football has earned him nicknames such as ‘Wiz Kid’, ‘Crises Man’, ‘Man with the Golden Boot’, ‘Wonder Kid’, ‘Boy Wonder’, and many others. During this period he played for many clubs and leagues. He was voted the ‘Asian Player of the Month’ in May, 1999. Bhaichung won Sikkim State Award and national Arjun Award. In September 1999, at the age of 25, he joined the Second Division English Club, Burry F.C., in Manchester, England.

Bhaichung Bhutia is Indian football’s pride and joy. The fact  that he is the first Indian to play in European Club as a professional makes him a special footballer of our country. Bhaichung good nature is matched with hard work and a great determination to succeed. Bhaichung Bhutia is a household name in India and it every young player’s dream to be like this wonderful footballer. 

Short Essay on \’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ (200 Words)

\’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ was born on 15 December 1976, at Tinkitan, Sikkim. He picked up football very early, since that was the only game which everybody played in his village. At the early age of eleven, Bhaichung\’s skill in football earned him in SAI (Sports Authority of India) scholarship at the Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok.

In 1992, for the first time he played for India at the under-16 Sub-Junior Tournament at Dacca. His mastery with football has earned him nicknames such as \’Wiz Kid\’, \’Crises Man\’, \’Man with the Golden Boot\’, \’Wonder Kid\’, \’Boy Wonder\’, and many others. During this period he played for many clubs and leagues. He was voted the \’Asian Player of the Month\’ in May, 1999. Bhaichung won Sikkim State Award and national Arjun Award. In September 1999, at the age of 25, he joined the Second Division English Club, Burry F.C., in Manchester, England.

Bhaichung Bhutia is Indian football\’s pride and joy. The fact  that he is the first Indian to play in European Club as a professional makes him a special footballer of our country. Bhaichung good nature is matched with hard work and a great determination to succeed. Bhaichung Bhutia is a household name in India and it every young player\’s dream to be like this wonderful footballer. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Short Essay on \’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ (200 Words)

\’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ was born on 15 December 1976, at Tinkitan, Sikkim. He picked up football very early, since that was the only game which everybody played in his village. At the early age of eleven, Bhaichung\’s skill in football earned him in SAI (Sports Authority of India) scholarship at the Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok.

In 1992, for the first time he played for India at the under-16 Sub-Junior Tournament at Dacca. His mastery with football has earned him nicknames such as \’Wiz Kid\’, \’Crises Man\’, \’Man with the Golden Boot\’, \’Wonder Kid\’, \’Boy Wonder\’, and many others. During this period he played for many clubs and leagues. He was voted the \’Asian Player of the Month\’ in May, 1999. Bhaichung won Sikkim State Award and national Arjun Award. In September 1999, at the age of 25, he joined the Second Division English Club, Burry F.C., in Manchester, England.

Bhaichung Bhutia is Indian football\’s pride and joy. The fact  that he is the first Indian to play in European Club as a professional makes him a special footballer of our country. Bhaichung good nature is matched with hard work and a great determination to succeed. Bhaichung Bhutia is a household name in India and it every young player\’s dream to be like this wonderful footballer. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Short Essay on \’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ (200 Words)

\’Bhaichung Bhutia\’ was born on 15 December 1976, at Tinkitan, Sikkim. He picked up football very early, since that was the only game which everybody played in his village. At the early age of eleven, Bhaichung\’s skill in football earned him in SAI (Sports Authority of India) scholarship at the Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok.

In 1992, for the first time he played for India at the under-16 Sub-Junior Tournament at Dacca. His mastery with football has earned him nicknames such as \’Wiz Kid\’, \’Crises Man\’, \’Man with the Golden Boot\’, \’Wonder Kid\’, \’Boy Wonder\’, and many others. During this period he played for many clubs and leagues. He was voted the \’Asian Player of the Month\’ in May, 1999. Bhaichung won Sikkim State Award and national Arjun Award. In September 1999, at the age of 25, he joined the Second Division English Club, Burry F.C., in Manchester, England.

Bhaichung Bhutia is Indian football\’s pride and joy. The fact  that he is the first Indian to play in European Club as a professional makes him a special footballer of our country. Bhaichung good nature is matched with hard work and a great determination to succeed. Bhaichung Bhutia is a household name in India and it every young player\’s dream to be like this wonderful footballer. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Educational guidance School counselor

A school counselor is a counselor and an educator who works in elementary, middle, and high schools to provide academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social competencies to all K-12 students through a school counseling program. The four main school counseling program interventions used include: developmental school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons and annual academic, career/college readiness, and personal/social planning for every student; and group and individual counsel for some students.
Older, outdated terms for the profession were \”guidance counselor\” or \”educational counselor\” but \”school counselor\” is preferred due to professional school counselors\’ advocating for every child\’s academic, career, and personal/social success in every elementary, middle, and high school
School counselor roles, school counseling program framework, professional associations, and ethics
Professional school counselors ideally implement a school counseling program that promotes and enhances student achievement.
School counselors, in most USA states, usually have a Master\’s degree in school counseling from a Counselor Education graduate program.
In Canada, they must be licensed teachers with additional school counseling training and focus on academic, career, and personal/social issues.
China requires at least three years of college experience.
In Japan, school counselors were added in the mid-1990s, part-time, primarily focused on behavioral issues.
In Taiwan, they are often teachers with recent legislation requiring school counseling licensure focused on individual and group counseling for academic, career, and personal issues.
In Korea, school counselors are mandated in middle and high schools.
School counselors are employed in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in district supervisory settings and in counselor education faculty positions (usually with an earned Ph.D. in Counselor Education in the USA or related graduate doctorates abroad), and post-secondary settings doing academic, career, college readiness, and personal/social counseling, consultation, and program coordination. Their work includes a focus on developmental stages of student growth, including the needs, tasks, and student interests related to those stages.
Professional school counselors meet the needs of student in three basic domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development with an increased emphasis on college access.
Knowledge, understanding and skill in these domains are developed through classroom instruction, appraisal,consultation, counseling, coordination, and collaboration. For example, in appraisal, school counselors may use a variety of personality and career assessment methods to help students explore career and college needs and interests.
School counselor interventions include individual and group counseling for some students. For example, if a student\’s behavior is interfering with his or her achievement, the school counselor may observe that student in a class, provide consultation to teachers and other stakeholders to develop (with the student) a plan to address the behavioral issue(s), and then collaborate to implement and evaluate the plan. They also provide consultation services to family members such as college access, career development, parenting skills, study skills, child and adolescent development, and help with school-home transitions.
School counselor interventions for all students include annual academic/career/college access planning K-12 and leading classroom developmental lessons on academic, career/college, and personal/social topics. The topics ofcharacter education, diversity and multiculturalism and school safety are important areas of focus for school counselors. Often school counselors will coordinate outside groups that wish to help with student needs such as academics, or coordinate a program that teaches aboutchild abuse or drugs, through on-stage drama.
School counselors develop, implement, and evaluate school counseling programs that deliver academic, career, college access, and personal/social competencies to all students in their schools.
For example, the ASCA National Model (Hatch & Bowers, 2003, 2005; ASCA, 2012) [56] includes the following four main areas:
·         Foundation – a school counseling program mission statement, a beliefs/vision statement, SMART Goals; ASCA Student Standards & ASCA Code of Ethics;
·         Delivery System – how school counseling core curriculum lessons, planning for every student, and individual and group counseling are delivered in direct and indirect services to students (80% of school counselor time);
·         Management System – calendars; use of data tool; use of time tool; administrator-school counselor agreement; advisory council; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing the gap action plans; and
·         Accountability System – school counseling program assessment; small group, school counseling core curriculum, and closing-the-gap results reports; and school counselor performance evaluations based on school counselor competencies.
·         Elementary school counseling
·         Elementary school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of young children K-6.
·          Transitions from pre-school to elementary school and from elementary school to middle school are an important focus for elementary school counselors. Increased emphasis is placed on accountability for closing achievement and opportunity gaps at the elementary level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results.
·         School counseling programs that deliver specific competencies to all students help to close achievement and opportunity gaps. To facilitate individual and group school counseling interventions, school counselors use developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy theories and techniques.
·         Middle school counseling
·         Middle school counselors provide school counseling curriculum lessons on academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies, advising and academic/career/college access planning to all students and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the needs of older children/early adolescents in grades 7 and 8.
·         Middle School College Access curricula have been developed by The College Board to assist students and their families well before reaching high school. To facilitate the school counseling process, school counselors use theories and techniques including developmental, cognitive-behavioral, person-centered listening and influencing skills, systemic, family, multicultural, narrative, and play therapy. Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to high school are a key area including career exploration and assessment with seventh and eighth grade students.
·          High school counseling
·         High school counselors provide, academic, career, college access, and personal and social competencies with developmental classroom lessons and planning to all students, and individual and group counseling for some students and their families to meet the developmental needs of adolescents. Emphasis is on college access counseling at the early high school level as more school counseling programs move to evidence-based work with data and specific results that show how school counseling programs help to close achievement, opportunity, and attainment gaps ensuring all students have access to school counseling programs and early college access activities. The breadth of demands high school counselors face, from educational attainment (high school graduation and some students\’ preparation for careers and college) to student social and mental health, has led to ambiguous role definition.
·          Summarizing a 2011 national survey of more than 5,300 middle school and high school counselors, researchers argued: \”Despite the aspirations of counselors to effectively help students succeed in school and fulfill their dreams, the mission and roles of counselors in the education system must be more clearly defined; schools must create measures of accountability to track their effectiveness; and policymakers and key stakeholders must integrate counselors into reform efforts to maximize their impact in schools across America\”
·         Transitional issues to ensure successful transitions to college, other post-secondary educational options, and careers are a key area. The high school counselor helps students and their families prepare for post-secondary education including college and careers (e.g. college,careers) by engaging students and their families in accessing and evaluating accurate information on what the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy calls the 8 essential elements of college and career counseling: (1) College Aspirations, (2) Academic Planning for Career and College Readiness, (3) Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement, (4) College and Career Exploration and Selection Processes, (5) College and Career Assessments, (6) College Affordability Planning, (7) College and Career Admission Processes, and (8) Transition from High School Graduation to College Enrollment.[76] Some students turn to private college admissions advisors but there is no research evidence that private college admissions advisors have any effectiveness in assisting students attain selective college admissions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Flexible learning and the expression – You can bring a horse to a float but you can\’t make it go in or stay inside

The online class session which Sarah and Helen requested was really good. There were six of us including one of the alumni from the very first course, Tony. A couple of people did not have mics and they also managed to contribute a lot. It was great to hear about the video -ipod approach of Tony\’s team and how their work with video is expanding into automotive engineering and sports with their help. Their programme website with lots of neat recipes and videos is at: http://otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com/ And there is a degree in cookery on the way.

I found the session stimulated me to speak about my past learning experiences. For example, the Diploma of Teaching in which the learning was all done through self-directed and mentored assignments. Half the 120 credits were allowed to be attributed to RPL. The oral presentation at the end was where I had to present reflections about my learning journey and my teaching framework to a panel. That was scary.

The most memorable thing for me regarding flexible learning in my past life, was in the Certificate in Clinical Teaching because a facilitator from Christchurch used to travel to Dunedin to run two and three day workshops as part of the programme. Not only was the timing of her teaching innovative, her style was flexible because it was very experiential and she facilitated our learning rather than just lecturing us. She did a mixture of presentation, activities and discussion, self-directed activities, teleconference, block courses and peer work. Her assessments were also innovative, for example, a poster was the main assessment.

Since I started working at Otago Polytechnic in 1992 as a bioscience lecturer, I have seen a huge number of changes in the type of assessments offered to students right across the polytechnic. Now it is not just essays, quizzes and exams, there are a multitude of things offered to students. There are also a huge number of ways in which teachers communicate with their students. Once upon a time, lecturers used to be aghast at the idea of emailing students and now it is a given. Some are also using texting to communicate and chat and skype as well as web and video conferencing.

I am interested to hear how participants in the Flexible learning course assess and communicate flexibly. These are very important aspects of flexible learning, and even more important than content in my opinion. What do you think?

The horse analogy and flexible learning
The title of this post has come about due to the number of hours I have spent recently helping my daughter to teach a horse to get in a float. There was a lot of work involved to get it to even enter and then a lot more to get it to stay in the float. The experience reminds me of my work at Otago Polytechnic. Perhaps this sounds a bit silly, and you are thinking what has a horse got to do with teaching at a tertiary institution? Well I can see several similarities. Let me set the scene first.

Over the years as a staff developer and educational developer, I have spent many, many hours assisting staff – academic and general – with the use of technology in the workplace. I have also taught Health Informatics to health students with the aim of up-skilling them in computing for their practice. I have also spent a lot of energy leading people to the big eLearning pond, trying to get them to dabble their toes on the edge, walk out a bit even though it was chilly and scary and then swimming with them when they decided to take the plunge. Sometimes I pushed the occasional person in, but hey I did rescue them, mostly. Some I could not catch as they swam away to distant horizons once they found their flippers. 🙂 It\’s been like swimming with the dolphins – fun, scary, challenging and playful and also like swimming with the sharks – terrifying, serious, exhilarating. It is also very similar to the work required to get a scared horse to enter a float.
Image: Pond at Autumn – Teich im Herbst by Tobi_2008
Thinking back on my experiences over the last nine years, and about my experiences recently with the horse float, I realise that there is also a lot of merit in the expression, \”you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink\”. Just as we led the horse to the float and could not get him to go in..for ages…but with some repetition, gentle and firm persuasion, guiding ropes (structure) and patience, we got him in and we got him to stay longer each time. This is much like my experiences in getting teachers to accept flexible ways of offering learning.

And to continue with the analogy of the float. Some back off before they get even close, others walk up to it and watch, others walk up, sniff and turn round, others walk right on in and stay and never leave, others walk in halfway, and some go in, back out, go back in and so on, and some only ever keep one foot on the door, always looking side to side and behind… My motto is to keep trying, so if you see me coming towards you with a horse whip I promise to be gentle.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Flexible learning and the expression – You can bring a horse to a float but you can\’t make it go in or stay inside

The online class session which Sarah and Helen requested was really good. There were six of us including one of the alumni from the very first course, Tony. A couple of people did not have mics and they also managed to contribute a lot. It was great to hear about the video -ipod approach of Tony\’s team and how their work with video is expanding into automotive engineering and sports with their help. Their programme website with lots of neat recipes and videos is at: http://otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com/ And there is a degree in cookery on the way.

I found the session stimulated me to speak about my past learning experiences. For example, the Diploma of Teaching in which the learning was all done through self-directed and mentored assignments. Half the 120 credits were allowed to be attributed to RPL. The oral presentation at the end was where I had to present reflections about my learning journey and my teaching framework to a panel. That was scary.

The most memorable thing for me regarding flexible learning in my past life, was in the Certificate in Clinical Teaching because a facilitator from Christchurch used to travel to Dunedin to run two and three day workshops as part of the programme. Not only was the timing of her teaching innovative, her style was flexible because it was very experiential and she facilitated our learning rather than just lecturing us. She did a mixture of presentation, activities and discussion, self-directed activities, teleconference, block courses and peer work. Her assessments were also innovative, for example, a poster was the main assessment.

Since I started working at Otago Polytechnic in 1992 as a bioscience lecturer, I have seen a huge number of changes in the type of assessments offered to students right across the polytechnic. Now it is not just essays, quizzes and exams, there are a multitude of things offered to students. There are also a huge number of ways in which teachers communicate with their students. Once upon a time, lecturers used to be aghast at the idea of emailing students and now it is a given. Some are also using texting to communicate and chat and skype as well as web and video conferencing.

I am interested to hear how participants in the Flexible learning course assess and communicate flexibly. These are very important aspects of flexible learning, and even more important than content in my opinion. What do you think?

The horse analogy and flexible learning
The title of this post has come about due to the number of hours I have spent recently helping my daughter to teach a horse to get in a float. There was a lot of work involved to get it to even enter and then a lot more to get it to stay in the float. The experience reminds me of my work at Otago Polytechnic. Perhaps this sounds a bit silly, and you are thinking what has a horse got to do with teaching at a tertiary institution? Well I can see several similarities. Let me set the scene first.

Over the years as a staff developer and educational developer, I have spent many, many hours assisting staff – academic and general – with the use of technology in the workplace. I have also taught Health Informatics to health students with the aim of up-skilling them in computing for their practice. I have also spent a lot of energy leading people to the big eLearning pond, trying to get them to dabble their toes on the edge, walk out a bit even though it was chilly and scary and then swimming with them when they decided to take the plunge. Sometimes I pushed the occasional person in, but hey I did rescue them, mostly. Some I could not catch as they swam away to distant horizons once they found their flippers. 🙂 It\’s been like swimming with the dolphins – fun, scary, challenging and playful and also like swimming with the sharks – terrifying, serious, exhilarating. It is also very similar to the work required to get a scared horse to enter a float.
Image: Pond at Autumn – Teich im Herbst by Tobi_2008
Thinking back on my experiences over the last nine years, and about my experiences recently with the horse float, I realise that there is also a lot of merit in the expression, \”you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink\”. Just as we led the horse to the float and could not get him to go in..for ages…but with some repetition, gentle and firm persuasion, guiding ropes (structure) and patience, we got him in and we got him to stay longer each time. This is much like my experiences in getting teachers to accept flexible ways of offering learning.

And to continue with the analogy of the float. Some back off before they get even close, others walk up to it and watch, others walk up, sniff and turn round, others walk right on in and stay and never leave, others walk in halfway, and some go in, back out, go back in and so on, and some only ever keep one foot on the door, always looking side to side and behind… My motto is to keep trying, so if you see me coming towards you with a horse whip I promise to be gentle.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Flexible learning and the expression – You can bring a horse to a float but you can\’t make it go in or stay inside

The online class session which Sarah and Helen requested was really good. There were six of us including one of the alumni from the very first course, Tony. A couple of people did not have mics and they also managed to contribute a lot. It was great to hear about the video -ipod approach of Tony\’s team and how their work with video is expanding into automotive engineering and sports with their help. Their programme website with lots of neat recipes and videos is at: http://otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com/ And there is a degree in cookery on the way.

I found the session stimulated me to speak about my past learning experiences. For example, the Diploma of Teaching in which the learning was all done through self-directed and mentored assignments. Half the 120 credits were allowed to be attributed to RPL. The oral presentation at the end was where I had to present reflections about my learning journey and my teaching framework to a panel. That was scary.

The most memorable thing for me regarding flexible learning in my past life, was in the Certificate in Clinical Teaching because a facilitator from Christchurch used to travel to Dunedin to run two and three day workshops as part of the programme. Not only was the timing of her teaching innovative, her style was flexible because it was very experiential and she facilitated our learning rather than just lecturing us. She did a mixture of presentation, activities and discussion, self-directed activities, teleconference, block courses and peer work. Her assessments were also innovative, for example, a poster was the main assessment.

Since I started working at Otago Polytechnic in 1992 as a bioscience lecturer, I have seen a huge number of changes in the type of assessments offered to students right across the polytechnic. Now it is not just essays, quizzes and exams, there are a multitude of things offered to students. There are also a huge number of ways in which teachers communicate with their students. Once upon a time, lecturers used to be aghast at the idea of emailing students and now it is a given. Some are also using texting to communicate and chat and skype as well as web and video conferencing.

I am interested to hear how participants in the Flexible learning course assess and communicate flexibly. These are very important aspects of flexible learning, and even more important than content in my opinion. What do you think?

The horse analogy and flexible learning
The title of this post has come about due to the number of hours I have spent recently helping my daughter to teach a horse to get in a float. There was a lot of work involved to get it to even enter and then a lot more to get it to stay in the float. The experience reminds me of my work at Otago Polytechnic. Perhaps this sounds a bit silly, and you are thinking what has a horse got to do with teaching at a tertiary institution? Well I can see several similarities. Let me set the scene first.

Over the years as a staff developer and educational developer, I have spent many, many hours assisting staff – academic and general – with the use of technology in the workplace. I have also taught Health Informatics to health students with the aim of up-skilling them in computing for their practice. I have also spent a lot of energy leading people to the big eLearning pond, trying to get them to dabble their toes on the edge, walk out a bit even though it was chilly and scary and then swimming with them when they decided to take the plunge. Sometimes I pushed the occasional person in, but hey I did rescue them, mostly. Some I could not catch as they swam away to distant horizons once they found their flippers. 🙂 It\’s been like swimming with the dolphins – fun, scary, challenging and playful and also like swimming with the sharks – terrifying, serious, exhilarating. It is also very similar to the work required to get a scared horse to enter a float.
Image: Pond at Autumn – Teich im Herbst by Tobi_2008
Thinking back on my experiences over the last nine years, and about my experiences recently with the horse float, I realise that there is also a lot of merit in the expression, \”you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink\”. Just as we led the horse to the float and could not get him to go in..for ages…but with some repetition, gentle and firm persuasion, guiding ropes (structure) and patience, we got him in and we got him to stay longer each time. This is much like my experiences in getting teachers to accept flexible ways of offering learning.

And to continue with the analogy of the float. Some back off before they get even close, others walk up to it and watch, others walk up, sniff and turn round, others walk right on in and stay and never leave, others walk in halfway, and some go in, back out, go back in and so on, and some only ever keep one foot on the door, always looking side to side and behind… My motto is to keep trying, so if you see me coming towards you with a horse whip I promise to be gentle.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1