Dear all,

Please find the Teaching and Learning Development Unit updates for 2019-2020 Academic Year Spring Semester below:

1. Professional Development Activities

1.1. Common Time Sessions

Although we planned 8 sessions for this module, we could only had 3 of them due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, we could continue the reading club and artful teaching series online. We had 5 reading club sessions and 9 artful teaching sessions.

In total, 71 participants attended all the conducted throughout the module.

We would like to thank our colleagues who gave the sessions and the ones who attended and contributed to these sessions.

We hope we will continue sharing our ideas and expertise with each other in the future šŸ™‚

You can find some photos from the sessions below:

1.2. ā€œLetā€™s share!ā€ posts

This module we tried to use the blog in a more interactive way in addition to the news and updates about the webinars and trainings. With this in mind, each week we posted different apps or websites with a specific focus aiming at contributing to our repertoire of online resources and invited everybody to share their ideas. In total, we had 8 posts through which we shared our experiences and expertise with each other. Thanks to our colleagues who shared their ideas! And if you havenā€™t had the opportunity to share yours yet, donā€™t worry šŸ™‚ You can always add your valuable ideas by posting a comment on these posts.

2. Extra/Co-curricular Language Development Activities

2.a. Study Center

Extra Support:Ā In addition to the individual support, Study Center continued providing focused support to the specific group of students. This semester we offered extra support lessons focusing on B2 level objectives to B1 level students who are in their second year, thus eligible to sit TRACE.

2.b. ScOLa Clubs

This semester we started running 8 clubs thanks to our voluntary instructors. However, due to the change in our mode of instruction as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, some of these clubs were closed and some others had difficulty in reaching to our students. Yet, thanks to the effort of our club instructors, we were able to offer these club activities online and provided another opportunity for our students to develop their language skills.Ā  Below you can find the table showing ScOLa Clubs overview and updates from some of our clubs.

 

 

 

2.c. A2 project

Although the A2 project class started with 14 students, 3 students completed it successfully in this module. Students were expected to attend the sessions and complete all the oral or written tasks during and after each session as well as the final task which was creating their blogs. Throughout the module the students worked hard in order to come up with their own answers to the question ā€œHow can you be a successful language learner?ā€ by completing various tasks and the end product was their blog on how to be a successful language learner. You can have a look at some of the student blogs below. We hope you will enjoy them.

ayshenerbash.blogspot.com
ikrayetimoglu.blogspot.com
nkd1905.blogspot.com

2.d. B1 project
Although the B1 project class started with 116 students, 64 students completed it successfully in this module. Students were expected to attend the sessions and complete all the oral or written tasks during and after each session as well as the final task which was shooting a short movie.

The first phase of the project started with the input sessions/tasks which provided students with the opportunity to read and listen to different views of different parties on the generational differences and challenges of teaching/working with/communicating with the new generation. All the tasks were in line with B1 level objectives and some of the tasks completed were conducting interviews with their teachers, reporting their interviews in the sessions, participating in group discussions, conducting research on the issue and presenting their findings orally in the classroom. For each task they were assessed based on the criteria that had been shared with them.

The second phase of the project started with narrowing their topics down and learning about the features of shooting an effective short movie. They were supposed to choose a problem related to teaching the new generation, to raise awareness of others on the issue and propose a solution directly/indirectly. Each week they also completed a different step (submitting project proposal, describing the characters and main scenes, writing the first draft of their scenario, etc.) and received feedback to make necessary revisions. Students wrote their scenarios but due to COVID-19 pandemic, they could not shoot their movies.

2.e Sec-101 Seminars

This semester we had planned to give 3 seminars thanks to our voluntary instructors. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to give one of them live on campus and another one online.Ā  The title of the live seminar was “One way of improving language skills: International Exchange Programs” which was given by ScOLa Instructor Saadet Şahin.

Another seminar entitled “Effective Problem-Solving Skills” was delivered online by ScOLa Team Leader Sultan Zeydan and watched by 91 students.