About the webinar
As digital technology is becoming the order of the day there is a need to incorporate these modern technological methods into our teaching in an effort to encourage our learners to engage and to better achieve the learning outcomes. New technologies have led to new pedagogical opportunities and to new models for course design and delivery. One new method is called the flipped classroom model. This model allows us to tackle some of the factors we face in our contexts: classroom sizes increasing, more instruction moving online, and resources dwindling. The flipped classroom model can offer an improved model for both instruction and quality learning. Research studies support the benefits of the flipped classroom, but the change from a traditional classroom model to a flipped model requires a pedagogical shift on the part of both teacher and learner. It also requires some adaptation for the Sub-Saharan African realities.
Flipped learning was advocated by Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, who described this approach to instruction as a strategy where work that was ‘traditionally done in the class is now done at home, and what was traditionally homework is now completed in class’ (Bergmann & Sams, 2012: 13). Bergmann and Sams were American high school teachers who began ‘flipping’ their chemistry classes in 2007. They recorded their explanatory lectures so that students could watch these at home, and the students then spent their classroom time working together on practical problems.
Nowadays, the Flipped Classroom Model is an instructional strategy that is gaining attention and adherents among instructors and educators. When implemented it helps teachers to deviate from a more conventional teaching method in which teachers are the sole instructors in the classrooms. As a result, the Model is not only more effective than the conventional method (Turag & Akdag-Cimen, 2020; Vitta and Al-Hoorie, 2023) in delivering an overview of the required materials, but also students benefit from being included in the lesson especially when their ideas are listened to and considered hence raising their confidence level in English learning and their English language skills (Vitta and Al-Hoorie, 2023).
In applying the Flipped classroom Model for instance, students are requested by the teachers to watch a short video, brainstorm on some pictures, read an article or a magazine, before the class. This preparation gives the teacher an opportunity to devote more time to adopting active learning strategies in the classroom. As more instructors investigate this model, the benefits, which include classroom management, active learning, critical thinking, and maximum use of student-faculty time together, become obvious. However, people are critical of flipped learning and ask questions about how learners can access the materials in advance and also about the additional workload for teachers. The purpose of this presentation is to examine whether the flipped classroom Model is effective and beneficial to teaching and learning benefits and how it can effectively be implemented in an EFL classroom. A number of example materials will be described.
About the speaker
Nkumbe Epole Sandrine is an English language teacher with over 10 years of experience. For the past 4 years, she has been teaching English to both English and French learners at Lycee General Leclerc Yaounde. She has actively participated in various webinars and presented at international conferences, including the Africa ELTA Conference 2024, West Africa TESOL conference 2022, and others. Furthermore, she is a member of several associations such as the Cameroon English Language Teachers Association (CAMELTA) and British Council English Connects Telegram group, which has contributed to her professional development as an English language teacher.
Date recorded
Saturday 21 September 2024