Dear collegues, you might ask me Why mentoring or e-mentoring here in the ESL community? There're a few reasons for it: 1. Learning languages is an individual process, Id’ rather say a private one …. Every learner has their pace, their individual choice, they have their individual learning style and preferences… problems and challenges…. They like different activities and events to participate ... Language is a means of communication between people and sooner or later a language learner has to address other people for advice, recommendation or a hint what to do next with the language …. Or to reflect … or to assess their achievements…. So this process needs mentoring more than teaching. People can learn languages without teachers. It’s a fact. But this individual process has to be facilitated to succeed. 2. there're more and more self-study materials around, online courses, opportunities to practice the language! More and more learners are tempted to learn the language without any teachers, but they instinctively look for somebody toclarify .. A pure teacher unfortunately starts teaching at once but they don't need teachers, they need advisors with a wide ESL scope and experince.... 3. Moreover the new Russian federal school standards have declared personal development of a student as a value ( at last!) and integrated competences.... At the moment teachers need somebody to consult, to talk, to reflect on what they're doing to implement the standards in school practice.....as very few of them really understand how to PERSONALLY develop a student withni the ESL teaching, how to develop competences, how to intergate with othe subjects.... Then if the process starts students will seek for advisors or mentors to talk ( not to teach them) about their achievements or to be assessed and appreciated. 4. Im participating in an EVO online course on mentoring and a post on mentoring is my final project there. I'd like to share my findings with you, my collegues as at the end of the course I feel mentoring (its up-to-date variant e-mentoring) is crucial for the moment cominng. What is e-mentoring for me now after the EVO courses? Rather new but an extremely desirable thing. Learning process is becoming more and more individual. Besides, young people of today have grown up with computers and the Internet, they might feel more comfortable obtaining emotional support from the privacy of their computer terminal than in face-to-face interactions. So e-mentoring is a must for the nearest future in education. E-mentoring is closely connected with new technologies which I have to acquire as soon as possible. This course has helped me to start doing it. I see that technologies do exist and are quickly developing to provide more and more convenient environment for interaction between a mentor and a mentee. E-mentoring provides opportunities to develop for both a mentee and a mentor. It can connect people from distances, it saves time and makes education truly individual as a mentee is not dependent any more on the timetable made by somebody. The younger generation prefers e-interaction to face-to-face one, e-mentoring is more congruous to them, so they feel more free-at ease at the computer rather than at the teacher’s desk. Besides they feel more detached from school and it’s quite important at this age…. One more advantage is that there’s possibility to keep correspondence for some time and come back to some entries …. Disadvantages are mostly of technical nature, lack of technical skills of mentors and just conversance. If we don’t think that e-mentoring is the only remedy of the future education and that we don't need any (at least from time to time) face-to-face events (not just meetings but EVENTS), then there are no more disadvantages in e-mentoring.)))))) The deeper we go into distant education and teaching the more we need people who’ll be able to facilitate the process…. The problem is that there're so many blank points in e-mentoring at the moment… But practicing, mentors will get more and more knowledge, skills, technological awareness of the process to do it better. Only E-mentoring will be able to further develop face-to-face mentoring as an e-mentor has to provide it with precise tools , detailed methodology ( concepts, techniques and working monitoring )… the e-mentoring TECHNOLOGY to be exact, as s/he works distantly and has to thoroughly measure each word, each tool, each technique to apply and thus really help a mentee but not just to have a talk “drinking tea”…. I 'm so thankful to the EVO project team and the participants! Im far away ahead from what I had known and had been able to do before the course! I'd like to go on participating in such projects with these people! Let me inrtoduce EVO to you: Electronic Vilage Online, they do develop teachers personally, professionally and technologically! You can try! I have had a great time with them!
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Submitted on 18 February, 2013 - 15:47
Submitted on 18 February, 2013 - 18:01