Edward Chaffin

Education Employment CALL Professional Development Publications & Presentations References Contacts Print

Employment    United Arab Emirates University   EFL Lecturer United Arab Emirates University Al Ain August 2004 - August 2006 United Arab Emirates   My duties in the foundation department at UAE University included teaching entry level English communication courses to university undergraduates. I taught two, two hour courses each semester with classes usually containing twenty five female students. I was a contributing member of the Educational Technology Committee and frequently attended professional development seminars and workshops. Skills     Experience Teaching   Taught high beginner to intermediate level English communication courses     Click here to view student and supervisor evaluations   Assessment   Proctered and scored University exams and created teacher based assessment criteria     Certified IELTS Clerical Marker (Fall 2004)   CALL   Created a variety of curriculum specific CALL activities. Click here and follow the "Level 2" links to view. Professional Development Seminars / Workshops   Date Presenter Title   6/4/2006 Randy Gonzales Tech for Teachers   Comments: A stimulating and challenging look at some of the most useful "web 2.0" applications on offer for free via the internet. Of particular note were the applications specific to personalizing blogs and teaching narratives.     6/4/2006 Edward Chaffin A brief summary of 2006 Cyprus ELT Conference presentations as related to UGRU   Comments: This is a brief summary of the presentations attended at the 2006 ELT Conference in Cyprus that have some relationship to English instruction within UGRU. Summarizing remarks on the conference as a whole are followed by specific information on presentations based on the following: Technical/reflective online professional presence, Experience, attitudes and practice in CALL, Genre approach to academic writing and, Evaluating class participation.     11/9/2005 Edward Chaffin A place for L1 in the classroom?: A review of contemporary thoughts and practices   Comments: A stimulating session based on a 2004 article by Vivian Cook, "Using the First Language in the Classroom". Liberal reference was also made to articles by Dornyei and Auerbach. Essentially, the discussion questioned current University policy which dictates instructors are not allowed to use Arabic in the classroom. Little support in contemporary literature was seen for such a policy whereas benefits to using L1 in the class seemed to be obvious. A brief discussion on the role Arabic in the classroom may have on positively effecting decidedly unmotivated students followed. An informative and thought provoking discussion.     9/21/2005 Edward Chaffin Using Cascading Style Sheets   Comments: Seemed to be of some use to the few that brought working projects to tinker with. The focus was on concept so hopefully most went away with at least that. The pre-requisite seems to have been largely ignored and, as such, some were immediately lost.     5/11/2005 M. Zimmer and M. Donnenworth Student Motivation   Comments: An interesting introduction to integrative versus instrumental motivation and their relationships to the UGRU population. Also, tangential information was presented regarding differing student perceptions of male and female instructors.     4/18/2005 Stephen Lock and Nick Parker Introducing Spelling Lab   Comments: Exciting new Flash application which helps students with spelling (and meaning). Well designed and extremely user-friendly.     2/23/2005 Hedi Guefrachi Culture and the Classroom   Comments: An informative exchange of views and information; the most interesting being the differing expectations of polite address in the classroom between UK and US instructors. Students being on a first name basis with Instructors! Shocking! Such cultural revelations make these sessions worth coming back to.     12/28/2004 I. and S. Ayari Using LaTex to Prepare In-Class Quizzes   Comments: Primarily an application for marking text and positioning images, graphs, etc., LaTex appeared to be a variety of open source Word. Useful for formatting involved, lengthy texts but the steps looked overly complicated for a novice. Required using at least 3 different applications at a time.     12/22/2004 Susan Boylan IELTS Clerical Marking Training   Comments: An interesting introduction to the scoring mechanism IELTS uses. A useful session prerequisite for future marking assignments.     12/14/2004 A. Ayari Microsoft Access   Comments: This was actually part 2 of a 2 part workshop and I was sorry I missed part 1. Although I use Access to store all information on my own site, there is a great deal I don't know how to do the "correct" way. I appreciate Ayari's presentation style and look forward to attending more sessions on Access with him.     9/29/2004 Vivian Shantz Commercial Grammar Texts   Comments: An overview of new Azar products. The CD ROM version looked promising but the presenter, in my opinion, wasted time explaining the obvious then ran out of time before being able to demonstrate new applications, including progress tracking.     9/15/2004 L. Brandin and K. Caldwell Reading Rate Development   Comments: Interesting ideas as to including reading rate development in existing coursework and the importance of it. Timed reading factored greatly in the presentation.