IX. Compare Traditional Teaching and 21st Teaching

Top 10 traits of the 21^st century ELT practitioner

As we already know, the internet has affected many areas of our lives such as the way we communicate, learn, and the way we teach, so we are going to develop some characteristics that 21^st  century’s teachers have: 

1. 1. Learn New Technologies: if we want to use technology with our students, we must know how it works; also, to be aware of its changes because technology is developing every day.
2. Be smart and use smart phones: now that we are teachers during the 21^st century, we know how to use technology to give the students different ways to make the classes funnier.
3. Go digital: nowadays, all the material we learn is digital and teachers always upload their guides and handout digitally. When we are in face-to-face classes, the teachers also use technology to share with us all the material that we are going to use in their classes.
4. Blog: it is a good idea to have a blog in which the teacher can share extra material, but some of the teachers preferred to upload it in groups they make in any social media.
5. Innovate: since the moment they keep learning how technology works, they use this knowledge to innovate their classes.
6. Keep learning: teachers never stop discovering new resources and ways to teach using technological devices.
7. Facilitator/coach: instead of being the main point of attention in classes, the teacher of the 21^st century seems to be like the person who facilitates the knowledge to his/her students.
8. Vocation for the profession: teachers in our days do not see their students like a learning machine. They do their job because they enjoy what they are doing instead of doing it because of the payment.
9. Connect: technology allows us to connect anyone, anywhere, anytime. It connects with like-minded individuals.
10. Use chat: some students feel more comfortable to ask the teacher in private chat instead of doing it during the class. That is why, many teachers use chat because they can answer the students’ questions. 

                                          Traits between NESTs and non-NESTs

According to the use of English, NESTs speak better English because they are native speakers and have excellent pronunciation; meanwhile, non-NESTs speak poorer English since they learn to pronounce each word, and in some cases, they do not pronounce some words properly. Besides that, NESTs use English more confidently because they speak English since they were little children; they are used to speaking the language. Likewise, non-NESTs use English less confidently since they are likely to commit mistakes when speaking because they spend learning English all their life.

       According to the general attitude, NESTs are less empathetic, and non-NESTs are more empathetic because non-NESTs understand how difficult it is for students to learn a second language. NESTs do not know how difficult it is because their mother tongue is English. To illustrate, when a student does not understand a topic, a non-NESTs is more patient with him or her than NESTs. Furthermore, NESTs have far-fetched expectations while non-NESTs have realistic expectations since non-NESTs are empathetic people and expect the best from their students despite any difficulties. In addition, NESTs are more casual because they sometimes use the informal forms of the language; it can be easier for them to speak like that. Otherwise, non-NESTs are stricter because they know all the grammatical and compositional rules that the English has; they also know how to pronounce all the words properly. That is why, non-NESTs are stricter than NESTs.

     The way about teaching the language is different, NESTs focus on fluency, meaning, use of the language, oral skills, and colloquial registers. On the other hand, non-NESTs focus on accuracy, form, grammar rules, printed word, and formal registers since one of the aims of the non-NESTs is that students learn correctly grammar rules, among others, to be used in the different English skills. Moreover, NESTs tolerate student errors since they are native speakers and think that it is difficult for students not to commit errors. On the other hand, non-NESTs correct or punish errors because students have to make as few mistakes as possible in order to improve their English skills. Furthermore, NESTs assign less homework because they probably think that students do not need a lot of homework assignments to understand the topic taught by the teacher; nonetheless, non-NESTs assign more homework because they think that they have to assign as much homework as possible so that students understand the topic taught by the teacher. 

 

Ubiquitous teaching and Learning Mind up

Ubiquitous teaching is the one that is characterized by being produced or developed at any place and time, and it takes technology as its main element; this can be in devices such as computers, cellphones, among others. All these are considerable powers in this type of teaching, but currently for most teachers this is a bit complicated since before the sudden appearance of this pandemic. The already traditional system had to change, and this was when the virtual stage began. The Covid-19 was the cause that many teachers were trained to face this new virtual reality, and that now, they will use the aforementioned technological resources, as well as other virtual platforms. It is important to mention that for those relatively young teachers, the use of these technologies has not been a major problem since it is an area that they handle without any difficulty, not so their older colleagues who do not understand about these new technologies. However, in some cases, the latter have knowledge of the aforementioned and in this way they manage to get ahead with this challenge that is posed to them.

            In the case of ubiquitous learning, there is a difference, of course is true that almost all students have knowledge of new technologies. Unfortunately, some do not have the economic possibilities to acquire the equipment that was mentioned. As well as other resources, this caused many to drop out of their studies. The internet that is currently used in the classroom has become an indispensable resource because without it you cannot enter in any class. For this reason, at this stage, learning has become complicated for several students although the fact of homework and evaluations. The social contact with classmates and teachers is something that is no longer possible, and we realize that the social component plays a very important role in teachings and learning processes. The traditional way will always be better and useful to achieve knowledge. The face-to-face teaching way provides a better exchange of ideas, but the virtual have disadvantages such as the interruptions. Even if technologies make everything easier for us, they can cause a comfort zone and laziness in students. This is the reason why students consider that they are not learning anything despite being up to date with everything; they are not doing the assignments with purpose to increase their knowledge but to complete their obligation, and It is necessary to check which of the two part is deficient.