Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
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11<br />
<strong>Blended</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g: Podcasts<br />
for taxi drivers<br />
Nergiz Kern<br />
Introduction<br />
When I was work<strong>in</strong>g for a vocational tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>stitution of the Metropolitan<br />
Municipality of Bursa <strong>in</strong> Turkey, which provides free courses to adults, I sometimes<br />
had to develop <strong>and</strong> teach <strong>English</strong> for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for which<br />
there were no or few course materials readily available. In spr<strong>in</strong>g 2010, we were<br />
approached by the taxi association of Bursa who, as part of an <strong>in</strong>itiative to improve<br />
the experience of tourists who visit Bursa, requested an <strong>English</strong> course for their<br />
taxi drivers.<br />
The students<br />
For the pilot course 15 taxi drivers aged between 26 <strong>and</strong> 56 who come <strong>in</strong>to contact<br />
with tourists the most were chosen as participants. They were high school graduates<br />
with a traditional educational background. They had some basic <strong>English</strong> knowledge<br />
which they had been us<strong>in</strong>g together with gestures to communicate with tourists.<br />
Some had a strong Turkish accent. They worked at the same taxi st<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the<br />
rapport was very good, almost family like. They were highly motivated as they saw<br />
the benefits of learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>English</strong> (‘Tourists prefer <strong>and</strong> trust drivers who speak <strong>English</strong>.’),<br />
had an immediate use for <strong>English</strong> <strong>and</strong> saw fast improvements (‘I did some small talk<br />
with a tourist <strong>and</strong> the tip was good.’).<br />
The students needed to improve their listen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g skills <strong>in</strong> a relatively short<br />
time to be able to communicate with tourists more effectively.<br />
Turkish learners of <strong>English</strong> tend to have difficulties pronounc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>English</strong> words, not<br />
so much because the sounds are so difficult but because they often pronounce<br />
<strong>English</strong> phonetically like Turkish. Their <strong>in</strong>tonation is also often ‘flat’ as <strong>English</strong> is a<br />
stress-timed <strong>and</strong> Turkish a syllable-timed language. Therefore, my students needed<br />
a lot of exposure to spoken <strong>English</strong>.<br />
The students were not able to attend face-to-face classes frequently so an <strong>in</strong>tensive<br />
course would not have been possible. They often even missed the scheduled lessons.<br />
The course<br />
The course lasted two <strong>and</strong> a half months. Lessons took place twice a week <strong>and</strong> lasted<br />
for two hours.<br />
<strong>Blended</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g: podcasts for taxi drivers | 131