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00:00:03

[Will Rixon]

Um, thank you so much for being here with us, Elsie.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

You are good, good.

[Will Rixon]

You're a dedicated EFL educator from Yaoundé in Cameroon, an alumna of the SUSI Educators Program at the University of Montana in America. What is that? Can you tell us more about that?

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

Yes, SUSI is known for short as SUSI by those who are alumni, alumni from the Study of the United States Institutes for Educators. These are exchange programs run by the American Embassy and the U.S. government for teachers to go over to the United States for a period of 6 weeks. To study and then learn about the democracy, learn about classroom regulations, learn about how things run in the American classrooms, and then try to coordinate, um, an American classroom with an African or a Cameroonian classroom. Basically, um, that's the, uh, that's the exchange program, and I've been so lucky I've been to such programs twice.

00:01:16

[Will Rixon]

Amazing.

Good stuff, Elsie. Well, thank you for all of your work that you've done so far, and thank you for submitting. I am controlling your slides, so I will stick around, but just let me know when you want to move on to the next slides.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

Okay, thank you so much, Will. I count it a great pleasure to be the African face and meet all these new voices. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. I will be talking about bridging the digital divide using low-cost EdTech tools. And I come from a context where children basically, learners don't like speaking English.

00:02:01

They don't like learning. In my slide, on the second slide please, it says that, "C'est Dieu qui donne l'anglais." That's in French. It means it's God that gives English. So if you are not closer to God or you don't have any relationship with him, you can't really make it. So I teach French-speaking learners, and the English looks sometimes absurd to them, far-fetched, and they don't really want to fit in.

And in my context, mobile devices of any sort are prohibited on campus. You cannot use a mobile phone or any other digital device in the classroom. Except out of school. And, but the school organizes some classrooms, adapted classrooms with desktops, and then students take rounds, move from class to class. In my school, like you see on the next slide, in my next slide you will see that I have quite a large class.

00:03:09

I have learners ranging from 60 to 80 in a classroom, and managing the class is a real problem. So we as EFL teachers in our context, maybe in other contexts too, you have to be intentional. And I just found it, that grace, that whatever I do, especially in my class, I try to do it well. I try to engage the learners in spite of the numbers. So when we look at the numbers, it's frightening.

Many of them don't feel engaged, they don't feel motivated. But as a teacher who is well-intentioned and who wants to make learners get something and move on with their lives and have a brighter future, we have to go the extra mile. So we have large classes, we have no electricity supply in our classrooms, no internet connectivity. I wish to find out from you in the chat Can you tell me, imagine you are in this context, what can you do?

00:04:17

Can— what can you suggest? What can you do to help your learners engage?

What can you do to make learners in this context, no electricity, no internet, no Wi-Fi, what can you do to engage with your learners? I would like you to respond in the chat. And let me know.

What can you do, Rosanna? Large. Yeah, the classes are large. They're really large. Gaming.

Thank you, Iola. Thank you. Yes, you can try that. Offline methods. X, thank you so much.

We play games, songs. Thank you. Hands-on activities, practical activities using nature, bringing, using flashcards, thank you Flávio, pair work, role play, those are excellent ways to engage the learners. Thank you so much, that's really telling me you are engaged with the webinar on our talk. And what I did, I didn't wait for some government subvention which may take ages to come.

00:05:35

I decided to come in with my Android phone. I decided to use my Bluetooth speaker to navigate the digital divide and my USB flash drive. I use this to navigate, to make my learners feel included, they don't feel left out. They get engaged to, or get exposed to authentic language from maybe native speakers from other accents. And this helps them to engage more and find out why is it that I must stay in my corner and feel left out.

And so when we bring in these devices, we are able to navigate the digital divide. In our context, where low power, no power, no internet connectivity has a high range. I must tell you, I've gone through some gymnastics to be able to be speaking to you at this moment. So it really takes effort for teachers in our context. I'm sure we are not the only one.

00:06:41

There are teachers all over the world having these same challenges. So we have to use these devices to navigate the digital divide. In our next slide, We'll be finding out what the digital divide is in simple terms. In simple terms, in our next slide, we'll be finding out what the digital divide is. In simple terms, it's that separation, maybe imaginable, but it exists.

Those separations that exist between those who have internet supply, those who have access to digital tools, and those who don't have. In simple terms, that's what the digital divide is about. And so we as engaged teachers, as teachers who are conscientious, we don't want to let sleeping dogs lie. We don't want to let our students keep saying it's God that is allowing people to pass in English. We make an effort so at least everyone finds a way to engage, finds a way to get something, before leaving the classroom.

00:07:48

So in our next slide, please, in our next slide, we will be looking at what some government or governmental organizations like the United Nations is doing to bridge the digital divide. And this will be seen in the Sustainable Development Goal number 4 that emphasizes on inclusive education on global education, on equitable and quality education, promoting lifelong learning for learners wherever they may find themselves in whatever context. So they try to level up this divide, try to close up this divide that exists between those who don't have access and those who have. So the United Nations is doing a great job, and that's why some of our lessons try to include the Sustainable Goals, some of our teaching pedagogy always makes mention to the Sustainable Development Goals. It is very important as a teacher to be able to include these global ideas so that wherever our students find themselves in whatever context, they don't feel left out.

00:08:58

They are included. They want to know more. They want to feel connected to the rest of the world. And so we see that Why do we need to use these digital devices which are low cost? The Android phone, in my context, I use the Android phone, the Bluetooth speaker.

Why do these low cost edtech devices matter? In our next slide, please, in the next slide, we will see that these low cost devices matter because they are affordable. I think most educators around here have access to an Android phone. Most educators who are present here can manipulate or can easily afford a Bluetooth speaker. Most educators, whatever the context they find themselves, can have access to a USB flash drive, and they can use this in their classrooms to level up.

00:09:58

And so their simplicity makes room, gives amplitude for them to be used in various contexts. We don't need high-powered electricity. If this is fully powered, you can use it for close to 24 hours. If this— we have different dimensions, different grids that come even with solar power, so you will not complain that you cannot use it because there's no electricity. Some of these devices use solar energy.

They use other forms of sustainable energy that we can reuse in our context where there is no electricity, no power supply, and we are able to, to help our learners get into the center of the pedagogy. We can address the inequalities that exist in, in teaching. We will see that the capacity in our next slide, the affordable, we've said that before. They are offline capabilities, help you to use them even when you are not connected. You don't need a 5G internet connection to use a USB flash drive, to use a Bluetooth, and it has an advantage.

00:11:10

This in my classroom helps, helps to amplify the sound. Everybody can hear, my 60 or 80+ students can be able to listen to authentic language in a listening comprehension text, say from the UK, from the British Council, from other free-to-use educational sources. So this can expose them to different accents and help them to prepare even not just only for classroom exams. Some of our learners want to go global. They are writing international proficiency exams.

So they need this equipment to be able to make, to improve and to level up with the rest of the learners in the world. And we see that this equipment are versatile. You can use them for listening. I use this Android phone as a recorder. I use it as a recorder.

00:12:07

I record students' speech. I use this flash drive. I download material from free sources online, YouTube, songs, podcasts. I can download to my USB drive using my laptop, and then I will use it directly with the USB, the USB flash drive to my Bluetooth speaker. So it works well.

I don't need internet connectivity. I have what I have. I need what I need. What I need is here. And I quickly insert it into the Bluetooth speaker, and that makes my day.

And everyone is able to listen, to hear, and participate. So they may leave a classroom, they'll be able to repeat. There are short pronunciation drills that they can repeat. There's vocabulary recycling. The students even listen to themselves sometimes.

00:13:07

I record them using my Android phone, 1 minute, 2 minutes, and then they listen to themselves and then we can even do peer correction. Oh, you didn't pronounce this word. Instead of saying 30, you said 13. There are some of those mispronunciations.

[Will Rixon]

It looks like we've lost Elsie for a minute. Let's give her a moment, shall we? She said that she was worried there might be some issues just before her talk. She said she could sense the internet going a bit down. So let's just give her a minute.

00:14:14

But actually, I think we've got a few. Just while we're waiting, I will just stop this conversation when she comes back on. There she is. Hi, we see you, Elsa.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

I got lost.

I'm sorry. I got lost.

[Will Rixon]

That's fine, carry on, carry on.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

Okay, all right, I'm sorry, that's— those are the realities we live in, in our context. So when we use this, we don't have this, uh, disconnect system, this disconnection we just experienced.

00:14:40

So, um, I will try to show you in my next slide how to use, um— I don't know if you can see. All right. Okay, that's fine. I will show you how to connect to a Bluetooth speaker. You just go to the interface where you have the icon for the Bluetooth speaker and you pair.

When you click on the Bluetooth, you click on the Bluetooth, a message, a pop-up message comes up for you to pair, and that means you may have to user code or just click on it and you'll be able to connect. And when you connect your phone to the speaker, your learners are able to listen. The learners are able to listen. In the next slide, we'll try a demonstration. I hope it's audible.

00:15:44

Please give a thumbs up if you have, if you can listen, if you can hear me.

Hear me? I'm not connected. Oh great.

[Will Rixon]

Yeah, yeah, we can hear you, Elsie. Yeah, yeah, we hear you, we hear you.

The Bluetooth speaker not so much, but we hear you.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

Oh, all right. So we, we just insert this, um, into the Bluetooth speaker —flash drive. Play by USB drive. Hi Samir.

Hey Ali, how are you? I don't know if you're good. So how about you? I'm good too. What did you do today?

00:16:23

So the same as usual. So this is sample lesson got from, um, the British Council, uh, Teaching English website. They are free to use, um material and resources uploaded, uploaded to the, the USB drive. These materials are pre-recorded, pre-uploaded into this USB drive, and you can just insert after pairing with your YouTube. Sometimes you can easily just go live If we— with enough power on the Android phone and with enough connectivity, you can just go to YouTube while you are connected to the Bluetooth speaker.

00:17:18

It may not be that loud. And then I go to YouTube, my my USB speaker is connected and I go to YouTube. If there's enough power, I'll be able to play a song of my choice to my learners. So someone's saying they can't see the phone. My phone is connected to YouTube.

It's on YouTube. So when it's paired to the Bluetooth speaker, you can be able to play videos, you can be able to play songs or audios using the microphone, using the phone, the Android phone, using the phone. So you are able to do, to connect, and you can play live music, short clips for the learners to listen. The learners listen for one took 2 minutes, for one took 2 minutes, and then you stop the video or you stop the clip. We don't have access to large screens and television sets in our classrooms, and we use this recordings or this YouTube speaker with the entire class.

00:18:38

They will stay quiet, they will be engaged, everybody wants to listen. Everybody wants to hear what's in the song, what are they saying. And even if you are recording, there's a lot— sometimes there's a lot of motivation. Those are the learners at the beginning that said they didn't want to listen to the English, but when you bring your phone and you're recording them, you're recording them, everybody puts their hand up, everybody wants to speak. So it has greatly helped my teaching.

It has spiced up my lessons.

For listening sessions, they listen to short clips, 3 minutes. I would have done, I would have tried one here, but for connectivity issues. So you can listen 1 to 2 minutes, they answer some questions, they come back, reflects on what their choices are, why they've chosen those options, and then we can have a discussion. We can have a discussion. So in all, I don't want to take much time.

00:19:48

That's all my arsenal, 3 assets, 3 devices, the Bluetooth speaker, the Android phone, and the USB key. It saves a lot of time. Instead of me losing my voice and shouting to the top of my head, I just switch on, use this, and it makes life easy for the crowd I have. And I don't do that regularly because it may become a little monotonous, but I do it and it makes a lot of difference. So thank you very much for listening.

And I don't know if we could have some questions. If some people could write questions, I'll be able to answer them. Thank you so much, Delphi. That's basically what I use.

[Will Rixon]

Thank you very much.

Thank you. You got there. We got there in the end. Thank you so much for persevering.

00:20:45

I think gymnastics is a good way of saying what else you needed to do to make sure she could get here today. So thank you for making sure that you did get here, Elsie, and I really appreciate you making the effort. We've got time for a question. I think we do need to sort of stop in a sec, but I mean, there were lots of questions just popping in. People sort of curious.

Once they're— so Annabel's got a question. Once they've listened to a recording, do you ask random questions or do you have designed or do you have sort of purposeful design questions beforehand?

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

We have questions that need— we check understanding of the text or the audio clip. We have questions that check understanding, and then we have opinion questions. We also have opinion questions, and then we could also have students doing a write-up after listening.

00:21:44

They could write. Yes, they could write. They could write, and sometimes get creative. They may want to try out posters of what they've listened to. Maybe they listened about to something about the environment, so they'll be able to write a poster about stop dumping, it causes flooding, and using the, the, the, the, the language in a way that they've understood from the text.

And so there are other things. A lesson, a typical lesson is 1 hour. Listening or speaking, just 1 hour.

[Will Rixon]

And do you have, do you have other opportunities like New Voices or any sort of events like this where you can pass on this information to other people in Cameroon, other teachers in Cameroon?

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

Yes, I am a dedicated member of the Cameroon English Language Literature and Teachers Association.

00:22:37

In December of this year, I'm going to be giving a talk about these devices, how to use them, and how to make your teaching sustainable in the context where I find myself or where we find ourselves. I always talk, I always give out talks, and people always get interested how it gets practical, especially if we could have time in a practical face-to-face session to practice. It becomes easy.

[Will Rixon]

I'm so grateful. I'm just, uh, getting— thank you so much, Elsie.

Thank you for putting yourself forward for New Voices as well. Much appreciated.

[Elsie Enanga Mange Jato]

It wouldn't have been the same without you. Thank you. It's a great pleasure.

Thank you. You're very welcome, Elsie.

[Will Rixon]

Thank you for coming.