My university students study English while taking other courses, which were flipped. Because I must prepare students to succeed academically, I need to teach English and prepare them for flipped classrooms.

My colleagues in other departments conform to the basic definition of flipping. They record lectures; students watch at home. In class, students participate in interactive activities using the lecture content. However, there is slightly more to it. Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956) is also flipped. Lower-level skills are completed outside while higher-order skills are brought into the classroom.

I planned to flip, although admittedly not without trepidation. How did I quell my fears?

First, I continued to use textbooks; they are accessible and students can learn easily; I believe many understood better than from in-class overviews. My second fear was about learners applying content to other materials. One simple strategy is letting students choose content to practice with. The third fear involved technology. ESL teachers usually don’t give traditional lectures, and I didn’t care to record myself. I used existing technology; content need not be instructor-created. My fourth fear was earning student buy-in. One strategy is making the class extremely interactive, causing disappointment to those who can’t participate because they haven’t done the homework. The last fear was filling the hours previously used for presentation. However, I had few additional preparations. I referred to the extra textbook content I never had time for before.

I wish I had flipped years ago. Comments from student meetings and formal postcourse evaluations indicate that students like the interactivity and content quantity. Still apprehensive? Flip slowly. Try just one session and see how it works for you.

Reference

Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, NY: David McKay.

Robyn Brinks Lockwood teaches academic courses in the English for Foreign Students Department and is the coordinator of the American Language and Culture program at Stanford University. She has recently published a book with the University of Michigan Press, Flip It! Strategies and Lessons for the ELT Classroom, in which she shares many ideas to help flip the second-language classroom.