Rentrée 2020 - Taking the temperature - web meeting Saturday 5th September 9.30am

After a roller-coaster type of spring & summer, we are now heading into the 'rentrée' and a lot of us are still wondering how things will be organised for the coming few months.

Will we be teaching face-to-face in companies and schools or will we be continuing at a distance?

Will we be required to adopt a 'hybrid' model of teaching with half a group in the classroom, trainer being filmed (and potentially observed by management), while the other half of a group watches from home? This idea seems to be spreading like wildfire in higher education establishments, much to the despair of language trainers!

Are we trainers going to be held responsible for students not respecting the 'gestes barrières' which we already know a lot of them won't?

How are we going to protect our own health during the autumn/winter if forced to teach face-to-face in cramped, poorly ventilated classrooms?

With masks now compulsory in all enclosed spaces, whether that be in classrooms or in company offices and meeting rooms where we meet our clients, can we really envisage teaching language and communication wearing masks where all the facial expressions that are so important to communication are invisible?

Will the training organisations and companies that provide us with work continue to do so?

Will the OPCOs and EDOF pay us on time?

There are a lot of questions being raised right now and not many answers are coming forward. Some trainers are feeling lost and understandably anxious due to all this uncertainty.

At TLN we feel that trainers need to have done some thinking in advance so that they are able to engage with school managers, HR departments etc. to come up with effective solutions that will be workable both for the students and for us the trainers.

The huge amount of work that was involved in adapting our training to the online format is still very fresh in our memories! It was a great learning curve, but it was VERY TOUGH and it is unlikely that many of us have been rewarded for our commitment and efforts.

We therefore need to be vigilant and proactive to ensure that we aren't the big losers due to the disruptions to our modes of working that are likely to continue for the next few months at least.

We invite you all to an open discussion by Zoom on this subject on Saturday 5th September as of 9.30am (until 11.30 max).

If you can't attend and wish to share some ideas please send them to Claire by email at claire@thelanguagenetwork.fr

This article from Teachthought.com might provide you with some inspiration!