TOOLKITS FOR 21st CENTURY TEACHING

I would love to promote this book which I read a few months ago. I am promoting this book not only because it is written by my B.Ed TESL course mates but also because it is simply enriching. Those who lecture at universities perhaps know more about the 4th Industrial Revolution and the top ten skills desired by employers in 2020. But I wonder, how much teachers in school know about these two important matters. Personally, I also did know much about them until I read the book. This book has surely enlightened me on the latest industrial revolution and the crucial need to train future job seekers to master various skills.

This book centres on the top ten skills that future job seekers must possess. Each skill is explained well and tips on how each skill can be developed among learners are also given. The point here, we the English teachers in school or wherever we serve, should get the latest updates regarding what is important in future. Then, the new knowledge and input should not end there. We should try our best to design lessons or activities that will offer opportunities to our learners, who are future employers, to develop the ten skills.

The new inputs offered by this book has also inspired me to reexamine three language games which I have been playing with my ESL learners. A few months back, I redesigned the games and implemented them in one of my Form 4 classes with the aim of promoting and nurturing the top ten skills. I carried out observations and took down notes. Critical reflections were done after each language game. The findings? Well, hopefully I can present them at one of the international ESL conferences in 2018. I have submitted an abstract with this title "Nurturing the Super Skills for the 21st Century in ESL Classrooms through Cooperative Learning Strategies". I hope for the best!

I believe it is quite easy for English teachers to design activities that develop learners' ten skills. However, our main challenge will always be the limited extra time to make all these additional preparations. To me, this obstacle should not be an absolute hindrance for us. At least we should try to develop, if not all the ten skills, the top three skills. In shaa Allah.