Page 38 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

INTERVIEW . ELINOR STOKES

Gr
Growing upowing up

with
with clarityclarity

Elinor Stokes tells Melanie Butler

about life in a digital ELT family

You grew up in a TEFLing family, your father, Andrew, is a former
teacher and a pioneer of Computer Assisted Language Learning.
How much were you aware of ELT as a child?
Clarity English was, and is, very much a family business. Mum
handled the accounts and my sister and I were involved in various
tasks growing up; sticking stamps on mailshots, shredding old papers,
recording sound clips for the programs.
I vividly remember my very first sales presentation at the age of
seven, playing Mario Rinvolucri’s Mindgame on stage against a boy
from a local Hong Kong school to demo the program - it’s left a lasting One company that has been using it very successfully is Etherton
impression! Education, which runs academic summer courses. They have been
Since leaving school, I’ve helped out in conferences around using the test for about two years. Before that, they conducted a
East Asia. And now I have moved to the UK and set up a company, paper-based placement test on the day the student arrived, which was
Atlas English, to promote Clarity programs and offer support to incredibly stressful.
customers. Since they introduced the Dynamic Placement Test, not only
So, I’d have to say family life and the world of online ELT are the students able to take it before they set off, but Etherton
were very strongly intertwined - perhaps it was inevitable that Education are also able to have the class structures ready well
I leaned into it. in advance. This takes a lot of
pressure off everybody at the start
There is always a danger that a of the course.
language centre adopts a new digital
With a few tweaks, this system also
resource and it just sits in a library the fi rst thing I have to works for continuous enrolment and
because teachers and students don’t
really know it’s there. How can do … is to break down year-round classes.
Clarity help? What is your biggest challenge?
That’s definitely a danger. I’ve found preconceptions of When technology in teaching started
this issue can often come about when digital language learning. gaining popularity, there was a knee
the teacher that initially championed jerk reaction from the big publishers
the programmes moves on and the to include some kind of digital
replacement teacher doesn’t know it resource to accompany every physical
exists or is unsure how to use it. course book.
It’s a problem we’re working hard to fight. We’ve created a support Often these digital resources were hurriedly put together – they were
system with additional materials to enable teachers to effectively there because everyone else offered it and not because it was a well-
deploy the programs. thought-out component.
For example, I offer onboarding training for teachers when they first A lot of the time, the add-on CD-ROMs or USBs were left
get the program. This is usually conducted over Skype or Zoom, unless completely untouched.
they are based in or around London. So often, the first thing I have to do when introducing Clarity
We also offer posters, leaflets and bookmarks with access programs, is to break down preconceptions of digital language learning
instructions and QR codes on them so that students can easily find the materials. Only after that, can I get into the value, uses and pedagogy
programs on the website. of the programs we offer.
Finally, we’ve started producing more classroom activity sheets to
give teachers a few starting exercises, so they feel comfortable using And what is the biggest reward?
the programs. It’s always great to hear teachers and students say that
they’ve enjoyed using the programs or that they’ve found it
How do you think digital learning tools can best be used in private
language schools? really useful.
The biggest reward for me recently was attending the Dynamic
Over the last few years, we have worked with Telc, the European Placement Test standard setting in Hong Kong. It was brilliant
language testing experts, to create the Dynamic Placement Test. This getting to spend two days with academics and experts from all over
an adaptive, online test that can accurately place students within a the world, discussing and analysing questions on the test. It was a
CEFR band in 30 minutes. It’s the digital tool that we feel fits perfectly great opportunity to meet some fantastic people and have an input
with the private sector. on a real product.

22 May/June 2019