Three reasons to flip your English lessons and how to do that

Abstract

The paper is aimed at revealing the matter of using flipped classroom techniques when teaching Maritime English. It’s been proved that the 21st century sets new requirements to the competencies students need to acquire during their education thus demanding from teachers to search for and actively apply new and modern teaching strategies along with the traditional face-to-face learning. The introduction of computer-based technologies into the system of education can help to motivate students and increase their interest towards the material presented. It also allows for the round-the-clock access and availability of learning materials which are delivered via Internet and are stored at special data-bases at the same time giving equal opportunities to access them from all over the world. We believe that such approach is also beneficial for English teachers as well because by placing the materials on-line and having students already familiar with the topic during the classroom-time provides teachers with the opportunity to save precious time for developing key language skills and competencies – speaking and/or writing – by organizing group discussions, debates, presentations and peer teaching instead of lecturing or making them read long technical texts. Though, of course, there are some limitations which are determined by the specific features of a language lesson and which should be taken into consideration when planning a flipped English lesson. The paper suggests key ideas of how to ‘flip’ your English lessons depending on the year of education and the level of the group. We also suggest a practical example of how to organize a ‘flipped English lesson’ with the students and what lesson format may be suitable for such an occasion.