This week's discussions were focused mainly on reading and writing , grammar and vocabulary. Three sites that I found of great interest are : ESL Independent Study, Lauri's ESL web site and From Many Interesting Things for ESL Students. They offer a good number of wonderful resources that are worth a try ! Of course, any time I can I add some to my delicious site .
Sharing common issues with my classmates in relation to language teaching and learning was also enriching. Despite our culture differences most of us do share the same problems such as lack of motivation, poor writing and reading skills.
Planning a technology enhanced lesson was also challenging, a bit time consuming though. Reading some of my classmates lesson plans made me think of new ideas to apply in my own lessons.
The thread for this week made me reflect upon the need to further reinforce writing and speaking using technology and think of some of the tools I may use for that purpose... Thinking ahead in my future project.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Week 3: A delicious week!
My third week is almost now finishing, with new resources and ideas to implement in my classes.
Starting this week's assignment I created my own delicious site:
http://www.delicious.com/arriagada
How great it has been to collect all my resources in one single site and be able to share it with others. And moreover, to be able to access to my favorites from any computer is fabulous.My list of favorites grows day by day, so this tool is simply delicious. I will share it with other colleagues and my thesis and methodology students.
The reading assignments for aural and oral skills were interesting and challenging. They made me reflect on my current practices with technology and some ideas to apply that are engaging and entertaining, especially to promote speaking skills.
One article I found of great interest was "The Best Sites to Practice Speaking English" by Larry Ferlazzo. He compiled a significant number of sites that provides tools for students to record their own voices in a number of different ways and post their speaking assignments online. One of the tools I would like to try along with my Moodle course is Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/#home
Voicethread can be easily integrated into any specific college class or can be opened to the entire world for open discussion. This tool has three main functions (1)You can type text as well as record audio, (2) You can grab images off the Web to reinforce understanding,and (3) You and your students can leave audio comments.
Voicethread provides great opportunities to extend class discussions and to encourage thought provoking debates. This online discussion creates a sense of learning community which invites quiet and shy students to participate more actively. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to provide more individualized feedback and to address students' comments more directly.
I also learnt about Voki http://www.voki.com/ which is also a free tool that can be combined with blogs, wikis, journals, and emails.This tool allows students to create their own avatar and record their voices. I would like to try this tool with my first year students along with the use of a class blog.
This was indeed a delicious menu ... I look forward to starting week 4 and discovering new tools and strategies to teach with technology.
Starting this week's assignment I created my own delicious site:
http://www.delicious.com/arriagada
How great it has been to collect all my resources in one single site and be able to share it with others. And moreover, to be able to access to my favorites from any computer is fabulous.My list of favorites grows day by day, so this tool is simply delicious. I will share it with other colleagues and my thesis and methodology students.
The reading assignments for aural and oral skills were interesting and challenging. They made me reflect on my current practices with technology and some ideas to apply that are engaging and entertaining, especially to promote speaking skills.
One article I found of great interest was "The Best Sites to Practice Speaking English" by Larry Ferlazzo. He compiled a significant number of sites that provides tools for students to record their own voices in a number of different ways and post their speaking assignments online. One of the tools I would like to try along with my Moodle course is Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/#home
Voicethread can be easily integrated into any specific college class or can be opened to the entire world for open discussion. This tool has three main functions (1)You can type text as well as record audio, (2) You can grab images off the Web to reinforce understanding,and (3) You and your students can leave audio comments.
Voicethread provides great opportunities to extend class discussions and to encourage thought provoking debates. This online discussion creates a sense of learning community which invites quiet and shy students to participate more actively. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to provide more individualized feedback and to address students' comments more directly.
I also learnt about Voki http://www.voki.com/ which is also a free tool that can be combined with blogs, wikis, journals, and emails.This tool allows students to create their own avatar and record their voices. I would like to try this tool with my first year students along with the use of a class blog.
This was indeed a delicious menu ... I look forward to starting week 4 and discovering new tools and strategies to teach with technology.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Week 2 Web Searching
This week we discussed several tools and search engines found in Noodletools.
Two I found of great help are Iseek education and the Unesco Archive Portal. I have already added them to the list of resources I give to my thesis students who spend a lot of time searching for accurate and update articles .
This week's assignments also made me realized how lucky some of us are to have great facilities to teach with technology, whereas others have scarce resources and still make great efforts to be creative to work under such adverse conditions.
We have shared a good number of new resources. I am a fan of Google, but Noodletools opened my eyes to a much greater variety .
My classmates posts and especially Rahmat's knowledgeable comments on some functions of Google have also made these week's discussion threads quite interesting.
Cecilia
Two I found of great help are Iseek education and the Unesco Archive Portal. I have already added them to the list of resources I give to my thesis students who spend a lot of time searching for accurate and update articles .
This week's assignments also made me realized how lucky some of us are to have great facilities to teach with technology, whereas others have scarce resources and still make great efforts to be creative to work under such adverse conditions.
We have shared a good number of new resources. I am a fan of Google, but Noodletools opened my eyes to a much greater variety .
My classmates posts and especially Rahmat's knowledgeable comments on some functions of Google have also made these week's discussion threads quite interesting.
Cecilia
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Week 1. Getting to know the members of our learning community
Off we start with our first week after a short , but productive orientation week.
I must admit I am still trying to figure out some of the new tools in blogger. I have successfully added some of my classmates' names and hope to invite everyone to post in my blog.
I must admit I am still trying to figure out some of the new tools in blogger. I have successfully added some of my classmates' names and hope to invite everyone to post in my blog.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Getting started
I am getting started with my first reflective blog for my online course. I am not so new in blogger. I created my first blog for a CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) about 3 years ago. I now realize how fast time passes by !
Now, with a bit more experience on technology-enhanced language learning, I am starting this new space of reflection which I hope will be enriched by my new colleagues/classmates' comments.
Undoubtedly, blogs are powerful teaching resources that we EFL teachers should use more often to promote collaborative online learning . For some ideas, read the following article taken from one of my favorite sites, Language Learning and Technology Journal from Michigan State University: Emerging Technologies. Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-line Collaboration
My own personal challenge for the future is to encourage their use in our language courses.
My final reflection goes to the course and my new classmates. After reading my classmates' posts and introductions , I can not wait to get to know them all. Sharing with colleagues from so many different cultures and countries will open a door for collaborative and cooperative multi-cultural learning. How exciting...!
Cecilia
Now, with a bit more experience on technology-enhanced language learning, I am starting this new space of reflection which I hope will be enriched by my new colleagues/classmates' comments.
Undoubtedly, blogs are powerful teaching resources that we EFL teachers should use more often to promote collaborative online learning . For some ideas, read the following article taken from one of my favorite sites, Language Learning and Technology Journal from Michigan State University: Emerging Technologies. Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-line Collaboration
My own personal challenge for the future is to encourage their use in our language courses.
My final reflection goes to the course and my new classmates. After reading my classmates' posts and introductions , I can not wait to get to know them all. Sharing with colleagues from so many different cultures and countries will open a door for collaborative and cooperative multi-cultural learning. How exciting...!
Cecilia
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