ESL Podcast: a must for English learners

  ESL Podcast is definitely a great internet tool for English learners. In it, there are series listening episodes that help learners learn practical use of English. It starts with a dialogue or a monologue, followed by an explanation for the language points learners should know.Whatever the form each episode has, it makes sure that the speaker(s) speak(s) in a clear, loud voice and at an easy-to-catch space. Each episode has its own topic and the materials is practical and interesting. For example, I once heard one episode called playing a practical joke, in the dialogue, the man said he played a practical joke on someone: P"what are you doing." L: "I have set up a practical joke on Bob. I can not wait to see the look on his face." Then with regard to these two sentences, there is a carefully explanation of the use of "set up" "practical joke" and "can not wait to".  Explaining a new phrases, the speaker will spell all the key words, which makes learners very easy to understand. Like he said: "set up" "S-E-T, set. U-P, up. set up means......" This is just foolproof! And in this website, there is a section called "ESL Podcast Blog" in which learners can find the transcript of the listening and discuss with others how they think about the materials. This makes English learning a communicative progress!
  If I become a teacher, I will use all the resources in this website because it is so good for beginning and intermediate learners! For beginners I will ask them to listen to the gists of the material and then make a list of it. Then bring their summarization to the class so that I can correct them. In this way, they have got a chance to first get familiar with the language points and when I further discuss them in the class, the learners will have a better understanding. And at the same time, their listening skill is practiced! For intermediate learners, I will let them study using this website themselves, but I will give some suggestions and regularly check what they have learned from the website. For example, I will suggest them to write down their own transcription according to their own listening, and then study the language points themselves instead of directly listening to the explanation followed. At last they can post their ideas about the material in the blog section. I think in this way, their listening and writing skills will be developed at the same time. And based on my experience, by doing transcribing, one's listening skill can be largely improved!
   In a word, this website is a wonderful listening resource base a English learner should never miss!

PS: The only dissatisfaction for me about this website is that before the episode start, there is always a one-minute ads. But you can skip it anyway.

EPALS: where learners connect

   Epals is a place where teachers and students of same interests can find each other and work together. I  first feel amazed at this website is that I found that it provides students opportunities to teach. It is right in the "find classroom" section. The one who wants to teach post their target students' age, their localization, the fields they want to teach and other classroom details. I think through this, both teachers and students can benefit: teachers may improve their teaching ability or collect valuable data for their projects while students can learn so much interesting knowledge. The resources in this website are diversity as well. Relative essays can be found in the "teaching resource" section, and in "learning centers", people can have assess to many other educational videos or games as long as they log in.

    This website really connects learners together: easy-assess and it covers many nations. It is good to learn that China has new joined in the community. I think if I become a teacher in the future, I will ask my students to choose one classroom (if it does not charge) during their long vacation, and then write a report about what they have learned or experienced. It will be a great opportunity for them to know more about the outside world.

Storybird and Teaching

 This week, I used Storybird to make my own comic book, and I feel so excited.

   

  There are many ways that we can use this Internet tool to teach. For example, because there are so many pictures in the website, many of which can tell a story themselves,  I would let students to pick one or more to make English sentences to describe the picture. Or, for advanced learners, I will let them combine the pictures together to make an English story like I did. Then by sharing the link, I can let them read each others' book and write reflections!

Voice Thread and Teaching

   Recently, I myself have created my own voice thread and done some other activities in others' voice threads (click here and here). I find that VT is such an educational tool in which people can either sharing information or giving instructions.
  I feel like voice thread is an advance blog in which people can make presentations using PPT slide, pictures, music and video while others can comment it using their voices that may help to include the maximum information in a convenient way.
  I think one way voice threat is suitable for teaching is that it makes it possible and convenient for both teachers and students to extend discussions. Like teacher can post the gists of last class and let students ask questions and answer each other's questions. Or teacher can post a picture, a video or a text to let students discuss what they think of such materials. These used to be in-class activities, but using voice thread, students can do these at home!

Digital Storytelling

Travelling salesmen from Västergötland, Sweden, a photo by Swedish National Heritage Board on Flickr.

   Digital telling, as is said in The Educational Use of Digital Storytelling, is "its most basic core is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories." It is such a wonderful website in which I can not only practice my English listening skills but also broaden my knowledge. Because in this website, the story is mostly told in English and then when you click the "explore stories", you will find all kinds of stories categorized by such kind as art, history and so on. It is basically another TED for me! Moreover, when you are listening to the story, there will be slides shown in the screen to illustrate the content concretely. So it won't make audience feel boring or get anxious once they miss something from listening.

  Digital telling is just a tool made for language learners in my opinion. Teachers could directly use the materials in the website to let students listen and take notes in order to practice their listening. And then they can write reflections based on the notes, and in this way their writing could be practiced. Or teachers can make their own story tellings, such as a preview or a review of the course so that students can have a blueprint of what they are going to learn or what they have learnt. Students can also make their own storytellings to share their experiences, opinions, and the most important things is, as a language learner, their speaking skill is practiced! Such a wonderful tool!

bookr : an amazing homemade printing press!

  I recently have found an amazing Internet tool to help students practice their writing skills and enlighten their creativeness: booker, with which they can make their own books. What an exciting thing!
  I have already made my own book "My Happy Life with Them". I myself feel proud when I looked back on what I have made. I think using my book in my teaching, I could let them first read it and then share their stories about the family with the whole class or just write a reflection about these book.
  I as a teacher will be quite excited to read the reviews from my students!

Selling flowers to raise funds for the Red Cross, Thargomindah, ca. 1916

Selling flowers to raise funds for the Red Cross, Thargomindah, ca. 1916, a photo by State Library of Queensland, Australia on Flickr.

Digital storytelling

  Digital telling, as is said in The Educational Use of Digital Storytelling, is "its most basic core is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories." It is such a wonderful website in which I can not only practice my English listening skills but also broaden my knowledge. Because in this website, the story is mostly told in English and then when you click the "explore stories", you will find all kinds of stories categorized by such kind as art, history and so on. It is basically another TED for me! Moreover, when you are listening to the story, there will be slides shown in the screen to illustrate the content concretely. So it won't make audience feel boring or get anxious once they miss something from listening.

  Digital telling is just a tool made for language learners in my opinion. Teachers could directly use the materials in the website to let students listen and take notes in order to practice their listening. And then they can write reflections based on the notes, and in this way their writing could be practiced. Or teachers can make their own story tellings, such as a preview or a review of the course so that students can have a blueprint of what they are going to learn or what they have learnt. Students can also make their own storytellings to share their experiences, opinions, and the most important things is, as a language learner, their speaking skill is practiced! Such a wonderful tool!

Darfur is Dying

  Darfur is Dying is more like an RPG game for gamers to experience what you can experience in a third world refugee, in my opinion. It is more like cultural game than L2 learning game. I played it for just twice because everytime my characters died, I feel really sad especially when they are only kids. The two dimension cartoon of the game is coarse, but it does not effect its shock on my heart.
  If I would use this game in my teaching I would like to let my students write a reflection of the game, that is to say my teaching objectives is more on writing aspect and thoughts sharing. The assessment is obvious that I will first let them discuss with their peers and then collect their writings and give them feedback.

Gamification Education

  In my opinion, the gamification education refers to teachers fostering students to learn the knowledge and to meet their teaching objectives by let students play the game so that students can naturally learn what they are supposed to learn in an unconscious and relaxed way.
  To exam whether it is good for students to learn through gaming, I played a escape room game myself---Escape the Room 3. I have to say I am absolutely not an adventure game fan, and what I play most is online fighting or war game. I have tried about three times to get out of the room. All failed. So I just referred to the walkthrough. I do not really like this game but since I am required to write something about the reasons of using games in teaching I will force myself to think of some.
   In this kind of game there are many text instructions to help you to find the solution, which is helpful for learners to fill in their information gap. If I would use such game in my teaching, my objectives might be learn to think in a logical way (because English itself is a language of logics) and to expand their vocabulary (because every word in this game can be an important clue to solve the problem). In order to check whether students have met such objectives, I would first let them write down the procedure of their solving the problem to see whether what they have written is in a logic way and whether they are using the vocabulary necessary to solve the problem in the game.
  During their playing game, I as a teacher will definitely use a walk through when they are about to reach the dead-end, because, generally speaking, people will get frustrated and lose interested in a game if they are unable to solve them over and over again, which is what I have encountered when playing this game, while students' being inactive is the last thing a teacher want to face.  But I see no need to use the images of picture. Aren't the students playing the game themselves? Don't they already know the game?
   In addition, teachers in the gamification education should play a role of guide and they must pick an appropriate game that can overall turn the students on.
  Once again, I have to say I really do not like the escape the room  game, which is supposed to be one of the fittest games for students to learn something.

Twitter and teacher

   I have read two articles that enlightens me in using twitter in teaching. The first one is 6 best twitter tips every teacher should know. Here is a picture showing the six practices.

  

   There are two points in this I think is of great importance for teachers. First, having conversation with follow fans. Although using a new form of teaching, teacher should always keep in mind that communication and interaction with students is are one of the main sources for students to learn. And the second one is being as concise as possible in wording and length so that followers can have something to add and share. It is just like in the classroom, teacher's lecture all the time can make students feel tired and boring. Teachers should give students space to think, to react and to create. 

    The other article I read about twitter and teaching is  A must have guide on using twitter in your classroom.  Through reading the articles, I feel like one of the salient advantage of using twitter in teaching is that it makes it much more convenient for teachers and students to communicate both academically and socially. I am,as a students, always afraid of missing something important messages about the course such as class cancelled, change of the syllabus or the deadline. Actually I did miss some of these this semester. If teacher can twit to us, the chance will be lower I think. And also, since I studied in here, I found that talking with professors can be really hard. But with twitter, it becomes much easier. Even if the professor is to busy to answer the question, other followers who see the question may answer that as well.

  Through a few weeks' learning, I am surprised to find that almost all the new technologies, especially the internet tools can be used in teaching. It is really a revolution!

Teacher 2.0

   Teacher 2.0 is a place where educators can explore their ideas and support each other in their teaching career. In this website, teachers can get refreshed by attending to the events, interviews and workshops posted on this community and help each other to make contributions to the education field.

   I think, as a teacher, we may face many challenges and will have to deal with many tricky situations with students. Through searching in this Internet community, reading the posts, attending to the workshop, it is very possible for us to get proper advice and be dragged out of the dilemma. This website is like a re-energize base for teachers.

Learners of Today

   Nowadays, a learner is like a spider who is going to expand his web by combining others so that they can hunt much more food.

   You may wonder why and here is my explanation. According to Siemens G's A learning theory for the digital age, in which he put emphasis on explaining connectivism, learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources; Learning may reside in non-human appliances; Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning; Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill;Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. From this we can see that how important the web is for learners. Like a spider, a learner have to build his own web of knowledge in the first place, and then in order to expand this web, a learner may ask for  others' help when he has already reached the edge of his ability. In this way, there will be more chance for them to get what they really need. And also, the web need maintaining so that it will always work. 

  Next, in the video, the changing nature of knowledge, Siemen further develop the concept of connectivism: The essence is that network BECOMES learning,  and the network the learners create, which can also be explained in the way of a spider. Learners learn things from the process of building their own web and combining with others'. But the knowledge learners get is not only from such process, rather their knowledge has concretely shown as the combined web they have made.

  In a word, the dynamic process of building web, the connections in human society, guarantee that our learning patterns can adapt to the changing nature of knowledge.

No laptops for children: Good or Bad?

  I recently read a post called "the end of "digital education revolution" written by Darcy Moore. It talks about the Australian government decided to rollout laptops on campus. He is quite disappointed with it. Here is what he said about this thing.

   And also I read the comments of this posts, most of them are in favor of the author, thinking it is inappropriate to rollout laptops from campus. One parent just said: "how can you just stop supplying laptops next year to some kids while others have them”.

    

   Actually, I feel a little surprised because in China parents tend to keep their children away from computers because children, who in general lack self-discipline, are easy to indulged in the computer games. This may lead to serious consequences: be bad for eyes and have effect in their schooling.

   It is true that with technology can help students study. I myself have acquired the benefits from advanced computer technology. But does it necessary for students to own laptops in school? Will lack of them influence their study? I do not really think so.

   

Old fashion? No way!

21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada & Social Media Revolution 2011

  Two videos above represent a revolutionary view of technologies which shed light to my language teaching.
  The form of the former video really impressed me: the contrast. It compares what education used to be in New Brunswick with what education should be in the future.What makes this contrast stronger is the pictures and animations. They leave me an impression that technology really change the way of education. At least when I myself see the video, I cannot wait to apply the technology used in the video to my own teaching.
  About the content, This video is quite provoking. It is true that education must be adapted to the change of world, especially for language teaching I think. Language itself has such aspects as reading, writing, speaking, listening, which to some extent requires multi-technologies so that students can have all aspects practiced. What is more, the development of technology "ensmall" the world, which makes it convenient for language learners to contact with native speakers and native cultures.
  The latter one is an overview of how social media online changed our lives offline by showing real statistics. I was surprised to realize that such social media has subtly influenced us so much. It influences us on schooling, business, even our marriages. So it came to me that social media can also be a way of language teaching. Actually, we are using it now, like posting blogs and commenting.
  In a word, the two videos confirmed me of applying technologies to my own teaching. It makes teaching tempting and learning interesting! Still teaching in a old-fashion way? Still forcing students to carry tons of books to school? No WAY! Change of the world, Change of education.

Entry 1

  Living in modern times, I for many times thanks those genius who makes our life so colorful and convenient. Thanks to airplane, we can fly even though we do not have wings; thanks to telephone, we can talk to each other from afar even though we do not have sonorous voice. And thanks to blog we can communicate with great minds even though we do not know each other. This quality seems to make blog a ideal tool of teaching, because teaching, in my point of view, is the communication of thoughts.

 Blog, in many ways, reminds me of discussion board on UBlearns. In it, bloggers can freely post whatever they think on the their blog and others can comment on it, which is of the same function of unlearns. So the first way I can apply blog for my teaching is the same way teachers here used it. Let students post an entry about a certain topic and let others comment on it. In this way, students are actually conversing with and learn from each other. This meets the one of the TESOL standards (see here): language as a system. In blog students can engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions, which is a systematic way of using English.

 Blog, based on Internet, breaks the limits of geography. Bloggers can view blogs from other countries through which they may perceive other cultures. This also helps to meet the culture standard of TESOL. As a teacher, I will let my future students view certain different English bloggers, which is carefully selected and of cultural values, and then let them discuss about their cultural findings. In this way, students can not only use English to read, to speak, but also learn the cultures of target languages. One of advantages to use blog as cultural reference is that the thoughts or description in blogs are usually authentic. Students can directly learn what the culture really is!