Week 3 - More Resources Lead to More Skills

Each week gets us closer to the implementation of our project. And it’s great since we learn a lot while building our web skills. This week has impressed me much with its articles dedicated to CALL; lesson plans available online, skill building websites and a social bookmarking site Delicious.com.

I like reading very much. Although I get greater pleasure from reading fiction, articles on CALL have broadened my outlook from the English teaching aspect. I often use MP3 speaker with downloaded Internet resources for listening activities in my lessons. So several kinds of listening exercises suggested can contribute to a better understanding of authentic materials. Besides esl.about.com that I’ve visited before, I got acquainted with One Stop English and ESL – galaxy.com sites for English language teaching and learning. They will help me to vary my lessons with a plenty of resources.  In addition to the above, websites for improving listening, pronunciation and speaking skills provoked my interest in applying some of them to my lessons.

After creating a blog at www.blogger.com creating a page at Delicious.com wasn’t so difficult. By bookmarking my favourite sites at Delicious I have a chance to access my links in case they are accidentally deleted or there’s no opportunity to use my computer but any other.

I’ve been thinking about what my final project will look like. Looking through the sample project reports I became aware of what I am expected to do. Now I’m a bit more confident than before because I guess it is impossible to accomplish any task without being well-informed of its details.

Week 2 - My Review of the Week

During this week I’ve gained more knowledge and experience related to web search and EFL teaching. I found readings for the best web search very helpful and efficient while looking for any topic of my interest. I think they will save my time and efforts because short descriptions given to each search engine indicate what kind of resources and where you can get using them. Tech tips may also guide me through my Internet search though I’ve been aware of and tried some of them before (for example, omitting articles typing query in the search box).

I’ve always been wondering why we should distinguish between goal and objective. Of course, I supposed that goal implies a purpose in a broader, more general sense than objective. But now there is another type of objective which is completely new to me. ABCD objective… It helps me formulate my objective precisely including four significant ABCD elements. This model can be somehow like a reminder of what else to add or, on the contrary, to skip while planning your lesson, project or any task.

Discussions are also of great help to me since they can teach you a lot of things you haven’t known before. They make you strive for success doing your best towards your goals.  

I hope next week will be as fruitful and promising as this one. 

Week 1 - My reflections on using blogs.

Blog is a very useful tool in teaching. I carefully read the article “Blogging for ELT” and I’d like to share my thoughts about blogs. As there are three kinds of blogs, which are the tutor blog, the class blog and the learner blog, they each in their own way motivate teaching and learning EFL. The tutor blog encourages teacher to develop new methods, create assignments and new topics for discussion with the class. As it is stated in the article the class blog is a shared space where both the teacher and students are able to write their ideas. This blog promotes communication between teacher and students and raises their discussion and critical thinking skills. The learner blog helps students improve their writing and reading comprehension skills. In my opinion students can leave there their comments on what they have read or write an essay or other creative work such as a poem or a story. One of the blogging tools for teenagers is Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com and it is an online space for them to talk to those around them by writing and reading their community’s comments. 

Week 1. Starting blogging.

I've never created web blog before. It's my first experience. While doing it I learned some techniques like choosing templates, font sizes and styles, layout for a blog, etc. In short, I learned how to manage a blog. In my opinion the blog can be used as communication tool between a teacher and students where they can share ideas concerning EFL teaching.