Week 7 - One Computer's Value

Another week has passed and made me think of technology in more depth. Reading the suggested articles and my colleagues’ comments on this week’s topic, I learned more. Everything has its value. This is the case with one computer in class too. Here let me cite a well-known proverb in a different way, making some changes: “A computer in hand is worth two or more in the computer lab.” Just one computer can inspire us to not only try existing strategies, but also discover and explore the new ones. If your students have computers at home or opportunity to use it somewhere else, your work in one computer classroom becomes easier. The students can bring their findings, creative works, and presentations and show them to class. In their turn, the teacher and students have a chance to give their feedback and evaluate them. I mentioned some examples for one computer use, though there are many others. One computer classroom requires creativity along with other skills of the teacher. A creative approach to integrating technology helps teachers to vary and enrich their lessons with one computer as the only learning and teaching technology device in the classroom. Thus, try and succeed with one computer indeed. 


This week I continued working on my project with students. They wrote their resumes and cover letters as it was assigned them as homework. In class the students shared and made peer review of their work. Then I gave feedback to their work. The students listened to sample job interviews along with their transcripts to improve their aural skills and discussed how to act in a job interview. They tried to compose their own imaginary job interview and present it in class. 

Week 6 - First Steps of My Project

A few thoughts about PowerPoint presentation. Interactive PowerPoint presentation was completely new to me and I liked its interactive elements a lot both during reading and creating my presentation though it was not so easy for me. I think creating a good presentation requires many efforts and skills of a teacher which should be refined. Sharing others’ opinions on presentation was also of great help to me.

This week I’ve begun implementing my project “Finding a Good Job” with students. The goal was to enhance their speaking skills simultaneously tackling a really pressing issue. I have two classes a week with these students and I informed them of the upcoming project last week. So at our first lesson this week I asked students to answer these questions: Which English language skills are needed for better job application?  How can you evaluate which jobs are appropriate for you?  What steps should you take to achieve this goal? They thought for a while and tried to reply. In their answer to the first question they mentioned that they need to speak English fluently. The second question was a bit difficult for students to answer. They were confused; most of them told that they would be teachers. But it never came to their mind that teaching also varies according to the environment: one can work at school, college, university, private study center or training department of a factory. Thus I made some explanations in order to make students ponder over this. Concerning the last question they noted that they should write a resume and pass a job interview and if they succeeded they could get a desired position. I was pleased they could express their opinion to some extent. Then I divided a class into two groups of four, one group’s task being to search the Internet for sample resumes and another one’s for sample cover letters.  Students should bring their findings along with the links where they took them from. Next lesson we looked through what they had done and discussed which resources were reliable and appropriate to them. The two groups shared their experience and findings. Then I provided them with the links to sample resume and cover letter so that they can write their own resumes and cover letters. I also told them that if they needed any help they could ask any time coming to my workplace or by e-mail. I’m looking forward to students’ work hoping they can accomplish it well.  

Week 5 - Web's Opportunities

This week has brought many challenging ideas including PBL, webquests, and rubrics. Discussion on PBL caused me to think why our teachers didn’t use PBL and evaluate us through rubrics when we were students. Maybe it’s due to the fact that there were no such opportunities and the Internet wasn’t as popular as it is now. I wish we had studied our subjects that way. It’s an exciting experience for both a teacher and students. PBL helps to reveal students’ knowledge and skills that they themselves are unaware of. Webquests as a kind of PBL can serve as a good tool here. I can characterize them as detailed lesson plans in creation and progress of which students play a great role. As to rubrics, they motivate students to move towards success knowing their goals.

Sticking only to textbooks can be boring to students and teachers as well. So trying PBL can be a way out from such an unpleasant situation. As PBL is new to my students, it will require much effort on my part. However, it will give me a great pleasure to see my students highly motivated and intrigued by the lesson. In my opinion there’s no better reward for the teacher than students’ mastering a language on a high level.

Week 4 - Learning via the Net

This week is over. It has greatly impressed me with more things to learn. A vast variety of ideas of my colleagues from all over the world motivates me to make progress. Reading their opinions shared online, I get some useful tips for my lessons. The common saying “Time flies when you are having fun” is to the point in my case. Actually I have fun through learning, especially when I surf the Internet for any topic of my interest which can be TEFL, health, fashion, fiction, movies, national meals and so on. I found and bookmarked more useful links on my page at Delicious.com. While creating a technology-enhanced lesson plan, I analyzed the template suggested in detail. The steps we include in our lesson plan are the same with the exception of the learning styles. I found a complete description of the learning styles on the Internet in order to get a clear idea about them.

The process of gaining new knowledge via the Internet is exciting and amazing, though it isn’t always easy. But when you’re finished, you feel really relaxed and find pleasure in everything you’ve done so far.