Teacher Professional Development in Online Environments

Friday, September 17, 2010

Participating in ELT Chat on Twitter

Last September 15, 2010 I participated in the first ELTchat (#ELTchat) on Twitter.com.
http://eltchat.com/

I was excited to take part in this activity mainly for three reasons: I wanted to see...
1. how the flow of conversations would transpire
2. what subtopics would come out as an offshoot from the general main topic: 'How do we best motivate learners?'
3. how I'd be able to follow the thread of conversations/messages posted by so many people almost all at the same time

I have participated in many online chats, webinars, voice/text chats, or whatever you want to call it, and I'm quite familiar with the set-up. I'm also pretty aware of how people behave in online chats; some are really responsive and some less active, and there are those who are 'technically have web presence' since they are logged on and we see their usernames in the chat platform but 'conversationally absent' since they do not participate in the conversations. But facilitating a chat session on Twitter is definitely new--at least for me. Now, I've seen pretty short yet interesting conversations on Twitter, and they can sometimes be delightful to read. A source of amusement, I should say. My favs on brief-twitter-chats would be those of between Gavin D. and Claire Siskin, and again Gavin D. and Jeremy Harmer, and yet again Gavin D. and Scott Thornbury (which Jason R. also blogged in, http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/2010/08/gavin-dudeney-vs-scott-thornbury.html). Jason describes Gavin and Scott as people in the ELT field with sharp and witty personalities. I agree, and I think the same can be said for Claire and Jeremy. These people are great in carrying snappy conversations- made me sometimes feel I was watching tennis- the suspense of seeing who's gonna hit or miss. But carrying a chat on ELt related topics for an hour on Twitter?--not sure how it would go?

I don't know who the people are behind ELTchat, all I knew was that Jason and Marisa were creating some noise about it on my PLN, so I thought, hmm, this has gotta be good. I also did my share of shoutouts- my family and friends on FB who are not ELT folks would have wondered what the buzz was about.

So off I went...

It started pretty smoothly. I was able to follow the conversation; I responded to questions, although not all of them, but I think there were some interesting chunks of info being passed around. I did enjoy being there, but it made me feel like I was in a party (no, not the punk or rock type- more matured, imagine light Jazz being played in the background) . I was talking to sometimes one or two people, then I get silent, listening to what everyone was saying/posting. I had to wait for the new tweets to come up- Twitter dropped them in bags, too- sometimes 4-6 tweets at once. Manageable. But try 20-30 tweet-updates! I had to scroll up and down the page to find out where my message landed and who picked it up, and who carried the conversation. 2-3 people did, but similar to party conversations, people move on, and so do the conversations. Then after all that chattering, it just slowed down. I was thinking it could be Twitter's fault- the site gets bogged down when the traffic of messages become heavy. #ELTchat could have caused traffic... I wonder if the #ELTchat hashtag made it to the TOP Trends in Twitter... Let me know if it did.

Marisa posted on Twitter that the chat was archived and uploaded, and is now available for everyone to read. Here is the link if you're interested in reading it, http://eltchat.com/chat-transcripts/how-do-we-best-motivate-learners-to-practice-outside-the-classroom/

The transcript is a great source of data if you're into Discourse analysis- see how many subtopics came up and how long each topic-thread lasted. Cool, huh? Would love to do it but I'm pretty focused on finishing my dissertation- to be handed in for review next week!

But what I'd like to show you is this,

http://archivist.visitmix.com/6ad5e436/1/User

The graphic is not only visually attractive but the data it provided is simply impressive. Marisa, Jason, and to all the ELTchat organizers, you've got to have a webinar on how to use this site!

It was able to archive the following data:
number of tweets: 1,285 Tweets
when the archive and visualization was last updated: 21 hours ago

I realized that this site updates every 24 hours, which means the gathering of data is continuously performed. So, if I'm only interested on what happened on Sept. 15 during the first ELT chat on student motivation, does/can this site give me that info? Do we have that info? Is someone keeping track of the data i.e. tweets data for chat 1, chat 2, etc.

Anyway, I was happy that I participated in this endeavor. I'm sure we're all learning as we go.

Thanks ELT chat for that Twitteriffic experience!

/a

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

ELT Chat on Twitter, Sept 15

Online Chat on Twitter on anything related to English Language Teaching (ELT) is about to kick off tomorow, September 15 at 3pm London time (GMT)- that's 11 pm Taiwan time.

Click here to find out what time it'll be in your part of the world, http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=15&month=9&year=2010&hour=15&min=0&sec=0&p1=0

Online chat session will last for an hour. To take part in this oTPD, you gotta have a Twitter account. If you don't have one, click here, http://twitter.com
The organizers of ELT chat is asking you to cast your vote and choose the topic that you're interested in. There are five topics to choose from: intercultural competence, lexical approach, international English, TEFL or TESOL, and motivating learners. Click here to vote, http://eltchat.com/

Use this hashtag to follow discussions on Twitter, #ELTchat
Be there or be square!

/a

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Challenges of Using Tech with Young Learners

Watch Nik Peachy's webinar presentation, 'Challenges of Using Tech with YLs' http://bit.ly/cnH5TQ adobe connect recording #efl #elt #ict #iatefl #tesol

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Informal Learning of a Teacher from Ghana

I received an email from this teacher (let's call her 'julyddan') in Ghana last August 28, 2010. She was interested in joining EVO and was asking if she could join the EVO team. Before sending her a response I informed the EVO coordinators about this and consulted them on how we should go about this- we have never received such an inquiry. While awaiting response from the team, julyddan was already sending me instant messages from Yahoo! Today, however, I decided to talk to her via Yahoo! IM and get this issue settled.

The flow of the text conversation with her was quite interesting because as it turned out, this was informal learning/mentoring in practice- ahhh the power of the Internet. Behold!

Note: orig worldmap was retrieved from this site, http://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml

Read the entire text chat and see what took place. She was already impressed with my old class wikis, but I told her there are other Webheads out there with great class blogs, wikis, and what have you. By the time you read this, julyddan is probably on her way to signing up to the Webheads YG!

I had a hard time figuring out how exactly I could help her. The idea of mentoring always interests me, as that's what Webheads and EVO team do; but she came in with all that motivation to learn and list of things to do- I just didn't know where to start.

I hope I did the right thing today. Anyway, I did tell her that she could show me her class wiki when it's done. And yes, she can always send me an IM!

/a

Read her message below:

Dear Aiden,

I have received a copy of the TESOL e-newsletter and have fallen in love with the EVO project. I am a post-graduate student awaiting the defence of my thesis and thence graduation with an MPhil English. As professional teacher with 11yrs teaching experience, my pre-occupation is researching into the most effective ways of teaching English and Literature especially through CALL. However, with regards to the use of CALL in Ghana, it is even difficult to find a single lecturer in my department who can mentor me. Hence my special request to the team is to be accepted as a protegee who can be coached and trained to introduce CALL in my country and my university in particular, University of Education, (name of state deleted).

As part of the training, I would be grateful if you could pair me or make me join a moderator group. Through they assigning tasks, and others to me I am sure I can learn and make an impact in my community.

By the next session my aim is to become a full fleshed moderator and be able to recruit many other language teachers from my country.

Hope to here favourably from you.

Thank you.
(name deleted)

----- Our chat on Thu, 9/2/10 5:07 PM -----

julyddan (4:13 PM): HI can I join an EVO team from Ghana? My interest is in integrating computers in language learning.

Aiden (4:15 PM): Hi there. received your message. Have you participated in any of the EVO sessions before?

julyddan (4:15 PM): no

Aiden (4:16 PM): The EVO sessions will be offered in January 2011. We are still in the process of receiving proposals.

Aiden (4:17 PM): http://evosessions.pbworks.com/, here's the link to past sessions, http://evosessions.pbworks.com/EVO+Previous+Sessions

julyddan (4:18 PM): Is it possible to join an existing team so i can be coached?

Aiden (4:18 PM): I suggest that you join Becoming a Webhead session as they show participants how to integrate technology in the classroom

Aiden (4:19 PM): There are no open sessions now; but you can join Webheads online community and be part of the learning community

Aiden (4:21 PM): I also suggest that you look at past BaW weekly activities- they introduce the basics from which tool to use to why you should it

Aiden (4:22 PM): you should also attend free webinars on Web 2.0

Aiden (4:23 PM): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads

julyddan (4:23 PM): ok I am checking on the links u have sent me

Aiden (4:24 PM): how old are your students and what class/es do you teach?

Aiden (4:25 PM): oh, and how did you find out about EVO?

julyddan (4:26 PM): I am 32. I have submitted my submitted a soft copy of my thesis for MPhil in English

julyddan (4:27 PM): Currently I am a tutor at the univ of Education, Winneba, distance learning section.

julyddan (4:29 PM): and i am looking for innovative ways of integrating IT in my teaching

julyddan (4:30 PM): I am also and IELTS exam proctor for British Council Ghana

Aiden (4:30 PM): how did you find out about EVO?

Aiden (4:31 PM): how old are your students and what class/es do you teach?

julyddan (4:32 PM): I joined the ELTeCS Europe, Caucus and Russia from the Briish Council Website when I was browsing for BC language teachers' opportunities

julyddan (4:33 PM): They are 18+. Diploma, Post Dip and 1st Degree

Aiden (4:35 PM): Is this a general English course?

julyddan (4:37 PM): I teach Comprehension and Composition at Post Dip, Com Skills and Intro to Lit at 1st degree

Aiden (4:38 PM): is this an online course or f2f?

Aiden (4:39 PM): do you use a wiki?

julyddan (4:39 PM): they are all f2f

Aiden (4:40 PM): do you have access to computers in the classroom?

julyddan (4:40 PM): but the dip courses are by distance and i wish to find ways of integrating IT so that my students can com and learn from home

julyddan (4:41 PM): not yet but if i can put a gud design together, my director is ready to provide them

Aiden (4:42 PM): do you use a course/leanring management system i.e. wiki, moodle, Yahoo! Group

julyddan (4:42 PM): I need to convince them with a gud proposal

julyddan (4:42 PM): no can u teach me how to?

julyddan (4:42 PM): this is why i want to be an evo member

julyddan (4:43 PM): nobody does these things in my university

Aiden (4:43 PM): Outline your proposal on a wiki and use your Yahoo! Group (or Google group) as learning mngt system (LMS)

Aiden (4:43 PM): EVO provide yearly teacher professional dev't sessions

Aiden (4:44 PM): what you need is to join a community of practice so you could just post your enquiry to the list

Aiden (4:44 PM): and peope will respond to you

julyddan (4:44 PM): so what is the first step?

Aiden (4:45 PM): for collaborative projects, you can also count on the webheads to help you

Aiden (4:45 PM): outline your plan on a wiki

Aiden (4:45 PM): sort of like a learning syllabus

Aiden (4:46 PM): i'll show you my class wikis

julyddan (4:46 PM): oh ok like my course outline right?

Aiden (4:46 PM): yes

julyddan (4:46 PM): great

julyddan (4:46 PM): i wild like to see it

Aiden (4:46 PM): in this way your students should have an e-copy of your syllabus

julyddan (4:46 PM): ok

Aiden (4:47 PM): these are old wikis because I took a break froom teaching last year bec. i'm finishing up my PhD

Aiden (4:47 PM): wait, let me get the UR:s

Aiden (4:48 PM): http://dcyeh.pbworks.com/,

julyddan (4:48 PM): oh ok

julyddan (4:48 PM): hope u grad soon

Aiden (4:48 PM): look at the sidebar, scroll down and you'll see SY2008-2009

julyddan (4:49 PM): then you can guide me through one

julyddan (4:49 PM): I am checking on the link now

Aiden (4:49 PM): yOU'LL see all the subjects that I taught that school year

julyddan (4:49 PM): ok

Aiden (4:49 PM): each class has its own YG and Wiki

Aiden (4:50 PM): the YG serves as our LMS, while the Wiki as a site for syllabus, instructions, students work, etc.

julyddan (4:50 PM): hmmm

Aiden (4:51 PM): familiarize yourself with YG or google group and see how you can organize it in a way that course materials are available in folders, links bookmarks, etc.

Aiden (4:52 PM): this is an example of Freshman English class

Aiden (4:52 PM): http://ue1a.pbworks.com/

Aiden (4:53 PM): my advertising class, http://ad97.pbworks.com/

Aiden (4:54 PM): research writing, http://researchwriting97.pbworks.com/

julyddan (4:55 PM): I am impressed

Aiden (4:55 PM): for writing, you can use googledocs

Aiden (4:56 PM): and you don't have yo publish your students work until they're ready

Aiden (4:56 PM): and you should always let them know why you're putting their work online

julyddan (4:57 PM): ok

Aiden (4:57 PM): Other webheads also have great class blogs, join webheads and you'll be surprised on how friendly and helpful people are

Aiden (4:57 PM): you can't find anything like the webheads

Aiden (4:58 PM): once you've got your class wiki up and running, let me know and i'll give it a visit

julyddan (4:59 PM): ok

Aiden (4:59 PM): great. glad to help you this time.

julyddan (5:00 PM): thank u very much

Aiden (5:07 PM): (smilie)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Seminar on Teacher Professional Development in Southern Taiwan (Chinese)

For Teachers in Taiwan, you may want to attend this seminar.
Please pass this info to your colleagues or to anyone whom you know may benefit from this session.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Social Network Official Trailer -In theatres Oct 1 2010

This is not just a story about Facebook- the social network. It's a story about all the negative things about being human- greed, selfishness, vicious desires, etc., etc. It shows what people would do for the sake of money. Take the trivial things out of FB, and what have you got?

500 million friends. wow, what a network. But with that number, what kinds of relationships are created? How long can a social pyramid based on weak foundations of trivial friends and connections stand? It will soon crumble, and when it does count again the number of friends on your list, and you'll see.

This film is showing in October. Are you going to watch it? I think I will; I'd like to find out how the professors/admi in Harvard reacted to the whole FB thing. I wonder how their (the two kids featured in the movie) professors felt when the social network idea exploded right on their faces. Did they get a share? Did Harvard? Did they support the idea or were they totally against it? Did the professors who taught these kids ever predicted that FB's gonna be huge? did they ever tell themselves, 'Why the hell didn't i think of that?!'

I wonder if the script is out- I think it can be used as a learning activity.

Lady Greenfield: Social networking is turning us into babies

Patrick Wintour, political editor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 February 2009 10.52 GMT
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/24/social-networking-site-changing-childrens-brains

Wintour wrote an article, Facebook and Bebo risk 'infantilising' the human mind'. His article basically talks about what Lady Greenfield thinks of the social networking sites and how they are changing the way children think and behave, making them selfish with matching attention-deficit-disorder.

Are social networking sites turning us into babies? Does Bebo? I don't use Bebo and therefore can't comment on it; but the name has that similar 'goo-goo' sound babies make...or is it just because both words start with the letter 'B'...

I've been using Twitter and FB, and I don't think they have negatively affected my attention span. Tweets actually make me more attentive, since I could scroll my tweet updates and could easily catch an interesting tweet that deserves my full attention. I would even click on the provided link and read the entire article or watch the video clip and leave a brief comment. Now that I'm slowly making my way back to blogging, I can spend a few minutes and write something about what I've read. Attention is needed when you write, right? Even when you're writing nonsense, it still takes effort to whip up a few words of total B.S.

Now do Twitter and FB influence my identity? That's a loaded question. On FB, I use my real name and add friends and family to my friends' list. Got my entire network of real people who knows 2 or 3 things about me. Aside from my brothers and sister, and a handful of dear friends who could tell the best or worst side of me, the rest of them probably just know a few stuffs about me- mostly good ;-) But do I need to have multiple identities- I don't think so.

Ok, I hear you saying, what about your twitter account? You're using a different name- what's 'motherchina' about? If you're one of my closest friends in college, you won't even ask that question since you're probably one of the culprits who gave me that nickname. Back in those days, we either use silly nicknames (based on our chracter/physical looks/shortened first names e.g. Lalls for Lally, Helgs for Helga) or last name e.g. 'Dux' for Duco, Sison, etc. As for me, I was re-baptized with 'motherchina' because of my chinky eyes. I don't know how and why they came up with 'mother', I seldom cursed or is it my selective memory kicking in? Anyway, the name stuck with me. Now that I'm living in Taiwan, I have not yet heard any politically-loaded comments addressed to me. Yeah- other people may associate the word China (in motherchina) with something else, but who cares? There's a history behind that name, and that's what matters. That's one side of me you probably didn't know.

Wrapping this up, do social networking sites 'changed' my brain? For the better I hope. As I get older, I do find myself forgetting names, losing bits and pieces of my childhood memories and even events that took place less than a decade ago. With FB, I get to re-connect with cousins, many of whom were still little babies when I left for Taiwan- this brings back forgotten memories. I also get to re-connect with my former students- their connections and presence on FB remind me of what kind of teacher I was--likeable I hope (othrwise they won't even add me to their list), and yes a couple of occassional comments like "I miss you or I really enjoyed your classes" make me think of the reason/s why I ended up teaching.

/a

p.s.
perhaps this article does not relate to me afterall. She was referring to children- not 40-something-gal like me ;-)

MoodleMeet Moodle’rrific

The posting below is an invitation to participate in the upcoming online conference, Moodle'rrific. Please pass it forward to colleagues who may be interested in getting involved.

Word is out that you have developed some successful practices around online learning and we’re hoping that you would be willing to share some of your ideas with colleagues in the upcoming MoodleMeet Moodle’rrific: taking place online between Sept 17-24, 2010.

The purpose of Moodle’rrific is to bring educators from across the world to ‘show and tell’ their successful online practices bringing together innovative uses of technology and personalized. Some of our partners this week include: British Columbia (Canada) Ministry of Education,Commonwealth of Learning*, and CUE BC, .with other partners and individuals still signing on.

We invite you to join this growing team as we work together leading the way internationally to:

- ensure that educators have access to a network of colleagues to help one another be the best they can be as online or mixed-mode educators

- ensure that students have access to engaging and effective online courses There are several ways you can join us ranging from being a participant during the week, being a “show and tell’ presenter during a 30-min

Elluminate timeslot and being part of the threaded discussion on the topic, and/or being an organizer/facilitator.

We know September 17th is fast approaching and no doubt you’re busy with back-to-school preparations; however, our facilitating team is ready to assist you and to bring you into the event in whatever level of participation interests you.

Please contact me if you have any questions, or want more information. Join us, you’ll be glad you did!

Sent by Sharon Betts on behalf of the Moodle’rrific Team, sharonbetts[@]gmail.com

Monday, August 23, 2010

Are you a Web Whore?

Are you a web whore? Read this interesting blog post and see if you could relate to Leo, http://leoville.com/buzz-kill

Let's see if I qualify as one...

Leo joined twitter in 2006. I think I joined in 2007
Leo "sign up for every site, try every web app, use every service I can find". I don't sign up to every web app I find or learned from my web friends, only those that I fancy.

Leo: "I love trying the myriad new ways people are using it to connect and I believed that social media specifically had some magic new potential to bring us together." Me too and I agree that social media connects people, hence the term 'social'?! Hello?...

Leo: "When Google announced Buzz last year I was one of the first to jump on the bandwagon." I didn't. I guess I didn't hear the buzz...

Leo: "Buzz exclusively, replacing Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook" I didn't use Buzz or Friendfeed. Been using Facebook and twittr, and I have never been unfaithful--well, not yet...

Leo: 17,000 people followers. Wow- impressive. I think I'm more of a 'follower' than the one being followed. Though my tweet numbers may say otherwise, http://twitter.com/motherchina

Leo: use Feeds. I used it and I think I still have my feed site somewhere but I never really get the hang of it.

Leo: "But I ignored my blog and ran off with the sexy, shiny microblogs." I did too, and also ran off with twitter and FB. But now, like Leo, I find myself going back to blogging- tiptoeing my way back.

Leo: "Screw you Google Buzz. You broke my heart" I can't say the same to Google Buzz. Didn't ran off with buzz. So far, I'm enjoying the company my network of social media brings me. In this world of 'change' and social mobility, tech tools come and go, but what I find interesting and yes motivating and sometimes heartwarming is no matter which web tool I use or web space I land in, a handful of webheads are ALWAYS there to accompany me with my online journey. Joining the bandwagon are a few IATEFL folks that keep me good company too- making the tweets I get even more stweeter :-)

So, am I web whore? Well, are you? If you're interested in technology and its uses in the language classroom, you don't have a choice but to try the tools that are out there. You're gonna be doing a lot of 'sign ups', trying lots of web apps, transferring files from here to there, shifting from one task to another, etc. If you count all these as being 'unfaithful' and 'web promiscuity', well, then I am guilty as charged. Don't be so judgemental, I'm sure you've got your little secret tucked in somewhere. You're digital footprints could lead us to the web paths you've taken, and then we could see and judge...

Aiden

How Fairy Tale Ends: Ideas for Language Writing Tasks

Hi All,

This was forwarded to me by my sister-in-law. It's just for fun, but I think it

(the idea) can be used as a writing/speaking activity. Some points to consider:

- Write a paragraph or brief essay (which could be posted on blogs/wikis/google

docs) about

fairy tales vs practical/cruel realities of life
childhood stories- when to start/end believing in them
describe the story behind the picture/s (easy task)

Anyway, perhaps you could think of other better ideas :-)

Aiden
----

How fairy tales really end:

Cinderella

Link: http://www.myjokemail.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Cinderella.jpg

Snowwhite

Link: http://www.funstuffdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/How-fairy-tales-really-end-Snow-White.jpg

Little Red Riding Hood

Sleeping Beauty

Link: http://files.sharenator.com/slee_How_fairy_tales_really_end-s658x437-48540-580.jpg

Jasmine: Aladdin

Link:

http://files.sharenator.com/jas_How_fairy_tales_really_end-s658x437-48541-580.jpg

Belle: Beauty and the Beast

Link: http://rosiebell.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cac7d53ef0133ec5bb649970b-500wi

The Little Mermaid

Link: http://rosiebell.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cac7d53ef01311001c4dd970c-500wi

Seems like only yesterday...

BARBIE DOLL has her 50th birthday this year......

Link: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:oGjbWKx8eCOubM:http://i38.tinypic.com/swxtv8.jpg&t=1

Tweety Bird is 60 years old!

Link: http://ragsnram.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/image010.jpg

What about our superheroes?

Superman

Link http://img.uphaa.com/uploads/126/Superman.jpg

Read: 25 Ways to Tell You're Grown Up,

click here, http://fabulously40.com/article/id/25-ways-to-tell-youre-grown-up-2306

Cheers,

Aiden

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sue Waters Keynote Presentation Webconference

Reform Symposium
http://reformsymposium.com/blog/2010/07/10/keynote-sue-waters/
Saturday, 7/31/2010, 12 noon

Day 1 Closing Keynote: Sue Waters

By Christopher Rogers, on July 10th, 2010

Sue Waters is Australian based in Perth and is married with two kids. While her work as an aquaculture lecturer, at Challenger TAFE, earned her the vote of the coolest job title Sue’s passion is the use of technology to enhance student learning.

Sue’s technology use has changed considerably since she was first introduced to it’s potential in 2000; from a LMS (WebCT) to Virtual Classrooms (Elluminate), mobile technologies (spyglasses, PDAs, iPods) and Web 2.0 (blogs, wikis etc).

Her passion for technology has lead to Sue’s transition from aquaculture lecturer, to facilitating professional development workshops on elearning and web 2.0 technologies to her current role as editor of The Edublogger and working for Edublogs as Edublogs Community Facilitator.

While she does spend considerable time helping and mentoring others — she does make time for for her personal and family life. Sue’s favorite ways of relaxing are reading a good book or going to a movie at the cinema.

As a blogger Sue stands for — practical application of technologies in education, and most importantly HELPING OTHERS learn how to use these technologies.

Date & Times: Fri. July 30th 9pm-10pm LA/ 12am Sat. NYC/ 5am, Sat. 7/31, London/ 6am, Sat. Paris/ 2pm, Sat., Sydney/ 1pm, Sat., Tokyo

Click here to join the Keynote: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.CFE71A28898F87AA1A007FBC9CFA49

Keynote’s Website: Sue Waters, http://suewaters.com/
Twitter: @SueWaters

21C learning environment

Shelly Blake Keynote

Keynote: What We Do

Description: A view from the classroom and a conversation about what 21C learning looks like on the ground level. There will be many examples of the practical and everyday use of Twitter, Jing, Wave, Blogs, Wikis, and more as used by students and teachers alike as well as a look at how to transform the physical space of the classroom into a 21C learning environment conducive to collaboration, mobile computing, and tech-integrated differentiated instruction.

Date & Times: Fri. July 30th 7pm-8pm LA/ 10pm NYC/ 3am, Sat. 7/31, London/ 4am, Sat. Paris/ 12noon, Sat., Sydney/ 11am, Sat., Tokyo

Click here for more time zones!

Click here to join the Keynote: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.3A2AF29E985C9DD57501D645EE19D0

http://reformsymposium.com/blog/2010/07/10/keynote-shelly-blake-plock/

Friday, July 30, 2010

David Nunan TESOL Seminar: Motivating Young Learners

Reform Symposium

Showcasing Innovation in Education

The Reform Symposium is a free online conference for educators, administrators, parents and students. This year the conference is focused on innovative practices in education and what role these practices can play in educational reform.

Online presentations, http://reformsymposium.com/

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Smories

As posted on the Young Learners SIG Yahoo! Group list:

[1] We've now started adding subtitles - see these smories:

http://www.smories.com/winners/

[2] From May onwards, a new smory will be published daily, and all will be subtitled.

[3] The "Submit your own flimed smory" functionality is now live on the site. We still can't take external readers for stories submitted by writers, but we CAN take films of kids reading their own stories.

It's all done in a kids-safe environment. Instructions are available on the main menu on http://www.smories.com/.

The direct link is here: http://www.smories. com/submit/ video/

Best wishes,
- Ralph

Friday, July 16, 2010

The POST Method: A systematic approach to social strategy

The POST Method: A systematic approach to social strategy

by Josh Bernoff

What do most companies do wrong when they enter the social world? No, it's not that they're being fake, or don't "get it." It's that they don't really know their objectives.

Is your company doing its social strategy backwards?

If you started by saying "we should do a blog" or "we should create a page on a social network" or "we should create a community" the answer is probably yes.

In any other business endeavor we start by figuring out what we want to accomplish. Social technologies are not magic. They accomplish things, too. It's time to stop doing social because it's cool. It's time to start doing it because it's effective.

Read full article here, http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2007/12/the-post-method.html

APA Cogniive Taxonomy

Click on the link to view graphic from APA website,
http://www.apa.org/Images/cognitive-taxonomy-circle_tcm7-74268.gif

Comment posted on Cris's blog

Hi Cris,

I'm still trying to finish my own PhD race. Although I am in my last leg of the race, I feel that I have already consumed my last energy pack. After writing the first five chapters, working on the last one is not as easy as I thought it would be. I need to consolidate all the ideas that I've presented in the previous chapters, but I find myself running out of things to say.

I started this race back in 2004. 'worked on my pilot study, survey, and case study. Then by early 2006, I took a Leave of absence due to personal reasons. Miki (my husband) decided to subspecialize in Nephrology which would take 2 years. I was only able to continue my studies after he got his subspecialty certificate- that was in 2008. Using the data gathered in 2005 were still useful but I felt I needed to spruce things up. So, I did another survey, a replicate of the 2005 survey, and a new case study. I'm hoping that I did the right move, and that I'm presenting something that is worthy of a PhD degree.

Cris, I could almost see the finish line; It's near and yet so far...will I be able to make it before my energy pack totally runs out?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Invitation to listen to David Crystal on the British Council Isle in Second Life

Posted on behalf of Graham Stanley

We are pleased to announce that two talks by renowned linguist David

Crystal next week which will be retransmitted live to people on the

British Council Isle in Second Life

Details are here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34172281/David-Crystal-Second-Life-July-2010

1) Speaking Shakespeare: Fact and Fiction

A light-hearted romp through Shakespeare

Prof. David Crystal and Hilary Crystal

WHEN: Monday, July 12, 2010 at 5.00pm UK time

see http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ for local time

WHERE: British Council Isle

http://slurl.com/secondlife/British%20Council%20Isle/213/223/30

2)Myths and realities of English on the Internet

by Prof. David Crystal

The internet, the language linker par excellence, offers ELT fresh

opportunities and challenges, but to respond to these requires an

understanding of how language is evolving in electronic media. The

talk examines some of the myths about what is happening to English in

electronic communication, and discusses research realities.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 9am UK time - see

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ for local time

WHERE: British Council Isle

http://slurl.com/secondlife/British%20Council%20Isle/213/223/30

PARTICIPATION:

To participate in the event, join us at the British Council Isle in

Second Life:

Anybody (over 18) can access the Main Grid island by downloading the

Second Life software from www.secondlife.com

Creating an avatar is free and takes 15 minutes. Once you've

registered and downloaded the software, teleport directly to the event

by clicking on the following link in your browser:

http://tinyurl.com/3xnrjo2

For more information on Second Life for English learners and teachers

have a look here:

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/links/second-life-learners-teachers-english

HOSTS and ORGANISERS:

David Crystal will be speaking live at ETAI's 6th International

conference, Linking Through Language (see http://tinyurl.com/24z2vho

for more information)

Looking forward to seeing you on the island!

------------------
As posted on the webheads list

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Web 3.0- the Video

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

Structure is needed to make sense of all the data we have on he Internet. Information overload can be overwhelming- and people tend not to engage or drop the whole thing (stop reading or sharing) simply because there's too much information going around!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Letter from the Chair

Here's a copy of Letter from the Chair which I wrote as part of the NNESTIS newsletter first issue for 2010,

Dear NNESTIS members,

Now in its third year as an interest section, NNESTIS is still going strong! At the recent TESOL convention in Boston, our IS was very well represented. With 29 sessions this year, compared with the 25 sessions we did in 2009, it just goes to show that our members have still got a lot to say about the issues that we advocate for. Below is a list of hot topics that we will be discussing at TESOL 2011 (New Orleans):

•Examining the “E” in TESOL
•Employment issues in Asia
•Native speaker and color in the workplace
•Tomorrow with an E: that is, how NNES teachers can compete with NES teachers in the teaching profession
•Reviewing previous studies and envisioning the future of NNESTIS
•Topics related to other ISs can include NNEST focus
•How the NNEST issue is affecting everyone in the field
•Analysis of policies in other organizations
One of the items on my to-do list is to conduct a series of free webinars for our members. The first session, held on April 23, 2010, and entitled “Webinar on Writing Good Proposals for the TESOL Convention,” was for those who may be interested in submitting a proposal but don’t know how. We were very fortunate to have Past Chair Karen Newman and Robert Griffin to share with our members some tips and tricks. Unfortunately, Valerie Jakar was unable to do her presentation because of illness. However, we’re planning to put up a slidecast and podcast of her session soon, which will also be available for download. PowerPoint materials used in the session and a link to the recording of the webcast can be accessed at http://nnest2010webinar1.pbworks.com.

The next webinar in the lineup is about improving presentation skills. Having your proposals get accepted is just the beginning. Making sure that you’re able to present your session well is just as important. Learn what it takes to impress an audience. Details about this webinar will be posted to the NNESTIS e-list.

In addition to the webinars, I am also planning to do another Electronic Village Online (EVO) session for 2011. Please look at the EVO session we offered back in 2009 (http://nnest-evo2009.pbworks.com). For EVO2011, I’d like to organize an online workshop for NNES teachers who wish to enhance their teaching skills. The focus will be on teaching practice(s) in the local context. I’d like to see more EFL teachers participate and share with us how they teach and what they teach. If you’re interested in helping out in the planning process, please get in touch with me.

If you look at the list of hot topics above and at the topics of our webinars and online workshop, you will notice that we’d like to cover a wide scope of issues. Yes, it is true that discrimination against teachers who are labeled as nonnative speakers is still rampant and sometimes we see it right under the wings of TESOL. However, we should bear in mind that although we are very much interested in the issues regarding nonnative speaker status, we cannot deny the fact that they are interconnected with the issues of other interest sections in TESOL. We need to deal with these issues from the inside out. As a group we are united because despite the differences in the color of our skin, the beauty of our own first language(s), and the unique sound of our accents, we see one common ground that bonds us together: These differences unite us. These differences define who we are. And as long as we value these differences as our strength, we can serve the larger EFL/ESL community much better without losing our own identity in the process.

I am hoping that through the webinars, online workshops, and face-to-face conference presentations, NNESTIS can help empower you so you can help us empower teachers in the larger EFL/ESL communities areas all over the world. As we think global, we spread our vision to the world. We do this by working with local TESOL affiliates to gain access to local teachers. And with the power of new technologies, teacher professional development is just a click away. It’s time to think “glocally.” And it’s time for all of us to pay it forward.

Aiden Yeh

NNEST Newsletter 2010 Volume 12 Number 1: Table of Contents

Monday, May 31, 2010

Twitter & Education

Twitter & Education - #140conf LA from RealPlayer SP on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Stephen Krashen: Children need food, health care, and books. Not new standards and tests.

Stephen Krashen: Children need food, health care, and books. Not new standards and tests.
By Anthony Cody on May 10, 2010 10:36 AM | 8 Comments | No TrackBacks
Dr. Stephen Krashen is a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California. He has written numerous books on his research into literacy and language acquisition. In recent years he has emerged as a persistent voice pointing towards the basic steps we should take to build literacy and strong academic skills for our students. He also points out the flaws in many of the premises of the "school reform" movement. This week, I asked him to share some thoughts with us on where things are headed. He offers us his views in this guest post.

Read full article here,
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/05/stephen_krashen_fix_poverty_an.html

Arizona Education Loses The Accent Of America

NPR: Andrei Codrescu wonders what America would be like if public figures with accents, like Albert Einstein, had their contributions eliminated from the American landscape.

From the PD list:

TESOL released a joint statement with its AZ affiliate, AZ-TESOL, today regarding the initiative by the AZ Department of Education mandating teachers with accents be removed from classes with English language learners. The statement is below.

Joint Statement on the Teacher English Fluency Initiative in Arizona
May 2010

According to recent media reports, the Arizona Department of Education has mandated that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English. It is reported the intent of this initiative is to ensure that students with limited English have teachers who speak the language flawlessly.

For decades the field of English language teaching has suffered from the myth that one only needs to be a native English speaker in order to teach the English language. The myth further implicates that native English speakers make better English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers than nonnative English speakers because native English speakers are perceived to speak “unaccented” English and understand and use idiomatic expressions fluently. The distinction between native and nonnative speakers of English presents an oversimplified, either/or classification system that is not only misleading, but also ignores the formal education, linguistic expertise, teaching experience, and professional preparation of educators in the field of English language teaching.

TESOL has long opposed discrimination against nonnative English speakers in the field of English language teaching. All English language educators should be proficient in English regardless of their native languages, but English language proficiency should be viewed as only one criterion in evaluating a teacher’s qualifications. English language proficiency, teaching experience, and professionalism should be assessed along a continuum of professional preparation; pedagogical skills, teaching experience, and professional preparation should be given as much weight as language proficiency.

TESOL and its Arizona affiliate AZ-TESOL have great concerns about this teacher English fluency evaluation initiative and its impact upon English language learners. Nonnative English-speaking educators should not be singled out because of their native language, nor evaluated based on arbitrary standards of language fluency. All educators should be evaluated in a transparent manner along the same criteria based on clearly articulated and valid standards. The TESOL-NCATE Standards for P–12 Teacher Preparation Programs, which provide standards and rubrics designed to help teacher education programs identify evidence of teacher performance, can be useful resources for institutions.

With the recent state legislation targeting undocumented immigrants in Arizona (SB 1070) and other legislation banning ethnic studies in Arizona (HB 2281), TESOL and AZ-TESOL are deeply troubled by what appears to be an environment of fear and xenophobia being fostered by lawmakers in the state without consideration of the consequences upon student learning and achievement. This impacts all educators and students, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who speak a language other than English. The right of undocumented students to a K–12 public education has long been protected under U.S. law. TESOL and Arizona TESOL strongly urge lawmakers and education officials in Arizona to ensure that the education of all Arizona schoolchildren is not harmed by these developments, and that the right of all educators to be treated fairly and equally is protected.

#####

Color, Race and English Language Teaching: Shades of Meaning - edited by Andy Curtis and Mary Romney, exploring the intricacies of being a TESOL professional of color. Whose language? Whose authority?

http://books.google.com/books?id=D0IAov9RElsC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=%22color+race+and+english+language+teaching%22&source=web&ots=B5knevT-EX&sig=EEHNDuxwCH9xs33FbI_MRDPsHBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Friday, July 17, 2009

Voices for Diversity and Equal Opportunity in ELT

Presented By British Council Signature Event
Session Details
British Council Symposium on Equal Opportunity and Diversity in ELT: Getting it Right - took place on 20/21 February 2009 at the British Council, Spring Gardens in London

Demonstrating a willingness and commitment to discuss, understand and promote equality of opportunity and valuing, managing and promoting diversity in the ELT staffroom and classroom context are a challenge but have never been more important. Finding space for discussion and others to share in this commitment can be equally challenging.

Please visit the IATEFL site for details, http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/sessions/63/voices-diversity-and-equal-opportunity-elt

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Online (and Distance) Design

Day 2: June 16

Discussion Topic: Online (and Distance) Design -

As an instructor and student of online classes, I have not have much hand at designing or contemplating what can be used in the design of an online learning environment. From what I have seen in e-mails directed to this discussion I find it is utterly amazing and there are so many possiblitities. I liked the "Survey Monkey" Janet put in the discussion.... what a great site! I will definitely find a use for it! Thank you Dr. Rosen for the tip regarding the instruction movies on the site http://www.mlots.org . There is some great stuff that has come my way without even looking for it!

I guess from the stand-point of someone who has taken online classes and has instructed using them, I find the more user-friendly, the better; interactive sites, where drawings are made, (such as demonstrating angles, acute, obtuse, etc.), or where feed-back or answers are given, are great learning tools; use of graphics to teach things is a spectacular teaching tool. I have found that when I review some suggested sites, I learn new ways of explaining things, or ways to make the explanation clearer in my own teaching. It seems the internet has a great future for teaching and is a great tool for teachers.

When a lot of the discussion seemed slanted to those designing or facilitating the design of online professional development, I didn't know if it was a place I belonged. But, it is a great adventure reading the comments and visiting other areas, and a lot of places I was unaware of! I find it is a great learning experience and I look forward to all of the discussions.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Live Session on Teaching Speaking to Seniors

Terry Doyle will be giving a brief talk about 'teaching speaking/oral skills to seniors' today at 5 am GMT in Learning Times, http://tinyurl. com/y3eh

Here's a link to his ppt.

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/57376/Teaching-English-to-Seniors

Link to recording is at
https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2009-04-07.2223.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Learning English Kids Website

As posted by the British Council:

There are some new materials on the
British Council's LearnEnglish Kids website.
This month we have a new story. It's a
traditional tale from West Africa called
'Why Anansi has thin legs'. Anansi is a
spider, and to find out why his legs are
so thin you'll have to listen to the story!

There are some lovely flashcards and a
reading and writing worksheet to accompany
it: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-anansi.htm

Students are also given the opportunity
to write a traditional story from their
country. They can send it in to us and
we will put the best ones up on the site.
It will be great to be able to read traditional
stories written by children all over the world,
so please encourage your students and/or
children to take part and send us a story:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-your-traditional-stories.htm

As spring time arrives (on this side of the
earth anyway!) we'd like to remind you
about the activities based on the topic
of seasons which you'll find here:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-seasons.htm

Finally, a reminder, that you'll find lots
of tips for how to get the most out of
the material and topics on LearnEnglish
Kids, on the TeachingEnglish website.
Here's the link to the Teaching Children
section:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/resources/teaching-children

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Guest Speaker for Cindy's Live Session

Here's a brief bio of Terry Doyle.

Terry Doyle has been an ESL teacher at City College of San Franciscosince 1978. He has taught all of those years but one in non-credit classes. These classes include many retired seniors, He teaches all levels and skills, but he specializes in using authentic movies to teach ESL. He has also collaborated with another teacher on organizing a Video Drama club. He graduated from UC Berkeley with an MA in linguistics, from San Francisco State University with a MA in TESOL, and from the University of San Francisco with an EdD in Multicultural and International Education. His dissertation was on language maintenance among Chinese families in San Francisco. His research interests center on NNEST issues and intercultural communication and the connection between these two. He is also currently compiliing a Movie-Idioms dictionary which he plans (with the help of some weboholic) to put on a website.

Cardiff Online

Posted on behalf of Gavin Dudeney,
-----------

Join us for IATEFL Cardiff Online - 'one of the biggest global teacher
development events ever'

The Cardiff Online website is now live at:

http://iatefl. britishcouncil. org/2009

The 'Cardiff Online' project is British Council / IATEFL partnership
which will provide online conference coverage of this year's Cardiff
IATEFL Conference.

If you can't attend the Cardiff conference, follow the event online!

Cardiff Online will provide teacher audiences worldwide with an
opportunity to share ideas with colleagues before, during and after the
conference.

Please see below for some background information, which I hope you`ll
find useful.

Hope you can join us!

Julian Wing
British Council Cardiff Online Project Manager

~~~~~~~~~ PROMOTING CARDIFF ONLINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

We'd like to encourage Teacher Associations, ELT institutions and ELT
bloggers to carry a link to Cardiff Online on their website, newsletter
or blog so we can spread the message and encourage more people to take
part in Cardiff Online.

We've produced some web banners which are available in different shapes
and sizes on the Cardiff Online website at:

http://iatefl. britishcouncil. org/2009/ cardiff-promotio n

~~~~~~~~~ CARDIFF ONLINE BACKGROUND ~~~~~~~~~~~~

IATEFL CARDIFF CONFERENCE: CARDIFF ONLINE WEBSITE NOW LIVE!

Online conference coverage of the 43rd IATEFL Conference

The Cardiff Online website is now live at:

http://iatefl. britishcouncil. org/2009

The British Council and IATEFL have launched the Cardiff Online website
which offers web coverage of this year's 43rd IATEFL Annual Conference
in Cardiff.

The Cardiff Online website allows remote participants to take part in
one of the world's biggest ELT conferences through a variety of
resources including:

- Video recordings of selected sessions
- Audio recordings of selected sessions
- Live streamed plenaries and events
- Moderated special interest discussion forums
- Chat sessions
- Blogs and photo albums

To visit the Cardiff Online website, go to:

http://iatefl. britishcouncil. org/2009

This initiative builds on the earlier collaboration between the British
Council and IATEFL.

Last year, 1,600 teachers and trainers attended the Exeter IATEFL
Conference, and over 5,000 participated online.

This year we expect a much larger audience, and this is a real
opportunity to take part in the biggest online ELT training community.

The Cardiff Online website gives you an opportunity to share ideas with
teachers all around the world. There will be interactive coverage with
video presentations, reports and interviews 'almost live' from Cardiff.

We look forward to meeting you online, and hope that you will share this
information with your colleagues worldwide.

Gavin Dudeney - Honorary Secretary, IATEFL
Julian Wing - British Council Cardiff Online Project Manager
Nik Peachey - IATEFL Online Editor

~~~~~~~~ IATEFL Press Release - March 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~

There are many thousands of professionals for whom attending the
conference is usually no more than a dream because of the costs involved
in travel to UK. This year plans are afoot to make the event accessible
to many thousands more participants from around the globe through a
virtual community space, known as 'Cardiff Online'

http://iatefl. britishcouncil. org/2009

This initiative builds on the groundwork laid at our two previous
conferences. It is an exciting and truly ground-breaking innovation made
possible through collaboration between IATEFL and The British Council,
and one that is very much in line with the charitable aims of IATEFL. It
promises to be one of the biggest global teacher development events
ever.

So what happens? A teacher in Mongolia, or Nepal, Venezuela or Ethiopia
will be able to sign up and participate in the conference from their own
country. All the plenary talks, as well as a sizable number of other
presentations will be shown live over the Net or recorded and made
available on the conference site. We will also have forums to discuss
all aspects of our profession, photo albums, chat sessions and prizes
especially for our remote participants. A large team will be in place
behind the scenes to bring the event to the remote audience, which is
anticipated to be in the region of 20,000 participants.

This year certainly promises to be different.

Marion Williams

President, IATEFL

Gavin Dudeney - Project Director, The Consultants- E

c/ Ceramica 54, 08035 Barcelona, Spain

Tel: +34 93 427 4240 | +44 20 7193 0770

http://www.theconsu ltants-e. com

Sole Online Providers: CertIBET and CertICT - http://tinyurl. com/3s3mm7

Winners: 2007 British Council ELTON award - http://tinyurl. com/3e2c54

Winners: 2007 Ben Warren Trust Prize -
http://tinyurl. com/6yolo4

Owners: Second Life EduNation sims - http://tinyurl. com/34l8mw

CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLAIMER NOTICE

This email and any attachments are private and confidential. It is intended
for the recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient, any use,
disclosure, distribution, printing or copying of this email is unauthorised.
You may not read, use or take any action in reliance on it. If you have
received this email in error please notify the sender immediately by
replying to this email and permanently delete the email from your computer.
The contents of any attachments to this e-mail may contain software viruses
which could damage your own computer system. While we have taken every
reasonable precaution to minimise this risk, we cannot accept liability for
any damage which you sustain as a result of software viruses. You should
carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachments.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Six Inspirations to become a teacher

Philip Kerr's Six Inspirations to become a?teacher

This blog entry was posted at the IATEFL'S Teacher Education Sig list. It talks
about the 6 inspirations of Philip Kerr. Read this short blog entry, and see if
you agree with him. Read the comments area, too. Take note of the teacher who
got robbed in Thailand, and see where she landed next.

What inspired you to become a teacher?

Go to the blog, click here.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Motivating Young Learners Workshop

Motivating Young Learners!
如何激發青年學子的潛力

A workshop led by Olha Madylus 英語教師研習工作坊

Why, if children are actually born with the necessary skills to be successful learners, do so many fail to reach their potential?

Organised by the British Council, this presentation addresses this dilemma. First examining the abilities children are born with, then exploring what happens when children are thrown into that unnatural and bizarre establishment – school. Practical classroom strategies (which teachers can easily integrate into their own classrooms), for children aged 7-17, based on the idea that challenge, fun and success are vital ingredients in shaping children’s attitude to learning and ability to do well will be presented.

如果孩童都與生俱來成功的學習技能，為何還有許多無法發揮其潛力的例子呢?

此工作坊為英國文化協會主辦，將針對這個主題，深入探討孩童出生時已具備的能力，以及進入『學校』這個學習環境後所面臨的挑戰。同時，講師將為國內教導7-17歲孩童的英語教師，分享實用的課堂教學策略- 強調具挑戰性、趣味性、及成功的教學方法為塑造孩童成功學習的重要關鍵因素！

講員介紹：

Ms. Olha Madylus英語教學經驗豐富，在英國擔任國際英語EFL教師證照CELTA之講師，同時也是劍橋大學考試局 (Cambridge ESOL) 國際專業導師。曾受邀至很多非英語系國家擔任英語講師及顧問，並且培訓當地學校英語教師，對兒童英語教學相當有研究。目前是師資訓練專家，經常受邀到世界各地演講，深受歡迎。

日期與時間：2008年 8月15日，星期五下午13:00 – 16:00 [ 13.10-14.30 & 14.45-16.00]

地點：集思會議中心柏拉圖廳〔台北市羅斯福路四段85號B1〕

報名方式：歡迎您免費報名參加！請填妥下列報名表格，利用傳真或是電子郵件寄至吳小姐，Evelyn.Wu@britishcouncil.org.tw即可，我們會盡快與您確認報名。詳情請洽詢英國文化協會，Tel: 02 8722 1027 ; Fax: 02 8786 0985。

姓名

服務學校/ 職業

聯絡電話

E-mail

聯絡地址

※ 前來參加完成研習的英語教師，將可申請多元研習時數共三小時。

※ 英國文化協會將提供”閱讀的魔力”讀本致贈與會貴賓，歡迎有興趣的老師踴躍報名參加！

活動場地交通資訊:

集思會議中心柏拉圖廳 http://www.meeting.com.tw/；捷運公館站出口2

Monday, July 28, 2008

Links to Logging Classroom Observations

http://www.humboldt.edu/~tha1/observ.html
http://del.icio.us/aidenyeh/classroom_observation

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Cheers 2

If you enjoyed Celine Dion's serenade, this one will knock you out ;-)

Christmas Cheers

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :-)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

EFL Teachers' Perceptions of English Language Policy at the Elementary Level in Taiwan

CONNECT conference announcement

On behalf of Vance Stevens

This is to remind you of the free online conference starting in a
few days, May 17/18-20.

Our theme this year is CONNECT: Conversations on Networking,
Education, Communities, and Technology, and though not specifically
mentioned in the theme, many members of the Webheads community of
practice, http://webheads. info, are practitioners in language
learning.

This is the second time our community has hosted a free online
conference. You can replay the first one at http://2005. wiaoc.org

This year we kick off in a pre-show event at 22:00 GMT May 17, with
the start of a Webcastathon hosted by http://www.worldbri dges.net.
The conference itself starts at midnight GMT May 18 (evening of May
17 in the USA) with a keynote speech by Leigh Blackall and continues
for three days with more talks by Stephen Downes, George Siemens,
Etienne Wenger, Robin Good, Barbara Ganley, Teemu Leinonen, and many
other presenters whom you can see on the schedule at
http://schedule. wiaoc.org.

To attend the conference you can register for free at
http://www.webheads inaction. org and use the calendar there or the
schedule link above, or our online help pages, to work out how to
access the presentations and make comments or join forums. The will
be a voice stream of most events available at
http://www.webheads inaction. org , as well a live chatroom for use
during the conference, and we hope to have someone live online
available to assist you at any time during the conference at
http://www.tappedin .org

We look forward to your joining us May 17/18-20 for this unique
adventure in online professional development. We hope it will be
educational and F.U.N.

Vance Stevens
WiAOC Coordinator

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

creativity

Posted by Dr. Rossem, ALPDD List

If you are a teacher, does your program or school nourish creativity
and innovation? If so, how does this happen?

If you are a professional developer, how do your professional
development efforts nourish creativity and innovation?

Does your state ABE system nourish these? If so, how?

How do _you_ nourish creativity and innovation in your work and in
the work of your colleagues?

You will find at

click here

a list of possible sources � and examples � of teacher creativity
and innovation in adult literacy education.

What other sources and examples are you aware of?

To contribute your ideas of sources or examples, reply to this
message on the Professional Development discussion list and/or add
them to the above wiki page.

The Adult Literacy Education Wiki page,

has been updated

Parents' Attitudes Towards Bilingual Education Policy in Taiwan

http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/

Languages in Taiwan Today

Issue of Language Policy

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/03/26/129253/print

Language Ideology in Taiwan

Language Ideology in Taiwan: The KMT’s
Language Policy, the Tai-yü Language
Movement, and Ethnic Politics

Chinese Language Attitudes Survey

Survey cover letter

Saturday, April 21, 2007

An interview with Nicky Hockly, Consultants-E

An interview with Nicky Hockly, Consultants-E
Click here

Teaching EFL in Primary Schools through blended and distance learning

Teaching EFL in Primary Schools through blended and distance learning
Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou (Cyprus)

Abstract
The presentation shows how blended or distance learning can be used to enhance the EFL learning and teaching in not‐so affluent or technologically‐rich primary schools. Examples of synchronous and asynchronous e‐learning will be shared as well as the pedagogical and technological challenges posed by such a project.

Click here

YL Content-based teaching of young learners: possibilities of assessment

YL Content-based teaching of young learners: possibilities of assessment
Sanja Wagner (Germany)

Abstract
Working in a group on a content‐based task, presenting the outcomes and thereby using the target language,is a very complex performance. In this talk I will show how descriptors from the CEFR and ‘rubrics’ can help both teachers and pupils assess, not only the results, but also the manifold competences during project work.

Click here

Graded/levelled readers = effective scaffolding in EFL. Some concrete evidence!

Graded/levelled readers = effective scaffolding in EFL. Some concrete evidence!
Wendy Arnold (Hong Kong)

Abstract
This talk will present the interim results of a longitudinal classroom research project using a published levelled reading scheme across keystage 2 (aged 9‐12, total 400) in a Hong Kong government‐aided primary school. The students are monolingual, homogenous, mixed ability and mixed gender. The study tracked the students for three years with formative and summative data.

Click here

50 ways to improve your international presentations

50 ways to improve your international presentations
Bob Dignen (UK)

Abstract
50 Ways to Improve Your International Presentations is a new book from Summertown Publishing. It isprimarily a self‐help manual for professionals but also provides excellent classroom material for teachers. The presentation will introduce the critical success factors for international presentations and demonstrate how the book can enable professionals to develop their international effectiveness.

Click here
Flash needed

Saturday, April 07, 2007

New links to readings

http://www.hss.nthu.edu.tw/~fl/thesis/tesol/905259.pdf

Taiwan’s High School Education: High School Students’ Performances in Their Study Plans and Interviews

教育部 ( 民95 )。國民中小學九年一貫課程綱要。中華民國95年3月10日台國（二）字0950030031C號令修正國民中小學九年一貫課程綱要-語文學習領域（英語）

http://www.edu.tw/EDU_WEB/EDU_MGT/EJE/EDU5147002/9CC/English-1.doc

教育部國教司( 民89 )。國民中小學九年一貫課程綱要語文學習領域-英語課程目標

http://www.edu.tw/EDU_WEB/EDU_MGT/EJE/EDU5147002/9CC/English-1.doc

Codeswitching

Gill, S. & Rebrova, A. (2001). Native and non-native: together we’re worth more. ELT Newsletter. Retrieved July 20, 2004, from http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/March2001/art522001.htm

Maum, R. (2002). Nonnative-English-speaking teachers in the English teaching profession. ERIC Digest. Retrieved April 2, 2005 from http://www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/0209maum.html.

Zhou, J. (1999). How can a Chinese teacher of English succeed in oral English classes? The Internet TESL Journal, 5(7). Retrieved March 2, 2005, from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Zhou-SuccessfulTeacher.html

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Edinburgh Research Archive

How to Write an Effective Discussion

How to Write an Effective Discussion, read the article in pdf file
click here

On Research Writing blog, click here

Writing Results and Analysis

How to write the methods section of a research paper

Writing Literature Review Guide

Writing Literature Review Guide from Stanford

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Master/Ph.D. in ELT & ELIT, English Language Teaching

Web Casts from TESOL's Electronic Village 2006

Web Casts from TESOL's Electronic Village 2006

Dear colleagues,

Connect with the 40th Annual TESOL Convention and Exhibit (TESOL 2006) March 15-18, 2006 in Tampa, Florida, USA. If you cannot be there in person, join the Convention goers virtually. For the first time, the CALL Interest Section has organized 4 presentations and 2 interviews to be web cast from the Electronic Village in Tampa. You will be able to hear CALL experts Tom Robb, Randall Davis, Leslie Opp-Beckman, and Chris Jones present their Web projects. By clicking on the links to their presentations, you can follow along and also participate in a text chat. If you have a microphone and a Skype connection, you will be able to ask questions of the presenters directly. Please click the link below to see the schedule of web cast presentations.

Schedule of Web Casts, March 16 and 17, from the Electronic Village—Internet Fair Classics

Please click here for Instructions for Participating in the Web Casts.

We are looking forward to your participation during these events.

The Web Cast Organizers
Jeff Lebow (www.Worldbridges.com) and Christine Bauer-Ramazani
We thank TESOL, the CALL-IS, the Electronic Village team, and the Electronic Village Online Coordinators for their on-site assistance with these events.

Distributed on behalf of TESOL EV Online Coordinating Team

Friday, January 20, 2006

Taipei Times - archives

Taipei Times - archives: "English teacher plan falls short
OFF-MARK: A program launched in 2003 aimed to place 1,000 foreign English teachers in the nation's public schools, but only 40 teachers have been placed so far
By Mac William Bishop"

Thursday, January 19, 2006

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Advertisement feature | How blogs can make the link

Monday, December 12, 2005

Innovate Live Webcasts

Scheduled Webcasts Applying Gaming and Simulation Techniques to the Design of Online Instruction
Carolyn Rude-Parkins, Karen Hughes Miller, Karen Ferguson, and Robert Bauer
December 12, 2005, 12p.m.EST

Technology and Pedagogy: Building Techno-pedagogical Skills in Preservice Teachers
Lorraine Beaudin and Corey Hadden
December 12, 2005, 1p.m. EST

Taking a Journey with Today's Digital Kids: An Interview with Deneen Frazier Bowen
James L. Morrison and Deneen Frazier Bowen
December 14, 2005, 1p.m.EST

Implementing Organic Education: An Interview with Hugh Osborn
James L. Morrison and Hugh Osborn
January 10,2006, 3p.m. EST

Designing e-Portfolios To Support Professional Teacher Preparation
Tu Tran, Robert Baker, and Margo Pensavalle
January 11, 2006, 3p.m.EST

All times are in EST. The world clock site http://www.worldclock.org might be helpful in converting to your specific time zone.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Learning University

Each week prior to Learning 2005 we will post video, audio and text segments to trigger conversations and dialogues in the learning field. All content is in the public domain and accessible to all. Get started now with Free Content from Learning 2005!

Saturday, September 24, 2005

learning environment

Many thanks for your email, Arnold. :-) I was hoping that some of the teachers in this group would jump in and asnwer your question... I'll give it a shot and please feel free to share your ideas and opinions:

I would like to quote a text from productive learning environment,
"What is a learning environment? A learning environment is all the influences that surround a learner and cause him or her to be interested in learning.

In order to help learners learn, one of our main tasks is to create a good learning environment."

And in creating a good learning environment, it has to to be productive so learners could be productive, too. This can be done in many ways. One is through seating arrangements. I think Mei has a lot of experience on this matter :-) In addition, the classroom has pictures, teachers tell stories, classmates are friendly, student sing songs, interesting information, a caring teacher, and a comfortable classroom that surrounds the students. In a productive enviroment, students are excited about learning. They like working with friends, asking questions, and playing games.

There are a few factors that we need to consider in creating a productive learning environment. They are:

physical conditions: Is the classroom too hot? Too cold? Too dark? Is it clean and tidy? Are there enough desks and seats? Are they safe?
¡Pclassroom layout: Is there a chalkboard? Does the teacher use good teaching aids? Do the learners have books and paper and pencils? Are they easy to reach and use?

roles and rules: Do the learners know how to answer questions? Do they know how to ask to leave the room? Do they know the rules when working with other learners?

learners' relationships: Are the learners fighting? Do they like their teacher?

I think many of the conflicts that arise in language schools are more related to factors 3 and 4, roles and rules, and learners' relationship.

The issue on teaching style that was discussed here has something to do with factor 4. The student simply did not like the teacher. This issue was also brought up a few months ago by April when she moved to a new school. The students were reluctant to have a new teacher. There were attitude problems, but I think all this have been resolved, right April?

Acccording to the learning environment program,

Learners' relations with the teacher could be improved when teachers show or exhibits the following behaviors:

the teacher should model caring behaviour: being gentle, smiling, asking questions, helping learners if they have trouble, asking learners to help other learners.
learners should feel free to ask the teacher questions.
learners should feel free to talk to the teacher outside of the classroom.
learners should feel free to touch or hug the teacher if they wish. (This varies from culture to culture.)

I would appreciate comments from the teachers in this group. Do you agree or disagree with any or points made above? Any opinions, suggestions, clarifications?

I look forward to hearing from you.

I've got to go and attend the conference at Wen Zao where I hope to meet Joy.

Cheers everyone!

aiden

arnold wrote:

Hmm. I think you've got many different implicit questions here (no doubt
related here and there). I'd like to have a closer look at teaching and
learning styles perhaps and the implications thereof.

Obviously different teachers teach differently, they have their own
different styles - much in the same way that students also differ in the
ways they learn (best) or think they learn (best). Where they necessarily
meet (in the classroom situation), how much tolerance and patience is there
among both parties to "deal" with these differences. On either side there
will always be a degree of "otherness from how one would like to see things
done oneself" that cannot be ironed out for the sake of a theoretically
perfect match. It is an illusion to think this could be done and a mistake
probably that it should be done.

I think neither the teacher nor the students should be scrutinized too
heavily on this point. Maybe we should concentrate more on the learning
environment instead.

The richer and varied the learning environment that teachers and students
create together is, the less important it is to give a lot of attention to
the notion of different teaching and learning styles. I think that teaching
or learning to (assumed) styles can be so intrusive that it may stunt the
development of the various other learning powers that are always latent in
every student.

Assuming there is some sense in the above assumptions and I would like you
to bear with me on this point, one key question to start with would be:

What are charactistics of such a language learning environment?

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

CEF conference in Kaohsiung

http://www.lttc.ntu.edu.tw/cambridge/CEF/CEFinvitation.htm CEF(Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment)