Interview with Rasha Halat : using Ted-Ed

Friday  7th  April ( Day  5)

An interesting interview with  Rasha Halat who presented one of the tools which  I have seen online but never used with my students. I have used the lessons created by other teachers but I have never created mine.

I checked online and I could see that apart from using the Lesson Library you can also create your lessons, share them with your students once you have created them.

These are the simple steps you need to follow:

1- search a video  

2- add questions: they can be open questions or closed questions with multiple choices. You can also add more resources

3- publish  your lesson 

4- share the link with your students

This tool is great as we can monitor the students and track their work.

As I have already said, it is a new tool as I have never  created  my lessons and I have just used what  the library offered but I am going to start using it!

I will see if it can be an alternative to EdPuzzle- which I am familiar with.

All these tools can enhance the students' learning online while working on Listening and Viewing skills of our students. They offer great possibilities for creating videos with activities when teaching  CLIL and they should be used by all teachers involved in the so called  Flipped Classroom approach. 

The aim of the tool was to make learning and teaching different from the past. They have been great as educators can now rely on a new source of ideas and maybe our students will learn better. 

Thanks for letting us know about this tool or reminding us that we can use it and that it is free!!! 

Teaching well-being to teens

5th  April 2017 ( Day 3)

Rachael Harris  made a nice presentation  in which she focussed on the links between well-being and learning foreign languages. As language  teachers  we can find and develop special activities to make our learners become engaged while learning in class. Well-being is important for us and for our learners. We can rely on  plenty of tips now and it is important go beyond the traditional lessons. 

It is important to feel how your  students are feeling when they are with you.  Social networks can also help us to interact with the young  students : FB or Instagram are mentioned but  I would also add any activity online where we interact with them. This can be done when you are not at school but it implies that you really care.

We could see interesting activities where students could interact and express themselves. Students can work with you and " have some fun". 

Among the activities she suggested are making  presentations  and working on talks like the ones found on line thanks to TED talks.
Teachers can encourage students to write their journals where they reflect and think about their well-being.
All the tasks and activities have a linguistic  aim or value.  It is up to the teachers to incorporate some activities that have to do with  well-being while they are using the language in meaningful tasks.


Bibliography ( suggested by the speaker)

  

Iatelf Glasgow: the English Language

David Crystal discusses the glamorous story of the English language. Watch the recorded interview #iatefl2017 #tesol https://t.co/khcxFth0pa

— IATEFL Online (@iateflonline) 5 aprile 2017

An interesting interview that every teacher should watch online.  David  Crystal's book is a must read book!!
Looking forward to reading the book!

Not again? A new revised edition of Practical English Usage

Glasgow  4th April 2017 ( Day 2)

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/session/not-again-new-revised-edition-practical-english-usage

It was a pleasure to watch the video where Michael Swan presented his new revised edition of the book which  I used many years ago when I was studying at University. I must admit that it is one of the books I have loved most and I consider it my Grammar or rather the Bible for  TEFL and  ESL learners. It is  Practical English Usage by   M. Swan.
The new edition relies on the previous  editions but it has been enriched with lots of new topics and varieties of English and usages.
Learning a language requires knowledge about grammar and words and this makes the new edition an enriched book with lots of language items like the use of punctuations and word patterns. Now the organization is based on topics while in the other editions it was based on A-Z list.

The event presented also the online edition of this famous grammar.
Diagnostic tests have been introduced to help the learners who are going to work by using the book.
It is still Michael's Swan's Grammar but it is really engaging and based on the needs of the modern learners who work also online.
I will probably check this new edition and see which language items have been added.
Thanks a lot for the presentation!

Making pronunciation an integral part of your classroom practice

Glasgow 4th   April 2017 ( Day 2)


Making pronunciation an integral part of your classroom practice

An interesting session  thanks to Mark McKinnon  and Nicola Meldrum.  They underlined the importance of focussing on pronunciation in lessons and the close link between pronunciation and listening in ELT.
Here are some  tips  they shared with us online:   

• Listen and learn
• Integrate
• One Thing at a Time
• Step out of Your Teacher's Shoes
• Listening needs Prons

They also presented their  blog which I will  check and the activities in which they are both involved:
as a teacher of  English I feel that often pronunciation is neglected while teaching English and this is one of the reasons for the many difficulties our students might face when they start travelling or move abroad.

The link to the  blog  is this one:

https://teachpronunciation.blog/2017/03/10/teach-pronunciation/

They are also involved in teachers' professional  development courses:

http://www.oxfordtefl.com/


Thanks a lot for the  tips!  I worked online in February  and did an EVO session on  Teaching Listening. I am aware that both  skills  need a lot of activities in class. We should  change the approach to teaching  them.  I will follow the blog about  how to teach pronunciation.  I am sure I will learn a lot!  

Glasgow 2017 Day 1 Interview with Silvana Richardson and Fiona Dunlop

3rd  April  2017
The  First Day has started and we are here online waiting for the first interviews to begin.
I have decided to check this session online as  CPD is now part of my life as a teacher.  I have just listened to the interview with  Silvana Richardson and Fiona  Dunlop.  It is an interesting interview online where they discuss about the use of open space technology as a means of running conference sessions. They also talk about CPD and the development of CPD within the modern school framework.
It is a new world which is now part of the life of many educators. We have changed our schools and now we can develop as teachers relying on social networks and the use of technology. Teachers are now aware of the importance of  CPD - they can integrate   CPD within a framework of a life-long learning process.
I have seen so many people involved in online training and conferences that  I cannot but say that new learning environments are being developed for millions of teachers living all over the world.
This is the magic of " the new frontier" in education and teachers are actively participating!
     

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/interview/interview-silvana-richardson-and-fiona-dunlop

IATEFL Glasgow 2017 (1)

Ready to be online and see what's going on in Glasgow this week!

GETTING STARTED TO BE ON LINE WITH IATEFL
A welcome message from IATEFL President Marjorie Rosenberg https://t.co/rta7wA0kpp

— Tiziana Angiolini (@Virginiawoolf64) 2 aprile 2017

I will be at work and busy at school but I won't miss this great event with lots of speakers and educators who will share ideas and tell us about important changes in education  and ELT.
I won't be in Glasgow but  I will follow what 's going to happen  there  thanks to this International Conference and  British Council.  

Link to the LIVE SCHEDULE

 http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/live-schedule

The Presenters

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2017/meet-our-iatefl-online-2017-presenters