Week 8: Teacher Resources Online

I tried out several tools but I am reporting on one of them, the Bingo Card Maker, from the list of resources to make exercises online to print out. The link to the bingo cards I created is http://print-bingo.com/card-design/mws2ft  The idea is to review some irregular verbs, vocabulary related to money (verbs), irregular adverbs, and vocabulary related to internet. These vocabulary words have been studied recently in class.

I also created a Word search for my class. It was easy.

Finally, it has been a very busy week at university, that is why I barely had time to prepare the draft for Final Project to exchange with a classmate.

By the way, my partner Jason, from Kenya, did a great job in his plan. I am very happy to have shared with him. I search for his photo in the section "Photos of us", but I didn't find his there. I wish I could see what he looks like.

That's it this week. It has been a really exhausting week for me!!

Reflection Week 7: Learner Autonomy, the One –computer Classroom, and Mobil e Devices

This week started with the topic of learner autonomy, a goal we keep trying to achieve every time we plan a lesson, a goal that is not always achievable if we do not plan for a student-centered class.

An excellent quote I will always keep in mind is by Robert Godwin-Jones (2011), who states that “learning autonomy is for the student to develop effective strategies for pursuing individual learning, while being willing and able to change and improve those strategies over time, as the language learning progresses (p. 4). A student-centered lesson should aim at motivating the learner to acquire the language by making a significant individual effort, while developing strategies for life-long learning. Reflection plays an important role here, as well as metacognition.

The one-computer classroom is a reality for most teachers around the world. In my university we are lucky enough to have at least one computer, as our government has implemented a program known as “Canaimas”, whereby each elementary school, secondary school and university student receives a mini-laptop, free of charge, loaded with software appropriate for their grade or level. This makes it possible for each student to take advantage of ICTs to learn the different subjects.

Mobile devices are also increasingly becoming more and more popular in Venezuela, most young people have smartphones, and as teachers we must become familiar with the potential uses in the EFL class. Unfortunately, most EFL teachers do not have a salary high enough to afford such type of technological devices, thus making us stay a little behind our student’s knowledge and experience with ICTs.

All in all, a very interesting week, I hope to continue updating my teaching tools.

Reflection Week 6: Creating Student-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint

I would like to focus this time on the following aspect: Technologies for Large Enrollment Courses

But first, a short note about the activities done this week. I have had a few issues with my wireless internet connection, so I wasn’t able to upload or publish anything until today. The interactive PowerPoint presentation I have designed has been adapted from a larger one I found long time ago, and as the topic fits into the English III syllabus this term, I thought I could adapt it, reduce it, and add a few other elements, such a video clip (I hope the video can been watched).

I have used course management software in the past, such as Dokeos and Moodle, in order to organize the materials to large classes, making announcements, receiving assignments, sending grades and revised assignments, giving feedback and affective support, as well as some technological support.

Now, to my main point.

This week I started my technology-related change (the technology tool that I described last week) in my class. The task assigned was “take a selfie with a friend or relative (someone not in your class) and introduce yourself and your friend or relative to your classmates”. The actual introduction of self and another person could be done in class by having all students stand up and make two circles (inner and outer), facing each other and taking turns doing the introductions. Another picture could be added, one of the façade of their homes, and describe it to their classmates as well. The selfie can be published in Instagram, or included in the following website: https://www.thematic.co/. It does not have to be uploaded; students may bring the photo in their cellphones or digital cameras, tablets, or computer without the need to internet access.

Students enjoyed doing the activity and found it very exciting. Pity I could not take any snapshots while they were exchanging ideas in the inner-outer circle, but I have one picture that shows them at work a few minutes later.

Week 5 – Reflections on Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and Rubrics

This week was very interesting. First, project-based learning: we have done this in our university, although it has been difficult to implement, due to the fact that it has been associated to a political agenda. The Ministry of Education has appropriated PBL as a way of integrating different curricular areas so as to stop promoting a capitalist and mercantilist view of education, whereby subjects do not relate to one another, knowledge is fragmented and often empty of context. The idea of using projects is precisely integrating several fields of knowledge, points of view, disciplines, ways of studying and comprehending reality, and at the same time, offer education that makes sense to children, youngsters and adults, within and beyond their communities.

WebQuests, well, I had heard of them before, and last week I started thinking about incorporating at least one as part of my technological solution to the problem I have diagnosed in weeks 1 to 4. However, I didn’t know that these can also be done without the use of web tools, I mean, in pencil and paper, though I am definitely using it by means of the web. It hasn’t been easy for me to build up an appropriate WebQuest for my students, as they have limited computer skills. I will have to think of something simple and to the point.

As for Rubrics, I had used rubistar before; in fact, I had even forgotten my username and password, so I had to create a new account. It was easy, I tried a rubric to assess my students group collaboration skills while they engage into small group discussions and other tasks I usually assign them. I hope my students appreciate the purpose of that rubric, although I must acknowledge that it contains too many aspects to assess at the same time. Maybe what I will do is to print it with three or four aspects at a given time, and use a modified rubric every time they do group work, or at least once a week.

All in all, a very interesting week…let’s wait for more.

Some photos of my university - Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador, Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas

Historic Building, built circa 1936

Teaching Tower, built in the late 1970s

Main Entrance

Main Entrance at night

Historic Building from the outside

Olympic Pool, Physical Education Department

Main Door, Historic Building

Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

This week we had a very exciting topic, Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced lesson plans.

I must confess that it's been a while since I last wrote a detailed lesson plan, what I often do is write a short list containing a sequence of activities, the duration, the type of grouping (pairs, groups, etc.). Therefore, writing a technology-enhanced lesson plan was an interesting task.
The most challenging aspect of this week’s activities was to choose a website from the myriad of possibilities we can find. In a post I made on Nicenet, I suggested we shouldn’t try to incorporate too many tools at the same time, for several reasons.

For starters, if we choose various tools we are not sure our students know how to use, we will have to help them familiarize with each, and that is time-consuming. Secondly, we might find it difficult to keep track of the students’ activities and so helping them might not be possible. Last but not least, we might decrease the students’ motivation, as they might become overwhelmed with so many things to care about at the same time. 

A final note: I might need to reconsider what I am doing for my Project, as I have another course where participants are mostly real beginners. These are elementary school teachers who do not speak English, but are being trained to become EFL teachers within a short timeframe (2 years). After the application of a placement test online (the name I am not authorized to mention), most participants have been classified as zero beginners (A0), so this is a real challenge. I have to find a way for them to use technology in order to practice English at their own pace, as we just meet twice a week, for a total of 8 hours a week. 

Well, this is it. Looking forward to reading your comments.