Week 8: Course site - Exercises - Peer Review

Course site 

Although Nicenet is useful, I don’t really like it. I dislike when I can’t format the text the way I’d like it to look, pictures can’t be added so I’ve chosen the other option to create a class site: Google Sites. 

Click to see Linda's Webskills Site

I haven’t decided it for sure what I am going to use a site like this in the future but I have a lot of ideas in my mind. The thing is that I have got to know so many new things during this course that I need time to rethink everything. I have to take into account what reasons I need applications for and only after that to decide on the certain tools.

This site of mine has its purposes. First of all it was the one I experimented with. On the other hand I am planning to give an introduction of this course to my colleagues and it will be used for showing other English teachers what applications I got to know and how they can be used.

Exercises 

"The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web.”

Link to Hot Potatoes

I opened some of my worksheets in Word format on my computer and it was really easy to convert them into interactive exercises using this great tool.

Using easyTestMaker was a bit of disappointment for me. The program is great but if you use the free version you lose the most attractive feature. The test I created was downloadable but it can't be used as an online resource. :-(

Peer Review

The project task is really challenging. 

Which issue to choose as the topic of my project puzzled me greatly. When I applied for admission to this course I accepted the terms that after finishing it I will have to share my knowledge with other English teacher colleagues. This is why my first idea of the final project was to prepare a workshop for teachers on how to improve students’ writing skills. I still haven’t given up this idea but when I read the project report template, I realized that it would be more suitable if I wrote about a specific problem of my students.

At the end I decided to write about a webquest I used with my students.  Right after uploading my draft project I realized that some parts were missing. Fortunately, this was just a draft so I still have time to amend it.

I read my peer review partner’s, Minjung’s plan with interest. She did really great work. Congratulations! I think she did much more than it had been required. She was able to show in her plan how much she has learnt during this course and her enthusiasm is really impressive.

She has introduced a new tool for me. This application is called Socrative. It seems so attractive that I have already registered and I decided to create some exercises myself, too. I’ll try it out with students as soon as I recover and get back to school. Thanks for the idea.

 

I am looking forward to getting her feedback.

Week 7: Learner Autonomy - One-Computer Classroom - Mobile Devices - Padlet

Learner Autonomy

This picture is copied from a video on YouTube that summarizes what learner autonomy is. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKccufWeVfM&app=desktop 
This clip was just one of those many that I looked at with interest concerning this topic. Learner autonomy is what I missed in my school years as a student so I believe in its importance.

 

 One-Computer Classroom

My students got used to seeing me carrying a laptop and speakers from room to room because using a computer on my language lessons is an integral part of my teaching. The readings, especially Glori Chaika’s article, opened up new horizons for me. Why not let students use that “only” computer? I didn’t think about it earlier but the idea is manageable. And I tried it and it worked.:-)


Last week it was me who created a jeopardy game for the students, this week it was the students who created one as part of revision. PowerPoint is great!

Mobile Devices

Due to the fact that I received a virus and now I am in bed with a fever and a sore throat, I really can prove that a mobile phone can be used for educational purposes. I read the articles on my mobile, used a dictionary when I came across new vocabulary items, watched videos, took part in online discussions, posted on the Padlet wall and now I am writing my blog using my mobile.

Padlet

Padlet is the tool that brought me the most new ideas this week. I can’t wait to use it in class. I have a lot of ideas about its use in teaching. I shared some of them on Nicenet. Here is the link to my first Padlet wall. You’re welcome to contribute to it.  - http://padlet.com/Angolinda/if_songs