Week 14: Giving Feedback with Screen recording.

Based on the article: How to Use Technology to Provide Feedback by Russell Stannard.

Rate: 5

As we have mentioned for a long time here, the technology is changing our lives greatly thanks to the expansion of it. Now there is a new tool that allow us to teach a class, give a short explanation of some task, re-teach a topic for the students who did not understand very well, to provided feedback to them, etc, it is called ''Screen capture technology''. With that tool we can record the screen of our computers as if we were recording it with a camera. I consider that it could help us too much at the time of teaching the class because we can use it in a thousand ways. Besides, I really like the example that the author mentioned in the article, this was about the work in Microsoft that she reviewed of her students, using this resource it was easier for her to make all the corrections for each one, she reviewed them and at the same time she was giving feedback, telling them what was their mistakes. Personally, I find it incredible because it is as if you were talking to the student personally.

In addition, this incredible tool has many advantages, such as on-line classes, as teachers and students do not have the opportunity to see each other; they can easily send a screen recording, and it would be as if they are face to face classes.

I consider that this type of feedback is excellent because we can provide feedback to our students in an easier manner. Besides, it is easier to use not only for teachers but also for students because because it is like a normal camera. 

Week 13: Interactive Thoughts

 Based on the articles:

• 10 Benefits of Getting Students to Participate in Classroom Discussions by:
   Maryellen Weimer.
• Increase Student Interaction with "Think-­Pair­-Shares" and "Circle Chats" by: Kristina Robertson.

 Rate: 4
  
There are many benefits of getting students to participate in discussions in the class. One of this is that; it adds interest as they can be paying attention to what his/her classmate is sharing. Maybe, they can think the same or not but always is good to hear an extra opinion, and not the teacher's opinion all the time. Also, students get engages, if we asking them questions that could catch their attention. It is a great idea because we let them think and we motivate them to contribute different ideas to the discussion. Besides, students are provided with teachers feedback. When students participate the teacher can notice if they have understood or not, so that, they can received clarifications. Moreover, participation can be use to control what is happening in class.  When they are sleeping, texting in classes teachers can asking them something, and it will help them to be more attentive to what happens in class. Furthermore, it encourages dialogue among and between students. We can provided an open discussion where everybody can share different comments and say if they agree or not, and explain why. Finally, while participation students develop their speaking skills, as they have to talk with their classmates or teacher, like offering information or asking questions; and it helps them to develop their speaking while doing that.

Besides, Sometimes, when a teacher ask us something we find that we do not know how a word is said in English, or we are hesitating if that word is in the right way to say it or not,  and we do not have the courage to say it because we are ashamed, an we think that our classmates will make fun of us. But, there is a great technique which is called Think-Pair-Share, it allows students time to process their thoughts and increase their interaction, as they can take their time reflecting a question by his own; thinking the words they are going to use in order to express themselves correctly. And after that, they also have the opportunity to discuss with a partner and the class.

Week 12: Project-Work Based in Activities

Based on articles:

• Maximizing the benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms by Bülent Alan and Fredricka L. Stoller.
• Educational Leadership Giving Students Meaningful Work: Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning by John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller.

 Rate: 4

After reading the articles my thoughts about how to asses students learning were enriched. First, settings No-elaborated tasks are rating as projects while Elaborating sets are the ones that establish the process of a project and finish it, and it can cover a total unit. In those cases students are really benefits as they actively participate and delivery work reports developed over a period of time, and as a result, students get a higher level of knowledge and improve their foreign language. Also, their motivation and autonomy increased.

Moreover, it is really important to be careful with the way that students are process and gather information.  Teachers first should present to them the different ways to gather reliable information to use in their investigation in order to make it more relevant and less superficial as well.

Furthermore, Something that I  liked from the article was the project that most of the teachers tent to use in class, the under-exploited project work, there said that this project do no allow the full potential of the students, and the example presented was excellent, because if we leave our students working with friends, it is obvious that not all of them will work, because not everyone will be sharing their ideas, and if they do, they will not put into practice the English language, otherwise they would be speaking in their native language. Besides, if we left students provide feed-back on their own experiences or if we left them to work alone without receiving guidance it is likely we ignore them and they need support at every stage.

In addition, the way that the authors exposes the meaning of learning is very interesting. Also, how teachers can  make the learning interesting and meaningful to students. I consider that the project based in activities is a good way to encourage students to work in something academic because they can feel that the work they are doing is important and goes beyond that getting points. Besides, I liked when the authors mention that students can feel encourage to work if they have a real audience.

Week 11: Combining Technology and Using a Dictionary to Have Better Comprehension Reading .

Based on the articles: 

• Online English-English Learner Dictionaries Boost Word Learning by Dr. Eli Hinkel.
• Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension by Andreea I.

Rate: 3
 
Something that is true is that when we are learning a new language we tend to consult any word in our physical dictionary, but nowadays, we use on-line dictionaries, either in our computers or our cellphones because it is more practical than looking in a dictionary. Besides, both teachers and students benefit from that because over there they can find different features like; definitions, word frequency data, pronunciation guide, examples, etc. and I consider that what on-line dictionaries offer is good because students get the meaning, the pronunciation, so if they are not sure of how a word is pronounced, they get it easily by playing on it. Moreover, it offers many examples of how the word can be used, which really helps students understand  the meaning of the word as it is based on real world spoken and written discourse.
 
Furthermore, something that I liked was what the author says "The best vocabulary and knowledge that students have, better reading and understanding is". This phrase is true because every time students use the dictionary they create it as a database so they can understand and analyze any document they read, they will also have more vocabulary and when it comes to listening, reading, speaking and writing they will have improved a lot , they will not be stuck because they will have the ability to communicate themselves more easily than if they did not have the knowledge required.
 
On the other hand, Acquiring vocabulary is very important to have reading comprehension, because if the level of vocabulary we know in English increases, it will be easier to understand a reading by the number of words we will handle. Besides, we need to manage the different meanings of words according to the context. In addition, I like the idea of combine the resources that we have within reach (technology) with our students as it promotes their improvement, because if they use just written or listening examples, they could progress, but not as much as if they were listening an audio or watching a video and at the same time taking some notes, writing or answering questions. I think that they might be feel confused while doing that, so they can write things without sense.

Week 10: How Cell Phones Improve The Education System.

Based on the article: Twenty Ideas for Using Mobile Phones in the Language Classroom by Hayo Reinders.

Rate: 4

Nowadays, we know that technology takes place as an essential tool in education. The most common used for that are mobile phones. Phones are social tools that facilitate authentic and relevant communication and collaboration among students. Using cellphones either for teaching and learning a second language have many benefits, as students find them easier to use than a computer, why?, because they can easily carry their cell phones wherever they go, and they can do many activities in them, like, reading books on-line, sending documents or messages to teachers by email or vice versa.
 
Besides, before doing an activity where our students have to use their cell phone we have to be sure of the goal we want to achieve and what skills we are going to base. Moreover, we need to take into a count the resources (cellphones) we have available and if they have the required capacities. In the article were many ideas to use cell phones in classes that we as teachers can apply, like: use the Notes feature to collect everyday language because most mobile phones have this capacity, and students will be able to use this features to take notes on the English. They can share their notes with the class in general. Another idea, is the use of Text Messaging feature to reinforce vocabulary learning. This is basically that students will take notes about the vocabulary covered in class and send it by text messages to increase the chances that students will remember them.

However, using mobile phones inside the classroom bring many problems, such as the lack of phones, why? because not all students will have a phone, let is imagine that we are teachers of the countryside, obviously, there will be more students that will not have computers that those who do, so we must ask them to share their devices. Also, the noise and disruption in class is another problem. Our students can be in oral presentations, reading in silent, doing exams, etc, and one of their phones ring, evidently, the noise will interrupt the concentration of the students, or in an oversight of the teacher they will start chatting.

Week 9: Improving Writing Skills with Wiki.

My reading log is based on the article: Online Collaborative Writing Using Wikis by Paul Sze.

 Rate: 4

When I read this article I thought that it is amazing the amount of resources that we can find online, where students can practice different skills, such as wiki, which is a website where anyone can add a comment. These types of websites really help students to practice their writing, and it is a great tool for teachers to leave any activity, whether it is evaluated or not. Besides, as it is not common students really like to use it.

I really like the idea of using Wiki because students are free to write what they think and they are practicing their writing skills too.
Besides, I think that we as teachers can change the theme of this online activity in order to make it more meaningful, for example, instead of giving them the whole task only for them to add the aspects that they have chosen, we can provide the topic and they decide for the points they think are appropriate to that topic. In addition, that helps them to improve their relationship between classmates, because while they are doing this project they share ideas and communicate both outside and inside the classroom.

Week 7: Using Internet to Improve Reading and Writing Skills.

Based on the articles: 

• Using Internet-­Based Children's Literature to Teach EFL by Larry J. Mikulecky. 
• Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction by Jarek Krajka.

Rate: 3

   This article was about how the Internet access has overcome expenses  and have helped students to improve their reading skills by providing reading materials.

   One of the many benefits that the Internet offers us is that we can find a large number of books in English for children, teenagers or adults; and for any level of students, either basic, intermediate or advanced without any cost; and that is good because we avoid spending money on books because as we know, their costs tend to be very expensive, and many of our students may not be able to acquire them, and reading books is very important because it is a way in which we can develop our reading skills as we improve our vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension as well as writing.

    Besides, we as teachers can also help them to encourage their reading skills by leaving them some extra activities like asking them to list the words that are new for them and look for their meaning or to make a brief summary of the reading. Also, providing them with task where they can evaluate themselves if they had reading comprehension.

   In addition, In the article was mentioned that students can use the Internet to develop their writing skills as they can use social networks, e-mail, etc where students can work together by sharing videos, information or any file, and it is nice because it helps them to be creative, analyzers and to produce information. What the Internet offer us while using networks is that they free students from limitations of traditional writing tools and learning is transformed into a discovery experience.

Week 6: Teaching Speaking Skills Through CALL

Based on the articles:
-The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/ Foreign Language Speaking Skills by Julia Gong
-Using Original Video and Sound Effects to Teach English by Shahla Yassaei.

Rate: 5

This article was about how computers fulfill the role of tool or resource to facilitate in many ways the teachers' work, while for learners it helps them to prepare and practice in tasks and experiences.

The use of CALL increases the interests of students as that is something that catches their attention and, most importantly, allows them to improve their speaking skills, therefore, have more fluency, and we know that getting fluency is a little bit difficult and the only way to achieve it is through talking a lot.

Something that I would like to remember is that there are two components that spoken language covers, which are Meaningful aspect.  It offers great programs that allow students to talk to computers, they can choose any situation that interest them and then, they can record themselves in order to provide their opinions about it. I think that implementing this program encourage students to speak and think critically.

The other is Mechanical aspect, it offers audios and video clips where show to students the articulation to produce any sound or a word and the study of phonology,These video-clips show the speaker's mouth, so it is easily for students to see the movements during the pronunciation of the word or sounds. Besides, It can convert any text to speech or translate sounds into graphic representations, so students can practice the pronunciation per each word. I consider that it is a good idea for the ones who are shy because it provide them a private environment, so it does not matter how many times they mispronounce a word because the computer can repeat that as many times they need it.

Something that I liked from the article was that we can create our lessons based on media like radio programs, newspaper, television shows, videos, etc. and that is amazing because using these materials for teaching our classes will be meaningful for the students as they will be able to engage with our activities because they are familiar with that. Also, we can include all those resources with different skills ( listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, etc).

Week 5: Critical learning

Based on the article: Critical Thinking and Technology by Ken Bain.

Rate: 3

This article was about how we as teachers can make students think critically. 

Something that I remember from this article was that through the investigation, researchers have found that two theories. One of this is that human beings are naturally curious, and that is why we tend to ask for everything that is around us. We must take advantage for that in our students as asking them questions that intrigue them or if the know why X is like that, with the objective of awakening their curiosity. so that they become thinking beings. 

Something that I liked from this was that instead of teaching history, chemistry, etc. We must teach students to understand, and that is great because they can learn how to analyze, evaluate evidence, etc through teaching them different methods and techniques; it will be helpful for them as it would be meaningful learning because we would be teaching them how to produce something.

Besides, there are some students that have their own learning style like visual (they learn best with visual materials such as pictures, time lines, charts, diagrams, etc) auditory ( learners perform best when they hear the information such as podcasts, oral presentations, etc.) and kinesthetic (students learn through moving doing and touching). But,  we can provide them a better learning environment while implement new activities with different learning style so that, students can encourage their learning.

This article gives us a key to achieve our goal, which is to have diversity. as we know, each student learns differently, so we could implement activities using different learning styles. And this is where technology becomes part of it, because we have pictures, videos, songs, podcasts, etc to get students' attention. Also by their own they can search for more details about any topic that interests them,  finally, they will become gradually autonomous learners.

Week 4: Taking advantage of Internet

Based on the article: CALL Me... Maybe: A Framework for Integrating the Internet into ELT by George M. Chinnery.

 Rate: 4

This article is a great help for many people because it explains us how we should take advantage of the Internet according to our limits.

Students can compare and contrast global perspectives about recent events by using analytics tools like Google trends, survey friends on social networks, preparing presentations on sites such as Prezi, which has many advantages than using Microsoft Word. Also, they have the chance to posting what they have found or they consider interesting on Youtube.

Something I want to remember from this articles is that the Internet has been used in some main ways. one of this is as an information technology, we can find information in English on websites and I think it is good because we avoid looking for information in our native language, and try to translate it, instead of  doing that, reading in English helps us to practice, learn more vocabulary and get familiar with the language we are learning. Another way is as communication technology, it allow us to interactive with other, either with a native speaker or with someone else; and that is great because while communicating we develop our writing and speaking skills because we can be chatting, making calls or sending voice notes through different social networks such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Skipe, etc. Using Internet in ELT increase the motivation of the learners and encourages them to be autonomous as they have the freedom to access to the information found on the Internet.

Something I liked was how social media allow students to communicate with someone who native tongue is different from other, with the purpose of teaching their native language to each other.

In addition, teachers can use Internet as tutor as well as tool. If they use it as tutor it offers advice (they can find a variety of lesson plans focused on different skills), facilitate analysis (offers web-based text and speech corpora and  concordances that allow language analysis) and activities (they can fin
many activities such as matching exercises, gap fill, etc. to include in their classes). And for a deeper level the Internet can be use as tool to stimulate creatively ( let students to produce creativity by using different websites) foster communication (allow students to interact with other by using social networks) and collaboration (some social networks are seen as learning sites because they allow communication).

When the Internet is limited or there is no access to it, and we need a document or any other material that we are going to use in our class, we can save them in our computer or in Google Drive, which allows store documents that can be view off-line. Also, if we want to use an audio or video from any website we can download it by using conversion websites, and printed the task that they have if we desire. 

Week 3: Using technology in ESL class.

 Based on the article: Blending technologies in ESL courses: A reflexly enquiry  by Paul Gruba, Cameron Clark , kellyn Ng and Marisa wells.

Rate: 4

This article was about a project of  how to integrate technology in ESL courses by using podcasts (which are recorded materials). They are one of useful materials to teach listening skill. 

Something I remember from this article is that podcasts can be create into 2 categories which are purpose built and authentic. They are purpose built when they focus on the development of diverse student competencies; and authentic when they are extracted from media resources or unedited recording of native speakers.

Podcasts are an innovative pedagogy that consists of motivating the learners' interest and that is good because we have to look for different pedagogies, methods and techniques in order to help students to enhance or stimulate the development of  their listening skills. because as we know,  listening to an audio is tedious and we get bored easily. Besides, the purpose of listening is not only to have listening comprehension, but also, to give students the opportunity to talk to each other, that is why an audio is always provided with a question sheet, so that, students can share opinions or interview each other about what they have listened. By using podcasts, we are able to improve our listening and speaking skill; and I think these are the most difficult to learn because you do not have the native pronunciation and understanding, so I think this is the best way to improve those areas we need to focus on.

I believe that if we apply all the content previously explained by the article, students will be able to become competitive learners. As a result of this, students will achieve the goals they have since the beginning, which are getting the best pronunciation and understanding in order to use them correctly in a dialogue, not matter the language we are trying to learn. That is why I think this article is very helpful and we can apply all the technologies we have and use podcasts successfully as well as activities such as repeating dialogues, words, listening to songs and try to get the lyrics correctly, anyway we have many activities we need to know  to take advantage of podcasts.
 
In addition, podcasts have been used to present recorded lectures and  it is very useful to students as they can review their lectures, or for those who do not like to read too much; the recored lectures are an excellent material to be informed, since they can play the audio and start listening to it.


 

Week 2: How teaching made me discover some amazing abilities.

 Based on the article: ''Effectiveness of the integration of ICT tools and activities to foster awareness as the first stage to reach learning autonomy'' by Andrea Ariza and Mario Suárez Sánchez.

Rate: 5

   After reading this article I started to think about me and the students I had while doing my social service. Why? Because I have tried to teach them applying those methods, like self-planning, self-management, self-monitoring and self-evaluation as well as applying some in my life. I totally agree with the article because the best way to improve is through self-correction.

   According to the article, they used these methods to provide autonomy and authority to each student, so that, they could manage their time appropriately and they would be more aware while doing something related to their learning process. I have been trying to apply this in my daily life. As a result, you need to have a plan, set your goals and think about the achievements and failures as well. Sooner or later, students will become proactive and you will able to prevent any failures or have the best way to solve them. Also, you have to teach them to face any challenge that is imposed on their way. In addition, nowadays, technology has become the most important tool we have, for example, almost everything can be found on the Internet by using the computer and thanks to that, students are able to create their own learning by exploring countless resources.

   I think the tests they had to qualify the program are good, but I consider that, it would be better if we ask to each student directly, I know it could be difficult, but each student has different knowledge, challenges and opinion, so in that way, we can improve our skills as well as improving student's skills because we will gain knowledge learn different ways to treat each student properly.

Week 1: CALL's thought

My reading log based on the article: Computers and language learning: an overview by Mark Warschauer and Deborah Healey.

 Rate: 5

When I started reading this article I thought what could have computers and language learning in common? but, I had never analyzed how much the technology help us to teach and learn a foreign language.
However, CALL (computer-assisted language learning) have been divided into 3 stages. One of this is behavioristic CALL; it was based on behaviorist theories of learning, in which the idea of repetition is essential to learn. Also, students who used computers were able to work at their own rhythm as it was like a mechanical tutor. The second stage was communicative CALL. The promoters implement a new software and included on it new programs to improve the language teaching; an it was useful because students were stimulated to increase their language through communication. The last stage is integrative CALL, What is important here is implement new strategies (like task-based, project-based, etc.) to integrate various skills to students.

Something I learn and I would like to share with a colleague is that not just students have been benefited with what technology offers because teachers can use it too. Although, is true that we can create our own materials by hand (such as crossword, word search,etc.) but, it takes too much time while doing it, and that is why the computer facilitate us because we can prepare all those materials in less time.

Besides, what surprised me in this article was how people who are in charge of those programs are wondering themselves about how could we help others? which strategies could we apply in this program?, what activity can we create with this topic so that people can have fun? I mean, it seems like they ask themselves those questions before creating a program.