January 1st 2013

Glitter Text Generator

Week 10 - Bye!!!

Week 10: Wrap-up!!!

I have always looked forward to the time when I can start writing and shaping my blog post but this time, I’ve always found one reason or another to postpone doing it. The thing is, I hate thinking it is the last one I will publish on our class wiki; I though hope that we will continue to keep in touch through our blogs and share our reflections concerning the implementation of the insights gained during the training, Indeed, now that the training is nearly finished, I can’t help thinking back of those useful web tools we were presented with all through these ten weeks.


 I have to say that those tools like WebQuests, Wallwishers , PowerPoints, Rubistar or Hot Potatoes for example, are extremely useful in as much as not only do they help promote students’ autonomy but  they enhance their critical thinking as well; thus, I will certainly use them with my students. Besides, I will make it a point to improve my webskills and score better at the Loti survey one year from now.



I would like at this point to congratulate the team who designed the course on the choice of the topics offered to us; all of them were indeed interesting and useful whatever our teaching situation; for example, learners will benefit from being engaged in a project, wherever they are from; teachers will gain in knowing what their students’ learning styles are, and being aware of useful search engines and websites and being shown how to efficiently store them was most helpful. So, thank you very much indeed as the course really contributes to the development of the teaching of English worldwide. Now, if I may suggest one thing, I think it would be a good idea to include a video conference in the activities offered.



I would like to finish with a heartfelt Thank you to Robert, for his unfailing support all through the course, and to all my online classmates, for their insightful comments which helped me enrich my teaching experience. Thank you, guys!!!

Week 9: Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligences, Final Project

It was quite interesting to be reminded of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences again. In fact, I was first acquainted with Gardner’s theory when I prepared my Master’s degree in Education back in 1994 and all through my career, I have noticed that on one hand, no one can deny that learners have different learning styles and we, teachers need to be aware of those styles and address them in our teaching so as to help students to learn efficiently; on another hand, it is also obvious that no one is a hundred percent visual, auditory or kinesthetic; instead,  a learner can present a mixture of learning styles even if there  is generally a predominant one. If none of the styles is dominant, then we generally talk about 'multimode'.


As far as the use of technology is concerned, I believe that since it gives room to students’ autonomy, then it also favors students’ learning styles. Indeed, as students are allowed to work on their own, at their own pace and according to their own needs, they will surely approach the tasks in their own ways, their own styles. However, as facilitators, we still need to know about those styles if we want to efficiently guide our students, bearing in mind that they will just give an indication as for their overall personality and preferences.



This week, we reached the culmination of the course as we had to submit our final project report where we recorded what went well and what went not so well during this enterprise; in fact, I like to call it ‘learning by doing’ as we tried things out and reflected on the outcomes and considered other alternatives when meeting an obstacle. I found the activity very enriching for both my students and myself because we tried new tools together. I have to say that they were very cooperative and since it is not sure that I will still be their teacher next term, in January, we decided to continue the adventure together via our class website.
The site is not complete yet and some uploaded materials do not open well yet but I am fixing that now, hoping everything will be alright in January.

Week 8:Teacher Skills Building through the Interactive Web

Now, it is sure, the web is offering endless opportunities to make our teaching different and better and it is just up to us, teachers, to ‘dare to explore’, as Sam has rightly put it in his discussion post. This week we were introduced to Hot Potatoes, ANVILL, Web Poster Wizard and many other ESL teachers resources; we were encouraged to ‘create’ worksheets, crossword puzzles, survey forms, websites,… using ‘Tools for Educators’. I sincerely found all these fascinating as I really don’t stop discovering new useful tools and I can conclude that the course has reached its objective which is to help us build our teaching skills through the interactive web. It has indeed successfully equipped us with valuable tools likely to motivate our students and to make of them autonomous learners.

Besides, with Robert as a facilitator, and with the rich experience many of the participants kindly shared here, it is sure that by now, we should be able to exploit the interactive web on our own and in a more successful way; I, for my part, feel certain that our students will benefit as much as we have – if not more than we do - from this course and that they will find pleasure exploring the web so as to develop their level of proficiency in the English language. A glance at the projects of the group has indeed revealed the riches and variety of ideas which emerged from the course and how committed everyone is to making students enjoy learning English thanks to the web. Let me finish with this quotation I discovered during my exploration:   

Week 8: Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Glitter Text Generator

Week 7: One Computer Classroom - Wallwisher to Enhance Learner Autonomy

‘We believe that everyone can learn, become a better thinker and independent learner. We are committed to meeting or even exceeding our students’ expectations’

Let me start this week’s reflections with this ETP mission statement. At ETP, we are indeed convinced that teaching amounts to developing students’ critical thinking and to make of them independent learners. It is therefore obvious that what we learned this week in terms of learner autonomy is of a high importance to me. Moreover, discovering wallwisher really helps find a brand new way of motivating the students and thereby to involve them in the learning process. The use of Wallwisher has demonstrated how effective one computer can be if used properly.

I have to say that the students’ experience with Glogster was not really a successful one; in fact, none of my A1 students managed to create one Glogster account because it was impossible to access the site and even if we had spent a whole period of ninety minutes in the computer lab, they were not successful; as a result, they were a little disappointed at the beginning of the week. When I introduced them to wallwisher, they were again a little skeptical but when they saw the result, they were so excited that they volunteered to investigate into a new topic every week.
 To avoid new disappointments, I opened one wall I entitled A1ETPWALL (http://wallwisher.com/wall/hx5c4slmjx) and I had them search the net for interesting items about ‘Child Labor’. They brought their findings on a USB key or sent them to me by mail and last Friday, I brought a computer to class and posted their files on the wall. You should have seen their expressions when they were asked to come to the desk to talk about their contribution and put their names on their files. As one of my classmates said on Nicenet: 'It is during moments like this that we realize how rewarding it is to be a teacher'. That was exactly how I felt at the moment and I was all the more happy when those who did not contribute yet promised to do so for the coming topic which will be about ‘Domestic Violence’.

They also appreciated very much the fact of working in groups to synthesize what they learned about Child Labor in Madagascar, the causes, the effects, what is being done to solve it, which organizations are involved in the fight and what remains to be done. Each group of four was then asked to write a paragraph about their conclusions and to post that on the wall on Monday. From the discussions I heard, I can say that on the whole, they have benefitted from much more input about the topic from each other than from me alone. I just had to take care of the accuracy of the language they were using.

The other great event of the week is also the fact of having paired up with Kinnari so as to work on the project; I'm looking forward to her feed back. I myself have been impressed by the Webquest she has designed. Week 8 definitely promises to be another enriching one. Let's hope that Nicenet will be back!!!!!!  

Week 6: Discovery, Creation, Implementation!!!

I was not wrong when predicting that we will still learn something new because, this week, it was again the case for me. As a matter of fact, there were so many things to explore as regards interactive PowerPoint that I even happened to spend (but by no means ‘waste’) too much time trying various interactive games, playing some and making others. I, for example, discovered Hidden Pictures and made one about ‘Natural Disaster’ I will use as a warm-up or a wrap-up activity when dealing with the topic Environment. However, as it does not meet the requirements for the week assignment I made another about ‘Irregular Verbs’, the one I had in mind as soon as I knew that we had to create one interactive PowerPoint. I also enjoyed using all the PowerPoint presentations my classmates have posted on the class wiki.

Regarding the implementation of my project, since the students are having a one-week break, I sent them an email about the WebQuest I expect them to engage in. I have not received any reply from any of them yet but tomorrow the situation will surely get clearer. I am eager to know if they were able to access the site and open the links about Human Trafficking. Tomorrow, I will have them form two groups of four and two other groups of three for them to compile the information each has collected and to decide on a mode of restitution: Glogster or PowerPOint.



In the meantime, I am working on a website which will constitute an alternative to the WebQuest as it will be a platform I can use to send materials to my students.
To sum up, I can say that it was a week of discovery and creation and now I am full of expectations mixed with some apprehension at what tomorrow will bring!

Week 5: Project-Based Learning, Alternative Assessment, Rubrics, WebQuest.

 We are now half way through the journey and there is still a lot in store for us to learn. This week, we discussed the value of Project-Based Learning (or PBL) in promoting learners’ autonomy, in empowering them to take responsibility of their learning process, and in reducing teachers’ teaching by increasing learners’ learning.


I also discovered this precious tool that is Rubistar . Rubistar, the time-saver, allows you to create rubrics within minutes; that was impressive. I am used to assessing students using rubrics and it is true that letting them know what is expected of them helps them pay particular attention to what is important and what is not. I am then very happy to have such a tool at my disposal and at the service of my students.


  Creating a webquest was the second new experience. To create one, I decided to use  the zunal template for the sake of practicality; it is indeed very user-friendly. Even if I have heard and already used some ready-made webquests at some time of my career as an EFL teacher, this was the very first time I created my own. I have to admit that it took me an eternity to complete it, yet, I am really proud of my webquest; I even intend to improve it for my final project. I particularly liked the fact of resorting to an old tool which is teachnology after many negative attempts at using  Educaplay.

I can therefore conclude that this week was another fruitful week which brought its share of challenges and satisfaction.

Week 4: Using technology to Build Reading and Writing skills and to enhance lesson plans!!!

Week 4 is coming to an end and once again, it was rich in exchange and experience. As a matter of fact, this week, we have been concerned with websites likely to help us develop our students’ reading and writing skills and once again, the list is very long. It is though worth mentioning that ‘Breaking News English’ is the site most participants have chosen and recommended to use in class; this is not surprising, given the fact that ‘Breaking News English’ takes care of the development of the four skills in an integrative way; it covers a very wide range of topics and it can be used with students of all levels. The harvest for the week has definitely been excellent.


The other challenging yet interesting adventure is the design of a technology-enhanced lesson plan and the sharing of it using ‘Google Drive’. For me, the challenge was to decide what technology to involve my students in as there were so many possibilities; I eventually decided to have them access sites I gave to them in advance. The point was for them to find on the net information concerning the eating habits of four different countries of my choice; indeed, the topic for the Pre-Advanced level is ‘Pluralism and Diversity’ and having students explore the web is just a fantastic opportunity for them to meet the world as not many of them have the opportunity to travel abroad.

 The idea was to have them select the information they want to share with the class through a PowerPoint presentation. I could of course have just asked them to find information about ‘the eating habits around the world’ on the net and send their findings to me by e-mail but I decided to start cautiously and to take them step by step in this fascinating world. The next step will be to have them search the web in a more independent way and to share information with each other using other discussion platforms like a class blog, a class wiki or nicenet. I feel sure that not only will they enjoy it but they will also develop their language skills more quickly

Week 3: An insightful project from Honduras

Week 3 was another fruitful week which gave us the opportunity to comment on former Webskills participants’ project reports. We were asked to choose one to comment in Nicenet.

I was right away attracted by Aleyda Linares' final project 
report. She is a teacher trainer like me; she teaches English to future EFL teachers at National Pedagogical University, Honduras and I appreciated her clear-sighted analysis of her students’ situations; that is, their strengths as well as their weaknesses, the opportunities offered to them and the threats that may undermine the project.

I was impressed by the fact that she has always been able to come up with relevant and workable solutions for the benefits of her students and integrating technology in her teaching and engaging her students in technology-enhanced learning through blogging, web questing, and PowerPoint presentation, proved an excellent option.

It is surely clear by now that reading Aleyda Linares’ project report helped me get ‘the big picture’ (as Robert has put it) about my own final project: thorough but concise and straightforward.

Week 3: Oral/Aural Skills Building

Week 3: Oral-Aural Skill Building         
How time flies! It is already Week 3. This week, I experienced something I have always  dreaded: a failure in the Internet connection, and it happened at the beginning of the week. Luckily, the problem was solved in time and I was able to carry out the tasks assigned for the week in due time.

As always, the reading materials and discussions related to the best websites for building oral/aural skills were very intense and enriching. We were thus introduced with a variety of excellent sites and we even had the privilege and pleasure to hear Sam and Sujith’s voices. Isn’t that great? This was indeed made possible by technology!



To top it all, we were asked to create a Delicious page, which to me is a real life-saver as I have always had a hard time remembering the sites I needed, and if I happened to bookmark them, I often forget on which computer I had done so. Delicious is indeed a very practical bookmarking tool we can retrieve from any computer we are using, once we have saved our page.

At first, I added three sites to my Delicious page; they are:
 http://www.ello.org/,                                                                                                      
Elllo stands for 'English Listening Lesson Library Online'. It offers a collection of downloadable audio in mp3 format. It can be accessed by English students and teachers freely through the net.There are practical activities which can help develop the students' listening skills: audio materials, video materials, news,... Students can use the materials on their own but teachers can also instruct them.

 http://eslgold.net/speaking/talking_topics.html
This site offers a variety of talking topics together with hands-on speaking activities, suitable for students of all level of competence.It lists the functions the students can practice (e.g: Describing things), some conversation tasks and articles to talk about. The teachers can also pull materials from this site. Besides, it has an online speaking program (Speak-English-Today.com) which allows students to connect with other students and teachers from all over the world.

http://www.eslflow.com/pronunciationlessonplans.html
This site offers a variety of activities helping teachers deal with pronunciation in an attractive way. It comes with worksheets students can use while practicing.

 Later, enriched with the discussions I had with my classmates, I added http://learningenglish.voanews.com/podcast/0.html, which provides audio files about a variety of topics, for high beginner to low-intermediate level and which offers authentic material but these are said to be one third slower than regular VOA English.
I also decided to add http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/the-best-sites-to-practice-spe...,  a site compiling free and user-friendly sites which are accessible to English language learners. Students will find here useful sites where they can record their voices and post their recordings online.

I, for my part, will be very glad to share this with my students and my fellow teachers. I know some who will be relieved!