Reflecting week 4, in contrast to the three weeks before, it is to say that most useful links for grammar, reading, writing and the best pool of links for English teachers was presented in this week.
I had a very intensive look at most of by the e-teacher suggested links in Robert's wiki and a reading and writing plan for week 4, and I was overwhelmed by so many very useful links which provide precise tools, activities, ready prepared exercises and all sorts of listening and grammar sections, AND all this ready to use! see one of the links: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Actually I felt, that I did't know, what to start with!
Adding all the links to delicious would have been a nice idea, but I do not have Internet access in class, not even a computer lab, so if I want to pass on good links to the learners for self-study at home, I'd better use an offline data base, which would be "excel", to collect and list up, sorted by categories and send out emails with links as soon as I am at home connected to the web.
All those wonderful tools would work brilliantly in class, but I have to plan my lessons at adult education centres without internet in class and facilitate all learners with links information and description for their interactive learning-at-home activity. I have already realized in my live online classes (which I cannot teach at adult education centres), that precise lesson planning is the basic of a successful learning szenario due to the articles about using CALL.
The google list at Robert's wiki is a brilliant idea. Everyone can add useful links and share sites, tools and platforms that help with succeeding in teaching English to younger and more mature learners. A great thanks to Robert and all the participants who are cooperative and share their teaching material and resources with others.
My most favourite links for this week were
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zHHAwnOBsyfDKQnZbC8OdoBXGbKjtPn6T-xaNXPvhuY/edit
My roles are like:
- a facilitator (I provide material through links)
- mentor/coach (I open the door for learners to find out about new unknown fields/issues...)
- guide (I accompany and guide my learners on their way to improve and succeed)
I think this is a lot of responsibility I am very much aware of, indeed.
Brigitte
I had a very intensive look at most of by the e-teacher suggested links in Robert's wiki and a reading and writing plan for week 4, and I was overwhelmed by so many very useful links which provide precise tools, activities, ready prepared exercises and all sorts of listening and grammar sections, AND all this ready to use! see one of the links: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Actually I felt, that I did't know, what to start with!
Adding all the links to delicious would have been a nice idea, but I do not have Internet access in class, not even a computer lab, so if I want to pass on good links to the learners for self-study at home, I'd better use an offline data base, which would be "excel", to collect and list up, sorted by categories and send out emails with links as soon as I am at home connected to the web.
All those wonderful tools would work brilliantly in class, but I have to plan my lessons at adult education centres without internet in class and facilitate all learners with links information and description for their interactive learning-at-home activity. I have already realized in my live online classes (which I cannot teach at adult education centres), that precise lesson planning is the basic of a successful learning szenario due to the articles about using CALL.
The google list at Robert's wiki is a brilliant idea. Everyone can add useful links and share sites, tools and platforms that help with succeeding in teaching English to younger and more mature learners. A great thanks to Robert and all the participants who are cooperative and share their teaching material and resources with others.
My most favourite links for this week were
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zHHAwnOBsyfDKQnZbC8OdoBXGbKjtPn6T-xaNXPvhuY/edit
and a funny vocabulary activity :
http://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2012/10/200-ways-to-say-went/
I think that I feel like my students having ups and downs during this intensive project.
I think that I feel like my students having ups and downs during this intensive project.
Finally reading many Nicenet discussions of week 4, I commented on Mustafa's Nicenet discussion concerning the role of a teacher and I started reflection on my role as teacher in comparison to the teachers I used to know when I was a young student or teenager. My role is very different.
My roles are like:
- a facilitator (I provide material through links)
- mentor/coach (I open the door for learners to find out about new unknown fields/issues...)
- guide (I accompany and guide my learners on their way to improve and succeed)
I think this is a lot of responsibility I am very much aware of, indeed.
Brigitte
Hello Brigitte,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this week is very fruitful.It is full of useful website for reading ,writing and vocabulary. read two and summarized the longest one twice. I accessed many links and added them to delicious , but i still find that this week is too short to know everything about reading and writing. These skills needs two week. I liked your analysis to the role of the teacher and either he is a facilitator, or a mentor/coach , or a guide . I myself like the role of an actor who can have hundreds of characters according to the situation , the environment and the students needs.
thank you
Mustafa
Hi Mustafa,
Deletewell I did not mean either or concerning teachers' roles nowadays, I think teachers today, especially in adult education, act like a facilitator AND mentor AND coach AND guide at once.
It can be tiring and costly in terms of time and preparatory work and responsibility towards various skilled learners, but due to its manifoldness, acting in all these roles is very challenging, energizing, shaping and providing an all-round education.
I love my job!
regards
Brigitte
Hi
ReplyDeleteBrigitte,
I do like the websites as you mentioned in your blog. I will bookmarked them. And this is the best of time to share our learning experiences with each other, so we can get variety of exposure of learning as well
thank you.
Maheshwor
Hi Maheshwor,
Deleteyou are welcom to bookmark as many links as you find useful. Feel free to use these link for your students. They will love it.
good luck
Brigitte
Dear Brigitte,
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right when you say that this week was fruitful in terms of various websites related to reading, writing and grammar. I went through many of the websites of this week and found them very interesting and practical.
In addition to that, I join my voice to yours in thanking our Instructor Robert for the idea he got to have a google list in his wiki. It gives us the possibility to add some new websites and links for others and discover new links and websites our colleagues already got used to.
Finally, I do appreciate the roles you described as those of a teacher, namely the roles of facilitator, mentor/coach and guide.
Best Regards,
Dagnogo
Hi Dagnogo,
Deleteyes, I agree with what you said in your comment to thank Robert for introducing the google list tool in his wiki. I am amazed about the many great and useful links that have been posted and added already.
regards
Brigitte
Dear Brigitte,
ReplyDeleteThe like the way you have posted your class reflection especially with an illustration. In this week, we have lot of wanders to discover. It is really encouraging because you have posted some of the web pages links you found effective. I aggree with you that most of the web links referred to you on our Web course page are very effectyive. We must add the links with delicious. Internet can be very effective resourse, teaching aid, if it is properly and appropriately sorted out. This course opens us the windows to be integrated with our regular class.
Regards,
Nahid
Hi Nahid,
Deletefeel free to add the links to your delicious. I am glad that you found something useful on my blog.
regards
Brigitte
Hi dear Brigitte,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all let me thank you for your comment in discussion thread.It has really been a hectic week. I barely managed to complete all the assignments on time.
Let's hope for the best in the coming weeks too.
You have nicely summed up the learning outcomes of the week 4.
Regards,
Peri
Yes, Peri, I also have to confess that time was passing by very fast and I was worried to get my work published on time. It seems that the work load is getting more and more and tasks turn out to be more complex than in the beginning of this e-teacher training. Hopefully I will manage until to the end. I wish all the best to all of us and I hope that all of us will succeed.
DeleteTo be realistic, I don't think that tasks are getting less and easier.
regards
Brigitte
Hi Brigitte,
DeleteYes, I agree that tasks are getting more challenging.
Now I have loads of work to do due to my personal problem the week before.
I hope that I can finish them soon, not on time, because I'm late now.
I read your post and felt interested. Regarding the issue of sharing useful links with students, I usually do this through Google Circles. All of my students have Google accounts (I asked them to do this at the beginning of the course) and I add them to one of my circle. I have one circle for each group, so I can share things to the right people.
Best regards to you.
Huong
Hi Brigitte: One way I keep track of all the links that I want students to use is making a website they can access outside of class. A quick way to do this is using Google Sites which is, as you probably know, the model we are showing for both our class website and the wiki. -Robert
ReplyDelete