FREE: IH* Conference on September 25th in S.Donato Milanese at the Omnicomprensivo “Primo Levi”; start 8.45am.:
CREATIVITY IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
Here’s the morning line up :
Mike Riley (DOS IH Milan)- A few thoughts on creativity
Ben Goldstein – Using images
Susan Holden (MacMillan) - Combining content, language and students’ personal interests
David A. Hill (Heinle) – Creativity in the language classroom
Sarah Ellis (CambridgeEsol) – Creating choices and getting it right for your students
Lucy Horsefield (IHWO) – Creativity in English
…all this until 1.30pm, after which there’s a break for you to grab some lunch at the bar and/or an excellent opportunity to visit the multitude of conference stands - publishers, CambridgeEsol and IH Milan.
The afternoon sessions are split into three interest groups: Technology and the Web, Primary creative activities (for Primary School teachers) ; secondary creative activities (for Secondary School teachers).
The largest global e-learning conference for the corporate and public service sectors in education and training is to be held in Berlin in December 2009.
Digital literacy is the term used to refer to being able to understand and interpret the many forms of technology encountered every day. ‘Being literate’ now means you are able to use the modern forms of media. As they evolve into new forms, those forms demand new literacies. Are you digitally literate? If you are reading this, then you probably are.
However, ‘being literate’ used to mean simply being able to read and write. Reading was largely a passive activity, sometimes followed by a discussion of the topic or points raised, or a by a letter/email to the author, but the time lapse between publication and response was lengthy – a matter of day if not weeks between exchanges.
Today’s media allows instantaneous and socially-based interaction. As soon as a webpage or blog goes online, readers can make comments and include links to other sites, photos, audio clips etc. All of these responses, blended together, make up a collage of online media.
Those comments can be accepted and published or not, according to the ‘administrator’ of that blog/site’s decision. However, by carefully considering all the comments made, an idea of whether the original message was received or not, or maybe something completely different, perhaps unintentionally, was picked up.
New media collages can be created by making ‘mashups’ which are a mix of words, images, graphics, and sound from different places. The result might be very different from the intentions of the original authors
Games. Doesn’t everybody love games? The laughter, the excitement, the challenge, the team-spirit, the disappointment. Have you ever asked yourself just what it is that gives games all these elements? I love designing my own games (board, card, word, etc) as fun way of giving my students revision before a test. They get them supporting and correcting each other (peer teaching and peer correction) without even realising it! I sometimes create online or computer games too but the ingredients of a good game are still the same…. and these podcasts by Epic encapsulate them. Have a listen and try to answer the questions along the way (answers are at the bottom of the post – no peeking!)
Here are four podcasts all about games and the important ingredients in the recipe of a successful game used for learning.
There has been a lot of speculation of late about the effects of social networking on the brain. Neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield suggests that our environment is changing in unprecedented ways – some people spend at least 6 hours a day on a computer, for example – and this might mean our brain is changing in the same way (listen to the Guardiantech podcast ). What’s your view?
Here’s a tongue-in-cheek video about these speculations which may spark off new and exciting synapses in your brain – (video produced by rocketboom: www.rocketboom.com – @rocketboom)
there may be lots of potential for fun and frustration with this tool – highly useful for those who teach online, but equally useful for those who teach f2f (face to face). Let’s see if we can build a list of uses…
1. to print answers at the bottom of a WORD page on a worksheet
2. to use as a cloze but with upside down words instead of gaps – easier for lower level students – with the rule that they aren’t allowed to turn the paper over until the end.
Using songs in the classroom is lovely – it can lift the spirits and can break classroom routine to say the least….
However, it can be quite expensive if you have to buy CDs just for one song. There are a few sites selling single tracks for low prices, or even offering a monthly subscription for limited, and in one case unlimited, downloading – get your plastic out…
Sites such as iTunes and 7digital allow you to buy songs individually, without having to subscribe to a service while others, such as Napster, ask you to sign up and pay a set fee per month. It also operates a pre-payment system. See the teachertrainingvideos guide to using itunes http://www.harbornecomputers.co.uk/~teachertraining/iTunes/index.htmlRead more…
Keep up your development: thought about making a video of your own teaching?
What happens afterwards? Watch it or ask a colleague/friend to watch it and give you “feedback”? Harmer gives solid advice on what to look out for if you are thinking of doing this…
Great idea for ongoing development after CELTA or DELTA training…… sitting comfortably? Now begin …
