IH Milano Conference 2009

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).

See the Official IH Conference Programme for full details.

Contact Mike info@ihmilano.it or call IH Milan +39 02 527 9124 to book your place.

(There’s also an official notice on the IH Milan students’ blog )

*IH = International House.  IH Milan is an affiliate of the International House World Organisation (IHWO) www.ihworld.com

The Largest Global E-learning Conference

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.

The online-educa website gives you updated information of the Read more…

Viscosity

I recently discovered this online modern-art generator (many thanks to Russell Tarr for this discovery).

You can literally paint your own pictures. . .

See a short description, links and my own first ‘work of art’ on  the Technology page.

a_dog 

a_secret

a_magicjungle

Digital Literacy

What is “digital literacy 2.0″?

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

Successful Games

 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.

Read more…

social networking

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)

 

the teacher-centred classroom

Watch carefully. This is what your students are doing whenever you launch into one of those self-centred teaching moments …..

Question: How many of the students will be able to use the language point of the lesson?

 

 

upside down text

˙˙˙˙˙ʇɥƃıɹ ǝʇınb ʇno ǝɯoɔ ʇ,uop ƃuıɥʇ sıɥʇ uo sɹǝqɯnu ǝɥʇ) suossǝן 121 ƃuıɹnp oʇ ʇuɹɐǝן ı – ooʇ ʇı ǝʇıɹʍ uɐɔ ı ¿ʇxǝʇ uʍop ǝpısdn pɐǝɹ noʎ uɐɔ 

http://www.sevenwires.com/play/UpsideDownLetters.html

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.

3.

Downloading music legally

How do I download music from the internet?

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.html Read more…

Filming your teaching

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 …

(click on this link if you can’t see the video below: Jeremy Harmer talks about filming teachers teaching)