Week 3 Reflection

Week 3 Reflection

Here we are with the 3^rd week already done!

Like the previous 2 weeks, there was something to be reflecting on. I read some articles and one of them is Teaching Pronunciation to Adult English Language Teachers by Kirsten Schaetzel & Ee Ling Low . In this article there are some factors could affect our students from gaining a native-like pronunciation. However, a teacher could students by giving them activities and exercises could them a lot. One of the most website which I would direct my students to is Elllo. This website can be both used by students to practice by themselves or by teachers to prepare their lessons. This website consists of authentic listening activities for 7 different levels: starting from low-beginners to advanced. Each listen includes videos and audio files along with their scripts, target vocabulary (with a spoken text in which the target word is used) and some questions (spoken also). This website can enhance both speaking  and listening skills(pronunciation aspects: intonation,  word stress, connected speech…etc. ). Another authentic listening website is NPR.org (National Public Radio). A teacher can make use of is by providing students with listening activities like news, music and arts. It can be used by students as well to develop their listening skills at home.

For our fortune, above websites and more others (which we think are crucial) can be bookmarked and have access to easily from any computer. This could be through Delicious page we created this week. I can also look at my colleagues' favorite websites and add them to my Delicious page. 

By giving us past sample projects, now I have a clear picture of the process we are supposed to work through to finish ours. I analyzed Final Project Report for Teens done by Camelia Pagila, School with Classes I-VIII, Academician Marin Voiculescu, Giurgiu, Romania. I did choose her project report to analyze because it is for school students (especially teens) which is similar to my context ( I teach teenagers too). Her project was focusing on incorporating technology for all learning style where all students can learn through his way of learning. She used several websites and technological tools to help gain her course goal.  The project was organized very well to gradually lead students to do their tasks smoothly both in-class and off-class time! I noticed also that the teacher planny is detailed in a way could help readers follow its tasks and activities of each unit easily. A fruitful project should be done by me and my colleagues by the end of this course. I hope we could plan ones which are helpful for our students to be learnt in an interesting technological frame!  

Best of luck for all,

Iman, Oman

Week 2 Reflection

Week 2 Reflection

What a challenging and intensive week we had compared to the 1st week!

Web Search
Starting with the web search! It is a thrilling experience. I have to confess it is the first time I go through various search engines. I haven't had an idea about Noodle Tools. I was stick to limited ones: Google, Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus (My favorite online dictionary) and YouTube. As requested, I tried other engines. I personally think the best of all is iSeek Education. Mainly, it is for education field. I surfed it once as an attempt but then, I use it most of the time to search for more information related to "ABCD" method for writing more applicable and measurable objectives. It provided me with several PDF and DOC files. This engine can widely narrow your search domains.  However, my colleagues' choices vary. Some prefer Bing.com and others Ask.com which I found helpful for my students as well. I will suggest it for my students and my colleagues as well.
Besides the web engines, there are some tips for how to search in more advance way (I wasn't aware of!). This is even more fundamental base you should have to start an effective search!

ABCD Method of writing objectives
Concerning ABCD style, it took me awhile reading in-depth about it and how to implement it to my objectives. I may not master it; my objectives started to be more measurable and observable to some extent, though. I learnt that I have to specify each part of this method: audience, behavior, condition and degree. As I mentioned in the ABCD method discussion thread, having  clear objectives aids to keep your lesson smooth and direct to accomplish the target learning outcomes, by using the most suitable and convenient tools, tasks or teaching materials.

I decide to implement the ABCD method in writing my second semester objectives.

Describing a class
It is the first step of our project! I tried to mention in details anything related to my  learners: population, proficiency level (pre-intermediate) and their mother tongue. Then, I shared the setting of my school and students' classroom. After that, I elaborated the technology available in the school and the future plan to provide another (hopefully, so soon). However, there is no connectivity in our school. What is so interesting in the discussion thread is that you get to know about other schools from over the world! Some are highly equipped  with tech. and others lack tech. We should be thankful anyway for what we have.

Here are some photos of where I currently teach. 

 

This is my school (Wadi Al-Heyoul School for basic education 1-12)

I took the last two photos from the 2nd floor.

Best regards,
Iman, Oman

Week 1 Reflection

To learn new thing, whatever it is, you will find it a bit challenging and difficult to deal with at the first place. This is what I think happened to most of us, if not all! For me, introducing ourselves to each other and getting to know more about one another (country, career and expertise) has created a friendly and comfortable environment. Though, we cannot meet face-to-face, I feel that the starting week has already given us a plenty of time to be friends rather than just colleagues. And I am definite that it would be hard to say "Goodbye" at the end of this course!

No doubt, e-mailing us to direct new users gradually (step by step) of what to do was certainly crucial for me. It made my life easy. To be honest, at the very beginning, I encountered difficulty to log in to the websites (Nicenet & U.Oregon Blackboard). I thought I have one user name for both websites. I entered my user name with spacing, but back to instructions and re-read them again helped me recognize the problem. Why do you think I mentioned this problem? Well, because a part of the obstacle was because I skipped some of the instructions at fist, thinking that I am able to do my tasks easily. Yet, I was mistaken! I wasted time struggling in attempt to access the websites. As a result, reading the given instructions carefully is always helpful especially for new users as they (I mean the instructions) are done for a purpose, directing users to the right destination more easily and quickly. So, it would be unfair not to mention the clear instructions given to us by our supportive tutors: Russell and Robert. Many thanks to them!

When it comes to discussion board on Nicenet, I find them good tool to raise innovative ideas, boost critical thinking and share profound insights, thoughts and expertise. As we know working in a team has much to add to our knowledge and understanding than working as individuals.

Bolgs! It is the first time I created my own blog. I've heard about it but I didn't know that we could make use of it in teaching. I would like to implement it in my classes because student will better learn if they reflect on their learning progress. It helps develop self-evaluation since my students would share their feedback of what they learn throughout each unit, for example. Moreover, for those who suffer shyness during the class, they might develop self-confidence as they can express their opinions and thoughtful comments to their classmates' blogs. I will talk about its benefits later during the course to reflect more on how useful I may find it!

At last I would like to say that I am thankful to be one member of this group sharing the same sort of learning progress.

Welcome

Welcome all!

This is the first time ever  to have a blog. I am so keen to begin posting and sharing my weekly reflections through this platform. I would be so pleased if you comment on my posts because I am certain your feedback is my way to improve and build healthy web skills. Therefore, you are all kindly invited to visit and reflect on what I could call  'my thoughts home'.

Cheers,
Iman, form Oman