Saturday, 29 September 2012

Pecha Kucha

After so much talk about this new presentation format, the day we have to actually do one has almost come. In case you don'tknow much about it you could read some of my classmates' posts. Vanesa an Aldana have devoted a post to explain a little bit about it.

We have been preparing one for Phonetics IV so we are more or less acquainted with what it implies, and this is what I'd like to do in this post.

► First of all you need something to say. In this case, we were asked to choose our topic. We worked on error analysis.
► Then, we tried to narrow the topic by considering only one author (it is impossible to talk about many perspectives in only 6 minutes).
► After that, you should decide what is going to be said in each slide, leaving at least two for an introduction and 2 for a conclusion.
► When you know what you have to say you can start a draft with your potential speech, you have to think in terms of drafts because only after you actually try to say what you want in 20'' you are able to assure that it will work. You must be flexible about this, because sometimes it is not only length that you have to consider but also the  kind of words you include, the rhythm of your speech, etc.
► Giving a visual image to your speech is the next step, and you have to be very thoughful while doing it. The images should be fun and related to what you say. And sometimes it is hard work finding them. You might even find yourself editing pistures in order to make them match your aim.
► Now, it should be ready but it is not because it is high time you practised. This is also a very important step and it's no mean task, you could realise that there are even more changes to be made... and you have to make them. This is particularly important if you share the presentation with more people.

We have done all these. Therefore, the only thing we have to do is to actually present it. 
Let's hope it is not as difficult as making it! 


Monday, 17 September 2012

Webquest

Since some time ago, I'm interested in webquests as a format. The reason why was that I didn't know what they really were and I think that although this might not be preying on your mind, you could feel the same as regards its definition.

To make it short, its main characteristic is that the teacher provides his/her students with online resources to achieve a set task. The format is in some way similar to a website (this is my personal opinion). Some sites give you a kind of template for you to fill and the webquest is automatically produced, but I've found another one which is more appealing, at least for me and Brian, and with which we have been working for our third practical work.

Zunal.com is the name of the site. It is free to login and create as many webquests as you wish. It is also good that we could access to other users' webquests and in that way learn from their styles. As every webquest it has an introduction, task, process and evaluation section; you can also find a conclusion and teacher page section but those could be hidden.

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Teachers' Day


Profesorado de Inglés Instituto Alte Brown: Día del Maestro: “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

2.0utside the classroom

  Going back to one of the websites we analysed as part of our first practical work (Discovery EDUCATION) I found some interesting information about Web 2.0 Tools. As part of the description of these kind of resources, they mentioned: user-friendliness, creating and sharing, editing, all these anytime anywhere because another characteristic is that the content to be generated is online. Taking this into account, and the fact that in this way it's much easier for the teacher to create a sense of community among his/her students, my opinion is that it would be great to use some of these Web 2.0 Tools in our classrooms.
  However, we have to be aware that not all schools in our city have the resources one needs to work this way. BUT. As one of my students during my Teaching Practices told me (in a derogatory way) after my saying that I wouldn't ask them to work with computers or with the Internet because I knew that not all them have those at home, "There are places to go and pay to use PCs!"
  Later on I realised that he was right, the second week they even made me part of their Facebook group and I could keep in touch during the week with all of them!
  And that last thing I said is also important to consider. We, as teachers of English, might only meet our students once a week and having some other medium to do it several times after that is quite an opportunity, one we shouldn't disregard.
  I was thinking particularly of edmodo. This website I was talking about at the beginning characterises it as a Community Tool because it enables 'teachers and students to communicate, collaborate and share work.' What we do for this subject! And now with the new version that is going to be released the possibilities offered are going to enhance our work even more.

References
http://web2012.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools.cfm
http://blog.edmodo.com/2012/09/04/introducing-the-latest-version-of-edmodo/