Monday, April 25, 2011

Webskills so far

A reflection
How fast have 3 and a half weeks passed by. In this time I have had the chance to read into technology to improve our language teaching. 
There´s the reading on CALL which still fascinates me. I am looking forward to move on to the actual use of it. The ABCD method of writing objectives has become handy to plan our classes better, taking into account all the aspects of writing good objectives.
As I continue reading, I realize that as I student I would look for ways to improve my own language mastery using what was at hand. I would watch cable tv- later with closed captioning. Then I came across VOA so I would tune in almost every day. As time move on, so would my techniques on improving my English. 
Nowadays, I keep searching new and different ways to get my dose of English. I came in contact with podcast in Itunes. Being part of this e-course moved me to look for VOA in Itunes. What a nice surprise was it when I found it. So I added to my list of podcast. This time, though more than helping my English I added it to my students.

I used VOA back In the day (in shortwave) I will use it with my students, by listening to the podcast. In fact I have already emailed a segment in Special English called words and their stories. I am yet to hear from my students since we´re enjoying our spring break. I hope they like it and ask for more. This time around I emailed it, next time I hope to use it in class so we can discuss it. I will tell my students that VOA helped me improve my English twenty or so years ago. It´ll do wonders with their English being so easy to get and all.

I didn´t know there was such a thing as CALL (Computer-assisted language learning) but I guess I kind of knew something like that existed since long ago our lives have been flipped over by the world of computers.  

Internet is more than email or chatting or gaming, especially if you are a language teacher. Since I retook my ESL courses I have added a little bit of technology to enlighten my classes. How appropriate this e course has been because it has nailed it in the head as far as technology is concerned. I am so pleased to be part of this course on webskills. I recommended it highly.

 

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4 comments:

  1. Robert ElliottApril 26, 2011 at 8:52 PM

    Hi Jerry

    VOA has I guess reinvented itself. That is one way to look at it.

    You might like "TED Talks" as well.

    http://www.ted.com/talks

    They also have a subtitle feature you can toggle on and off. I really like the topics for advanced students.

    Robert

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  2. ChitoApril 29, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    Thanks Robert I´ll look into it.

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  3. Rachel SUApril 30, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    Hi Jerry,

    I learned how to use the Voice of American when I went to attend a workshop in England years ago. My tutor introduced it to us and showed us how to use it for teaching. There are authentic language provided, and it is really a practical one for learning a real language, where it can help for training a skill of listening comprehension. As well as you discussed, it is a great website for developing my own English ability. Also, as Robert suggested, I love TED so much, where I can find variety of knowledge showed by famous speakers worldwide. This is a website I almost visit very week. Especially, lots of brand new ideas generated and shared. Following it, there is a popular event of ‘design for change’ initiated by active and enthusiastic teachers, now the idea spread worldwide. Not only for education, there are different aspects for getting ideas and information. Just like you said, following this course, we can learn more ideas from others, thanks for the sharing.

    Best,
    Rachel

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  4. ChitoApril 30, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    Hi Rachel!!
    thanks for your comment. i have already added TED to my podcast and downloaded one or two segments. I´ll check it out.

    ReplyDelete

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