Week 10: Wrap-up

I have been more than happy with this course. Although sometimes it was frustrating trying to do all weekly assignments, it was definitively an amazing, interesting and enriching academic journey. 

In this final blog post, I would like to recognize and express heartfelt appreciation to our instructor Sean for all his hard work, patience and the knowledge that he shared with us. I know that working online is a lot of work because  there is no time or space limitations. Thanks Sean and keep up the good work, I am forever indebted to you!

Secondly, I would like to thank the  American English Institute at the University of Oregon, Department of Linguistics and the E-Teacher Scholarship Program. This was a valuable and enjoyable experience that I truly appreciate. The knowledge I received will be used  to become a better teacher, to enrich the  strategies used by my fellow colleagues  and it will also be used help my students to become better learners at the University of Guadalajara.

Finally, I would like to thank all my classmates. What I have gleaned from your insights, knowledge, and experiences shared have left indelible marks on my outlook as an English teacher, it was indeed a pleasure!

Week 9: Learning styles - technology connections

WOW! Week 9 has almost ended... but even though we are almost finished with the course, we are still learning a lot. I enjoyed the process of thinking about ideas and ways to use technology in order to address a variety of learning styles. I decided to think of one idea for each one. This is what came up with: 

Verbal-Linguistic/Active learners: Choral reading: Teacher will provide the students with a poem or a tongue twister,. The group will have to read the poem/ tongue twister, memorize it and finally record it using their cellphones, iPods, iPhones or Ipads. Once the group has recorded it, they will have to upload it to their personal blog, YouTube, Facebook, for the rest of their classmates to see and hear it. 

Optional poem: Drive the nail aright boys, hit it on the head; strike with all your might boys while the iron's red. When you've work to do boys, do it with a will; they who reach the top boys, first must climb the hill. Standing at the foot boys, gazing at the sky, how can you get up boys, if you never try? Though you stumble off boys, never be down cast; try and try again boys, you'll succeed at last. A Conch folksong.

Optional tongue twister: Betty Botter had some butter, "But," she said, "this butter's bitter. If I bake this bitter butter, It would make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter, That would make my batter better." So she bought a bit of butter – Better than her bitter butter – And she baked it in her batter; And the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter.

Logical/Mathematical/Sequential learners: Teacher will provide the students with a website that contains lots of food recipes http://allrecipes.com/video/1028/aunt-teens-creamy-chocolate-fudge/detail.aspx?prop24=VH_FeaturedVideo. 

Students will have to choose one recipe, read and elaborate a flow chart that explains the sequence of the recipe. Students can use PowerPoint, Prezi, Cmap Tools... Once the group has created the flow chart, they can present it to the class or upload it to their personal blog, Facebook, class wiki... for the rest of their classmates to see it. 

Visual/Spacial/Visual learners: Students will have to create their own comic strip by using the following website: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/. Once the group has created the comic, they will have to send it to everybody by email, or print it to show on the following class. 

Bodily/Kinesthetic/Active learners: Students in groups will have to see and listen to one of the following songs in YouTube: 
a) Where Is The Love? by The Black Eyed Peas, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc. 
b) I can by Nas, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUqLGRMrFAg

After they choose the song, they will have to create a choreography to record and post it online or present on the following class. 

Musical/Rhythmic/ Active learners: Students will have to sing the following karaoke song in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7yizjJYnQ

Intrapersonal/Reflective, sensing and verbal learners: Students will have to write a personal reflection on their personal blogs about the following news: Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker mourned, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25178851

Interpersonal/Reflective, sensing and verbal learners: Students will have to share their personal perspective on a discussion thread in Moodle about Paul Walker's death. Possible questions: How does it make you feel?, Why? What effect or impact did his life have on his fans? Do you agree with car racing? Explain your answer. What do you think about the perspectives that your classmates are sharing? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25178851

Naturalistic/Sensing learners: Students will have to visit a pet shelter in their communities, ask questions about their favorite animal, take a picture of it and write a physical description of it. They can present it on the following class or upload it to their personal blog, Facebook, class wiki... for the rest of their classmates to see it.

Existentialist/Reflective learners: Students will have to sign to an online community that promotes a safe, healthy interaction and reflection among its members. Student then can present the community and the interaction that they have had with it, during a class presentation.

Week 8: Teacher Resources Online

Interaction, collaboration, creation, community, dialogue, discussion, meeting point, contribution, participation... these words could serve as a humble attempt to describe what Web 2.0 is all about. As teachers and students, we are not merely reading, watching, listening information that some other people upload; since we can actually do the same and more by making comments and re-organizing other people´s ideas.

All the teacher resources that we looked this week are extremely useful tools to help our students improve their English language performance. Our responsability now is to make sure we know who the students are (level of English, interests, needs, motivation, degree of independence), the facilities we have, and what problem we are going to be tackling.

We might be eager to start using everything right away in our classes,  however it is mandatory that a real language problem or goal is that which drives our channels our decision to use one type of technology over another. I think that our ultimate goal is that the students learn English... though if we are not careful enough, we might end up making the use of a new technology or tool the ultimate goal.

That's exactly why we have to be very specific when identifying and defining the problem in our projects: "The issue or problem is explicitly and clearly stated, focused to a single or connected teaching issue. The problem is solvable with technology, and within the time frame of the course."

Autonomy is a process that sometimes includes technology and online tools and sometimes it  doesn't.  Therefore let's ensure that when we decide to use the interactive Web 2.0, that our decision it is a carefully thought through one.