The Final Week (Last class 27 August)

First of all, here is the assignment description and rubric for the final portion of the blog project:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hN04-FiDDPXSHYlHR1-NvNd1hBGMbbHFdRDJasKoKK0/edit?usp=sharing

Please be aware of all of the following deadlines.  Missing any of these could have a negative effect on your final grade!

24 August (Sunday): Final blog post due integrating Youtube video

27 August (Thursday - last class): Quiz on final readings - article (authentic materials) and textbook excerpt (instructional technology)

27 August (Thursday): Blog Project - final reflection writing assignment due (submit by email)

1 September (Tuesday): Final Project due (submit by email)


Email me with any questions you have!  See you next week.

August 13th: Class Prep

As discussed last week, we will have a quiz this week on Chapters 5 and 6 of our primary textbook (Empowering English Language Learners with Tools from the Web).  This quiz will be longer than usual (it covers two chapters) and will count double.  In addition to the reading, please view the file linked below, which was handed out last class.  It summarizes some of the basic ideas we discussed about online media sharing in TEFL.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxTF2n3M9Ex3NVZIS1pVMVlkWHc/view?usp=sharing

The final project will also be introduced this week.  I am attaching a link to the project instructions now so you can look at them before class tomorrow.  Please read through and see if you have any questions.  I will ask that you save your questions for class rather than emailing me.  The reason: your questions are probably relevant to the whole class, and other students may benefit from hearing them.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdy0HTZ0FtCbaVxDeeQOVHsLG_oiRhnC6CI8gHn7VDQ/edit?usp=sharing

This week we'll close our discussion of online media sharing (visual media and videos) and you'll be given your final reading assignment.  You'll also be given your final blog post assignment.  Next week, the blog project wrap-up instructions will be handed out.  This "wrap-up" will involve a short writing assignment (1-2 pages), which will be worth 35% of your grade for the project.

August 6th: Class Recap

I want to briefly review what we talked about in class last Thursday.  A few of you were absent, so please pay close attention to the following:

First, the homework:

1. [For those of you who were absent: Read the post below this one and watch the videos.]
2. Blog project: 1 blog post with photo album embedded (see blog post below for instructions), plus comments on two other blogs.  I am going to give you a few extra days for this - it is now due before midnight on Sunday, 16 August.
3. Read Chapters 5 and 6 in the main textbook (I emailed you several chapters from this book last week - let me know if you have any questions about the proper chapters to read).  This is still due Thursday.

We will have a quiz next week on the reading, so please be sure to finish it before next class.  The chapters are not long, and the material is not difficult.  The quiz will focus on main ideas, not small details.

Moving on, this is the situation with the remainder of the semester:

• We will have 3 more classes: 13, 20, and 27 August.  

• We will have two more quizzes, both of which will count double.  They will be on 13 and 20 August.
• Due to time constraints, there will be NO WRITTEN TEST.
• The blog project will include 2 more posts (one with an embedded image album and one with a Youtube video made by you).  There will also be a final write-up due 27 August.  Instructions for this will be provided on 20 August, so please do not start before that date.
• For the final, there will be a short project.  It will be introduced next class, and it will be due Tuesday, 1 September.

This has been a difficult semester, especially for this class.  Even before the strike, we missed close to a month of class due to administrative cancellations and a "volcano day" among other things.  However, we will finish strong!

In closing, here is a quote from Plato´s Republic - an educational concept that showed up way ahead of its time and relates to what we´ve talked about in class:

“Now, all this study of reckoning and geometry and all the preliminary studies that are indispensable for dialectic must be presented to them while still young, not in the form of compulsory instruction.” “Why so?” “Because,” said I, “a free soul ought not to pursue and study slavishly; for while the bodily labors performed under constraint do not harm the body, nothing that is learned under compulsion stays with the mind.”

Online Media Sharing: Posting Online Albums in Blogs, Creating YT Videos

We´ll begin with online photo sharing.  Putting an image gallery in a blog post can be very useful in order to share visual aids with students in an interactive way.  Image galleries have many applications in TEFL. Being able to create your own gallery - tailored exactly to your needs for a particular lesson - and share it on a tutor or class blog is a powerful educational tool.  The video below shows how to use a web app called QuickGallery to post albums from your existing accounts on sites like Facebook or Flickr to your blog.  This is not the only way to post an album, but it is a very convenient method.  Take a look:

Now, let´s move on to online video sharing.  You already know how to put a Youtube video in a blog post, but what about creating your own YT video?  This can also be a very useful tool for an EFL teacher.  You can create videos of yourself in order to communicate with your students outside of class, or you can incorporate existing media into a new video that fits your particular educational needs.  For now, we are going to focus on some of the more basic elements of creating and posting a Youtube video.  Please watch the 2-part video series below:

In your homework readings, you will delve deeper into the educational applications of Youtube videos and online image galleries.  You will also practice using these tools - and creating your own material - in the final two posts of the blog project during the next two weeks.

I´m a 22-year-old college student (recent graduate) from the United States. Ask me anything!

This AMA will be conducted by my sister.  As the post title suggests, she recently graduated from a US university (with a degree in Anthropology).  You can ask her anything you want - even her favorite color - but please try to make your questions a little more interesting than that.  Here are some quick facts about Jen:

-She went to college (university) in a typical small city/college town in the northeastern United States.  She graduated last year.

-She traveled and lived in Turkey from August 2014-April 2015.

-She visited Chile from late February to early March this year.

-She is currently working as a waitress near our hometown, which is on the outskirts of the New York City metropolitan area.  

Ideas for question topics: life in the US, the US university experience, her outlook on global affairs as a US citizen, her ideas concerning Chile or Latin America, her travel experiences - or, even better, something different that you come up with!

Your assignment: 
1) Ask at least one question and provide two comments.  The comments can be anywhere, not just Jen´s responses (for example, you can comment on another classmate´s question).

2) Respond to the discussion questions in the blog post below this one.

AMA / ¨Mystery Guest¨ - Bringing a Guest to Your Tutor Blog/Class Blog

Last week, we looked at an activity in your text called ¨Mystery Guest,¨ in which a guest blogger posts on a class blog and asks the students questions.  This is a very worthy and interesting idea.  However, potentially even more interesting, and in line with current web trends, would be to have a guest come on your class blog or (in our case) tutor blog and do an AMA (Ask Me Anything).  In other words, to have the students ask the guest questions.  This is a very common occurrence on Reddit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit#IAmA_and_AMA), but it has wide applications beyond that particular site.

This week, we will do our own AMA.  As with most activities in this class, it is multi-faceted.  On one hand, approach it as EFL students and enjoy yourselves, ask whatever you want, find out something interesting.  On the other hand, this is an opportunity for reflection as future English teachers.  Please answer the following discussion questions:

1) Would you ever use this in a primary or secondary school class?  Why or why not?  (Please feel free to support or disagree with the idea of this activity).

2) How might you incorporate AV aids into this activity?  (Notice that for this week´s AMA, I have posted a photo or two (non-identifiable!) of Jen.  Something as simple as a photo, connecting the activity to a real living person, can make a big difference).

Learner Blog Project, etc.

Good evening!  Tomorrow we'll start the Learner Blog Project.  It is the first of two projects that will be completed in this class.  It will span much of the semester.

Before we get started:

1.) Please watch this short video about blogs, and...

2.) ...this short video about creating a blog using the Blogger service:

I encourage you to watch more detailed videos on your own about blog creation and maintenance if you're interested.  It's fun to make a blog, and it's a very good skill to have - all the more if you get beyond the basics.

Meanwhile, here are two more links we'll need for class today:

Today's quiz: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fpHXP4n6IKAUEnoxHez9UqH9BNW3uLnkJuPiG7sEpAY/edit?usp=sharing

...and a description of the Learner Blog Project:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hct-_ed8H4zVYJn3hOmE3NNm4BGv-pQVj1SOcatYHXo/edit?usp=sharing