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

Digital Divide

Good morning!  This is not the main blogpost that will contain your homework questions.  That will be posted this afternoon.

This is an interesting map showing the digital divide on a global scale.

(Of course, as a teacher, you might need to consider this divide on a much smaller scale, at the level of regions, towns, or even neighborhoods).

This is the definition of digital divide given by Wikipedia:

¨...a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don't or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers and the Internet.¨

However, the graphic above refers only to computer access - which is a better technology to focus on when it comes to topics in education.


In other news, HERE is the link to today´s activity: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14OQQnFKhNbFzE7CdLpE0D_r_M3noE2Np6o1AA27nvwU/edit?usp=sharing