Just for laughs

Boys who hate writing

Its easier to teach students who LIKE doing something... what when someone doesn't??

Read Web 2.0 for Rookies to understand what I'm talking about

Making your own online story

This is an easy, interactive way to teach beginning learners of English some simple vocabulary. They can also have fun making the story. Click on this link to make your own fantastic little story. 
Have fun :)

Storytelling in teaching

This is the link to the article we looked at in class: Storytelling in teaching  

Reminder

Have you been working on your podcasts lately? 
Don't forget, those will be graded :)
Looking forward to seeing your work

Trying out Wordle

1. Go to the Wordle homepage on:  www.wordle.net 

2. Click on Create

3. Write all the words you had decided to teach with Flickr. Write your title word (for ex: if you were teaching "animals", "animals" is your title word) several times.

4. Click on GO to see Wordle create your word list.

5. At the bottom of your created wordle list, you will see an icon "Ramdomize". Click on that to change the way in which your words can look. You can also change the font, colour, layout etc. (look above the list).

6. When you've decided what you want your list to look like, click on "Open in window". A new window will open. 

7. IF YOU WISH and you know how to, you could then take a screenshot and upload the picture on your blog. 

Happy Wordling !!

You can see my created word list on Wordle - 

TIP: Java needs to enabled in its latest version for this to work.... that's why we couldn't do it in class! 

Check out the 52 interesting ways to use Wordle in the classroom. If you have more ideas, do share them on your blog.  

The debate on Facebook

I see that most of you unanimously believe that there should be a distinction between "living" and "learning". In other words, as Mandy says, "there is a moment to learn and there is a moment to go on Facebook." I really liked that, Mandy! :-)

But if all our teachers had believed in this difference, they would never have used the radio or the television in teaching either. The radio was a familial moment, when the family gathered around to listen to the news and the songs that followed them. The television was also a means of entertainment, right? What about the videos on YouTube that we watch all the time in the classroom and outside? Aren't they supposed to be purely for 'having fun'? When did all these "tools" become adept for teaching? 

And I answer, when the teachers did NOT make this difference between "learning" and "life". For isn't life all about learning and learning all about life? How can we then make the distinction?

Take any online or offline tool from anywhere. It is how teachers USE these tools that determine if the tool is good enough or not, and not the tool by itself. Is this making sense? 

Here's a video that illustrates how a (junior) high school history teacher uses Facebook in her classes. Do watch it and leave your comments on my blog. That way we know what everyone has to say about this most interesting debate. Everyone is free to have an opinion, you know that!! :-)

Sarah Romeyn and her History class