Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_K]

I thought I'd throw this article into the arena:

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/viewFile/7216/5567

This is pretty much what I'm working towards at the moment, and I'd be interested in other member's thoughts about how we can really be innovative in this field.

[Guy Courchesne]

I find the ideas presented in that article to be a little old, though valuable.

Some of the people I know who post here can better elaborate on how they are bringing social networks and co-operative writing online into the classroom. Facebook and wiki are two great examples. Here are two links to ideas:

http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/10/20/100-ways-you-should-be-using-facebook-in-your-classroom/

Scroll down for a list of FB pages and groups, and resources for online communities and classes.

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/

I'm less familiar with using wiki (thelmadatter, come and share!) but the link above offered a good guide to example uses across the world.

[Phil_K]

I like the Facebook thing, I've bookmarked it for further study later. I'm not sure the Wiki thing really addresses the principle objective, which is to SPEAK English and could be too time-consuming, leaving less time to develop speaking skills, unless WRITING good English is the objective, of course.

The article I posted was really just a starting point to stimulate discussion, but there is no doubt in my mind that we have to get away from the traditional methods in order to offer something really different. It's way too competitive out there!

[Dragonlady]

[Phil_K]

I also can't use the internet in many of my classes, as the companies I teach in often don't offer me the login details, but there are many other ways the technology can be used. Powerpoint, extra-curricula activities such as the Facebook method previously mentioned, videos downloaded from YouTube, among others.

[Guy Courchesne]

[MotherF]

I've been using www.edmodo.com with my students this semester with pretty good results.

[Dragonlady]

[Phil_K]

Yeah, thanks for that one! It's late on Sunday night, and I've had a busy day but I'll definitely take the tour tomorrow morning. As I don't know exactly what it involves I can't really comment right now, but it seems to me that anything which a) involves the student making an extra-curricula effort and b) uses media that most upwardly-mobile people (i.e. English students) use anyway in their daily life, has to be the way to go. It'd be interesting to know exactly how you used Edmodo, MotherF.

[jaimem-g]

My take on the multimedia ideas in the article were a little like Guy's - that they were a little dated even though this was a 2010 article, but still valuable.

I worked in a program a few years ago where we had a considerable collection of video tapes. The new director of the program wanted to dump all of the tapes because they were were outmoded technology. Instead we were to do lessons on computers that really were little more than book excercises. The only good thing about these were that the computers quickly checked the students' work and gave them immediate feedback.

The latest "innovation" that I have used extensively is a free web site called USA Learns. The link is [url]http://www.usalearns.org [/url] It is geared towards immigrants to the US but the beginning level would be useful for at least preteens and teenagers. The main thing is that two of the levels allow for a lot of individually paced listening and interaction with some interesting follow-up lessons on a nice variety of topics. Grammar comes up only in context. I tried the beginning and intermediate levels with the teachers I worked with in Oaxaca during the summer and they liked them. My intention was for them to practice the intermediate level during this fall after our class was over, since everyone in our group had internet access.

I had also set up a class for just the intermediate level, English for All, during the last two years that I was doing ESL at Palm Springs Adult School. The lessons were a big hit there.

I would be interested in knowing there are any other programs like this available from the UK or anywhere in Mexico. The telesecundaria teachers were supposed to have a fifteen minute oral satellite broadcast for each of the lessons that go with the books that were newly written for each year of secundaria. We got to review the books in our summer class; however, the television lessons that go with the new books were not ready for the start of the year. I'll have to find out what happened since I have not communicated with anyone about this for a couple of months.

Another program I have seen, although it costs about 350 dollars and I know we are not supposed to promote commercial products, is INGES YA! by Sam Powers and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein. It is specifically targeted to Spanish-speakers and they have an impressive website.

[Phil_K]

[Phil_K]

[Samantha]

It's brilliant!

[MotherF]

Mostly, I've used edmodo to share information with my students. I'm not using it to its full potential. But it's a very easy way to make all sorts of files available to them.
I can upload an image, an mp3, a link to a web page, a pdf or word document. And they can print it, complete it, and bring it into class. OR look at it or listen to it. OR Comment to me online for homework. etc.
So for me mostly it has become an online library for me to put files for them to access. I have not used the other features so much--yet.

[FreddyM]

I also want to thank MotherF. The site looks pretty neat. I'd thought about doing something online with Facebook but was very reluctant because i see a lot of potential problems and abuses that can come with it, especially since my students are elementary aged. But edmodo seems to do everything I want without those security issues I worried about.
I already set up a page and will start piloting a project with it within the next few weeks.

Thanks again!