Blogger Play

Apologies to those who are interested in my blog but were somehow disappointed to find no updates for the past three months. I almost give up this blog as in China, people cannot view my blog. I had wanted to invite my Chinese students to post their opinions as feedback to my blog. However, as the web page simply cannot be opened in China. I had to give up the idea.

Then I find it is hard to keep up my blog without a target audience in mind. I simply lost the interest. However, I remember in the International Cross Culture Conference held in Harbin, China this June, I was advertising this technology blog of mine, inviting international peers who are interested to know about China to visit this blog. I don't know if there is anyone who did respond to my ad, but I felt sorry that I didn't keep my promise.

I hope this will be a start to get me back to my track. I have checked the new feature of Blogger, BloggerPlay. It is cool as it is advertised. I think the charm comes from the diversity of these pictures as well as the on-line synchronic viewing of the pictures. If we do have internet connection in Chinese classroom, this will be a fun way to expose our students to various cultures. And the cool part is that teachers can stop at any picture and zoom in and elaborate the picture by a single click. If I were to use it in my classroom, I'll have a brainstorming activity before the click. Students can say anything they like about this picture, predictions about the content of the post, stories behind the picture, simply anything that they are willing to share with their classmates. I feel many English teachers treat their students as kids simply because Ss' low English proficiency. But we are ignoring the fact that they are grown-ups and extremely intelligent adults (given the fact that they survive the severe college entrance exam in China). So I am thinking, they should not be hindered to express their opinions, ideas or knowledge even though they cannot express themselves very well in English. I will definitely tolerate some Chinese in activity such as this to encourage my students to open their mouths to talk.

ITunes

I have been downloading all kinds of podcasts from Itunes lately. It was great fun and I just love it.
For those of us who study English in an EFL context, it is really hard to get our hands on authentic English materials at the same time when it happens. Itunes offers what we just need. First of all, you can search in the Itunes store with a simple phrase or keyword. Then you can subscribe to the podcasts that you are interested in. Then Itunes will download the podcasts when you are connected to the Internet and keep you updated with those podcasts.
I have subscribed to some podcasts offered by CNN and ABC news, and some free programs offered by National Geographical Channel. Last night, before I fell sleep, I was listening to a podcast about Law of Attraction, which totally made me feel relaxed and peaceful, even though I must admit I almost laughed my head off when I heard the screams the speaker made when he was on the roller coaster called "the scream machine". hehe.

Law of Attraction

I first heard about this idea from one of Ellen's shows, in which she invited two guest speakers to introduce the idea of "Law of Attraction".

One of the guests put the audiences into test, asking them how many of them could see the arrow in the FedEx Logo. It was amazing, at least for me, for I wasn't able to see that arrow before. And he went on to explain that people were so used to, or conditioned to look at the world in certain ways, which blocked out a lot of wonderful stuff. But some people are able to get better and richer for the way they look at their lives.

There are some fresh and innovative ideas. I am not sure I buy all of their theories, but I do believe this law teaches us to be more positive, or to be exact, to learn to be master of our own lives. You may want to check out one of their videos on youtube.

The Compound Machine

I ran across an interesting website today and tried one of the activities called "The Compound Machine". By answering some simple questions of physics, the player helps the robot fix the toilet.

The questions, of course, are piece of cake for all my college students. However, I still consider it as a potential English assignment that students may be interested in. At the end of the game, students can print their scores and acquire quite a few useful English words.

I cannot view my blog.

I dont know what is happening, but the problem is that I cannot view my blog. I can still create or edit posts, but I simply cannot view it. When I was in Singapore, some of my friends in China complained to me about the same problem.
Is it because I am in China and I was blocked in some way, or is it because of the net connection I have now?I wonder if there is anyone else who can still view my blog.

Strategies for Empowering Students

What is an ideal classroom language activity? How can language teachers come up with language activities that can be both challenging and engaging for students as well?

A website, devoted to searching for strategies that empower students in their classroom activites provide a list of activities that are worth trying out in a language classroom.

Classroom 2.0

Today is International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day), and I wish all the teachers who have been devoting their heart and soul to education a very relaxing and peaceful day. Hope the lovely flowers bring you a freshing smile on your face.

As a treat, I'd like to introduce a website that I have been enjoying browsing and participating.

Classroom 2.0 is a social networking site, which might be of interest to those who are in search of practical application of computer technology in the classroom and in their own professional development. If you are just start learning about Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, the website also offers some good starting links that can help readers enhance their understanding and expand their vision.

Better still, join any forum that you like to meet teachers from all over the world. Chat, share and exchange!

Pay Attention

The following presentation from Teachertube draws our attention to one important feature of today's learners, the digital learners. Since most of today's students can appropriately be labeled as "Digital Learners", why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices?
In China, the problem has not become eminent yet as most college students are not well off enough to possess Ipod or other new tech stuff. But still, it poses the inevitable question we must face one day - how to incorporate IT in our every day teaching? This presentation was created in an effort to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching.

Photo Caption Contest

Last week's Photo Caption Contest failed to attract any comment from readers. Maybe I could do better this week. But in case it happens again, I am attaching the original caption with the picture for reference.

This Jaybird picture was shot by Noël Lee, who loves Jaybirds for their personalities. If you view this picture large, you can actually see the bird's face and the sky reflected in its beak.

The original caption reads:"Couldn't You at Least Break It Off the Cob for Me???"

E-zine

I read an interesting post today on Read/Write Web about the evolution of magazine. All you have to do is to click the cover, turn the page and zoom in/out to read. The whole demonstration reminds me of the saying: everything is possible, and the impossible just takes longer.

I do foresee a multimodal gadget that everyone is going to have in the near future, which is a combination of cell phone, TV, computer, camera, book, newspaper, magazine, etc. You just name it and it is all in one. I wonder what it will be called and how small it can be?

Did You Know?

This Did you know video recently is the most popular educational video on Youtube, which is also known as Shift Happens. It talks about globalization in the information age. Tell me how you like it.

Audio Slideshow

Among other choices of movie, website, newsletter, the final IT project show saw many audio slideshows. I really enjoyed the creativity of my classmates, whose final products, such as Mer-people, Cinderella, were exceptionally good in their storyline design.
I happened to watch another good example of audio slide show, The Sound of Music, which was about one of the most enduringly popular films of all time. The slideshow attempts to explain why the movie was so successful.
This was one of the doable projects that I consider assigning to my students when I go back to China. I am expecting to see a flood of amazing products from them.

SoftChalk LessonBuilder

I have registered three E-training lessons: E-lesson Builder, Photo Editing and Enhancing and Digital Photography. In this first lesson, a software named SoftCalk LessonBuilder was introduced.

SoftChalk LessonBuilder is a powerful web lesson editor that allows us to easily create engaging, interactive web lessons for our e-learning classrooms. It has a very simple and intuitive interface. There are menus, then a simple toolbar (where we have access to the most used functionality in SoftChalk LessonBuilder while creating an e-lesson). I was thinking this had a great potential for teachers in China. We could easily arrange an E-listening lesson using this software. At the same time, we dont have to worry about whether students are listening to the course materials or not for we can ask them to finish all the questions and send their grades to us.

Studying here in NIE, we have e-learning week when we dont have to be physically in the classroom to learn. I am thinking the same thing for my students back in China. Maybe it is time for us to abandon the traditional listening lessons but adopt this e-learning approach. Instead of teacher's talking most of the time in a listening class, we can give time and freedom to our students. We should be a guide to facilitate students' learning instead of teaching listening. According to my own English learning experience, there is not much a teacher can do in improving a student's listening skills than giving them plenty of time to practice. I will definitely give it a try when I get back to China.

Reflections on the Final Group Project

What I learned from completing this project

It is said that all of us have two educations: one which we receive from others; another and most valuable, which we give ourselves, and the combination of which, I believe more powerful and invaluable, are exactly what I have experienced in completing this IT-facilitated group project.

First of all, the whole teaching concept, in which instructors step back and act as a resource, a guide, and a facilitator to scaffold and steward students’ learning, and students become independent through ownership of the project’s process and outcome is, indeed, an eye-opener, forcing me to reexamine my views and perspectives on the roles and responsibilities of teachers and students in the language teaching and learning process.

Secondly, I have honed my digital literacy skills by acquiring new technological skills (including web-page editing and digital photo editing). Besides, in completing an authentic language task, I find myself become more appreciative of linguistic interaction and motivated to constantly modify my own language learning process.

Moreover, I realize that teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. In order to make a team work, every individual should be committed to the group effort, playing different roles and shouldering different responsibilities. Problems are the price we pay for progress, and as there are multiple solutions to problems, disagreement should always be welcomed but constructively resolved in order to achieve the single purpose of success.

My personal contributions to the project

I am deeply grateful and indebted to my group members for entrusting me with making action plans, assigning tasks to group members, combining and compiling all the supported documents. I see an amazing intellectual and personal growth in me throughout the whole process. From the very beginning of contributing the idea of making an E-magazine to conceptualizing, writing up the lesson plan as well as the contents of each web page, I never stop scrutinizing and modifying the product by pushing the limits of every individual of our group. I cherish the opportunity of being a leader, being highly committed to the project and responsible for my group members.

Why this activity is useful or interesting to me

This activity is interesting to me because I have been empowered to complete a liberated IT-integrated language task and the sense of achievement has immensely increased my confidence and self-esteem. I have learned to compete against myself, not others and have had the best competition I have ever had.

The changes my group needed to make while planning the activity

We have had many changes to the contents of our magazine. The kaleidoscope column, for example, which originally covered an article on how to give acceptance speech and some Oscar Awards pictures, has been completely changed into an interview report due to the copyright issue.

Aspects of the project I found challenging

I found two aspects of the project challenging: how to be a good leader and how to protect the copyright law. I am aware that the most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I made my teammates play. Besides the vision and capability of management, I had to find appropriate ways to motivate and push my teammates, trying to get the best out of them. And the issue of copyright was always on my mind throughout the whole process. I had to ensure all contents we included in our project were original or otherwise, proper credits were given to their owners.

Two suggestions for next year’s students

By viewing the old we learn the new, so they should always start with previous example products first. Secondly, if two people agree on everything, then we don’t need two people, so different opinions and ideas should always be encouraged.

How my learning in this course can be applied to my future teaching in China

The course transforms me from a layman into an informed professional. With the valuable knowledge gleaned, and the belief that if it has been done, it can be done, I am sure I will be confident enough to adapt and apply many things that I learned and achieved from this course (such as my IT blog, webography project, and this final project) to my own teaching context in the future.

Photo Caption Contest - Week Three

The winner of last week's photo caption contest is Helen. Her caption "I came, I saw, I gotcha!" is a short, funny quote, embedded with the element of intertexuality. It echoes with the famous quote: "I came, I saw, I conquered." Well-done!
This week's photo is from Lynn Moraq. The original caption is Young Charms.

Flexibility Continuum: Where Do IT-Involved Language Tasks Fall?

Criteria of good tasks

Three features of Candlin's (1987) criteria of 'good' tasks are of great salience in planning IT-involved language tasks:

• Allow for flexible approaches to the tasks, offering different routes, media, modes of participation and procedures;
• Involve language use in the solving of the task;
• Promote a critical awareness about data and the process of language teaching.

Closed and restricted tasks

It is easy to come up with closed or restricted IT-involved language tasks. For instance, EFL teachers who teach general English at tertiary level may ask students to write an email about certain matter, or post their opinions or ideas toward a specific topic or issue on a designated web space. In doing so, students are given more freedom as to when and how they will do the tasks, and as a result, the task itself promotes information sharing and collaboration among students. A restricted task may require students to give a presentation on a specific topic by incorporating a range of multi-media tools. They may have choices of using slide shows (with images, audio or video files), posters, or self-directed role plays to facilitate their presentation.

Liberated and free tasks

It is really hard to have liberated or complete free language tasks in any situation. But IT-involved tasks are making it more possible than ever. A writing blog, for example can be regarded as a liberated language task in the sense that teachers ask students to write about the things they choose to write. As students write with a certain target of readers in mind, they are more motivated and more conscious of the writing process. It can be a great tool for continuous assessment or portfolio assessment. A complete free language task, however, is not meant to be assessed. While it promotes students' self-study motivation, it really needs greater devotion and commitment from students. It will be great if teachers can allow students to do a group project as a demonstration of what they have learned in one specific course. As long as students are freed from their worries of assessment, their minds will be freed, creating wonderful language miracles.

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Photo Caption Contest - Week Two

The winner of my first week's photo caption contest is my classmate, Jessica. Thank you for your participating and give me the courage to continue. Now I am determined to keep it up so that when I go back to China, hopefully I will have gleaned enough experience and confidence (besides the enough examples) to use it as after-class learning activity for my students. I really appreciate your comments and feedback in helping me to pilot the activity.
This week's picture is devoted to the hero of this year - pig. It is said that the year of the Golden Pig only occurs every 60 years. This year is the fifth cycle of the pig (every 12 years * 5), which is why this year of the pig is golden, therefore particularly auspicious.

Uploaded by Lucid Nightmare in Flickr.

8 Inspirational Quotes

I found the following eight inspirational quotes from Clipmarks touch me deep down and shed new light on the way I see myself and the world. I'd like to share with you and invite you to comment on the one that you like.

clipped from quotations.about.com

1) Mark Twain

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

2) Luigi Pirandello

In bed my real love has always been the sleep that rescued me by allowing me to dream.

3) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

4) Zig Ziglar

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.

5) T. S. Elliot

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

6) Buddha

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

7) Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

8) Peter F. Drucker

We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it.

Photo Caption Contest

I want to borrow Will's idea of hosting weekly photo caption contest on my blog (I am grateful to Will even though I dont know him in person, but I have learned so much from his blog). That is, I will post an interesting picture to my blog every week and then I hope readers will write a caption for this picture by commenting on this post. Since I don't have many readers to run it as a contest, but I do wish with time going by, the blog would get better and have more readers. I am deeply grateful to people who help me make my wish come true.

Week One Picture
(uploaded by Dee R) Original Caption: This is my best side.

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Animal School

The Animal School recommended by The Fisch Bowl is really worth watching. The short movie makes an interesting analogy between an animal school where animals attend four subjects of learning, which is, swimming, flying, climbing, and jumping developed for all the animals and our human schools where children are taught to learn and are judged similarly. It is easy for us to identify the duck, fish, bear, kangaroo, zebra, eagle, bee, squirrel students in our own educational settings, which really makes us have second thoughts on the whole structure of schools.
I'd really like to show this video to my own students to see how they feel about the truth unveiled in this video. I am sure we can work together to free more bees and find a lot more shining pearls.

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