Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Social Networking: How many is too many?
I admit it! I'm an addict! I'm addicted to Social Networking sites... My question to whoever in the blogosphere reads this--how many social networking sites are too many?
I actually started blogging in 2004 as a way to communicate with my family since I live in Finland and they live in the USA. My father had recently passed on and he was the telephone king who kept us all up on each others' lives. When he passed away, we had to come up with other ways to communicate. I then started getting readers whom I didn't know and we started commenting on other each others' posts and I saw how fun it could be. So, my entrance into this type of communication was for personal reasons and I was pretty slow and cautious--it is the internet after all.
In 2006 I started my own company and as a result started using the internet even more... In 2007, a friend invited me to join facebook and I quickly found friends from years past--WOW! People who I thought I would never see or hear from again are still cropping up through this site. With Facebook, I try to be very careful as to who is allowed to see my site (a friend list if you will) and pretty much there are no strangers amongst my friends and I only post about work at times, but this site is more for reconnecting and keeping up with friends and family.
Anyway, in 2008, I got some training on teaching in a virtual classroom and then slowly I started joining all these different websites. Now, I'm starting to wonder--how many can I handle? The following are badges of the many sites (mostly ning sites) that I belong to because of language training or professional reasons. I'm thinking it is a bit too many and I need a support group...
Visit EFL CLASSROOM 2.0
Visit Corporate Learning Trends and Innovation
Visit Virtual Worlds and Language Learning
Visit Virtual Round Table
Visit Corporate Learning Trends and Innovation
Visit Webheads in Action
Visit AVALON-project
Visit ESL United - ESL Jobs, ESL lesson plans, ESL teacher community!
Visit LearningTown!
Visit LANCELOTTERs.net
Visit RezEd
Visit The Innovative Christian
And of course I also belong to linked in and Xing...
So, how much is too much?
I actually started blogging in 2004 as a way to communicate with my family since I live in Finland and they live in the USA. My father had recently passed on and he was the telephone king who kept us all up on each others' lives. When he passed away, we had to come up with other ways to communicate. I then started getting readers whom I didn't know and we started commenting on other each others' posts and I saw how fun it could be. So, my entrance into this type of communication was for personal reasons and I was pretty slow and cautious--it is the internet after all.
In 2006 I started my own company and as a result started using the internet even more... In 2007, a friend invited me to join facebook and I quickly found friends from years past--WOW! People who I thought I would never see or hear from again are still cropping up through this site. With Facebook, I try to be very careful as to who is allowed to see my site (a friend list if you will) and pretty much there are no strangers amongst my friends and I only post about work at times, but this site is more for reconnecting and keeping up with friends and family.
Anyway, in 2008, I got some training on teaching in a virtual classroom and then slowly I started joining all these different websites. Now, I'm starting to wonder--how many can I handle? The following are badges of the many sites (mostly ning sites) that I belong to because of language training or professional reasons. I'm thinking it is a bit too many and I need a support group...
Visit EFL CLASSROOM 2.0
Visit Corporate Learning Trends and Innovation
Visit Virtual Worlds and Language Learning
Visit Virtual Round Table
Visit Corporate Learning Trends and Innovation
Visit Webheads in Action
Visit AVALON-project
Visit ESL United - ESL Jobs, ESL lesson plans, ESL teacher community!
Visit LearningTown!
Visit LANCELOTTERs.net
Visit RezEd
Visit The Innovative Christian
And of course I also belong to linked in and Xing...
So, how much is too much?
Virtual Round Table on Demand
A few months ago I was asked what famous author, teacher or professor I would want to have a learning conversation with in a virtual classroom. Without skipping a beat I said--Vicki Hollett, the author of Business Objectives, Business Opportunities and In at the Deep End as well as the Tech Talk series. The main reason and motivation for me to invite her is that I love her books, but would love to know whether there is more from her coming out. Anyway, yesterday was the learning conversation with Vicki Hollett and it totally exceeded my expectations. We had about six questions from various trainers located mostly here in Europe. The trainers were able to come 'on stage' and have a conversation with Vicki. This was Vicki's first time in this type of environment and she did a very good job. Here are the questions that she was asked:
Jeremy, a teacher in Poland asked:
I'd be very interested in "the Vicki Hollett story", particularly how you came to write BObjs and BOpps (my two all-time favourite Business English course books), and what you have been doing since then.
The best thing about BObjs and BOpps was (sorry to use past tense, but it's been a long time since I used them) the incredibly systematic and innovative grammar syllabus, which to my mind has never been matched in another BE coursebook that I know. But it took me about 2 years to discover it - there was next to nothing in the teacher's book or task rubrics to point out the 'hidden' purpose of most of the exercises. Was the grammar syllabus deliberately buried? Or did I just imagine the grammar syllabus?
Lindsay, an English teacher in Germany asked:
Where do you personally see the future of English teaching? Is the demand for English decreasing/increasing or stagnating? What sort of English will be necessary in 5- 10 years time?
Anne, an English teacher in France asked:
Vicki, do you intend in the future to adapt your material so that it can be used on an interactive whiteboard or in a virtual classroom? At present, I use International Business Objectives in a virtual environment, my student has a copy of your book at the same time, but I have to prepare my own Powerpoint slides or exercises to compliment your book, it would be great if ready-made exercises were available.
Karenne, a blogging expert :)and teacher in Germany asked:
You've recently entered the blogosphere! Would you like to tell us a bit more about the decision to become a blogger and a little about where you see the direction of it going.
Do you enjoy the process - what has been most difficult or most interesting?
Many bloggers are also blogging with their students - although usually with young children and teenagers - have you had any thoughts on how a blogger could incorporate teaching business English and blogging with students?
and finally I asked about any future books that could be coming out...
The entire learning conversation was recorded and will be on You Tube in the next few weeks. I'm personally looking forward to watching it again.
Do you have a person that you want to have a learning conversation with?
Go to the website and make a suggestion...
Jeremy, a teacher in Poland asked:
I'd be very interested in "the Vicki Hollett story", particularly how you came to write BObjs and BOpps (my two all-time favourite Business English course books), and what you have been doing since then.
The best thing about BObjs and BOpps was (sorry to use past tense, but it's been a long time since I used them) the incredibly systematic and innovative grammar syllabus, which to my mind has never been matched in another BE coursebook that I know. But it took me about 2 years to discover it - there was next to nothing in the teacher's book or task rubrics to point out the 'hidden' purpose of most of the exercises. Was the grammar syllabus deliberately buried? Or did I just imagine the grammar syllabus?
Lindsay, an English teacher in Germany asked:
Where do you personally see the future of English teaching? Is the demand for English decreasing/increasing or stagnating? What sort of English will be necessary in 5- 10 years time?
Anne, an English teacher in France asked:
Vicki, do you intend in the future to adapt your material so that it can be used on an interactive whiteboard or in a virtual classroom? At present, I use International Business Objectives in a virtual environment, my student has a copy of your book at the same time, but I have to prepare my own Powerpoint slides or exercises to compliment your book, it would be great if ready-made exercises were available.
Karenne, a blogging expert :)and teacher in Germany asked:
You've recently entered the blogosphere! Would you like to tell us a bit more about the decision to become a blogger and a little about where you see the direction of it going.
Do you enjoy the process - what has been most difficult or most interesting?
Many bloggers are also blogging with their students - although usually with young children and teenagers - have you had any thoughts on how a blogger could incorporate teaching business English and blogging with students?
and finally I asked about any future books that could be coming out...
The entire learning conversation was recorded and will be on You Tube in the next few weeks. I'm personally looking forward to watching it again.
Do you have a person that you want to have a learning conversation with?
Go to the website and make a suggestion...
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Brain Rules for Presenters
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Brain Rules for Presenters
View more Microsoft Word documents from garr.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
LANCELOT Learning YouTube Channel
This is a channel of LANCELOT trained teachers doing lessons in various virtual classrooms and various situations. The highlights so far are the lessons in China and Burkina Faso. Check back for more highlights!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Why live online?
I remember almost four years ago when I was last in the USA--my twin sister had just gotten married and when I was at the airport her new husband gave me a web camera. Although I enjoy internet technology and had had a personal blog for a while, I had said that I would NEVER use a web camera. Well, you know what they say--NEVER say NEVER... Anyway, we used the web camera for communicating over MSN and later Skype and I was even able to join my entire family for Christmas although I was sitting in Finland. Eventually, it dawned on me that this type of technology would work great for language training and the more I thought about it, the more I was hooked on the idea of live online language training. Later, when I saw a virtual classroom, I was hooked even more. Anyway, I've been thinking lately about why a student would choose to study live online and here are some of my brainstorms. Please add to this list in the comments if you can think of more. Thanks!
1. This type of learning is a new novel way and some people like to try new things.
2. If a person spends a lot of time on the internet, why not try it?
3. It is difficult to find a native speaker to teach you at the time that you are available i.e. late at night or early in the morning.
4. Not only are you learning a language, you are learning to use the computer in a different way: application & screensharing, uploading pictures, etc.
5. This is a great way to meet new people whether it is your teacher or other students in the classroom.
6. This type of learning makes the world seem much smaller as you can be in Japan and have conversation with a native speaker of English living in Finland.
7. This type of learning is perfect for people on the go. I have taught people in China sitting at a McDonalds...so someone who travels can still meet his/her class from the hotel.
8. Convenience: the student doesn't have to leave home.
9. The student doesn't need to rush to get to class--just turn on the computer.
10. This type of learning makes it easier to communicate with teachers and classmates outside of class.
So, these are my brainstorms (and my colleague Jan's)--how about you? What do you think?
1. This type of learning is a new novel way and some people like to try new things.
2. If a person spends a lot of time on the internet, why not try it?
3. It is difficult to find a native speaker to teach you at the time that you are available i.e. late at night or early in the morning.
4. Not only are you learning a language, you are learning to use the computer in a different way: application & screensharing, uploading pictures, etc.
5. This is a great way to meet new people whether it is your teacher or other students in the classroom.
6. This type of learning makes the world seem much smaller as you can be in Japan and have conversation with a native speaker of English living in Finland.
7. This type of learning is perfect for people on the go. I have taught people in China sitting at a McDonalds...so someone who travels can still meet his/her class from the hotel.
8. Convenience: the student doesn't have to leave home.
9. The student doesn't need to rush to get to class--just turn on the computer.
10. This type of learning makes it easier to communicate with teachers and classmates outside of class.
So, these are my brainstorms (and my colleague Jan's)--how about you? What do you think?
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Social Networking
I've been thinking a lot lately about Social Networking and/or Social Media. Is it really effective? Does it change the way we teach languages online? Is twitter effective for language training or is it better to network with other teachers? How many ning sites are too many? I found this video and thought it was a great way to explain social media and the change that has taken place in the last two years.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Live Online Language Portals
I've come across a lot of live online language portals! (This does not include the hundreds of private language teachers who have set up their own websites.) Several people have asked me which one I would suggest and frankly I'm not sure as it varies for each individual teacher. I have tried out a few of them and have had success and many of my colleagues have also and some have not... Anyone have experience with these portals? Which ones would you suggest?
Avilano
http://www.avilano.com/
Buddy School
http://www.buddyschool.com/
ChooseI
http://www.choosei.com/tutoring.aspx
Edufire
http://edufire.com/
English Everywhere
http://www.englisheverywhere.com/howitworksd.html
English Bee (formerly Culture Link Online)
Find A Tutor
http://www.findatutor.co.nz/
Find My Favorite Teacher
http://www.findmyfavouriteteacher.com/
Find Your Teachers
http://www.findyourteachers.com/
ForteMall
http://www.fortemall.com/
iTalki
http://www.italki.com/
Learnissimo
Lingueo
http://www.lingueo.com/default/index
Linkua
http://www.linkua.com/
Myngle
http://www.myngle.com/
Spoken Skills
http://www.spokenskills.com/
Teacher James
http://www.teacherjames.com/
TuteU
http://www.tuteu.com/index.action
Verbal Planet
http://www.verbalplanet.com/
Posted 7 hours ago | Delete comment
Avilano
http://www.avilano.com/
Buddy School
http://www.buddyschool.com/
ChooseI
http://www.choosei.com/tutoring.aspx
Edufire
http://edufire.com/
English Everywhere
http://www.englisheverywhere.com/howitworksd.html
English Bee (formerly Culture Link Online)
Find A Tutor
http://www.findatutor.co.nz/
Find My Favorite Teacher
http://www.findmyfavouriteteacher.com/
Find Your Teachers
http://www.findyourteachers.com/
ForteMall
http://www.fortemall.com/
iTalki
http://www.italki.com/
Learnissimo
Lingueo
http://www.lingueo.com/default/index
Linkua
http://www.linkua.com/
Myngle
http://www.myngle.com/
Spoken Skills
http://www.spokenskills.com/
Teacher James
http://www.teacherjames.com/
TuteU
http://www.tuteu.com/index.action
Verbal Planet
http://www.verbalplanet.com/
Posted 7 hours ago | Delete comment
Monday, January 5, 2009
SLanguages 2009 Conference - 8&9 May 2009
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)