Blogging English

A Common English Mistakes Video

2012-02-09T17:26:00.001-08:00


Grancie48 uploaded a video : Common English Mistakes: THERE-THEY'RE-THEIR This video lesson discusses the commonly misspelled homophones "there", "they're", and "their".More

Tutorial: Twitter 101

2012-01-29T06:06:00.000-08:00

Do you use Twitter to help you learn English? Other uses? Still don't get Twitter? This micro-blogging network is a useful tool for finding out what's going on with the people and things that matter to you the most. It is also a good learning tool. More and more learners are using Twitter in the classroom and learning on their own. With this simple and engaging tutorial, you can learn various ways to use Twitter.

Free Twitter 101 Tutorial at GCFLearnFree.org

ESL/Twitter Links

♦ Learn English on Twitter

♦ Twitter Tips for ESL Users

♦ How to Use Twitter with an ESL Group

♦ Using Twitter as an ESL Resource

♦ ESL Tech ~ Everyone's all a-Twitter

♦ Larry Ferlazo ~ Twitter Chats for ESL Teachers (& How to Participate)

♦ Larry Ferlazo ~ Best Resources for Beginning to Learn What Twitter is About

♦ Teaching ESL to Adults ~ How Twitter Helps ESL Students

♦ ESL Daily ~ 10 Tips to Twitter in theEFL Class

Want more? Just search the #ESL hashtag

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Learn English - with Audio and Transliterations

2012-01-25T13:33:00.001-08:00

Jacob Richman" <jrichman@jr.co.il> has an educational website called Learn English with Audio and Transliterations

The site is a free, on-line, educational resource for ESL and EFL students to learn English words. The flash site incorporates 40 topics, along with over 1,500 English words and phrases. When you click on a word or phrase you can hear it spoken. The high quality audio was created in a sound studio.

The site is multilingual. The menus, transliterations and translations are in four languages: French, Hebrew Russian and Spanish. There is an English Only menu, for those that prefer not to use language translations and transliterations.

Both the student and the teacher will find the site easy to use and very educational. As mentioned, the site is free to all.

Feedback (in English) is welcome.

STOP SOPA: #SOPASTRIKE Jan18

2012-01-18T07:28:00.001-08:00

My favorire "stop sopa" page is Zachary Johnson's shadowbox with the moving light (just move your cursor) on Zachstronaut. Adding this one to my feed reader... tomorrow. Today .....

Sites are striking in all different ways, but they are united by this: do the biggest thing you possibly can and drive contacts to Congress. *Put the source code for this page your site* ~ it's my main page at Mountainair Online (the web page). I have no control over blog policies. I'm not really up to tinker with source code to show a black out page on my blogs. So I am settling for posting information and exhortations (like this one). Except for following #sopastrike on Twitter and @fightfortheftr) and Reddit, I'm staying off public pages today. No Facebook or

Personal blackouts seem to be running either 24 hours (midnight to midnight) or 8AM EST to 8PM EST. Major supporting sites like Wikipedia, WordPress, Google, Internet Archive (+ Wayback Machine), Electronic Frontier Foundation, Tucows and many, many more are striking for 24 hours. Looked like a major slow down on Facebook when I checked (before 8 am).

What can you do to support the strike if you don't have a blog or web page, can't blog and RT #sopastrike stories? Make a call; sign the petition; learn more; the action of the hour is to speak out. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, opposing the bills. Contact local news stations and let them know that this is an issue worth covering. And there is still email, what they could be coming after next...

Today's Google search page:

Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!

So what is Academic English? | ENGLISH FOR UNIVERSITY. COM

2012-01-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

"Academic English is the genre of English used in the world of research, study, teaching and universities. If you read an article in an academic journal or listen to someone giving a presentation or a talk about an academic subject in an academic environment, Academic English is probably being used. If you are studying in an English speaking university (or going to) you will need to learn this type of English.

Native English speakers also have to learn Academic English too because it is not like the English that is used every day by English speakers. Academic English is different from other types of English and it often has features like these..."

Read the rest of the article So what is Academic English? and more at ENGLISH FOR UNIVERSITY

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Why2Fly: Environmentally Friendly Airplanes are Better than Cars!

2011-12-29T02:09:00.000-08:00

Why2Fly: Environmentally Friendly Airplanes are Better than Cars! - I always knew that! Now I found a very number-supported proof.

On ad-speak and poetry

2011-12-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

On ad-speak and poetry shamelessly re-posted in toto from Harriet the Blog at the Poetry Foundation

Ian Daly — a “planning director and cultural strategist” at a marketing firm in New York called Anomaly — recently compiled a list of words and phrases that he titled “Shit I Never Said Before Working in Advertising.” A sampling:

Blow it out

Ladder it up

Tease it out

Bullet it out

Build it out

Build affinity

Soft launch

Hard stop

Fair push

Push back

Reach out

Touch base

Connect around

Loop in

Circle back

Topline

Top-of-mind

Share of mind

Are you tracking? I’m tracking.

And it goes on, reading a little like a weirdly intricate instruction manual, a little like half-baked inspirational literature, and maybe a little like… poetry?

We’re reminded of Robert Archambeau’s recent essay on the various ways that advertising has co-opted (unwittingly?) the language and approach of Symbolist poetry. Writing about Lexicon — the company behind such evocative product names as “Blackberry,” “Swiffer,” and “Pentium Chip” — Archambeau says:

The greatest of Symbolists Stéphane Mallarmé, in his Crise de vers describes the poetry he admires as… “verse that from its constituents makes up a total word, new, strange to the language and like an incantation”. For him, the poem itself was a single word. And like the words coined by the people at Lexicon, Mallarmé’s total word gives us “an array of specific, resonant meanings and associations” rather than something more defined and limited.

Read Ian Daly’s full list and Robert Archambeau’s full article.

Using Educational Techology for Adult ELT | Scoop.it

2011-12-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

Packed with useful links and learning resources, including but not limited to vocabulary, pronunciation, writing, passive voice verb use, games, building sentences, text to speech, lesson plans, irregular verb videos and more.

Subscribe for regular updates by email or add to your rss feed reader.

Using Educational Techology for Adult ELT | Scoop.it

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Short simple sentences will get you through!

2011-12-04T14:47:00.001-08:00

Post by Patrick at Academic writing

This post is for students who are having problems with writing longer texts: write short simple sentences! If your teacher can't understand what you are saying, then your marks will plummet (students of English for International Finance will know the meaning!). Look at this paragraph from a website about the rise of house prices:

One of the main factors in the UK housing market is the acute shortage of housing, especially in popular areas. This means that even a very small increase in demand has a proportionally bigger increase in price.

Understand the main point? Yes! It's a great example of clarity in writing. Academic writing is a vehicle for IDEAS. Good academic writing is not noticed at all, because the reader can just focus on the content.

In fact, you don't need to be very inventive at all. Just use one of a small variety of sentence patterns you can see from the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University here.

The Art of Building Virtual Communities

2011-10-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

What if after planning a self-paced study group, setting up a blog, preparing and study materials, and taking time to answer students asking about lesson and nobody shows up? Or worse, people show up, take a quick look around, decide it isn’t worth their time and leave! A self paced, cooperative study group is the only way I can offer more than just a few and those at different levels the opportunity to work on their English.

We are getting more visitors but still none stopping to ask questions or leave a message. I am looking for ideas to get visitors to stick around and still not giving up.

One model that holds merit an be found on the Learning Circuits Blog. How do you think this would work for Blogging English?

It is developed around the roles and interactions members of a community have as participants in that community: Linking; Lurking; Learning; Leading.

I bet w already have linkers (visitors who bookmark and save or share the link) and lurkers. Now we need active learners. More leaders would help too.

21st Century Learning: The Art of Building Virtual Communities

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Welcome to Blogging English

2011-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our self-paced study group for English learners. Please take the time to visit the site. Check out resources and links. Join our ESL open study group by clicking the "follow" button on the right hand side of the page.

PS ~ Before you go, don't forget to leave a message introducing yourself or just saying hello!

Where do you want to go with English? What are you working on? What are your goals? Please leave a message telling us more about your learning interests and plans. How can we help? Do you have a personal learning plan? We can help you develop a plan and customize your own Personal Learning Network.

Do have suggestions, ideas about features to improve the study group? Should we add a separate discussion group, chat, bulletin board to leave messages, voice messages? Let us know.

If you have questions about grammar and usage, please post them at StudyCom's Question and Help Board. You will also find many learning resources, mini-lessons and study guides there.

In the meantime, check out these Great Sites for Students to Practice English

I look forward to reading your messages and welcoming you to our group,

Vanessa

About ESL Newsletter: Speaking

2011-10-25T13:40:00.001-07:00

Speaking is the topic of this week's About ESL newsletter. For "dessert" ~ spooky talk. Poe's Raven and a candy haunted house for Halloween,

Speaking English well is the goal of all English learners. In this newsletter, you'll learn about speaking English on the telephone, speaking English in situations at work, and speaking English in everyday situations, also known as small talk.

Here are ten questions to help you

start speaking English

. Each of these questions help to begin or continue a conversation. The questions are in two categories: Basic Facts and Hobbies / Free Time. There are also a number of questions that can help you continue the conversation after the first question.

Teachers can help students with lesson plans on practicing telephone English, and making small talk. Teachers will also be interested in this lesson focusing on how to get an ESL class conversing.

candy haunted house ~ how to make one

Finally, it's Halloween here in the United States soon. Have fun learning spooky English with the Halloween resources on the site, including a vocabulary quiz, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe and more.

Schools and Creativity [videos]

2011-10-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

This video is to help non-native speakers of English understand the gist of Sir Ken Robinson's TED 2006 conference keynote on "Do Schools Kill Creativity" (below).Please watch it before or after viewing this one.

Sir Ken Robinson's TED 2006 conference keynote address "Do Schools Kill Creativity" makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

What do you think of these videos and the ideas they express? Do you agree or disagree with Sir Ken Robinson? What was your school experience like?

More Larry Ferlazzo “Links I Should Have Posted"

2011-10-10T17:20:00.001-07:00

Another Special Edition Of "Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn't"

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 10/9/11. He writes,

I have a huge backlog of resources that I've been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing so. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description.

Drug war: Cartels unrelenting in bloody conflict is an interactive from the Associated Press about the Mexican drug war. I'm adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Mexico's Drug War.

Can This Poet Save Mexico? is an article from The New York Times. I'm also adding it to the same list.

Global Protests is a nice photo gallery from The Boston Globe. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History.
PicFull is a new photo-editing site. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects. I'm adding Clip Your Photos to the same list.
TweepsMap will show all your Twitter followers on a map. I'm adding it to The Best Ways To Make A Map Showing Your Facebook Friends (& Twitter Followers).
Top 10 Real Life Monsters is a TIME Magazine slideshow. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.
The Ultimate G+ Collection: A Treasure Trove of Google Plus Tips, Guides, & Resources is just what the title says it is. I'm adding it to The Best Resources For Learning What Google+ Is All About.
ELT Pics is a project initiated on Twitter to collect photos helpful to English Language teachers. I'm adding it to The Best Online Sources For Images.
Kleiner-Backed Vlix Is An Instagram For Video; Adds Filters, Effects And More To Mobile Video is a TechCrunch post about a new iPhone application. I'm adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

Beginner Level - The Best ESL Videos

2011-10-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Real English ESL Video & Lessons ~ Beginner Level. Double-Click on any word on the page for an English definition, or translation

Real English is different. Students who have not lived in an English-speaking country should begin with Lesson 1! The people in the videos are spontaneous. Spontaneity is difficult, just like real situations with strangers are difficult. The people seem to speak fast, but in reality, they are speaking at normal speed.

Beginner Level - The Best ESL ESL Videos ESL Courses

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100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English

2011-10-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Help with #spelling for ESL learners and native speakers. They have problems with English spelling and make mistakes too. English spelling is notoriously inconsistent. Improving your spelling will help you not just with writing but also reading and vocabulary development. Be patient though - mastering spelling won't happen overnight.

"Here are the 100 words most commonly misspelled ('misspell' is one of them). Dr. Language has provided a one-stop cure for all your spelling ills. Each word has a mnemonic pill with it and, if you swallow it, it will help you to remember how to spell the word. Master the orthography of the words on this page and reduce the time you spend searching dictionaries by 50%. (Use the time you save celebrating in our gameroom.)"

100 Most Often ~~Mispelled~~ Misspelled Words in English

Teaching Spelling Strategies to ESL Students (also from YourDictionary)

Spelling games and exercises for ESL students on Charles Kelly's Interesting Things for ESL Students

Spelling page at ESL Desk

'via Blog this'

Beginners - Resources, Lesson Plans, Activities

2011-10-04T06:13:00.001-07:00

The current issue of About.com's ESL's Newsletter focuses on beginners and includes: helpful 20 point absolute beginner teaching guide; other beginning level English lesson plans; review or starter with 25 basic English lessons; practice exercises for asking questions in English; a lesson explaining the common verbs do or make.

Are You an Absolute Beginner?

Do you understand the question? If yes - you are not an absolute beginner. If no - then you might be an absolute beginner. A simple definition of absolute beginners... Read more

Online ESL Newsletters

2011-09-29T16:29:00.001-07:00

Years ago, before Web 2.0 and live or real time learning applications, lessons by email and newsletter subscription ruled. They're still around and still a useful learning tool.

With Paper.li, you can even create your very own newsletter for learning English. Maybe I should do that for Blogging English. Do you have a favorite ESL newsletter? Please share it with us by posting a link to comments.

DIY U: Getting Started With Self-Learning

2011-09-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to get started with self-learning? Read this important message from P2PU

P2PU is excited to announce an overdue collaboration with Anya Kamenetz, author of The Edupunk’s Guide to a DIY Credential, to create a new course centered around motivated learners who are ready to experiment with an innovative approach to learning.
Together we started DIY U: Getting Started With Self-Learning on P2PU.org. This course is a chance to explore the process of self-directed learning. We’ll help each other with two goals: creating an individualized learning plan, where you define your own goals and the path to get there, and reaching out to others to build a network of peers and mentors who can help you on your path.
DIY U is a pilot attempt of developing learning plans together. It will runs through September and is intended for those new to P2PU and even to online learning in general. If you’ve been a fan of P2PU but haven’t found a course or study group to suit you, this is a great place to start. If you have friends or students or others in your network who are newer to this self learning thing, please encourage them to sign up! And even if your interest in personal learning plans is more academic or theoretical, we encourage you to bring a focused learning goal to the table!
An exciting and diverse crowd has already signed up – with plenty room for more! One of the participants (and a P2PU staffer) has even created a tutorial on how to hack the P2PU course module to layout your individual learning plan. Sign up and start working through the tasks to take charge of your learning goals!

And then you can add all the English learning resources here - and more - to your Personal (English) Learning Plan

DIY U: Getting Started With Self-Learning

About ESL: Visual Learning

2011-08-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

Hello all. It's been very quiet here. No excuses please ~ the analytics on my Blogger dashboard tell the story. Sadamu is the only member I've heard from: I owe him an email and hope he will let me share his message with you. I haven't been active here but have been posting mini-lessons and learning resources to the StudyCom Help Board that you can visit. You can also post grammar and usage questions there.

Today's ESL resources from About ESL focus on visual learning. If you haven't already subscribed to the newsletter for your learning portfolio, don't put it off any longer: subscribe now! If you are a visual learner or interested in visual learning, take a look at Digital Delights for Learners too. If you don't know what kind of learner you are, find out before planning or starting your self-paced English learning program.

From Kenneth Beare's About.com newsletter, your Guide to ESL

This week's newsletter provides a number of visual aids such as dictionaries, and tense charts to help with learning. The visual tense charts provide a picture for each tense to help with understanding, and a tense timeline shows all the tenses on one page. The visual dictionaries provide context for each picture with plenty of related vocabulary. There's also visual help with prepositions and finally a sheet on separable and inseparable verbs.

Visual Tense Charts

Visual clues can really help learners understand tense usage. This resource provides a visual tense chart for each of the major uses of the 14 tenses in English... Read more

For more advanced learners, this tense timeline chart shows all the tenses on one page moving from past to future and can be a good way to review tenses by contrasting and comparing usage.

Visual Dictionaries

Broadsided: Responses: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

2011-07-29T17:43:00.001-07:00

RESPONSES
Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011
At Broadsided, we believe that art and literature belong in our daily lives. We believe they are not just decoration, but essential communication. They inspire and they demonstrate the vitality and depth of our connection with the world.
Moved by the plight of post-tsunami Japan, Broadsided artist Yuko Adachi sent us the image "Love Heals Japan" (see right) and asked if we would help her find writing to accompany it. We were inspired by her idea, and decided to ask other Broadsided artists if they had been similarly moved and, if so, if they'd be willing to share their work.
We posted that art, and asked writers to respond. Below are the collaborations that resulted, as well as a short note from the writers and artists about this process. We hope that you will download, print, and share these with your community.
Yuko has created a high-quality giclee print of her collaboration with Hugh Martin. You can purchase it on Etsy. All proceeds will go to the relief effort in Japan.
Click each image below for the pdf; scroll down for more information about each collaboration.

add your 2¢ worth

2011-07-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

What area of English do you want to work on and Why? What is your personal goal?

How would you assess your English level?

Listening comprehension?
Speaking?
Reading?
Writing?

What features would like to see added?

Text to Voice
Chat
Private group
Other

Use the comment feature to answer or add anything else. No rude language, spam or inappropriate comments please.

A Language Learning MOOC for English

2011-07-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

I wrote about MOOCs (☜ watch the video) or Massive Open Online Courses a while back when I was taking the PLE/PLN course - a MOOC called PLENK (for Personal Learning Environments and Knowledge Networks). Remember all the PLE and PLN graphics? Back then that we could adapt the ideas here for an open online study group. Now someone is doing just that, although a class rather than a study group.

What do you think?

Read the post, think about it and let me know. Then we can start planning how to do it.

"A MOOC course structure seems to usually be centered on topics such as online learning, teaching practices (M-learning), learning about connectivisim, or other such related fields as education and e-learning. Adapting the MOOC structure for some topic not related to the field of education itself would pose some challenges considering the participants would likely not be comprised mainly of educators or even people with an affinity for Distance Education technology and innovation. As others have pointed out, the effectiveness of a MOOC structure is partially dependent on the subject matter; not all subjects lend themselves to this style of information presentation. However, some especially do. Language Learning might be ideal for this type of course design.

Since being introduced to the MOOC earlier this year, I have often thought about how a Language MOOC might play out. This post is an explanation of why I think Language Learning suits the MOOC structure"

A Language Learning MOOC #EFL #ESL

Digital Delights for Learners

2011-07-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Sites for learning & developing creativity ~ many links to free and fun to use learning resources including courses, music, games, reading and study tips, subject specific pages (art, history, grammar, geography, science, music, ear training, speech accent archives), apps and much more. Follow for daily email updates.

Digital Delights for Learners | Scoop.it

Learn Natural English Daily at PhraseMix

2011-06-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

This site looks like fun and comes highly recommended for learning idioms for speaking

Welcome to PhraseMix! Improve your English ability by understanding and memorizing common English phrases. Learn useful, real world phrases.

How to get started:

Learn how to study using PhraseMix

Read the most recent lessons

Explore the lesson categories

Ask PhraseMix a question

Find out more about PhraseMix

Read the blog

Subscribe to the email newsletter for a weekly summary of phrases, news and bonus material

Learn Natural English Daily at PhraseMix.com

Tell Your Stories Through Writing

2011-06-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

“One can’t believe impossible things” said Alice. “I daresay you haven’t had much practice” said the queen

The post continues, "Writing has always been a challenging and an overwhelming task," but identifies children as the group having difficulties. Adult and young adult learners often find writing even more difficult. Would you as older writers and L2 learners, find the storytelling tools a help to writing or another obstacle, this one technical?

Take look at the ones reviewed here. Try them out. Let us know what you think.

Writeboard is web based document that you can work on alone or with others.
OurStory tool uses a timeline to help you write your stories and adds pictures, videos and text. Send it others via mail or share it on different social networking sites.
At StoryBird, create your own stories using existing drawings.
TheStoryStarter has more than 1 million story starters and prompts for all ages. This tool is great to start a narrative story. Choose a starter that interests you and write your own.
WhatifQuestions asks you “What if?” questions to generate your own story.

And more...

“You are not the same as you were before. You are much more… muchier now” said the Mad Hatter to Alice.

Tell Your Stories Through Writing, Ozge Karaoglu's Blog

Guide to Grammar and Writing

2011-06-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Still the best and most comprehensive English grammar and writing resource online for writers, English teachers and any English learner whether ESL/EFL/ESOL or NS.

Guide to Grammar and Writing is sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, a nonprofit 501 c-3 organization that supports scholarships, faculty development, and curriculum innovation.

Using Spell-checkers

2011-05-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

Should spell-checkers be allowed in tests? is not just about tests but offers sound general principals for using spell-check programs. At the The Spelling Blog, Johanna Stirling writes about,

Spell-checkers

You have to be a halfway decent speller anyway to be able to use a spell-checker. Your attempt has to be close enough to be recognised by the software and where there is an option, you have to be able to choose the right one. You also have to cope with homophones and other real-word errors on your own. See Spell checkers, how useful are they? for more on spell-checkers and an activity to train learners to use them well.

Autocorrect is more of a problem for both learning and meaning. This "corrects" your spelling automatically without you noticing it. So there is no opportunity to learn. Autocorrect may even turn it into the wrong word - not the meaning you intend - but it will be spelled correctly!

For fun and examples of spell-check correction problems, read Ode to a Spell Checker. Can you find and correct all the mistakes spell check made?

Mobile ESL

2011-05-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Mobile ESL from Athabasca University

Introduction

This is a course of lessons and practice on the system of English. It is divided into eighty-six sections.

Each section covers an area of basic grammar and contains a number of exercises. The exercises are not all the same length. Some exercises have only five questions, but others have up to nine questions. This is because some areas of grammar are more important than others.

his course tests your knowledge of English grammar and, more importantly, it gives you practice in using your knowledge to make correct and appropriate sentences. When you do the exercises, you will see that grammar is not just a game. Grammar has meaning - if you change some of the grammar in a sentence, you also change its meaning."

Poetry Pairing

2011-03-18T15:10:00.001-07:00

Japanese Defense Ministry, via Associated Press There was one bright moment the Sunday after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as Japanese naval forces rescued a 60-year-old man who had been riding the roof of his house for two days. The man, Hiromitsu Shinkawa, was found nine miles south of his hometown and nine miles out to sea.
Go to related slide show »

In our weekly “Poetry Pairing” series, we collaborate with the Poetry Foundation to feature a work from its American Life in Poetry project alongside content from The Times that somehow echoes, extends or challenges the poem’s themes. Each poem is introduced briefly by Ted Kooser, a former United States poet laureate.

This week we put three pieces together: the poem “The Word That Is a Prayer,” a photograph, above, from a Times slide show of over 100 images of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and a March 11 blog post by the Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, “Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration.”

Annotating Text

2011-03-18T13:17:00.001-07:00

At our school, we really push students to get comfortable and familiar with the idea of annotating academic text that they’re reading. That’s just one of several reasons why we don’t use standard textbooks much in our English classes, and instead use copied units from Pebble Creek Labs, the Write Institute, or ones developed by local universities. And we always have a lot of post-it notes on hand for when we aren’t using consumables. We encourage students to read text with a pen or highlighter in their hands.

This is why I’m really big on web apps that let you annotate webpages (see Best Applications For Annotating Websites).

This kind of annotation habit is a reminder and strategy for students to interact more meaningfully with the text, and makes follow-up work so much easier (unit projects, studying for tests, etc.). It’s a habit that they’ll find useful for years to come.

Annotation “prompts” include using the typical reading strategies (ask a question, make a connection, visualize by drawing a picture and writing what it is, summarizing, predicting, and agreeing/disagreeing) and highlighting a specifically limited number of words (to help students develop the discipline of not highlighting tons of them)

via larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

Not just for research, note-taking and studying but also helps reading in general by focusing attention on the text.

Posted via email from Academentia

Are you safe? Please check in!

2011-03-17T11:07:00.001-07:00

It's been a worrying time for anyone with friends, family or acquaintances in Japan - but not as hard as being there! I was very relieved to hear from Sadamu and learn that he and his family are OK. I hope to hear from Youngim and Junai soon too. After all the excitement in Egypt, we'd like to hear from Sayid Salem too. Now that the group is open, I can't tell for sure who any one is or where you are from.

Please post a short note letting us know how you are.

ESL on YouTube

2011-03-09T08:00:00.001-08:00

YouTube is an excellent ESL learning resource. In addition to many ESL and English learning channels, you can also practice your listening skills with videos on topics that interest you.

Tips for learning English with YouTube
A guide to YouTube channels for learning English (too many ads, just ignore them)
A short article from Mashable about KanTalk that describes the language-learning network's features and (briefly) explains How to use YouTube to learn English

StudyCom has it's own YouTube Channel. Check it out. Do you have a favorite YouTube channel for studying English? Please share it with us.

Internet pick of the day: ESL blogs

2011-03-06T08:39:00.001-08:00

I posted this on StudyCom's Question Board last week. Each week or more often (when I remember), I post a mini-lesson or online resource. You can post your grammar and usage questions there ~ don't ask me to do your homework for your or edit your papers. If you want to work on your writing, come here.

While looking for study resources on the web, don't overlook the many ESL blogs created and maintained by ESL teachers all over the world. Some are learning blogs for their students. Others are for other ESL teachers and about teaching ~ ideas, teaching tips, lesson plans, technology, etc.

Most if not all have resources you can use. You can also subscribe to blogs you like. My first pick is Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day at Edublogs. In addition to English, you will learn a lot about the world, current events, important issues and many other topics.

More to look at: About.com's list of Best ESL EFL Teacher blogs. Do you have a favorite ESL blog? Please share it with us?

GeoTrio: another tool for your PLN

2011-03-05T04:30:00.001-08:00

GeoTrio lets you create a virtual tour of just about anyplace on a map. You type in addresses or locations and easily create multiple “stops” that show the Google Street View snapshots of the area. You can also upload your own images.

But that’s not all.

What really makes GeoTrio stand out is the ability to easily make an audio recording for each stop on the map.

In many ways its similar to Tripline, which you can read about on The Best Sites Where Students Can Plan Virtual Trips (I’m adding GeoTrio to that list, too). Tripline is “slicker” and lets you grab images off the Web. However, it does not have the ability to provide audio narration.

via larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

Assignment for students:

Use this to plan a trip to someplace you've always wanted to visit or create a presentation to show your online friends about your home town or some place special to you.

Other: teaching, presentation, marketing, even site development tool

Posted via email from Meanderings

Online Resource: Pearson Longman USA ESL/EFL Daily

2011-02-28T10:17:00.001-08:00

Here's another online ESL "newspaper" from paper.li:

Pearson Longman USA ESL/EFL Daily has just been updated, and you can view it at http://paper.li/PearsonLongman/esl-efl-bloggers

Do you have a favorite online resource? Strategy or tips for DIY (Do It Yourself) learning online? Please use the comment feature to share them with us.

The # ESL Daily

2011-02-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

The # ESL Daily is a an automatically generated "daily newspaper" with ESL news, study resources, lesson plans, articles, images and videos aggregated by Paper.li (collected and organized) from tweeted links with #ESL hashtag.

Read Twitter and Facebook as a daily newspaper. paper.li organizes links shared on Twitter and Facebook into an easy to read newspaper-style format.

This is a great way to discover content that matters to you - even if you are not connected 24/7! Use the free application to create your own custom newsletter from tweets you follow on your Twitter account (@youraccountname), lists or even Facebook

Oxford University Press – English Language Teaching – Global Blog

2011-02-15T09:41:00.001-08:00

In the first of a three-part series, Mark Hancock, co-author of the English Result series, defines and explores two kinds of motivation that can lead to different learning outcomes with adult learners of English as a foreign language.

‘Many people give up on learning after they leave school because thirteen or twenty years of extrinsically motivated education is still a source of unpleasant memories. Their attention has been manipulated long enough from the outside by textbooks and teachers, and they have counted graduation as the first day of freedom.’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002)

Three key terms in this quote are motivated, attention, and learning, and they are closely related. Attention determines what appears in consciousness, and without it no learning can be done. Attention is a kind of psychic energy, an effort of the mind, and to make this effort, you must be motivated to do so. The quote implies that there is more than one kind, or quality, of motivation; it speaks of being extrinsically motivated, implying a contrast with intrinsically motivated.

And it seems that these different kinds of motivation can lead to different learning outcomes. Stevick has pointed out, ‘In the long run, the quantity of your students’ learning will depend on the quality of the attention they give to it’ (Stevick 1982). Csikszentmihalyi’s quote is pessimistic about the quantity of learning which will result, in the long run, from relying exclusively on extrinsic motivation.

So what are these two kinds of motivation?

Continue reading ‘Enjoying Learning: Motivating Adults through Content (Part 1)’

via oupeltglobalblog.com

Posted via email from Academentia

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

Explore the history of Valentine's Day, a holiday that celebrates love observed by exchanging candy & gifts. Find out why love is in the air on February 14

Sharing cards and messages about your feelings is another Valentine's Day tradition.

Sometimes you have feelings for someone but you're not sure if they feel the same way about you. To share your feelings straight out can be scary and leaves you very vulnerable. On Valentine's Day, you may want to write a humorous poem, one that feels light and sweet, in order to find out whether they have feelings for you. In this way you won't get hurt if they not interested and you've shown that you are interested if they are. This is a safe way to make your feelings known without getting hurt.

English Lessons for Valentine's Day
Try Eslflow's guide to English language vocabulary and other language lessons about family, friendship, love, marriage and relationships. ESL Lessons for Valentine's Day

Live Teacher ESL Class GMT 5 pm

2011-02-13T11:33:00.001-08:00

Reminder: weekly voice chat (speaking and listening) class with Teacher Dave GMT 5 p.m. Sunday, Sunday February 13, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Location: http://www.tinyurl. com/3ctvsc or http://www.study. com/schedule

Notes: http://www.study. com/indexEnglish .html CLASSROOM ONE (scroll down to find the link) OR http://www.tinyurl. com/3ctvsc

PHRAS.IN ~ Say this or say that?

2011-02-10T05:37:00.001-08:00

Because spell checkers only do 80% of the job.

If you speak English as a second language, you know that using correct spelling doesn't protect you from writing those awkward sounding lines.

Tell me, how many times did you come up with two ways to say the same thing, and couldn't decide which one was the best fit? One solution is to google both expressions and check out the number of web results. Low figures meant that very few people ever phrased the sentence that way, thus it was probably incorrect. On the other hand, higher numbers indicated common use, and the 3 line preview in the results will help you figure out which is the right form.

This tool does just that, in a much quicker and convenient way. Just please remember that this in NOT intended to be a SEO tool.

Written evidence of the workings of the mind

2011-02-09T06:51:00.001-08:00

A useful writing checklist for the self-paced learner, particularly learners preparing for TOEFL and future university studies in an English speaking country. Don't dismiss mistakes as editing carelessness: they can reveal deeper cognitive and language skill gaps. Checklists can help you identify, become more aware of problem areas and address them on your own. The immediate, short term benefit is a better grade.

Students could vastly improve their assignments, and marks, if they followed a few important rules. Tara Brabazon, Times Higher Education, offers a 20-point checklist

Review: Educating Emergent Bilinguals

2011-02-08T18:53:00.001-08:00

Not much about computers or writing but definitely about language learning.

reviewed by Lynn Zimmerman — January 04, 2011
Title: Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners. Search for book at Amazon.com
Author(s): Ofelia Garcia and Jo Anne Kleifgen
Publisher: Teachers College Press, New York
ISBN: 0807751138, Pages: 192, Year: 2010

For Garcia and Kleifgen the question: What’s in a name? is more than an existential question. In their book, Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners, they assert that how the question is answered not only gives a different meaning to the experience of people who are labeled in various ways as learners of English, but also has profound implications for educational policies and practices that impact them. Rather than using the “deficit model” of naming which has been the norm in the education of non-English speaking learners, Garcia and Kleifgen suggest calling them “emergent bilinguals.” This critical act of “re-naming” shifts the focus to the knowledge that they have and to the possibilities of bilingualism instead of focusing on their lack of English and the narrow goal of learning English.

The #ESL Daily and your PLN

2011-02-03T07:57:00.001-08:00

Paper.li uses Twitter hashtags (#) to generate online newsletters from tweets that contain links related to the paper's subject. If you can't find the right newsletter for your learning needs, create your own.

Newsletters are automatically updated daily. Today, The #ESL Daily has articles, stories, videos and pictures from IATEFL, TEFL Net, British Council, ESL.About, links to related "dailies" and a wide variety of ESL teaching and learning blogs. Every issue has links to back issues, which are saved online.

Give your learning a boost by reading The #ESL Daily: add it to your PLN (Personal Learning Network).

Need help with your PLN? Here is a good article, "PLN: Your Personal Learning Network Made Easy," that explains the PLN and will help you start your own.

Here is a wonderful video called "The Networked Student" that shows how on-line networking can enhance your 21st century skills.

When there is a large group of people combing through online resources and then collectively identifying what is the most useful, it makes sense to tap into this collective knowledge

What is Extensive Reading?

2011-01-31T08:03:00.001-08:00

The rationale plus various views, definitions and permutations of the term Extensive Reading

Characteristics of Extensive Reading

from Day & Bamford, p. 7-8

Extensive Reading: Why? and How

by Timothy Bell, from The Internet TESL Journal

The Inescapable Case for Extensive Reading

By Rob Waring, included in A. Cirocki (Ed.) Extensive Reading in English Language Teaching

The Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading

Postgraduate Study & Research

Extensive Reading: What Is It? Why Bother?

by Julian Bamford & Richard R. Day, The Language Teacher, May 1997

Graded and Extensive Reading — Questions and Answers

by Rob Waring, The Language Teacher, May 1997

The Language Learning Benefits of Extensive Reading

by Paul Nation, The Language Teacher, May 1997

Reaching Reluctant Readers

by Richard Day and Julian Bamford, in Forum, Vol 38 No 3, July – September 2000

Reading courses – a question of self-motivation?

by Andrew Barfield, Learning Learning, Vol.3, no.3 (January, 1997)

SSS Extensive Reading Method Proves Effective Way to Learn English

by FURUKAWA Akio, SEG (Scientific Education Group), April 2006

Telling the Truth about Extensive Reading

by Jasna Dubravcic, The Language Teacher, December 1996

Why Extensive Reading should be an indispensable part of all language programs

by Rob Waring (PDF file)

Why do you like Extensive Reading?

Responses to a questionnaire conducted by Rob Waring, Autumn 1999.

via extensivereading.net

Posted via email from Academentia

English Language (ESL) Learning Online

2011-01-27T12:23:00.001-08:00

Hello study group members and visitors,

I'd like to be able to report and start discussing design updates, but it may have to wait a bit longer. I started another set of open online courses. Only Multiliteracies at EVO (TESOL workshop) is ESL related. The other two, Connectivism and Learning Analytics, are still about online education. So expect me to bring back materials and ideas. That's where yesterday's slide show about PLE's came from.

SlideShare presentations make good, short reading assignments. I'll look for some on ESL topics. While I'm busy with the courses, expect more "recycled" lessons like this one ~ in addition to what I pick up in the courses to share with you. Connectivism in action.

Comments and evaluations invited ~ maybe I should add a button for rating posts. Don't forget suggestions and ideas for study group redesign.

Vanessa

Resources for English as a Second Language

UsingEnglish.com provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums, articles, teacher handouts and printables, and find useful links and information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas.

English Reference

English Idioms

English Phrasal Verbs

English Irregular Verbs

Grammar Glossary

Tests & Quizzes

English Quizzes

Language Tests

Reading Comprehension

Language Polls

Articles

English Usage Articles

ESL Weblog

The Editor's Blog

Speaking Out

Teacher Resources

Teacher Handouts & Printables

PDF Lesson Plans & Worksheets

TESOL Forum News

Teacher Articles

Forums

Ask a Teacher...

Learning English

Analysing Language

Teacher Forum

Tools & Resources

Text Analysis & Statistics

Check a Word's Grammar and Usage

Essay Samples

Software Downloads

via usingenglish.com

Posted via email from Academentia

Definitions of Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

2011-01-26T14:45:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Definitions of Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

View more presentations from Ilona Buchem.

Writing Exercise: 25 Word Stories

2011-01-21T18:43:00.001-08:00

... and you can write your own today. How much of a story can you write in just 25 words? Give it a try. Write for yourself, blog your stories, share them with a writing groups or (addressing Blogging English readers) post your story as a comment to this post.

For example, here are "Three Stories Kevin's Meandering Mind Wrote Yesterday"

Some days, the stories just unfold.

Yesterday, I wrote four 25-word stories and I really liked three of them. The fourth was, OK, but not great. Interestingly enough, two of the stories were directly inspired by tweets in my Twitter stream. I read what two of my friends (Bill Ferriter, @plugusin; and Brian Fay, @brianfay) posted, caught a glimpse of a story and wrote it out. The third story just came out of nowhere, but it turns out to be the one I like best of all.

First of all, Bill was posting some thoughts about using a Livescribe pen, which is a nifty transcription tool that can create podcasts from writing and more. So, I wondered, what if the pen didn’t do what it was supposed to do, but did something a little … odd (I may have had Twilight Zone in my mind.)

Thus:

She realized the Livescribe Pen was writing something other than the transcription. It dawned on her then what was happening.

Then, later, Brian was writing about using his wife’s computer. He has been experimenting with the new Google Chrome netbook, which is entirely cloud based, and he was noting how odd it now felt to be living off the desktop instead of in the browser. I like the double meaning of cookies here, and wished I could have played off that a bit more. The constraints of the story didn’t allow that.

Thus:

Near the bookmarks, inside the cache & just out of reach of the cookies, she made a little nest & went to live in her browser.

But the story I really thought I nailed was this next one. I think an NPR story about Wikipedia I listened to the other day was still rolling around in my mind. And I had this idea of connecting a wiki to tattoos, for some reason (I can’t remember the connection I was thinking of now, so I guess it doesn’t really matter). With 25-word stories, remember, it is all about what is not being said, and trying to get a little “kicker” in there. It’s difficult to pull off. I think I did it with this one that, in just a few words, says all you need to know about this relationship. I think the word “tartly,” which I added only in the last moment, makes all the difference in the world here, don’t you?

“What if my body and spirit are nothing but a living wiki,” he wondered. She replied tartly, “You’d have a lot of edits.”

Peace (in the hint fiction),
Kevin

PS — The story I didn’t like so much, even though it hit closer to home?

The taxi rolled up, on schedule. Their eyes never left the cell phones. They opened the door. “Home?” “Duh. Of course, dad.”

via dogtrax.edublogs.org

posted to both Blogging English for my students and Just Writing

Posted via email from Just Writing

My New Year Day's resolution in 2011

2011-01-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry for my no posting to Blogging English for long time.
I found my post on the 'Tag Cloud' on the front page of Blogging English this week. It was dated on January 04, 2008. Its title was 'My New Years Day's Resolution'. It has passed three years since then. I reviewed it.

Well, I keep to do following things everyday.
a) I read an article on web news, Washington Post at least.
b) I listen to news on NPR,ABC, BBC etc.
c) I write my journal.

I couldn't achieve to do following things:
a) " E-mail to friends once a month": I have three friends who exchange e-mail in English. I could have written to a friend only once in three months.
b) "read 3 books in English": I could read only one book in English every year.

To tell the truth, ever day workings in English above become my habits. If I don't do one of them, I feel something wrong. So I'd like to keep these regular habits this year too.

I like reading books in my mother tongue, but I can't read it in English. This is my problem. I'll read two books this year. I announced my resolution in Blogging English. So I do my best to achieve it.

Sadamu

Announcing Blog Changes in Blog

2011-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Blogging English's "who can read" setting for has been changed from "only blog authors" and "by invitation" to "open to all readers by default." Those with posting privileges, designated as contributors, have not been changed. Yet. However, the old saying, "use it or lose" applies here as well.

Settings to send email notifications to our most recent members will be discontinued. Now that the blog is open you can subscribe to updates by RSS feed or email. I'll add buttons for those.

So where does Blogging English go from here? I will continue to post study and English learning materials, links to resources. The emphasis will still be on writing and self-paced study. I welcome posts by contributors but do ask that you check with me first.

What about writing and getting feedback on your? What if you want me to read something you have written ~ and you don't want the whole world to read it?

If that comes up, we can start a group just for writing on Google Groups or Posterous. You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to write privately or with a writing buddy. Finding, reviewing and posting resources for independent writers will be an important project.

At some point though, you will need another set of eyes on what you write. It takes a very long time and much skill to learn how to become your own editor. Peer editing, reading and commenting constructively on someone else's writing help you develop editing skills.

No, I will not read and comment on or edit drafts privately. I will read and offer suggestions on drafts posted to a writing group.

Writing and Learning Independence

2011-01-11T01:18:00.001-08:00

Student: "Aren't you going to correct it for me?"
Me: "No, you're going to do it."
Student: (Disgusted sigh)
There was an article last week on HuffPost College by admissions consultant advising parents on how they can back away from their High School Junior and Senior aged kids in the name of independence and self-sufficiency. And then results of a new survey comes out claiming that parents are hovering around their college attending children more than ever. And while I fall to the side of letting kids go and making their own way and their own mistakes, I don't think that students are adequately prepared to succeed academically on their own.

What do I mean by this? As I stated in my previous column on how most admissions standards encourages a narrow focus on only certain kinds of writing, students have no idea how to adapt their writing depending on the circumstances and demands of their assignments. More troubling, perhaps, is a general inability of students to look at their own writing and work to improve it.
We are currently doing peer-review and self-assessments in my writing classes. The exercises are guided, using questions and directions that exactly mirror my own process when evaluating their work. My goal is to get them to be more critical and aware readers of their own writing, partially through looking at the work of others, partially through repeatedly revising their own writing.
With my developmental writing class, we are working on a short narrative essay, which makes it easier for me to work with them and offer my own feedback along with the feedback of their peers. Plus, this is a developmental writing course - they need more help, or else they wouldn't have been placed in the course to begin with. In my larger 200-level class, we are writing a longer essay. When I revealed to the students that I would not be giving them any feedback on their drafts, I faced an open revolt. How did I expect them to do well on the essay when they didn't know what I would be grading them on?
First question, how do you write your papers in other classes where there is no peer-review or drafting process? Second question, how do you ever expect to be able to do this on your own if you don't start somewhere? If you don't know how to properly cite sources, what good does it do for me to simply correct your mistakes for you? If you don't know the rules for proper comma use (which I have to now check and double-check myself), what good does it do for me to just mark it on your paper?
My goal is always to teach my students skills and how to adapt them to different situation. In other words, academic independence. Or, more appropriately, intellectual independence. Parents can't do their school work for them; then again, neither can I.

via collegereadywriting.blogspot.com

Still no response to the poll. Basically, polling about whether or not to open a closed blog asks study group members to share responsibility for decisions about their learning. So this post about students taking responsibility for their learning ~ the only road to academic independence ~ is my response to non-responsiveness.

Posted via email from Academentia

A REMINDER!

2011-01-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Take the Study Group Poll

NOW

My PLN Blueprint in 5 parts

2011-01-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

Educator Tom Whitby, blogging from My Island View, writes,

This was one of my early posts explaining how I became involved in Social Media and the idea of a Personal Learning Network.It seems to be a topic that needs to be continually explained because of the growing number of educators who continue to enter the world of social media for educators.

Part 1
One of today’s educational buzzwords, or fad terms is the PLN. For my purposes it stands for Personal Learning Network. Others call it a Professional Learning Network or Community or even Environment. That would be PLN, PLN, PLC, or PLE. Many educators today are involved understanding and developing their own PLN’s. Everyone has one, and each is different and as unique as a fingerprint. Some employ technology, and others dwell in faculty rooms across the country and around the world.

The history of my PLN began back in the late 70’s. It was formed not through the technology of the computer, but rather about the technology of a 27 foot sailing vessel. It was merely a sailboat, but in my mind, being my first boat, it was truly a vessel.
I live on Long Island in New York. It is a place where boating thrives for about five to six months a year, beginning in June and ending in October. As I grew up, I always went on others’ boats, but never owned my own. Working in a school district of a community on the shore of an island, I found many of my faculty friends were avid boaters. More specifically they were sail boaters , or more accurately, sailors. It was at this time of my life that I made a big decision to become a boat owner. I purchased a brand new 27 foot O’Day sailboat. There was only one small drawback to this major purchase and commitment, I had no idea how to sail.

I took a Coast Guard Course and read a bunch of books. I ordered several catalogues and every sailing Magazine subscription I could get delivered. As my purchase was being readied for delivery, I determined that my preparation might be lacking. That is when I developed a plan out of desperation. This was to be my first organized development of a Personal Learning Network.

The plan was simple and bordered on genius. It was based on knowing that sailors are a breed of boaters who love to sail at every opportunity. I informed the Yacht dealer that I wanted to take delivery of my vessel in the water and ready to sail in April. This was unheard of, since boating season did not really get going until June. That, however, was the genius part. I had two months before all of the sailors that I knew would have their own boats in the water. I on the other hand had a spanking-new Sailing vessel at their “Beck and call”. They only needed to take the owner along for the sail. I had about ten experienced sailors teaching me all that they knew in my Personal Learning Network. I was golden.

I also recognized that I stumbled upon a real plan for personal learning. I did not want to make any other major purchases to test my assumptions, but I did pay close attention to what I had accomplished and how I did it. I took note of what I needed to know and how I gather those who knew it around me.

With the advent of the Internet I have expanded my reach for those who know what I need to know. I have developed a PLN beyond the faculty room and to Educational experts literally around the world.

via tomwhitby.wordpress.com

Possibly the best description of the Personal Learning Network and how it works. Thinking just in terms of technology is misleading. I remember my first PLN: I was 14 and certainly didn't call it that. I was just trying to learn about something new on my own. Posted via email from Academentia

Listen and Write - Dictation

2011-01-06T16:37:00.001-08:00

Home

Levels

Youtube

Channel

Language

Collaboration

Improve your listening skills and hear about the news.
Listen-and-write.com is free listening practice.

via listen-and-write.com

Posted via email from Academentia

Cool websites to teach writing

2010-12-31T15:04:00.001-08:00

Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

As a language teacher I really find it difficult to motivate my students to start writing in class. The Internet is a resource that complements the dynamics of my class. It is easy to access, up-to-date and immediate source of authentic materials. Since I started introducing technology and using a wiki with Middle school my classes have definitely changed. Please check below the cool sites we have been using this year.

Writing Fun A MUST for teachers. This website motivated my students to enhance their writing skills.

The Writing Site Check this website with a great variety of tech integration ideas.

iWrite Provides several examples for students to learn how to write effectively.

Writing Fix Practice Prompt Recommendations.

Writing Exemplars I make my students search for writing samples created by other students worldwide.

Interactive Scoring Another website that provides writing samples to use with your students.

via jenverschoor.wordpress.com

In a self-paced study group, you are your own teachers, although (as a college writing teacher) teaching yourself writing still calls for 3rd party feedback. What is your strategy for getting feedback on your writing?

Posted via email from Academentia

Pros & cons of group vs private submission & review

2010-12-30T13:52:00.001-08:00

Posted by Dr. Karen F. Kellison, Program Director Educational Technology, James Madison University, to an IT forum that I follow. See also Death to the Digital Dropbox: Rethinking Student Privacy and Public Performance

by Patrick R. Lowenthal and David Thomas. All this goes to the question of public vs private submission, peer review (sharing writing with group), group work, etc.

Over the past year, I have incorporated peer review and public support/critique of student work in my classes. Students are very nervous at the idea. It appears to be very foreign to most of them, having previously exchanged their ideas and work only with the teacher. However, my experience as been extremely positive. Students come to appreciate the opportunity to learn from each other and, in fact, their final products reflect that they consider and apply many of the recommendations of their peers - and to critique is to also internalize the idea of what is 'good' and how to get there.

Students learn from each other - as they would in a real world task, one would hope, and I have the opportunity to see if anyone is veering way off track prior to receiving a final product for grading. Student feedback (graduate level) has been overwhelmingly positive and, rather than a 'con' listed as "Discouragement by sense of inferiority to others." I find they support one another and are encouraged to improve their final product.

Likewise, this approach does not displace my input and guidance (if that is the meaning of the con "Displaces expert feedback") and another Pro is that it forces students to keep up with assignments and makes it painfully public when they are not prepared - at least I find that is a Pro in my book. Students don't mind making a few excuses to the teacher, but they seem to be uneasy when they are unprepared in front of peers.

Pros and Cons referred to in the paragraphs above:

Pros

Replaces regular weekly discussions with project-centric discussion
Feedback of many eyes, peer review
Synergy of community support through each stage
Mimics feedback opportunities in professional work environments

Cons

Anxiety of exposure
Discouragement by sense of inferiority to others
Displaces expert feedback

If you want to ask a question, add or modify this list, provide alternative ideas or respond to topic in general, please post as comment.

Note: cross-posted to both Blogging English, a closed (so far) ESL study group, and the public blog, Computers, Language, Writing

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Study Group Poll

2010-12-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hello all. Here's the poll about opening the blog. There are three answers: Yes; No; Undecided. Voting is anonymous: no one will know how you voted. Obviously, participation level (number of votes cast) will show what turn out is like. Votes not cast (low turn out) will count as #3 or undecided. If the the majority is undecided, then I will decide what to do with the blog, what changes to make.

Tentatively, the poll will run 2-3 weeks. I'll send all blog members, including past members I still have addresses for, at least one email reminder. When I make the next blog post, I'll put a copy of the poll at the top of the sidebar so that it will stay visible and easy to find.

polling, roulette game, william hill poker, CASINO REVIEWS, ONLINE CASINO BLACKLIST

Use comments to discuss pros and cons ~ advantages and disadvantages ~ of changing Blogging English to a public blog. Feel to make suggestions and share your ideas about what direction Blogging English should take in 2011.

resolutions & other end of year thoughts

2010-12-28T18:14:00.001-08:00

Have you thought about your New Years resolutions? That is always a good writing exercise. Writing them is easy. Keeping them is the hard part. Do yourself a favor: be realistic. Set possible goals and not too many.

What is a New Year's Resolution?
Top 10 New Year's Resolutions
How to write your New Year's resolutions
How to write a New Year's Resolution contract (not the same as a list of resolutions
A New Years post about writing learning tips into resolutions at StudyCom's Question Board

I run the Question Board and wrote the post. You are always welcome to post questions about English grammar and usage there. Don't ask me to look up words or correct writing for you though. I also post resources, links and short lessons. Here's a recent mini-lesson on metaphors & writing from the Board

I'm still thinking about how to frame the survey question about going public. The more I think about it, the better I like the idea. Who knows, maybe drop in visitors will stir things up, get discussion going. We'll make this a really open class. Plus, I'll save time ~ no answering more mail, assigning writing samples and assessments, processing applications. Just show up. Or not.

Season's Greetings: a tree, gifts & music

2010-12-23T13:34:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas tree is an example of visual poetry, a sonnet in the shape of a Christmas tree in a planter.

Next "under the tree" (in a manner of speaking) is Larry Ferlazzo's up-to-date list of the Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa

What are holidays without music? Jingle Jams: A Holiday Mix From NPR Music is an online playlist is from National Public Radio. NPR Music asked partner stations to submit their favorite holiday songs. The continuous stream is packed with gems from Bach to The Ramones to Louis Armstrong. It's a perfect playlist for the season.

Note: These songs play in a continuous loop — you will be joining in midstream

5 Online (EFL/ESL) Pronunciation Resources

2010-12-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

5 Online (EFL/ESL) Pronunciation Resources via I hope it works! by Ronaldo Lima, Jr. on 12/16/10. Ronaldo writes,

On my Phonetics and Phonology wiki there are hundreds of resources, including dozens of links
similar to ones posted here, so feel free to drop by and take whatever you want (as long as it is for educational use and with the appropriate references, of course).

Here are my 5 of my favorite online resources for EFL/ESL pronunciation:

Phonetics: The Sounds of American English - This website was created by the University of Iowa and it has a great visual display. The sounds are divided into manner of articulation, place of articulation and voicing (for the consonants); and monophthongs and diphthongs (for the vowels). Once you click a symbol, you can see the movement of the speech organs on an animation, you can break this animation into step-by-step movements/description, you can see a video of a person pronouncing the sound, and you can hear words that contain the sound. It's great for professionals wanting to learn/review the symbols and for students looking for specific pronunciation practice/reinforcement.
Cambridge Pronunciation - Very simple yet useful information in great animations (simulating a movie theater). You choose to work with sounds (which are actually diphthongs), stress (word and sentence), intonation and the phonemic chart.
Another resource by Cambridge, with lots of pronunciation games, is Cambridge English Online.
BBC Pronunciation Tips is a website with videos, charts, videos, quizzes, podcasts, and the three programs that BBC Learning English produced on pronunciation as part of the Talk about English series in 2005. The best of all is that most things are downloadable.
Rachel's English is a website that I have discovered recently. Its greatest highlight is the videos produced by Rachel. The videos are useful for both teachers and students, for Rachel doesn't drone on and on about terminology and theory, but rather shows the subtleties of the movements of the speech organs in high quality videos. You can also connect to her youtube channel and her twitter account.

Coming next: Phonetics and Phonology online resources for graduate students and professors.

on rewriting

2010-12-17T22:42:00.001-08:00

This short article illustrates the deep difference between making corrections, proofreading or copy editing, and rewriting,

William James on rewriting from Sentence first

William James said he wrote every page of the Principles of Psychology four or five times over. Vladimir Nabokov made a similar admission: that he had rewritten, often several times, every word he had ever published.

The craft of writing is in large part rewriting. The main thing at first is to get our ideas down — to record rough outlines, key images and impressions. After that comes the slower work of rewriting: changing and rearranging, pruning and smoothing. We strengthen connections, tighten syntax, pare away the clutter, and find words that tally better with our intentions.

Rewriting overlaps with editing. Both aim to enhance the sense, structure, style and coherence of prose. Writers often describe the act of verbal composition in three-dimensional spatial terms, almost as though they were sculpting. The comparison is familiar. Sculptors prod and pester and play with a lump until at last, inspected from various angles, it has become a luminous or at least bearable object.

In a letter to his friend Sarah Whitman, to whom he had sent some proofs of the Principles, William James wrote:

If there is aught of good in the style, it is the result of ceaseless toil in rewriting. Everything comes out wrong with me at first; but when once objectified in a crude shape, I can torture and poke and scrape and pat it till it offends me no more.

Toil, torture, scrape, offends: his words convey concretely the difficulty of rewriting. This is why some people dislike it. It takes practice and perseverance to master the selection and arrangement of words. Ernest Hemingway told the Paris Review that he rewrote the last page of A Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied with it. Asked what the problem was, he replied, "Getting the words right." James would have sympathized.

Catching up and considering directions

2010-12-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

Catching up:

Our Blogging English group has a new member, Eric (English nickname), who has been lurking, checking out the page and getting to know us ~ as best he can in the company of lurkers.

@Eric ~ please post your introduction as a comment to this post. Other not-so new members who have yet to introduce yourselves, please do the same. Until I either work out better ways to get you to write or give up on it altogether, I'll stick with the old, familiar standbys: nagging and posting reminders as well as asking you to write reviews, share opinions and respond to posts.

I haven't post a reply to Sadamu yet because, in addition to getting caught up in other writing and internet obligations, I've been thinking about what to write. That also means thinking about what he wrote, my overreaction, obvious misunderstandings, implications for the self-paced learning project, learning and teaching styles and strategies, and especially about writing.

There's enough for more than a post there. Too much to cover here or in a single comment. Here's the short version: I apologize to Sadamu for having overreacted. I was less disappointed in his reply (which I still think missed the point) than in the failure of the group to write and post. Needing to re-write is NOT an excuse for not writing to on the class writing blog. If I don't see your writing, I'm going to assume that you are not writing. So if you are, show me.

Revision or re-writing is another matter altogether and a complex task with many steps that even most native speaker college students don't get. Of course you should proof-read before posting to correct basic mistakes that you notice. You should also reread what you have written, perhaps read it out loud to yourself to make sure it makes sense. That's your initial draft, which may be just fine for informal writing. Then share it by posting so we can give you feedback, comment, offer suggestions and so on.

This process is called peer review. In a way it goes back to and depends on introductions (the ones most of you have not posted). Why? Because we need to know your writing goals and purpose to make helpful suggestions. For example, I know that Eric plans to take the TOEFL. He will be given a limited time to write a short formal essay. Therefore, we know that Eric can't afford to settle for informal writing. What can other goals tell us?

Indirectly, this brings me to the second part of the title, considering directions...

If no one is willing to write, then what is the purpose? Should I make this blog public and just post lessons, study materials and "learning to learn" information? I made the blog private rather than public for you to have privacy and be more comfortable sharing your writing. It's up to you.

You may be able to make some improvement in your writing just by writing alone and for yourself. On the other hand, you could end up just reinforcing mistakes and not improving but fossilizing mistakes. For sure, you are unlikely to become a proficient writer without feedback. Good writers, even great and famous ones, need feedback, to be told where they had problems and what they needed to fix. It's up to you.

How to Help Students Write Better

2010-12-02T10:29:00.001-08:00

Although this is a self study group (which means I don't make a habit of marking student writing), writing is a primary focus. That makes this article relevant. If you want to write better, feedback and revision are necessary. How do you propose handling that within our DIY (do it yourself) structure?
So is writing, not that anyone else has been doing much of that lately.

The following are not my words and do not apply to blogging on the study group blog, which is informal writing to practice writing and very different from college writing.

Happy Holidays.... all of them

2010-11-25T10:00:00.001-08:00

Second Language Listening with Blogs and Odiogo

2010-11-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hello all ~ here's a resource about listening and blogs. We could use free text to voice software to make this blog a listening resource.

Second Language Listening with Blogs and Odiogo

However, I see two problems:

1) I don't want you to stop reading.
2) We may need to "go public" to use the feature.

What do you think?

PS While looking for a "writing and listening" graphic to accompany this post, I found this site you might find useful: Time4English, a free site for learning English online, 6 levels and over 360 lessons in listening, reading, writing and grammar. Take a look and evaluate it: should we add it to our list of online learning resources?

TOEFL Poetics

2010-11-21T22:42:00.001-08:00

Ryan Daley on Buffalo Poetics writes about Tests of English as a Foreign Language...

Back in May, and back when I was teaching a TOEFL test instruction class, I would spend so much time preparing and teaching per week that my writing was suffering. Then I came up with an idea.

On the TOEFL test there is a 30-minute essay segment. Test takers have 30 minutes to write a 300 word essay in answer to an assigned question. These questions are usually somewhat mundane, i.e., one custom from your country you would share, etc. My goal was to write at least 75 essays and to repurpose them. While doing this, I also like I was sticking it to the powers observing us (Cameras were placed in each room, for "quality control").

To cut it short: I have roughly 60 TOEFL (poetic) essays up at my blog, http://charitablegiving.blogspot.com. Check 'em out! And thanks for reading!

Sample essay

Q. If you could change one aspect of the public school/schools you attended, what would you change, how would you change it, and why? Use reasons and examples to support your response.

A. Education is a tricky subject. As with figuring out anything, many variables involved in the deep process. Students emerge from schools at the end of the day and it's easy to forget that they belong to a community housed within several fortifications, cafes and playgrounds. I would change a few things about my school's construction and the administrative hierarchy.

Schools are built much like prisons. We are interested in keeping children and their noises, their dramas as well as their affinities, inside and locked away. A brighter school with less restraints would improve matters for children. They would not feel the cold gray sky behind the gratings on the windows, would not lunch in the same linoleum room like those dentists use to calmly wash out patients' mouths, would not sing on a stage so lofty that the smallest squeak cannot be heard. We silence the children, and we assume they behave better this way. However, when children are unleashed they destroy property. This is because they hold their emotions so pent up. Generous little beings are not captivated by the dull school surroundings. Gym balls will bounce with resounding joy if only we update the facilities which school our children.

School administrations refuge in lonely temperance behind desks which expose children early to alienation of processes. How many times will they see desk housing a person? Fresh new faces entice all guests to share the most important information with the desk's occupant, and in the quickest manner. Imagine what fresh faces enliven the office environs, while increasing productivity. To this end, all school admins and educators who are entrenched should be alternated every 5 years. A bargaining period is born of this, during which time admins would prove their worth. However, teachers are accustomed to unstable living situations already. Administrators and office dregs should share in this renewal.

The Poetics List is moderated & does not accept all posts. Guidelines: http://epc.buffalo.edu/poetics/welcome.html

Model of learning in a PLE

2010-11-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

Plenk2010 is over but not the sharing. It's only just begun. Not just for teachers, learners are welcome too, so maybe next time some of you will join me.

Do you understand the distinction between PLN (network) and PLE (environment)? This model from Rita Kop's post at Observations about learning, knowledge and technology on modeling PLE based learning shows how complex and dynamic the process is. In other words, not to worry if you are still confused. I am and so are most of the MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) participants.

To quote Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great balls of fire" and "whole lotta shakin' goin' on"

The other PLENK news is that one of the facilitators started a focus group to research lurker learning, lurking as a learning strategy. If it's now an object of research, I guess I will need to be more patient with and tolerant of Blogging English's lurker. However, that doesn't mean I'll stop asking you to respond, post, comment ~ participate! Maybe the research focus group will come up with encouraging or at least useful results for us.

PLN Competencies

2010-11-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

PLN Competencies
Filed under: Coaching,MOOC — Steve LeBlanc @ 1:28 am
You don’t have a strong PLN (Personal Learning Network) the moment you show up at the right group, even if it is the perfect fit for your particular interest. Admittedly, finding a group of folks who share your passions can offer support, guidance and quick tips for simple challenges. For example, finding the right quilting group for a lone quilter can be a dream come true.
But what if your passions are not so neatly contained? What if your interests are broad and interdisciplinary? Specifically, what if you just can’t find a group that shares your varied interests? You could join different groups for your different interests or even create a new one. That works fine for discrete fields, that is, until you start to ask cross-cultural questions no one else in that group is interested in.
A strong PLN is not just a group of people, any more than a strong college education is the particular college you went to. A friend of mine had this to say of his Harvard degree: “The classes I took were not what made my education so valuable. It was more about the friendships I made and the radically different world view I acquired while there. Things I used to think impossible became matter-of-fact, almost mundane.”

via sleve.wordpress.com

Be sure to read the whole article. This is just the teaser and tip of the iceberg. I think it clarifies "network" as opposed to "environment," although making too much of the distinction gets in the way of understanding and using. The short version: network is part of your learning environment but not its totality. Shorter version: both are resources (of any kind) that you learn with and/or from.

The corollary is that you can learn by following passively (lurking) but you will always learn more when you participate actively.

ExtensiveReading: A Christmas Carol

2010-11-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Carol must be one of the most universally recognised titles in English literature. I have prepared a website with graded extracts, activities and links to currently availabe readers and the original (etext)

You can find it here:

http://christmascarol.esolebooks.com/

The extracts use special software that allows comfortable online reading. This should be a significant plus for some reluctant readers.

Study Tips for Online Learning

2010-11-16T14:08:00.001-08:00

Top 4 Study Tips for Distance Learners and Students Taking Online Courses

by Carson Kelly, a freelance writer and advocate of online learning.

Online degree programs and distance learning offer a wealth of advantages – they provide a convenient way to obtain a quality education while maintaining a full-time job, they position you for job advancement and they enable you to complete your courses anytime and anywhere. However, since you won't be meeting for scheduled classes on campus each day or week, you need to have good study habits to stay on track and avoid falling behind. By following four simple study tips, you can be on your way to the successful completion of your online classes.

1. Create an Optimal Study Environment
Some students are easily distracted and need complete silence, while others find the stimulation of a lively environment conducive to creative thinking. Identify what setting works best for you when you're viewing lectures, working on assignments and taking tests for your online classes. Regardless of where you choose to study, it's important to have a comfortable workspace and proper lighting. Since you'll be spending a lot of time in front of a computer, you may find it helpful to get up from time to time to take a break and stretch your legs.

If you're working at home, be sure to let your roommates, friends or family know that you have a regularly scheduled study time. Ask them to avoid unnecessary interruptions, and tell them you won't be taking phone calls. It's important to set boundaries if you expect to succeed with distance learning and stay on top of your coursework. If there are too many disruptions at home, consider going to your local library or coffee shop. Make sure you find a quiet, out-of-the-way spot, and resist the temptation to chat with other patrons.

2. Plan Your Time Wisely
Time management can be one of the most difficult aspects of taking online courses. Some days, you may be too tired after work to focus on your studies; other days, you may be tempted to go out with friends or feel compelled to take care of housework. If you're not careful, you can quickly fall behind in your online classes.

At the beginning of the week, review the lectures, assignments and exams you'll need to complete, and set aside a specific block of time each day to accomplish the work. Just as you take a shower and brush your teeth each day, you need to make studying for your online courses a daily habit. You likely chose web-based classes because you have a busy schedule, and it's easy to get distracted with other obligations. Learning to effectively manage your time is a major factor in the successful completion of your online education.

3. Connect With Other Students in Your Online Courses
No one works well in a vacuum, and that's especially true for learning online. Just because you're not attending classes in a group setting doesn't mean you have to work alone. The best online degree programs will offer multiple ways to communicate with your classmates, such as message boards, online chat rooms and email. These online forums offer a great way to share ideas, get answers to your questions and make new friendships with students who share similar interests.

In addition to one-on-one conversations, take advantage of virtual study groups for each of your classes online. Participating in group discussions can enhance your team-building skills and provide new perspectives on the class subject matter.

4. Establish a Dialog With Your Distance Learning Instructor
Just as it's important to create connections with your fellow classmates, you should establish ongoing communication your online instructors. Your professors are more than just lecturers; they are an important resource in helping you to get the most out of your online education. You can start the dialog by asking questions. Whether you'd like clarification on a simple issue or help understanding a complex topic, your instructors want to know how they can help you and what you think of their online coursework. Your fellow classmates are likely to have the same questions as you, so you can also help others by taking the initiative to ask questions.

ESL Videos | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

2010-11-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

ESL Videos | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...: "MES English has some nice teaching videos for Beginning English Language Learners. I wouldn’t quite add them to The Best Online Video Sites For Learning English, but they’re still worth bookmarking."

About World Languages

2010-11-11T10:17:00.001-08:00

Language Difficulty for English Speakers

How long will it take to become proficient in a foreign language?
People often ask: "How long will it take me to become proficient in language X?" This question is impossible to answer because a lot depends on a person's language learning ability, motivation, learning environment, intensity of instruction, and prior experience in learning foreign languages. Last, but not least, it depends on the level of proficiency the person wishes to attain.

Different language skills
There is no such thing as across-the-board proficiency in a particular language. Proficiency is usually measured in terms of four skills:

speaking

reading

listening

writing

Learners usually have different levels of proficiency in the four skills. Consequently, the four skills cannot be assessed by one test. Each one requires an independent evaluation.

Levels of proficiency
Two widely used guidelines identify stages of proficiency, as opposed to achievement. Both guidelines represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Each description is a representative sample of a particular range of ability, and each level subsumes all previous levels, moving from simple to complex.

It is important to understand that these guidelines are not intended to measure what an individual has achieved through specific classroom instruction but rather to allow assessment of what an individual can and cannot do, regardless of where, when, or how the language has been acquired.
ACTFL (American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages) has guidelines for speaking (1999) and preliminary guidelines for writing. The ILR (US Government Interagency Language Roundtable) has guidelines for speaking, reading, listening, writing and translation.
The two sets of guidelines for speaking only are given side-by-side below. Note that the ACTFL scale goes up only to the Superior level, while the ILR scale includes Advanced Professional Proficiency and Functionally Native Proficiency. ...more

via aboutworldlanguages.com

World Languages is a commercial site but also a one-stop information website "dedicated to the world’s most important and populous languages... and language-related IT,"

OK so it's not about learning English, per se, but information about languages in general and learning languages does relate.

In particular, the chart for assessing different language skills and levels of proficiency seems adaptable to skills and levels in others languages.

Also a source about individual world languages, language families, fascinating language factoids (which always made language learning more interesting for me)

Posted via email from Meanderings

Listen to NPR Podcasts

2010-11-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Improve your listening comprehension: practice listening to English by NPR podcast: NPR Podcast Directory

Vocabulary in English

2010-11-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

"With the Internet learning vocabulary in English is easier than ever! This lesson plan focuses on helping improve vocabulary in English using two fantastic, and free, internet tools to learn important words that go together (collocations). The lesson can also be used by English learners on their own as it explains the process step-by-step.

For more information on the wide range of vocabulary in English resources on the site, use this guide on how to improve vocabulary as your starting point."

Vocabulary in English

A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blog Posts

2010-11-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

If any of you have a blog for your PLE and practicing writing in English - and have been blogging, please let me know.

The blog post excerpted below is about student blogging. It applies to advanced writers blogging as part of a college course that requires more writing and much longer posts. Still, the basic guidelines would apply reasonably well if you were being graded, which you are not. Still, evaluating your own work and progress is part of self-paced study. How would you rephrase or interpret these guidelines?

Prof Hacker writes,

"In my efforts to quickly and fairly evaluate blog posts, I developed a simple 5-point scale, which rates each post according to the level of critical thinking and engagement displayed in the post. The rubric is quick and easy and in roughly 1–2 minutes I know what to rate any given blog post:

Rating	Characteristics
4	Exceptional. The blog post is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The post demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic.
3	Satisfactory. The blog post is reasonably focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The post reflects moderate engagement with the topic.
2	Underdeveloped. The blog post is mostly description or summary, without consideration of alternative perspectives, and few connections are made between ideas. The post reflects passing engagement with the topic.
1	Limited. The blog post is unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of student engagement with the topic.
0	No Credit. The blog post is missing or consists of one or two disconnected sentences."

A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blogs - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Scientific research shows how we "learn" without "learning"

2010-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

According to interesting research done at the University of California" you can learn without realizing what you are doing."  The new study  offers insights into the effectiveness of things like the Communicative Approach to language learning and Extensive Reading.

http://www.livescience.com/health/050727_learning_habit.html

What do you think about this?

Vocabulary Websites with Emphasis on Oral English

2010-10-30T22:23:00.001-07:00

Oct 30, Vocabulary Websites with Emphasis on Oral English via Teaching Writing Blog at You-Can-Teach-Writing.com  on 10/30/10

 Teachers can differentiate instruction for students who need to hear the pronunciation of English words by referring students to two vocabulary websites that have an oral emphasis.

Vanessa Vaile wants to share "Integrate Technology in the Classroom"

2010-10-30T09:33:00.001-07:00

Bookmark: https://sites.google.com/site/techintegrationsite/

Vanessa Vaile's notes: This site is setup to give you an overview of a book, "Great Ways to Integrate Technology in the Classroom-21st Century Curriculum: Activities That Will Keep Your Students Engaged". It is intended to help teachers integrate technology into their curriculum.

Social Media and Learning, Part 1: Social Bookmarking, Social Filesharing and Social Networking, http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/articles/sml1.html
What is Social Bookmarking and what can it do for you: http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialbookmarking101/p/aboutsocialtags.htm
Social bookmarking and strategies for interactive learning: http://kb.blackboard.com/display/SCLR/Social+Bookmarking+Strategies+for+Interactive+Learning
About Delicious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicious_(website)

More of my teaching and ESL bookmarks at
- http://www.delicious.com/vcrary/teaching and http://www.delicious.com/vcrary/esl
---------------------------------
Delivered by Delicious.com: the tastiest bookmarks on the web

Free Movie Classics Online

2010-10-26T22:40:00.001-07:00

Here's a fun way to practice your listening. Add writing practice to your movie watching experience by writing a review to share with the group. Here's a link to an article on how to write a movie review.

Free Movies: Watch the Classics & Gems Online via Open Culture

Almost a year ago, we started scouring the web for free movies – for films worth your precious time. We started with 75, and now we're above 200. What will you find on the ever-growing list of Free Movies Online?

Films by Orson Welles, Francis Ford Coppola, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Brian DePalma, Jean-Luc Godard, Andrei Tarkovsky, Fritz Lang, Elia Kazan, Howard Hawks, Ida Lupino, Ken Loach, Akira Kurosawa, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese.

The list covers many different genres (comedies, film noir, indies, documentaries, short and animated films, even some noteworthy B movies) and spans the entire history of cinema, moving from early silent films to contemporary movies. It also features brilliant performances by major actresses and actors – too many to name right here.

For copyright reasons, there's generally a heavy emphasis on the classics. If you have time to spare, check out the full collection of Free Movies Online. And if we're missing any good ones, please feel free to send us your tips or add them to the comments section below.

Find more good free stuff on Open Culture. Follow on Facebook and Twitter!

Your latest post

2010-10-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Takaram

I visited your blog this morning. I could read your post dated on October 17. There was no your post dated on October 26.

By the way, I looked for "get somewhere" on my big dictionary and I understand what it means. Thank you for your e-mail. I got wiser.

Sadamu

A World To Change

2010-10-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Here is a project I have been involved with lately. It's not the only one but is the one that relates to what we are doing here. I am following, not taking for credit, an online course called a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) that is about PLNs, learning technology and approaches to/ theories about teaching and learning. Sound familiar?

Personally, I'm partial to edupunk. What about you?

"This week I am in week five of an online course called PLENK, which I'm offering with three colleagues in the research community here in Canada.

As we reach the midpoint of the course, enrollment has just passed 1500 student mark. The discussions are reasonably active, we're aggregating 227 student blogs, 1340 of them are reading the daily newsletter, and the tweet count has just passed 1701.

We're not the first people in the world to offer an online course, of course. Nor is this the largest online course ever offered -- it doesn't even match our own record of 2200 participants, which we reached in 2008 with Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, much less the other online courses that have been offered over the years.

Our course is just the latest in a series of projects intended to rethink the concept of a course, to redesign learning, learning theory and learning technology, and to open access to learning to every person (or at least, every person with an internet connection) in the world. More on that in a bit.

PLENK -- Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge -- is about an emerging online learning technology called the personal learning environment, or PLE. Some of us are building PLEs."

Read the rest at A World To Change ~ Stephen's Web

PS Now it's your turn to write about what you've been working on.

new learning video: In the House

2010-10-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

A new English vocabulary video, In the House, has been uploaded to My English Dictionary
The 28 words in the learn English video include: air conditioner, bathtub, bed, chair, chandelier
closet, clothes dryer, computer, curtains, door, iron, ironing board, monitor, night stand, painting, pillow, plant, radiator, rug, sewing machine, sofa, stairs, table, telephone, television, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, window

The address for the new video is http://www.my-english-dictionary.com/in-the-house-video.htm

Please comment on the video and others at the same site. Do you recommend this video and website to group members? How would you rate the site? What learning level is it most suitable for?

The My English Dictionary site owner also welcomes feedback and invites you to share the video.

Does Language Emerge?

2010-10-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

English (or any other language people speak) is hopelessly unsuited to serve as our internal medium of computation....People can be forgiven for overrating language. Words make noise, or sit on a page, for all to hear and see. Thoughts are trapped inside the head of the thinker. To know what someone else is thinking, or to talk to each other about the nature of thinking, we have to use – what else, words! Stephen Pinker – The Language Instinct

Does language emerge? And what exactly does that mean? Sugata Mitra defines emergence as the appearance of a property not previously observed as a functional characteristic of the system. Meddings and Thornbury (Teaching Unplugged) define emergence as “the idea that certain systems are more than the sum of their parts and that a small number of rules or laws can generate systems of surprising complexity”. All right, then. Why is it that I am writing about this?

On your way to the closing paragraph below, read the rest of Does Language Emerge? in Doing some thinking

The closing paragraph:

Language can be taught, it can be learned, consciousness awareness is also an important aspect to be taken into account, but language also emerges. Learners will go beyond the bits and pieces that they’ve been taught and will be able to come up with something original as long as we teach them it’s OK to try. It is language interaction that fosters language learning, not exposure alone. And interaction asks for originality, it asks for more than what was taught. It asks for a certain drive to speak and manipulate the language, which subsequently emerges naturally.

English Learning Tips

2010-10-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Improve English Quickly - English Learning Tips Quick Learning and Teaching

The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics

2010-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

As you may already have noticed, Web 2.0 and social networking tools play an important part in building Personal Learning Networks. Which ones do you already use? Which ones are you unfamiliar with? Try to become more familiar with at least 1-2 more and make them part of your Personal Learning Environment. Plus, you can learn more uses even for the ones you are familiar with.

To avoid confusion and use basic tools effectively, you need to know more about even ones you don't think you'll use. You don't have to use all of the Web 2.0 tools you learn about, but knowing more will help you make better choices.

ESL Teacher Larry Ferlazzo, who maintains an outstanding website on learning links, writes,

"I thought it would be helpful to share a list of the sites that I’ve found most helpful and accessible in explaining how to use key Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis, Flickr, social bookmarking, RSS readers, etc. You can also find links to the sites I list here, and many more, on the Teachers’ Page on my website.

There are three sites that I think stand above all the others. They all provide very understandable step-by-step explanations for a variety of key tools. And I think all three are equally good. One is Sue Waters’ Mobile Technology In TAFE Wiki. Another is Vicki Davis’ Cool Cat Teacher Wiki. And the third great site on my list is Russell Stannard’s Teacher Training Videos.

It would probably be okay to stop reading right here, since these three sites more than likely can provide you with all the information you need. However, there are a few more excellent resources you might want to check-out if you have the time.

There are two other places that offer exceptional information on a number of Web 2.0 tools. One is Common Craft, which makes simple explanatory videos. The other is Tim Davies’ blog, where you can print-out a series of one-page guides he wrote about Web 2.0 resources. Other sites have good resources for specific tools.

(read more on The Best Places to Learn Web 2.0 Basics)

PLENK Week 6: October 18, 2010

2010-10-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

Not required reading for he Blogging English study group but posted in case anyone is interested. I would recommend the readings for educators, anyone using communication technologies extensively... and perhaps anyone raising their own crop of or working with digital natives. As for CLW (Computers, Language, Writing), since I'm cross-posting, adding commentary, reflections and such will be in order. I'd like to read and think about selections first as well read PLENK blog reactions and any reactions from the Blogging English study group. Maybe by the end of PLENK I'll have figured out how to add my link there.

Readings: Using PLE/Ns effectively: skills, mindsets, and critical literacies

How have you developed in your understanding of PLE/Ns? After discussions this past week, we've closed the loop on the main topics that relate to defining and evaluating PLE/Ns...detailing tools...and considering future directions.

In week 6, we will focus on the skills needed to be successful with PLE/Ns. What does a learner need to be able to do/to think/to be in order to function in a digital world? The term "literacy" is central here. What does it mean to be literate? By my (George) definition literacy is the ability to participate in the dominant modes of discourse in a particular era.

Being literate requires technical skills, conceptual mindsets, as well as an attitude of tolerance of complexity and ambiguity. These skills are not prominent in many schools and universities. Many students aren't digitally literate either. Our generation is in a transition phase where those who need to teach literacy are often not digitally literate themselves. So it shouldn't surprise educators that students sometimes do silly things online - they are raising themselves in this environment...the mentors are not the adults and teachers that modelled behaviour for previous generations. Mind you, that might not actually be a bad thing

Readings for this week:

New Media Literacy in Education (Robin Good, Howard Rheingold)

Critical Thinking Resources

Some factors to consider when designing semi-autonomous learning environments

Speaking in LOL Cats: What literacy means in the digital era

more PLENK: learning as exploration

2010-10-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

From a PLENK2010 live session, organizer and Canadian educator Stephen Downes compares learning to exploring a city

PLENK

2010-10-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

a couple of links on networked and self-paced learning from an online open course I'm following, PLENK2010 (PLENK = Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge)

http://suifaijohnmak.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/plenk2010-on-networks-and-plenk/
http://ritakop.blogspot.com/2010/10/formal-learners-have-best-of-both_15.html

My next post

2010-10-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Takaran

I walked today for 70 minutes in Kawagoe to attend my contract bridge club. It was warm and fine day today. In USA, they say that it is like Indian summer,don't it?

I walked slightly slowly. Then my pedometer showed only 1,400 steps. It's difficult for me to walk 20 thousand steps in a day.

I have to go out tomorrow and the day after tom mow. I'll write to you next Tuesday.
Good night!

Sadamu

Test Yourself | English, Oct. 14, 2010 - NYTimes.com

2010-10-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

A reading and rhetoric (writing) lesson from The Learning Network at the New York Times + links to more lessons. Check out this learning resource. Is is appropriate for your learning level and goals? Would you add it to your Personal Learning Network, make it part of your Personal Learning Environment? Why or why not?

"Test your reading skills with today’s question, created by Danielle Hoagland and Judith McCaffrey at Grammarlogues from the Times article “For Jenkins, Scary Moment Leaves Career at Crossroads.”

After you’ve clicked “submit answer,” more information will appear. To learn more about this topic, visit a related page on Grammarlogues."

Test Yourself | English, Oct. 14, 2010 - NYTimes.com

Posting your pictures

2010-10-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Takaram

If you want to post your pictures to blogs, please click "Add image" on your new post screen.

You can easily

choose your picture from your PC. These pictures show myself playing my ocarina last week. You can't hear how well I played my ocarina, can't you? Sadamu

My self introduction

2010-10-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Takaram

I think that I had introduced myself already. However I couldn't remember when and where. I had read your introduction before. I'm not sure whether it was written for our class mates.

I use Google to communicate with Vanessa. As I was inactive on blogging-English for long time, I think that you are able to see almost no MSG between Vanessa and me on it.

Today, I linked your blog to mine on Google Reader. I hope this works well.

Sadamu

PLN: Porte-cochere: Teacher Vanessa,Thank you very much for your kin...

2010-10-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Porte-cochere

I read your post. I now understand that your blog and mine are linked together. At first, I'm very pleased to start PLN with you. Thank you for your acceptance.

By the way, you use three kind of name on your blog. I called you Takaram on my last MSG, but you signed Takeshi on your MSG. If you don't mind, would you please use only one name on your blog.

Sadamu

: Teacher Vanessa,

Thank you very much for your kin...: "Teacher Vanessa, Thank you very much for your kind invitation. It was a very long way to come up here. It was a hard job. I have learned a ..."

May I ask you a question?

2010-09-29T20:04:00.001-07:00

Takeshi and all,

Yes you may ask a question, but please ask here by posting questions to the blog. You may have misunderstood the assignment and perhaps the procedure. I don't see any comments posted to the PLN topics. Collaboration and written discussion by posting to the blog are an important part our projects and assignments.

Instead of writing privately, you and Sadamu should have posted comments and questions to the blog. When I send my answer to the blog as I am now, everybody shares the information. That may save me from writing 3-4 more students privately when it's not necessary. Of course there will be times for private communication. However, this is not one of them.

You can show me - in writing right here on the blog. Write out - in your own words - what a PLN is, why you want your network to do, what it should include - and why. You can post this as a comment here or to Sadamu's post. I have to say though, that I think everyone would benefit by more discussion and sharing ideas. I'd also like to post more ideas and materials on the topic.

Blogging English

A Common English Mistakes Video

Tutorial: Twitter 101

Learn English - with Audio and Transliterations

STOP SOPA: #SOPASTRIKE Jan18

So what is Academic English? | ENGLISH FOR UNIVERSITY. COM

Why2Fly: Environmentally Friendly Airplanes are Better than Cars!

On ad-speak and poetry

Using Educational Techology for Adult ELT | Scoop.it

Short simple sentences will get you through!

The Art of Building Virtual Communities

Welcome to Blogging English

About ESL Newsletter: Speaking

Schools and Creativity [videos]

More Larry Ferlazzo “Links I Should Have Posted"

Beginner Level - The Best ESL Videos

100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English

Beginners - Resources, Lesson Plans, Activities

Online ESL Newsletters

DIY U: Getting Started With Self-Learning

About ESL: Visual Learning

Broadsided: Responses: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

RESPONSES

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

add your 2¢ worth

A Language Learning MOOC for English

Digital Delights for Learners

Learn Natural English Daily at PhraseMix

Tell Your Stories Through Writing

Guide to Grammar and Writing

Using Spell-checkers

Mobile ESL

Poetry Pairing

Annotating Text

Are you safe? Please check in!

ESL on YouTube

Internet pick of the day: ESL blogs

GeoTrio: another tool for your PLN

Online Resource: Pearson Longman USA ESL/EFL Daily

The # ESL Daily

Oxford University Press – English Language Teaching – Global Blog

Happy Valentine's Day

Live Teacher ESL Class GMT 5 pm

PHRAS.IN ~ Say this or say that?

Written evidence of the workings of the mind

Review: Educating Emergent Bilinguals

The #ESL Daily and your PLN

What is Extensive Reading?

The rationale plus various views, definitions and permutations of the term Extensive Reading

English Language (ESL) Learning Online

Resources for English as a Second Language

Definitions of Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

Writing Exercise: 25 Word Stories

My New Year Day's resolution in 2011

Announcing Blog Changes in Blog

Writing and Learning Independence

A REMINDER!

My PLN Blueprint in 5 parts

Listen and Write - Dictation

Improve your listening skills and hear about the news. Listen-and-write.com is free listening practice.

Cool websites to teach writing

Pros & cons of group vs private submission & review

Study Group Poll

resolutions & other end of year thoughts

Season's Greetings: a tree, gifts & music

5 Online (EFL/ESL) Pronunciation Resources

5 Online (EFL/ESL) Pronunciation Resources via I hope it works! by Ronaldo Lima, Jr. on 12/16/10. Ronaldo writes,

on rewriting

This short article illustrates the deep difference between making corrections, proofreading or copy editing, and rewriting,

William James on rewriting from Sentence first

Catching up and considering directions

How to Help Students Write Better

Happy Holidays.... all of them

Second Language Listening with Blogs and Odiogo

TOEFL Poetics

Model of learning in a PLE

PLN Competencies

ExtensiveReading: A Christmas Carol

Study Tips for Online Learning

Top 4 Study Tips for Distance Learners and Students Taking Online Courses

Improve your listening skills and hear about the news.
Listen-and-write.com is free listening practice.