For over 25 years now, I’ve run an EFL private institute in my hometown. We teach all ages and levels, from beginner to upper intermediate. Basically, we cater for those students who want to reach a high level of English and cannot afford to attend bilingual schools.
Ever since I graduated as an English Teacher, I’ve been committed to my professional development. I sometimes feel that I’m a bit of a “course-a-holic”. It was face-to-face back in the years when the internet was not around. These days, it is mostly online. Every summer holiday, I make a point of joining at least one of the EVO sessions and, on one occasion, I co-moderated one of them - Enhancing Lessons. I’ve also taken several courses on CALL, Instructional Design and Moodle.
It was in one of the groups I belong to, Multiliteracies, that I first heard about this course. I had once intended to join a MOOC but couldn’t find the time to pursue it. The topic of this MOOC sounds particularly appealing plus I’m curious to see how the platform works. Above all, I value the opportunity to connect with like-minded people from different corners of the world. That’s why I’m here, though I’m not sure I will be able to do much - no “course-time” now, with classes having started just a month ago and still so much to organise and sort out.
About my interests, I love music, books, swimming and travelling. On a professional note, I’d like to connect to people who are interested in cross cultural projects so that I can offer my students the possibility of connecting to peers in different parts of the world and developing their cultural awareness.
Hi Mary! Great to have you in the course! I'd love to hear from you about best practices in teaching English to Spanish speakers - it is an endeavor I'm about to undertake with EnglishMOOC.
ReplyDeleteHi Scott! Thanks for dropping by. I'm also happy to be in the course, though you'll see me participating actively only during the weekend. Well, I guess that's one of the advantages of the online component in blended learning (learn anytime, anyplace, at your own pace) That suits me wonderfully at this time of the year, though I feel it's a shame I haven't been able to join any of the hangouts so far.
ReplyDeleteAbout how we teach, it's mostly f2f, but each group has its own wiki so that they can continue practising beyond the classroom walls. There we include not only links to relevant pages, but also exercises created using authoring tools like hot potatoes,and artifacts created by the students themselves using glogster, wallwisher, wordle and many other tools.
These wikis also function as a hub for cross cultural projects via Skype in the classroom. We've been doing a lot of that and it has proved highly motivating for our students.
We also keep a closed facebook group where students participate actively in English taking part in discussions on relevant topics, suggesting songs for their video classes, etc. I know that using facebook with students is a controversial issue, but that's where students spend most their online time (here in Argentina, at least) so we think it would be a pity not to take advantage of that.
The main objective is to engage students and raise awareness about the importance of becoming responsible of their own learning. I believe ITCs are playing an important role in that sense.
OK, sorry for this very long answer :) And thanks again for taking the time to comment on my post. I know it must be difficult with so many participants in the course. You are doing a great job as tutors, modelling how teachers should act in the online enviroment.
Mary