Learning Gloabally with ePals

     After browsing on ePals, I discover that it offers people to create a project and classroom which I am really impressed. First, it allows people not only to present a project online but can search for projects around the world with the topic they are interested, country or teacher forum. Also, teachers are able to open an online classroom to assist their teaching. I think ePals can be an ideal platform for teachers and students to communicate and grain information from other countries.

     In my classroom, I plan to use ePals as a tool of online learning. On ePals, I will create a classroom with specific topic such as English speaking that I am going to teach in one semester. Videos and audios related to the class will be uploaded onto the classroom for students to download. Also, I will separate the class into small groups and request students to present a final project on ePals at the end of the semester. Through completing the project, students can develop their creativity and scaffold each other through discussing. Third, I will create a community for the class. On the site, students can present their problems about learning and will immediately receive a reply from me or other students who are online. Finally, I will teacher students in my class how to use ePals to search for the information they may need.

     I think ePals offers both teacher and students a place where learning is no longer limited in a classroom that teacher creates and the chance of receive global information with authentic learning. I also notice that it offers the opportunity for people around the world to find other e-pal such as looking for people in the U.S. if the person is learning English and hopes to understand American culture. 

Video with Teaching

     Video is a good tool which enriches the class and also appeals to students. It assists teachers with showing the main point in their class clearly.
     I think this tool is good for introducing some holidays or a simple idea with students, especially children who just start to learn English. If I use it in a grammar class, I would compose a short video with a grammar rule and music to teach students.  Each slide will contain just one idea. If I put the grammar rule first, then I will put a sample sentence after it and more slides with pictures showing how this rule can be used under what kind of situation. If it is a reading class, I would transform the short story or text we are going to read in to a storytelling video and play it after we cover the all reading. It not only will attracts students' attention and prevents them from getting bored but also can deepen their memory and provide them a brief review. But, it is significant and necessary to switch the images in video based on the age of students I teach. If they are children, providing them some comics or cutes images will be fine. However, if they are college students, the pictures in video should be changed.
     The ultimate goal of teaching not only resides on students' understanding but the cultivation of their interests. A good video clip with proper teaching can help students learn happily and efficiently.

It's a video I made with Animoto which briefly introduces the meaning of Easter.

Pay Attention!

     Most of the time, as teachers, the question that arises in our hearts may be what kind of material I should prepare to teach students, how I can help them improve themselves or if students would think my class is boring or too hard to them.... After watching the video, "Pay Attention," it reminds me to think how students learn. The ways they learn are various. They may learn logically, spatially, musically, or linguistically.  In 21st-centruy, they learn digitally when playing video game, talking on cell phones, watching TV, and using computers which is the most common tool that people use everyday. Not only because it is convenient but because the rich information that one can find through browsing. Honestly, the sentence "How much richness does your curriculum  provide" impress me a lot because it actually points out an important point in a teacher's instruction. The information that a teacher can cover definitely will not be as rich as computers because the limitation of time and lesson plan. But, on computers, students are able to get as many information as they want and at any time. Also, as suggested in the video, students have the chance the create with digital devices which is something that a traditional way of learning cannot offer. Being a teacher 21st century, I think it is important to offer a site of teacher-student interaction not only in classroom but through digital sources. Further, there are lots of free sources online that can compensate the inadequacy of traditional teaching. It is really significant that teaching in 21st century is completely different from the previous; teaching no longer merely belongs to be offer by teachers but also by digital devices. And, learning is not just students' responsibility anymore; teachers in this century have to keep learning how to use digital sources to improve their students.

How Bookr Works in Classroom

     Bookr is a good stage to share some stories or transform class materials into a simple book in teaching. If I use it in my classroom, I would choose to treat it as a tool to teach writing. At first, I can use it to present a model with writing a story. Combining with pictures to illustrate the story, students will not get bored easily in class. Then, I will ask students to write a story by themselves with using Bookr. I would ask them to begin with writing a short story, then increase the length of story in the following class. Because Bookr allows people to add slides as they wish, it is really convenient for teacher to design how long the story should be for each week. Through writing the story, students practice their writing skills and also get more used to grammar rules in target language. Except from individual work, I would group students into small groups and each group needs to accomplish a medium-length story. During the group-working, students have to work cooperatively and will learn through discussing with group members, especially in revision. Sometimes one student may be better at grammar rules, s/he will become the role like teacher who clarifies others' doubts. When deciding the topic of story, students who is creative will transform into another one that lead the group. Through working and helping each other, the learning of whole group of students will be improved.


A Story of a Painter

Digital Storytelling with Education

     Digital storytelling contains a specific topic and viewpoint as traditional story which allows every people to share their view or aspects in life. According to "Center for Digital Storytelling,", it is more like a manner that one uses "first-person video narrative to record document, experiences or ideas in the manner of story-telling through digital media." Usually, It is made as a video combining with images, recorded-audio narration, music or video clips. As "Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling" suggests, the length of digital storytelling is various while it basically "lasts two-ten minutes when being used in education."
     I think digital storytelling is an ideal manner for reading class, especially for some literary texts such as novels or plays written in target language because it definitely will improve students' understanding to those readings. At the beginning of the class, I may record a short introduction about the background of text we are going to read. Since every literary text or story comes with certain cultural backgrounds and age, it is also important for students to understand this prior reading the text. Introducing these background knowledge as telling a story with some sounds and video clips can be more appealing. Also, student's memory about those information that I plan to present will be more strengthened. After reading and discussing the materials, I think it is also a good way to let students watch another storytelling video which is made with the content of the text we just covered. In this way, students will review the story again. Further, it also serves like a clarification that solves students problems or confusion. The reviewing video can be played in class if the class time is sufficient or can be uploaded to the class blog so that every student can watch the video again and again if they need.

Photo by BryanAlexander