Week 8

I have recently come across one saying "You can never be overdressed or overeducated" by  Oscar Wilde. Even having the university diploma you seek for knowledge, worwrk like a maniac and never feel satisfied. Being a student you always do the tasks, becoming a teacher you again make long hours enjoying this process. It's already the 8th week I feel that I will never be overeducated, as every new week brings something new) This week also bears fruit:

1. I have explored a good many of new tools which are aimed to promote learner autonomy. 

The first one I tried was  http://eolf.univ-fcomte.fr/index.php?page=technically-interesting-hot-potatoes-pages  - I found many interesting exercises for different levels and aspects of language. I was curious about listening section and found one interesting exercise where students listen to a text simultaneously writing what they hear (dictation sample - http://eolf.univ-fcomte.fr/wp-content/uploads/herethere/20.htm). The novelty of this conventional exercise is that the learner can immediately check the text, open the letter if he/she cannot catch up with speaker. I suppose, it can be used the following way: students write the dictation once, twice or three times, until they succeed in completing of 80-100% of work without looking at the script, then, they write it on the paper in class. 

The second tool was SMILE http://clear.msu.edu/teaching/online/mimea/smile/v2/index.php. A very interesting page but it does require much time to investigate its resources. I have lingered round conversation program. The peculiarity of this program is that students respond to the questions of teacher or learners by recording videos or audio within a web browser. I will definitely use it with my students discussing non academic issues, so that they are not doing any task and practice their language.

The third tool I tried was http://www.nicenet.org/ICA/class/conf_start.cfm?anID=140817115106. As I see it, Nicenet is a very good site to introduce new topic, to hold debate or simply share the opinion about the issue. I have followed the example of this course: students look through particular websites and then answer the posted question. 

The next website, which I have just explored and still working over its structure is wiki on Wikispaces. It was not difficult to create it, but it requires a lot of energy to go the whole hog. This wiki is going to be a part of my final project. All the steps of the project will be included into the right bar of the main page. Mainly this wiki will work as an organizer, where students read the instructions or homework, communicate with teacher and find useful links to develop the English language.

I have also tried Easy Test Maker  http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx, which is very, very useful as soon as you pay to have full access to various tools. It saves a lot of time creating a test.

We have also shared our first drafts with partners. I think it's a good idea to let someone read your plan, assess it and get a worthwhile feedback. 

I am anxious for the next working week to come!