Lorenza villegas de santos high school
View more presentations from xiomaramm.
miércoles, 1 de diciembre de 2010
USING BLOGS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
TEACHER: ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
LORENZA VILLEGAS DE SANTO HIGH SCHOOL
ADVISOR: DEYSA GOMEZ.
DATE OF PRESENTATION: DECEMBER THE SECOND 2010.
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
The principal of the high school is Maria Isabel Villa, and there are three coordinators, one for each section. It has 2220 students.
MISION
The Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School is an institution open to democracy and the commitment with the childhood and youth, as bases of the society, to be competent in the investigation and work. For that purpose we have an ethic and pedagogic human team.
VISION
In 2015, the High School will be recognized in its environment as leader in searching formation, for them to have the conditions to participate actively in the formation building of a fair human and productive society.
DRESS CODE
You can see in these pictures the everyday and the sport uniform.
There are morning shift (from 6:00 am to 12:30pm) and afternoon shift (from 12:40pm to 6:40pm)
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the s secretary office
.
The school has two computer rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight , Especially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen, taxi drivers, bricklayers, messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence, they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic stratum is low many of them are in strata 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but IT is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjuez), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of guys and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. Most of the students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
The school has assumed as pedagogical model, the developing model which has to do with learning the students to learn, developing investigation abilities in the students, this model is based on active pedagogies that say that student learn by doing activities that are interesting for them and related with their needs. The developing model has method called the meaningful learning and we are implementing this as a way to understand the students cognitive needs and that makes students understand their reality and improve interchange ideas.
We focus on developing the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) emphasizing one in each period, so we emphasize reading comprehension in the first period, listening in the second, speaking in the third and writing in the fourth. You can see the syllabus in a chart in another entry.
ENGLISH TEACHER
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teachers have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher.
OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To implement a blog as a teaching tool to improve language skills among eleventh graders at Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School.
Specific objectives
- Using the blog as a communication tool between students and the teacher.
- Using the blog as a tool to develop writing skills.
- Having access to the lesson plan to review and check out what has been done in class.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This theoretical framework is based on articles and websites that talks about the use of technologies in the classroom.
I have to make clear that there are many technologies and devices you can use in the classroom. This is not something new.
Based on Monserrat Casanovas Catala ,Technologies have been used since 60’s. In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
.
The use of devices like TV sets, tape recorders, DVD players allowed a communicative perspective in learning English, developing the four language skills.
Internet is now is the tool that teachers must have to use in language teaching, but they have to be prepared in the use of that new technology and know how to make effective the use of that technology in the classroom.
Mark Warschawer and P. Fawn Whittaker give some guidelines to help teachers implement computer network-based activities and technologies into the second language classroom.
- Consider carefully your goals.
The first thing for teachers to do is clarify their goals. Once the aims are specified, appropriate tasks and activities can be designed.
- Think integration.
For best results, computer-based activities should be integrated into the course curriculum as a whole.
- Do not underestimate the complexity.
- Provide necessary support.
Although many students are quite knowledgeable about the computer, sufficient support should be provided to avoid problems of a technical nature.
- Involve students in decisions.
As much as possible, teachers should involve learners throughout the entire instructional process. Involving the students in deciding on the class direction is likely to create the kind of classroom atmosphere that promotes optimal learning.
Taking into a count these previous concepts, I thought of using internet in the classroom since in my High school I have a video beam, a computer and internet in the classroom, besides a TV set, a DVD player and a tape recorder.
Internet is an extreme big world and I think is better to begin using blogs as a tool in teaching and learning English.
First of all it´s important to make a definition of a blog, advantages and disadvantages, how does it work, and the educational uses of a blog.
We can find the answers in Pineda and Gomez’s blog.
The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Weblogs or blogs for short are simply Web based diaries. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger". Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. Often blogs focus on a particular area of interest. Blog systems are designed to be easy to set up and quick to use. If you can use e-mail, then you can use a blog. An important feature of blogs is that readers can add comments on each entry.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogs.
Advantages
• Students feel motivated to learn using technologies.
• Motivates independent learning.
• Although at the beginning classes with technology demand a lot of time investment, it can save time later.
• Using blogs and groups works as a bank of activities that remains there for further use.
• Lost of paper can be saved.
Disadvantages
• Problems with the Internet connection can be frustrating.
• There are still many places where there is not the necessary equipment.
• Some teachers and students are still reluctant to use technologies for learning purposes.
• Planning classes with technologies is time consuming.
How does it work?
You add an entry to a blog and that entry appears at the top on the Web page that the blog produces, previous entries move down the page.
Readers can add comments on each entry so that you will have a kind of conversation in your blog.
What are the educational uses of blogs?
* Use it as a class diary for a specific group of students, as notice-board for a whole cohort, and even as a space for students to write themselves.
* Write a summary of each lesson.
* Add links to Web pages with exercises, explanations, interactive quizzes or demonstrations.
* The blog can be used by students who were at the lesson as a reminder of the main themes (and homework) and as a guide to carefully chosen and relevant Web pages.
* Students who had to miss all or part of the lesson can find a summary, possibly with text-book readings and some links that will enable the student to get the gist of the lesson and be able to join in a little more next week.
* It allows students to communicate themselves outside the boundaries of the classroom and the institution.
http://bodmas.org/blog/ilt-ideas/blogs-in-education-podcast/
What are the advantages of having students writing in a blog format?
* Students may care more about their work, knowing that it will be read by others.
* Students will belong to a larger community than their class, a community where they can share and develop ideas. They may enjoy having readers submit questions and comments to their blogs.
* Students will learn real-world technical skills.
Most of the theory indicates that it is not worth using technology per se, it is necessary to go beyond and explore its pedagogical possibilities. The teacher has to know how to deal with that to make a good use of it.
The idea with the use of blogs and technology in the classroom is to integrate the language skills (oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression)and offers an appropriate educational environment to improve the learning of a foreign language.
Starting point
This project is going to be developed in eleventh grade and I started making some question to have an idea of what are the students interests and needs.
Students consider the best way to learn English is by working in groups after the teachers´ explanation. That means that the teacher has to think in activities that deal with cooperative learning.
Talking about the topics they want to learn, and taking in to a count that the students are all girls they would like to know about fashion and that could be an interesting topic to make a project in which students can work on the four skills and of course make English classes more interesting and motivating for them.
They also would like to use computers as little English labs in the classroom and reinforced and practice not only writing but listening and reading comprehension. Of course that is not up to the teacher but to the principal and I am trying to convince her that it is cheaper to buy ten or fifteen lap tops than think of building an English lab.
Based on the student’s needs and interests I think I can apply this project in eleven grades and see what happen especially during the first semester, and after that evaluate it and depending on that go on.
Unit plan
Date Objective Action Expected result
Class 1
Introduction of the topic and the blog Make an agreement with the students about the topic to study and present the blog as a tool to support the project.
Class 2 Determine what the goals we´re are going to achieve. Make groups of three students and talk about the objectives we´re
going to achieve. (To propose the students to create their own blogs).
Class 3
Develop the research Develop the objectives, reading analyzing information related to the chosen topic.
Class 4
To evaluate the project. To present and evaluate the project. The best project could be registered in ThinkQuest international competition.
The activities mentioned in the chart are going to be developed in one period, depending of the schedule programmed by the High School, which means ten weeks per period, so I have two weeks per activity.
The first activity is based on the survey I did with the students, they mentioned that the topic they wanted to work on was FASHION, so I am going to make a presentation of subjects related to fashions in my blog and in the video beam, it could be an article with audio, and a video or pictures that has to do with the topic, as a worming up to motivate students to present their works projects using the blogs.
Making groups with students that have similar interest that could be by asking the students to find someone who likes wearing piercings find someone who likes tattoos find someone who likes wearing accessories, find someone who likes make up.
That activity can help the girls to make groups with partners who have the same interest, and make work easier.
After that students have to focus on writing the objectives of their projects, at this point the teacher can make short meetings with each group in order to clarify the objectives they are going to develop in their project, and suggest them readings and some websites they can consult for looking and analyzing the information. It`s necessary of course to remind them what are the steps they have to follow to make a project and it can take a class for discussing with them. All this suggestions can be shown in the teachers blogs and if they want they can open their own blogs (one for group), to send their information and advances to the teacher.
Finally students have to make the presentation of the project, using blogs if they want or another tool,they have to do it orally and the best project could be registered in ThinkQuest , which is an online learning platform that includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning and they can win an award from them. Of course it is going to take one section or two for explaining students about ThinkQuest.
As I mentioned before this project is going to be implemented in eleventh grade and I am going to share it with my partners, the others three English teachers and I hope it really works and motivate students to learn English more.
REFERENCES
Internet en la didactica de las lenguas extrangeras: un paso adelante , Monserrat Casanovas Catala.
Metodology in Language teaching. ( The Internet for english teaching: guidelines for teachers by Mark Waeschawer and P. Whittaker.
Video in the ELT Classroom: The role of the teacher. Susan Stempleski.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/blogging-elt
LORENZA VILLEGAS DE SANTO HIGH SCHOOL
ADVISOR: DEYSA GOMEZ.
DATE OF PRESENTATION: DECEMBER THE SECOND 2010.
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
The principal of the high school is Maria Isabel Villa, and there are three coordinators, one for each section. It has 2220 students.
MISION
The Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School is an institution open to democracy and the commitment with the childhood and youth, as bases of the society, to be competent in the investigation and work. For that purpose we have an ethic and pedagogic human team.
VISION
In 2015, the High School will be recognized in its environment as leader in searching formation, for them to have the conditions to participate actively in the formation building of a fair human and productive society.
DRESS CODE
You can see in these pictures the everyday and the sport uniform.
There are morning shift (from 6:00 am to 12:30pm) and afternoon shift (from 12:40pm to 6:40pm)
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the s secretary office
.
The school has two computer rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight , Especially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen, taxi drivers, bricklayers, messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence, they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic stratum is low many of them are in strata 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but IT is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjuez), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of guys and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. Most of the students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
The school has assumed as pedagogical model, the developing model which has to do with learning the students to learn, developing investigation abilities in the students, this model is based on active pedagogies that say that student learn by doing activities that are interesting for them and related with their needs. The developing model has method called the meaningful learning and we are implementing this as a way to understand the students cognitive needs and that makes students understand their reality and improve interchange ideas.
We focus on developing the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) emphasizing one in each period, so we emphasize reading comprehension in the first period, listening in the second, speaking in the third and writing in the fourth. You can see the syllabus in a chart in another entry.
ENGLISH TEACHER
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teachers have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher.
OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To implement a blog as a teaching tool to improve language skills among eleventh graders at Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School.
Specific objectives
- Using the blog as a communication tool between students and the teacher.
- Using the blog as a tool to develop writing skills.
- Having access to the lesson plan to review and check out what has been done in class.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This theoretical framework is based on articles and websites that talks about the use of technologies in the classroom.
I have to make clear that there are many technologies and devices you can use in the classroom. This is not something new.
Based on Monserrat Casanovas Catala ,Technologies have been used since 60’s. In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
.
The use of devices like TV sets, tape recorders, DVD players allowed a communicative perspective in learning English, developing the four language skills.
Internet is now is the tool that teachers must have to use in language teaching, but they have to be prepared in the use of that new technology and know how to make effective the use of that technology in the classroom.
Mark Warschawer and P. Fawn Whittaker give some guidelines to help teachers implement computer network-based activities and technologies into the second language classroom.
- Consider carefully your goals.
The first thing for teachers to do is clarify their goals. Once the aims are specified, appropriate tasks and activities can be designed.
- Think integration.
For best results, computer-based activities should be integrated into the course curriculum as a whole.
- Do not underestimate the complexity.
- Provide necessary support.
Although many students are quite knowledgeable about the computer, sufficient support should be provided to avoid problems of a technical nature.
- Involve students in decisions.
As much as possible, teachers should involve learners throughout the entire instructional process. Involving the students in deciding on the class direction is likely to create the kind of classroom atmosphere that promotes optimal learning.
Taking into a count these previous concepts, I thought of using internet in the classroom since in my High school I have a video beam, a computer and internet in the classroom, besides a TV set, a DVD player and a tape recorder.
Internet is an extreme big world and I think is better to begin using blogs as a tool in teaching and learning English.
First of all it´s important to make a definition of a blog, advantages and disadvantages, how does it work, and the educational uses of a blog.
We can find the answers in Pineda and Gomez’s blog.
The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Weblogs or blogs for short are simply Web based diaries. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger". Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. Often blogs focus on a particular area of interest. Blog systems are designed to be easy to set up and quick to use. If you can use e-mail, then you can use a blog. An important feature of blogs is that readers can add comments on each entry.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogs.
Advantages
• Students feel motivated to learn using technologies.
• Motivates independent learning.
• Although at the beginning classes with technology demand a lot of time investment, it can save time later.
• Using blogs and groups works as a bank of activities that remains there for further use.
• Lost of paper can be saved.
Disadvantages
• Problems with the Internet connection can be frustrating.
• There are still many places where there is not the necessary equipment.
• Some teachers and students are still reluctant to use technologies for learning purposes.
• Planning classes with technologies is time consuming.
How does it work?
You add an entry to a blog and that entry appears at the top on the Web page that the blog produces, previous entries move down the page.
Readers can add comments on each entry so that you will have a kind of conversation in your blog.
What are the educational uses of blogs?
* Use it as a class diary for a specific group of students, as notice-board for a whole cohort, and even as a space for students to write themselves.
* Write a summary of each lesson.
* Add links to Web pages with exercises, explanations, interactive quizzes or demonstrations.
* The blog can be used by students who were at the lesson as a reminder of the main themes (and homework) and as a guide to carefully chosen and relevant Web pages.
* Students who had to miss all or part of the lesson can find a summary, possibly with text-book readings and some links that will enable the student to get the gist of the lesson and be able to join in a little more next week.
* It allows students to communicate themselves outside the boundaries of the classroom and the institution.
http://bodmas.org/blog/ilt-ideas/blogs-in-education-podcast/
What are the advantages of having students writing in a blog format?
* Students may care more about their work, knowing that it will be read by others.
* Students will belong to a larger community than their class, a community where they can share and develop ideas. They may enjoy having readers submit questions and comments to their blogs.
* Students will learn real-world technical skills.
Most of the theory indicates that it is not worth using technology per se, it is necessary to go beyond and explore its pedagogical possibilities. The teacher has to know how to deal with that to make a good use of it.
The idea with the use of blogs and technology in the classroom is to integrate the language skills (oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression)and offers an appropriate educational environment to improve the learning of a foreign language.
Starting point
This project is going to be developed in eleventh grade and I started making some question to have an idea of what are the students interests and needs.
Students consider the best way to learn English is by working in groups after the teachers´ explanation. That means that the teacher has to think in activities that deal with cooperative learning.
Talking about the topics they want to learn, and taking in to a count that the students are all girls they would like to know about fashion and that could be an interesting topic to make a project in which students can work on the four skills and of course make English classes more interesting and motivating for them.
They also would like to use computers as little English labs in the classroom and reinforced and practice not only writing but listening and reading comprehension. Of course that is not up to the teacher but to the principal and I am trying to convince her that it is cheaper to buy ten or fifteen lap tops than think of building an English lab.
Based on the student’s needs and interests I think I can apply this project in eleven grades and see what happen especially during the first semester, and after that evaluate it and depending on that go on.
Unit plan
Date Objective Action Expected result
Class 1
Introduction of the topic and the blog Make an agreement with the students about the topic to study and present the blog as a tool to support the project.
Class 2 Determine what the goals we´re are going to achieve. Make groups of three students and talk about the objectives we´re
going to achieve. (To propose the students to create their own blogs).
Class 3
Develop the research Develop the objectives, reading analyzing information related to the chosen topic.
Class 4
To evaluate the project. To present and evaluate the project. The best project could be registered in ThinkQuest international competition.
The activities mentioned in the chart are going to be developed in one period, depending of the schedule programmed by the High School, which means ten weeks per period, so I have two weeks per activity.
The first activity is based on the survey I did with the students, they mentioned that the topic they wanted to work on was FASHION, so I am going to make a presentation of subjects related to fashions in my blog and in the video beam, it could be an article with audio, and a video or pictures that has to do with the topic, as a worming up to motivate students to present their works projects using the blogs.
Making groups with students that have similar interest that could be by asking the students to find someone who likes wearing piercings find someone who likes tattoos find someone who likes wearing accessories, find someone who likes make up.
That activity can help the girls to make groups with partners who have the same interest, and make work easier.
After that students have to focus on writing the objectives of their projects, at this point the teacher can make short meetings with each group in order to clarify the objectives they are going to develop in their project, and suggest them readings and some websites they can consult for looking and analyzing the information. It`s necessary of course to remind them what are the steps they have to follow to make a project and it can take a class for discussing with them. All this suggestions can be shown in the teachers blogs and if they want they can open their own blogs (one for group), to send their information and advances to the teacher.
Finally students have to make the presentation of the project, using blogs if they want or another tool,they have to do it orally and the best project could be registered in ThinkQuest , which is an online learning platform that includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning and they can win an award from them. Of course it is going to take one section or two for explaining students about ThinkQuest.
As I mentioned before this project is going to be implemented in eleventh grade and I am going to share it with my partners, the others three English teachers and I hope it really works and motivate students to learn English more.
REFERENCES
Internet en la didactica de las lenguas extrangeras: un paso adelante , Monserrat Casanovas Catala.
Metodology in Language teaching. ( The Internet for english teaching: guidelines for teachers by Mark Waeschawer and P. Whittaker.
Video in the ELT Classroom: The role of the teacher. Susan Stempleski.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/blogging-elt
martes, 30 de noviembre de 2010
READING REPORT
READING REPORT
INTERNET IN FOREING LANGUAGE TEACHING
Monserrat Cassanovas Catala
There are a lot readings related to the use of technologies in the English language teaching. Monserrat Cassanovas Catala in his article INTERNET IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, says that is it no new, technology has been used since 60s.
There are three pedagogical foundations that include the use of technology: the behaviorism, communicative and integrative.
In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
The communicative perspective emerged at the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s as a reaction against the behaviorism.
The difference between both proposals was that in the communicative point of view the relevance in learning a language was the use of linguistic forms ( functional approach), and in behaviorism the most important thing was the correct use of linguistic forms.
Behind that proposals were the cognitive theories, that recognize that the learning is a creative process of discovering, that permits more possibilities for individual work.
The last step called integrative is based on a socio-cognitive focus of language learning That considers the use of language in a communicative context as the most important.
TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) look for the integration of the language skills,( oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression) and technology since a global point of view in the students learning .
Technology like Internet offers an educational environmental with a richness without precedents in general education and in the teaching-learning of English in particular.
The roll of the teacher in this environment can´t be just transmitting t information but a facilitator for students, helping them to evaluate and select the information that comes to them.
The roll of the students: Students becomes in active participants in the learning process more than receptors.
What for , why?
It’s a fact that the use of TICS doesn’t mean an automatic improvement in the knowledge and abilities in the students, but it requires of educational options and ideology and a prospective of the world.
The computer is not just a tool for processing information but a tool for communication ( chats, e-mails,etc).
CONCLUSIONS
There are not enough studies about the impact of use of TICS in the classroom. Even though the learning and teaching of English will be qualitative and quantitative important.
The school has to prepare students for living and for the use of technologies specially the computers.
Using internet in the English class is a tool to help students to develop skills that will be useful outside the classroom. That’s why learning how to use digital technologies would be a main objective.
INTERNET IN FOREING LANGUAGE TEACHING
Monserrat Cassanovas Catala
There are a lot readings related to the use of technologies in the English language teaching. Monserrat Cassanovas Catala in his article INTERNET IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, says that is it no new, technology has been used since 60s.
There are three pedagogical foundations that include the use of technology: the behaviorism, communicative and integrative.
In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
The communicative perspective emerged at the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s as a reaction against the behaviorism.
The difference between both proposals was that in the communicative point of view the relevance in learning a language was the use of linguistic forms ( functional approach), and in behaviorism the most important thing was the correct use of linguistic forms.
Behind that proposals were the cognitive theories, that recognize that the learning is a creative process of discovering, that permits more possibilities for individual work.
The last step called integrative is based on a socio-cognitive focus of language learning That considers the use of language in a communicative context as the most important.
TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) look for the integration of the language skills,( oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression) and technology since a global point of view in the students learning .
Technology like Internet offers an educational environmental with a richness without precedents in general education and in the teaching-learning of English in particular.
The roll of the teacher in this environment can´t be just transmitting t information but a facilitator for students, helping them to evaluate and select the information that comes to them.
The roll of the students: Students becomes in active participants in the learning process more than receptors.
What for , why?
It’s a fact that the use of TICS doesn’t mean an automatic improvement in the knowledge and abilities in the students, but it requires of educational options and ideology and a prospective of the world.
The computer is not just a tool for processing information but a tool for communication ( chats, e-mails,etc).
CONCLUSIONS
There are not enough studies about the impact of use of TICS in the classroom. Even though the learning and teaching of English will be qualitative and quantitative important.
The school has to prepare students for living and for the use of technologies specially the computers.
Using internet in the English class is a tool to help students to develop skills that will be useful outside the classroom. That’s why learning how to use digital technologies would be a main objective.
context correction
USING BLOGS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
TEACHER: ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
LORENZA VILLEGAS DE SANTO HIGH SCHOOL
ADVISOR: DEYSA GOMEZ.
DATE OF PRESENTATION: DECEMBER THE SECOND 2010.
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
The principal of the high school is Maria Isabel Villa, and there are three coordinators, one for each section. It has 2220 students.
MISION
The Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School is an institution open to democracy and the commitment with the childhood and youth, as bases of the society, to be competent in the investigation and work. For that purpose we have an ethic and pedagogic human team.
VISION
In 2015, the High School will be recognized in its environment as leader in searching formation, for them to have the conditions to participate actively in the formation building of a fair human and productive society.
DRESS CODE
You can see in these pictures the everyday and the sport uniform.
There are morning shift (from 6:00 am to 12:30pm) and afternoon shift (from 12:40pm to 6:40pm)
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the s secretary office
.
The school has two computer rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight , Especially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen, taxi drivers, bricklayers, messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence, they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic stratum is low many of them are in strata 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but IT is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjuez), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of guys and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. Most of the students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
The school has assumed as pedagogical model, the developing model which has to do with learning the students to learn, developing investigation abilities in the students, this model is based on active pedagogies that say that student learn by doing activities that are interesting for them and related with their needs. The developing model has method called the meaningful learning and we are implementing this as a way to understand the students cognitive needs and that makes students understand their reality and improve interchange ideas.
We focus on developing the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) emphasizing one in each period, so we emphasize reading comprehension in the first period, listening in the second, speaking in the third and writing in the fourth. You can see the syllabus in a chart in another entry.
ENGLISH TEACHER
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teachers have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher.
OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To implement a blog as a teaching tool to improve language skills among eleventh graders at Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School.
Specific objectives
- Using the blog as a communication tool between students and the teacher.
- Using the blog as a tool to develop writing skills.
- Having access to the lesson plan to review and check out what has been done in class.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This theoretical framework is based on articles and websites that talks about the use of technologies in the classroom.
I have to make clear that there are many technologies and devices you can use in the classroom. This is not something new.
Based on Monserrat Casanovas Catala ,Technologies have been used since 60’s. In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
.
The use of devices like TV sets, tape recorders, DVD players allowed a communicative perspective in learning English, developing the four language skills.
Internet is now is the tool that teachers must have to use in language teaching, but they have to be prepared in the use of that new technology and know how to make effective the use of that technology in the classroom.
Mark Warschawer and P. Fawn Whittaker give some guidelines to help teachers implement computer network-based activities and technologies into the second language classroom.
- Consider carefully your goals.
The first thing for teachers to do is clarify their goals. Once the aims are specified, appropriate tasks and activities can be designed.
- Think integration.
For best results, computer-based activities should be integrated into the course curriculum as a whole.
- Do not underestimate the complexity.
- Provide necessary support.
Although many students are quite knowledgeable about the computer, sufficient support should be provided to avoid problems of a technical nature.
- Involve students in decisions.
As much as possible, teachers should involve learners throughout the entire instructional process. Involving the students in deciding on the class direction is likely to create the kind of classroom atmosphere that promotes optimal learning.
Taking into a count these previous concepts, I thought of using internet in the classroom since in my High school I have a video beam, a computer and internet in the classroom, besides a TV set, a DVD player and a tape recorder.
Internet is an extreme big world and I think is better to begin using blogs as a tool in teaching and learning English.
First of all it´s important to make a definition of a blog, advantages and disadvantages, how does it work, and the educational uses of a blog.
We can find the answers in Pineda and Gomez’s blog.
The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Weblogs or blogs for short are simply Web based diaries. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger". Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. Often blogs focus on a particular area of interest. Blog systems are designed to be easy to set up and quick to use. If you can use e-mail, then you can use a blog. An important feature of blogs is that readers can add comments on each entry.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogs.
Advantages
• Students feel motivated to learn using technologies.
• Motivates independent learning.
• Although at the beginning classes with technology demand a lot of time investment, it can save time later.
• Using blogs and groups works as a bank of activities that remains there for further use.
• Lost of paper can be saved.
Disadvantages
• Problems with the Internet connection can be frustrating.
• There are still many places where there is not the necessary equipment.
• Some teachers and students are still reluctant to use technologies for learning purposes.
• Planning classes with technologies is time consuming.
How does it work?
You add an entry to a blog and that entry appears at the top on the Web page that the blog produces, previous entries move down the page.
Readers can add comments on each entry so that you will have a kind of conversation in your blog.
What are the educational uses of blogs?
* Use it as a class diary for a specific group of students, as notice-board for a whole cohort, and even as a space for students to write themselves.
* Write a summary of each lesson.
* Add links to Web pages with exercises, explanations, interactive quizzes or demonstrations.
* The blog can be used by students who were at the lesson as a reminder of the main themes (and homework) and as a guide to carefully chosen and relevant Web pages.
* Students who had to miss all or part of the lesson can find a summary, possibly with text-book readings and some links that will enable the student to get the gist of the lesson and be able to join in a little more next week.
* It allows students to communicate themselves outside the boundaries of the classroom and the institution.
http://bodmas.org/blog/ilt-ideas/blogs-in-education-podcast/
What are the advantages of having students writing in a blog format?
* Students may care more about their work, knowing that it will be read by others.
* Students will belong to a larger community than their class, a community where they can share and develop ideas. They may enjoy having readers submit questions and comments to their blogs.
* Students will learn real-world technical skills.
Most of the theory indicates that it is not worth using technology per se, it is necessary to go beyond and explore its pedagogical possibilities. The teacher has to know how to deal with that to make a good use of it.
The idea with the use of blogs and technology in the classroom is to integrate the language skills (oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression)and offers an appropriate educational environment to improve the learning of a foreign language.
Starting point
This project is going to be developed in eleventh grade and I started making some question to have an idea of what are the students interests and needs.
Students consider the best way to learn English is by working in groups after the teachers´ explanation. That means that the teacher has to think in activities that deal with cooperative learning.
Talking about the topics they want to learn, and taking in to a count that the students are all girls they would like to know about fashion and that could be an interesting topic to make a project in which students can work on the four skills and of course make English classes more interesting and motivating for them.
They also would like to use computers as little English labs in the classroom and reinforced and practice not only writing but listening and reading comprehension. Of course that is not up to the teacher but to the principal and I am trying to convince her that it is cheaper to buy ten or fifteen lap tops than think of building an English lab.
Based on the student’s needs and interests I think I can apply this project in eleven grades and see what happen especially during the first semester, and after that evaluate it and depending on that go on.
Unit plan
Date Objective Action Expected result
Class 1
Introduction of the topic and the blog Make an agreement with the students about the topic to study and present the blog as a tool to support the project.
Class 2 Determine what the goals we´re are going to achieve. Make groups of three students and talk about the objectives we´re
going to achieve. (To propose the students to create their own blogs).
Class 3
Develop the research Develop the objectives, reading analyzing information related to the chosen topic.
Class 4
To evaluate the project. To present and evaluate the project. The best project could be registered in ThinkQuest international competition.
The activities mentioned in the chart are going to be developed in one period, depending of the schedule programmed by the High School, which means ten weeks per period, so I have two weeks per activity.
The first activity is based on the survey I did with the students, they mentioned that the topic they wanted to work on was FASHION, so I am going to make a presentation of subjects related to fashions in my blog and in the video beam, it could be an article with audio, and a video or pictures that has to do with the topic, as a worming up to motivate students to present their works projects using the blogs.
Making groups with students that have similar interest that could be by asking the students to find someone who likes wearing piercings find someone who likes tattoos find someone who likes wearing accessories, find someone who likes make up.
That activity can help the girls to make groups with partners who have the same interest, and make work easier.
After that students have to focus on writing the objectives of their projects, at this point the teacher can make short meetings with each group in order to clarify the objectives they are going to develop in their project, and suggest them readings and some websites they can consult for looking and analyzing the information. It`s necessary of course to remind them what are the steps they have to follow to make a project and it can take a class for discussing with them. All this suggestions can be shown in the teachers blogs and if they want they can open their own blogs (one for group), to send their information and advances to the teacher.
Finally students have to make the presentation of the project, using blogs if they want or another tool,they have to do it orally and the best project could be registered in ThinkQuest , which is an online learning platform that includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning and they can win an award from them. Of course it is going to take one section or two for explaining students about ThinkQuest.
As I mentioned before this project is going to be implemented in eleventh grade and I am going to share it with my partners, the others three English teachers and I hope it really works and motivate students to learn English more.
REFERENCES
Internet en la didactica de las lenguas extrangeras: un paso adelante , Monserrat Casanovas Catala.
Metodology in Language teaching. ( The Internet for english teaching: guidelines for teachers by Mark Waeschawer and P. Whittaker.
Video in the ELT Classroom: The role of the teacher. Susan Stempleski.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/blogging-elt
TEACHER: ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
LORENZA VILLEGAS DE SANTO HIGH SCHOOL
ADVISOR: DEYSA GOMEZ.
DATE OF PRESENTATION: DECEMBER THE SECOND 2010.
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
The principal of the high school is Maria Isabel Villa, and there are three coordinators, one for each section. It has 2220 students.
MISION
The Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School is an institution open to democracy and the commitment with the childhood and youth, as bases of the society, to be competent in the investigation and work. For that purpose we have an ethic and pedagogic human team.
VISION
In 2015, the High School will be recognized in its environment as leader in searching formation, for them to have the conditions to participate actively in the formation building of a fair human and productive society.
DRESS CODE
You can see in these pictures the everyday and the sport uniform.
There are morning shift (from 6:00 am to 12:30pm) and afternoon shift (from 12:40pm to 6:40pm)
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the s secretary office
.
The school has two computer rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight , Especially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen, taxi drivers, bricklayers, messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence, they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic stratum is low many of them are in strata 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but IT is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjuez), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of guys and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. Most of the students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
The school has assumed as pedagogical model, the developing model which has to do with learning the students to learn, developing investigation abilities in the students, this model is based on active pedagogies that say that student learn by doing activities that are interesting for them and related with their needs. The developing model has method called the meaningful learning and we are implementing this as a way to understand the students cognitive needs and that makes students understand their reality and improve interchange ideas.
We focus on developing the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) emphasizing one in each period, so we emphasize reading comprehension in the first period, listening in the second, speaking in the third and writing in the fourth. You can see the syllabus in a chart in another entry.
ENGLISH TEACHER
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teachers have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher.
OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To implement a blog as a teaching tool to improve language skills among eleventh graders at Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School.
Specific objectives
- Using the blog as a communication tool between students and the teacher.
- Using the blog as a tool to develop writing skills.
- Having access to the lesson plan to review and check out what has been done in class.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This theoretical framework is based on articles and websites that talks about the use of technologies in the classroom.
I have to make clear that there are many technologies and devices you can use in the classroom. This is not something new.
Based on Monserrat Casanovas Catala ,Technologies have been used since 60’s. In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
.
The use of devices like TV sets, tape recorders, DVD players allowed a communicative perspective in learning English, developing the four language skills.
Internet is now is the tool that teachers must have to use in language teaching, but they have to be prepared in the use of that new technology and know how to make effective the use of that technology in the classroom.
Mark Warschawer and P. Fawn Whittaker give some guidelines to help teachers implement computer network-based activities and technologies into the second language classroom.
- Consider carefully your goals.
The first thing for teachers to do is clarify their goals. Once the aims are specified, appropriate tasks and activities can be designed.
- Think integration.
For best results, computer-based activities should be integrated into the course curriculum as a whole.
- Do not underestimate the complexity.
- Provide necessary support.
Although many students are quite knowledgeable about the computer, sufficient support should be provided to avoid problems of a technical nature.
- Involve students in decisions.
As much as possible, teachers should involve learners throughout the entire instructional process. Involving the students in deciding on the class direction is likely to create the kind of classroom atmosphere that promotes optimal learning.
Taking into a count these previous concepts, I thought of using internet in the classroom since in my High school I have a video beam, a computer and internet in the classroom, besides a TV set, a DVD player and a tape recorder.
Internet is an extreme big world and I think is better to begin using blogs as a tool in teaching and learning English.
First of all it´s important to make a definition of a blog, advantages and disadvantages, how does it work, and the educational uses of a blog.
We can find the answers in Pineda and Gomez’s blog.
The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Weblogs or blogs for short are simply Web based diaries. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger". Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. Often blogs focus on a particular area of interest. Blog systems are designed to be easy to set up and quick to use. If you can use e-mail, then you can use a blog. An important feature of blogs is that readers can add comments on each entry.
Advantages and disadvantages of blogs.
Advantages
• Students feel motivated to learn using technologies.
• Motivates independent learning.
• Although at the beginning classes with technology demand a lot of time investment, it can save time later.
• Using blogs and groups works as a bank of activities that remains there for further use.
• Lost of paper can be saved.
Disadvantages
• Problems with the Internet connection can be frustrating.
• There are still many places where there is not the necessary equipment.
• Some teachers and students are still reluctant to use technologies for learning purposes.
• Planning classes with technologies is time consuming.
How does it work?
You add an entry to a blog and that entry appears at the top on the Web page that the blog produces, previous entries move down the page.
Readers can add comments on each entry so that you will have a kind of conversation in your blog.
What are the educational uses of blogs?
* Use it as a class diary for a specific group of students, as notice-board for a whole cohort, and even as a space for students to write themselves.
* Write a summary of each lesson.
* Add links to Web pages with exercises, explanations, interactive quizzes or demonstrations.
* The blog can be used by students who were at the lesson as a reminder of the main themes (and homework) and as a guide to carefully chosen and relevant Web pages.
* Students who had to miss all or part of the lesson can find a summary, possibly with text-book readings and some links that will enable the student to get the gist of the lesson and be able to join in a little more next week.
* It allows students to communicate themselves outside the boundaries of the classroom and the institution.
http://bodmas.org/blog/ilt-ideas/blogs-in-education-podcast/
What are the advantages of having students writing in a blog format?
* Students may care more about their work, knowing that it will be read by others.
* Students will belong to a larger community than their class, a community where they can share and develop ideas. They may enjoy having readers submit questions and comments to their blogs.
* Students will learn real-world technical skills.
Most of the theory indicates that it is not worth using technology per se, it is necessary to go beyond and explore its pedagogical possibilities. The teacher has to know how to deal with that to make a good use of it.
The idea with the use of blogs and technology in the classroom is to integrate the language skills (oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression)and offers an appropriate educational environment to improve the learning of a foreign language.
Starting point
This project is going to be developed in eleventh grade and I started making some question to have an idea of what are the students interests and needs.
Students consider the best way to learn English is by working in groups after the teachers´ explanation. That means that the teacher has to think in activities that deal with cooperative learning.
Talking about the topics they want to learn, and taking in to a count that the students are all girls they would like to know about fashion and that could be an interesting topic to make a project in which students can work on the four skills and of course make English classes more interesting and motivating for them.
They also would like to use computers as little English labs in the classroom and reinforced and practice not only writing but listening and reading comprehension. Of course that is not up to the teacher but to the principal and I am trying to convince her that it is cheaper to buy ten or fifteen lap tops than think of building an English lab.
Based on the student’s needs and interests I think I can apply this project in eleven grades and see what happen especially during the first semester, and after that evaluate it and depending on that go on.
Unit plan
Date Objective Action Expected result
Class 1
Introduction of the topic and the blog Make an agreement with the students about the topic to study and present the blog as a tool to support the project.
Class 2 Determine what the goals we´re are going to achieve. Make groups of three students and talk about the objectives we´re
going to achieve. (To propose the students to create their own blogs).
Class 3
Develop the research Develop the objectives, reading analyzing information related to the chosen topic.
Class 4
To evaluate the project. To present and evaluate the project. The best project could be registered in ThinkQuest international competition.
The activities mentioned in the chart are going to be developed in one period, depending of the schedule programmed by the High School, which means ten weeks per period, so I have two weeks per activity.
The first activity is based on the survey I did with the students, they mentioned that the topic they wanted to work on was FASHION, so I am going to make a presentation of subjects related to fashions in my blog and in the video beam, it could be an article with audio, and a video or pictures that has to do with the topic, as a worming up to motivate students to present their works projects using the blogs.
Making groups with students that have similar interest that could be by asking the students to find someone who likes wearing piercings find someone who likes tattoos find someone who likes wearing accessories, find someone who likes make up.
That activity can help the girls to make groups with partners who have the same interest, and make work easier.
After that students have to focus on writing the objectives of their projects, at this point the teacher can make short meetings with each group in order to clarify the objectives they are going to develop in their project, and suggest them readings and some websites they can consult for looking and analyzing the information. It`s necessary of course to remind them what are the steps they have to follow to make a project and it can take a class for discussing with them. All this suggestions can be shown in the teachers blogs and if they want they can open their own blogs (one for group), to send their information and advances to the teacher.
Finally students have to make the presentation of the project, using blogs if they want or another tool,they have to do it orally and the best project could be registered in ThinkQuest , which is an online learning platform that includes a project environment that supports collaborative learning and they can win an award from them. Of course it is going to take one section or two for explaining students about ThinkQuest.
As I mentioned before this project is going to be implemented in eleventh grade and I am going to share it with my partners, the others three English teachers and I hope it really works and motivate students to learn English more.
REFERENCES
Internet en la didactica de las lenguas extrangeras: un paso adelante , Monserrat Casanovas Catala.
Metodology in Language teaching. ( The Internet for english teaching: guidelines for teachers by Mark Waeschawer and P. Whittaker.
Video in the ELT Classroom: The role of the teacher. Susan Stempleski.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/blogging-elt
miércoles, 24 de noviembre de 2010
miércoles, 10 de noviembre de 2010
PROJECT USING TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
Project
USING TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches (three schools) called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
USING TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS
CONTEXT
Lorenza Villegas de Santos High school is located in San Calletano neighborhood in Medellin (Ant, Colombia). This is an all-girls school and it has three branches (three schools) called, Esteban Jaramillo, Simona Duque and the main building Lorenza Villegas de Santos.
The principal of the high school is Maria Isabel Villa, and there are three coordinators, one for each section. It has 2220 students, all of them girls.
MISION
The Lorenza Villegas de Santos High School is an institution open to democracy and the commitment with the childhood and youth, as bases of the society, to be competent in the investigation and work. For that purpose we have an ethic and pedagogic human team.
VISION
In 2015, the High School will be recognized in its environment as lieder in searching formation, for its students have the conditions to participate actively in the building of a fair human and productive society.
DRESS CODE
Yo
u can see in these pictures the everyday´s and the sport´s uniform.There are morning shift (from 6:00 am to 12:30pm) and afternoon shift ( from 12:40pm to 6:40pm)
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the secretary office.
The school has two computer´s rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight, specially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen. Taxi drivers, bricklayers, Messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic statues is low many of them are in stratus 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjues), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of gays and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. The students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teacher have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher too.
OBJECTIVES
. - To implement the use of technology in the English classroom.
- To make a blog as a tool to improve language skills in English language teaching.
- To study and be prepared to teach students how to use technology in the English language learning.
THE STATE OF ART
There are a lot readings related to the use of technologies in the English language teaching. Monserrat Cassanovas Catala in his article INTERNET IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, says that is it no new, technology has been used since 60s.
There are three pedagogical foundations that include the use of technology: the behaviorism, communicative and integrative.
In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
The communicative perspective emerged at the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s as a reaction against the behaviorism.
The difference between both proposals was that in the communicative point of view the relevance in learning a language was the use of linguistic forms ( functional approach), and in behaviorism the most important thing was the correct use of linguistic forms.
Behind that proposals were the cognitive theories, that recognize that the learning is a creative process of discovering, that permits more possibilities for individual work.
The last step called integrative is based on a socio-cognitive focus of language learning That considers the use of language in a communicative context as the most important.
TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) look for the integration of the language skills,( oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression) and technology since a global point of view in the students learning .
Technology like Internet offers an educational environmental with a richness without precedents in general education and in the teaching-learning of English in particular.
The roll of the teacher
The main branch has two blocks, in the A block we have a school restaurant, a big patio, for the brake and for practicing sports; two sets of bathrooms with seven toilets each one.
In the B block there is a theatre for 600 students called SANEY MADRID ZULUAGA, a parking lot, a big library called LUCELLY VILLEGAS DE SANTOS, the principal office, and the secretary office.
The school has two computer´s rooms. In the English classroom there is a video beam, a computer (but it´s broken), a DVD player, a TV set , a tape recorder, and it also has internet but it is too slow and most of the times it doesn´t work.
The relationships among students in general terms are good but sometimes they fight, specially for boys, Even tough they lack of many things the students have values and they respect their teachers and follow the rules.
Most of the students´ parents are watchmen. Taxi drivers, bricklayers, Messengers, street sellers, housekeepers, bus drivers, and most of them couldn´t study in a high school. Besides, many students do not have a father, due to the violence they were killed or they left them when they were little children. The socio- economic statues is low many of them are in stratus 1,2 or 3 and they are in the SISBEN which is the health system supported by the government.
There is a good environment to study, but is important to mention that outside the high school, it means in the neighborhood (Aranjues), there are bands of gangsters and criminals that are always looking for beautiful girls and some students like that kind of gays and that get them in troubles, and because of that sometimes they have to leave the school and the neighborhood. The students’ interests are to finish their studies in the High School and begin to work to help their families.
The relation between teachers and the administration is good, there are respect and cordiality.
There are four English teachers, two in each shift (morning and afternoon) .
I studied English at the University of Antioquia and I have a B.A in languages (English and Spanish).I have 15 years of experience working as an English teacher and I have worked in different High Schools and Universities like Politecnico Jaime Isaza Cadavid, Esumer,and Universidad Pascual Bravo. I like to be updated in language teaching topics and I have been taking different courses that help me to improve my knowledge and put that in practice in the classroom. I think English teacher have to use technologies in the classroom to make classes more interesting and they have to prepare themselves to use it in an appropriate way in language teaching. I also studied law in the same University and I think I am going to work as a lawyer in the near future, of course without leaving my work as an English teacher too.
OBJECTIVES
. - To implement the use of technology in the English classroom.
- To make a blog as a tool to improve language skills in English language teaching.
- To study and be prepared to teach students how to use technology in the English language learning.
THE STATE OF ART
There are a lot readings related to the use of technologies in the English language teaching. Monserrat Cassanovas Catala in his article INTERNET IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, says that is it no new, technology has been used since 60s.
There are three pedagogical foundations that include the use of technology: the behaviorism, communicative and integrative.
In the 60s the first Computer- Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was based on a behaviorism learning model. In this model the computer was a Mechanical Tutor that valued the repeated exercises systematically for the students (drills).
The communicative perspective emerged at the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s as a reaction against the behaviorism.
The difference between both proposals was that in the communicative point of view the relevance in learning a language was the use of linguistic forms ( functional approach), and in behaviorism the most important thing was the correct use of linguistic forms.
Behind that proposals were the cognitive theories, that recognize that the learning is a creative process of discovering, that permits more possibilities for individual work.
The last step called integrative is based on a socio-cognitive focus of language learning That considers the use of language in a communicative context as the most important.
TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) look for the integration of the language skills,( oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing comprehension and oral and writing expression) and technology since a global point of view in the students learning .
Technology like Internet offers an educational environmental with a richness without precedents in general education and in the teaching-learning of English in particular.
The roll of the teacher
martes, 2 de noviembre de 2010
KWH ROBINSON´S PROJECT (USING TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM)
KWH CHART ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
WHAT I KNOW?
My Project is called USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS. I know that the use of tics in english clases are very useful and motívate the students to learn more. I also know that there are courses to take in LA ESCUELA DEL MAESTRO.
WHAT I WANT TO KNOW?
WHAT MY COLLEAGUES WOULD LIKE TO KNOW REGARDING MY PROJECT?
I want to know how to use better the video beam and internet in the classroom and if it´s posible to make some exams and games for making english classes more interesting.
HOW CAN I FOUND OUT?
References
Internet en la didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras un paso adelante. Pag 53
Revista IKALA, Universidad de Antioquia, Escuela de idiomas.
Tecnologies in the classroom, section 15 . Metodology in the language teaching.
The use of Media in language teaching, pag 459. Teaching english as a second or foreign language.
HOW CAN I PUT IT IN PRACTICE?
Finding out and practicing in websites and doing work in the classroom.
I have to learn how to make a blog and how to use tics and then put that in practice with the students.
During vacations I´m going to have a lot of free time and I am going to plan many things to do for next year.
WHAT I KNOW?
My Project is called USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS. I know that the use of tics in english clases are very useful and motívate the students to learn more. I also know that there are courses to take in LA ESCUELA DEL MAESTRO.
WHAT I WANT TO KNOW?
WHAT MY COLLEAGUES WOULD LIKE TO KNOW REGARDING MY PROJECT?
I want to know how to use better the video beam and internet in the classroom and if it´s posible to make some exams and games for making english classes more interesting.
HOW CAN I FOUND OUT?
References
Internet en la didáctica de las lenguas extranjeras un paso adelante. Pag 53
Revista IKALA, Universidad de Antioquia, Escuela de idiomas.
Tecnologies in the classroom, section 15 . Metodology in the language teaching.
The use of Media in language teaching, pag 459. Teaching english as a second or foreign language.
HOW CAN I PUT IT IN PRACTICE?
Finding out and practicing in websites and doing work in the classroom.
I have to learn how to make a blog and how to use tics and then put that in practice with the students.
During vacations I´m going to have a lot of free time and I am going to plan many things to do for next year.
martes, 26 de octubre de 2010
survey of use of tics in the classroom
LORENZA VILLEGAS DE SANTOS HIGH SCHOOL
GRADE 10
SURVEY AIM: WHAT STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THE TOPICS AND USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLILSH CLASSROOM.
TEACHER: ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
QUESTIONARY
1. HOW DO YOU CONSIDER IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ENGLISH?
a. Teachers explanation.
b. Using videos in the tv set
c. Working in groups
d. Using listening exercises
e. Writing too much
f. Studing gramar
g. All of them
2. What topics would you like to study?
a. Sports
b. Fashion
c. Grammar
d. Reading comprehension topics
e. Others
3. What kind of activities would you like to do in class?
a. Listening and singing songs.
b. Watching and asking questions about videos
c. Reading comprehensions exercises
d. Writing exercises
e. Drawing for learinig vocabulary
f. Using internet and computers as Little english labs.
g. Others
4. What do you think about the use of tics in the english class?
a. That´s useful
b. That´s boring
c. It is not necessary
d. It is interesting
e. Others
Survey results
PREGUNTAS OPCIONES
A B C D E F G H OTROS
1 5 1 23 3 1 3
2 4 25 2 1 3
3 2 9 1 23
4 17 2 1 14 1
GRADE 10
SURVEY AIM: WHAT STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THE TOPICS AND USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLILSH CLASSROOM.
TEACHER: ROBINSON DURANGO ZULETA
QUESTIONARY
1. HOW DO YOU CONSIDER IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ENGLISH?
a. Teachers explanation.
b. Using videos in the tv set
c. Working in groups
d. Using listening exercises
e. Writing too much
f. Studing gramar
g. All of them
2. What topics would you like to study?
a. Sports
b. Fashion
c. Grammar
d. Reading comprehension topics
e. Others
3. What kind of activities would you like to do in class?
a. Listening and singing songs.
b. Watching and asking questions about videos
c. Reading comprehensions exercises
d. Writing exercises
e. Drawing for learinig vocabulary
f. Using internet and computers as Little english labs.
g. Others
4. What do you think about the use of tics in the english class?
a. That´s useful
b. That´s boring
c. It is not necessary
d. It is interesting
e. Others
Survey results
PREGUNTAS OPCIONES
A B C D E F G H OTROS
1 5 1 23 3 1 3
2 4 25 2 1 3
3 2 9 1 23
4 17 2 1 14 1
jueves, 21 de octubre de 2010
journal entry 4
SOURVEY
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS?
HOW DO YOU CONSIDER IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ENGLISH?
WHAT TOPICS WOULD YOU LIKE TO STUDY?
WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO IN CLASS?
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE USE OF TICS IN THE ENGLISH CLASS?
HOW DO YOU CONSIDER IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ENGLISH?
WHAT TOPICS WOULD YOU LIKE TO STUDY?
WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO IN CLASS?
journal entry 1
What did I realized after taking the diagnostic test?
What did I learn?
Did I realize what my strengths and wiknesses are?
After taking my diagnostic test I realized that one of my strengths is listening and I didn't know it.
I thought I was better in reading comprehension and grammar than in listening but the results of the exam show the opposite. I'm proud because of the results.
I learnt that watching tv programs in english like commedies or news really help to keep a good level of your listening comprehension.
I know that I have ti work hard in reading comprehension and writing to improve that skills.
What did I learn?
Did I realize what my strengths and wiknesses are?
After taking my diagnostic test I realized that one of my strengths is listening and I didn't know it.
I thought I was better in reading comprehension and grammar than in listening but the results of the exam show the opposite. I'm proud because of the results.
I learnt that watching tv programs in english like commedies or news really help to keep a good level of your listening comprehension.
I know that I have ti work hard in reading comprehension and writing to improve that skills.
miércoles, 20 de octubre de 2010
journal entry 3
Strategies to practice listening
I regularly watch english tv programs, specially commedies like FRIENDS, ONE AND A HALF MAN, and others, so, besides of having fun I also practice listening comprehension.I've learnt new idioms and expressions and I take notes.
Some programs have close caption and that helps to improve nor only the listening skill but writing too.
I also watch news like CNN and sports channels like ESPN where you learn vocabulary about sports like baseball and rugby, tennis and many others.
I regularly watch english tv programs, specially commedies like FRIENDS, ONE AND A HALF MAN, and others, so, besides of having fun I also practice listening comprehension.I've learnt new idioms and expressions and I take notes.
Some programs have close caption and that helps to improve nor only the listening skill but writing too.
I also watch news like CNN and sports channels like ESPN where you learn vocabulary about sports like baseball and rugby, tennis and many others.
miércoles, 6 de octubre de 2010
journal entry 2
What kind of method your way of teaching is based on?Give examples
According to Kumaradivelu's macrostategies and microstategies, can you identify which ones you normally use in your classroom? Give examples
Taking into consideration your educational context and your own expectations and goals which macrostrategies and microstrategies would you like to implement in your lessons?
English teachers, including me delvelop different methods in our way of teaching but we don't know sometimes what kind of method we are applying.
According to Kamaradivelu's article and in the syllabus we have in our High School we are applying a learner- centered mehod ( communicative method). We are trying to develop the four language skills during the year. One example could be the oral interviews I did to the students for giving personal information and other asking for specific information in a video ( listening comprehension).
Telling the truth I can say that depending on the topic, I apply a Language centered method, specially when I teach grammar structures and I use form-focused exercises until students internalize them.
Another topic has to be with the macrostrategies I am applying in the classroom. One macrostrategy I am using is to facilitate negotiated interaction and an example could be when the students had to work in groups of three for playing a role in a dialogue of three minutes, that was previously listened; besides that I gave them the script and practiced the pronunciation.
They could record their dialogue in a cd and show it to their partners in class. That was fun and I think students liked it. However some students told me that they didn't want to do the same dialogue and asked me for help to make a new script, with their own story, and expressions.
That was a really good idea and of course I did it. The students had the opportunity to learn and to lead their learning process based on their needs.
Another macrostrategy I have implemented in class is to integrate language skills. If we see the syllabus, in each period we emphasize an specific skill, so in the first period the emphasis was reading comprehension, in the second, listening, in the third speaking and in the fourth the emphasis is writing.
It doesn't mean that we don't implement the other skills in each period. An example is that in this fourth period (where the emphasis is writing), the students are making compositions (stories, tales,etc), and they have to read them in front of their partners and that means that they have to do their best.
I would like to implement the macrostrategy called promoting learners autonomy, because the students are not going to have an english teacher all the time, and there are many tools and strategies they can use to improve their english. That means that me as a teacher have to help them learn how to learn english (self- direct their own learning).
According to Kumaradivelu's article the''two main steps to promote learning autonomy are psychological preparation and strategic training.
That's a big challenge for me and I'll try to search and read about it, and I know this course I'm taking is going to be worthy.
According to Kumaradivelu's macrostategies and microstategies, can you identify which ones you normally use in your classroom? Give examples
Taking into consideration your educational context and your own expectations and goals which macrostrategies and microstrategies would you like to implement in your lessons?
English teachers, including me delvelop different methods in our way of teaching but we don't know sometimes what kind of method we are applying.
According to Kamaradivelu's article and in the syllabus we have in our High School we are applying a learner- centered mehod ( communicative method). We are trying to develop the four language skills during the year. One example could be the oral interviews I did to the students for giving personal information and other asking for specific information in a video ( listening comprehension).
Telling the truth I can say that depending on the topic, I apply a Language centered method, specially when I teach grammar structures and I use form-focused exercises until students internalize them.
Another topic has to be with the macrostrategies I am applying in the classroom. One macrostrategy I am using is to facilitate negotiated interaction and an example could be when the students had to work in groups of three for playing a role in a dialogue of three minutes, that was previously listened; besides that I gave them the script and practiced the pronunciation.
They could record their dialogue in a cd and show it to their partners in class. That was fun and I think students liked it. However some students told me that they didn't want to do the same dialogue and asked me for help to make a new script, with their own story, and expressions.
That was a really good idea and of course I did it. The students had the opportunity to learn and to lead their learning process based on their needs.
Another macrostrategy I have implemented in class is to integrate language skills. If we see the syllabus, in each period we emphasize an specific skill, so in the first period the emphasis was reading comprehension, in the second, listening, in the third speaking and in the fourth the emphasis is writing.
It doesn't mean that we don't implement the other skills in each period. An example is that in this fourth period (where the emphasis is writing), the students are making compositions (stories, tales,etc), and they have to read them in front of their partners and that means that they have to do their best.
I would like to implement the macrostrategy called promoting learners autonomy, because the students are not going to have an english teacher all the time, and there are many tools and strategies they can use to improve their english. That means that me as a teacher have to help them learn how to learn english (self- direct their own learning).
According to Kumaradivelu's article the''two main steps to promote learning autonomy are psychological preparation and strategic training.
That's a big challenge for me and I'll try to search and read about it, and I know this course I'm taking is going to be worthy.
martes, 4 de mayo de 2010
INTRODUCCION
This blog is created to talk about my experiences as a teacher and the topics I am learning and studying in the convenio with the Universidad de Antioquia.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)