Learning Reflection Lesson

Innovative Educational Teachology In The Global Classroom

Teachers are increasingly beginning to incorporate technology into the classroom, even with younger age groups. Children as young as first and second grade are learning how to use the computer as a teaching aid. Programs can teach kids concepts relating to colors, shapes, and a variety of other concepts such as spelling and math. However teachers first need to learn how to use the programs and software. Fortunately there are many resources for teachers on learning the software and then incorporating it into their lesson plan.
1.Integrating Instructional Technology In to an Assignment
2.The ELL Case study
3.Bloging
4.Podcasting
5.Creating aWiki
6.Online Dicussion
7.Implications

Thinking on the Application of Multimedia into college English Teaching

Multimedia teaching method has been used in college English teaching wider and wider. It has contributed a lot to higher teaching quality. At the same time, we have seen many difficulties and misunderstanding about it. We should change our teaching ideas and recognize its impersonal attribute as one kind of teaching method. Thus we can utilize modern education technology reasonably to fulfill the target of college English teaching.
The time when computers have become popular in China is not long, so the college English teachers haven’t used them for a long time. Many young teachers can use them by training or self-study. They are lecturers or bachelors and they have very short teaching experiences. All the above restrict the multimedia teaching method from becoming popular in college English teaching. Moreover, many men of insight have realized that our country should make innovation to the college English Test Band 4 and Band 6 because these exams have affected the normal English teaching. After doing that, teachers can be more active in the teaching and carry out effective quality education. Otherwise the product of our education-the students, will become incompetent with high scores.
In a word, multimedia teaching method belongs to CAL (computer- aided instruction) in substance, and we can heighten efficiency substantially, which is a kind of trend. We should make best use of its advantages and bypass its disadvantages. Of course it can’t replace all other teaching methods and we can apply several methods together in one class. Only under the background of quality education can we use advanced educational theory and we can fulfill the target of college English teaching by utilizing modern education technology reasonably

On the problems and strategies of Multimedia Technology in English Teaching.

Analysis on necessity of application of Multimedia technology to English Teaching
-Cultivate students’ interest in study
-Improve teaching effect = break the teacher-centered.
Analysis on problems arising from application of Multimedia technology to English teaching
-Major means replaced by the assisting one.
-Loss of speaking communication .
Suggestion to the existing problems.
-The beauty of courseware is not the sole pursuit.
-The computer screen can’t substitute the blackboard.

Directions: Describe the following terms.

Synchronous Tools

If using the “same time, different place” model of communication, some common barriers to implementation of synchronous tools are cost and bandwidth—not only cost and bandwidth on your end, as the individual teacher or the institution, but also to the students. This is especially true with conferencing systems; video/web conferencing requires equipment to deliver but also to receive. Although the benefits of real-time video conferencing are clear—it’s as near to a physical classroom environment as you can get—the software, hardware, and bandwidth necessary on both sides can be more cost-prohibitive than actually physically attending a class.

Some learning management systems/e-learning systems/virtual learning environments have integrated synchronous tools within the delivery platform—here I’m thinking specifically about Blackboard’s integrated chat and whiteboard features. Although there are still software, hardware, and bandwidth requirements for these tools, the requirements are likely not as cost-prohibitive as those required for video conferencing.

But when thinking about setting up synchronous discussion, don’t discount the basic, free, “old school” group instant messaging platform, ICQ.

Asynchronous Tools

But when it comes to virtual communication in support of our classes, asynchronous communication is by far the more popular model if for no other reason than the barriers to implementation tend to be much lower—many of these tools are free and require minimal hardware and software. The drawbacks of asynchronous tools are that they are by nature less timely and efficient—they are asynchronous, after all. However, planned excursions with asynchronous tools can turn into synchronous events. In other words, if students and instructors all happen to be logged in to a discussion board, conversation can happen in near-real time.

Reference : http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/tools-for-synchronousasynchronous-classroom-discussion/22902

Why do we have to use blog in ELT ?

      People write blogs as a way to express themselves and their knowledge or expertise. People read blogs as a source of information or because they find the writer interesting. Blogs are extremely useful, both to the writer and the reader. The writer may have a lot of knowledge to share, and the reader may want an informal way to learn about a topic. Some people use blogs to find other people with similar problems, issues or situations. Blogs can be anonymous, which helps a lot of people share information without being known. Some people like to state their feelings. Kind of like your message board in WikiAnswers or talk page in Wikipedia. Same thing really.
      Personally I enjoy writing and write about topics that I am interested in and that I like to write about. (I even have a blog about 'writing') Also once in a while write about products that I like, or that I am interested in 'Pre-Selling' those (Affilliate) Products, with almost all products that I (pre)sell on my blog I usually genuinely think it's about products that I believe are great products or that I have or enjoy myself. Products that It is also possible to receive comments about experiences from other people.
      I write about several other subjects that have myinterest such as Travel (and as mentioned before) the process of writing itself, Movies, Music and a few other areas of interest for several of those areas I have (one or more)different 'Blogspots'.
reference: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_people_use_blogs

What is blog ?

‘A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular “area of interest”, such as Washington, D.C.’s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences.’ Source.
Reference : http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/02/05/what-is-a-blog/

Important English

Why English is important

IF YOU are currently learning English in a school, college or institute of further education, you join approximately one billion other people around the world who are engaged in the same pursuit. However, as you try to memorise proper grammar, and try to avoid the mistakes common to most students of English, you may wonder why you are learning the language in the first place.
So, why is English important?
After Mandarin, English is spoken by more people than any other language, and is the native language of more than 350 million people. More people speak English than those who speak the Arabic and French languages combined.
Moreover, English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, UN & NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world.
English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words (including technical and scientific terms).
But don’t panic, most English speakers do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words.
English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols, whilst others have enrolled in English classes to improve their understanding of the dialogue in films and TV shows.
Or perhaps they have embraced English to enjoy the writing of Stephen King, George Orwell or J.K. Rowling. They may even have an interest in speaking English just to converse with travellers from other countries, who communicate by using the English global interlingua while travelling abroad.
Finally, if you are studying English at school, college or university, remember that getting an ‘A’ grade in English is almost worthless, in terms of communication, if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly being used at job interviews. So like it or not, English is a very important language to learn how to speak.
Reference : http://thestar.com.my/english/story.asp?file=/2007/10/18/lifefocus/18963932&sec=lifefocus

Exercise : Accronym

Directions: Find words or phrases standing for the following acronyms with
short descriptions.
1. IT         = Information technology
2. ICT     = Information and Communications Technology
3.CAI       =  Computer-Assisted Instruction
4. CALL =  Computer Assisted Language  Learning
5. WBI    = Web base instruction
6. CBI     = Computer Based Instruction
7. CMC   = Computer-Mediated Communications
8. TELL = Teaching English Language Learners
9. MUD    = Multiple User Dialogue
10. MOO = Matter of Opinion
Reference : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/