Mix it up with Blended Learning

  As we have mentioned in our previous posts, technology is, nowadays, part of our everyday life. Even children are using technology in their lives, not only for fun, but also to do their homework. So we consider that if we want to motivate students and make their learning process interesting, we have to bring into the classroom new things. A good way to do so is with Blended Learning.

Blended Learning combines personalized online learning with face-to face classroom learning. It allows students to learn at their own pace, at their own ability level and focus on their own interests.

However, Sophie Partarrieu (2015) states that students still need face-to-face learning since they need to established emotional relationships, they need demonstration and immediate feedback. Things which are not possible if we use computers. What is more, she says that teachers should receive sufficient training if the aim is to include technology in the classroom.

             In face-to-face learning students can interact with each other, negotiate meaning, express their feelings and needs, and receive immediate feedback from the teacher, among others. While, in online teaching, students gain autonomy, work at their own pace and in a more personalized way. Considering this, we can say that working with blended learning has many advantages.

To conclude, we recommend that you put this method into practice in your classroom. It may not be easy at the beginning since it is something new for us, but it is worth trying. 

Reference

http://www.elearninglearning.com/blended-learning/?open-article-id=4153621&article-title=blended-learning-outperforms-non-blended-classrooms&blog-domain=lambdasolutions.net&blog-title=lambda-solutions

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-we-still-need-face-face-teaching-digital-age

Picture taken from:https://www.totaralms.com/blog/how-make-better-blended-learning-your-lms

Thinking time

Usar más la computadora no ayuda a aprender más

After reading this news, we asked ourselves if everything that is said there is totally true. During this year we have read about how to use technology to teach and also we have used them to plan different lessons. According to this investigation and trials we could say that by using the computer as a tool teachers will make their lessons more attractive or will give the internet an academic use, it is true that may be students will not become more efficient but it is also true that they will pay more attention and work a bit more than when reading a sheet of paper with just theory, because you are using something they use to have fun or to relax to involve them into your subject. So, yes, maybe using technology in class will have their disadvantages, but it is up to you to find out the correct use in order to turn technology into a friend for teaching.

Source

http://mira.ellitoral.com/2015/09/usar-mas-la-computadora-no-ayuda-a-aprender-mas/                             

Bringing Web 2.0 into the classroom

                 

Web 2.0 is the evolution of the Web 1.0, where limited interaction between users and webs were possible. Users were not given the opportunity to post reviews, comments and feedback, they could only receive information. Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 allows users and websites to interact more freely. Web 2.0 describes World Wide Web sites that emphasize any form of content which is available to use at any time and gives you the opportunity to share with other people what you have been working on. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and social bookmarking are some examples of Web 2.0 sites.

Using Web 2.0 allows students to create contents by themselves and to take responsibility for their own learning. It gives students the opportunity to participate, collaborate and share information. An example would be working with Comic Master a site where you can create your own comic, choosing different characters, emotions, actions and dialogues. If you want to share your production you can download it as a pdf file or print it. 

Another example would be Zimmer Twins, there students can create their own videos to share with their classmates what they have learnt. They can write what they want, use pictures and make the characters move. With these technologies we can motivate students to learn and work in any subject, since you can produce what you need with them. This page in particular requires you to sign in to create a video, which will be available only for two weeks, if you do not become a member. 

As a conclusion we could reaffirm that working with this new technology provides a wide range of opportunities to use in and outside the classroom. Even though we use it to socialize or spend some free time, we could use this kind of technology to engage students, to make lessons and activities more attractive. We advise you to give them a try and make your students’ learning process more appealing to them. Just be careful because not  all of the web 2.0 sites allow you to use them as a free user, download or share what you have produced.

Picture take from: http://www.zimmertwins.com

http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/ 

http://www.zimmertwins.com

Improving activities using SAMR and TPACK

We find it useful to work with the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition) model and the TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) model when working on a project with a 2nd year group of students from Dr, Manuel Pizarro School. In this project students had to create a Prezi presentation about one job and show it to their classmates. The models helped us to analyse the tasks in order to make them work better and suit our purpose.

According to Puentedura, when working with the SAMR model we are making modifications to the material. In our case we were presenting a video instead of using flashcards since it allows us to show real movement and real actions by redesigning part of the task. There was a segment in which students had to create a Google Docs to work collaboratively and write about the job they were going to present.  Here we are redesigning the task to work in another way, so students can share what they are doing. We are replacing the pen and paper tech for a new tech, this is called substitution. At the same time, we are increasing the functionality of the task as we could monitor what the students were doing and guide them in the process; this is called augmentation. Then, we showed them a video on how to make a good prezi presentation to make it clear what they were expected to do for the final task. The prezi was uploaded to an Edmodo group we had so that students could check if what they were doing was right. 

As regards TPACK, we are combining three knowledge areas, which are the technological knowledge, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Koehler and Mishra claim that when we consider these knowledge areas, we increase student motivation and make the content more accessible to them. The first is the content knowledge which is related to the subject matter we are teaching, in our case was English. The second is the pedagogical knowledge, this has to do with the tools a teacher has to make the content more accessible when presenting it to students. In our lesson students were going to work in groups and we were going to model what they had to do by showing them a prezi presentation. This prezi was a guide to show them what they were expected to create. The last one is the technological knowledge and it is related to the tool we select to make the content more accessible to the students. The tools we have chosen were a prezi presentation and Google Docs. We took the TPACK model into consideration when planning our lesson.

After analysing all the aspects as regards TPACK and SAMR and going back to what we planned to do, we could say that both models helped us to analyse and think more about the tasks so they can work better. In this way, we could make the lesson more interesting and motivating for our students. For us, as teachers, having taken into account these models help us to realised how to improve our lesson by maximizing the class time while monitor our students in their learning process.

Pros and cons when designing your own materials

At the beginning of the year teachers have to decide which materials to use with their students. Here comes the big decision, whether to use already made materials or designing their own. This would depend on the syllabus, the group, timetable and other input factors. In their article "Guidelines for Designing English Language Teaching Materials", Howard and Major (2005) provide readers with guidelines to take into account when designing materials. Here we want to share with you some pros and cons of designing your own materials. So when the moment to choose comes you know what is the best for you and your students.

          There are many reasons why teachers may want to design their own teaching materials, but we are concern with four of them: contextualisation, individual needs, personalisation and timeliness. 

• Contextualisation: When teachers are dealing with commercial materials and coursebooks, those tools may contain speech acts and functions which are not designed to the particular educational or cultural context they are teaching. Nevertheless, when designing their own materials, teachers think of their students learning environment and make the learning closer to their reality.

• Individual needs: Designing the material allows teachers to incorporate learners’ first language and culture to the learning of a second culture and language, and also to incorporate English to their everyday use. You can select texts and material that are appropriate for the learners’ levels, and that ensure challenges to them.

• Personalisation: Another advantage is that working on your own materials could motivate students, as you as a teacher know what makes your students feel more involved with the language and what kind of activities will increase freedom and spontaneity while learning.

• Timeliness: Finally we could add this advantage that is the possibility to work with up-to-date events and sources so that your learners can deal with relevant topics and you as a teacher to work with relevant tasks. 

• Organisation: It is important that the material is well organised and that activities show a clear purpose, and not just a random activity that has nothing to do with the lesson.  You can miss parts or damaged the materials and if they are not well organised, students may feel lost or frustrated with their progress.

• Quality: Design materials may look unprofessional as regards durability, the way they are construe and the clarity in the arrangement of it. If the teacher is an inexperienced one, she/he may left some elements out or cover them in a wrong way.

• Time: another disadvantage is that designing materials takes time and teachers may not have the sufficient hours required to think and make the material.

   But there are also some cons that make teachers think whether to design their materials or work with the coursebook.

Conclusion

   As a conclusion, we could say that working with your own materials, designing and then applying them is a good way to involve your students in your lessons, make them feel attracted by what you are teaching and also give them the feeling of being English foreigners for the hours that the lesson lasts. It is true that by doing so the time that you spend will be longer than if you plan your lesson with a coursebook, even though it provides you with structures and steps to follow. However the reward and the progress you will see if you are the one that designs the materials will not be the same as an everyday lesson.   

References

Howard, J., & Major, J. (2004) Guidelines for Designing Effective English Language Teaching Materials. 

Warning! Untrustable websites DO exist!

Hi there, this is our new entry. We would like to share with you our website review.

To do this we took into account some criteria that helped us to see whether the web pages were reliable and valuable resources to teach or not. Some of the categories we took into account to do this were reliability, responsibility, objectivity, appropriateness and currency among others.

We want to clarify some points so you understand what we are talking about: We analyzed two websites, Handouts Online - http://www.handoutsonline.com/ - and BBC learning english - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/. Both are sites where you can find resources to use to teach in ESL/EFL classrooms, you can print and then photocopy them. In the case of Handouts online login and payment is necessary if you want to download more worksheets than the ones the web page offers you as free user. Both sites are administered by a corporation and allow you to send the authors an email if you have any doubts.

• Reliability/Responsibility: you have to take into account who the author/s of the web page is/are, is there an email to contact the people in charge, is there information about the author/s qualifications?, do you have to pay to use the materials they provide?
• Objectivity: the level to which this web page is oriented, if you can adapt the materials or not.
• Appropriateness and relevance: is the material offered appropriate for the level you are teaching? Is it easy and clear to work with it?
• Currency: do you know when the page was last updated? are there links outside the page? do they work? can you access them anytime you want?  

When talking about orientation, the BBC only works with Lower Intermediate, Intermediate and English my way levels. It also has many categories to work with-home, arts, tv, etc. On the other hand, Handouts is oriented to teachers who teach High School, College or University students. To finish we would like to say that only in BBC you can see when the page was last updated and which the last activity they shared is.

What have we decided about these pages? Both are reliable and very useful resources, besides in one of them you have to sign in and pay to access the content, but on the other free samples are available and they are interesting. As a recommendation you can go and take a look at them, and if you need material to work with your students don’t hesitate to download the worksheets that they offer to you. Let us know if you try any of them and if it works for you!

Picture taken from:http://www.handoutsonline.com/index.php

Picture taken from:http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Sources

http://www.handoutsonline.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Digital Natives: for or against them?

Many things have been said about Digital Natives (DN) and the way in which they use technology nowadays. It is not a secret that they process information in a different way, a way that Digital Immigrants (DI), are not used to. Digital Natives are the first generation to grow up in a world in which technology is the center of their lives.They do everything on the computer and do not understand their parents’ way of doing things. On the other side, Digital Immigrants are those who were not born with technology,or at least it was not so important.

In 2001 Prensky wrote an article called  “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, there he shared  some ideas about DN and DI that we would like to comment on. One of the things he said is that instructors nowadays are not use to the way in which people communicate. Digital Natives process information in a different way, they can do many things at the same time and are updated with the new technologies. We agree when he says that these differences make it difficult for instructors to teach DN, as they do it in the way they have learned.

Second, DI educators need to think how to teach DN “traditional” content and digital/technological content in the language of the Digital Natives. As they are used to manipulating these new techcnologies it would be easier for them to get involved in the lessons and find them interesting. At this point, we cannot completely agree with him. The fact that DN were born together with technology doesn’t mean that educators have to adapt all content to get them engaged with the lesson. It may help them in certain cases, but we don’t think that the value of the content would change according to the way we present it.

So if Digital Immigrant teachers really want to reach Digital Natives students, there are certain things that they will have to change. Although this means that teachers will have to prepare themselves and change some methods when working, it also brings a new interesting tool to the classroom and a good way to engage students in the process of learning. Of course it does not mean that we will have to forget our own way of teaching, our own essence because it is that what makes us be who we are. Last but not least, it is time to take digital instruments and technology as friends and not as enemy and start to think that “it is better to join them than to beat them”.

References 

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the horizon, vol. 9 No 5. 1-6

Picture taken from:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/515451119831021087/