Today, I will talk about one of the biggest problems that ELT teachers face. It is TRANSLATION.
Keep thinking in English! ;)
Bye...
Thursday, April 24, 2014
How to Get Your Students to Stop Translating and Start Thinking in English?
Hey there!
How are you all? Hope everything is okay.
Today, I will talk about one of the biggest problems that ELT teachers face. It is TRANSLATION.
Unfortunately, Turkish students don't want to think in English or they are adjusted to be given the equivalents for each English word. In the process, they make it a habit to translate everything, really everything from English to Turkish (or for other learners that have different mother tongue). In order to overcome this bad habit there is a short but effective article. As you can see above, the slogan is ''Stop translating and start thinking in English''. It is the must if you want to be a fluent user of your second language. There are some steps for teachers to apply. Once you achieve it, the rest will come automatically. You can reach it from here. I also recommend you to visit the whole site. Its name is Busy Teacher. There are lots of worksheets, articles on ESL, games, flashcards, etc. They also have a store where you can buy ESL eBooks, flashcards, bundles of different topics. Just go and explore it.
Keep thinking in English! ;)
Bye...
Today, I will talk about one of the biggest problems that ELT teachers face. It is TRANSLATION.
Keep thinking in English! ;)
Bye...
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Glogster Time!
Hi there!
This week's post is from an interactive site. It's name is Glogster. It is a useful site for creating online posters. There are many kinds of posters there. Just go and choose one. The glog you prepare will reflect your creativity.
Our subject is ''What is 21. century communication for you?'' And we reflected our ideas for this statement in our glog. I worked with my friend Ayşenur again. First we talked about the topic and we found some materials in relation to our topic. Finally, we created our poster. There were few problems while constructing it, but we managed them after some trial. Glogster is a very useful site both for teachers and students. As it's not a traditional technique, teachers can use it with the relevant subject. It also improves the child's creativity. And the most important one, it shows the teacher some clues about the student's backgroud. For example from the background they choose, the colors they choose or the photos etc. Furthermore, as a future teacher, I will definitely use it with my students. I know they will like it, too.
Keep searching!
Bye...
This week's post is from an interactive site. It's name is Glogster. It is a useful site for creating online posters. There are many kinds of posters there. Just go and choose one. The glog you prepare will reflect your creativity.
Our subject is ''What is 21. century communication for you?'' And we reflected our ideas for this statement in our glog. I worked with my friend Ayşenur again. First we talked about the topic and we found some materials in relation to our topic. Finally, we created our poster. There were few problems while constructing it, but we managed them after some trial. Glogster is a very useful site both for teachers and students. As it's not a traditional technique, teachers can use it with the relevant subject. It also improves the child's creativity. And the most important one, it shows the teacher some clues about the student's backgroud. For example from the background they choose, the colors they choose or the photos etc. Furthermore, as a future teacher, I will definitely use it with my students. I know they will like it, too.
Keep searching!
Bye...
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Digital Storytelling
Hi everyone,
This time we had a more challenging work to do. We prepared a digital story. I worked with Ayşenur and Gülden. It was a hard but funny process. First of all, we decided the setting. We wanted it to be more appropriate for young learners. After deciding on setting, we began the most enjoyable part: drawing! We drew the characters and other items, and we painted them. To be honest with you, after such a long time, we discovered that we are all right in drawing. We prepared our storyboard and music for the entrance and other sound effect. As everything was okey for recording our story, we began recording. It was the most challenging part. We used some sticks to give an action to our characters. We gave them action, as well. And after so many times of recording, we finished. We are finished, too! But it worths watching. I hope you all will like it. Here it is;
Windy Day from ayşenur doğan on Vimeo.
This time we had a more challenging work to do. We prepared a digital story. I worked with Ayşenur and Gülden. It was a hard but funny process. First of all, we decided the setting. We wanted it to be more appropriate for young learners. After deciding on setting, we began the most enjoyable part: drawing! We drew the characters and other items, and we painted them. To be honest with you, after such a long time, we discovered that we are all right in drawing. We prepared our storyboard and music for the entrance and other sound effect. As everything was okey for recording our story, we began recording. It was the most challenging part. We used some sticks to give an action to our characters. We gave them action, as well. And after so many times of recording, we finished. We are finished, too! But it worths watching. I hope you all will like it. Here it is;
Windy Day from ayşenur doğan on Vimeo.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
An Enjoyable Task:Creating A Comic Strip!
Hi everyone!
There is a very enjoyable site in which you can make comic strips very easily. You can have a look at it here. I think it is a very funny way to convey information, because there is no normal character here. You can use your creativity, and choose the best for your message. You can play with it anytime you want. And when it is time for you to see the outcome, you will see it is worth trying. I enjoyed so much while doing it, and I will use this technique with my future students. Here is my comic strip.
Enjoy your comics!
There is a very enjoyable site in which you can make comic strips very easily. You can have a look at it here. I think it is a very funny way to convey information, because there is no normal character here. You can use your creativity, and choose the best for your message. You can play with it anytime you want. And when it is time for you to see the outcome, you will see it is worth trying. I enjoyed so much while doing it, and I will use this technique with my future students. Here is my comic strip.
Enjoy your comics!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Every Kid Needs A Champion!
Hello dear everone,
I will share a wonderfully inspiring video of a teacher named Rita Pierson. And let me give a thank to my Scientific Search Methods teacher Cansever Güner.
Rita F. Pierson spent her entire life in or around the classroom, having followed both her parents and grandparents into a career as an educater. For more information please visit here.
I think we-as future educators- need to understand each of her ideas about teaching, children, education. I will definitely watch this video whenever I feel that teaching is a difficult job, or dealing with students is so hard. I know she will inspire me, and I will feel that I am the champion of my students!
We are the champions!
You can watch the video from here. Please, watch it. You won't regret.
Nadire
I will share a wonderfully inspiring video of a teacher named Rita Pierson. And let me give a thank to my Scientific Search Methods teacher Cansever Güner.
Rita F. Pierson spent her entire life in or around the classroom, having followed both her parents and grandparents into a career as an educater. For more information please visit here.
I think we-as future educators- need to understand each of her ideas about teaching, children, education. I will definitely watch this video whenever I feel that teaching is a difficult job, or dealing with students is so hard. I know she will inspire me, and I will feel that I am the champion of my students!
We are the champions!
You can watch the video from here. Please, watch it. You won't regret.
Nadire
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Magic Words from Wordle!
Hi everyone!
I hope you're all well. This time, I will share a very colorful picture which I created in Wordle. It is so easy that without instruction, everyone can use it. It's very attractive, and a strange job, as well. You can write about whatever word you want either for expressing yourself or a totally different topic. For example, my topic is writing words about digital story telling. What comes to my mind when I say digital story telling? And I created this one. So just play with words. And, have a look at my picture.
I hope you're all well. This time, I will share a very colorful picture which I created in Wordle. It is so easy that without instruction, everyone can use it. It's very attractive, and a strange job, as well. You can write about whatever word you want either for expressing yourself or a totally different topic. For example, my topic is writing words about digital story telling. What comes to my mind when I say digital story telling? And I created this one. So just play with words. And, have a look at my picture.
See you soon:)
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Using Websites in Education! :)
Hi everyone,
I hope you're all well. This week's task for Technology and Materials Class is to create puzzles, comics, or timelines with the help of useful websites. I chose creating puzzles and used the website named Free Puzzlemaker. It is such a simple and clear site that everyone easily can create many kinds of puzzles. It provides several kinds of puzzle choices. I chose word search and hidden message types. While creating, you have to determine a theme such as occupations, flowers, animals, colors etc. Then, it directs you to write the title, the words you want to share, how many words you want to see there, and what message you want to show. You just fill these blanks. And, for sharing my puzzles, I used the print screen key. With the help of the program 'Paint', I changed the form of the picture into Jpeg. And as we all agree that doing puzzles is an easy and enjoyable task in education, we can obviously use this technique with our future students. It also develops students' visual abilities and attention. It also facilitates students' learning vocabulary. I will use puzzles in the future.
See you soon :)
I hope you're all well. This week's task for Technology and Materials Class is to create puzzles, comics, or timelines with the help of useful websites. I chose creating puzzles and used the website named Free Puzzlemaker. It is such a simple and clear site that everyone easily can create many kinds of puzzles. It provides several kinds of puzzle choices. I chose word search and hidden message types. While creating, you have to determine a theme such as occupations, flowers, animals, colors etc. Then, it directs you to write the title, the words you want to share, how many words you want to see there, and what message you want to show. You just fill these blanks. And, for sharing my puzzles, I used the print screen key. With the help of the program 'Paint', I changed the form of the picture into Jpeg. And as we all agree that doing puzzles is an easy and enjoyable task in education, we can obviously use this technique with our future students. It also develops students' visual abilities and attention. It also facilitates students' learning vocabulary. I will use puzzles in the future.
See you soon :)
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Webquest Evaluation
Hello everyone!
This week's project is evaluation of a webquest. I chose a webquest from Zunal. This is a very useful site for teachers who likes to integrate technology with lessons. It is also beneficial for students. But, in my opinion, the homepage of the site could have been a bit attractive to learners. There is almost no visual post and visual quality is an effective tool for teaching by technology. Because graphics contribute to the subjects being understood, visuals make concepts clear. Moreover, as for navigation, it is clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them. And there are no broken links or misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables. On the contrary, links and images were chosen appropriately for the learners.
I chose the webquest named The Tudor Queen. You can reach it from here. The welcome page gives the description of the title and introduces the writer and the key words. In the introduction page, the introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the reader's interest. It says '' God save you Sirs/Madams...'' More effectively, it asks many questions about to the subject to get the whole attention of the students. And it also says;
''Fasten your seat belts please and relax
The journey is about to start''
It prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
In terms of the task page, the task is referenced to the standards, it is related to the topic. It is clear to understand, learners are able to know what they will do to achieve proficiency.And the task is doable, it requires the synthesis of multiple sources of information. (Learners are given different options.)
In the process page, first of all it begins with an attention-taking sentence. It says;
''Our marvellous journey in theElizabethan era has just begun!!!
Follow my instructions carefully in order to do the task that follow!''
There are two sections: The first part gives the directions which must be done after reading the passages in the second section. In the first part, there are three stages giving directions in relation to the passages. Learners first should read the passages then answer the questions. They are given worksheets in terms of checking their attention. Finally they have a quiz, they have to submit their names and e-mail adresses to take the quiz. The results will be sent to their mail adresses. They are given the link of the quiz. You can reach it from here. In this process part, I can obviously see that every step is clearly stated. Students will know what they are doing and where they are, and they will know what they will do next. Activities are related and designed to take students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Different roles are assigned to help students understand the topic from different perspectives.
Resources are chosen directly available for the topic. There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the sources and the information. Links are to the point and they make excellent use of the timeliness. One of the websites is about Queen Elizabeth's biography. You can have a look at it from here. And there are also two videos about Elizabeth. One of them is Elizabeth and her portraits. And the other is Encountering the queen: Elizabeth and her portraits. There are varied sources that provide enough meaningful information for students.
Finally, in the evaluation part, the criteria for success are clearly stated. Learners are informed how they will be evaluated. There is an evaluation rubric including qualitative and quantitative descriptions. There are four different parts for each stage and each stage is scored differently. Learners can control all of them. It also lets students to think reflectively for what they must know and what they are able to know.
I think webquesting is a very effective tool for teaching. It's neither a classic nor boring. Learners can enjoy it. I will advise my students to use webquesting in the future. And of course, I will be guiding them in this issue. While evaluating this webquest, I enjoyed so much, challenged my mind. It developed my critical thinking and so on. I hope you will enjoy it as well :) Thank you!
Nadire
This week's project is evaluation of a webquest. I chose a webquest from Zunal. This is a very useful site for teachers who likes to integrate technology with lessons. It is also beneficial for students. But, in my opinion, the homepage of the site could have been a bit attractive to learners. There is almost no visual post and visual quality is an effective tool for teaching by technology. Because graphics contribute to the subjects being understood, visuals make concepts clear. Moreover, as for navigation, it is clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them. And there are no broken links or misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables. On the contrary, links and images were chosen appropriately for the learners.
I chose the webquest named The Tudor Queen. You can reach it from here. The welcome page gives the description of the title and introduces the writer and the key words. In the introduction page, the introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the reader's interest. It says '' God save you Sirs/Madams...'' More effectively, it asks many questions about to the subject to get the whole attention of the students. And it also says;
''Fasten your seat belts please and relax
The journey is about to start''
It prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
In terms of the task page, the task is referenced to the standards, it is related to the topic. It is clear to understand, learners are able to know what they will do to achieve proficiency.And the task is doable, it requires the synthesis of multiple sources of information. (Learners are given different options.)
In the process page, first of all it begins with an attention-taking sentence. It says;
''Our marvellous journey in theElizabethan era has just begun!!!
Follow my instructions carefully in order to do the task that follow!''
There are two sections: The first part gives the directions which must be done after reading the passages in the second section. In the first part, there are three stages giving directions in relation to the passages. Learners first should read the passages then answer the questions. They are given worksheets in terms of checking their attention. Finally they have a quiz, they have to submit their names and e-mail adresses to take the quiz. The results will be sent to their mail adresses. They are given the link of the quiz. You can reach it from here. In this process part, I can obviously see that every step is clearly stated. Students will know what they are doing and where they are, and they will know what they will do next. Activities are related and designed to take students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Different roles are assigned to help students understand the topic from different perspectives.
Resources are chosen directly available for the topic. There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the sources and the information. Links are to the point and they make excellent use of the timeliness. One of the websites is about Queen Elizabeth's biography. You can have a look at it from here. And there are also two videos about Elizabeth. One of them is Elizabeth and her portraits. And the other is Encountering the queen: Elizabeth and her portraits. There are varied sources that provide enough meaningful information for students.
Finally, in the evaluation part, the criteria for success are clearly stated. Learners are informed how they will be evaluated. There is an evaluation rubric including qualitative and quantitative descriptions. There are four different parts for each stage and each stage is scored differently. Learners can control all of them. It also lets students to think reflectively for what they must know and what they are able to know.
I think webquesting is a very effective tool for teaching. It's neither a classic nor boring. Learners can enjoy it. I will advise my students to use webquesting in the future. And of course, I will be guiding them in this issue. While evaluating this webquest, I enjoyed so much, challenged my mind. It developed my critical thinking and so on. I hope you will enjoy it as well :) Thank you!
Nadire
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Wiki Project: My Favourite Book
The task we are supposed to do this week is to create a wiki page about a book we read before. First of all, as it is about writing a book review, I enjoyed so much. I tried to choose the best book I ever read. Then, I decided on ''Dead Poets Society''. It was a good project for me because whenever I remember this book and also the film version of it, I remember my high school days. I feel I am so lucky to have read this book. As reflecting on myself, it was my first wikiing. I think it is a useful and helpful project. You not only share general information but also share your own ideas freely. Students can definetely benefit from it. I had almost no difficulty during the process. Also I am happy to learn this technology. I think wikis develop one's self expression, ideas about everything because we can wiki for everything. And I will definetely use this technique in the future for my dear students.Hope you will enjoy reading my wiki. You can reach it from here. Thanks :)
Monday, March 10, 2014
Podcast Project: The Funniest Day!
Hello everyone!
This is actually our first homework. I created this podcast with my dear friend Aysenur Dogan. We chose the 3rd option: AStory. It was really a funny project. Together with Ayşenur, we rehearsed our voices for many times. We tried to arrange the different sound effects. Hearing my voice was a bit strange but very beneficial for me. I decided how to talk next time after every recording. In the future, I will absolutely use this method with my students. Here is our podcast. I hope you will enjoy it :)
This is actually our first homework. I created this podcast with my dear friend Aysenur Dogan. We chose the 3rd option: AStory. It was really a funny project. Together with Ayşenur, we rehearsed our voices for many times. We tried to arrange the different sound effects. Hearing my voice was a bit strange but very beneficial for me. I decided how to talk next time after every recording. In the future, I will absolutely use this method with my students. Here is our podcast. I hope you will enjoy it :)
Thursday, February 27, 2014
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