Second life

I liked the idea of using virtual world in teaching especially for teaching history, chemistry and science. Students can be in the virtual world and experience the incidents happened in the past and by experiencing and living in the virtual world they can learn by interacting in real world but the real world of the past, which is something can’t be in traditional history class.

I think we can use it in language teaching too, but I think after our class discussion I will have clearer view about how to use it in teaching a foreign language. I am not sure about how we can make sure that students are interacting with native speakers. If they can interact with native speakers that would be a great opportunity for them to learn the language in a very communicative environment which is something traditional classrooms cannot offer. I think that travelling abroad to learn a language is expensive and unpractical and not everyone can do it, so by using the virtual world learners will get the chance to travel to the country they want and use the target language in a meaningful environment. The article that I have read mentioned that the learners’ fluency has improved and they gained confidence. Malvern and Graham (2008) said that French foreign language exam in UK schools are graded on knowledge of only 1000 words in French. But the research claims that the users of the second life produce more than 2000 words which is something great but can learners develop a variety of vocabulary words? I am not sure; they may develop certain vocabulary words important for their interaction so I think all this will be clear after my discussion with peers and our instructor. I wish I can observe classes that these technologies are used in teaching so I have the chance to learn more about the use of technology in teaching English as a second language.  

 

  

Using video games in teaching

I am not sure whether the video games are good educational tools or not, may be because I have never seen a good educational video game yet, except a few ones I saw on edutopia videos. I agree that traditional schools and traditional ways of teaching should be abandoned, but having innovative schools does not mean teaching by video games. This could be by having experienced and creative teachers who love teaching and it can also be by having well equipped schools that help teachers use their creativity to help students become producers and explorers and not just consumers. For example, having science labs at schools help students experience what in the science book and I think it is more helpful than the video games. I remember myself when I was a junior high school student, every time I was looking forward for the lab classes where we used to dissect animals, go to the yard of the school to plant seeds and see different kinds of trees with their different stems and leaves, go to the rivers and forests to see their habitats. I think all this help students more and they enjoy their time while learning I do not like the idea of having students sit by a computer and play games for long hours. Some scientific topics might be taught by video games but not all, especially the ones that we can take students to the nature or real life settings where they can discover the world by themselves. I am one of the teachers who experienced the bad attitude of many young students at schools who were watching and playing this “pokemon” games. Students on recess were imitating the pokemon characters hitting each other kicking and fighting violently. I assure you that those students who were not playing video games but were reading books and playing sports were healthier and they had more balanced characters than those who were playing video games for hours. Those even did not know how to share classroom objects, they were not good in group works and pair works. I don’t agree that video games are the only tools that teach students problem solving skills. Puzzles, interactive games, playing in the sand in one corner of the school, taking students to field trips, having different jobs room where students can play with the objects of those jobs and being a shop keeper or a doctor help students more than playing a video game where there is no interaction with a being of his age. Many computer games took so many morals from our children and as educators we should be careful in choosing the proper video games where there is no racism or wars.   

ESL Teachers’ Video production

The hardest homework I have ever had! The words can’t express how frustrated and exhausted I am. I didn’t get the meaning of doing all these as a teacher. I am an ESL teacher and not a video producer, plus I am not interested at all in producing videos. My sister and I dedicated too much time to shoot and when we wanted to import the recordings from the cassette, it didn’t work simply because the cable and the computer device didn’t match. The computer device is more recent one, while the cable is a bit older although they both are from the same company. And because of this problem we used one of our earlier videos for the homework. And this is so discouraging. I really want to know what is the point of doing all this in a masters’ degree program of teaching English as a foreign language. I am here to learn about the effective ways of teaching English as a foreign language and to know the recent methods used around the world. And this video production is really time-consuming for me as a teacher, and I am sure I will never use it.

Plus why to produce a video if there are thousands of videos on line and if I couldn’t find a proper one for my class I can ask a video producer to do it. Almost all the technologies that Dr. Madyarov presented in the Technology class were great and can be used in teaching, but this one I do not think that it is a good idea for teachers to produce or ask their students to do. I prefer to spend hours looking for great activities for my students to let them interact meaningfully than spending days trying to be a video producer. I am sure even if I ask the students to produce a video they will not be able to do it. Plus not all the students might have all the good technological devices to complete the homework. Although the technical part was not that hard, but still I am against the idea of teachers producing videos. I can use my creativity in creating interesting activities for my students, where they even can use their own creativity to complete a task. And it is not necessary for my students or for me to be video producers or know all these information about the video production.  

Using Digital Videos

“ The ability to render one’s world as changeable and oneself as an agent able to direct that change is integrally linked to acts of self-representation through writing”. (As in Hull, 2003)

I agree with the idea that the definition of text must be changed and expand to have multiple forms of writing, for example the digital writing which is another way of communication is a great way to encourage students write, especially the ones who struggle with writing. I liked the idea of using digital videos in empowering students writing, which I think it does not just improve their writing but they also gain self-confidence, self-esteem and they can communicate in a positive environment. Studies in the area of multiliteracies show that students bring with them new skills to school which they don’t use in the classroom. So why don’t we use their interest in the digital media into the classroom setting, where they work with the technology to improve their academic achievement.   

Harste (2003) pointed out that “writing begins in voice. If you can get students to write what is on their minds, the rest may not take care of itself, but you will have come a long way toward creating a potentially great literacy program”. Students using digital videos will write to extended audience. And they may share their stories with their family members, friends and even on social communication media, which will encourage them write using the digital video. But students should develop critical media literacy skills to create their own meanings and design their own writing text which is so different from the traditional writing one. 

 

 

 

The use of wiki in EFl\ESL classrooms

Although wiki-based writing has a great educational potential, yet there are many reasons that make me as an EFL\ESL teacher hesitate to use it in my classroom. The idea of students having a shared document, where they can work collaboratively is great, but when students edit or make changes to each others’ paragraphs it may arise some problems especially with certain cultural background students. It is true that wiki-based writing enables learners collaborate on a shared text and make changes to that document, but they need instructional support in order to have a meaningful piece of writing and not end up having too many different paragraphs or stories as it happened with our group. Wiki-based writing requires increased coordination efforts, and students should focus on the completion of the text as one unity. It should be group work where students agree on what to do and how to do it. Coordination between the group members is optimal in wiki-based writing and the teacher should divide roles to each student, so the writing texts become a learning process and not a reason for competition. The role of the teacher is to engage students to work on the text as one unity in order to have a high text quality.

Although the results of the research that I have read showed that students started to write better texts and they improved their revision behavior, but I’m still not sure how it’s going to work in my EFL\ESL classrooms and whether it is useful or not. Because if the text didn’t end up as one coherent and meaningful piece of writing, I think it doesn’t worth of writing it. But if the teacher gives enough instructional support and divides the task on the group members and the students don’t have problems of someone else deleting what they wrote and editing it, it might work.