I started blogging when I was doing some Moocs online some years ago.
I am still blogging about education and the use of technology in my job.
I am a life-long learner and love doing what I do.
In the last years I have been working online and doing some interesting activities thanks to EVO.
EVO means Electronic Village online and it is run for free by leading educators living in many countries.
Every year starting from January we can work for 5 weeks and learn about how to teach and work in English
I have saved the main presentation online which has been shared by Doctor Nellie Deutsch on FB:
You can register starting from 5th January and then you can choose the courses you are interested in.
I did some courses about ebooks and creating ebooks, Flipped Learning, working on CLIL and many more.
What I have learnt is that many educators can share ideas and work together. I have also learnt to work on different LMS and platforms.
If you are willing to develop as an educator you cannot but work online and try a course on EVO in 2020.
I wish to thank all the great educators who have made this possible .
Streamline correction and feedback on student writing utilizing Google Docs and voice
Vance Stevens made his presentation on 4th August but I watched the recording online this week as I did not follow the events on the day they were scheduled.
The video presented how you can support learners when using Google Doc and also Google Slides while educators can post their comments on the students' own writing.
Correction and feedback are crucial for learners and Google apps can really help you. The approach was simple and he made me realize that in some ways I could work on some activities in class in the same way.
I had not thought about the feature of using voice and this was a new feature for me. I usually print documents and correct them. Thanks to comments on a document learners can share the tasks and be given feedback or streamline correction. Going paper is important and working online is really good.
When I watched the recording I thought that learners need to have a Google account and now most of my students do have one but I also teach a lot of students so as a result I do need to rely on a lot of time. Not having to print and to write on a piece of paper is fine, I will have to work on the way I want them to share the documents with me. My students are not good at using some apps and will have to be taught how to work.
While working online I realized that some features of Google Docs had been presented by Eric Curts who is a specialist of Google apps.
I checked among the links I had collected and found out that there are some interesting ways for providing feedback.
Some use video recording https://screencastify.com to record the document and the comment on the document online and then share the video.
What I can say is that I am going to explore more the tools as probably I am not aware of what is offered now and hopefully many tools are free.
Other useful links which I have found about Google tools and feedback
Eric Curts http://ti.apps.sparcc.org/videopd/20160922-docs-feedback In an online session he explored four fantastic tools to provide feedback that is more detailed, engaging, and personal. Tools included Google Doc text comments, voice comments with Read&Write for Google, video feedback with Screencastify, and natural handwriting feedback with the Google Classroom mobile app. Session resources: http://tiny.cc/sparcc238
The event took place on 4th August and the speaker was Edoardo Lina.
I watched the recording online later and I was sure it would be an interesting report about his experience.
Its main theme was presenting Moodle in education in Israel. He focussed on the hard work he has been doing for " Going Moodle" supported by his government . The training was for all educators and what is really interesting is to learn that Moodle is used in secondary schools and also at university in Israel.
Here you can see some more links related to his great work in Israel.
Edoardo recorded also this podcast two years ago. It was an interesting experience to share his ideas online too.
The Department of Education of his country has worked together with the Chief Inspector to have more educators involved in teaching and learning thanks to Moodle.
The idea was to work on a blended learning approach and to support educators who would become teachers who would work in English and also in projects thanks to this LMS.
My reflections on the webinar were positive: I also like Moodle as a LMS but in most secondary schools in my country we are using Google Classroom or Weschool. Both systems provide collaborative activities and you can monitor the students' progress and provide grading. Moodle is used for CPD on line for educators and at university in Italy.
Since Moodle requires people who can work well online I think that for some learners starting working online should be done when they are 14-15 years old. For university students it is the perfect tool for managing courses and working online too. They can find resources and work on projects or activities, they can post comments and I feel that they are more used to working online as this is required in most universities.
The next step for me is to continue my exploration into LMS and check which one is the best and the easiest one to use. In particular I would never use Moodle with students who are ten years old or younger.
I must add that for some educators who are not experts it would be difficult for them to use Moodle in Italy.
To read or not to read…………… That is the Question!!
Reflecting on the Webinar of Judy Wong
The event took place on 3rd August and it was a reflection on the ideas about teaching reading and what makes reading something which is not loved by the learners. I am familiar with this as most of my students love watching videos and interacting online but they seem to hate reading books.
Her talk was focussed on the benefits of book readings in person versus a book reading in a video.
As I was not at home I watched the recording, I must confess that Judy is a loving person and I like the strategies that she uses to get her learners interested in reading regardless of the students' age.
She shares her ideas in her blog where she also keeps the main recordings of the webinars she took part in and also shares her slides.
You can find more here: Judy's world- her blog
Here you can find some meaningful ideas and reflections which Judy used in the presentation she made.
Some key ideas she shared with us and which made me think and reflect:
reading as a child and reading with a child are not the same things
when working on reading we should not pre-teach the book and also the lexis
interest in reading is important
everybody is different
An aspect which is important is to open the door, the mind and get the learners imagine and work on the book. Reading a book together and maybe get the learners imagine about the setting, the place and the characters
Imagination is the key word.What I will do in the future
I cannot do the course which Judy is going to start in autumn but I wish I could.I am starting some courses online and this implies that I will work 24/7 as we have a lot of tasks at school.
I will try to find different strategies to get my students into the habit of loving reading a book.
A book can be read and taken anywhere and it can really help us feel happy, ready to start a new journey and sometimes feel less lonely.
Another interesting conference online thanks to Doctor Nellie Deutsch and a great team of educators working online worldwide. The event was MMVC19 and it is one of the free events that educators can follow in the summer. I feel that it is a great opportunity for learning and sharing ideas about technology, education , safety online and well-being.
The events took place in August when I was doing my training course in Dublin this year. I could only see the events on the final day but I am going to catch up now.
I am going to watch the recordings about these interesting events which were online from 2nd August to 4th August and share some new contents or tips from experts and educators who are now part of MMVC every year.
Here is the presentation by Nellie, one of the greatest educators in the world who loves collaborating and sharing online.
Read to start now! It is still summer time and I am working on my CPD
It is an emergency but we cannot buy things without having plastic containers and bottles.
It is time to think about our behaviour and to work with our students and make them aware of the importance of recycling and changing materials for containers as plastic is destroying our environment.
Try to answer the quizz: you will be surprised when you learn about the correct answers!
I watched tonight's news in English and then I created my " work" about the new Prime Minister, Boris Johson:
I had to choose the headline, the date and the image , and here is my activity shared with you:
The next step for an English activity could be to find information about the politician and to work on an interview to be recorded by the students. The students will work on the text and the dialogue, they will work in English and record the interview.
I think the app can be used to work on writing skills with lower -intermediate level students but also for creative writing tasks. It is a pity that books cannot be downloaded but we can share them.
I will try the app to present some tasks for my first year students in secondary school.
Internet and the web, Twitter and FB. I have been Learning so much online.
Today I learnt about how to record and share an animated GIF thanks to Tony Vincent.
Some weeks ago I finished the Mooc about Bullying which was run by Academy and lasted three weeks.
The Mooc is one of the many I have done thanks to some European platforms which are promoting professional development online.
I have published the main diary online too.
The Mooc has helped me think about the ways young people behave and how to approach this behaviour that can be devastating for the ones who are bullied.
Here you can find my Learning Diary and some important links which I am going to share and will check later.
I have tried to use songs and new online tools which were suggested in the Mooc.
This is the slide which I used to create my online ebook and which will have more links for further learning.
I found this interesting video which I think I will use with my learners of English in order to introduce the topic : sometimes bullying can be very aggressive and teenagers can do wrong to the old and people who are are in need.
Among teenagers I have always found girls and boys who were the ones who started bullying the others. Some victims were students who were weak or had good marks and the bullies envied them.
As a teenager I was bullied as I was one of the best in class. We do need to open our eyes and see what can happen during the lessons and at school. Families need to monitor their children as they are active on social networks and use their smartphones almost every day and at any time of the day.
I would like to thank the teachers working in the Mooc and the educators who shared interesting materials online online and on FB.
I started working in G+ communities over 4 years ago.
Thanks to Shelly Terrell and Nellie Deutsch I became part of an international community of educators involved in new technologies and ELT.
Many educators loved FB while others suggested using G+. Others used Moodle but G+ was the place where we met virtually online.
G+ is shutting down and we cannot work on it any more. The day has almost arrived : 2nd April 2019.
It was a social network where we could post, share ideas and worked online. I did courses and also worked online while doing interesting CPD online.
I must say that I learnt a lot and was inspired by the educators who were online. I was part of an EVO group and worked on the platform in 2018.
This year moderators worked for EVO by using G+. The learning environments were chosen by them but for running the organization we had chosen G+.
I am working in some close LMS and also for some Moocs: they have chosen FB groups and Twitter for sharing ideas.
Now some have moved to new lands. I might also try new platforms.
This one has been suggested online as it seems to take about the privacy:
#MeWe is the #SocialNetwork that allows you to freely communicate online the same way you do offline: with people you actually know & like, & with people who share common interests. MeWe puts fun, control, & #privacy back into social sharing.😻 #MeWeMarchhttps://t.co/NJ5pySfLv5
New Web Tool
Yesterday I was online and as usual the best of educators were sharing ideas and files online.
Twitter is my favourite social network as I can follow many topics and the chats online.
I got some good ideas shared by Shelly Terrell.
She introduced a new tool which can be used by educators .
It is Commaful.com https://commaful.com/
You can use it for Creative Writing and it can enhance the students' learning while using images and creating texts online.
You can create your own account online or you can create a story by simply using the tool online: you can write a text, a poem, describe a feeling or any experience you would like to describe.
It is perfect also for creating some texts when you want to share them online in your blogs or projects.
I have embedded my first text by using the images which were offered online: I have no account but I liked the idea of using it in class for revising and working on some language input with my learners.
I will ask my students to work on some words and create their own texts in English. They need to better their language input
It is really inspiring and I think that educators could use this simple tool online with their learners.
Surfing the web can be interesting but we risk a lot. Everybody should become aware of the great dangers and help the young to be safe while they are online and not to risk. Most of us have a social life and post a lot on Twitter, FB and other social networks.
This video released some years ago can be used in class to help the students learn about what they should or they should not share when they are online. Privacy and Data are at risk anytime we use our devices.
Some weeks ago I had to change all my passwords for the main mails and accounts that I had online as someone used my mail with an Italian account. I had changed the password in February but they must have stolen my identity. I spent some days worried about what might happen and honestly I thought that if I did not spend so many hours online , they would not have entered my account and stolen my identity.
I found some interesting sources and links online which can help you when you want to be safe and need to take action:
Writereader is a simple app online for writing stories.
You can easily create a library with your children: just need to create an account and then they will start writing simple stories in English or in their own Language. https://www.writereader.com/en
The great features of the app are the simple use of it and the possibility of printing and downloading the book. Books created by the learners can be downloaded too.
Another course with TECHNOCLIL has finished. I worked online and did my task: here is the link to the website which I created last year and where you can find the link to the activities I did this year.
This year is my fourth year on EVO: EVO means Eloctronic Village online and it offers many free sessions for educators who are willing to learn and enhance their own teaching.
I am working also as a co-moderator and I am also trying to do two courses: I choose the sessions about TECHNOCLIL and the one about FLIPPED LEARNING.
For TECHNOCLIL I have already created my Learning Diary where I am going to keep the main documents and tasks I have carried out in the course.
Here you can find the Kickoff of EVO19: you will listen to the voices of the teachers who are working online and maybe you will try to do a course too.
By ich - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by Saibo.
Original text: selbst gemacht, Foto ist von mir = Own work (photo), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Teaching foreign languages requires a lot of strategies and learners need to be more active in order to better some skills. Listening skills can empower our learners but they need a lot of exercise and often we do not have the time to do this in class. I am aware that it takes time before students can achieve the level of English which will enable them to understand a conversation or the news.
Hopefully we can get access to many free resources online. Radio Garden is perfect !
You won't need to download anything.
It is an interesting free service for listening to the radios from all over the world: radio.garden/
Watch this video where you can see what you can do online:
You can also listen to radios after you have checked the places and languages you are interested in :
I am just presenting some websites where you can find radios online.
The first one is Radiowebsite :
