The Power of Action Songs

MM7  Charles Goodger : "The Power of Action Songs."
Monday 23 November 2015

The webinar took place in the Moodle Mooc 7 and I could watch it live but I could not watch the whole presentation because I  had problems with the internet connection. So I had to watch it again and this is the reason why this post is written in December.

First of all,I would like to provide information about the presenter: Charles Goodger. He is the founder of FunSongs Education speaks six languages (including Latvian) and writes language-learning action songs.

He has a modern languages degree in French and 

Spanish from London University and an RSA TEFL

teaching certificate. As well as running FunSongs 

Education, Charles has permanent tenure as 

a Collaboratore Esperto Linguistico at Bologna 

University in Italy.

Charles Goodger is an English teacher, teacher

trainer, text-book and digital materials writer,

playwright, songwriter and entrepreneur. 

Online we can have access to his book, Music and Mime, Rhythm and Rhyme., which can 

alsobe downloaded:

 http://www.funsongs.co.uk/assets/pdf/music_and_mime_rhythm_and_rhyme.pdf

The webinar was an engaging presentation and it showed how Charles is a lover of his way of working. I must admit that I like songs but I have never been trained in  using them for teaching English. Most of the books that I am using do not have songs: I teach  ESP and cooking so my students must have listened to songs in the past, when they were younger.

Some important tips from the webinar and ideas:

Why are action songs important?

They can create a sort of a magical situation in learning: students are encouraged and engaged. He also referred to total physical response: I just checked online and found this article as regards  

English language  teaching

http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/teaching-articles/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-total-physical-response/146503.article

Action songs are seen  as  presentation vehicles

In some ways I agree: learning can happen also with songs.

I particularly liked the final motto of his presentation:

"When people commit emotionally,learning happens."

This is the link to the website with the  ideas  about the activities presented:

http://www.funsongs.co.uk/



Finally here is the presentation which was uploaded for  the teachers of the MOOC and for anyone who might be interested in learning more about this approach. 

Culture of Learning Transformative

MM7   Culture of  Learning Transformative 

Sunday  29  November  2015

I watched this webinar online   presented by   Halina  Ostankowicz.
She offered an interesting overview about culture, and about the way it is changing or rather  it has changed as we have been influenced by the new technologies in education too.
She has created a vision of learning for the future that is developing and is achievable. People  grow up in a new  world which is in relationship to technology   and  they can learn in a different way, furthermore, they can also become more engaged.  And I must add that this is important as we are asked to continue learning through our life. 
Some key ideas expressed in the webinar:

 The main issues in the webinar were the  ideas of culture and learning, thus, she presented  the concept of  Transformative Learning Culture:

The new and innovative way for providing a better  learning  experience is the  FLIPPED CLASSROOM:

Education is not the old school and it is a virtual learning environment together with the old school where the learner is more and more important and he/she is the great " player". They can choose and become " more engaged".

For more information you can also watch this video which was shared by the presenter of the webinar.

Link to the video online which I have embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LsZ_-wp0nA#t=13

Teaching to different learner styles

MM7: Teaching to different learner types with presenter  Marjorie Rosenberg    
                                                                   21st November 2015
The journey into my reflections on the webinars is continuing this week 

I could see this webinar online  which took place on 21st November  2015.
Marjorie Rosenberg has made a great presentation about the ways we can teach by taking into consideration the different  students we are teaching. It is sometimes difficult to cope with differences but we do need to.  I have already done a MOOC course  about this topic and I found her analysis and her tips really great and very helpful for any teacher who needs to face " differences among learners".
If we know our learners we can make our teaching and approaches more aimed at them:
we have   VISUAL LEARNERS
we have   VISUAL TEACHERS 
Similarly, we have   AUDITORY  LEARNERS  and  AUDITORY  TEACHERS
An important definition she  presented was for   KINESTETIC EMOTIONAL LEARNERS : these learners need " to put their emotions aside".
I am a teacher who  is  " kinestetic and emotional" and thus  I relate learning to real-life experience and I never sit, most of my activities are based on movement and physical activities, I also love pair work. I want my students to think and do.
When planning activities we do need to take into consideration that our learners are different and thus we do need to cope with their learning styles and find the best ways for helping them learn.

Reflecting on what we carry out in class and in during our activities is,therefore, the great message that the presenter has left us: there is no perfect lesson or activity. It is up to us to think about the best ways for enhancing learning.  

The slide and the video will help you find your best ways for learning! Thanks to the presenter who made such an interesting presentation.

Teaching to dfifferent learner types moodle mooc 7 2015 (1) from Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D)

WEBINARS CONNECT MOODLE MOOC7

                 Webinars  Connect
Webinar  held on 13th  December 2015

Last Sunday I could see the final webinar presented in the MOOC course which was in November and which I finished after doing some online activities using  MOODLE and  watching webinars.
The event  was a sort of a general overview about the importance of online connections.
The Mooc course which I did was a great experience online in terms of personal reflections, learning from the others and sharing ideas and opinions about the new way of learning that  MOOCs and online courses can now offer us.
The Professor of the MOOC , Nellie  Deutsch, presented her long list of events which she had done, from the beginnings when she started  working online. The main focus was on the relationships and the  connections that we can establish also by working online thanks to the use of modern technologies.

I have been working online for some years now, mainly with MOOC courses and I have also worked online by following some courses for my professional development.  In most cases what I liked was the idea of getting in touch with people who were doing a similar course like me and were interested in learning. I could interact with  people online and use the forums for asking help and for finding new ideas and sharing links, online materials.  

Webinars can be a really engaging online experience: you can follow them from your home at anytime of the day while you are doing something else at home.  You can listen to the speaker  and  in many cases you can speak to him/her if they ask you to take part in the webinar.  This is a very nice way for talking to many people and getting to know them too. I have done  webinars for over 4 years,mainly in ELT and  in new technologies and I must admit that I have made some  friends online. I have not met them but like Nellie Deutsch  said in the webinar, in some way when you talk to people that you have been familiar with online, you establish a close relationship that has to do with your interests and you will meet them virtually in many other webinars.

This has happened to me when doing webinars  by following   SimpleK 12  http://www.simplek12.com/, OUP webinars   https://elt.oup.com/feature/global/webinars/?cc=it&selLanguage=it ,  wiziq.com https://www.wiziq.com/    and on Saturday afternoon I am used to following my afternoon tea webinars  thanks to  LIVE CLASSROOM 20 COM http://live.classroom20.com/.

I agree with the ideas expressed in the webinar, it is a new way for learning and getting engaged but it is something we should all become familiar with. Because the world of education is changing and is undergoing changes.
I wish to thank the teachers who worked in the MOOC and shared their ideas in the webinars which were presented by Nellie Deutsch and also the teachers who took part in the MOOC as attendees.
It is an international community that embraces  different languages, cultures and educators but what is in common is the use of the English language, the idea of discussing and sharing ideas and a great love for teaching and learning.
I will continue  learning and I am going to become a more active learner as I have learnt so much from educators who  have given me " input" and " new ideas" in the world of  Education.

Webinars connect from Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D)

http://www.slideshare.net/nelliemuller/webinars-connect

Blended Learning Week 4 and 5 FutureLearn Autumn 2015

WEEK 4 AND 5- MOOC COURSE ABOUT BLENDED LEARNING

I must confess that I enjoyed week 4, it was my practical session week where I could use the tools and create some activities online by using Padlet, Zaption and videos from Youtube.  A lot of ideas and  many new things which I need to revise and check again. In February we will continue with the new MOOC and I hope I will learn more.
Thanks to the  tutors and  for  what I could  learn.

This is my summary about what I have done in the last  three  weeks.

View Blended Learning- Essentials FutureLearn Mooc Autumn 2015 Weeks 4-5 full version on Tackk
Create your own customized Tackk page

Social Media & Teaching

MM7- Webinar held on 29  November 2015

Title of the Webinar:Social Media & Teaching: Friends or Frenemies?”

Presenter: Karin Heuert Galvão

The webinar was the 39th on the list of webinars presented in the list of webinars of the MOODLE MOOC 7 which was organized by Nellie Deutsch for this important session about Moodle.

I watched the webinar live. It was last Sunday and I was at home so I could watch this webinar and more webinars on the same day. I could get some nice ideas and learn from other teachers who shared their  ideas with us.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER  OF  THIS WEBINAR

The presenter :Karin Heuert Galvão is an  EFL TEACHER. She is a Director at i-Study Interactive Learning  in São Paulo (Brazil). Karin discussed the topic  “Social Media & Teaching: Friends or Frenemies?” 

Social Media are getting more and more important and FB is now part of the life of people and  adults.It can be used also in teaching and she showed us some activities she did online in ther groups. 

The webinar can be accessed online as it was recorded and uploaded on the YouTube:   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgTJ90hF4SQ

My reflections

The presenter asked us about our life and what social media we followed, most of the attendees said that they were on FB. I am not on it but I use  Twitter and Linkedin and Google+ so in some way I also know about the importance of  the new tools and I  am aware of the benefits we can have. But we do not share FB or other media with our students in my school, most of my students have FB but it is only used for private chatting.

In the webinar I found some teachers like me who were doing the MOOC online and we  just shared our ideas about their use in education both for teachers and for students.

What was really interesting in this WEBINAR were the ideas the presenter expressed by focussing on the importance  social media have in our students' life and how we should make students aware of the importance and the risks they can have.

Here are some conventions which should be  followed when posting and  communicating online:

• when posting your opinion be  respectful
•  think before writing and when replying to posts
• use emoticons to promote a friendly atmosphere
• when posting  your opinions  avoid  capital letters- they can be a sign of  a person who shouts 
• be aware of overusing  abbreviations  

An important discussion was about  FB and the issue of working with groups in FB.

If we have closed groups,FB can work well but we must also teach our students how to work on social networks.

For teachers  FB  can be a  great tool:

• it can be used to communicate with students
• it can be used as a tool as announcements
• it can be a tool that can engage our students in discussions

I am aware that FB can be a great tool, but I prefer working online with other tools. For example, I use blogs and Google doc for sharing materials and ideas with my students.

What the presenter  underlined in the session was the importance of using social media  to learn  from and share ideas with other teachers. This is a reality that I am now part of.

FB, Twitter and other  social media are a great source of information. I agree that I could not work now if I  did not have connections and I did not learn from others.

I am on Twitter and use most of the services that are provided: there are communities of ELT/ESL  teachers online and I am learning and following a lot of people. 

Social Media have now replaced other ways of learning: for example she shared the hashtag for  ELT- which is really important for me too:   https://twitter.com/hashtag/ELTchat?src=hash

  ELTchat

This is a thriving  community that works online every Wednesday.

Twitter is a  community of educators also  and I like it. I also follow some FB pages of important publishers or the British Council, but I have not applied to become a member of them.

The debate online was engaging and teachers shared their opinions, I liked the way we all interacted and also think that we are growing and the teachers are building new communities and sharing great and inspiring ideas about the best practices.

I liked the level of engagement of the presenter for what she was presenting us, she is a keen lover of what she does when teaching. The final slides were great and I am sharing them with you. 

Technology can help us work better

But  we must be aware of what we are doing 

online  so this advice for students should be part of our  teaching and we should teach them digital skills and more skills:

 

For more ideas about social media in education  we could also check this link:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-media-resources-educators-matt-davis

What I am going to do next

I am thinking about the way  I could work online with my students by opening a  TWITTER account for my classes and use hashtags for classes, the private account will be used for my professional development.

I will try to search more communities online to share ideas about  teaching and learning languages and using modern web 2.0 tools.

Thanks to the speaker for the nice ideas and the love for teaching she shared with us!!

Promoting Digital Citizenship through Edmodo

MM7   Promoting  Digital Citizenship through Edmodo

Sunday 29  November 2015

 

 

This evening   I watched  the  great  presentation in the webminar on line which was carried out  by Sophia Mavridi.

She is a  great and  engaging presenter who shared her experience on Edmodo and she made some examples of the use of it.

Edmodo is a safe virtual platform that  can be used by teachers to promote DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP  and how to use  technology.

 

We all know that technology has entered our everyday life and students need to be

" equipped" to know how to deal with their safety online and privacy.

 

I have not used Edmodo yet but  I know that  it has a lot of  great supporters.

This is the video she suggested seeing as our  students are connected most of the time and should know that they might risk losing their  privacy.

 

 

 

 

USEFUL IDEAS 

What I learnt while she  presented  Edmodo and how useful it can be :

 

- Edmodo is  a Learning  Platform where  students and teachers can share notes, links, files and resources.

- Teachers create   virtual classroom and students  can  participate in online discussions, view grades and communicate with teachers and students

 

 

She made us see an activity online carried out by her students  dealing with the topic  digital footprint.

 

- Edmodo can be useful because we have a  DIGITAL COMMUNITY and then we can think about it.

 

- We can interact online, we can choose when we want to interact, the teacher can save time too.

 

Students can share  links, files and documents and they can learn and think about  copyright, plagiarism.

An interesting  activity suggested is   the  WEBQUEST. This is an example of what she presented :

 

 

 

 

- The teacher should  develop fair  use skills and introduce  Creative Commons  License .

 

I agree that these are the main skills our  students should be  able to have as we are responsible for what they can do and what they might risk if they  do not have  a correct use of the digital tools in real life.

 

- Edmodo can be used to communicate with parents, in addition it send alerts and reminders for students .

 

It is a great webtool which is helpful and creates a real learning environment for families and their  students.

 

Conclusions

 

The presenter has made a good presentation and  I think that I might try Edmodo with one class, the problem is that not everybody in my  class has internet. But  I  hope I will try it , maybe next year. I would really like to have it to share materials with my students!!

 

To the next webinars....................................