European Day of Languages 26th September

26th September is the day we call " European Day of Languages". We have  special events in many schools and today I could follow an interesting webinar online. It was about  multiculturalism and languages and I learnt about some resources online which are used by educators.
Befored watching the webinar online I  searched online and collected the most important resources for language learners and teachers.

We have a lot of interesting projects which can support educators and thus I am sure that  Europe is investing in the future of  education and the European citizens.
Etwinning and  Erasmus Plus are good examples of what we can do with our students.
I would like to do something next year but school starts late in September in my region and it is difficult to run events  when you have just started. I will try next year.

Here is the document with some links which are related to the main sources which can help educators build projects and enhance the students' learning: they represent the main documents which today we can use and where we can find information.

MMVC18 Judy Wong

4 August

Day 2 Judy Wong presented TELL- Theater for English Language Learners .

I was online on Saturday but had problems with my internet connection  and so I was forced to watch the recording of the webinar online this week.

It was an interesting topic and the presenter focussed on the issue of a world that shrinking and why it is important intercultural competence and understanding as  global educators. 

Judy Wong is one the best speakers and presenters I have ever met virtually thanks to the many conferences which Dr Nellie Deutsch has run so far.  This must have been my fourth webinar  online where she was presenting her ideas.
Last year I saw her in another  presentation online and read some posts in her blog 
 http://judysworld.edublogs.org/.   They were so inspiring!! 

I could not connect with her but I have tried to get in contact with her since her project TELL is great. The theatre and the issues presented in some plays show  human beings who share the same problems everywhere and at anytime.

During her presentation the focussed on the issue that we need to work on ourselves as " We are teachers as well as students" and in education today learners need to master global skills and not only English. In a shrinking world where too many people seem to be afraid of the differences among  people as some seem to be different she stated that " we are all humans " but stereotypes are still present.
Judy presented herself as a person who speaks many languages but because of her apperance people might think that she speaks  Chinese too, which she doesn't.
We are also facing  similar issues in Europe: more and more people are changing their attitudes towards  people who have just arrived  and fear immigrants and people who do not  seem to come from their own land. The colour of the skin, the culture and the language they speak can be seen as a sign of " diversity", someone who we should not trust.

Educators can change the world if they work in a different way with  their pupils. They need to be open:

The project she has been working on deals with the theater and how it can open the mind of the learners and help them develop as people who can make a change. She is trying to work on the issue  stereotypes and prejudice and I am sure that if you  start working with young learners about them you will be able to reach your goals.

What questions came up as you watched the event? I thought that it was a great idea and that we should try a similar path in our schools too. How did the content relate to you as a teacher? I am a person who loves sharing ideas and would like her students to become citizens of the world, so the content was relevant for my teaching situation. What were some thoughts  that came through your mind? If I were in the USA I would like to meet Judy and learn more about this project. Hopefully she loves sharing ideas and I am sure that she will work online and let us know more about it. How did you feel as you watched the event? You become aware of the importance of educators who work on the same issues and Judy was very positive and optimistic, I really appreciated it. Describe three webinars that you enjoyed I have watched some other recordings but I must admit that Susan Brodar's and Judy Wong's were the ones I liked most. What would you like to do in the future? I will try to learn more about TELL. In Italy we do not have a great tradition of schools with studends doing drama at school but we might try to do something. What a question that you would like to research Perhaps we should be given the chance to learn more about this experience by doing some other webinars in order to know about the way students have been working and why working with plays might be a success. Here is the recording of my reflections on the webinar:

MMVC18 Keep your online Participants engaged

Sunday 5th  August

The SPEAKER   : Natasa Bozic Grojic

"Keep your online  participants engaged "

The event took place last Sunday  but  I was not online. I watched the recording today since I was not able to watch it live.

I must confess that I wanted to watch it as I have met the speaker many times, virtually, and I have appreciated her way of working. The first time was two years ago when she was working in an EVO session.

You can access her profile and get more  information by accessing  this link   https://about.me/natasabozicgrojic  and by reading her eportfolio https://www.netvibes.com/lunas994#General

Natasa based her reflections on what she had learnt in this year’s EVO Session working online  on Moodle and thinking about her experience online  as a learner while doing  some Moocs some years ago.  In particular she shared with me  an experience as a teacher  by using Moodle, which I did  last year and which she did this  year. You can find more information  in her blog post  http://lunas994.blogspot.com/2018/03/keep-your-online-learners-motivated.html

She explained that it is important to plan well and to work on the layout of your course as you will have to get all the learners  engaged.  It is important to design the first week well and to provide help , support and  also tips by using  chats, forums and also videotutorials online. Online learners may have different  backgrounds and Learning experiences online ; some might be less or more tech savvy, as a result the tutor online  plays an important role.

Engagement is the key word to success. By helping  the learners and by supporting  them and  also badges and simple  tasks  might be appropriate to help them continuing learning. Icebreakers and good introductions are important, teachers need to be flexible sometimes and be ready to encourage also the  less able  learners.

She suggested these  tips to begin with

• A view out my window
• 3-2-1 introduction
• Two truths and one lie
• Post a picture of your classroom
• Where on our website can you…?
• Or you can adapt your favourite icebreaker for online use.

In order to get a sense of progress she suggested these tasks and final rewards :

• blogs
• artifacts
• badges and certificates

As I have started some courses in a blended learning way  I can easily understand what she meant. The teacher must be patient, onbserve what's happening online and work on bettering the activities.

What questions came up as you watched the event?

I thought that  to begin with you need to try to work online. At the beginning it might be  difficult. You need a lot of training and learning by doing.

How did the content relate to you as a teacher?

It is something I am now learning about as  I am using Weschool for my classes in Italy.  But I think that Moodle is a great learning  managing  system.

What were some thoughts  that came through your mind?

It is important to share ideas and learn  from the others.

How did you feel as you watched the event?

I felt that  today teachers need to be able to work also online. In most universities in Italy  people teach by using  Moodle while in secondary schools we are starting and some of us are using different  LMS.

So far I have  watched  six webinars and I have  particularly enjoyed this one, the one  by Judy Wong and the one by Susan Brodar but I will watch the others  in the next  weeks as they are available online and on Youtube..

What would you like to do in the future?

I will start using  Google Classroom and this is my next step in CPD but I will continue  doing some online learning  regarding  Moodle which I feel is great but in my school we are going to choose another  LMS.

What a question that you would like to research

I would like to learn more about some  other ways of working online as so far I have used Moodle, Weschool and  Schoology.  

Here is the screenshot of a course she did online where Natasa found a good guide for the learners who were getting into the course. I cannot but agree with her: it is the layout of the course that makes the difference.

Engagement is a priority if you do not want to  fail!!

Here is the recording of my reflections on this webinar :

MMVC18 Susan Brodar and Games in Language Learning

 Friday 3rd August

Susan Brodar   and her presentation about

" The Amazing  Power of  Language Games" 

I was not online for the whole session of the  webinar on 3rd August as I had problems with my internet and I had to watch part of the webinar this week. So I watched the recording of this interesting webinar by Susan Brodar today.

Who is  Susan Brodar?

 I had already appreciated this speaker in some online events and I had loved her presentation  in MMVC17 last year. I could not but wait to see her. I could not interact with her but  she left some nice links in the Moodle for chatting about the webinars and I am going to check them.

I followed a great presentation  with lots of ideas: she said that " Repeation is the key word to learning" and I cannot but agree with her!! In her presention she gave a lot of examples of the many interesting activities she has created in order to make the lesson more interesting and also  described how she got most of the students engaged while in the traditional way of working  the Italian teachers she worked with had had difficulties.

She focussed on speaking, asking questions and also working on vocabulary!! 
The questions that came to my mind were simple when I watched the recording: not  everybody has  the chance to work with a mother-tongue teacher who has such experience. The way she works  is successful because she has created good tasks. The students are active and engaged  and will achieve better  results and marks  later.
I wish she could work in my classes as the way she gets the students into speaking is very empowering! There were so many tips regarding the use of language items and how to work on vocabulary like  working with the students who support the teacher for creating part of the content and this requires a second viewing!!  I will have to check the recording again!!

 During the presentation she mentioned some tools which I need to learn more about.
 Susan uploaded a list of useful websites so I will have to check which ones might help me devolop activities in  class and as a reinforcement. 

This is my mission for the next months: I will have to find a way for teaching  better since I know the situation in most of my classes  needs a lot of  motivation and new ways or strategies.  

My question about a new research is about the way games can help reluctant  learners. Games can be fun but they require a trained teacher. I will have to learn from people who have  been successful like Susan Brodar.

Thanks to her  great  tips!! 

This is my video where I am reflecting  on the webinar and sharing my ideas,  how I felt and what I liked in Susan's presentation. I used a new tool to record it- Loom

MMVC18 Dr Ebba

Day one
3rd August 2018
Ebba Onnilson     Increasing Access, Social Inclusion and Quality through Mobile Learning

You can access the presentation online as the educator always shares her slides in online conferences: 

Mmvc18 ossiannilsson from Ebba Ossiannilsson

My  reflections

I was online on the first day of the Conference and I could  watch Dr Ebba presenting the webinar about
mobile learning: the title was really "catching "Increasing Access, Social Inclusion and
Quality through Mobile Learning.

Ebba is a great  scholar and a person who  is studying the way education is changing and  since most
of the young and also people living in poorer countries have access to the internet thanks to their
mobile devices , she  underlined the importance of mobile learning to increase access, inclusion and
also a positive approach in most schools.

The questions that came through my mind  were related to what is happening in France now and
also in my country as  it seems that many educators are afraid of using this device, the mobile phone
in class.

I think that we should  be aware of what might not work but at the same time  I agree with the
presenter that the issue of safety online is  a serious matter in education.

The report presented by UNESCO in 2013  underlined the importance of mobile learning to connect
and  improve communication and as a result we should learn that by using this device which is now
 part of our daily life we can also provide better feedback and facilitate learning.

I really liked watching the event and I thought that more educators should think of the mobile phone as
a tool which can enhance  learning not only in school but also outside school as it can reach learners
working in different parts of the world and thanks to some apps we can really get learners more engaged and also provide  help and support learners who are facing some difficulties.

My idea is now to work  in class by introducing some  apps which I know can be used easily by my students and without having to ask them to  pay for them. Whatsapp is for example used widely by my students and we might use it for  doing more activities and maybe to collaborate in English with other students.

The future for mobile learning is  starting: I agree with Dr Ebba when she says that also the university
system in many countries needs to  uptake mobile learning.

It is something that will happen and which will “ change “ the way we work and study.

We cannot but  help our learners take  advantage of mobile learning.   

My questions for the speaker : what apps do you think we should use in class with young students ? I need to know this because I usually do not want them to watch videos I have not seen before but I would like to work with them in class and maybe get them more involved while doing English !

Here is my first reflection which you can find on Youtube

Piktochart : a useful webtools with lots of tools

I have just started using Piktochart. I am doing a short course online on the use of some tools and I am exploring it.

Piktochart is an “Easy-to-Use Infographic Maker” that lets you “take your visual communication to the next level, without hiring a professional designer”. The tutor has presented it  " as an easy way to create beautiful, detailed infographics that capture the imagination.   This tool gives students the opportunity to show what they know in a creative, visual way. "

I have tried it, I have a basic account and I have used it for creating a sort of presentation of a module about  Modernism.

https://create.piktochart.com/output/31334781-modernism-in-english-literature




When you start using it it doesn't seem easy and you need to do some exercise but then you will like it.

Here is the link to a tutorial for students in English:

 https://piktochart.com/blog/student-guide-getting-started-piktochart/


Here is the video tutorial creating an event  flyer in five minutes:

I will have to try using this  tool in the next months. It is really cool!

MMVC18

I have been online many times to follow the great  presentations by  Nellie  Deutsch who has been involved in many  virtual conferences online.


The new virtual conference starts on 3rd August and  I am sure it will be enriching and full of ideas.

What I am going to do is to  write about some events which really interested me. Reflecting and sharing ideas about what really matters in education.


Meanwhile you can see the presentation of this year's conference online:

   I am looking forward to seeing the many speakers who are involved in this great  online event!