Well, it is June and there is no better time to introduce the Canada Day holiday to your students. I have searched the web and have asked colleagues about favourites for teaching about Canada and Canada Day. Since150 would put this post way over the maximum word count, I have pulled together 15. I hope this helps you and your students with your holiday preparation. The resources are listed in alphabetical order. If you have any that I have missed please add them through the comments feature below.
In the interest of planning a class field trip, I was reading the blog post, 25+ Field Trips for English Language Learners. She provides a variety of opportunities for live field trips. I am considering a few of these ideas. However, I teach in a situation that has several obstacles to taking students on field trips. Climate, cultural norms, transportation, scheduling, catering and budget can be issues in the Middle East. I am sure that if you are reading this in Canada, you can identify with a few of these issues. Even if you do resolve the budget, scheduling, transportation, permissions and climate issues, then you are normally limited to locations 100km from your centre. Continue reading →
If you are considering leading a webinar in the near future, I have some suggestions that might make your experience a little more enjoyable. I was on the TESL Ontario Social Media Committee and became interested in the idea of running a webinar as the team matured and the range of session titles expanded. I have to admit that I thought it would be a walk in the park as I have facilitated online workshops, meetings, courses and presentations before. However, the experience surprised me, as webinar facilitation involved additional features that required attention. Continue reading →
Hot Potatoes is a quiz generating software application used to create activities suitable for language learning. Recently, Hot Potatoes has had a facelift. Continue reading →
Quizlet Live is the latest feature on the Quizlet suite. This is in addition to current learning activities which include: flashcards, test, learn, spell, as well as two games: gravity and match. In May of 2015 I posted about the attributes of Quizlet from a teacher-developer’s perspective. More recently, Continue reading →
At my current institution, I’ve been working with teachers, administrators and students trying to integrate technology into classroom learning. This blended learning approach expectation has led to some frustration. There have been so many promising tools,
ideas, and toys that have not met our requirements. On the positive side, we have been lucky enough to experiment with ample resources to try out a variety of edtech tools and techniques. Continue reading →
A MOOC or massive open online course is a course that is open to the public and is typically free of charge. MOOCs are available on the internet. They are offered by a wide spectrum of institutions including universities, colleges, for profit concerns, and diverse interest groups. There are thousands of courses available.
Why use a MOOC?
MOOCs are usually free with the option of a purchased certified credential delivered on the completion of course requirements. The cost of certification commonly ranges from $15 to $50. Many of us are experiencing limited budgets in the education sector. MOOCs offer the potential for career advancement or skills improvement without the need for requesting funds from your institution. Continue reading →
While working on ESP books for a technical program, I found that QR codes were a great solution to add quick links to additional resources. These resources included interactive activities, worksheets, images, videos, animations, graphs and further readings. I am not the first person to think of using QR codes for educational purposes. Links to fantastic resources providing a myriad of uses of QR codes for educators can be found in the additional resources section below. I am offering a few simple practices that you might consider to improve access to resources in your classroom, on your class website, or in your instructional documents.
Observing my students struggle with worksheets based on videos was quite frustrating. As all teachers do, I was thinking there must be a better way. After trying pair-work and modifying learning activities, I decided to look further into technology. I used Hot Potatoes and Adobe Captivate to place prompts and questions on the screen as the video played. The results were satisfactory but Continue reading →
I was recently assigned the role of a full-time supply instructor in an English as a Foreign Language department of approximately 70 instructors. “Take this on as a new challenge” was my first thought, and I haven’t looked back. Our EFL department has two divisions. These are the academic and the technical preparatory programs. I had not yet taught in the technical program and was interested in these students with different needs. I had always been curious about the technical program and was anxious to jump right in and teach.
We have just completed midterms and I have had a generous sampling of most of the courses that our department offers. I have benefited from this experience in more ways than I had anticipated. I have continued to learn about my peers, technology integration, institutional facilities, and most of all the students. Here is a brief overview of the things I learned:
Technology integration
Our college supports education technical technology through an environment of well stocked and supported digital learning options. It is interesting to see the varying degrees to which technology is being used by the staff and students. Student behaviour often reflects their instructor’s education technology routines. When I direct the students to use some technology, their efficiency indicates whether or not they use technology on a regular basis. I have been very impressed by those teachers who have integrated technology seamlessly into their instructional practice. Continue reading →
