Customizing H5Ps 


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz

There are thousands of H5P learning objects available online through repositories, open education resources and shared courses.  Many of them have a Reuse button.  By clicking on this button, educators can download an H5P and use it as it is or they can customize the H5P.

H5P, HTML5 Package, is an online set of tools that facilitates the creation and sharing of interactive, multimedia content.  These are normally used for educational purposes.  They enhance learner engagement with interactivity, immediate feedback and mixed media. H5P offers a variety of content types like quizzes, interactive videos, presentations, and games, which can be easily integrated into online learning platforms such as Canvas, Moodle or Brightspace.  One of the best attributes of H5P is the ability to customize existing H5Ps.  This can save time, energy and development costs. It also saves training time for teacher-developers.   
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What to Look Forward to at the 2024 Conference


Written by - teslontario

Whether you’re a returning attendee or joining us for the first time, the TESL Annual Conference is underway to deliver insightful sessions, innovative topics, and networking opportunities. We spoke with two of our key organizers: Mohsen Jazeb, Event Coordinator, and Allison Keown, TESL Ontario’s Executive Director, to give you a sneak peek into what to expect. 

2024: Navigating New Routes in Language Education

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Poodll on Moodle 


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz

I was fortunate enough to have moderated a few Avenue webinars on Poodll technologies in June.  The webinar speaker was Justin Hunt, the founder and CEO of Poodll.  I have since been developing learning experiences for the CanAvenue.ca project using Poodll technologies and would like to share some of the basics with the TESL Ontario community through this blog post and a TESL Ontario webinar. 

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Helping Unsuccessful Listeners 


Written by - Setareh Dabbagh

One of the main challenges that ESL students face both in language learning in general and in listening skills specifically, is how to improve! Often, not surprisingly, one of the teachers’ frustrating questions is how to help their students overcome their difficulties. In fact, they should both know that if they place their focus on the listening process, they can improve listening skills, and achieve successful comprehension. In this blog post, I’d like to highlight the problems that students deal with in this process, and how we can better assist them as teachers.   Continue reading →

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My shift to word chunks


Written by - Jennifer Hutchison
Photo by Mali Maeder; www.pexels.com

Session after session, I integrate a “word of the day” into my lessons for students to add to their notebooks. I explain what the word means, provide examples of its use, and task them with using it  that day. But I recently wondered whether it would be better to teach a “lexical chunk of the day” instead, as they tend to have a greater impact than isolated words. Also, students gravitate to these fixed expressions and are always asking what they mean. Indeed, well-known language educator Scott Thornbury supports this approach in Chunk-Spotting–A User’s Guide: “the possession of a memorized store of chunks allows more rapid processing, not only for production but also for reception. It’s quicker to process several words at a time rather than each word individually.”

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How We Think About Technology in the Classroom


Written by - Derek Czajkowski
www.bigstockphoto.com

Technology is so embedded in our daily lives that we hardly notice, even take for granted, that we can’t get through our day without our phones, the internet, automated check-outs, Zoom. Yet, when it comes to using computers in the classroom, most teachers are reactionary in their response.

The school where I work will be using Avenue as the main delivery platform for all levels starting in September. This decision, when it was announced last year, did not, and indeed, has not, gone over well with the teachers, to put it mildly.

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Establishing Rapport with Learners: Challenges & Solutions


Written by - Ozma Siddiqui
Image source: Unsplash, photo by Luann Hunt

Teaching is a rewarding profession, but it does come with its challenges. One important aspect of teaching is to establish a rapport with the learners. A teacher who is unable to communicate with her learners in the first few days is at risk of “losing” her class altogether. Research shows that learners learn better when they find the content interesting and like the teacher! In fact, a positive and favourable learning environment is necessary for effective communication in a classroom that learners find safe and supportive. This article will pose some challenges and offer solutions that will ensure student engagement.

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Making Meaning in Online Environments


Written by - Patricia Patel

Let’s face it, teaching in an online learning environment can be difficult when it comes to engaging and motivating learners. This non-traditional learning environment  poses an additional challenge to ensure learners are constructing meaning from the content and deepening their learning and understanding.  

Educators often struggle to help learners make meaningful connections to the content while deepening their understanding within an online learning environment. For this reason, I want to emphasize  the benefits  of discussion boards  in online learning.

Discussion boards can be defined as virtual platforms where learners can interact with their instructor and  peers by posting and responding to  discussion posts. This type of interaction and knowledge building foster a sense of community among students while promoting active learning within an online learning environment. Continue reading →

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Summer Break: A Time to “R(. . .)”


Written by - Cecilia Aponte-de-Hanna
Image Source: Created with Copilot. Prompt by Aponte-de-Hanna (2024, July 16).

If when reading the title, the first word that came to mind was “Relax,” you are lukewarm. Collocation wise, you are correct. However, as a teacher, I am referring to “Reflect” — as in Time to Reflect. Don’t get me wrong; teachers need time to relax, and I have been doing some of that during my summer break from teaching, but as teachers, we also need time to recharge for when classes restart. That is where reflection comes in.

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