Methods through a book review video

Here is the second part of this book review.

Correcting Errors

Here is a video of an EFL teacher in Madrid who gives recommendations on how to correct certain errors made by Spanish speaking students.
Based on what we have read in this course, would you agree or not with his suggestions? Provide your reasons and maybe examples to back up your comment.

Culture Shock

Although our students might not experience this phenomenon, they could read about it.

Here is a text with multiple choice questions that will make them aware this is something language learners go through. It can be related to native languages in their country such as goajiro or warao in our particular case.

Do you think this will be worth including in your courses?

These are some efforts by colleagues in our country on the use of ICT to aid communicative competence in our students:

Carabobo

Merida 2006

Caracas 2007

Will you be willing to try some of these ideas?

Are your students digital learners?

I agree, we must include technology in our classrooms. But we cannot assume most of our students have grown having access to all tools mentioned in this video and those who have, are way ahead of the rest. Technology sets these two groups apart. Ideally, we could have more knowledgeable students work in group projects with those who aren´t. But I wonder how many of our students own or can even afford an ipod. Do you think language teachers like yourselves should keep up with this pace to be aware of what is going on, especially in the world of our present generation?

Linguistic Imperialism

In chapters seven of Brown (2000) and Cook (1996), both authors mention the concept of Linguistic Imperialism. Why don´t you watch the following two-minute video where the Prime Minister of England declares "linguistic war" in the world where teacher-soldiers will spread around the English language in our globe last January 17th. After watching it, write your reaction and position in the "comments" area of this post.

Teaching English with the brain in mind

This is a slideshow presentation I made for a Ventesol conference a couple of years ago. I hope you find the information useful. Is there something that is completely new to you and which may make you re-think about the way you study or you help your students learn? Is there anything you will do now differently?

| View | Upload your own

"A vision of students today"

This is a video created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University. Here students are trying to tell us something about what is really important to them and their lives. What do you make of their messages? Are we helping them be prepared to what lies ahead in their future?
Write your reactions in the comment´s area.

Sample brain map on Richard&Rogers Chapter

Just to get an idea of what can be done with the content in a chapter using Mindmanager. Here is a link to a partial sample of the same map. Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to mail me.

Comments of students about blogging

Students give their opinions about the use of blogs in their courses. It is a bit long, 15 minutes, but it is worth every second. After watching it, please let us know about your comments and reactions.

How to create a blog

In this site you will find an explanation by Vance Stevens, EFL teacher in South Arabia and creator of Webheads in Action, on how to create and set up a blog at blogger. If you prefer to watch a video, here is one that is quite simple. Here are more instructions in case you want to change your blog layout.

Come by my office next Tuesday or send me an email in case of doubts or if you need further guidance.

Best of luck.

How to write comments in this blog

1) Click in the word that says "comment" at the bottom of the post you want to write a comment about. A new window will open, like the one in the illustration on the left.

2) there will be three options: a) "Google/blogger" account, b) "Other" or, c) "Anonymous". I suggest you select the second alternative, write your name in the provided space and make the comment. If you select "anonymous", write your name at the end of the comment so we know who you are. Don´t forget to write the green characters that appear for "word verification" and click "publish your comment" before you close the window.
Para instrucciones en español sobre cómo hacer los comentarios, presionar aquí.

Welcome to EFL Theory and Methods 1

We will be using this blog throughout this trimester to post our reflexions and findings related to our main subject: Learning and teaching English as a foreign language in the 21st Century. I hope you find this experience useful, enriching and rewarding.

Let´s get to work!!!