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Podcasting in EFL/ ESL classrooms

Among all the mediums that were considered  great tools to be used effectively in EFL/ESL classroom for enhancing learning and teaching , podcasts are the closest to my heart.

 Nowadays in our busy world when everyone  is runnig out of time and complaining of its deficiency, when we have to deal with great flow of information  everyday and to get it via reading, by ''ruining'' our eyesight., and  reading being time consuming and tiresome  in such situations, podcasts are here for us ,as  the best solution to these problems .

As a current student and as a future TEFL professional I feel  a great relief that there are other, more useful,interesting and engaging ways  to learn about something and enjoy it witout wasting your time and health on reading.

I feel great as I can listen to something interesting whenever and wherever it`s  more convenient for me. I mostly listen to podcasts in public transport or while doing other works at home. I can listen to my favorite podcasts every time by downloading and saving them. I really like that I can use any kind of device listen to them, starting from mobile phones to netbook/notebook.Thus I appreciate it`s accesibility and mobility. 

I like categorization,the fact that I can choose any topic from my interests and needs and there are bunch of podcasts that I can subscribe and listen at that moment or later.

To my mind podcasting should and moreover must be used in EFL/ESL classrooms. They are useful, informative, authentic.They make students '''creative consumers and creators'' they make students/teachers to have "real audience", they develop students aural/oral skills and  finally they make students to connect their personal inerests with real ,popular activities and learn to love what they do or will do.

Well, I think there can be some minor issues with podcasting that are not common in reading,such asdifferent accents of speakers, orbad  audio quality, but these problems are quite solvable.

P.S One thing I was thniking over was whther there are such programs or applications that are changing texts into audio files. I think this would be great))))

The Role of Blogging and Microbloging in Classroom

To tell the truth when thinking about  blogging and especially microblogging for using  learning purposes,as developing tools of various skills  I was a little bit in doubt as I thought that they could be distractful indeed and don`t serve to their purpose. However by listening to Will Richardson lectures I really got many valuable ideas as to how blogs and so called micro blogs can successfully and usefully be used for educational purposes  and now I am more than confident that blogging and microblogging have way more positive than negative sides. 

As all kinds of networking blogging and microblogging are great tools for collaboration/ network building.

Students  as well as teachers from all of the world are building a network/ a learning space where everyone is free to share his/her ideas, experience, needs and interests. So those comments and thoughts are really  challenging, as they are different from those of the traditional teacher`s, they are enhancing your thinking by making you to think more broadly, creatively and critically. People from all around the world are becoming your teachers and you are becoming a part of a great family of network creators. Microblogging isn`t totally blogging but still it is a collaboration,  communication, negotiation.

When you are using a blog as a learning/teaching space, when you are assigning your students to reflect in a blog on something they  have just read, watched or experienced, you are making them more interested as they are creating something for more real audience. So this is much more motivating for them than when they are being assessed by one or few lecturers inside university walls. They are making efforts and spending lots of time to make their blogs more interesting useful for other users also.

Of course blogging and microblogging first of all are much more useful for developing writing/ reading skills. As Richardson states blogging starts with reading, you are getting the insides of how to organize your reading appropriately nowadays when there is such a great flow of information and you have to think what`s necessary to read and whats not. As a writer you are developing your right brain,as mentioned Richardson, that`s to say your creative,reflective side. You are becoming much more skilled by every blog, by every tweet or status if you are trying to say something that really matter.

Blogging and microblooging are kind of your learning  portfolio where you can see your own learning and development.

As a teacher I would say that I would like to use these tools for learning/teaching purposes. I am not yet sure as how my students would meet this fact, but I think that most of the replies would be positiver. I would  say that I myself appreciate social networking much as I can share my ideas, my peers/friends share theirs, as well as many useful links,sites, blogs. I can learn from everyone and that`s simply great. This is what everyone should realize when thinking of blogging/microblogging.

''The World is flat'' Thomas Friedman

As long as I understood the main purpose of the book is to show the benefits of globalization, or flatteners of the the world as the author metaphorically calls it. Friedman brings many examples of how this flatteners brought cause various changes in different spheres starting from world economy and politics to informational technology sphere. He discusses many of these flatteners, as collapse of The Berlin wall, Outsourcing, Insourcing, etc. and shows they have changed the world to the best.

For me as a future TEFL professional there are some amazing flatteners. Among them are Netscaping, Uploading,Informing.Steroids, For me they are excellent tools as they allow people to share their knowledge, thoughts, projects,to get so much information with just one click. The world and the people are now more connected,and aware of other each other , other countries,cultures. I think these are great tools for teaching as well , there are hundred thousands of blogs,discussion forums, virtual portals where everyone can share his experience,collaborate,ask and find answers to the questions his is interested in,to upload and download files. I think  these resources are just great in teaching process.

Collaboration and Self-learning

The connection between Digital Youth Portraits, The Hole in the Wall and The World is Flat!!!

To start with I would like to say that I liked the series of Digital youth portraits very much. They were really interesting and I found out many useful things for myself.All of the videos were interrelated and there were many common things in all videos and to my mind many of those things/factors could be taken into consideration while teaching foreign/second languages with new technologies.

I will just write down in bullet points what I think is more important for me as a TEFL professional.

1)All the students  who were using technologies in their learning process learned using them on their own.This means that a slight guidance will be enough to get them started.Even the absence or the lack of technologies were not an obstacle for motivated students.(Olivia`s example)

2.) They were all playing some kind of games, either alone or with their peers. So games helped them to develop their social skills,problem solving,collaboration, creativity.This kind of collaboration is also useful as students who are more proficient in technologies were teaching/helping their peers,even teachers or mentors.

3) I like the idea of virtual platform/community,it also develops team working skills,

 I liked very much the idea of making animated movies about different global.local issues and finding solutions to them via these virtual platforms by discussing,conferencing.

4) What I liked most was that the students themselves knew what they wanted, how to use those technologies for/according their needs, how to use what they searched or learned. how to use these skills out of class,in real life, in future. 

When I started to think about Armenian schools and the role of  technologies in teaching/learning process there, to tell the truth I even felt jealous of these kids,because they were more determined,they knew how to use all that stuff for they learning and developing. I think that maybe the problem is that Armenian students are not aware enough, or are not introduced appropriately that technologies can be used in classrooms for learning purposes also.

 To my mind once used in classrooms  as a teaching/learning tool all these devices,software can become students' best friends and students will get used to this working style and become socially,technically skilled and intelligent.

What I think is common in all three projects;Hole in the wall. The World is Flat, Digital Youth Portraits is the idea of collaboration and self-learning.The idea is that we learn something better if we are helping each other,we are collaborating,working together. This is the point that we should take into consideration whether in designing classroom activities or solving wider, global issues.