Social Networking for English Learning

EFL Classroom 2.0 is an amazing website that benefits both learners and language teachers. EFL provides a variety of language tools for teachers to utilize in the classroom. It also contains three skills, listening, reading and writing for learners to improve English.  Everyone can join the members and post any articles or videos that are related to the English learning or talking about their experience. I think that is really helpful for new teachers to get ideas in their teaching skills.

The Benefits for Teachers:

• There are numbers of tools for teachers to download. Ex. Interesting Timers, certificate makers and lesson plan forms…..etc.
• Course book: There is a course book that contains a variety of games and practice activity that the teacher can use in the classroom.
• Newsletter: It provides the latest information or new ideas and tools for teachers to enhance their teaching skills.
• Forum: The forum gives teachers a entrance to discuss and find the specific materials that they want.
• Voice thread: For language classroom and it becomes an online group tools for all classmates to share information and write opinions.

The Benefits for Learners:

• Stories: There are a lot of interesting stories that are suitable for younger learners.
• Game: The games are animated and colorful that learners would feel fun and interesting.
• Video: It contains all levels videos. Learners can choose any level they want and practice listening skills.
• Quiz: There are some games with short practices and quizzes. Learners can test themselves after playing the game.

There are a lot of useful English learning websites nowadays. Learners can not only learn from the classroom but from the technology. Also, the teacher can present some interesting learning website to students or videos during the class. It will make English learning more interesting and lively.

What is A Learner Like???

An iphone

A learner is like an iphone. Why do I say like? After I read the article "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age"about connetivisim, I realized that our world is developing in an amazing speed nowadays. Learners do not just learn from the field that they are interested in, but they absorb a variety of knowledge and enhance their experience through a wide range of field. Iphone is one of the tremendous technological products now. The iphone was invented from the first generation to the fourth generation and it will continue growing and be added more and more tools as well as functions in one technological product. Like human beings, learners keep learning the new things and knowledge from different aspects. We discard the old beliefs or get rid of obsolete knowledge. Then, we continue to update our brain with the latest information. As the author stated that “One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. That is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months (Siemens,2011)

Moreover, Siemens brings up a point that another related connection to the connectivism is technology. In the video The Network is the Learning gave the explanation that "If I'm not continually learning, I'm becoming obsolete in my particular field. A network continually evolves and continually re-forms itself. So when I talk about the network as the learning, I'm essentially referring to that construct that we as individuals that enables us to stay current and to continue to learn" The technology create a bridge for people to connect to each other. And the network makes it possible for people to reinforce their knowledge efficiently and effectively. For our future, people’s needed is more important than what they possess and our world and knowledge would continue evolving and growing.

Teaching Channel: An Excellent Website for All Teachers

Teaching Channel -Best Practice Videos and Lessons is my favorite post that I found in the blog named Free Technology for Teachers.
This post shared a teaching website named Teaching Channel with various videos that the teachers presented in the classroom. The arrangement of the website is clear and neat for Internet players to find out the specific topic that they want. It is categorized according to grade level, subject, and topic, so players can choose the one they are looking for efficiently.

Why I am interested in this post because I think being a teacher, we have to find out the latest teaching methods and apply in our classroom or create our own teaching skills with lively and energetically. Moreover, different teachers have their own teaching styles, and we can learn and imitate from those teachers or try any teaching method that we haven’t utilized in our own classroom. Especially for a new teacher, they don’t have any teaching experience, so this website is a really good guideline for these new teachers.

Why Don’t We Bring Technology into Our Classroom?

Technology has already involved in our life. We use computer to help us to do work effectively. People bring the cellphone with them in order to contact with others anytime. Learners use ipod or electronic dictionary to help them learn more efficiently. Technology enriches our life and improves people’s knowledge completely. Why don’t we bring technology into our classroom?

I listed some advantages of using technology in the classroom and their learning.

·         Computer assists instruction to drill

Ex. Teachers represent power point to the class. Students can read the information and points easily and clearly.

·         Video and audio technologies

Ex. Different students have different strengths. For those students who are visual/ spatial or musical /rhythmic intelligent students, these technology tools help these learners develop their abilities. Moreover, video and audio technologies make class material more interesting.

·         Learning from the Internet

Ex. The teacher can show the related articles or information to students during the class or the teacher can teach students to search any articles they are interested in. It’s a part of learning, not just lean from textbook.

·         Distance learning

Ex. Students’ learning is not limited in the traditional classroom, and they can also enhance their knowledge outside of the classroom, like using computer at home and the library.

·         Updating students’ knowledge and skills

Ex. The teacher provides the latest news and program to students and teach them new skills, like learning English through websites.

The studied said that 70% of our nation’s 4-6 year-old have used a computer and most of the teenagers or college students have already had smart technology devices, like ipod, iphone and ipad. They might type the points that the professor provide in the computer during the class. For language learning students, they use iphone or electronic dictionary to look up the vocabulary that they don’t know in the classroom. These technologies have found to have positive effects on students learning and motivate their interest in academic skills. So if the teacher can bring technology  into their teaching, the classroom and students would feel more energetic and improve students’ learning motivation.