Learning from your mistakes

I'm not sure quite how this happened, but by pure chance (read - my ignorance) instead of posting about Slide, a site that allows you to post your photos in the form of a slide show, I ended up writing about SlideShare which allows you post presentations. Inadvertently, I learnt how to do a presentation using Open office Impress (I don't have Power Point on the laptop - too expensive) in order to put some photos on the blog. Oh well, καθε εμποδιο σε καλο (every cloud has a silver lining).

By the way, I took these photos a couple of hours ago.

New stuff

I keep on seeing SlideShare on blogs I read so I thought I'd try it out for myself. It allows you to share your Power Point, Keynote and Open Office presentations with others on the net.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone who was celebrating today and yesterday had a great time. Greeting from Thessaloniki. Here's looking forward to a wonderful New Year!!!

Tonight's photos

Which Christmas movie are you?

My first reaction was Jaws, considering how much we're going to eat in the next few days but apparently it is;

Your Christmas is Most Like: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

You can't really get into the Christmas spirit... But it usually gets to you by the end of the holiday.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Thanks to Theodora P for putting me onto this site. Now I'm off to do some last minute, i.e all my shopping.

Today's video

Something I've been working on over the last few days. Today I had the chance to finish it.

300

I can't remember the last time I wanted to see a movie so much. I saw this trailer and freaked out. Boy's own stuff indeed!!!!

"A thousand nations of the Persian empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun.

Then we will fight in the shade."

Carl Sagan

I guess when I was growing I lucked out as far as teachers were concerned. Although I had some awful ones (who hasn't?) I was fortunate to be taught by people who cared enough to share their passion for learning with others. However, as well as my teachers in school, I had teachers on TV, that medium we so like to deride for its supposed stupidity. Carl Sagan, who died 10 years ago on the 20th December was, perhaps the most brilliant of those TV sages. His series, Cosmos changed my life forever, implanting in me a sense of curiosity about how the world works that has yet to be extinguished. Because of his series I continued with my science education at school - although, it must be added that it is not my strongest suit.

I still flip through my copy of the book of the series, which I bought 25 years ago. I've never stopped being awed by the breadth of the knowledge it contains and the humanistic values it champions.

Submitted to the Carl Sagan blog-a-thon

In Our Time - The siege of Constantinople

"THE SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

When Sultan Mehmet the Second rode into the city of Constantinople on a white horse in 1453, it marked the end of a thousand years of the Byzantine Empire. After holding out for 53 days, the city had fallen. And as one contemporary witness described it: “The blood flowed in the city like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm”. It was the end of the classical world and the crowning of an Ottoman Empire that would last until 1922."

For more click here. The programme will be available as a podcast after the 28th December.

Here's my take on the subject.

Looking for videos

I came across Blinkx while checking out The Guardian's 100 most useful web sites article. It's a search engine which specialises in finding videos and a cool feature is that it shows the results in the form of a video wall. Click here to see what you get if you put "ESL".

How did that happen?

That can't be right! If you put "protest email" in the Google search engine, I'm either first or second on their list. I'm now officially freaked out.

Photo came from Ian Richardson's Flickr page. See here.

Teaching young EFL/ESL learners

For the last three months Ive been doing private lessons with young learners, ten year olds with just one year of English. To tell you the truth, it's not something that I really wanted to do as teaching this age group requires a completely different approach and as I'm used to working with teens and adults I wasn't sure I could do it properly.However, my friends insisted and I felt that not to do so would mean letting them down.

Now, here is the strangest thing, I really love doing this. It's incredibly hard work and I have to work twice as hard as I usually do, but the pay off is the great deal of enthusiasm that my younger learners bring to the lessons. It's a real buzz. I'm lucky in that I have a course book that really is a joy to teach. The Chatterbox series embodies all the teaching ideas that I think are vital to language learning, irrespective of age; fun, engagement, use and action.

However, I thought I'd add my own hi-tech twist by using my digital camera in the lessons in order to record them doing the various songs and comic strips that the book has. I, then put them on my ibook and let them see them. If they are not happy with their performance then we do it all over again. It's great feedback

In contrast with older learners, my younger students love seeing and hearing themselves.

Was that the fat lady I heard warming up?

After 5.30pm I'm officially on holiday!!!!! I can't wait to do nothing, as these last few weeks have been exhausting.

Thessaloniki

Teaching using Flickr

Instead of wading through through yet another page of boring grammar exercise to "help" my students understand the various uses of modal verbs, I decided to use Flickr instead. The basic ideas is that you use the images from the site in order to make guesses about what you can see. For example, use pictures from various parts of the world to practice making deductions about where the photo was taken.


"The picture must be from somewhere cold as all the things are made of ice.

It can't be from Greece as we don't have such shows."

When talking about deductions in the past Flickr provides a wealth of learning possibilities. Choose a dramatic image and ask you student what they think might have happened just before the photo was taken.


"The driver of the car must have been seriously injured.

The lorry driver may have been drunk."

Last night's wine and cheese party at the school

Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I had a great time. For more photos check out my Flickr page here.

The classroom of the future?

While getting my daily dose of news at the BBC site I came across this story about the Broadclyst community primary school in England that claims to have on of the most technologically advanced classrooms in the country. While you have to applaud any educational authority that invests so heavily in technology for learning I'm not sure if this my idea of the perfect classroom.

For me it's layout betrays a very old fashioned idea of what a classroom is all about as everything is focused on the teacher and the positions are fixed. This means that group work is made more difficult and movement between places is hampered. If you keep in mind that the school if for 7 to 11 year olds it seems to expect a high degree of regimentation from learners so young.

Dekita.org

Over the last week or so I've been asking my students to check out the Dekita.org site, which plays host to EFL/ESL student blogs from all over the world. Already many students from Brazil have started commenting on our class blogs and I'm hoping that my students reciprocate.

What I want to do next is set up a site or YouTube groups where students can post videos that show some aspect of their lives. In our last lesson I introduced the Proficiency 2c class to the idea of using photos to make a video. The idea is that they use a program such as Microsoft's Photo Story 3 or Windows Movie Maker to make a video about Thessaloniki, to give people from outside Greece a sense of what the city is like in two minutes or less. Think of it as a cross between a pop video and a TV ad. Also what I want to do is then invite students from other places to add theirs.

Thessaloniki

Justice?

A few weeks ago I talked about a story that had shocked Greece (see here). A Cypriot student, arrested for supposedly taking part in a violent November 17th demonstration in Thessaloniki was publicly beaten to a bloody pulp by plain clothes police officers in full view of their uniformed superiors and the nations' cameras (see here for the video).

It now seems that the officers involved will not face any serious charges and in all probability will not even lose their jobs. Now, these events may sound unimportant, the actions of a few misguided individuals, however, you have to see these actions in the light of modern Greek history. State sanctioned torture, "disappearances" and the like are not things you read about in the history books here, they're things you uncle tells you about, stories that are passed on by your parents. When the police are able to act with impunity, even in the full light of publicity then you can understand the worries many people have.


"What they really mean is that it will only be over till the next time."

Imagining Argentina

Tonights' photos

Student blogs

This week I realised that the blogs I and my students set up this year had closed comments, i.e. only people registered with Blogger could comment on them. As I'm usually logged into my Blogger account when I look at our blogs this hadn't been apparent. So, sorry to anyone who has wanted to get in contact (they are now all open to comment from anyone).

Class blogs

Dp1 class are all junior high school students, preparing for the PET exams in English in May 2007 (i.e intermediate level.

LC1 is a class of 13 to 16 years olds who are going to take the FCE in May, 2007 i.e. upper intermediate level English learners.

Proficiency 1E is a class of adult, mainly university students who are preparing for the ECPE or CPE in 2007/8. i.e. advanced level learners of English.

Proficiency 2C is a class of adult, mainly university students who are going to do the CPE/ECPE exams next summer. i.e. advanced level learners.

Individual student blogs

Retziki Girl Strikes Back - Pheobe, who is in junior high school, is preparing for the CPE in 2008, she passed FCE last summer.

Skywalker Greece is a junior high school student who is going to take the FCE exams next summer.

Eos Forever is a high school student who is going to do the PET exams next summer.

Morpheas in Greece is a fifth grader who has just started lesson with me this year.

Digital storytelling

I should have guessed it. I've been working on producing videos without video cameras over the last few weeks. The idea is that students use still photographs, either their own or images taken off the internet to create a video which can be posted on their blogs. A quick delve into the web has revealed that there are loads of educators doing the same thing. I came across a particular good site called Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling at the University of Houston that has lots of information on using Microsoft's Photo Story 3 (check out their tutorial pages) and great examples of projects that students can use for inspiration.

In addition, courtesy of a blogger writing in Romania (see here) I came across Comic Life a program that allows you to create comics using your photos. I know of at least one student who is going to love that idea. The only problem is that it is only for Mac OSX. If anyone knows of a similar program for Windows, please contact me.

An Ending - Ascent by Brian Eno

Inspired by Brian Eno's 77 million paintings I decided to make this video using An Ending, also by Eno. All photographs used were taken in Thessaloniki over the last week or so. You can check out the originals at my Flickr page.

All this was done using Microsoft's Photo Story 3, which you can download free from their site. The only problem is that you need Windows Media Player 10 (but you can also download that as well, free from here).

Abstract art for dummies

Learning Greek in Russia

I came across this video on YouTube and it's interesting to see how language learning goes on in different places.

Sarah McLachlan - World on Fire

This video (click here) made me stop and think on so many levels; humanitarian, technological, educational. We're on the verge of a new paradigm in communication. One in which high quality forms of content can be made, and more radically, distributed all over the planet. In a sense we're once again entering the world of the popular printing press, in which small groups or individuals can compete with large media corporations for people's attention.

Thanks to Teacher In Development for posting it on his blog, otherwise I probably would never have heard about it.

"And suddenly there was another voice."

At long last I've come across another Greek student of English blogging. It's just a beginning, but as they say, "from small acorns....."


Click here to check out Theodora's blog.

Student vlogging

I've been doing some video interviews with my students over the last week. The idea is that we then put them on their blogs (via YouTube). Usually, we both write a list of unusual questions that are going to be asked and then the students decides which ones they'll answer in the interview. We rehearse the interview once or twice and then record it.

Just remember to tell the student that we'll only post the video when they're absolutely happy with their performance. So here is Skywalker's interview.

In Our Time

One of my favourite sites on the net is the BBC's In Our Time podcast which is a weekly radio programme in which Melvin Bragg talks about various historical, philosophical and artistic topics. For example;

	Altruism - how can evolutionary biology explain it? The Peasants' Revolt - a lasting legacy for popular uprising? Alexander Pope - "short is my date, but deathless my renown" The Poincare Conjecture - how a 19th century mathematician changed how we think about the shape of the universe The Encyclopedie - the great project of the Enlightenment The Needham Question - did China lay the foundations of modern science? The Diet of Worms - Luther's stand against the Church Averroes - the battle between faith and reason Alexander von Humboldt - the remarkable career of the Prussian naturalist

If you want a work out for those dying brain cells then this is the place. Each week's episode can be downloaded as a podcast for a week after transmission. After that you can listen to them on your PC but not download them. Just one thing, you'll need to download Real Player (it's about 10mb) to listen to the programmes in the archive.

Also they are great listening practice for my students.

Teaching using film music

Here is an activity that I tried a few times over the last week with a lot of success. It can be done by all levels above intermediate. You'll need music from three different movies, preferably ones that your students haven't seen.

Lesson Plan

1 Tell your students that they are going to hear three pieces of music that come from a movie. What they have to do is think of;

Title
Genre
Scene

2 Make sure that they understand what genre means, if necessary, give examples or elicit different ones from the class.

3 Also make sure that where it says scene the students should write down what they think is happening at this point in the film, e.g. the hero is fighting with a two -headed alien at the top of the Empire State Building.

4 Play one to two minutes from the soundtrack.

5 Students compare their answers which each other. Elicit answers from the class. If a student knows the film then ask them to be the teacher and talk about the film.

6 Repeat these steps twice more.

7 Write on the board;

who where when which why how what

Now ask students to write down questions to ask you about the films from which you took the music.

8 Answer the questions.

Getting the word out

Edublogging in Thessaloniki is spreading. Theodora P has set up a blog for her German language class. She says that the boys have really been taken to the idea and are now producing much more language as a result. So why not check it out.

Just one more image

We did this as an experiment.

Abstract art for seven year olds

Tonight it was photography evening for Nasia, Lydia and me. Here are the results;







We all had a lot of fun. To see some more click here.

Organising a student exchange using the internet

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It just seems that there is never enough time. However, over the next week I'm going to make a concerted effort to chase up possible student exchange possibilities. I've already signed up one of my older classes with the Dekita.org site with the aim of getting the students to communicate via their blog with other EFL/ESL learner across the globe. Also I want to get my younger students to do some kind of exchange with some Canadian students, courtesy of Excellence and Imagination.

If you want to see some excellent web 2.0 teaching ideas put into practice check out Cool Cat Teacher's latest joint project.

"The Flat Classroom project is a genuine assessment project between Julie Lindsay's grade 11 ITGS class at International School Dhaka(ISD) in Bangladesh and Vicki Davis' 10th grade Computer Science class at Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia."

Blade Techno Theme - Director's cut

A new, improved version with extra portions of added weirdness.

Busy

No time for blogging today. Hopefully, I'll get time to write up some new ideas tomorrow.

Teaching through doing

And that means doing things yourself. I asked my FCE class to produce their own music video last night, they're all crazy about music and often we use songs in class (their choice) as part of our listening practice. Now it's time to take it up a notch and get them to produce a video using images from the web. Hopefully, the activity will interest them enough to overcome the technical difficulties they will inevitably face.

As I keep on telling them, they have to learn this kind of stuff on their own as no one else, at least meaning their regular school teachers or parents, have the slightest clue. Unfortunately, as computer/internet access is limited at school, I can't really do much to help either. Still, I will post any effort they care to make.

In the meantime my latest effort.

Rammstein for beginners

I thought I'd share my latest creation. Most of the images are from Hughes Legalise - Batille's Flickr page.

Meebo.com

Once again Cool Cat Teacher has found a great application which I've just put on the blog. Meebo.com has a great little widget that allows you to chat with the readers of your blog.

Making history real

Here's an ideas for a lesson. Why not get students to choose an event in history and make a video based on it using images found on the internet? My video is about the fall of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453 AD. I've been fascinated by the event ever since reading Steven Runciman's excellent book on the subject.

Check out the BBC series, In Our Time which has a radio programme about the siege of Constantinople. Or listen direct by clicking here.

Teacher Dude's anatomy class

Ok, I'm officially amazed. At the end of today's lesson one of my students asked me if there were any podcasts connected with anatomy that I could find (he doesn't have ADSL at home). I just took a quick look in itunes and found four!!! You've just got to love the internet. I'll be downloading as many of them as possible in order to burn a CD to give to Vassilis. Amazing!

Thank you for your help

See here for link

A few days ago I moaned about the lack of maps here in Thessaloniki, since then I've been lucky to have got loads of information from people who read this blog and got in contact.

So thanks to;

Kassandra who let me know about Navigation.gr

andAthanasios Bountos at Saloniki.org who sent me the map.

Using mobiles in the classroom

In tonight's lesson I got my Proficiency class to record themselves with their mobile phones doing a speaking exercise and then listen to their performance. The idea was that they choose a topic from the course book they want to talk about for one minute, while their partner times and records them. Afterwards they listen to their answer and their partner discusses ways in which they can improve. Then roles are reversed.

This is a great way to make students aware of any persistent mistakes they have in pronunciation.