Lydia's photos

Pictures my daughter took yesterday and today.

Iraq

I thought long and hard before I decided to post this on my blog. However, it represents what I truly believe. Although I'm not American, I have family who emigrated there and who have prospered, however, I cannot in all good conscious support this war. The final straw was seeing masked thugs hang a man on TV today.Not even a monster as awful as Saddam deserves such as fate. Today I feel a great deal of shame about being a citizen of a nation, in my case, Britain that has allowed this situation to come to pass.

An hour in the life of a city

I made this using Photo Story 3 and pictures I took over the last couple of weeks. They come from Ano Poli, Ladadika, Langada St and Egnatia St in Thessaloniki.

The music is by The Crystal Method.

My Top 10 of 2006

Photo by Teacher Dude

In keeping with the spirit of this time of year I’ve decided to compile my own top ten sites on the internet for 2007. They are in no particular order and represent no more than my own personal preference. They are all ones I’ve visited or used regularly over the last 12 months.

1 - YouTube. Whether it’s looking for an obscure music video or finding a forum to display your latest mini - epic then this is the place. For me the site has given my two great opportunities; as a teacher it allows me to show students a way to share their own videos and so gives them an incentive to get to grips with the often complicated technology involved. As a budding film maker (hey, stop giggling there at the back!) it has meant that I can try out ideas that I’ve had floating around for years and see what people think.

2 - Flickr - Since I got broadband my use of Flickr has really taken off. It has reawakened my love of photography that has lain dormant for nearly 20 years. I’m now starting to use the site in my teaching practice, both as a means of getting student reaction and a way for them to reach out to the outside world by sharing their photos. See here and here to see some examples.

3 -In Our Time - This BBC podcast, hosted by Melvyn Bragg has been a source of joy for me over the last year. Every week Bragg hosts a discussion on different topics, which range from the role Indian mathematics to the fall of Constantinople. Philosophy, science, art, history and politics are all discussed in way that neither excludes the non - expert nor patronises them.

4 -Ted Talks - I can’t remember where exactly I came across the link to this site, but I do remember the blog saying if you listen to two or three of these ( you can either see them as video or listen to them as a podcast) in a row then it will change the way you see the world. A big claim but one I feel is true. Every year TED holds a conference and ask people with new and innovative ideas to talk for just 20 minutes. The results are amazing. What to recommend first? Check out Bono’s acceptance speech (he won a Ted award in 2006) or Negroponte on the 100 dollar laptop. Do yourself a favour and set aside time to see two or three talks - you won’t regret it.

5 - Cool Cat Teacher’s Blog - Whenever I want to know what I would like to do in the future as far as the web and teaching goes then all I have to do is go to this wonderful blog full of inspiring and practical ideas. It shows what “ordinary” teachers can do if they have drive, enthusiasm and imagination. If anyone is pushing the envelope in education then it is Vicki Davis. I wonder if her students realise how lucky they are?

6 - Mabryonline.org. This school site, or to be more accurate collection of blogs cobbled together to look like a unified site is another inspiring story. Originally set up by the headmaster of the Georgia middle school it gets more than 1,5 million visits per month. It is a great example of how a few dedicated people using limited resources can produce a fabulous place for their students to express themselves. It has really opened my eyes to what I could do with blogs.

7 - Sitemeter - This addictive site is everything a narcassistic blogger could want for. Find out everything about people visiting your site from what screen resolution they’re using to how they found you on Google.

8 - Skype video - I still find this technology as amazing as if they’d brought out a tractor beam or matter transporter.Chatting with my family In England on their video service is an awesome experience, epecially when you consider that it costs nothing!!!!!!!!! Also try out Skypecasting as a way of getting in touch with other people across the globe.

9 - Dekita.org is a site dedicated to allowing student bloggers to get in touch with one another wherever they are in the world. I have just started to exploit the possibilities this offers with my students. Next year is going to see some really exciting possibilities as far as my own student bloggers are concerned as they start to get feedback on their class and individual blogs.

10 Technorati is to blogging what Google is to search engines and so has been one of my favourite destinations on the web. It’s a wonderful way to see into thousands of disparate lives, to flit across the face of the planet in a matter of minutes or truly discover what it is to be a different person for hours.

What about you? What's your top ten for 2006?

Looking back at 2006

At long last, my lonely struggle as Greece’s premier - (read only) edublogger has paid off. Yep, I’ve been awarded Time magazine’s person of the year award. I know, it came as a shock to me as well, I didn’t even know I was even in the running.

Just kidding, It seems “you”, faithful blog reader have also been given the same honour, so let’s congratulate you on this unexpected recognition of your valiant efforts.

Actually, this has been my year as far as the internet is concerned. Even though I’ve been using the web on and off for nearly a decade, it has only been over the last year or so that I’ve really felt that it is a tool I can use actively, an area in which I can express myself and contribute.

Blogging is the most obvious expression of this new found confidence, however, I have also been posting things on YouTube, Flickr and Wiki. All in all, I feel that the claims I have heard repeated so many times over the last decades about the potential of computers has finally come true. Finally, science fiction is becoming everyday reality.

For me the most amazing thing about all this for me, personally is the fact that that blogs, videos and photos and wikispaces I’ve posted have had 30,000 visits during 2006. Not a large number for those who regularly get those kinds of visits in a week or a day, but for me it is a mind blowing number as I never in my wildest dreams thought that so many people would be interested in what I had to say or show.

This year I think I’ve learnt more than at any other time in the last ten years, not since I finished my masters in teaching have I been exposed to so many new ideas. As far as teaching is concerned I’ve seen an acceleration in my application of new ideas and approaches in the classroom.

I feel that this just the beginning and that in the next couple of years I’ll throw off the shackles of my old style teaching practice in order to really make the web 2.0 tools available really work to their best advantage. That means seeing the internet tools such as blogging, vlogging, podcasts, wiki and the like not merely as away of enriching course books but a way of completely changing our teaching approaches.

I haven’t got there yet as I’m still learning - it’s a pretty steep learning curve- but also because I’m waiting for Greece’s internet infrastructure to catch up with my ambitions. Broadband still remains a novelty and prices for simple dial - up connections high. Hopefully, that will change in the next couple of years and so I’ll be able to rely on students having access to fast connections at home. Who knows, the school may even buy some PCs so enabling me to show students in more detail how to use the internet more effectively.

So here’s looking forward to a great 2007.

Adding to your blog

Here are something useful things you can put on your blog to liven it up.

Video - The easiest way is to go to YouTube, choose a video and copy the box that says "embed". Paste it in your blog post. Also check out Jumpcut.com if you want to create your own movies online.

Photos - You can put photos from Flickr directly if you sign up, just click the "blog this" link.

Presentations - SlideShare allows you to post your Power Point, Open Office and Keynote presentations on your blog.

Slide shows - Slide.com allows you to create your own slide show, using photos from your PC, Flickr page, other blogs or basically anything on the net.

Music/audio - Add Del.icio.us's playtagger and you can listen to mp3's on the web directly on your blog.

Site meters - To find out who's looking at your site then there are lots of choices. Clustermap offers you a small map which shows the location of your visitors. Geovisitors gives you more detail and if you have Google Earth then you can zoom in on people's location. Finally, Google Anayltics and Sitemeter give you all the stats you could ever want for.

Chat - Meebo allows you to chat directly with your visitors. Skype also allows you do the same if you have it installed.

Photos from Thessaloniki

For more photos click here.

Using Flickr for teaching

For second language teachers, Flickr can be an endless source of ideas for lessons and projects. I'm using Andrew Wright's Pictures for Language Learning as a template for many of my English lessons. Originally written in 1989, it is a great source ideas for using images as teaching tools, almost as if it was awaiting for the advent of the internet and photo sharing services.

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.