有方向 前進 快樂活好每一天

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Relflection on Field Project

Congratulations!
I finished my field project (CLT and the Grammar Translation Method) finally. All the sweetness and bitterness should be recorded!

A suffering process?
I don’t know whether it is appropriate or not for me to call the process of doing this project as a suffering. Though my project is definitely not satisfying at all, I spent lots of time on it because it did not work smoothly. I do not have many tutoring experiences like others, so I decided to turn to Pamela for help. Though we are not acquaintances, we do not really familiar with each because I never took her course. She is a very very nice person, and I really appreciate her help. But she was really busy, so the interview actually not went as successful as I thought. As to the observations, I confess that I did not do a good gob because I just jotted down some points about the observations instead of using a set of formal standard to do my observations. I read a book named classroom observation for getting a clearer idea about how to observe a class, but it’s a pity, I did not learn much form that. There is one more problem about my observations, that is, I should have observed Pamela’s teaching for a long time, not a short periods. I believe that if I had observed more classes, I would know how to make my project better. Well, how I wish I have more time. I know this excuse is really sucks!

From others’ projects
After seeing other classmates’ project, I think I should throw my own stuff away because I think their works are more creative and interesting than mine. Haaaa, ok, just kidding. I am not looking down upon myself, I just think their topics can create more “possibilities.” I mean, they were doing experiments instead of comparing those existing theories like me. I like Mike’s project the most. I think what he did were far beyond experiments, he actually could have his own theories in teaching. He skillfully used the learning attitudes of those so-called smart students to fight against their own ego. This is so impressive. Of course, the other classmates also did great jobs. Indeed, I learned a lot from their projects. And I wonder if they also got some new ideas from my project.

Words to myself after the class

Recently, I’ve been thinking about a problem that “Do I really want to/have the ability to study TESOL?” And I’ve thinking the elements to be a good teacher. After this class and the TKT courses I took, I think this field is not the same as what I though. But this is not disappointing at all, because it provides me an opportunity to slow down and make some changes of my plan for things I should / will do.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Eleanor's Online English Learning Blog: How to Hide Post on Blogger

Eleanor's Online English Learning Blog: How to Hide Post on Blogger

Eleanor's Online English Learning Blog: Reflections on This Blogging Experience

Eleanor's Online English Learning Blog: Reflections on This Blogging Experience

Stacynihilating: About my blogging experience

Stacynihilating: About my blogging experience

Stacynihilating: Chapter 3 Evaluation, CALL Essentials

Stacynihilating: Chapter 3 Evaluation, CALL Essentials

ver, English Learning Blog: Time for kids(ch 5)

ver, English Learning Blog: Time for kids(ch 5)

ver, English Learning Blog: Blogging experience

ver, English Learning Blog: Blogging experience

Ab: Online Learning Website (Ch4)#links

Ab: Online Learning Website (Ch4)#links

Ab: Online Learning Website(Ch7)#links

Ab: Online Learning Website(Ch7)#links

Ab: Blogging Experience#links

Ab: Blogging Experience#links

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Blogging Experience and Reflection

Dreams come true
This is blog, “Cherrie”, is my first “English” blog. Having a blog which is about English teaching and learning is what I’ve been dreaming of. It’s great to realize my dream though the process of constructing it is actually a CHALLENGE. I am really not good at using computers, not to mention having an English blog. But now, I have a sense of fulfillment to see my own blog even though it is not good enough.


Intro. to Cherrie
When you get into my blog, you will see a picture of my favorite doll. Then the following are the labels which I use to classify my postings. Almost all the postings are related to the course I take called “Online English Learning.” Then, the session of “I need something new” are websites that I visit very often, so I put the links in my blogs to make it easier for me to get access to them. As to the section of “Role Models”, they are some English learning blogs/websites. I expect my own blog can be as good as those ones. Ha~ then, the following is a news scrolling sidebar. Oh, I have a story to say about this news scrolling sidebar. This news function was downloaded from widgetmate.com. Well, the story goes like this, one day, when I was checking my e-mail, I found a letter from a person named Alex Smith. He said that he likes my blog, and he thinks maybe I would like to add the news function from widgetmate, so he suggested me to give it a try. I was really surprised his praises because I do not think my blog is not that good as he thought. But to be honest, I was really happy to know that there are some other people (except my classmates and my friends) visit and like my blog. Alex Smith’s letter not only gave me another kind of motivation to run my blog, but also remind me again that what I post in my bolg can really be seen all over the world! So, I have to think twice before I post everything. Then, there are some video clips. Whoever I think I need to relax and see something interesting, I will click on those great clips. And the last section, “whisper to me”, in the sidebar is a forum for my dear visitors. You may leave anything to me in that forum. Among all the functions in the sidebar, there are three functions in my blog that I feel proud of. They are a clock a news scrolling sidebar, and a forum. The reason why I feel proud of them is not because they are special; in fact, they are just quite basic functions in blogs. My proud comes from that I spent hours and hours to figure out how to find or create those things. Besides, I tried tens of thousands of times to add the HTML codes in the correct form. This might be an easy task for the average people, but for me, this is tough than even you can imagine. Anyway, I did it. And I will try some more and add more functions in my blog to enrich it.


Learn something from blog
One year ago, I had a Chinese blog, “巧瑞兒”, that was an assignment of the educational courses. That was my first time to know “blog.” I set the blog under the instruction of the teacher, that is, I followed the teacher’s instruction to finish that blog. Though I accomplished that blog myself, I did not really learn a lot from that because I just did the “steps” that the teacher had already arranged for us. Compare to 巧瑞兒, the blog “Cherrie” was finished by my own exploration, so I think I really learn something from this experience. I think Emma give me a precious notion: you have to try by yourself!!! Just try!!! Though “try and try” took me a lot of time, I think it’s worthwhile for me to do so when I find that I am not so poorrrrrrrr in computer as before. The saying goes like this, “practice makes perfect.” For me, I think “try and try; fail and fail make perfect.”


Words to push myself
All in all, I’ve learned a lot from blogging. Nevertheless, there is much room for improvement. I expect myself to maintain the enthusiasm and confidence in running my blog for keep it progressing. Most importantly, I hope I can see my own progress from it !!!

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Top 3 EFL blogs in my mind!


Let me introduce you to my favorite three EFL weblogs!

kidding Me
Among all the EFL blogs that I’ve paid a visit to before, this one is my favorite. Though this blog is not completely related to English learning (Febie also uses this blog to record things in daily life), as an English learner, I think this blog has great attraction to me. My own definition of a good weblog is that it has to make people “feel close” to it. I can not give you a specific reason why I think kidding me has such charm for me, maybe that’s because I like the style and the manner Febie organized this blog. Febie clearly classified the blog into several sections, such as “recent posts”, “recent comments”, “photo albums”, “other English teachers’ blogs”, etc. And also, she used various labels to make every section in order. Searching for the links the meet my needs is not difficult at all. Febie not only shares her teaching reflections but also her unique hand-made teaching aids to us through both pictures and words. From my point of view, it’s important to match the pictures and words well because that would make the posting attractive and persuasive. By the way, I love those teaching aids so much because they are full of creativity and they are actually quite delicate! How I wish I can also come up some special ideas to make fascinating teaching aids!

*Presentation: It uses sections to classify the blog and each section brings learners to different topic/theme they want. Besides, it uses labels to make the postings clear to learners. The format and the organization of the blog are friendly to learners.
*Appropriateness: This blog is not really designed for the students who want to “learn English”. Instead, this blog is more beneficial to English teachers, or people who intend to know more about English teaching. So, for English learners, this blog is not so useful.
*Outcomes: Learners have more opportunities and access to communicate and share their experiences with other English teachers.
*Notes: this blog gives people a concept that making teaching aids is fun and helpful for young learners. Oh~I want to try it by myself!


Penny ABC
The link I provide here is a website, not a weblog. But there are many links in this website, including penny’s blogs. From Penny’s website and weblogs, we can know that Penny teaches in cram school and she has collected considerably rich teaching and learning. I believe that both instructors and learners can benefit a lot from the database. In Penny’s blogs, she recorded her student’s learning with words and pictures. From her postings, we can know Penny really cares about whether students learned something from each activity. Besides, we can see some visual and audio clips made by Penny from her website and blogs. And this feature makes Penny’s blogs much more interesting and beneficial to learners!
*Presentation: It uses clear instructions and links to lead the lerners to the sections they want, such as the links to other blogs which also run by Penny.

*Appropriateness: From the blog/website, we can know how students learn, and the different ways which Penny applies to her teaching. I think the blog/website are designed for both the instructors and learners. So, I recommend teachers and students to pay the blog/website a visit!

*Outcomes: both teachers and students can obtain some knowledge they want, and also share the teaching/learning experiences.

*Notes: I think this blog really “digitalize” English learning. It sets a good example for English teachers who want to set this kind of database.


Cindy 魔法ABC
The style of this blog is quite like Kidding Me which I’ve introduced before, but this one looks not as complicated as Kidding Me. This blog was also organized well with clear sections and labels. Besides, different from Febie, Cindy tends to find some actual materials in life, instead of making her own teaching aids. I am amazed and surprised to see how Cindy turned those ordinary objects to magical teaching aids. But it’s pity that there are not many posting in the blog. And most posting do not have lots of words to explain the pictures. I think it would be better if Cindy can share more her reflections or her ways of teaching.
*Presentation: The style of this blog is quite similar to kidding me. It uses sections to classify the blog and each section brings learners to different topic/theme they want. Besides, it uses labels to make the postings clear to learners. The format and the organization of the blog are friendly to learners.
*Appropriateness: This blog focus more on sharing the teaching experiences rather than proving some new ideas about teaching and learning. So, this blog actually does not give teachers definite thoughts about the ways of teaching.

*Outcomes: the content of the postings are not much. Mostly, we have to get the meanings of the postings from the pictures Cindy provided.
*Notes: if Cindy can try to write more in her postings, I think it would be much better for us to the reason/motivation of using those teaching aids.
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After seriously thinking about why I like the three EFL weblog so much, I find out that sometimes it’s hard to use the criteria and principles to judge whether you like this blog or not. Somehow, you just like, but you cannot figure a definite reason to account for that. And I wonder that does everybody have the same feeling or just me? Ha, maybe I am not that kind of “rational” person. :)

Friday, June 1, 2007

Lab 3 (reflection)


I just sat on the chair, staring at the computer monitor for the whole three classes. The third lab time was definitely not easy at all. At the first, I thought we were going to do the same thing as what I had done in the course of Language Teaching Methodology, but before long, I knew I was totally wrong. What we had to do was much more difficult than that. Christina, my dear partner, and I spent lots of time in searing for the article that interests us. One hour later, we finally decided which article that we were going to use. But we did not read the article out loud until we found some words that might be unfamiliar with learners (our target students are freshmen in Universities in Taiwan) and finished some comprehension questions. So, we were the last group to finish the recording.

Both Christina and I did not know why we do things in such a slow pace that day. Maybe we were tired or maybe we wanted to make this assignment better. Haa, not surprisingly, we stayed in the lab after class to finish the “Hot Potato” part. But actually we did not successfully make the assessment at that time because we did not really know how to master this program. It looks quite easy, yet, it’s not so easy to operate. I was wondering if there are other programs that can help us to make an assessment. As I remember, there are some programs (Chinese version) that can be used. But I just cannot remember what they are.

Oh~ thank God!!! And thank my dear partner, Christina! Our hot hot hot potatoes assessment finished yesterday. After we tried tens of thousand of times, we did it! Both Christina and I felt extremely happy and relax (because we really had thought it was an impossible task before we really did it.) We cannot wait to share our a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with you all J
Are you ready? Welcome to our hot potatoes!!!
The following are parts of lab 3's assignments

※News link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-05-28-oplede_N.htm?csp=34

※key words and their English definitions:
▲Source: Cambridge Dictionary, Wikipedia
1.catamaran noun [C]a sailing boat that has two parallel hulls (= floating parts) held together by a single deck (= flat surface)
2.Costa Rica
(literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica, IPA: [re'puβlika ðe 'kosta 'rika]), is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south-southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army.
3.entrepreneur noun [C]someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves risks
4.gorgeous adjectivevery beautiful or pleasant
5.pinch yourself verb [R]You say that you have to pinch yourself if you cannot really believe something that has happened because it is so good or so strange
6.whine verb [I] to make a long, high, sad sound:
7.nostalgia noun [U]a feeling of pleasure and sometimes slight sadness at the same time as you think about things that happened in the past: nostalgic adjective
8.scurry verb [I usually + adverb or preposition] to move quickly, with small short steps:
9.obsess verb [I or T] If something or someone obsesses you, or if you obsess about something or someone, you think about them all the time:

10.font (LETTERS) noun [C]a set of letters and symbols in a particular design and size

※comprehension questions and answers
Q1: How old did Dustin Ashley Tester first pick up surfing?
Ans: 14

Q2: Why does Tester spend a lot of time “pinching herself”?
Ans: She thinks the life she is leading is too good to be true.

Q3: What may be the cause to send college graduates scurrying into grad school to postpone the process of getting a job?
Ans: Well-meaning family members wax nostalgic about "paying their dues" at first jobs where they manned the office coffee pot.

Q4: What possible situation would we encounter when we find a job in Career fairs feature booths?
Ans: it’s hard for us to find the job that we’ve been dreaming of.

Q5: In the article, what is the attitude suggested toward getting a first job?
Ans: Try to find pleasure in the job. Change the attitude toward jobs from tiring works to self-fulfilling dreams.

※Summary
Dustin Ashley Tester surfs everyday, but she is not on vacation, it is actually her job. Tester is one person who is lucky to find pleasure in work. But many other young college graduates are scurrying to grad school to postpone the process of getting a first job because a dream work seldom exists. The article tells us that we don’t have to hate our first jobs, we can even fall in love with them-if we ask our selves the two questions: What do I love so much I'd do it for free, and how can I get someone to pay me to do that? Find out answers to them, and you will never “work” again.