Question Seven

This week in class, we'll be talking about movies. We did a crossword that introduced elements of the movie such as plot, setting, stars and genre. For me, the most important aspect of a movie is the genre. I really prefer sci-fi movies. Credible plotlines are also important to me so the story must follow a logical order. That's why I enjoyed a movie like 2001 A Space Odyssey

As an example of how you can use your blog to continue a topic from class, I will ask the question; What are the most important elements of a movie for you?


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Sixth Question

Click the play button to hear a message from Nicole



Take a look at a couple of these podcast sites to see how podcasts can be used for entertainment or education.

DonGenova (A podcast about food)
Classic Poetry Aloud (A podcast of classic poetry)
The Technology Teacher (A podcast about teaching with technology)
Yoga (A podcast about yoga)
Seoul Podcast (A podcast about Seoul, Korea)
Food Wishes (Vlog of cooking)
ESLpod (An ESL Podcast)
Mrs Gamache's Kinderplayer Podcast (A podcast with kindergarten
students)
Jenny's school blog (A high school student's educational podcast)
LIS 460 School Podcast (A teacher produced podcast for her class)
WaySmarter (A podcast about culture and history for students)


My question this week is: How could you use blogs or podcasts for your students?


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Question Five

There are some fun things that you can do with your blogs to make them interesting and fun. By adding widgets, you can spice up the content and appearance of your blog. There are several places that you can find widgets for your blog including;

Yahoo widgets
Google Gadgets
Widgetbox

You can put a widget in your post or in one of the side panels. Here is an example of a widget




My question this week is: How do you feel about your knowledge of technology? Do you think that more skills would help you be a better teacher or not?




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Question Four

This week in the news, a Korean and an Amercian cloning company have stated that they will begin cloning dogs for sale. One Californian has offered $150,000 to RNL Bio in Seoul to clone his dog 'Booger'. The cloned dog will be born in September. They say that they will be able to clone 30 dogs per year. You can read the article here: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/tech_main.asp?categoryCode=133

My question this week is: What do you think about cloned beloved pets?

Question Three

Blogs can be useful sources of information for teachers. They can can be read or listened to, in the case of podcast blogs and they can provide new information on education, classroom management, technology for teaching or subject content. Read How to Get How to Get Something out of
Blogs from HuffEnglish.com if you would like more ideas about that. Here are a few blogs that might interest you while you study here at KNUE.

An
EFL Notebook
English Studio
Online
ESL Geek
Grammar Guy

My question this week is; Which is more difficult about blogging, writing the questions or writing the comments? Why?


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Week Two

Hello everyone,

You're doing a great job on your blogs. I've really had a great time 'surfing' the different pages and seeing all your photos, posts and comments. Thank you for taking time to answer my blog question also.

One of the great aspects of blogging is that anyone can use them for almost any purpose. Current research says that there the blogosphereare has over 70 million bloggers and it's growing every day. Common uses of blogs include, journals, news, columns, editorials, collaborative writing projects, and publishing research.

Here are a few examples of blogs that you might enjoy.


Tips for New Bloggers  (this is a blog to give advice for new bloggers)
Daily Dose of Imagery
(This blog shows a different photo taken by the blogger every day)
CBC Radio3 (this Radio blog
plays music and updates you on local Canadian news)
My Dinner Table (a
cooking blog)
Post Secret (this is
an blog where people mail in their secrets or thoughts in the form of a picture postcard)
Our Green Year (A
personal blog from a family trying to be environmentally friendly)
The Life and
Times of Jori (A personal blog by a mother raising two
developmentally challenged sons)




My question this week is; Was it difficult for you to make your blog? Describe what made it difficult for you.


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Session Two First Day

Welcome Classes 2, 4 and 6. I hope that you have had a good time creating your blogs. By now, they should be listed on the right side of this page. Just scroll down to find your classmembers. You can also take a look at blogs from classes 1, 3 and 5 from session 2.

My question for this week is;

What is the nicest or worst thing that has happened to you on Teacher's Day?

Click on the comment below this question post to leave an answer. Remember to sign in to your own blog first so that your answer will show your name.

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Final post for session one

I want to thank all of you for your hard work as bloggers. You put a lot of effort into your blogs and into your communication skills. Many of you posted over thirty comments and some over forty. There was a total of 297 questions and 882 comments posted. There was also an improvement in your writing as most of your questions became more complex and authentic towards the end of the session. I also noticed that 31 of you managed to alter your blogs with images, video, widgets, colored fonts and more.

I hope that this experience has made you feel more confident about using a computer and given you some ideas for your own teaching.

My last question for the session is; Is there any other technology that you would like to learn more about for yourself or for your teaching?

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8th Question

This week, I would like to ask you to answer questions from other classes. You will find the links on the right side of this blog.

My question this week is; How has blogging impacted you?
Consider;
Your skill with the computer
Your typing
Your understanding of blogging software
Your level of confidence with technology
Your ability to communicate digitally
Your reading and writing
Your English in general. For example, did you talk about the blog in the English zone.
Your teaching skills

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Sixth Question

Hello everyone,

This week in class we concentrated on story telling. We also told chain stories in class to focus on past tense verbs as our target language. This week, I'm going replace my usual question with the start of a story. If you would like to, you can continue the story in the comments.



When I arrived in Paris, it was raining. The sky was dark and grey as I checked into my hotel and even darker as I left it. It was not a good night for a walk but I had no choice. I was meeting someone.


Your turn! Don't forget to read the other comments so that you can continue the story.

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Fifth Question

Hello everyone,

Blogging is beginning to be used by teachers for a variety of reasons and you can read a few of them at Blog in Teaching and Learning and read a few practical applications of blogs for your own classes at Weblogs For Use In The ESL Class

Here are a few examples of teacher blogs;

Kathy Cassidy's Elementary class
Carmack's Critters (First Grade)
Miller's Grade 10 English Blog
Mrs Cowan's Class blog (elementary)
Open ESL Classroom blog

As all of you are teachers and taking this program to upgrade your skills, I hope that everything you do here has some application for when you return to your schools in September. My question this week is;

Can you think of ways to use blogs to help your students learn and to improve your own teaching methods? Do you think you will use blogging when you return to school? Feel free to post your true thoughts on this topic as it will help me to understand how to create more effective materials for future classes.

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Fourth Question

I've really been enjoying all of your comments, both on my page and on other pages. I think one of the benefits of using blogs in this way was is to increase literacy. For more information on this topic, you can read this short article.

Blogs don't always have to be about written literacy. Sometimes, people use, images, audio and video to tell their stories and share information. Take a look at;

Daily Dose of Imagery: a new picture every day
Great Books: an audio recording of a chapter of a book every day
Food Wishes: Video demonstrations of cooking


My question this week is quite simple.

Have you been reading other people's comments or looking carefully at their page before you post a comment yourself? Can you think of the benefits of doing so?


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Third Question

In class this week, I was asked what subjects interest me and I answered science and technology. This week's question relates to both those topics. I was reading an article on Korea's First Astronaut in the Korea Times newspaper, which stated "Preparations are almost over and Yi So-yeon is ready for her trip to the International Space Station to become the first Korean in space on April 8." In related articles, the Korean Government has said that it plans to go to the moon by 2025.

My question for this week is; Is it a good idea for Korea to join the space race? Why or why not?


Go towidget to find fun ways to personalize your blog.

Second Question

Hi everyone,

I'm so impressed with your blogging. You've all done great jobs. I also want to thank you for your comments on my blog. It was very interesting to read about your hometowns.

If you have time this week, try to customize your page a little by adding extra features or pictures. You might want to play with the font or text options. Put links or information about your interests. Make the page representative of your personality. For more information on how to do that, go to blogger help.

My question for this week is;

How difficult was starting the blog for you? Describe why it was easy or difficult for you.



What music is Nicole Listening to? This is "Bamboleo" by The Gypsy Kings



This red player is called a widget. If you would like to try using this or others widgets, go to; WidgetBox

First question

I grew up in Vancouver, Canada. We lived in a suburban home outside the city so I had access to lots of parks and could walk to my different schools as I got older. You can find my childhood neighborhood here.


Where did you grow up?



Click on the small speaking bubble at the bottom of this post to answer my question.