Day 8

Quizlet!!!

Today Russell probably saw us a bit ...overwhelmed and he promised we would enjoy this new tool and, you know what? he was right!!

We started the morning with  Quizlet.

What is it?
A website with plenty of content (vocabulary and  grammar) organized in sets of cards ; for every set of cards there are many activities (Learn, Flashcards, Write, Spelling, Test, Match Gravity).

Steps to be made:

- create your  own account
- look for content
- select one or more sets of cards
- copy them (first button on the left)
- give them a new name (Fruit by Paola Primavori, to make them sound yours!!) - create a new set (button at the top, on the right). 

Now you have your own set of cards! so you can 
- add or remove items
- share the cards on Edmodo with your students.

We can also  create a class on Quizlet.
How? easy peesy lemon squeezy! 

-select "create a new class" (on the left)
-give it a name 
-write down the name of the school
-create the class!
-click on Members, at the top
-invite the students to join in through the code which will pop up
-share this link on Edmodo 

To make it much clearer, here we go with Russell Stannard's video!

Day 3

Today  we moved on to Platforms or VLE (central locations where everything is organized). 

Platforms are repository  but  we can also create activities on them.
Probably the two most popular  platforms are Moodle and Edmodo.
After briefly explaining the differences between the two, Russell showed us the different possibilities that Edmodo offers to teachers.
Take this short tour with Russell who will show you what Edmodo is about.

Following our requests, we spent the rest of the lesson focusing on the loads of content we have approached so far. Russel  created a checklist to make sure t we can actually prepare materials, use the technologies we have been exposed to . And….. we succeeded!!!!

Day 2

After  practising Today'sMeet, we were given the task to create Google Slides about our country; while doing so, we learnt how to use Google Images.

I personally discovered TOOLS which is a way to filter the images (colour, size, type of drawing...) and , very important!!! the copy-right matter. Let's encourage our students  to use "reusable pictures/videos" (labels).

Next we concentrated on our Blog, precisely on
- extra pages;
- labels;
- date stamping.
Next, YouTube Channel!
What can we do with it?
1-Subscribe to channels we are interested in.
2- Create playlists (collections of videos, from different channels, all about the same topic).
3- Add a video to the "watch later list' on the left of the screen
4- Upload our own videos .
Let' s watch Russell's video about it and he will make it clear.

Teaching Tips

YouTube offers a great variety of opportunity to practice the 4 language skills: from listening to songs and filling in blanks, to listening comprehension (songs, speeches, videos, advertisements, interviews…) and each of them can be followed by discussion in class and probably written tasks as home assignments.


A blog can be a really useful for teachers as we can upload our own videos and documents, we can insert links to newspaper articles, video interviews... ; we can also use it as a form of a diary registering the different class activities (for absent students). The blog can be shared with the students who can contribute to it.

Day 1

Blended Learning

Wow! Here I am, in this lovely city, Norwich, to start the teacher training course on Blended Learning at NILE, with Russell Stannard,



In 2008 Russell Stannard was awarded the Times Higher Outstanding
Initiative in ICT for his work on www.teachertrainingvideos.com.

one of the best- known expert in the field of ICT integrated into the educational process.

I am sure that, apart from my personal experience of a training course with him, you will find his website very helpful and clear whatever new technology you wish to integrate in your teaching.
A part from being professionally very good, Russell is highly involving, super-dynamic and definitely passionate about what he is doing.


I
from left to right: me, Husnu, Aga and Alla

In fact, he is trying to make me and my 3 classmates, Alla from Ukraine, Aga from Poland and Hüsnü from Turkey, self -confident and positive about the results we are going to reach. He even told us that we are not miles behind (as I think I am!!) in using technology in class!

Russell started the lesson introducing Today's Meet, a very interesting tool to be used in collaborative learning. It gives the possibility to create a room, for a limited period of time, where teacher and students can share ideas or ask each other questions.
Here's Russell's short video about it:


Next we went on working on Google Slides, a great tool to share, guide and monitor group or individual work . This is Russell's short video about how to and why to use Google slides :

Finally Russell taught us how to create a blog with Google Blogger so ...this is what I'm doing now!! And once again, I am sure you will appreciate Russell's instructions and ideas much better than my description...

Golden Rules

1. Always remember technology MUST have a value added
2. Always use assets
3. Technology is useful especially to organize students' studies outside the class!

Teaching Tips

Italy is slowly moving towards cooperative learning and project-based learning and both Today's Meet and Google Slides can be very helpful in letting the students cooperate without moving around from town to town.
The teacher can have complete control over the students' activities, in class and at home, and at the same time be available to help .
Today’sMeet can be used in a great variety of situations: students might be asked to jot down plenty of questions to one of them about the past holidays (revision of the Past Simple), about plans for the next holidays revision of the Future Tense), or about hobbies…. The answers given will create an opportunity for comments, discussions, surveys…..
In addition, I can ask the students, in group, to select one of the holiday destinations mentioned in the discussion and create 3 slides each : one showing a meaningful picture, the second including a video and the third one giving five fact about the place ( limiting the number of words in order to prevent students from copy-pasting from the net).
With higher classes,I might ask the students to read a poem or an article and write down their impressions, comments, doubts on Today’sMeet;
the next step will be a discussion about it and finally I might ask the students, divided into groups, to create Google Slides about the writer or the poem or the context.