Reflection journal 3

22/09/14

                This morning we have learned how to use Hot Potatoes, a software designed for teachers to create activities and/or quizzes. It is really interesting because it has five modalities or types of exercises: matching, quizzes, crosswords, filling the gaps and ordering sentences. To check out how it works we have developed two different exercises with one (at least) image inside them and we have sent it through MiAulario.

                Personally, I think it’s a very useful tool for teachers to create our own activities to revise content and/or to assess our students’ knowledge, at the same time they enjoy practising English. It is also really beneficial for kids because they receive an instant feedback. I’m sure I will take advantage of this programme in the future.

24/09/2014

In this practical session, we have learned a lot of useful tools. The first thing we have done is to download a video from YouTube and to cut it using different programmes such as: MovieMaker and PowerPoint. The aim of cutting the video was to transcribe the monologue and to add some subtitles to upload it to DotSub. We were able to modify it by adding some effects or translations with Animoto.

I think this is really important for us to know because we will need to download videos to present to our children. We will also need to have them subtitled if we want that our students understand and follow them. 

Reflection journal 2

DIGITAL COMPETENCE- WRITING TOOLS

15/09/14

                This morning we have presented our study about how competent we are at digital competence, concretely in the field of content creation. It is great to present things like that in front of your classmates because it helps you to take control of your nerves and expose adequately.

                Then, we have been explained about Thesaurus.com, a web page of English synonyms, WordReference.com, which is an online dictionary, and how to use Microsoft Word to correct writings, make some comments inside them and how to change some words by using the option “synonyms” in order not to be so tedious by repeating the same words in every paragraph. I am sure I’ll take this “tips” into account for my next works and also I’ll show this web pages to my future students because I believe they’re useful not only for writing compositions, but also for learning new vocabulary. 

18/09/14

                In this practical lesson we have had an exposition of one group that didn’t expose their topic the last day. It has been about the Reading 1 text and then, we have answered some questions about it. This first reading was really interesting because it is about how and how much time Thai people use new technologies for practising English in class and outside class.

                After that, we have visited some webpages in order to analyse them and justify why we would use them in class at the same time we learn how to insert comments on Microsoft word texts, which is totally useful for us (teachers) to correct students' future writings. 

Reflection journal 1

Personal Learning Environment

08/09/14

Today, we have learnt about the use of PLE (Personal Learning Environment), an interesting way to organise our lives. There are some platforms and websites that are available and are designed to make 21 century lifestyle easier such Symbaloo, which is a website in which you can select and classify the most useful web pages or social media according to your interests. I hadn’t used it before, and I have realised that it is pretty easy to use and eye-catching too because of its interactive appearance which is really useful and attractive to use in classrooms. Furthermore, these kinds of pages are great because they (more or less) represent your interests and you may notice how much new technologies involve our lives. I definitely will use Symbaloo in a near future as teacher. 

*This is my PLE made with Symbaloo