Day 5


EFL537, Cohort#3,
Day #5, November 6, 2009
 Day #5 Agenda

1) VERY IMPORTANT!   Take a deep breath and relaaaaaaaax.

2) Watch Jeff's 'End of Week #1 Video.

3) Small Group Discussions

I would like you to break into 4 groups of 3-4 people each. Each group can sit around one computer that is set up for recording and pass the microphone around as different people talk.  Take turns answering and discussing the questions below.  Total time for discussion should be between 15~20 minutes. Please say your name when you speak so I know who is talking. 
  • Based on what you've seen so far, which tools and websites do you think will be most useful to you in your teaching (and learning)?
  • What else are you especially interested in learning during this course that will help you in your teaching and personal computer use?   You can mention technical skills (like making powerpoint presentations or developing quizzes and activities for my students), or language based skills (like how to use a computer to develop listening skills for my high school students), or academic topics (like the role of gender differences in CAL, or the natural approach vs. TPR as they relate to CALL). 
  • Feel free to bring up and discuss any other topics of interest that you want to share with your classmates and/or Jeff. 
When you are finished, one person can export the recording as an mp3 file and upload it to EFL537.com. I look forward to listening to your discussions.

Continue  working on Week#1 Skills & Assignments
Skill Guide Screencast Task (see bottom of each Skill Guide)
Desktop Management save and rename a file, email it to efl537@gmail.com as an attachment
Google Docs Create a Google Doc and share it with  efl537@gmail.com
Social Bookmarking Bookmark at least 3 CALL sites
Audio Recording & Editing  Create an mp3 file, upload it to EFL537.com
Activity & Quiz Creation Create a Hot Potatoes activity, attach to an EFL537.com blog post.
Screencast - How to post your Hot Potatoes Activity on EFL537.
Presentations Create a presentation (with Powerpoint, Google Presentations, or Open Office), upload it to your Slideshare account
  • Continue Exploring  the CALL Buffet and adding bookmarks to your Delicious account. 
    Please go to EFL Sites Buffet Page  
    This is a list of websites and online resources that can be used for language learning. Please explore these sites during the next few days at your own pace. You DO NOT need to look at everything.   If a site is loading slowly, not working properly, or just not interesting, move on to something else. If your explorations lead you to a site that's not on the list below, that's fine.   When you find something you think is useful, please bookmark it with Delicious.  Feel free to share information with your classmates as you make interesting discoveries.
  • This week's readings:
    • Tomasz  Szynalski's How I learned English in the pre-Internet age and why you can do it faster
    • Emily Chen's Introduction to CALL, Unit 1  - you do not need to read any of the other readings linked to on that page or take any of the quizzes (but feel free to if you like).
      You need to complete your first Reading Review by Wednesday and your second  by Friday. I don't want you to summarize the readings.  Please tell me how the topic of the reading  applies to your teaching environment and how it might affect your teaching.  Feel free to criticize the article if you disagree with any of its main points. The Reading Review should be written with Google Docs and shared with efl537@gmail.com .You may also post them on your blogger.com blog if you wish.  Do NOT email  these directly to me.

  • Write a daily reflection on your blogger.com blog. (blogger guide here)
    Share your  reflections on Day#1 of EFL537.
Looking Ahead to Week#2

The goal of week#2 is for you to focus on the aspects of CALL that you find most interesting and potentially useful in your teaching.  As a result, not everyone will be working on the same skills, reviewing the same readings, or bookmarking the same sites.
  • All Week#2 Technical Skills are OPTIONAL!  I provide Week#2 Skills Guides so that you can learn about these skills if you wish, but if you are not interested in a particular skill or you find it very difficult or stressful, I don't want you to waste your time and energy on it.  I'd much rather you focus on further developing skills you've already learned or focusing on other Week#2 assignments that are more meaningful to you. 
  • You will need to find two more readings that are about a topic (or topics) in which you are especially interested.   You will need to search for readings by clicking on links listed on the EFL537 Reading List, the LearningCall.net Readings Index, or by using the Custom Search of CALL related journals. Before writing your Reading Reviews, please respond to this forum topic on EFL537.com by the end of the day Monday (Nov. 9).  It asks you to tell me about your topic and the readings you plan to review or if you're having trouble finding readings, it asks you to describe what you are looking for.
    Go to http://www.efl537.com/forum/week2-readings-topics  and click 'Post Reply'.  Reading Reviews are due Nov. 12. 
  • Materials Archive - I want you to find and save web pages, activities, audio recordings,  videos, and other materials that you can use to teach English, even if you are using a computer that isn't connected to the Internet. See the course overview for details of how to save these files. 
  • CALL Specialization Report/Presentation - This is a summary of what you spent most of Week#2 focusing on. IT can be a written report, slide presentation, and/or audio recording discussing the area of CALL you focused on during Week#2.  Include links to any relevant  readings, resources, or websites.  Due November 14.