The end of a journey...

is the beginning of another one!

It's amazing how fast these 10 weeks passed.
I don't have words to express how much I appreciate the opportunity I've had of being in contact with such a diverse group of incredible professionals and people. I've learned a lot not only regarding technology and teaching but also about life, culture, etc.

I really believe that this is not the end of the journey, but the beginning. We now have to put into practice all the things we've been learning and shared them with our colleagues in our schools, institutions, cities and countries.

I hope we keep in touch to share more and more resources, material and experiences, as well as to keep encouraging one another in this wonderful profession we've chosen.

Thanks to all of you!! Robert, partners, guest teachers, University of Oregon and the USA Embassy in Uruguay for this unforgettable experience!!
I hope nobody feels left aside with the picture, I tried to find the one containing most of the languages =)

Greetings!!

Learning Styles and Final Project

We are getting to an end...these weeks have flown away!

Last week we discussed a lot about learning styles and Multiple Intelligences. Some people were in favor of these theories and others had some complaints about them.

It was a very interesting week including fruitful discussions and exchange of ideas. thanks to the interesting and meaningful dialog I had with some partners, I could review my believes regarding these topics. The context in which wach of us works, shapes the way we teach and face our teaching strategies, learners and the choices we make. It's been a real plasure to be able to learn from others' experiences and I really appreciate all of you for helping me grow as a professional.

We also submitted our final project, and this is another reason to be grateful for. While reading my partners projects and completing the checklist I could learn a lot. My teaching was improved not only by the comments my partners gave on my poject, but also by my reading of theirs.

A day to be grateful...

Having the opportunity of being part of this course and meeting you is a very important reason to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Week 7: Reflections

This week was a total mixture of feelings...
At first I was really thrilled at the opportunity of looking for and finding my partners for peer reading! It was a great pleasure to form a group together with Ildikó and Ahn Hye Yeon. The three of us happen to have similar projects so I guess this will be an advantage for us, because we may be able to come up with more concrete pieces of advice.

It was amaizing to keep reading about the teacching experiences of my classmates all around the world. I can't avoid having great admiration for those who teach large classes and still manage to include webskills in their lessons. Way to go! Here's an interesting article about The One Computer Classroom topic, go to the links embeded at the end of it, you'll some thought-provoking information.

Later on, technology played a little dirty trick on us and we were unable to to fulfill the tasks for the week. This made me feel kind of frustrated because I really don't like when I can't accomplish my objectives, but I know we don't have to rely entirely on technology; we can't let it rule our lives =)
I'm glad Robert thought about a plan B and this new week we'll be using a different tool to interact. I'm sure this will help us include another resource to our huge list of technological devices. Although I already know Google Groups, I don't close the door to new knowledge I may acquire this week thanks to my colleagues and the instructor.

Week 6 Reflections

This week, as the previous ones too, has been of great growth.
First of all I was really amazed at the large classes some of my classmates teach. Here in Uruguay, language classes don't have more than 40 students, and in my particular case, the largest class I teach is 18 students. It was really enriching reading about their experiences, their resources and strategies.

Then, it was great to read the material about PPTs. I've been using them in class for some time but I had never read any specific text talking about its benefits. It was great to confirm that I'm on the right road.

I couldn't start implementing some of the resources I chose for my project because my students had a test this week, but I'll definitely start working on it this following week. Can anyone suggest any other ideas? I'm working woth a group of teenagers in a basic level that don't risk to produce almost any spoken language. I'll try to use VOKI (in my previous post I shared an example of it) and NanoGong in our Moodle class webpage. Robert suggested voxopop and anymeeting, I'll check them out.

To finish, I'd like to share with all of you this funny but not so unreal picture.

Have a nice week!!

Greettings from Uruguay

Week 5: Reflections

 Hi everyone! As always, every week is a new opportunity to explore new resources and go back to some tools I already knew but I've stopped using. I invite all of you to click play on this Voki, a tool I knew but I've forgotten about, it's the one I chose as a potential solution for the speaking issue I have with a group of teens.

RubiStar, as I said in my post on Nicenet, is a very useful and easy to use tool. It offers many already prepared rubrics for different purposes and it also allows to customize them or create new ones, using as many rows and columns as necessary.

I got interested on exploring and trying out PBL. I don't know if I'll be able to do so this year, because we're coming to the end of the courses here in Uruguay (classes finish the first week of December) but I may make an effort to have a project in at least one of my classes for the last unit. If I have the opportunity to do it, I'll let you know!

Let's keep up the great work!

Week 4: Reflections

We keep on with the great work!

This week I've known about and explored many different webpages I had never heard about reading, writing and vocabulary.

I'm still amazed at the amount of resources we can find online, and even more when sharing with people from different parts of the world!

Regarding the Lesson Plan based on technology, it wasn't that difficult for me to do it. In fact, I used a plan from a class I had last week. At my workplace, we're making lots of emphasis on technology, we have one computer in each clasroom and the idea is to use them in almost every class.

I'm really thankful to all my classmates and our instructor. I'm learning a lot form everyone!

Week 3: Belated Reflections

Here I am! Better late than never says a famous idiom :)

As the picture says: we don't overcome problems by avoiding them.

Last week was a difficult one for me in terms of technology and I couldn't complete all the asignments. I have to recognize that was pretty frustrating for me. In fact it was kind of hard to get back into business this week because I was a little depressed for not being able to accomplish all the objectives of week 3. I'm really responsible, and usually very strict with myself, so not completing a task was not an easy issue to accept for me. However, I'm not the kind of person that gives up, and I always face problems and challenges, that's why I'm here again!! Ready to continue with this amazing learning experience.

Week 2: Reflections

What a week!

Lot's of new, useful and very interesting webs to explore. And they keep on coming!

As I already said on a post in Nicenet: I have never thought there were so many search engines!

I'll start using some of the ones I didn't know. However, this will take long! as I think it's better to try one at a time, explore it deeply an then continue to another one.

I'm really grateful for this oportunity I'm having of sharing ideas, opinions, resources etc with all of you.

Regarding this style for writing objectives, I have to recognize that I didn't know it. Nevertheless, now that I'm aware of it, I find it really useful, pragmatic, concrete and easy to follow and understand.

However, I must be honest: during some time I'll need to have the explanation next to me while writing the objectives.

Every week that starts is a new opportunity to learn new things from my classmates and our instructor.

Every week that comes to an end, it's a new reason to be grateful for the chance of taking this course and to cherish my enthusiasm.

Teaching Blind People

I'm creating this post to share with all of you a simple research I conducted last year to give a presentation in a Conference here in Montevideo.
I already shared it on a comment in Csilla's blog but then I thought taht more peolpe may be interested in it. 
At the Institution I work, we have two blind students integrated in regular courses, it has been a gerat challenge and also a great opportunity to keep growing as a profesional and as a person.
The presentation was only a guideline, if you want to know more about it, just ask! and I can share more information. The person in the videos is one of the students that I interviewed; as you will see, apart from being blind his on a wheelchair. I asked for his permission to use the videos in the presentation and he allowed me to do it.

Teaching English to Blind People on Prezi

World Teachers’ Day

Reflections - Week 1

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

Søren Kierkegaard

This week has been really interesting for me starting with the fact that it is the first time I take an online course.

Although I really like technology, and I consider myself kind of a technophile, I was still a little reluctant about having an entire course through a computer. I thought one to one interaction was going to be lost. However, this first week of the course has already shown me I was on the wrong track.

So far, we have had a great interaction through the discussions and I'm sure the blog will also be a great tool to exchange our points of views and grow from one another.

Regarding directly to this blog, it was my first time creating one. I had already manage an academic blog but it was shared with my co-workers and I wasn't the one creating it.

It has been a really nice experience and I will continue improving it, so I will appreciate any suggestions you can give me.

Good blogging to everyone!

About me

My name is Diana Vidal and I'm 26 years old. I'm from Uruguay, a small country in South America, between Argentina and Brazil; usually known because of soccer, "mate" (what I'm drinking in the previous picture), "candombe" and "murgas".
I was born in Colonia del Sacramento. It's a beautiful historical and touristic place in Southwestern Uruguay.

 

 

In 2006 I moved to Montevideo (Uruguay's capital city) to study and work. I've been living here since then, leaving my family and friends in Colonia; however, I go there once a month.

I became an English teacher in December 2007 and I started working in a bi-national private English Institution Alianza Uruguay - Estados Unidos, where I've taught children, teens and adults, especially in basic and intermediate levels so far (A1 and 2, B1 and 2 in the Common European Framework).

I'm also studying Linguistics at the University, working as a volunteer in the Latin American NGO Techo and actively participating in activities of the Catholic Youth. Last year I was participating in a young "murga" (check out the link I added in the first paragraph), singing, but I had to stop doing it because I started to have problems in my vocal cords.

I live with my beautiful cat Mimi, which I adopted at the beginning of 2012 and I have a boyfriend called Mauricio.