Welcome April - July 2011 Class

Welcome, everybody!

This new trimester, we will be working with The Speaking Group. But what is that? you may be asking yourself. Well, let's try to explain what it is about. To start with:

1. It is mostly about learning and practicing your English.
2. It is about learning English by talking about different topics. You will be reading, listening to, writing and talking about different topics in English.
3. It is about learning English using technology. That means we will be using computers and internet to find real updated information concerning your different interests. We are going to experiment and play with new ways to learn autonomously. Learning for life. Learning to learn. Learning by doing. We will watching and listening to videos as well as making videos. We'll have the chance to use different tools to express our ideas and interact with people.
4. It is about learning and practicing your English in groups, in community. Be ready to meet students and teachers from the university and the world. Of course, there will be tasks you must complete on your own.

That was a general description of the course. Now, how the classes take place:

• Classes are going to be held at the lab. I f you can't come to classes, you can connect at home or wherever you have access to a computer and Internet.
• You need to get a google account, since we will using different tools provided by Google. make sure to register to Gmail, Google Reader, Google Talk, Google Doc, and Blogger
• Blogs are going to be your personal journals. There you will register everything we do in class. All your homework and tasks should be there.
• Every class will be a taken as a workshop or TALLER. Try not to miss your classes and if you do, keep your blog updated.
• Homework will be assigned for each one of the units covered in class. The dateline to hand in your homework will be the day of your test. It means you will have the chance to work on your blog till the exam day.
• Corrections to writing will be done through Google documents.
• We will also use social networks to keep in touch: Facebook and Twitter
• Get a microphone and headphones for this class. Register to Skype
• Get an avatar we will join a project on a virtual world. Register to Second Life to get your avatar.

Things you need to do to take this class:

• Get a Gmail account and register to Google services: reader, Google talk, reader and blogger.
• Get a blog at Blogger. For instructions on how to that get the power point presentation from our box or follow the tutorial prepared by Vance Stevens.
   
• Benchmarks:
  At the end of this class. I should hav
  • Read my class guidelines
  • Met my new classmates
  • Worked with the introductory task
  • Registered at Google and have a Gmail account.
  • Registered to Google doc.
  • Downloaded Google Talk and activated my IM.
  • Downloaded Answers.com alt+ click software to my computer.
  • Opened my Blogger account and posted my first entry.

Well, hope you can learn a lot and have lots of fun in this class! Once more welcome everyone!

Keep on shining Love and Peace!
Doris3m

Fill in the Form and let us know about you!

Introduction to Second Life Viewer 2

These are resources that will help you on understanding how SL viewer 2 works...

1. Introduction to Second Life Viewer 2 - ICT4LT 
This is a woderful guide prepared  by Graham Davies

2. A video Introduction to Second Life Viewer 2

Russian Venezuelan Project!

Here, we have some more info on the project....

There should be 6 meetings every week starting next week. Let me know if it is not convenient for you or your students.

1st meeting: Getting to know each other. Interviewing about family/friends, personal likes/dislikes, character traits.

2nd meeting: Compare Venezuela and Russia: climate, cities, people, myths and stereotypes, why you are proud of your country, 3 things you like and 3 things you dislike about your country, places that are worth visiting

3rd meeting: Students' Daily Routine: typical working day, ways to relax, typical problems of a student, what you like and dislike of your being a student, opportunities for students

4th meeting: Home and Food: house/flat in your country - how people live, national cuisine, exchange a recipe, what food is popular, fast food and attitude to it

5th meeting: Hobbies: popular hobbies in the country, what books you read, what films you watch, what music you listen to (may be exchange some tracks), what sites you like on the web

6th meeting: Active Life: a sport you like to do or to watch, popular sport in the country, fans, extreme sports, dancing as a sport and as a hobby.

Well, these are our friends from Russia....

  1. Alice Sokolenko                                Leiver Caballero
  2. Dana Berdauletova                            Andreina Bohorquez
  3. Aleksander Kozhukhar                      Veronica Fernandez
  4. Natalia Kolesnik                                Freddy Siu
  5. Svetlana Ionas                                   Enyurelys Nava
  6. Lusine Yeghoyan                               Jose Mancini   levi vivas
  7. Maria Shelenberg                              Carlos Arrieta
  8. Anastasia Shakutneva                        Gerardo Guerra
  9. Maria Petina                                      Jose Mejias
10. Yulia Agafonova                                Daniel Ekmeiro
11. Kristina Gaponenko                          Gustavo Naveda
12. Milalika Plyasovskikh                        Luiggi Lozada    Gerardine Cubillan
13. Darya Shalabina                                Carlos Rodriguez  Pierangela Calini

A project proposal...

Well, we got invited to do something out of the ordinary... This is going to be our final project for this level. How would you like making friends with a Russian EFL student?.... Read the following project proposal from Professor Olga Scheglova, from Omsk:

Dear Doris and students,

I'm Olga Scheglova, an English teacher from Omsk, Siberia, Russia.  I visited your presentation at CO2011 and really liked it.

I thought that if you are interested, we could have a joint project with our students. The idea of the project is crosscultural communication. It is an opportunity to practice their speaking and writing in English, to learn more about people from another country (some of them are studying Spanish at the moment) and to introduce more technology in their lives.

My students are 17-18 y.o., there are 14 of them, their English level is intermediate (Some have upper-intermediate, some have pre-intermediate). They started learning English at school and now they continue to become translators.

The project can be as following: we pair up the students, first thay exchange e-mails and discuss when it is convenient for them to meet online. Then every 2 weeks they have a topic/ a question they have to ask their foreign partner in skype. After each conversation they write a report in a blog/forum about what they have learned. Also they are encouraged to read and comment each other's reports.  The final product can be a presentation "Now I know that in Venezuela/Russia..."

I wonder if the idea seems interesting to you. I'm looking forward to your answer.

Sincerely yours,
Olga

Omsk F. M. Dostoevsky State University

Well, I think this will be  a great opportunity for you to practice your English and meet new friends...all you will have to do it's to talk to your partner in Russia and tell him or her about our country.. You will report on your blog the conversations and at the end of the trimester your will introduce your friend to the class.

We'll try to meet them on line next Wednesday... please bring your mics...

Medieval Roleplaying in Arstonia in Second Life

Well, to start with the project.. we need to get an avatar and star thinking about your character. Here you can find some info on how to create an avatar for your medieval roleplay. First visit the Vilage's wiki:
The Village of Artstonia in Second Life

1. New Player Card Format
2. Character Creation Resource Page
3. RP Character Development Profile
4. Complete Character Sheet

Don't forget to include a photo of your character... this is Pionia Destiny.. a Master Mage in the Magic Guild:

Firts Term Jan-Apr 2011

Hello, there! for this frist term you'll grade will take what you have posted in your blog and your oral presentation.

In your blog I'd like to read and listen to about:

1. Your intro and welcome to your blog. Include your physical description. Leave your comment here: http://www.voxopop.com/topic/e6a27ec4-1897-485a-9643-377e40c0b3d0 This is a model: Welcome
2. Some info about your classmates.
3. Your take on beauty. http://www.voxopop.com/topic/b928e42f-945c-49fc-b59d-8e76c556c756
4. Your take on Technology. leave your comment here: http://www.voxopop.com/topic/b928e42f-945c-49fc-b59d-8e76c556c756
5. Your opinion about the Katy Perry Video. Firework: WE are all Fireworks!!!!!!!
6. A fun task: write a poem (optional) Fun EFL Task: Writing a Poem
7.  Got an avatar and wrote about it in your blog: this is an example.. Jose Mejias' blog

For the Oral presentation:
1. Look at Eugenia Cristina's presentation: http://eflcenterspeakinggroup.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post.html
2. make a powerpoint presentation like hers... and record your voice  explaining the presentation.
3. Post it to your blog.
4. Be ready to present it Live in class.