Self-assessment

When I started this training on Multimedia Resources for the Teaching of English, I didn't think it would be so rewarding. Every session brought something new and I had the opportunity to engage in meaningful activities to increase my professional development.
We were given information and tools and now we can model them to highlight our classes. We know how to find and use appropriately websites according to the topic we want. I feel better prepared to teach my students using multimedia resources and to help them flourish in an increasingly media-centric world.
I enjoyed being there and learned a lot about Multimedia Resources.

WEBQUESTS & PODCASTS

This was the last session. The one I won't talk much about because I'm not very fond of the tools we were taught about. We learned about:

1. Searching the Web - Search Tools: directories, web bibliographies... ; Search Engines: google, yahoo,  http://www.ask.com/  , http://www.altavista.com/... , and the first portuguese search engine http://www.kplaces.com/ ; Meta-Search http://www.metacrawler.com/ ,  http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm
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2. Webquests - a project work done on the web. It's made of building blocks http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/buildingblocks/p-index.htm. We were given many examples of Webquests: http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/wattle/abstuds/index.htm, about Aboriginal studies; http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/wattle/abstuds/index.htm, about women of the century http://webquest.sdsu.edu/LessonTemplate.html .
3. Podcasts for ELT - a series of digital Media files, you can ckeck Russell Stannards website  http://teachertrainingvideos.com/ for more practical tips on  Audioboo, iTunes and PodOmatic.  You can use Audacity which is a free sotfware and very professional. 

        Podcast examples: http://www.eltpodcast.com/ , 
                                        http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/ ,
                                        http://www.thebobandrobshow.com/website/index.php .

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LIST OF MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES

During the Eleventh Session we browsed through many different types of resources. I wiil refer one or two links of the ones I consider most useful and original:

1. Grammar & Vocabulary http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/ . It's a different approach to verbs with pictures and interactive stories. It has explanations with videos. http://www.grammarnet.com/ . It was made for Portuguese students, totally free, very useful and easy to go to teaching resources. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/ It has lots of things with organisation, it's for upper-level students.
2. Writing http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ . It's very professional and very oriented to writing.
3. Listening http://www.eslhome.com/esl/listen/ . It lists resources to use and presents advantages and disadvantages. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/uk-languages . BBC is very good, it gives free audio and video resources. http://www.esl-lab.com/. It's useful, we have the plan of the activity around the listening. http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/ . To listen to short stories.
4. Pronunciation http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ .Pronunciation tips. http://www.soundsofenglish.org/pronunciation/index.htm    
5. Songs & Lyrics  http://www.songsforteaching.com/reading.htm . It uses songs for promoting reading, grammar and comprehension strategies.
6. Reading http://www.allbooksfree.com/childrens.htm. Fiction, children's and poetry books. http://www.online-shrine.com/ . About celebrities.
7. Games, crosswords & quizzes http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-search-maker/wordsearch.php .  It has many teachers' tools: printables, lessons, varied themes, different grades......
8. Cultural Info  http://www.projectbritain.com/ . It gives resources of British life and culture. Scientists talk about a topic.
9. Movies & Videos  http://www.ted.com/talks . Talks and conferences about the most unbelievable subjects.
10. Kids  http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-home.html. You find free games and activities for kids aged from 0 to 10 years old.
11. Languages in general  http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/  . Audio and video courses.
12. Blogs & Others  http://www.onlinedegrees.net/blog/2010/100-best-blogs-for-the-classroom-teacher/ . You have 100 blogs for the classroom teacher.

It was a session full of meaningful activities.

Resource Directories

• Aardvark's English Forum http://englishforum.com/ looks crowded. Information is fairly usual, a bit repetitive and not very appealing for students. For teachers it has more or less the same as usual, nothing special.
• Abcteach- The Educator's Online Center http://www.abcteach.com/. It has a great layout but it requires subscription. Powerpoints are free.
• Barry Fun English http://barryfunenglish.com/index.php . It's one of the best in terms of language resource room with Worksheets, Games Vocbulary, Flashcards, Powerpoint Viewer and Tools. You have resources ready to print or you may make your owns and print them. It's good for beginners and not very high levels.
• BBC Learning English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/. It's extremely reliable, very-well organized with a huge range of information. The homepage is very attractive.It's totally free.
• Busy Teachers' Café http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/ . It's quite a disappointment because it looks very interesting but doesn't have many resources.

 We critically analised :

• MapZones http://www.mapzones.com/home.php . Its homepage is very colourful. In the central area we have a map according to continents. On the left there is world info. with 21 different topics.When we click on the left section, introduction, we have a very boring presentation of the names of the countries. When we click on the name of the country we get information related to it. It gives us very complete and useful information but it's disappointing because some information is out of date.

• NASA students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html. It has 6 folders:

1. Home
2. News
3. Missions
4. Multimedia
5. Connect
6. About NASA

They are directed to different publics: 7 different receptors:

1. for public
2. for educators http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html
3. for students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
4. for media
5. for policymakers
6. for employees
7. MyNASA

For Students - we may search by grade, information is up to date with lots of multimedia resources (videos gallery and images gallery, NASA TV and picture dictionary)
For Educators- we have educator features and articles, education image galleries and career information. We also find teaching materials.

• School Discovery http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/ . It has 4 folders:

1. Administrators
2. Teachers http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_teachers
3. Parents
4. Students http://www.discoveryeducation.com/students/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_students

It has free resources , which are printable by grade and subject.
Students have games, webmath, homework help and videos.

• School Express http://www.schoolexpress.com/. It requires payment for most resources and has 9 folders. You can download thematic units and eworkbooks if you pay. It gives access to sample pages.

Teachers' Associations / Job finders / Meeting points

During the tenth session we browsed through some Teachers' Associations.
APPI- http://www.appi.pt/, it should invest a bit more in its layout as it doesn't have images and doesn't provide any kind of material for teachers. It is very theoretical  and the articles are not appealing.
JALT- http://www.jalt.org/ .It's japanese. They give us publications, conferences and discussion forums.
TESOL- http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp . Its layout isn't much appealing, however it has blogs, different types of information (careers, interest areas), a resource center and online discussions.
The Association for language learning http://www.all-languages.org.uk/ has a very appealing homepage and gives information about news, language today and journals.
AELFE- is a spanish association http://www.aelfe.org/  and registartion is required.

Then we learned about websites where we may get information about jobs, we can search and receive information in our email.
International Language Job Centre http://www.europa-pages.com/jobs

We talked about Meeting Points on the internet, which are discussion forums.
Dave's ESL Café http://www.eslcafe.com/ .

Publishing, blogging and creating websites

During the 8th and 9th sessions we learned:
1- how to read Teen Magazines Online  http://www.ehow.com/how_7663758_read-teen-magazines-online.html  ,

2- how to create ideas for Teens http://www.ehow.com/how_5019010_create-ideas-teen-magazine.html .

  Both websites provide us lots of resources: worsheets, printable quizzes and graphic organizers.

We learned how to use the Microsoft Publisher to create a newsletter:
1- menu
2- iniciar
3- todos os programas
4- microsoft office
5- microsoft office publisher 2007
6- boletins
7- escolher (ex. picotado e clicar em criar; se não gostamos clicamos do lado esquerdo em alterar modelo).

We also learned about the use of blogs, types of blogs and how to create a blog http://www.blogger.com/ .
It was an interesting activity, everybody was engaged in it and all of us created our own blog, which will  serve to record our learning during this training on Multimedia for the Teaching of English.
Then we went through some blogs:
http://www.claudia-sn-martins.blogspot.com/

http://foreignlanguagesenglishspanishipbpt.blogspot.com/ 
and we finished the session learning how to create a website which I think is a very hard work.

This was a different session from the others ones once we were taught how to create so many different types of online products/tools. I enjoyed myself a lot, it was a pleasure to attend this session.

Publishers

During the fifth session we browsed through this website http://www.heinemann.com/ .
Heinemann is dedicated to teachers, it requires registration and the only products you have free access are the Online Catalogs. They give us free books only if we have extra credit program.
At the top there are 5 folders totally dedicated to teachers:

1. Books & Multimedia http://www.heinemann.com/books-multimedia.aspx , you can read a sample chapter online and then you have to buy the product.
2. Classroom Materials http://www.heinemann.com/classroom-materials.aspx , we have sample videos, an overview slide show presentation and sample chapters, we may browse by author, by Grade/Topic and there are DVDs. We find New/Recent materials to buy according to the List Price and Web Price
3. Professional Development Services http://www.heinemann.com/PD/default.aspx , there are three folders with three different kind of programs to get professional development. We also have access to Webinars (Seminars on the Web).
4. Fountas & Pinnell http://www.heinemann.com/fountasandpinnell/default.aspx , with 5 foders which provide lots of Teaching resources and professional books about reading assessment resources and reading intervention. It gives you access to Copernicus Educational Products Inc.
5. Teachers' Lounge http://www.heinemann.com/teacherslounge.aspx , to share your day to day challenges and successes with colleagues and you find solutions. Podcasts are totally free and you can enter the Forum.

In what the possibility of using the website with students is concerned, it's not likely to happen because the website is dedicated to teachers and doesn't provide appealing activities.

British and American newspapers

During the fifth session, we also browsed 2 of the 5 British and the 5 American newspaers provided and we analysed them in terms of the news about The Academy Awards:

The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/entertainmentnews/academy-awards-2011/index.html

The Daily Telegraph  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/8351615/Oscars-2011-The-83rd-Academy-Awards-in-quotes.html

The headlines are different. Both have photos to accompany the article but they are not the same.
The Gallery of the American newspaper, TheWashington Post, doesn't emphasise the British winners of the ceremony as the other one does and they don't report the same facts.

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Electronic European Language Portfolio

  During the fifth session, on 28th February, we learned about the e-ELP,  http://eelp.gap.it/download/registrationNew.asp , which is a pedagogical tool because it gives information about our language and intercultural competencevin an international recognisable way and it's a tool to support our learning process.

It has some advantages and the ones I consider the most important are: 

1.  it can be easily modified and updated by teachers and learners;
2. it is user-friendly,
3. it allows the coexistence of many languages in the same digital portfolio.

It has three parts:

1. Language Passport;
2. Language Biography;
3. Dossier. 

These parts are a summary of your language and intercultural experiences with documents that show the development of your proficiency.

Working with this electronic tool we don't have to carry documents, drawings, photographs and we can share information whenever and wherever we need.

ENCYCLOPEDIAE

On the 23rd of february we learned about some encyclopediae.
We browsed through http://www.britannica.com/ . On its homepage, at the we have seven folders and on the left we find seven sections:  Histoty & Society, Arts & Entertainment, Travel & Geography, Science & Technology, Featured Video, Britannica Blog and Advocacy for Animals.
Then we have a section with Research Tools where we can:
Browse, Compare Countries, World Atlas, World Data Analyst.
In the Browse section we can scan through Encyclopedic content and other content sources.
Finally, at the bottom we see a Spotlights section where we find special features from the Enciclopedia.
On the right, there is a free 30-day trial of Britannica Online for kids and a section with Selected New & Revised Articles.
The Media Gallery Section is very interesting and reliable.

The wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page .
Its visual lay out is boring, it has heavy articles and it's time consuming. This one is not very good for inside classes and not reliable.

We searched for information about The Suffragettes on both encyclopedia:
http://www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=the+suffragettes Here we have access to many articles on the topic and then to videos and images.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Suffragettes Here we have a long article with images and some links to investigate about the subject. The article is neither complete nor reliable.

The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=Homepage&Params=A1,  is very concise, accurate and it has interactive displays.

CIA the World Fact book http://www.cia.gov/library/publicationtheworld-factbook/
We used this website to search for information on the least known countries which use English as their  official language or língua franca:
Belize https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bh.html
Brunei https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bx.html
Kiribati https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kr.html
Nauru https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nr.html
Swaziland https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wz.html
Tuvalu https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tv.html

We got very complete information with spendid pictures of all these remote places.

Etymology and Idiomatic Exercises

We practised Etymology matching exercises in order to show our knowledge of the languages from which common English words come. We went through www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/etymolquiz.htm.
It was a surprising and different activity, but a bit difficult.

Then we did another activity related to idiomatic expressions. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
We checked the meaning of the following idiomatic phrases:
Lose one's marbles. marhttp://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/marblesbles
Let the cat out of the bag. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/let+the+cat+out+of+the+bag
Live in the fast lane. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/lane
Be off one's rocker. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/rocker
Flip's one's wig. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wig
Burn the candle at both ends.  http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+the+candle+at+both+ends

This activity was very interesting and rewarding. I enjoyed doing it.
Try it! And learn new expressions.