The Final Project

Actually, I was absent on 4/23 because of oversleeping, and I really regret it so much.

But I heard that we are officially assigned preparing for the next project --- our final project. What impressed me is the content. We have to TEACH e-learning or e-teaching! I think this is such a difficulty which may cost lots of our time, but, by which, it also could be quite obvious whether we have understood the operation of the wiki or how much we have learned from this lesson. Therefore, for those who have known a lot about the “decoration” in wiki, they can show as much as they can, while for students who are unfamiliar with wiki, they can spend a couple of days and try to discover more about wiki.

I think making learners to do something with teaching is a great idea to train their thinking and strengthen their memory.

Imagine Learning English

If I were the parent of the children, I think I would not buy Imagine Learning English program. It is attractive that the program consists of various activities and audiovisual curriculums which are in accordance with different proficiency-level learners, but , in my opinion, there are still some disadvantages as following :

Honestly, I was really nervous when I saw the flick in which those little kids grasping the big mousse, sitting and staring at the screens for so long. It does no good for their health. I think children in their growth should experience lots of things which can only be known by touching, smelling, hearing, eating and seeing by themselves, and naturally and gradually build the concept toward the outside. For instance, they may get the knowledge and the real experiences they need for real by playing with their neighbors.

On the other hand, children living in computer-assisted surroundings seem to be troubled with writing. I believe part of the program may be emphasized on teaching kids to spell out or get familiar with the word structure, but it would be a question whether the children can “write” something themselves later, unless we really do not use our handwriting anymore in the near future.

Besides, even though everything in this program looks colorful and well-designed that learners can understand the content and enjoy the game-like activities, it might generate the gap between the realities and those kids’ lives because they gain most of the language knowledge（or other things）from the computer. Furthermore, we can say learning a foreign language is not only to look on the side of language itself, but also to comprehend the cultures and customs through constant interactions with foreigners, by which children could pay heed to the skills of building good relationship with others at the same time.

In conclusion, I do not agree on relying on Imagine Learning English program for kids’ early language learning because it might inhibits balancing children’s overall development.

Wiki v.s Blog

Today we were talking about the differences between wikispaces and Blogger. Even though the articles in Blogger could be marked and classified, they can only edit by the author who own the blog. So we can say blog tends to unidirectional system, and we just “show” something to others through blogs and “appreciate” others’ blogs. Therefore, it is obvious that wikispaces are much easier to be applied to teaching because it can be in proper order according to each topic and, most of all, it can be rewrite by different people. Hence, teachers could post brief information on wiki first, and then he/she could let students to put more or to revise the information. By doing so, students’ relevant knowledge would be visible, and teacher can evaluate them on the basis of the performance on wiki page.

Furthermore, Windows Movie Maker --- an useful skill was shared as well. It is about a program by which we could connect segments of flicks or pictures and create an audiovisual film. I think it is elevate our techniques in our reports or homework. Windows Movie Maker is very easy to utilize, so we can not only make a short film by ourselves, but also put the products in the PPT as decoration or a main part. Actually, I was enjoy this kind of new skill.

MP4 & Message Leaving

Last week, we were taught to use PSP Movie Creator and converse the form of the films we like into MP4 form in order to suit iPod or PSP. I think it is another praiseful program because it enhances the convenience of using the audiovisual method in learning. Since teachers can teach lessons by shooting their teaching into flicks, or assess students’ reports and homework through film records, I think learning would not be restricted to place or time. Students could save the lessons in the portable machines and learn anytime and anywhere.

And this time, we were assigned to express the pros and cons on the same topic and post it in the blog; later, to leave the opposite point of view to another friend’s blog. I think it is interesting because it inspires students to think more and to stand for their individual opinions. What’s more, students are also indirectly encouraged to find more and more information on the network themselves. By doing so, students are taught that learning through the internet is an interactive activity which has replaced the conventional teacher-student class learning.

For instance, for the advanced-level learners, teacher could post an article on the net in which there is put the basic information about a theory, and he/she asks students to get on the net and leave their messages to add more information or to correct the information which has been given. Then teacher can evaluate students’ present rate of progress in class depending on their words.

PART 5 --- Flash card

When students have learned some simple greeting conversation and memorized basic colors, teacher could begin trying teaching some more vocabulary. Teacher can let students learn a group of nouns which are relative to the same topic, short, specific and commonly visible, such as flowers, grass, trees, house etc. Besides, for the students on the very beginning level, the plural words, vowel-initiated words or the verbs had better be avoid, and the definite article should not be emphasized too obviously. Grasp the point that the first step of teaching vocabulary is to let students adapt to the word structure, and it would become easier to teach the new comers.

What is it?
It is a _____.
flower / tree / grass / house / bench

Before the activity, teacher uses the flash cards, on which there are the objects taught in class, around the classroom, and just points at one of them and make students to speak out the correct word without a complete sentence. Later, if students get acquaint with those vocabulary, teacher could move to the step of making students utilize a short sentence to express the stuff. For example, teacher points at the tree and asks “What is it?”, and the student should reply “It is a tree.” In the end of this activity, teacher could let students work in pair, coming to the front and do the simple dialogue. For instance, student Stacy asks her partner Joy one of the stuff in the poster “Joy, what is it?”, and Joy replies “It is a flower.” Also, Joy has to ask another thing to Stacy, such as the bench, “Stacy, what is it?”, and Stacy replies”It is a bench.”