Week 6

I highly believe that speaking and writing skills are important. At the end of the day, these are the skills our students will use to communicate.

A lot of interesting tools were presented (I will definitely use some of them in the future!) I will present a few.

1. Eduplace spelling game

This site provides a fun, colorful flash game that helps the students learn about spelling. You can choose your level, and try different units(each has a different activity).

I think it's a great way to teach spelling since it actually feels like a game, and not like a learning tool.

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmsv/smg/

2. Story maker

This is a fun and cute little app that allows you to create your own story (you can even choose the type of story!). The learner chooses the name of the characters, and some other aspects in the story, and it really gives the feeling that you create your own story. I think the best way to learn a language is through stories, and the cute animation and dynamic feeling makes the learning even more effective.

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/games/story-maker

3. SMS generator

This is an app that allows "creating" of SMS conversation. I think this activity can really relate to the students, who pass most of their day with their face stuck in a screen. This can also work on their communication skill and allow them to create a made up conversation. This conversation may contain new vocabulary, several grammatical structures, and overall be fun and excited to the students.

http://www.classtools.net/SMS/

4. Fodey's Newspaper generator

This site offers a wide range of text "designs", one of them is an old fashioned newspaper. I think this is a great tool that can help students actually experience different types of writing styles (for example, a newspaper writing style will be different than a commercial writing style), and the site makes it look authentic by giving it the designed touch. Who wouldn't want to be a famous reporter??

https://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

5. Student publishing

In addition to what I wrote on top, who wouldn't want to be a famous writer??

This site allows you to create and print your own book. When I am thinking about teaching writing skills, I think the students will be very excited if there would be an actual product in the end. This can be a yearly project, in which the teacher teaches the fundamentals of storytelling, and at the end of the year a book will be printed with all the stories that the students will have written (The students would design it as well, obviously).

Till next time,

stay warm, have a nice weekend, and drink a lot of tea!

Week 4

Hi again!

It's been a long week.. I hope everyone is safe after all the fires and the mess this weekend.

I am praying for rain to take away this horrible horrible weather.

And on a more positive note, I would like to refer to the "Linguistics Landscape" term.

according to this term, we are surrounded by visual language in our sight all the time (like in commercials, signs etc.).

When I first decided to be an English teacher I was searching for some sort of agenda: what should I say to my students to encourage them? what made English studying so easy for me?

And than I realized - the reason English was so easy for me was because I was surrounded by it. English is all around us. If it's the TV, the computer (Internet, computer games, chatting with people from abroad) even some of our terminology is affected by English (every child knows that a director shouts "CUT!!" and what it means) and so on.

Therefore, one thing I would like to stress to my students is that "English is all around us", and all you have to do is open your eyes and pay attention.

See you next week!

Danielle, who is Dancing for rain.

week 3

I just found out that all my Google+ friends get notify about my blog posts. AWKWARD.

that's the trouble with today's modern technology.. everything is connected.

so yesterday I went to a "field trip" to gifted children (as in Mechunanim) and I was really impressed by their creative way of teaching.

This, combined with all the cool tools presented to us in the week 3 section, has made me think that I want to be a fun creative teacher.

(3 years from now I can see myself standing in front of a class of 40 and losing my mind - good luck with that!)

In 2 weeks I'm supposed to present my first lesson ever and i'm terrified. perhaps I should use one of this fun tools and the kids will like my lesson? :) 

(and hopefully the pedagogical instructor as well!)

Wish me luck..

Danielle

P.s: this is my dog Ginger, he is my lucky charm.. 

Week 2

Well, It's actually week 3 already, I am really trying to keep up and not to drown in the homework load :)

Iv'e been reading several Blogs and have encountered an important article regarding a controversial issue - using of laptops in classrooms. (you can find this article in Edudemic's blog.)

recently I have started my "Itnasut" in Rotberg High-school and encountered several kids using laptops during class. I thought it was odd, how can the teacher know whether they are participating in the class or, in fact, using facebook and chatting?

this Blog is trying to discuss the Pros and Cons of this method.

Pros - empowerment of students, a more personalized education that will allow students to learn at their own pace.

Cons - Limitation in the technology the school has\can afford. some say that technology is in fact a distraction.

I personally think that computer might be an effective tool, it can also provide cheap textbook and access to information. BUT some contents (like facebook, Instagram etc) must be banned. 

perhaps the students can be given restricted laptops.

What do you think?

Danielle  

First post ever

Hello!

My name is Danielle Sid, I am studying to be an English teacher in Levinsky college for education.

This is my second year in the college and my third year in the academia (after my first year in the University I have realized I don't have a future as a psychologist..).

I really like to read and I've been working in "Tzomet Sfarim" for 3 years.

I hope this course will help me understand how to use technology better during class, and give me ideas in order to make my future lessons more interesting and dynamic.