Teaching Wishes for 2009

Hi Everyone and a friendly wish for happiness and success in 2009.

Here is a personal list of seven goals I have for the year...

1) Lots more members joining TESOL France
2) Four even better issues of Teaching Times
3) A thriving teaching forum on the TESOL France blog
4) Lots of dynamic workshops on exciting new subjects
5) A real international exchange of ideas with other organisations
6) Easier communication and sharing of experience for members
7) Professional advancement for everyone through TESOL France!

What about yours?

Happy new year,
Sab

Web 2.0 for Dummies (& English teachers!)

Dear All,

Many thanks for attending yesterday's workshop: 'Web 2.0 for Dummies (and English teachers)'
As I explained, the term 'Web 2.0' refers to all the popular web sites which have developed in recent years which create real communities of users and where you can share information easily with others.

The old 'version' of the web was more of an on-line dictionary or encyclopedia where you would go to find information, but not to contribute to it. Those uninteractive days are now far behind us and many of us enjoy 'uploading' information to the web for others to share, as we do 'downloading', or simply looking at information on our computers.

As promised, here is a list of most of the web sites I mentioned yesterday.

1) Web Quests
These sites tell you about the concept of setting up activities for students where they go looking for info on specific sites and then do something useful with it (not just copy and paste) afterwards. There are many sites with ready made models if you type 'web quests' into Google

http://www.webquest.org/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebQuests

2) Power Point

Although this Microsoft programme doesn't necessarily involve the web, it is an excellent teaching tool for professionals, because it can combine English with a vital professional skill. Here are a couple of interesting You Tube videos about PowerPoint. There are many more if you look for them.

Funny: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM

Embed video into Powerpoint: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=5G2pkWK6mEc

3) Site Pal

Here you can create funny animated characters and make them speak with your voice (or your students) and send the link to them by e-mail. It's fun to play around changing the character's looks, clothes and background. And you can upload your own message too (1 minute maximum).

Here's one I created for free with the voice of one our our attendees at the workshop who has a profound message!

http://www.sitepal.com/sendtofriend?ss=1643868&sl=1917664&acc=15695

For a free try out go here and click on - Try our demo.

http://www.sitepal.com/howitworks

Well, that's all I have time for today folks. I'll put another set of addresses up later in the week.

Thanks for visiting and please leave your comments and questions here by clicking on the word 'comments' below.

Blog Big-up!

As I type these words late on the eve of my Web 2.0 for Dummies (and English teachers) workshop, your latest issue of Teaching Times should be winging its way towards you (if you're a TESOL France member, that is).

Or maybe you picked a copy up at last Saturday's successful Cambridge Day event, where it was snapped up by lots of people, along with plenty of copies of Teaching Times 50, my first attempt.

So thank you to all who showed an interest in the TESOL stand, and a big welcome to our new members from that event too. Why not leave a comment here to say 'Hi' and introduce yourselves?

I was able to get at least three or four new contributors to the next issue of the magazine, so I'm well satisfied with that outcome.

I'm now preparing myself mentally and informatically for my workshop tomorrow, which aims to offer some in-depth insights into some of the great websites out there which we can exploit immediately in our English classes and hopefully impress our students to boot.

The plan for the afternoon is flexible, but roughly as follows:

1.45 pm - Registration, mingle and joint prayer that the internet connection works

2.00 pm - Introduction and presentation of useful and innovative websites

2.45 pm - In-depth discussion on specific websites of particular interest to attendees

3.30 pm - Coffee break

3.45 pm - Creation of new activities and sharing of personal favourites in small groups

4.15 pm - Presentation of ideas and personal techniques to group and general questions

5.00 pm - Fond farewells

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow if you're coming, and any comments on the latest magazine and ideas for future articles (and potential contributors) would be welcome too.

Sab