Twitter again

If you’ve been reading here, you’ll see that my tweets seem pretty disconnected,but if you begin following others, you will see conversations, information, news, music, and of course, a lot of noise mixed in.

And now, some of the experiences I’ve had with twitter:

While on a trip to the States, I was tweeting for my students. When I mentioned my visit to South Carolina, I got a tweet about the local culture of Gullah, which I naturally shared with my class.

A friend wished me a good time during my trip.

Others welcomed me back home (on twitter??)

I found a great link to a lesson plan about Susan Boyle just as I was contemplating what to do in the next lesson.

And I’ve found many a relevant link about other topics.

Graham Stanley and I negotiated his workshop at the last SIG day.

There was a discussion about the appropriacy of twitter for primary school, and a better tool for this purpose was mentioned (edmodo.com)

I have completed a survey for someone writing a paper, linked and thanked for through twitter.

Last night I went onto Twitter and learned that Farrah Fawcett had died only a couple hours before. Of course, she was an icon in my youth, not just because of Charlie’s Angles. Shortly after, it was on the news, but I’d heard it before!

and I JUST read that Micheal Jackson has also died. That makes 2 icons in 2 days. I don’t know exactly when he did, but I just saw the news on twitter.

So here are just a few ways. You have to get used to the noise, but you do get a feel for what’s going on in the world if you are prepared to listen.

New task if you are on twitter: On the right there is a box that says ‘Direct messages’. Click on it and send me a private message (illyac). Only I’ll be able to see it, so you can see there is room for privacy as well.

Oh, and here’s a song from one of my fellow twitterers – fresh off the press!

Twitter in the press

Without wanting to politicise, it seems my addressing Twitter was rather timely! Twitter is playing a large role in the political happenings of Iran at the moment. Information is being passed on and rallies organized. It’s no wonder that this internet tool is blocked in some countries as its power of mobilization is even stronger than that of facebook. The reason being that in Twitter you are accessible to everyone, not just your friends.

If you have joined Twitter, I have a task for you.
On the right hand bar of your home site you will find a search box, and under that there is a list of the trend topics. Just click in any key words related to the news, teaching, or any other topic that interests you and see what happens.

What the tweet is twitter?

Twitter

In the months of June/July I will spend a bit of time looking at twitter, what can be done with it, and maybe even encourage a couple of you readers to join the club if you haven’t already.

There have been several articles in the newspapers recently which mention twitter and question whether it is the next big thing or just another passing hype. Reason enough to have a closer look!

First, what is it? It is a web-based tool in which you can share up to 140 characters (including spaces) with your followers. And you can follow other people and see what they write. I’ve added my own rss feed on the side and will try to be consciencious and update regularly (also known as to tweet), showing the different ways of use.

How is it used? Well, one of the reasons for all the headshaking as to why it is so popular is that many people use it simply to inform the world of what they are doing at any single moment. It seems to many that this is very voyeuristic and more like a public diary. Probably the most oftenly asked question concerning twitter is :

WHAT’S THE POINT?

I asked this myself and thought this is certainly a bandwagon I’m NOT jumping on. However, curiosity got the better of me and now I too am on twitter.

Here are some of the ways it can be used:

• to find relevant websites that others are tweeting or to share websites with others
• to give live summaries (using a cell phone) during conferences or other such events. – this is becoming more and more frequent, even among politicians in meetings or during football games!
• to get advice and information. You can send out a call for help and if there are many people following you, the chances are pretty big that someone will be able to help out.
• to share bits of information with others. You can make groups and share information within these groups, but more on how to do that later.
• to keep in touch with colleagues from all over the city/country/world, forming an occupational network. An example of what a great resource this is can be seen when Susan Boyle was in Britain’s got talent. Within a week there were lesson plans for how the youtube video and her experience could be used for language lessons!
• to share what you are doing while you are on holiday. If you have a blog or website, you can add the rss feed (see blogging 101) and your students, friends and family can be informed – a continuous postcard!
• to get your students to write. 140 characters aren’t many and a certain amount of skill is needed for language learners to be eable to express themselves clearly in so few words. It can be used for creative writing or for summaries. Obviously, they need to be on twitter too, but you can do twitter virtually (in this case, on paper )

I’m not the only one who has written about twitter. A very good article is on Larry Ferlazzo’s blog. He also goes into depth, and I’m sure there will be quite a bit of overlap, but I’ll also try to give examples in the next couple of posts.

If you’ve decided to join and check it out, feel free to follow me too. I’m illyac. Let me know that you are from ETAS so I don’t end up blocking you, and I’ll gladly follow you too! If there are enough ETAS members on twitter, then I’ll set up a twitter group later on. And remember, the more people you follow, the more useful it will become to you.

Tweet tweet

Interview with Scott Thornbury

Here is another interview with Scott Thornbury, also carried out in Second Life.

Here too, feel free to comment on your own opinions

Interview with Jeremy Harmer

Here is a very interesting interview done with Jeremy Harmer on Second Life. You will hear his opinions on technology in teaching and int he classroom.

Feel free to leave a comment about what you thought of this interview.

Online webinars

As you can see on the left Macmillan is offering free webinars.

Here is the blurb for the coming webinar:

When:     Wednesday 13th May, 2009

Time:       11am GMT  (1pm in Switzerland)

Duration: 45 minutes

Speaker: Lindsay Clandfield (Biography)

“The power of lists”

From grocery lists to to-do lists, top ten lists to worst ever lists, lists are everywhere. What is it about lists that draws our attention? In this webinar I will look at the power of lists. We will explore some popular lists in the language teaching profession and I will share with you six ideas on using lists with your students.

Further topics and days are:

10th June – 7 things beginning with M  with Scott Thornbury

8th July – A dictionary at your fingertips  with Gwyneth Fox
If you are interested, you can sign up here or on the left.

IATEFL CArdiff is now active online!

The IATELF conference in Cardiff has begun and for all those who couldn’t make the trip over the pond, you can follow what is going on. There are videos, reports, anddiscussion forums for you to read and contribute to, and even live sessions. The live sessions will begin on 1st April (no April fools Joke!) and you can watch them live or, if you miss them, later as video.  See: http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/

What’s a Webinar?

There are many seminars and conferences across the world, and it used to be that you just didn’t hear about them or care if they were more than a few miles/km away from your part of the world.

Well, that world has become small and distance is no longer a major factor.  As the last post announced, even IATEFL is going online and has become a reachable conference even for those parents and working people who can’t get away, or for those wiht a tight budget, who can’t pay for the trip and a hotel to stay at. It’s even something for those who are jsut too late or lazy to leave the comfort of their own environment.

Even seminars have gone on-line and unite the web to become webinars.

For those of you who teach in public schools, you might be interested in the following webinar coming up shortly:

It’s called “Opportunities and Challenges for Web 2.0 in Schools” and is being held on March 31st. If you’re interested, you can find more information here.

I’ll also be posting about the IATEFL conference here, so stay tuned!

Cardiff IATEFL conference on-line

LAst year the yearly IATFL conference in Exeter was accompanied by on-line coverage including videos and podcasts (see the according blogposts here). This year the conference will be in Cardiff and the organizers are roaring and ready to go on-line again.

IF you are interested in being part of the fun, read the invitation below and leave a comment. I’ll respond and give you the necessary information:

Have you considered holding a TA Event making use of video sessions and
material from the 2009 Cardiff IATEFL Conference?

We would like to encourage TAs to organise such events so that teacher
associations and their members can take full advantage of the Cardiff Online
project.

As with the 2007 Aberdeen Online project and this year’s Exeter Online
project, we will be providing *free* online coverage of the Cardiff IATEFL
Conference.

Our web coverage will include over 20 sessions which will be webcast from
Cardiff.

We would like to see TAs invite their members to workshops and events which
would feature videos and discussions from the Cardiff IATEFL Conference.

By the way, as of writing, the EVO sessions (see last post) just begun and it is only 3 days away from the ETAS AGM!

Brush up on technology in the New Year

I’d like to invite you, dear reader, to an excellent opportunity to expand your technology skills and get new ideas for teaching using technology and blended teaching.

Every year a group of educators called the Webheads offer a number of courses free of charge online between mid-January and mid-February. These experienced people are devoted to passing on their knowledge and helping others come to grips with new technology. It is here that I too have learned so much and made so many contacts around the world.

Have a look around, and I hope to see you there in the new year!

http://evosessions.pbwiki.com/Call_for_Participation09

Don’t worry, there is something for everyone and even true beginners in this area. AND you get a chance to meet some of the most wonderful people (next to the ETAS gang, of course )

And here is the official invitation:

The CALL Interest Section of the international TESOL
professional association is pleased to offer the
opportunity to participate in the Electronic Village
Online (EVO) 2009 sessions. This is a professional
development project and virtual extension of the TESOL
2009 Convention in Denver, CO . The intended audience
for this project includes both TESOL 2009 participants
and those who can participate only virtually.

You do not need to be a TESOL member to participate in
a free, six-week, wholly online session of the EVO,
Jan 12 -Feb 22, 2009. Please visit our Announcement
Web page to select one among the various offerings.

http://evosessions.pbwiki.com/Call_for_Participation09

Yours in TESOL,

The EVO coordination team