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

Jennifer Hinam at SIG day 2008

Jennifer Hinam made a visit to tell us all about the iPack from OUP. She illustrated the many ways the software can be used to enhance lessons based on the New English File. And we all walked away with a very cool pronunciation chart!

Jennifer and the phonetic chart

SIG day 2008 with Graham Stanley

Graham Stanley came to give a talk full of exclamation points – Connect! Communicate! Collaborate! – on social networking.  There he presented many ways to connect, including using Facebook to collaborate with other teachers and give additional on-line support to learners, Second Life, where he has an island for young EFL learners, and lots of other fun ideas to enhance our on-line and off-line presence.

Graham was so kind as to open Social Learning Spaces for all to see. Please have a look around and maybe try out something new. I can only recommend connecting!
Here’s a peek into social networking.

SIG day 2008 with Eric Baber

At the Sig day in Baden Eric Baber introduced how to use HotPotatoes and Quia to make online tasks for your learners. These are both on-line products that you need to pay for, but you can try them out free of cost. The possibilitites they allow are well worth the money.  Eric has produced a worksheet informing you of how to sign up for Quia and a further online tool called English360 (see below).

Whereas quia and Hotpotatoes are for activities for online use, English360 is very interesting for those teachers who work independantly and would like to offer on-line courses. It gives you a platform for doing this and instead of you paying the fee, it is your students who must pay the fee to access the site.

Another interesting feature of English360 is that, in order to promote sharing, for any materials that you open up for others, you get a small return for each time another teacher does use them.

ETAS SIG day 2008 Quia and English360

I hope to add audio to this shortly.

Please come back soon for more from the SIG day.