So yesterday I tried to have our class create wiki’s. It was a disastorous result with more effort being placed on getting everything set up correctly than on actually doing the work. I think when thinking about ways to implement technology in the classroom one of the things we should focus on is ease of use.
How to improve your english? Practice. It is not as important as to what you are practicing, what is important is that you are constantly practicing your english. I created applesenglish.com in hopes that it could be a place for language learners to do just that….practice!
Technology provides us with new ways to present information to language learners. How much should technology be incorporated into the classroom? That is something up for debate and for trial and error but as we are developing applesenglish.com it will be a theme constantly present. Is this technology helping language learners to learn or is it something that is distracting them from their end goal. Is tech the king?
This term I am teaching a class of level 0 beginners, most of which are adults. It is no secret that the older you are, the more difficult it becomes to learn a language. My class is extremely motivated and they work hard in class and almost always do their homework, recently we had an exam and the results were not nearly what they were hoping for, part of which was because the exam was prepared late so I didn’t have a chance to prepare them exactly for what would be on the test and also because the exam was made for a class of “false beginners.”
Nevertheless this class is a perfect example of the fact that learning a language is not about a destination, it is about a journey.
it's about the journey not the destination in learning a language
Getting better and better and finding the enjoyment in expressing yourself in new ways and communicating with people that you previously could not communicate with or understanding parts of songs or movies that you previously could not understand. It’s all about the journey.
When I first thought of applesenglish.com I was living in a town in Cataluña called Castellbisbal, renting a room where there was no internet and trying to think of something useful for me as a teacher. At first it was going to be an all online academy, then strictly Skype classes, then a place for language learners to go and study. Then it became more of a hobby and a place to practice web design with the hopes that these tools would later help me in the world of basketball.
Now I have gotten some interest from the company that I am teaching at to work with them and develop this space for them but they seem to be taking a step back. So now, almost 3 years after it’s conception (in my head) I think it’s time to take this on my own. Commit to making this space, whatever it is or will become, and doing it on my own.
Here is a cool page provided by Businessweek about starting a small business.
If you are an English Language Learner, an excellent activity is to watch things in English, if you enjoy sports than this is a golden opportunity. CBS does an excellent job of offering all of the March Madness tournament games for free online. Click the picture to check it out.
Click the picture to watch March Madness online
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