Week 6: Interactive Ppt based on Touchstone

-
I have done a Ppt about the E-components the book series we teach with has got. We have finished the semester at the university and we will start again the second week of September so I am not teaching at the moment. The idea of doing this power point presentation is to show it to students the next semester so I can make them realize of how many things they can do as extra-curricular activities to support their learning and at the same time promote autonomy. It is very important to teach students what they can do to complement their learning; sometimes not even teachers realize of the materials there are available.

In my opinion, in Ecuador, teacher like to spend a lot of time planning and writing on the board, it is amazing that some teachers still go to their classes and the space for writing on the board is limited to them, Many of them know that there is a vast amount of information, teaching ideas, lesson planning and so on available out there. However, some are teachers refuse to not because of they do not like the idea but because of they do not know how to do use search engines or simply they are afraid of using technology.

As Robert suggested before, it is always good to have a look at the materials available online before starting to make your own planning.

This presentation is explained how the interactive website “Touchstone Arcade” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbdxrGItbkk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P38XfG1oWdM can help students be more autonomous, the CD-ROM activities they can do, the test crafter works, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuBJLitMaJM&feature=relatedthe interactive whiteboard options, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V4QxtKuDqo&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P38XfG1oWdM, Video Program and others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdKa0xLJITA&feature=relatedI have included the URLs. All these E-components work perfectly with students who are learning with Touchstone book series, it does work with others who use other books as well. The most interesting video I included in the Ppt in the touchstone promo video, students love it and it is a very nice way to motivate them, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=offymLYVVIY&feature=related .

To see My Ppt go to: https://sites.google.com/site/webskillswikisummer2011robert/powerpoints

Does any of you use touchstone?
Interactive ppt by javier burgos part 1
Interactive ppt by javier burgos part 2
Interactive ppt by javier burgos part 3

Comments

  1. ShardaJuly 31, 2011 at 3:45 AM

    Hi Javier

    All along the course I have been following your blog posts and ICA posts. You are quite a professional when it comes to technology. You have been preparing interesting student artifacts, if I may call them so, and also making useful suggestions to us from time to time. Thanks and I really like your PPT.

    Take care

    Sharda

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lazy catJuly 31, 2011 at 6:01 AM

    Hi Prof. Javier,

    You’re really a technology seeker. Like Robert, most of the time you make us surprised with your technology discovery.

    I agree that Touchstone is a great tool for teaching and developing students’ autonomy learning. There are thousands of interactive activities related to four skills development that teachers can use with the course books and online teaching. There is syllabus available in the website that teachers can adjust the course to their needs. It’s especially beneficial for adult learning in large classes.

    Besides, Touchstone includes software, video, and web-based applications. These components are designed to reinforce the language presented in the Touchstone Student's Books, and provide flexibility and convenience for teachers and students.

    PS. Till now there are lots of technology tools for me to try them out. For sure, I’ll spend my time exploring them and find the most appropriate ones for my teaching.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 8: ANVILL is great

-
I am surprised; this site is simply great, what I most like of ANVILL,  is its flexibility; it has got something for every language teacher and the great opportunity for language practice. I definitely think that this site motivates students to do things by themselves making them more autonomous because of when students find many things to do and things they like, they feel eager to go and give it a try. I have used www.agendaweb.org which has tons of stuff for learners of different ages and that is what students like, many options to choose from.   It is hard for all students to have access to internet connection either at the campus at home, here in Ibarra, Ecuador; few people have got internet connection at home. Some will not able to afford it but the main reason is internet speed, it is very slow and princes are a bit high so I think this could be a constraint that would make difficult to use this technology. The solution to overcome this problem is that the government...
Read more

Week 7: Learning Autonomously

-
Learner Autonomy is one my favorite topic when it comes to teaching; I truly believe it plays an essential role in the acquisition of the L2. The best way we could foster Learner Autonomy is in a student-centered class, as we all may know, in   student-centered class is not a place where the students decide what they want to learn and what they what to do. It is a place where we consider the needs of the students, as individuals and as a group and encourage them to participate in the learning process all the time, the role of the teacher should be a facilitators and not an instructor and just guide or help students while they participate in the learning process actively, let us not get confused with the “teacher”. To me, being a teacher means helping students to learn, manage their activities and direct their learning. In the student-centered class the teacher becomes just another member of the class. I enjoyed reading the article by Dimitrios Thanasoulas, especially the part wher...
Read more

Week 6: Large and small classes teaching Techniques

-
I have thought of some techniques and technology that could help when teaching small and large classes Teaching large and small classes is very linked to classroom management, as we all may know, the best number for a class is probably 12 Ss because they can be divided into different groups, for instance, we can make 4 groups of 3, 3 groups of 4, 2 groups of 6. Having 12 Ssas the average numbers of students in class makes it a lot easier for them to hear one another in a whole-class activity. Unfortunately, we cannot choose the number of students in our classes. Most classes are large and I think that the larger the class is the more necessary is to implement technological tools is, one of the differences between large and small classes is the time we have got to monitor students, I think even having 30 students we can still walk around the class during the lesson and spend a few moments listening to each groups and take some notes but with a larger class so we should keep track of ...
Read more