28 dez 2014

by | in Career, Educational Technology, Technology

We all deserve rest, relaxation and some time off. Educators are working during class time, before and always in late hours, correcting, planning, preparing, researching. So, yes, school recess is certainly a time of a certain relief and a bit of goofing off. However, after reenergizing a bit, meeting friends and family, taking care of our more mundane daily lives, celebrating the end of the year, you might feel ready and eager to learn something new, to connect, network with other like-minded professionals. Numerous free professional development opportunities...

20 dez 2014

by | in Educational Technology, Technology

Have you noticed how much our desktop and browsers can say about our internet surfing habits? Whenever someone shares their screen with me, I love paying attention to websites people save to their browser bar and the little extensions they use the most. Today, I'd like to share a few of the Google Chrome extensions which save a lot of my time. But before describing them, I bring a definition found at https://howtogeek.com. WHAT ARE EXTENSIONS? "Browser extensions extend your web browser with additional features, modify web pages, and integrate your...

06 dez 2014

by | in Lesson Ideas, Resources, Technology

Is vlogmas a thing in your house?  It is in ours thanks to my ten year old daughter. Her current screen craze is following hit lifestyle vloggers like Zoella. If you haven't heard of her, don't worry, it probably just means you're not young enough! This article in The Guardian is a good place to start.  But back to Vlogmas. What is it and why should we be interested?   It goes back a couple of years.  Apparently the first Vlogmas was launched in 2012 (according to the Urban Dictionary)...

29 nov 2014

by | in Technology

For this blog post, I will be reporting live from an educational project I have set up. Outline: Objectives: To see how effectively Google Docs can be used for Online Projects by both Young Adults and Primary learners. To use collaborative learning to practise English and Spanish. To keep members of my household busy on a rainy British autumnal day.   Subjects: Dani - 25 yo. Native Spanish speaker. High Elementary level in English. Staying with us to learn English. O - 8 yo. Native English speaker. Beginner level in Spanish. Just...

09 nov 2014

by | in Classroom Experiences, Lesson Ideas, Resources, Technology

Being a bit of a YouTube buff, myself, I’ve always been really keen on using videos with my students. So much interaction and such great ideas can come from just a couple of minutes (or even seconds) of audio-visual input! We often use movie snippets or interviews in order to bring the outside world into the classroom, but my favourite videos are the ones that became popular and accessible via video-sharing websites - those usually created by Internet users rather than the conventional media. These are the genres I particularly...

22 out 2014

by | in Classroom Experiences, Educational Technology, Reflections about Education, Technology

I was recently asked about the most innovative educational resource I have found online. After giving it some thought, I could only think of one website, GOOGLE DRIVE. More and more, Google Drive has become part of my daily life; when I organize my thoughts, when I write alone or collaboratively, when I create activities for students, when I correct writings turned in by students, when I save documents and so forth. And again, I ask myself, how can a website change so many procedures in some people's lives and...

17 set 2014

by | in Educational Technology, Resources, Technology

In my book Teacher Tools, I open the chapter “Movie Time” with an email I received from a teacher who said that not only him, but “thousands of workmates don’t have time to prepare materials or to follow the recipes that many authors of books and/or presenters of workshops give us.”  I go on to say that if the reader sympathizes 100% with Darcy, the teacher who wrote the message above, using movies in class may not be such a good idea after all:  selecting video material, designing...

13 set 2014

by | in Pronunciation, Resources, Speaking and Spoken Language, Technology, Vocabulary

Olá, pessoal! Depois de uma pausa meio que forçada, estamos de volta para mais um post envolvendo, de certa forma, tecnologia. Desta vez, vou falar de podcasts. Sabem o que é um podcast? É uma espécie de programa de rádio, geralmente editado, e disponibilizado em sites, blogs e assemelhados, sobre os mais variados assuntos, que podem ser ouvidos online ou baixados em formatos como .mp3 para smartphones e outros reprodutores de música. Eu, por exemplo, sou um podcaster, participo junto com meus amigos do ArgCast, sobre quadrinhos, games, cinema,...

01 set 2014

by | in Reflections about Education, Technology

I've decided to address a very controversial issue in my blog post. Well, it seems it is not controversial at all for most of the people, but it is something that has puzzled me for a while. This is not going to be a very long post as I do not have any answers to the questions I would like to raise. We are all online all the time. Most of us have a Facebook profile, post pictures on Instagram, tweet, blog, have a Pinterest account, have a LinkedIn...

01 set 2014

by | in Technology

I’m no futurologist but I have made two apocalyptic predictions in my time, both of which look like they might come true. The first was that I thought it was a very bad idea to try to convince the Chinese that they should adopt a Western lifestyle. Even before we knew what we know now about the effects on the climate made by mankind, it seemed that having one billion Chinese people driving cars and flying round the world was never going to be sustainable and that is...