Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Festival of Rio De Janeiro.wmv Cyrine's project

My reflections on my enrolment in the Digital Storytelling EVO session

This is the third week and though I am deadly busy with the work, the kids, the responsibilities as a mother and a wife, I still find some time for my online class. During these three weeks, I've learnt new skills and I hope I will learn more. 
What I learnt :
*No matter how different are our teaching environments, there's always something new to learn and apply.
* How to log on in a webinar, which seemed a dream to me, in the past! 
*Trying as many online tools as possible and sharing ideas about the efficiency of these tools. 
*Hearing from the teachers' experiences across the globe helps me visualise what I can do to boost my skills as a teacher fascinated by technology so as to foster my student's learning and help them achieve their best.
*In order to develop as a teacher, one has to keep record of one's experiences and reflections!
*A teacher who does not learn new ideas will be swept over by the continuous changes happening every second.
*A teacher who experiments more tends to learn more than those who are afraid of making their first experiments in trying new ideas in their teaching! 
* A teacher who learns to hear his learners' outcries & needs will never stop learning.
*We might be teaching in different areas in the world, but if we're concerned about our learners, our paths would cross and we would learn much from each other.  
*Today, we need more and more connected teachers to care and share.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

My First Online Class- Digi Kids EVO Storytelling Session

    Enrolling at the EVO session of Digital storytelling for kids is an appealing experience that I am living right now. It has been a week since I enrolled. Connecting with Educationalists, top bloggers in the world of ELT, teachers from everywhere in the world was a Dream for me. Now, thanks to technology, I can connect, share ideas with them, attend their wonderful webinars! I am grateful to all the moderators for their constant encouragement, their tips, their care. Such a wonderful multitude of experts in using technology to enhance learning/ teaching. At some point of time I feel very thrilled by the noble aims of these teachers across the globe. What is amazing is that we're sharing our experiences, our creations using some free online tools and helping each other connect, share and CARE! 
The first webinar was very memorable to me! I won't forget the fact that I was struggling with the internet connection to download the application and log on in the conference room! The first step into this world filled my heart and mind with great joy and by the time the session ended, I wished I would stay more! 
Special thanks to Shelly Terrel, Eva Buyuksimkesyan, Marisa Constantinides, Esra Girgin, Jennifer Verschoor, Ozge Karaoglu, Juan Uribe, David Dodgson, Jenniffer Verschoor, Elizabeth Anne...It's true that I've been following their blogs, their tweeting and learning from them a lot but learning from them online is such a rewarding and wonderful experience. Wish the online sessions would never end! 
Personally, I feel that it is our duty as teachers to enrol in these classes and learn the most , even I won't use it now, unfortunately, I might need them for the future in my teaching! 


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Coteaching in an English Club



    The idea of starting an English club was the suggestion of  my colleague Mr.Zouaoui . The idea was not that ordinary because he suggested we co-teach in the club, learners of different schooling levels, since we were not teaching the same levels. We started the club in the first term.  Looking back at the amount of work we implemnted, I can but be grateful  for the idea. We're not only teaching learners , but also learning from each other. We are cooperating in so many ways: discussing, evaluating and planning. We also intend to keep track of all the sessions ( via a school magazine) and evaluate to what extent the learners are learning from each other by collaborating more. As a matter of fact, we are applying the constructivist approach. We usually conduct the activities in groups and we try to orchestrate a successful construction of the meanings and  rules. What is superb is that we're teaching in carefree conditions! we're not limited by time constraints or by a syllabus to cover all the units. We and the learners are having great time together. There are much fun ,  freedom and  learning happening at the same time. Not to forget to mention that  the learners who come to the club  are self-motivated and they are not forced to attend. They come because they like to attend, they  like to practice the language and like to improve and consolidate their learning. As I mentioned earlier, in this club, I am learning from my learners and from my colleague,too. His experience in teaching is longer than mine and I am so happy I can learn much from his enthusiasm , his devotion and his experience. Seeing my colleague in action helps me visualize my own teaching. Such an experience can but add a lot to me. Wish one day, teachers could have sessions where they coteach learners with mixed-ability levels in the same classroom. The experience is so rewarding especially that while coteaching, we learn from each other and learners,too, learn from each other. We usually prepare, seperately, some activities at home and we share the plans of these activities beforehand. Then comes the decision what to implement and what to avoid. The sessions do respect the needs of all the learners and respect their multiple intelligences. 
Such an amazing experience