My Last "Last Post" - Goodbye?

  Hello there!

So, we're right back here again. At the end of the semester.

This time we had 5 tasks, all of which were group projects (which I loved) and all taught me more tools that I can use in my classrooms. Even though it was frustrating at times due to the old/inefficient technology (Looking at you, webquest) overall it was a fun experience, and it taught me a lot (If nothing, it taught me to be patient with technology). 

Personally I really enjoyed creating the flipped classroom vocabulary video. It took a long time to do, but it was very fun, and I can see it being very useful in the future. Not only as a part of the flipped classroom experience, but it could be used as homework as well. Aaaaand I dreaded the grammar video more or less the same amount, although that was mostly due to the site not functioning as it should've.

I think agumented reality is unfortunately too new of a technology to use in classes for now - I hope that'll change before I graduate because the potential it has is amazing - but for now, it's just too much effort for minimal result, and it's hard to even find an app that can help you create the exercise. Webquest is on the opposite end of the spectrum - it's simply too old of a technology. It may have provided great lessons back then, but now it should be replaced by newer, shinier, more user-friendly technology. That's why I think neither are good enough to be used reliably; nice tool, wrong time.

Overall, I think I've learned a lot during this semester, and I'm so glad I took this class.

Unfortunately, like all good things, this too will end very soon. And this time, for good. (Unless I get to have another elective from Dr.Kurt, of course.)

Well, I guess it's time to give my thanks then? First, to Dr. Kurt, for creating and teaching this course, I will remember you when I create materials for my classess. Second, to Kaan for being such a great teammate, it was a blast working with you, pal. And lastly, my dear reader, to you: For following me across two courses.

Now, for the last time, 

Stay safe, stay kind.

& 

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

Goodbye

Webquests - Tell Me About Your Family!

  Hello there!

The last taks of the semester was to create a webquest - which was something we intended to do last semester, but didn't get around to, so I was excited to learn that we would do them this time! This was another group project, so... Do I even need to tell you who I collaborated with? I don't think I do. Well, you-know-who and I looked at projects from the book that we used to create our flipped grammar video, and picked a task that we thought could use technological enhancement. The students' original task was to create a vlog and introduce their family, and we made it so they would need to create a family tree online, and then vlog/interview their family members, and then upload it to youtube as an unlisted video. That way, it's not only technology enhanced, but it's also pandemic friendly! (Which is an important thing these days)

As our teacher had suggested, Kaan and I headed to questgarden and created an account each so we could start working. The site wasn't overly complicated to use per se, but it did feel like we were dealing with a site that hadn't been updated since 2012, and that made things difficult. The site would crash or not save the changes, and sometimes it would change the background color for no reason, making it impossible to read what we've wrote. Uploading images was another problem, as the site required the images to be smaller than 500 x 500 pixels, and didn't allow us to re-size the image once it was uploaded.

In the end though, we powered through and created our webquest, and I do believe it will be a quite fun experience for our students one day. Personally, I think it's a tool that can be used sparringly (to save the teacher's sanity). I don't see myself giving webquest homeworks every week, but once or twice a term, why not?

Here's the link to our webquest, I hope you'll enjoy! http://questgarden.com/q/vlog

 

Well dear reader, it seems that we're once again approaching the finish line.

Time flies, huh? Especially when you're stuck at home doing homework...

The end is near, soon, but not yet!

So until then, 

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

Augmented Reality - A Trip to Japan!

  Hello there!

It's time for yet another task! Today I'll be talking about AR. You may have heard about a similar technology, Virtual Reality, also known as VR. The difference between them is that VR takes you to the other reality, while AR brings the other reality to ours. 

My first experience with AR was when I began playing Pokemon GO. In that game, you walk around in real life, find and capture pokemons. It is very fun, and I'm glad I'll be able to use this in my classrooms in the future.

I believe that as the AR technology gets more widespread, we'll be able to use it more often, in more areas of life. Can you imagine an AR-made mechanic instructing you on how to change your car's tire? Or an AR-made chef telling you how to cook your favorite dessert? This is just a fraction of what we could do with the AR technology, and I can't wait to see what's more to come!

So, about the task: Our task was to take our students on a trip, using AR technology of course. Kaan and I wanted to choose somewhere in Japan, as it is a place we both want to visit. Then, the next question was where in Japan we would take them. We wanted to do either Kyoto or Tokyo, as each city represent different but equally beautiful parts of the country. After doing some research, we decided to go with Tokyo, as there were more content available. Unfortunately, more content doesn't mean enough or viable content. And that's why he had to resort to using QR codes and 360 videos instead.

And at the end, we created a handout to go along with the project. We wrote some questions down and Kaan created and put together the visuals and then we were done!

Overall, I think the AR technology is fun to play with now, but not as viable as I'd like it to be. Thankfully I have a couple more years before I graduate :D So I hope it'll be more advanced by then and it'll be easier to use.

We're closing in on the end of the semester, and I only have a couple more posts to make, so look forward to those!

As always:

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

Oh, and get vaccinated if you can!

 

 

 

 

 

Creating a Flipped Classroom Video - Comparatives & Superlatives

  Hello there!

I'm back again with another flipped classroom video! This time our goal was to teach a grammar topic, and from the book that we were given, Kaan and I chose comparatives and superlatives, and we once again headed to animaker. We soon regretted that decision, as a grammar video required a lot more writing to be present on screen, and it was physically and mentally painful to make sure the audio and the text matched.

 We've also ran into some issues with my internet connection, as the area I'm in had a power outage and I couldn't do anything for one day. Thankfully Kaan was able to work on it on his own, and when I was able to get back to work again, I could get right back in. As always, we split the work between us, and we were able to use the programs we were comfortable with. So, Kaan once again used photoshop for pictures and audacity for the audio, as I created the animations and edited the video. After that, we created exercises that the students would complete before coming to the class, and we were done!

From choosing our topic to creating the exercises, it took us about 4 days of work to finish the project, and I have to say, I'm quite proud of the result. Here it is for you to enjoy!

https://app.animaker.com/animo/zi8QnO7Hb2i4uhUQ/

Here's the exercise for comparatives

https://wordwall.net/resource/16934880

Here's the exercise for superlatives

https://wordwall.net/resource/16935082

And finally, the exercise for the exceptions to the rules mentioned

https://wordwall.net/resource/16956534  

That's it for today!

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

Creating a Flipped Classroom Video - Yummy Breakfast

  Hello there!

This week's task was to create a flipped classroom vocabulary video. Flipping a classroom means making the classroom a place to practice instead of a place to learn something. A teacher who wants to flip their classroom would create a video that teaches their students what they would normally teach in class, maybe even include some activities for them to do after they've watched the video. And in class, they would do speaking and other interactive activities that would enhance the students' learning. 

Personally, I think it's a great idea in theory, but the real life opportunities to apply it it very limited. In class, a teacher has 40 minutes to give a lesson, while the flipped classroom videos have to be shorter to keep the learner's attention. Personally, I don't see myself flipping my classroom, mostly because of how limiting it can be. In person, the students are able to ask questions and immediately get answers. The classes are interactive, while they can not interact with a video. I also don't like the idea of requiring that students spend more time on a lesson outside of class. I think the students already spend enough time in school, and they need to be left to do what they want after a school day.

If you have any opinions about this, feel free to let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear what you think!

Now, onto the creation of the video! First, my partner in crime academic work, Kaan and I decided which unit's vocabulary we would like to create a video for. After considering all of our options, we decided on a unit from a 6th grade book - It's called "Yummy Brekfast". We tried out a few animation tools, and finally decided on Animaker, it's fairly easy to use, and it also lets you record your voice, so we didn't need to use another tool to edit our voices. On the first day, Kaan wrote our script as I found characters and backgrounds, and added the animations to the characters. On the second day, we recorded our lines and did more animation work. Kaan also edited some of the images with photoshop, and we uploaded some images from the internet, because we couldn't find them in the animaker database. Lastly, we created our tasks to go along with the video using the site worldwall that our teacher had recommended, and then we were done!

 Here's the video for you to enjoy! 

https://app.animaker.com/animo/WRo9oMqLfaEg4mG7/

And here are the tasks! 

The first one asks the students to match the pictures to the names.

https://wordwall.net/resource/16138620 

 And the second one asks students to pick the correct spelling of a word.

https://wordwall.net/resource/16137788

 I hope to see you in my next update, goodbye!

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

 

 

 

 

Creating a Corpus Based Task - Prepositions of Time

  Hello there!

First task of this semester was to create a language awareness task that would encourage students to use a corpus. This was a group project, so I once again collaborated with the brilliant friend of mine, Kaan. We chose our topic (prepositions of time) from the 65th page of the studentbook that our teacher provided to us, as it is a quite important and often confused with the prepositions of place.

Our goal was to encourage the students to search for and discover the rules of the language, rather than just rely on us (the teachers) to learn, as this task that was given to us was a part of Data-Driven Learning Approach.

After looking through all the corpora, we decided to use COCA corpus. Because unlike the other corpora (which were mainly for searching nouns) it allowed us to search for the specific uses of "in" "on" "at" that we were aiming to teach. After deciding that, we began creating our tasks.

We created four tasks in total, one where they would tick the correct box, one where they would choose the correct preposition of time, one where they would fill the blanks with the correct preposition, and finally, where they would complete the sentences that explained when to use which preposition of time, so that the students would come to the conclusion on their own at the end. We also added a "How to use COCA" part, as we had recommended that they use it in the first exercise.

In the end, this task was quite fun to do. I think it's a good idea to show students how to use a tool (in this case, a corpus) and then let them discover on their own. I don't see myself fully committing to Data-Driven Learning though, I believe that it's best if we let the students explore, but also give the teacher opportunities to lead the students in the right direction at times.

I'll see you in my next update!

Wear your masks and your seatbelts!

 

 

 

 

Haha, Nevermind!

  Hello there!

I bet you didn't expect to see me posting again, especially after my last post - well, I've decided to take another class from the same teacher this semester (Material Design in ELT) and I was happy to hear that we would be blogging again. Seeing that I already have a blog that I used for a similar purpose, I decided to keep posting in here. Our first task is a group project and I'm very proud of the work that I've done with my friend, I can't wait to show you all!

I'll see you in my next update!

Wear your masks and your seatbelts