Current Events Connection

How about opening your week with a current events connection? Why not start out the week viewing the BBC One Minute World News? By doing this you can enlist background knowledge and get the children talking in English about authentic situations.You can show it twice:
first viewing:have children think how many and which news stories are on; what countries the anchorperson is talking about...
second viewing:sound on - check your guesses and have the kids comment!
Let's be GLOBAL CITIZENS!

mlearning - learning by mobile devices (phones, Ipods..)

This is the latest direction that education is taking. Is this just a trend, a new fad - or do you think it's here to stay? Watch this video and post your comments!

Make Me A Maestro Magician

Start off your week with a magic trick! Give a student the task of being the Maestro Magician of the week. Have him prepare a magic trick of his choice and present it to the class!
Here's a link: Magic Fork and Knife Trick from MonkeySee
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/14147-cool-magic-tricks-fork-and-knife-morph

A Favorite Peter Weatherall Opening Song

Purim Rap sent in by Tania

Thanks to Tania and her friends, we have a wonderful Purim Rap - highly recommended if you want to do anything about Purim in your English classes... I'd concentrate on the chorus...
Thanks Tanya!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vTLxpz9HKs

Using YouTubes and Video clips in the classroom

The essence of a YouTube/video clip is its multi-media character. Take advantage of this to reach the widest spectrum of learning styles.
You are showing a movie in class!
Besides the obvious use of teaching songs and karaoke, here is an uncompleted list of suggestions:

• Use it for prediction: show a bit...pause...what will happen? What is out topic about? (Speaking English) -HOTS
• Use it for writing sentences: show a bit...pause...decribe what you see/saw in the picture (Writing descriptions)
• Use it for inferring: show a bit... pause....how do you think x feels? Why did he do what he did? (Writing or discussion) - HOTS
• Use it for comparing and contrasting: show a bit... pause...how does this version compare with our other version? (Speaking or filling in a chart)-HOTS
• Use it for sequencing vocabulary items as they appear; numbering items as they appear: selecting certain activities from a list which appear on the screen - HOTS
• Labelling and listing - classification: make a list of all the xxx (according to your target vocabulary) you see -HOTS

These are just a few ideas that you can use when you show a video clip...
Remember - 2'30" minutes is long.
Plan and prepare!

Thinking question: What can you do with a video with the vision off and the sound on?

Don't "over- ICe your T" ( you'll dilute it)

That was supposed to be a pun - if you put too much ice into your tea - you will dilute it; and the tea will lose its essence.
I've begun going out into the field - and this is one of the problems I've been encountering:
teachers are making extravagant PowerPoint Presentations; or finding exciting (and long!) YouTubes....or other interesting sites...but in all this creativity - and I am definitely for creativity - teachers are losing the essence of their lesson objectives.
The essence of an English lesson is English.
It's simple.
Ask yourself:
Does the ICT I chose promote language acquisiton?
Does it help practice the productive side of language - speaking or writing (communication)?
Is what I'm doing worth the effort put into preparing it?
Is the language in the chosen ICT appropriate to my audience - and if not - have I taken the right steps to enable this application to be useful?

Welcome Aboard - Let's Begin!

Dear counselors, teachers and friends in Israel and abroad!
This blog is the opening stage of a journey into cyberspace and cybersharing... it will take us to unknown territories, to interesting and special "coves" of ideas and activities; to heights from which we can overview activities, connect and relate... 
Here is a sharing spot where we can post our classroom activities and reflections, successes and failures, ideas and ICT desires...
This blog was created by me for us to post successful lesson plans; reflections about both successful and unsuccessful lessons; ideas; questions; great links we've found and a call asking friends to suggest ways in which to implement them.
You'll find links to terrific blogs that can help us.
You'll find links to ethical cyber situations.
You'll find original PowerPoints created by us for us.
As we grow and become more involved in implementing ICT into classrooms, so will this blog grow and expand, and hopefully become a hub of activity for teachers interested in creative and critical teaching.
Welcome aboard!