How can we promote the use of technology in our classroom?

When talking about the use of technology in the classroom, some of the things that comes to my mind are things such as computers or the overhead projector and etc. Although some schools might have more advanced technology or softwares such as the smartboard or inspiration, I think most American public schools will have at least one or two computers in each classroom.

As I was reading through some of the new RSS feeds that I've recently subscribed, I came across a very interesting edublog http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/ by Doug Johnson. Mr. Johnson is the Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato Public Schools as well as an adjunct faculty member at the Minnesota State University. He has also published several books and conducted workshops on education and technology in many places. If you are interested to learn more about him, please visit his bio at http://www.doug-johnson.com/bio

In his recent post, Mr. Johnson mentioned an article from the Teachers Magazine titled The Case for PEDs. The author, Jennifer McDaniel, talked about the use of PEDs (personal electronic devices) in her classroom during students' independent study time. The article is directly related to a post Mr. Johnson has written in his blog back in 2005. The post has a rather long name but you can read it at http://snipurl.com/3tnpg [doug-johnson_squarespace_com]. In this post, Mr. Johnson mentioned the issue of schools or educators banning the use of mp3s or ipods because of various reasons. Mr. Johnson made a case to argue that if schools were to ban things such as ipods and mp3s, then they should probably also consider banning things such as pencils.

Though I can't speak for all the educators out there, I for one can say that I was taught in the 'papers and pencils' era and so I am still pretty uncomfortable with the idea of utilizing fancy technology during instructional time. However, as I began to explore and learn more, I also started realizing the benefits that these technology can bring to my students. Furthermore, the main idea behind technology is to save time and improve efficient so having them in the classroom can definitely help teachers and students to have more valuable "teaching/learning moments."

Until next time...

What is your view of the American culture?

I've mentioned in my previous post that I would try to incorporate topics about the American culture as part of my blog. In this post, I would like for us to discuss our views of the American culture.

For starters, I believe that one of the best way to learn more about a culture is by listening/watching the jokes that are made by a member of that culture. This may come off as a bit surprising to you but I believe that people often laugh at the jokes that comedians make because there are, for some odd reasons, some truths behind them. The following video that you are about to see is titled "American Culture." The comedian (Russell Peters) will be talking and making jokes about the American culture from his personal point of view.

Before you continue, please note that it is not my intention to offend anyone by showing this video. Thus, please watch the video with an open-mind and see if you can learn something new or even compare notes with what he had experienced and see how much of is true or not true. Read below for more questions and details about the video.





After you have finished watching the video, remember to discuss what you have seen with others by leaving a comment for this posting. Here are a few questions to help you get started:
1) What did you like/dislike the most about the video? Why/why not?
2) Do you agree/disagree with anything that Russell Peters said? Why/why not?
3) Have you learned anything new from the video? If yes, what is it? If not, what are some things that you find interesting and would like to know more about?
4) Have you shared any similar experience that Russell Peters had mentioned in the video? If yes, what are they? (This can be a funny experience from your own culture.)

*Here are some details about the video for those of you who might be interested or unfamiliar with some of the terminology he mentioned. All sources are taken from wikipedia.org*

Russell Peters - Russell Peters was born in Toronto and grew up in Brampton, Ontario in Canada. He is Indian. He has been nominated for four Gemini Awards,the Canadian television awards and for Best Male Comic at the Canadian Comedy Awards. Peters' comedy focuses largely around his Canadian upbringing and racial stereotypes, as he often parodies his parents and South Asian culture. Much of his material explores the cultural divides between many different ethnicities and upbringings in a way that includes many impressions.

chicken dance - The "Chicken Dance" song is accompanied by a dance requiring a group of people, and it goes as follows:

1. At the start of the music, shape a chicken beak with your hands. Open and close it four times, during the first four beats of the music.
2. Make chicken wings with your arms. Flap your wings four times, during the next four beats of the music.
3. Make a chicken's tail feathers with your arms and hands. Wiggle downwards during the next four beats of the music.
4. Clap four times during the next four beats of the music.
5. Repeat this process four times.
6. At the bridge, hold your arms straight, in imitation of an aeroplane. All dancers spin around the room in "flight" until the bridge ends.
7. The dance repeats, progressively getting faster and faster, until the music stops.

Macarena-"Macarena" is a Spanish song by Los del Río about a woman of the same name, or any woman from the La Macarena neighborhood of Seville. It was very successful between 1995 and 1997.The song became the second longest running #1 and best selling debut single of all time in the US.

YMCA - "Y.M.C.A." is a 1978 song by the Village People which became a hit in January 1979. The song reached #2 on the U.S. charts in early 1979 and reached No.1 in the UK around the same time, becoming the group's biggest hit ever.A popular dance in which the arms are used to spell out the four letters of the song's title may have much to do with this.


Learning a language is certainly an exciting experience and one of the best way to enhance that experience is by adding some humor into it. So, remember to always make the learning process meaningful and never forget to have fun while doing it! :)

Until next time...

What is the purpose of this blog?

Dear students and readers,

Many educators have started to include the use of weblogs in order to enhance the language learning process. I just thought that I should clarify the top 3 purposes of my blog.

1. I will be posting links and interesting topics that I found periodically. I hope that they will provide assistance in your language learning journey. It'll be of great help to me and other readers if you can provide a review on the topics/links that you choose to look into. For instance, I would like to know if the website/topic has been useful to you and what you like/dislike about it. You can also provide suggestions or other links that you have come across.

2. Please know that although I am pursuing a degree in teaching TESOL, I am by no means a master or expert of the language. Just like some of you, English is not my native language so I will have many questions about the usage of the language. Thus, you will see me posting questions and I welcome you to comment on them. Similarly, I will be expecting you to post your questions about the language. You are also welcome to put in requests on a particular topic. For example, you can put "I'd like more information on the use of conjunctions" or something similar. I will try to answer any questions that you might have and if I find that I am unable to do so, I will try my best to search for any information regarding the topic.

3. Finally, I am a big fan of multiculturalism and I believe that a successful language learning process can only be achieved if we learn about the culture of that language as well. I hope to use this blog as a reflective/interactive space for all of us. Since we are focusing on learning English, I will be posting discussion topics related to the American culture/language. I look forward to hearing your opinions and thoughts about them. As always, I welcome your suggestions and comments on discussion topics that you would like to see posted.



Learning a new language takes work and practice but please remember that you don't have to do it alone and most of all, always remember to have lots of fun doing so! :)

Here is a link to some ESL/EFL Teacher Blogs that I find extremely useful and interesting: http://esl.about.com/od/blogs/ESL_EFL_Teacher_Blogs.htm

Until next time...