Week 6 Videos and critical thinking in classes

In this week, we have read the article “Using Original Video and Sound Effects to Teach English” by Shahla Yassaei. It is about implementing a video in a daily class which lesson was speculations. What surprised me was the way that video was used to fit in this topic. She started recording herself instead of downloading a video from internet. In the video she was doing activities that we do in our routine. What is more interesting is that, she built a speculation environment form the beginning by covering the T.V. and presenting just the audio of the video, so that, students started to speculate about what was going on in the video. The class was really interactive because students used the target grammar and they had fun at the same time. In fact, this method can be used to teach grammar, vocabulary, writing, etc. Of course, teacher always encouraged students to use and practice the target grammar.

In addition, the video “Critical thinking” is very helpful for teachers that want to do more for students. It explains what critical thinking is. And it is basically that students can think by themselves, so that, they can receive information, analyze it and provide their own thinking or output.

In my opinion, to have worksheets, activities in the classrooms, fill in the blanks, etc., is not enough. We as teachers must do our best to encourage and challenge our students to develop critical thinking to have a better learning results.   

Week 5 Critical thinking, a challenge for teachers

The article for this week is “Critical Thinking and Technology” by Ken Bain. It is a very interesting reading and what I liked from it is that encourages teachers to do something different to develop critical thinking in students.

In fact, the author explains a variety of methods that can be used to achieve that goal. Ken Bain mentions that we (human beings) are curious, so that, we as teacher should challenge ourselves by making the topic interesting for our students to take advantage and encourage students to study by themselves. I think that to give instructions, explain grammar, create worksheets, etc. is not always enough. That is why technology has become an attractive tool not only for teachers, but also for students. As a matter of fact, technology represents a visual tool that catches everybody´s attention by providing websites which includes interactive material for practicing listening, reading and writing skills.

In conclusion, to develop critical thinking in our students, it is necessary to go beyond and try to use technology as a tool. In addition, as the Ken Bain says, “we should begin with questions about what we want our students to learn and whether certain technologies can help them achieve that.”

Week 4 Internet, a good tutor.

The reading “CALL Me … Maybe: A Framework for Integrating the Internet into ELT” expresses that depend on the internet access we have, certain technology tools or options can be included in our classes. As a consequence, students can get in touch with the real English world. The fallowing websites are used as examples: www.facebook.com www.youtube.com www.prezi.com and www.pinterest.com.  

For example, Internet provides numerous of sites which offer lessons on English language usage, such as grammar, vocabulary, listening, idioms, etc. Also, a website can provide another tool which is podcast, which provides listening lessons and another kind of activities useful not only for teachers, but also for students. That is why Internet is said that can have a role as a tutor, because it can be used to offer help to students. In addition, the content needs to fit the needs of the program, so that, teachers must be aware of it and do their best to find the best material. Once they are done, the next step is to make it as usable as possible and take advantage of it.

To conclude, internet is like a huge world, which is needed to be discovered, so that, teachers should develop researcher skills in order to find as much accurate material as we can to enhance the learning process of students.