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Posts Tagged ‘ELT Blogathon 2011’
TweetChat – For the very first time
Written by Merve Oflaz
Friday, 18 March 2011 20:16
2 Comments
twit

I felt so excited when I received Sharon Turner’s e-mail inviting me to #ECLPSCHAT on Twitter. Sharon from Sabancı University was congratulating me for the Silver Award I received on ELT Blogathon 2011 and she was asking if I was interested in taking part in the virtual conference platform of Sabancı University to tell about 28 day experience of blogging during the competition.

My answer was of course ‘Yes’. As a person who has never experienced TweetChat, I was in such a silly panic that I asked Sharon the best (!) questions ever such as ‘Since I have a new account nobody is following me. Do you think that’s a problem?’ and ‘Will it be enough for me to be on Twitter?’. Dearest Sharon answered each question I asked with great patience.  Thanks to her and thanks to God I was ready on time. Actually before time:)

It was so nice to see the announcements on Twitter to remind the chat. When the chat started, all my panic left its place to a sweet joy. I could not understand how quick the time flew by. Nesrin and Solmaz, two other blogathoners, were there as well. Once again we shared and derived great pleasure from that. Here are some notes from the chat:

-          Blogathon was sometimes stressful. Especially the voting process.

-          The team of the British Council leading us was professional and successful.

-          It was a lifetime experience and it changed our lives.

-          The hardest was the word limit (250 words) in each post.

-          The space we were provided was only for the texts without any visuals or videos.

-          The gold award motivated all of us at first but later we focused on blogging itself.

-          Comments and supports from the other blogathoners kept us alive during 28 days of the competition.

-          Many of us have personal blogs now and that seems to be the real award.

Thanks to Sabancı University School of Languages for giving us an opportunity to share our experience. Starting a virtual conference platform is such a great idea that I want to congratulate the Conference Committee. I’m looking forward to the 2nd International Conference on Language Education of Sabancı University in June.

 
Welcome to my place!
Written by Merve Oflaz
Sunday, 13 March 2011 10:06
2 Comments
welcome

Dear Colleagues,

Dear Student Teachers,

Dear Students,

Dear Friends and Dear Others:)

Welcome to my blog! It’s a privilege for me to host you in here. I hope you will like my posts and share your thoughts and feelings.

I’m so excited about my blog. I just can’t wait to be in touch with my readers. Because of this, I’ve been wandering around with a grinning face as if someone is about to take my photo here and there. You know when someone is ready to take your photo you are expected to say ‘cheese’ and when you do that your face mostly changes into a grinning MSN Smiley. That’s the expression on my face nowadays.

My blogging story has begun with the inspiring competition the British Council opened in February. I should admit that ‘ELT Blogathon 2011’ has encouraged many of the competitors to open their personal blogs. Many thanks to the British Council for the opportunity it offered. The gold award (being sent to the 45th IATEFL Conference in Brighton) attracted most of us, sharing with other fellow bloggers charged our energy and precious guest bloggers supported us with their posts and comments. That was a unique experience for me. I enjoyed reading the posts, writing and sharing.

When I learnt about the Silver Award I received, I felt so happy. I will have a free entrance for Sabancı University ELT conference. I’m looking forward to taking place at the conference.

I believe the inspiration I gained is another award of the competition. I hope I can manage to keep you stay tuned. I am sure we will colour up our lives and shine our lights by sharing.

Remember! The more you share to more you grow knowledge.

 
This ending is a beginning
Written by Merve Oflaz
Monday, 07 March 2011 09:19
4 Comments
news5

There are a lot of endings. Happy endings, sad endings, twist endings, ruined endings, surprised endings and so on.

Endings and beginnings are like matryoshka dolls. One closes the other and one opens the other. Then each beginning is an ending and each ending is a beginning.

Blogathon has been a marathon start for me. I learnt many things from all of you, shared my ideas, asked and gave advices. I felt the joy in my heart and the spirit of shared knowledge surrounded my mind.

Now, it is about to end but that will start another thing in most of our lives. As we stated in some posts, we will open our own blogs and go on sharing.  We will go on sharing knowledge like the generous nature.

I thank you all for the delightful journey we had together and wish you good luck.

 
Magic potion
Written by Merve Oflaz
Monday, 07 March 2011 09:19
10 Comments
news4

“We have a mind. We have feelings. To separate the two is to deny all that we are. To integrate the two is to help us realise what we might be.” George Isaac Brown says.

“When learning a foreign language, feelings of uncertainty, and even fear often develop in the learner. It is clear that EFL learners need a relaxing atmosphere more than anything else, and icebreakers, warmers, games may create the situation for this to happen.”[1]

Our mission, as teachers, must be allowing the students to use their imagination and try to raise the awareness. There’s always space in students minds, but it’s locked. To unlock that,  we can make our own magic potion. Use any activities, methods or techniques your students need as ingredients of your magic potion. Bring life to your lessons and classroom. Do not hesitate to use real objects, photos, pictures, technology,  music, body language and your voice. All these will motivate them.  Leave some of the magic potion for yourself! Don’t forget you need some creativity and imagination, too.

Good Appetite!

[1] Moskowitz, G. (1972), Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Classroom,

Newbury House Publishers, Cambridge, Mass

 
Right brain / left brain dominance test for your students
Written by Merve Oflaz
Monday, 07 March 2011 09:19
4 Comments
news3

This is a little quiz to have an idea about your students’ brain dominances. The test was given by Gulfem Aslan, a teacher trainer,  at a seminar in British Council in 1999. Thanks to her.

1. Are you better at recognizing and remembering names or faces?

Choose one: Names                         Faces

2 .Are you an organized individual or a spontaneous individual?

Choose one: Organized                  Spontaneous

3. Do you like realistic stories or stories that deal in fantasy?

Choose one: Realistic                     Fantasy

4. Do you problem-solve using logic or intuition?

Choose one: Logic                           Intuition

5. Do you like well-structured assignments or open-ended assignments?

Choose one: Well-structured     Open-ended

6. Do you remember things easily through language or through pictures?

Choose one: Language                  Pictures

7. Do you consider yourself to be very creative or not creative?

Choose one: Creative                    Not creative

8. Do you often produce humorous thoughts and ideas or serious thoughts and ideas?

Choose one: Humorous               Serious

9. Do you read for details and facts or for main ideas and overviews?

Choose one: Details/facts           Main idea/overview

10. Do you learn through systematic plans or through exploration?

Choose one: Systematic plans   Exploration

Scoring Procedure

Question 1. Faces=right-brain behaviour; Names=left-brain behaviour

Question 2. Spontaneous=right-brain behaviour; Organized=left-brain behaviour

Question 3. Fantasy=right-brain behaviour; Realistic=left-brain behaviour

Question 4. Intuition=right-brain behaviour; Logic=left-brain behaviour

Question 5. Open-ended=right-brain behaviour; Well-structured=left-brain behaviour

Question 6. Pictures=right-brain behaviour; Language=left-brain behaviour

Question 7. Creative=right-brain behaviour; Not creative=left brain behaviour

Question 8. Humorous=right-brain behaviour; Serious=left-brain behaviour

Question 9. Main idea and overview=right-brain behaviour; Details and facts=left-brain behaviour

Question 10. Exploration=right-brain behaviour; Systematic plans=left-brain behaviour.

 

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