It's the end of the year once more! I've started getting our blog for next year ready. It looks as if my group of students will be AMEP (Adult Migrant English Program) ESOL level 3.
We'll start work at the beginning of February 2009.
Have a great festive season and we'll see you next year.
Keep watching!
Short video on Web 2.0 tools used in my blogs & wikis.
It was created to test Stupeflix and then upload onto bliptv to show both tools to LTM mentors.
Hi all, I couldn't be with you today and this is the reason why: elearning08 conference organised by the Australian Flexible Framework.
This is the type of event where teachers like me get our inspiration and professional development to then bring it to you in the classroom.
I hope you all have a great summer break. Keep save and keep learning! Dont forget to visit our websites (LEt's Talk (SI), Let's Talk (podomatic), ESOL f2f (and you can write on it), Time4English, our forum (you can wirte on any of the topics there), and most important:
Keep up with your blogs! We are all connected and following you! Let's talk!
Check out your classmates' podcasts on movies in Let's Talk.
Our college library has a good post on Internet Movie Databases. Very useful before you write a review.
This one is a very reliable film review website, Rotten Tomatoes. It has some professional film critics writing their reviews there, but also reviews by film buffs, like you and I. My class read two reviews of the movie we are going to see on Tuesday, Australia. One positive and one negative. Do you like to read reviews before seeing a movie?
Her is another review of Australia from the ABC programme At the Movies. What do David and Margaret think of it? Do they recommend us to go and watch it? How do they say it?
Marion was showing us a bit of Ellen Degeneres programme. I found this interview of Nicole Kidman wiht her in yappr. Check it out!
We also read some information about the Bombing of Darwin during WW2, as this is part of the movie Australia.
You can also read about another theme of Australia: the Stolen Generations and the Sorry finally given to them by our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.
Before I forget, I published Valeria, Lara and Orietta's podcasts in Let's Talk. Read the comments in Valeria & Lara's post. Sophie, one of our students from a couple of years ago, left a very nice comment.
Everyone in level 4 has to prepare an oral presentation.Some of you started learning how to use Power Point at the end of last term. Today we would like you to have time to start working on your presentation using power point. Marion and myself will help you if you need us to.
You will find Power Point in Programs, Microsoft Office.
Check out the presentation below to see a good example of a slideshow (probably power point!) and to get some very good ideas on what to do or not to do in your presentation.
Have you listened to the podcasts about Sculpture by the Sea? Elmira, Sophie and Sue, Diana and Aneta talk about our excursion and their favourite sculptures. If you want to record your own podcast, you can start recording with Audacity. Ask Marion and Rosa to help you and show you how to edit your recording. When you are ready, call us to save it on a memory stick to publish it in Let's Talk.
The year is coming to an end very quickly. As usual for level 4 students, this means that you have to start thinking about what to do next year. On Thursday 13th November (in the downstairs Hogben Foyer between 12 noon and 1pm) we will have a Pathways session with teachers from different courses giving out information about those courses. We will be talking about it in class this week, so that you can understand the different possibilities better and prepare questions to ask about courses you may be interested in. This ESOL study pathways chart can help you, too.
Today I'd like you to listen to a podcast with the college counsellor, Luisa O'delli. Listen to her and do the work on the worksheet. You can publish a summary of her interview in your blog.
One of the sculptures in Sculpture by the Sea was the Ned Kelly mask lying on the shore (on your right). If you have time during the weekend or holidays, listen to this Bushranger Melange Podcast that an Australian high school teachers published for his students.
These photos are from Sculpture by the Sea 2007. Sooon you'll be able to take photos for your blogs of Sculpture by the Sea 2008!
Tomorrow is the big day! Remember to bring your camera and take photos of your designated sculpture and any other sculptures that take your fancy. You can also take a bit of video and upload it to bubleshare with the Add Video button (next Add Image). Next week I'll put a tutorial on how to add your bubbleshare album in your blog post.
If you've lost the excursion worksheet, get it here.
This is the picture that I posted as a puzzle yesterday. You were right, it's called i-sea! Why do you think it's called that?
Part of our course is Reading News. This is an article about Sculpture by the Sea in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Read it and answer these questions:
Once you answer the questions, write a short text in your own words and add it to the post you wrote yesterday on Sculpture by the Sea.
Last week Marion and I decided to introduce you to one of the most spectacular art exhibitions in Australia, Sculpture by the Sea. I took the pictures above at Sculpture by the Sea 2007.
We will be going next Tuesday by public transport, but thought that this would be a good opportunity for you to use the Internet to find out about the event and to plan our excursion .
Check the link Sculpture by the Sea and answer these questions:
Write the answers in your blog, but as a paragraph, without using numbers. It should read like a newspaper clip abut the event. You can borrow my slide show or some of the photos in it for your post. Next week you will be able to take your own!
Now a bit of guess work: Can you find out the name of this sculpture and the artist who created it? (hint: images in google search or official website for the event)
In your blog, write about this sculpture:This website, trip planner, may be useful.
If you want an exciting way of editing your photos, go to picnik.
You can create photos like the one I posted last week (tea cups) or this puzzle one done with the same photo.
If you have photos in flickr, you can place a slide generator in your blog. This will find out your flickr id .This link will tell you how to do it.
A tea shop in Newtown yesterday arvo 
Marion's back from Beijing. What do you want to know about her trip? Did she get your questions for an athlete? Did she manage to interview one of them? Write down the questions and we will ask her and publish her answers next week.
It's the Chinese Moon Festival this week. Read here about the legend linked to it. Did you celebrate it? How? Tell us about it in your blogs.
Watch the video below, What are You Wearing? with you talking about what you are wearing. Sorry that we couldn't record all of you last week. Audacity has something missing... but if you want we can do it today. I also posted it in Let's Talk (students) and Let's Talk, which you can subscribe to with itunes and download podcasts and vodcasts (this one is an mp4)into your ipod .
As we've been talking about clothes and fashion, today you can listen to Cathy's'podcast about Rozelle Markets, where she's got a clothes stall. Don't forget to do the worksheet. It will help you with the listening.
Hi there. Today you should publish in your blog your description of what Alison and Andrew are wearing. If you want to add my bubbleshare album in your blog, follow these instructions: How to add a bubbleshare album to your blog.
Now is your turn to record a short segment about what you are wearing. Remember to revise the language used by Alison, Andrew and the writers to the Fashion Police forum. Then practise with a classmate and when you are ready, record your short interviews in Audacity.
Welcome back, Marion!
Can you prepare a few questions to ask Marion about her trip? When you are ready we will interview her for a podcast in Let's Talk!
Today's picture is an easy riddle. If you know what it is, write it in comments below. You can create your own wordle for your favourite song, poem, your blog or any piece of article that interests you. Ask me how to do it and save it as a picture for your blog .
Some of you wrote more suggestions for overseas visitors in Sydney during Thursday's class. Don't forget to add them to our esolf2f wiki!
Great work with your report writing. This week we'll look at writing a report about an object. You can start thinking about something interesting you would like to write about. For example a great invention, something iconic in your culture, or even a sport or event.
Andrew and I recorded an example of what to do when you can't attend class, which is to phone the teacher and let them know you will be absent. Listen to it and write down the dialogue. W will practise it later in class.
Now listen to this podcast about Andrew, Andrew: Nut & Num, and do the work at the end of the post. It will be part of your blog portfolio.
As part of your portfolio, you should listen to the podcasts we link to in this blog and do the questions and writing tasks in the worksheets included in each podcast. If you have and ipod, you can subscribe to the whole blog, Let's Talk, by clicking on the itunes icon on the right sidebar. This means the podcasts go into your ipod and you can practise your English while you catch the train, bus, do your exercise, housework, or you're bored and have nothing better to do.
Friends and family are always welcome in our household. Last month we were showing off our beautiful city to our Spanish visitors.
What do you do when you have visitors from overseas? Today we can write down a list of suggestions in our esolf2f wiki.
Last week we decided we wanted to revise comparison in adjectives. Go to Time4English, click on Grammar book and in letter C do the exercises on Comparatives er / est ,more/most
You have been given a Welcome to TAFE kit with information about TAFE, rights & responsibilities and study pathways. Listen to these interviews with Djimi, an ESOL student in 2006. My class students from last semester ask her about her study pathways. Have a look at her chart and think about your own study plan.
Take time to write your recounts and reports in your blogs.
Well done to all the students who got a new blog. There is a link to your blog in your teacher's blog. Sorry we didn't have time to help everyone. We'll do it today. Now you can write a comment in your classmates' blogs. Remember to check your grammar before publishing.
Some of you didn't have time to finish all the work last week. You can try and do it now:
The picture on the left is the answer to last week's picture-guess. Elmira was the only student to guess it, although she wasn't 100% sure. Well done! You could try and guess who the mystery man is. Write your guess in comments.
As you know, Marion is in Ireland. She has just left a message for us in the comments of this post. Read it and write something to her there. Listen to her telling me about her trip. Do the worksheet (type it and email it to me or print it and hand it in).Think of some questions to ask her. Write them down and we'll try and record them in our World Map.
If you know what this is, tell us in comments
Hi again. I hope you managed to record your voice on our voicethread world map at home. If not, we will try it at the college.
Marion has gone overseas. Listen to this casual conversation and answer the questions on the worksheet.
Finally, let's write a wiki page for the Olymppic Games. You can write the questions that you wrot e in class for the Olympic Quiz. Get the invite key from me.
Read this newspaper clip:
Today we are going to work with Marion's class. Choose a partner from the other class and start working on the following activities:
Don't panic if you can't finish all the work today. Rosa's class has more time tomorrow with Larry and everyone has all week to work on the blog. You can access it from home, the library and the Learner Support Centre.
In our esolf2f wiki you will find the students' page.
Can you guess what this means? Just think of the workds: Digital Stories. Discuss possible meanings with your classmates.
Here is an example of a digital story created by one of my students, Robert. He interview Djimi, whom you met earlier this semester (and whose podcast I'm about to publish in Let's Talk).
Another short one is Salsa Lesson, from the end of the year party.
You'll find more in Sydney's People Podcast (Nikki & Carol), wher I added the recorded interviews to photos and bits of video.
There are many good examples of digital stories on the web. Here are some links to tutorials and examples (sorry but some of the links don't work, but they are not mine, so I can't fix them):
Stephan's wiki page has brilliant examples and tutorials (including guides by Robyn Jay, who gave us a fantastic workshop some time ago)
Creating the Connections, a fantastic digital stories resource kit for literacy
Digital Stories with Gail Casey
Digitales
Teaching Visual Literacy is an interview with Martin Scorsese (script included) where he talks about the role of visual literacy (advanced students).
Digital Story Telling-CAP
Let's do it now!
Go to Let's Talk to listen to your podcast about Everyone's a Winner! or simply click on the screen below.
Have a great holiday and have lots of fun practising your pronunciation!
Matt is going to help you add to our 101 Health Hints (dental, back, footwear, etc). We're nearly there (81! 20 to go).
Find the meaning of these Aussie slang words in the Aussie Dictionary:
PATHWAYS
Part of our pathway session last week included EFS and Comms. Today we are going to do a bit more listening and thinking about those courses.
I'm afraid I published some of this post by mistake last week. It was meant to be work for this week. Sorry!
It's Health Expo Week again! Congratulations to all our students, both in Marion's and Rosa's class (Ivy, Li, Min) on the fantastic health tips left in our f2fwiki. Continue adding to it, we have to reach 101!
Meanwhile, you can do this cloze on Childhood obesity. Double click on each work to put it in the right place. Answer these questions:
1. What is childhood obesity?
2. Which developed countries are more affected by childhood obesity?
3. What is the meaning of epidemic?
4. What percentage of North American kids are obese?
Check this website, CalorieKing that Marion posted for her students. They will be preparing all the food for the Health Expo. We'll be there to taste their healthy food! Read the brochure and answer these questions:
1. How many stalls will there be?
2. Look up new words in your dictionary.3. Choose one of the stalls. Write 5 questions to ask the stall holder.
Last Friday I met Peter Shanks, a TAFE IT teacher from Bathurst. He showed me a great tool designed by him that allows you to find pictures that don't break copyright. They are flickr photos that have a Creative Commons licence, like the ones I showed you last week in class. Creative Commons means that you can use them for free, as long as you show the attribution details, which means that you write the name of the author and a link to where the photo comes from (in this case flickr).
To find a photo you just write the name of what you are looking for in the Find window and then click on the picture you like. If you do it with the tick in the edit box, you can edit it before you save it, add words to it and a frame. You can add the attribution inside the picture itself or copy it and paste it on your blog below the picture. You save the picture as usual, by right clicking on it and storing it in your computer.
Ideally you should link the photo to its original page in flickr.
I'm leaving a permanent link to this tool below Useful Links in our righthand side bar.
This is and example I edited for our Money money week.
Original image: 'Money' by: Joshua Davis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51194339@N00/8806988
Released under an Attribution-ShareAlike License
Last Sunday started with rain, but then we had a glorious winter afternoon, perfect for a bush walk around Manly. Here are some photos of the day (the quality is not brilliant, they were taken with a mobile phone). If you have time, take yourselves there by ferry, walk to the beach and follow the walk to Shelly beach. There is a bush walk up the cliffs that takes you back to Manly going past the old seminary. It's great!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.
Health Expo is coming! We are going to work with Marion's class, AMEP A (level 4) to build a page around health topics. Go to our f2f wiki, the Events page, and follow the instructions below the Health Expo.
Last week we started talking about money matters (one of the topics you wanted to work with).
AMES VILC has several stories about consumer issues, Mind your Money. The listening doesn't seem to be working (try at home, just in case), but you can do some of the exercises and also have a look at the links provided in other languages. Let's look at Mario and Marta's Wedding exercise 1 . Then do exercise 2. Finally read the whole story and check out the advice and links below it.
AMES VILC has also got weekly listening news items. Listen to this week's news here.
Next week we can do another one. The list of topics is here. Look at them in Know your consumer rights! and tell me which one you prefer to do first.
Today you can listen to a new podcast, John: Global Citizen. Print the worksheet first. It will help you with the listening and the writing.
We have a new f2f wiki, so you'll need to update your links. It's going to be on our permanent links on the right of this blog and will replace the pbwiki one.
Look at this watch. It looks like a normal watch, doesn't it?
This photo is for the geeks out there!
Good work everyone! Last week you learned how to create and post a photo album. I hope you continue using your new skills to send photos of your family to friends and relatives. You can also add sound and today we will try to do it.
Look at Bing's blog. He wrote a good personal piece on If I were an animal... . Try and write something yourself.
Today you will have some time to catch up with your podcast listening. Check last week's post for the links to the 4 podcasts due this term.
Last week we created our first podcast by recording it onto an mp3 player/recorder. Another way of creating audio files is the program Audacity. A couple of you tried it at the beginning of last term. Today I would like to find time for everybody to record your voice using Audacity. Follow this steps:
2. Click on Audacity
3. Connect the headphones/speaker to the computer
4.Press the red button to record your voice
Time to relax!
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