Here Is My Favorite Book's Review

Hello! Our task this week was creating a book review wiki page and I thought that this was a marvelous chance to show you one of my favorite books: Fairest by Marissa Meyer.  I had to hold myself back a lot to stop myself from writing a 50k page about how much I love it. I guess I succeeded this time! Check it out here right now!

The book I reviewed, Levana, is a part of a series, so I will leave the other books in order down below to make it easy for everyone.

The Order of the Lunar Chronicles Books

1. Cinder

2. Scarlet

3. Cress

3,5. Fairest

4. Winter

Stars Above (Bonus Book)

Our Podcast (A.K.A The Best Story You'll Hear Today)

Hello again. This time I'm here with a... *drum rolls* podcast!

For those who don't know, a podcast is basically an episodic series of digital audio or video files which a user can download in order to listen to. It can be about anything and everything.

The podcast that my friend Asya and I made is telling a short story written by us. We created a transcribed video to go with it too. It was very fun creating it and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

You can find Asya's post about our podcast here. Check her blog and subscribe to her as well!

sources used:

What is a Podcast?

Sound Effects (used in the video)

Is Technology Necessary In Classrooms

image taken from here

Hello everyone. In this post, I’m going to talk about a classic yet still very important issue: Technology in education. Is it really necessary? Is it okay not to use technology in schools?

It is hard to get used to something completely new for some people, but we must accept how crucial technology usage is in our lives today. Most people admit how important it is and how we should make use of it in the education field but when it comes into practice, more than half of those people prefer not to use it. However, with time, it will no longer be a choice. It is not possible to leave education out when technology affects everything we know in this world.

It’s the age of the digital natives

Children today are born into a world where constant technology use is normal. They don’t know anything but a world filled with advanced computers, tablets, anything. Do you think it will make sense to them if we rip them off from all the opportunities technology could give to them when they’re at school?

It’s easier for the teacher

Think about a teacher who has four different classes and more that a hundred students. After a  test, grading all those paper is definitely nothing but torture when there is another way to do this. Much easier for both students and the teachers. No waiting for the results to come out, no grading by hand reading each answer one by one. Can you imagine how much time we could save if we had our tests digitally?

Everyone can learn at their own pace

In a class where everything is on the teacher, the students who are quick to understand or the students who need more practice and repeating to get the full understanding of the subject might get disencourage and left out. They might give up on the course completely. There is no way the teacher can deal with everyone individually to prevent this from happening. But technology makes it possible. It gives everyone the chance to repeat whenever and as many times as they want. They control their own learning which results in a much greater success rate.

Technology cannot be ignored in education, because it is already included in every second of our lives. Teachers should acknowledge all the advantages of technology integration in classrooms and apply them accordingly to get the best results. As  Alan November says, “Teachers need to stop saying, ‘Hand it in,’ and start saying ‘Publish It.’”

sources used

・How Important is Technology in Education?

・10 Reasons Today’s Students NEED Technology in the Classroom

How CALL Has Evolved In Time

CALL, which is short for Computer Assisted Language Learning, has changed its shape in time as the technology developed. In this post, we will take a look at how it has evolved in time briefly.

In the 1940s, the computers were used for missile guidance and cryptography in World War II. People started to use mechanical translations but unfortunately, they were not near good yet. 

In the 1950s, programming languages were developed and they made it possible for linguists to use computers to create concordances for text analysis in the 1960s.  

CALL in the 1960s was shaped by the behavioristic approach. It became really popular between the 1960s and 1970s. CALL was used as a supplement in classrooms. 

When the end of the 1970s came, communicative approach began to rise and replaced the behavioristic one. Learning focused more on meaning rather became much more popular than the one focusing on the formal instruction part. 

In the 1980s, CALL had more opportunities for learner interaction. Many books about CALL methodology was written around these years, such as Computers in Language Learning (1984) by Higgins and Johns and Underwood’s Linguistics, Computers and the Language Teacher (1984) etc.  Also, lots of professional organizations (CALICO, EuroCALL) and journals (CALICO Journal, ReCALL) appeared in this time. 

Programs that consisted of games, readings, writings, tests, and puzzles aimed at language teaching were developed. But still, the computers still lacked. They were limited to certain things and couldn’t give important feedback to students. 

In the 1990s, the computer programs were redesigned to be a stimulus for the students. They aimed to create some intended behaviors and features in students such as critical thinking and creativity. Learners were more active while using these programs. The use of the internet and LANs became available to more people.

Technology gives us something new and advanced almost every day. Therefore CALL systems keep developing too. How do you think CALL will be in the future?

this timeline was created by visme

source used:

The Development of CALLand Current Options

Key Points of 21st Century Learning

The most appropriate way to talk about learning would be starting with how it is today, in 2019, therefore in the 21st century. Learning has been there since the first people and it has evolved drastically throughout time just like everything does. The beliefs and methods used for education were adapted to match the needs of today’s learners. Today, we will take a look at the most significant terms, the 4Cs, that describe 21s century learning.


1) Critical Thinking

image taken from here

Critical thinking is about analyzing objectively and making judgments accordingly. Students are expected to analyze and evaluate information so that they can gain problem-solving and decision-making abilities and can start seeing things from different points of view.






2) Communication

image taken from here

The education system today requires students to be able to share their opinions clearly. Taking part in conversations, understanding what others mean and making themselves comprehensible is very important.







3) Collaboration

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Individual students learn how to work in a team. They learn how to take responsibility and to respect others. It helps them be more disciplined and faster to accomplish their goals. 







4) Creativity

image taken from here

“Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.” – Rollo May, The Courage to Create 

Every person is born with a creative mind. Everyone is able to see the world in a different light and bring something out of it. In the 21st century, it is a mission to make the creative side of the students appear. 


Overall, 21st century learning is shaped around some critical terms that aim to bring the best out of the learners. If we are able to give the students these qualities, we can expect to see a brighter future with productive generations. 

sources used:

・What are the 4cs?

・Rules of 21st Century Learning

・Benefits of Critical Thinking

・What is Creativity?

Welcome aboard!

image taken from here

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! This is my first post ever, so I want to introduce myself and the content I intend to share on SimplyFLE!



My name is Refika Özdemir and I'm studying English Language Teaching at Marmara University. The initial reason why I created this blog is I want to pass our  Material Design course... But! It also means that I will try to make this blog as beneficial as possible for everyone. My posts will be about language education for the most part. In the most simple way too.



Since we mentioned the word "simple", I should probably explain my URL. The FLE in "SimplyFLE" stands for Foreign Language Education. Pretty simple, right? I know, it's not that clever or creative but I'm not an expert in finding names for these kinds of stuff. I did my best.



I guess that's enough for a welcoming post! I will share more fun facts about myself on my about page and my posts about FLE are on the way!



Thank you for visiting my blog. Follow my blog if you want to become a part of the crew!