What is RSS?

Hello everyone! I'm back and I've brought my RSS Feed with me for today's post. I will briefly explain what RSS is, the service I'm using and so on down below.

It can be hard to keep track of all the content online since new stuff gets shared every day. There is an easy way though: RSS.

What is an RSS Feed?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It allows you to subscribe to websites and blogs and whenever they have something new published, you can see it on a single page instead of having to check every single site if there are new posts. It helps you save a lot of time and effort.

How To Use RSS Feed?

• The first thing you should do is installing a feedreader. 
• You can download the one I'm using here. If you don't want to install it on your computer, they have an online feedreader option as well (which you will see when you click on the link).

• Secondly, after you install it follow the steps in the picture below. 

• After that, paste your link on the page that appears and click"okay".

It is that simple! You will see your feed on the screen right away.

Here is how my own RSS feed looks like:

The blogs that I follow can be seen on the left and the posts that they have shared are on the right with the dates and titles. I can group them however I want but right now I'm using the "No grouping" option.

(My RSS Feed can also be seen my blog down on the right side of my page. Check them out if you want!)

And I want to show you one of my favorite ELT blogs. It is called ELT Planning. This blog belongs to Pete who is from Bangkok and he mainly shares his ideas about ELT and tips for the other teachers.

For example, he posts about the details of a game he played in class to give ideas to the others.

Pete's blog isn't as professional as the other ones in my feed but I certainly recommend you to follow these kinds of blogs as well. Pete's blog does have lots of fun ideas that everyone could make use of!

Thank you for reading my post!

Ever Heard of Digital Storytelling?

image taken from here

Hi, it's me again and I'm back with yet another task!

This time we were told to choose from one of the digital storytelling tasks and we chose the most fun one. But first, let me explain what it is.

Digital storytelling is basically using computer-based tools to tell stories. Meaning that digital graphics, videos, texts, music, etc. will accompany your storytelling.

There are lots of different types of digital storytelling. The one we did for this task is telling how to do something. In this case, my friend Asya and I are telling you how to wear contact lenses correctly!

Check out our video down below!

Check out Asya's post about it here too.

I Made a Movie Poster

Hello!

This week our task was to create a movie poster based on a book that we have read. I chose to go with the novel I most recently have read. It's originally in Chinese but it was translated into English with the title "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation". While creating the poster, I chose to simply call the movie "Grandmaster" because... the simpler the better, right?

Here is my poster! Click on it see it in full size.

(The original picture belongs to Yukina Emi.)

In the future, I definitely would want to give this kind of task to my students. Personally, I found the process extremely fun. When something I love gets integrated into course tasks, it motivates me. 

See you in my next post!

Website Evaluation: News in Levels

Hello everyone! 

Today I'm here with another task. This time, I evaluated an ELT website of my choice. 

The website I chose is called News in Levels which is a website that allows English learners to read news articles that are suitable to their level, therefore helping them improve their language.

Who authored the website? 

The authors of this website are working as a team. They don't reveal respective names; they sign the posts with "the News in Levels Team". The only information about the team is that they are based in the Czech Republic.


What is the content of the website? 

News in Levels is a website that allows you to read news according to your English proficiency. First, the website asks you to take a 3-minute test to see which level of English you are on and then tells you which level of news you should read on their site. 

There are various news articles on different topics you can choose from as you can see in the picture I attached above.

It is possible to change the level of news easily.

The site also provides the voiced version of the articles right under the posts.

News in Levels also has other sites that are connected to each other. You can get directed to Grammar in Levels, Robinson Crusoe in Levels, Speak in Levels, How to Learn English in Levels, People in Levels and Videos in Levels using the bar at the top.


Who is the target audience? 

The target audience is mainly the adult learners of English who want to practice their reading and listening. But it is suitable for every passionate English student. 


What is the purpose of the website? 

News in Levels aims to teach English naturally and fast and help the learner achieve a level where they can finally understand original news from native speakers. 


Is there a date that shows when the site has last been updated? 

The site has last been updated on 22-04-2019.

Accuracy of the information- Are there any errors?

The site doesn't seem to have any errors since it is authorized by professionals.

Are there any broken links? 

All of the links work well.

Are the images of high quality and appealing to the target audience? 

The pictures used on the site are very relevant and illustrative. They are definitely of high quality. All of the pictures are licenced under the Creative Commons. Further information about it can be found here.


How can it be applied to EFL teaching? 

As it is mentioned on the Conditions of Use page, the content on the site can be used by teachers only if they are teaching face-to-face in classes. It is forbidden to use it otherwise if you are making money out of it. 

This site can be used as a reading/listening exercise. It can be given as homework and the students can read some articles daily. It is also very useful in developing the learners' word knowledge. 

So, you might want to check News in Levels, it's pretty useful! Thank you for reading my evaluation.

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