Sunday, March 4, 2018

Growth Spurt

Looking over my posts from February in order to prepare the end-of-month summary newsletter, I noticed that I have not been creating very much. There was only one freebie that month. NB: If you subscribe to the newsletter, you know about all the freebies, even ones I only announce on Twitter but do not blog about. One week in February, I listened instead of talking.

You might think this lull means that things are slowing down here at Joy of ESL, but actually this is just the fallow time before the growing season. I am currently taking another of Tony Vincent's online classes, and this one is a doozy. The course is called Classy Videos. I am hoping to learn how to create good videos--both for ESL students and for my fellow teachers. Last week's assignment was to practice good narration. Here is what I created for that.

The assignment for this week is to create a tutorial video. The intended audience is YOU. I hope I can realize my vision and that it proves valuable to someone somewhere. Stay tuned for the addition of a Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Because the course is cognitively taxing and time-consuming, you can expect things to remain a bit low-key here on the blog for a few more weeks.

Here are the results of the survey so far:

What do readers value most in an activity pack?
  1. Lots of images
  2. Picture-word matching activity
  3. Spelling activity
  4. Cloze or gap-fill
  5. Sentence unscramble
  6. Peer survey or dialogue (zero votes)
Which types of blog posts do readers find most engaging?
  1. Updates from the PBLA battlefield
  2. Links to others' ideas
  3. Personal stories
  4. Classroom techniques
  5. Announcements of freebies
Finally, I looked at reasons why someone might not subscribe to the newsletter. One reader said s/he reads the blog weekly and therefore does not need a summary. I should mention that some links to others' tools / ideas and some freebies do not get mentioned on the blog. However, if you are on Twitter, you will probably catch them there. Once I get the Facebook page up and running, everything will be there, too.

What are you up to these days? Is spring finally arriving in your neck of the woods?
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10 comments:

  1. Learning to Learn Languages with Cintia3/04/2018 8:17 AM

    Hi Kelly, I totally loved your video! I am learning more and more how to teach CLB 1 and literacy these days. Spring here now? Not yet, actually we are expecting a huge snow storm today and tomorrow. As I love snow, I am happy and I will take lots of pictures of it! Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for sharing lots of great materials and ideas! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kelly3/04/2018 8:29 AM

    Thank you for the nice comment, Cintia. Learning is fun, isn't it? It's cold here today, so I don't feel bad about spending the whole day on a huge project indoors. --K

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Learning to Learn Languages with Cintia3/04/2018 11:47 AM

      Learning makes me feel alive. I am going for a walk with my husband and my dog. Even though it is our fourth winter, we still love the snow. LOL! :-)

      Delete
  3. Learning to Learn Languages with Cintia3/04/2018 8:32 AM

    It is wonderful you are taking this course how to make videos! Last year, when I was teaching about health, I could not find an easy video and I decided to create a very simple one with my husband. We had fun and my students laughed a lot when they watched it. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Kelly3/04/2018 8:39 AM

      Cool! Yes, that is why I need to know how to make videos. Other people's stuff is never quite right. I'm too picky. I want bespoke materials for MY group's needs and level. --K

      Delete
  4. Anonymous3/04/2018 8:53 AM

    Thanks for your willingness to work out loud and share your work, Kelly. I always enjoy stopping by your blog to see what you're doing.

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    Replies
    1. Kelly3/04/2018 8:57 AM

      Thanks, Bonnie! I would love to reciprocate. If you have a blog or FB page or anything like that, feel free to post it in a comment so we can follow you, too.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3/05/2018 5:23 PM

      Thanks, Kelly. I have a blog but it's moribund. Maybe I'll try to bring it back to life one day. I have a Facebook page for students, Bonnie's English Page and another for instructors Teaching EAL but they're small-scale. I'd like to move more towards working out loud.

      Delete
    3. Kelly3/05/2018 5:45 PM

      Cool! I just liked your page for teachers. --K

      Delete
  5. Anonymous3/05/2018 11:19 AM

    Emerging Practice Guidelines (PBLA) whipping.

    PART B
    Planning for PBLA in my Classroom

    Scheduling
    It is recommended that teachers schedule a regular time each week to do portfolio management activities, such as putting artefacts into the portfolio, filling out the inventory, etc. so learners (and their teacher!)

    Please notice the (and their teacher!)

    I found this very insulting. The Emerging Practice Guidelines document is full of many examples of disrespect for instructors. If I treated my learners this way, they would be very angry. Maybe the reason that so many instructors are angry is that CIC and IRCC and CLB are treating them so disrespectfully
    Sigh
    So tired.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for participating in this forum. Anonymous commenting is available, but is not intended to shield those taking pot shots at those of us challenging PBLA. If you are here to do that, please use your name.

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