EVO Digitalstorytelling4kids 2013 - SMOOC Feedback

When you fully immerse yourself into a project and time flies, you know that you are in the 'flow'.  The thing to do is to take each day and try to live it as if you know that it will have to end by nightfall.  Enjoy every moment, try everything out, be happy, have fun, make mistakes, learn from them, observe others, praise their efforts, enjoy their contributions, share as much as possible, live your life free!

I guess YOLO sums it all up. You Only Live Once, so make the most of it!

Joining in a SMOOC  (Small Open Online Course) was an exciting feeling, and I enjoyed every moment of it, especially all the interaction with the enthusiastic participants and moderators.  Attending the weekly webinars was also fun and helped to create a sense of belonging to the group.

Such times are meant to be treasured, and so writing my feedback thoughts here about the EVO Digitalstorytelling4kids session will capture those special moments. A million thanks goes to each and every one of the fabulous moderators and my fellow coursemates.  We encouraged each other, collaborated and shared many experiences, tools and incredible stories. I was very impressed by the amount of energy and passion for the subject that was palpable, even though everythinig was conducted online.

 The Digitalstorytelling portfolio of work is an excellent compilation of many wonderful ideas and creative storytelling from over 200 participants from around the globe.The portfolio is currently being exported to Blogger, due to the imminent closure of Posterous. More digitalstorytelling resources and links can be found in this very comprehensive Livebinders.

The action-packed 5-week schedule can be viewed here.

I learned about Edmodo for the first time, and was able to see how it works as an educational platform for learning and teaching online.  I would certainly like to have a go at using it with a group of students in the future.

Brainy Box
Below is a nice site called Brainy Box which sums up my feeling after this session, which has spurred me on to experiment with some interesting tools which can be used for all manners of student projects.  Marisa Constantinides one of the inspirational moderators, wrote a post explaining some of the excellent activities that could be generated by a six-sided cube with images in this post here.

Below I would like to share some of my favourite creations from the course, which inspired me to try out and review so many nice tools and resources.

Stay e-safe with an avatar was a very interesting blog post, as it offered 10 tools to explore to create an avatar, which is especially important for young learners.
  

Build Your Wild Self 

 This is a very simple tool to create a wild-looking persona and can be used in an educational way, to learn about different animals.

    . 

Mini Mizer

 

 Fodey

I created a short synopsis of Week 4 of the session by using fodey.com below:

Animoto

This tool was the perfect setting for a Valentine message I sent to the moderators and my fellow participants:

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Captain Scholastic

Experimenting again with Captain Scholastic Underpants was a lot of fun!

ToonDo book

Please click on the book to enlarge it in full screen. 

The Princess by JanetBianchini | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

I have embedded it again below in a different format.  Which one do you prefer?  I couldn't decide which one was better.  I like them both!

The Princess by JanetBianchini | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Voicethread

Part of the tasks in Week 4 was to create a collaborative story in groups, using Voicethread, and this was hugely enjoyable. I would like to thank all the teachers who contributed to my story, either by text or by voice. It was very exciting to see the twists and turns of events...  I also loved contributing to several of my colleagues' stories, and their stories were very imaginative.

You can get students to imagine what happened inbetween the beginning and the end of the story.

Here is a link to a lovely feedback blogpost called Reflections, Hopes and Experiences by Faten Romdhani.  She has included her fabulous collaborative Voicethread story, which I enjoyed contributing  to very much.

 HeartfeltThanks

Finally, the cartoon I created with ToonDoo to add to the Linoit feedback wall, sums up my feelings perfectly!



My previous posts on this session can be viewed by clicking the titles below.

Reaching for the Stars in EVO Week 3.

Photopeach Comics and Cartoons.

Shelly Terrell's American TESOL webinar on Comic Tools and Lesson Ideas is an excellent showcase of resources and tips on how to use comics and cartoons. I really recommend you view it, as you will learn a lot!!
Many thanks to Shelly for mentioning me in her presentation.  I feel very honoured :-))

Reaching for the Stars in EVO Week 3

I came across this saying the other day, and it struck me as being so positive and uplifting, that I knew I had to write it down, so here it is!!

"Always reach for the stars, because even if you don't get there, you will be out of this world."

I am following the EVO Digital Storytelling for Kids session and so far, I am having such a wonderful time.  I just love being a "student" again.  Everyone is sharing so many ideas and being supportive of each other's efforts.  It is a world I love being drawn into, and it helps me appreciate what it is like to be participating in an online course from the student's eyes and perspective.  As an online moderator myself, it is important to be able to feel this perspective, so that in the future, I can incorporate the magical ingredients it takes to make a course a successful and enjoyable one.

Collaborative group work certainly is one of the key ingredients. Having a sense of "belonging" to a community is also fundamental and at the heart of what makes a session run smoothly. Together with excellent, committed moderators who always know the right moment for when to comment and give encouragement, it all contributes to a unique moment in one's personal and professional development.

The truth is that I had planned not to do an EVO session this year, due to a lack of time to devote and immerse myself fully, but as I mentioned in the previous post, I was encouraged to join in, and the rest so they say, is history....I am so glad I am participating!!

Dvolver
Below is a Dvolver film I have created for one of the Week 3 tasks.  It sums up the journey I am following with so much enthusiasm.



The Lillies
Here is a simple story I created with Creaza, called The Lillies.  Can you guess what happens before the final slide?  You need to use your imagination!  Please do join in with your ideas in the Comments' box at the very bottom of the post.

 

Motorbike Stuff
Here's a cartoon I couldn't resist creating, using one of my own favourite images of Abruzzo for the background:

Crazy Rider created with Creaza

The cartoon shows ME doing a wheelie in Abruzzo!!

Can you guess whether the following statements are true about me or not?

 Janet

• has actually been on the back of a motorbike doing a wheelie.
• has ridden thousands of miles on the back of a motorbike.
• lists her favourite motorbike of all time as the Honda Goldwing 1500
• likes flicking through motorbike magazines such as Motociclismo
• has actually seen Valentino Rossi win a Moto GP
• has ridden in formation with a Police Outrider for the former Queen Mother
• has a signed Valentino Rossi original poster called "First Blood" 
• knows what an Akrapovic exhaust sounds like
• enjoys travelling around Abruzzo by motorbike
• has taken training and passed her CBT (Compulsory Basic training) in the UK for riding a 125cc motorbike

Animoto Motorbike Scenes
Animoto is an excellent tool for creating short, snappy slideshows with music.  The free version allows you 30 seconds, which is a bit limiting, but is good enough to create some lovely presentations.

Below is an Animoto video called Abruzzo by Motorbike.  It shows images I took (mostly from the back of the motorbike!) on a trip around the beautiful region of Abruzzo.


Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Answers to the True / False questions are at the bottom!

Using Comics & Cartoons to learn a language
I think learning a language by creating simple comics is an excellent idea. Can you work out what the characters are saying in Itlaian?

An Italian Dialogue created with Creaza

Mille Grazie
I would like to say a very big thank you to all the lovely moderators on the EVO Digitalstorytelling for Young Learners session and also to all my fellow EVO participants for helping to make it such an interesting and valuable learning experience for me so far.  Roll on week 4!!

Post Scriptum
All the statements about Janet and motorbikes are TRUE!!!

Can you believe it?  Sometimes I can't believe it myself, but I'm very glad I tried these things...
When I am old and wearing purple, I will look back on these heady and incredible moments, and they will help me to face the last inevitable journey....

A Fable of Sorts on Present.me

I have revisited my very first Powerpoint presentation created in 2010. A Fable of Sorts was a project undertaken for the enjoyable EVO Images4Education session.

 I have used Present.me for the first time. I like its simplicity of use. For a free account, you can create one private audio and three public presentations a month. There is more information about this easy to use web 2.0. tool here.

Pre-recording an audio or video presentation on Present.me would be an excellent back-up strategy before delivering a major webinar.  This would give you piece of mind and possibly save the day!

I hope you enjoy my story which contains images taken by myself, and a plot loosely based on reality......
I wouldn't usually read the text straight from the slides, but in this case, my story could be used as an audio book, whereby a student could listen to and read the story at the same time.

You can click here if you wish to view the presentation on a large screen via the present.me site.

CO12 - Fab E-Conference, 3- 5 February

I have just been reviewing my slides, as seen in the mosaic below, for this Saturday's CO12 webinar on Teaching Idioms Effectively with Web 2.0 Tools.

My webinar, on Saturday 4th February, is part of many fabulous sessions you can attend for free on February 3 - 5 via Wiziq.

CO12 will be a fantastic opportunity for Professional Development. You can read why as follows:

The conference will be of interest to educators, administrators, students, and community members who value the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum to improve instruction, learning, and business. Online learning involves various skills on the part of the instructor and learner. These include social and communication skills, social networking, independent learning strategies, critical and higher order thinking skills, creativity, and effective online and face-to-face facilitation. In addition, there are many challenges that educators, administrators, students, businesses, and community members face.

Please view the video below by Dr Nellie Deutsch, the founder and current co-ordinator of Connecting Online 2012 Conference. It will explain all you need to know!

CO12 Connecting Online Free Online Conference on WizIQ from Dr. Nellie Deutsch on Vimeo.

Why don't you have a look at the list of presentations here and choose a few to attend this weekend? Whichever session you choose, I am sure it will inspire you! You can enjoy the session in the comfort of your own home.

So far, these are the presentations I have registered for. Why don't you join me??
Digital storytelling for employability
Blogging and Quadblogging - The power of audience on learners of all ages

Seeta Jazz Up Your Digital Storytelling - Feedback

Storytelling is big news at the moment, and so it should be! I have recently finished another wonderful e-course via the SEETA (South Eastern Europe Teachers' Association) on Jazz Up Your Lessons with Digital Storytelling with the lovely Ozge Karaoglu as the tutor. I knew I wanted to do this course, come what may, as soon as I saw that Ozge was going to be the tutor. She is the Queen of tech tools and her vast repertoire of sites and amazing experience in dealing with digital stories with young learners was a guaranteed sign of an exciting and jazzy course. I had the great pleasure of meeting Ozge in person in Brighton.

Press the link to listen to my Fotobabble feedback on the fab course!.

So, did I jazz up my digital storytelling skills on the course? Yes, I did! It gave me the chance to review some sites I already knew, but it also contained some really nice new tools which I'd like to look into, time permitting.

I was inspired to create a new comic to illustrate how you could use ones like makebeliefscomix.

Seeing so many faces I recognised was also a lovely feeling and everyone was very keen to share and encourage each other to do our best. Taking part in e-courses such as this one is also a great way to learn how they flow and to see the dynamics and interaction patterns within the forums.

I liked the way Ozge organised the course. It was very effective. Links to a pdf sheet of carefully selected tools in 6 different categories, and then the chance to participate in a forum to give our feedback on one or two of the new tools. I found that this was very manageable and I could easily pop in once a day to add to the forums and comment on other course members' work. A lot of creativity abounded and I learned a lot from everyone!

You can see a lot of Ozge's amazing links and resources from her blog here: 100 Digital Storytelling Tools.

I love "Daisy and Drago" that Ozge wrote herself.
Daisy and Drago

View more presentations from ozge

You can also view the amazing video of her fabulous story "Daisy and Drago and the Magic Wand", created by her 6-year-old pupils.

Thank you very much Ozge and all the course participants for helping to make it a very enjoyable and worthwhile course!!

ELTChat - Storytelling
Last Wednesday I missed one of the most interesting topics that have been discussed recently. Yes, you've guessed it already. I missed the ELTChat session on Digital Storytelling!! It's one of my favourite topics and sadly, I couldn't attend. However, Leahn Stanhope, a teacher from Fuerteventura, the Canary Islands, has done an incredible job of summarising the session in great depth. Just reading through all the links, resources, tips, ideas shared in ONLY one hour, will give you enough information to keep you doing "Storytelling" lessons happily for a very long time!! Here is the link for you to copy and then share with your colleagues. Enjoy looking at all the resources at leisure. Thank you Leahn!

http://earlyefl.blogspot.com/2011/05/eltchat-summary-storytelling.html

A Few More Links
Eva Buyukesmiyan from A Journey in TEFL blog has also written a fab blog post called "Teachers as Storytellers"

This blog post by Anita Kwiatowska caught my eye: "It was a dark and stormy night..." The blog post has some great ideas for exploiting this theme.

I recently gave a presentation on Storytelling in the Digital Era. Ana Maria Menezes from Brazil, invited me to hold a session via Wiziq. She then kindly wrote a lovely feedback post entitled "Learning with/from Janet Bianchini."

Below is my very own digital idiomatic story that took me months to create! "An Idiomatic Love Story."

An Idiomatic Love Story

Finally, one of my favourite (true) stories I've ever written is "And Then There Were Three".

Remember!
Everybody has a story within them just waiting to come out. Don't wait too long otherwise the moment will pass. Life is one big evolving story just waiting to be written!

Quote made up by me!

Top 100 Language Lovers Blogs 2011

Press here to vote!

If you would like to vote for one of the amazing blogs in the Lexiophiles Top 100 Language Lovers Blogs 2011, simply press on the link under the button, and then go through the list of nominated blogs until you find one you want to vote for!

Voting ends on Sunday 29th May.

An Idiomatic Story Set to Rock Brighton!!

4th Virtual Round Table -Janet's Presentation On Digital Storytelling

As promised during my 4th Virtual Round Table presentation on "Storytelling in the Digital Era" I have embedded the slideshare in this post for you to view it. You can link to the live sites from each slide. For viewing all the episodes to date of my "Idiomatic Digital Story", you can press on the IATEFL Brighton label here. I am hoping to come to the conclusion of this Evolving Idiomatic Digital story by inviting my students at the Lake School of English to come up with a suitable ending. If not, then I will have to get my thinking cap on rather snappily before April 17th!!

Embedded below is the official Virtual Round Table 2011 Animoto Highlights. The lyrics were composed by Heike Philp and they are sung brilliantly by Sue Lyons-Jones.



Despite the butterflies circling a few moments beforehand, I managed to get into the swing of things and I thoroughly enjoyed my live virtual session.

Many thanks to everyone from around the world who attended. I recognised many names from my PLN! It was lovely to see Jane and Carmel from the Lake School of English!! Thank you for your support.

A huge thanks to the brilliant organisers, Heike Philp, Berni Wall and Shelly Terrell.

Click for details of the recording of my presentation here.

You can expand the viewing box by clicking on the full icon below.

Storytelling in the Digital Era

I attended Barbara Sakamoto's fabulous webinar called Little Tech for Big Result. It contains many great examples of how young students can create lovely stories and projects with low technology tools. Here is a list of the fab tools she showed us on her wiki here.

I also attended a wonderful session on Storytelling in ESL Classroom by Faisal Al Shamali.

Visit Virtual Round Table Conference

My Forthcoming Presentation is.....

...... at the 4th Virtual Round Table e-Conference on Saturday March 26th at 10.30am GMT. My talk is on "Storytelling in the Digital Era." I am really looking forward to presenting at this fantastic online conference again!

This free online conference takes place from Friday March 25th to Sunday March 27th and it is hosted by Heike Philp, Shelly Terrell and Berni Wall!! There will be many great presenters talking about language learning technologies. The sessions will be of interest to all educators keen to learn more about current practices. Please click here to see the full exciting schedule of events.

I must get my skates on though, as I need to finalise my presentation this week for an online dress rehearsal!

I do hope to see you online at the 4th Virtual Round Table e-conference!!

Max My Dream: Part 7 of A Digital Story: Frederick's Descent into The Abyss

Press on the link above to see what Frederick was dreaming of as he descended into the abyss waiting in the depths below him. As you are viewing him fall, can you imagine the answers to the following questions?

• Which 3 things were on his mind?
• Who was he thinking of and why?
• How had he got himself into this pickle?
• Which idiom springs to mind when you view the dream sequence?
  
• What was going to happen to him next?
  
• Where in the world would he rather be?
• What very quick and snappy question would you like to ask Frederick as he is tumbling down?

Try out this cool site called "Max My Dream!" I have discovered it via my fabulous Twitter PLN recently. You just write down what your dream is and press on the link, and you will see your dream visualised!! It's very clever indeed! If the background noise bothers you, simply unclick the sound icon at the top.

I have just remembered where I first saw Max My Dream and it was on Ana Maria's Life Feast blog. You can view it here.

In A Jam! - Part 6 of An Idiomatic Story

Frederick gets into a bit of a jam or indeed a pickle in this episode of an evolving digital and Idiomatic Story. Both these idioms mean that Frederick gets into trouble!

I have used Bitstrips, a nifty comic strip maker to embellish my digital and idiomatic story. I first found out about Bitstrips via Ana Maria's fantastic Life Feast Blog here. This tool is easily embeddable as a sliding strip or as an image. It has lots of lovely functional features which I found easy to use. The comic strip only took a few minutes to create.

I have included both types of style as I can't make up my mind which is better. I like them both!! Do you have a preference??

Please click on the image below to enlarge it.


You can view a YouTube video of the amazing effect Bitstrips has had on motivating school children to create comics here.

The Future of Frederick and Isabella is Up in the Air!
I feel that Frederick needs to be brought back to Isabella very, very soon. The reason being is that they have to have a meaningful ending before my presentation at IATEFL Brighton, where I hope to introduce this story to the audience. A suitable conclusion to this evolving story is therefore on the cards.

OR..
... maybe I could leave it as an open-ended grand finale and let the audience decide on how it should end?? I will have to put my thinking cap on for this proposition.....

Anyway, the next exciting installment will be "The Brutal Road" - Part 7 of An Idiomatic Story.
I have no idea what this chapter will consist of. I just like the title, so hopefully my creative juices will start flowing soon..

More Lovely Idioms!
For some enjoyable lessons on Idioms, please take a look at a Clil to Climb's blog posts featuring some fabulous idioms, in particular FOOD idioms here and here. However, I have to confess, I absolutely love Chiew's amazing interactive EGG idioms! They are right up my street, so to speak, what with my Chicks'R'us..

Looking for Caterina:Continue the Story
If you are up for an even more exciting storytelling challenge, why don't you have a read of this amazing interactive opportunity to continue a love story???
ProfesorBaker has set a challenge: to bring a Princess and a Pauper together. The title is "Looking for Catarina". Why don't you try it??

Goal 18: Share A Story - 30 Goals Challenge

Inspired by Shelly Terrell's brilliant and inspiring series of posts, this one - Goal 18: Share a Story 30 Goals Challenge, has prompted me to share the following piece of writing which I did recently on my fab EVO Digital Storytelling course.

One of the Week 2 tasks was to post about an object which had a special significance in our life. I didn't have to think too much about the one special object which had helped transform me into who I am today. The single act of owning my very own computer helped liberate me from the irrational fear I once had about technology. I would like to share the story of my change here, and hopefully it may inspire someone else to promote a change which will have positive effects. As Shelly says, stepping out of one's comfort zone, to embrace change is essential for us to transform ourselves. Find out more about this quote - "Soil is the substance of transformation."
I have just read "Soil" by David Warr. It is an amazing post.

It's a coincidence that I mentioned I'm avidly reading "Soil, Humus and Manure" the other day. A very apt and topical subject!! You might also like to view "The Good Earth", a post I wrote a few years ago and which ties in with the same theme....Soil is definitely the topic of the day!!

The image above is one of my favourite ones and I have posted it before. I have just added a tuxpi colour swirl effect to change it a little bit.

My Computer

I can't imagine my life without my faithful and vintage computer. It has become an integral part of my daily existence. Its meaning is immeasurable. And yet, just a few short years ago, this simply wasn't the case at all.

I was a true "technophobe". I lived a simple life. Creating lesson activities using basic Word on the school computer, sending a few emails to friends every now and then. That was it.
No Powerpoint presentations, no Twitter, no blogging, no Web 2.0 tools, no Flickr, no Facebook. A very simple and easy life indeed!

Until that is, something happened which was to change my life overnight. The one and only computer we had, which belonged to my husband, and which he used for his work at home, crashed. It died a slow, painful death, sometime in November 2008. We had to buy a new computer to save the day. It was then I decided that I would like to have my very own computer, but only if the "dead" one could be brought back to life again. My logic in this was that if a computer had already sunk to its lowest depth, then a technophobe like me would have no worries if I accidentally "broke" it again. It wouldn't matter to anybody else but myself. The computer had already "been there, done that and got the T-shirt" to prove itself.

Armed with this very basic logic, and with ever increasing confidence, I set about actually using the computer as you see above, slowly but surely on a more regular basis. I began to use a webcam, I started to Skype with my former colleagues at the Lake School in Oxford, sometimes joining in with the monthly Academic Meetings.

My new world in the Abruzzo countryside with only the gentle patter of hundreds of sheep occasionally roaming past, the swaying of olive tree branches, the barking of wild dogs, the occasional sound of gunshots being fired from hunters seeking wild boar, the chickens clucking merrily away, all these things blended gracefully into my new adventure with technology.

If it weren't for my Gateway 865OGB computer, I wouldn't be doing this Digital Storytelling course today.

I owe it my life, which is full of exciting technology. I will hang onto it tenaciously until the day it eventually bites the dust.

Until that fateful moment comes, it will continue to be my Gateway to the outside world.

In the Money: Part 5 of "An Idiomatic Story"

Parts 1 - 4 of this evolving digital, multi-media Idiomatic Story can be viewed here.

Frederick's story continues via Dvolver, a great animation tool!



Lesson Tips for Students:
Watch the video again and find:

• an idiom meaning to work very hard
• 2 expressions which mean to make a lot of money
• an idiom meaning to have a fantastic time

If you like, you could get your students to create a Dvolver scene of their own to show what happens next in this digital story, or they could create their own made up story to embed in their class blog or wiki.

Learn how to create a short animation Dvolver film here.
See Nik's Quick Shout for more tips on how to use Dvolver.
Study Easy Peasy Phrasals!

Next exciting installment Part 6: "In a Jam", coming very soon on a computer near you!!

An Idiomatic Story: Part 3 and Part 4

Part 1 began here.
Part 2 "The Return of the Lost Soul" came next.

Part 3: A Narrow Escape

Part 4: Broken-hearted!

GoAnimate.com: An Idiomatic Story Part 4



To be continued....

Life in Civitaquana on PhotoPeach

I have been inspired to create a new PhotoPeach slideshow after looking through the fabulous examples from participants on the excellent EVO Digital Storytelling course. I will be writing my feedback as soon as I can. Watch this space!

An Idiomatic Story - Part 2: The Return of the Lost Soul

Part 1 of this evolving digital story began here.

As he approached the bar in the tiny Abruzzo village, he paused for a moment and savoured the smells of cooking wafting across the terracotta rooftops. He was so hungry he could eat a horse, or a chicken or two.

Coming towards him was the most stunningly beautiful cat he had ever set eyes upon. The cat's eyes bored into him and made him feel uncomfortable. He looked away, full of remorse.


Bar del Principe was within a cat's whisker. He was absolutely penniless, without a bean to his name, but he was hoping the barman's daughter would take pity on him and forgive him if he gave her one of his devastatingly charming smiles.

He opened the door and walked in, slowly. The few customers drinking their Grappa Julia stopped and stared, mouths wide open in utter amazement. It was as if they had seen a ghost. "Non e possibile!! Frederick!! Ma... che fai qui???? We thought you had been kidnapped and.... .....", their voices trailed off in disbelief.

Frederick sought the eyes of the ravishingly beautiful Isabella behind the bar. She had just made a fresh Tiramisu and a jar of Kaki jam and was busily arranging the food on the counter.

"Mia cara Isabella.....," he began tentatively, hoping against all hope that she would find it in her heart to forgive him for abandoning her in such an ungallant and ungentlemanly fashion the year before.

Isabella's heart skipped 2 beats and her face turned as white as a sheet. She had been obliged to put her shoulder to the wheel in order to keep the wolf from the door, ever since that fateful, terrible day in December.

Mia cara, Isabella???

To be continued.....whenever I get inspired again

Addendum
Being a relaxing Sunday afternoon, I decided to challenge myself to continue the story I had begun a short while ago.

Firstly, I made a Tiramisu and then a small jar of kaki jam (Persimmon). I wanted to somehow include these two things into the story.

Secondly, I wanted to involve some idioms I had found on blogs and I came across 2 in Ken Wilson's blog in the comments section to Guest post 16 by Emma Herrod. If you scroll down the comments, it is number 23! A fabulous example of 3 idioms in one sentence. When I saw them for the first time I knew I had to use them in a story. So thank you Ken for the inspiration! Also, thanks to Scott Thornbury for the push for me to make the persimmon jam (kaki in Italian) today as a result of his message and lovely image of persimmons on Twitter.

Thirdly, I thought to myself, why not kill 2 birds with one stone by adding to the story for me to use in my presentation for Iatefl Brighton in April.

Fourthly, Barbara Sakamoto's inspiring post on 2011:Challenge: Become a Beginner (again) motivated me a lot.

Finally, I am getting myself to do what I usually ask my students to do, and this is a fresh perspective for me and a real challenge for 2011.

An Idiomatic Story: Defeating Writer's Block!

Walking along the deserted road in the gloomy fog, the lonely figure made its way wearily towards the village in the distance. He hadn't eaten or drunk for days and he was feeling undernourished and parched. What would he find up ahead? His thoughts lingered as he trudged slowly towards the looming houses.

Having lost everything he owed on the horses a few days before, he knew he would have to start from square one again. He was in the red, he knew it. He had blown everything on one last crazy gamble. He knew people would say he had lost his marbles, but he didn't give two hoots about them.

He came within sight of the main square of the tiny village. It was time to take the bull by the horns.....

Image above found on google search imagesbykids

Can you match the meanings below with the idioms highlighted in the story above?


What happened next???

Addendum
I wrote this little paragraph a while ago, but for some reason I didn't publish it immediately. Then the days passed and I lost my inspiration, work took over and I realised that the reason was I didn't really have a title that grabbed MY attention. The original title was "An Idiomatic Story". The title was just so uninspiring, and that very fact was hindering my progress in a way.

Then today via Twitter I vaguely tweeted the following:"Still no inspiration for a blog post. I need to think of a title first. No title, no blog post! Usually full of titles, but not today!"

I received the following tweet by @becluwlib saying " Maybe 'overcoming writer's block's' would be a good title. :)". I replied "Yes, thanks! That's a good one - I think I'll just give myself a little bit more time :)". Well, the time has come now, and I have incorporated part of the advice in the title for this post, so many thanks indeed to Cari Teske from Conrad IA!

Again, the power of Twitter is amazing. So, I now have a blog post with a slightly offbeat title, which I am happy to publish. The challenge I had originally set myself was to create a short idiomatic story from a picture prompt. This is in preparation for my presentation at IATEFL Brighton 2011, which is on the theme of "Teaching Idioms".


The inspiration to challenge myself to writing an idiomatic story came from "Every Photo Tells a Story" blog. It's a fantastic source of images and a great resource for teachers. I really like it!

And Then There Were Three

IT happened last night. The Wordle above shows the story of the grizzly events. The protagonists are 3 dogs and 1 chicken.

Below is the main culprit.

Here is the accomplice

Is this the only dog that really knows what happened afterwards??

Sadly this chicken is no longer with us.....

I blame myself for being so naive. I read the Absolute Beginners' Guide to Keeping Chickens and noted this particular question. Will my dog hurt chickens?
Anyway, I picked up some of the many feathers scattered around the garden and I hope to use them all when I create my homemade cards.

I honestly thought that all the animals were coexisting harmoniously, but I was wrong. So, now I will wait for K to begin the animal behaviourist training which is obviously necessary, if the other three chickens are to have much hope of lasting longer than the one above. Thank goodness he is back tomorrow.

Thank you PLN
I have been alone in the valley for a whole week. This is another first for me. Only myself for company. Not a soul has been here apart from the postman once, briefly for one second. Very late last night a crowd of hunters were out with their huge searchlights wandering across the fields below. They were looking for the wild boar which roam freely in this area.
I haven't felt lonely because I have had my PLN around me virtually. It's kept me busy and I appreciate the contact I have had with everybody via my computer. Thank you very much for your great company.

I will be offline as of next week. I hope to rejoin you after that. Please feel free to continue my Digital Story, if you wish.

My Very First GoAnimate! Production

I've done it! After losing most of the data last night to recovering it just now, I am proud to present my first GoAnimate! slidecast. Many thanks go to Alex Francisco from Zarco English, for her excellent tutorial via the Moodle4Teachers "Web 2.0 Tools" course that I have recently joined. Please click on the link just above the video box to see it in a bigger screen.

GoAnimate.com: Introductions and Icebreakers by Janet Bianchini

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com.

My first creation is very basic but I am so glad that I persevered. Next time, I will work on moving the characters a bit more and also try to create a dialogue.

I'd like to include a link to Alex's GoAnimate! Screencast which she made in order to introduce the tool to her students, who have created amazing video animations.

Record your screencast online

This is another video that Alex has created to present the school where she works. I think it's brilliant!

GoAnimate.com: Our School by alexgfrancisco


As you can see from what can be achieved, my first rendition is pretty basic in comparison and one-dimensional, but it's a start!! By the way, did you notice the moving desk? I didn't mean it to move, but never mind :) Also I like the fact that you can introduce your own photos as background and add your voice, to make it a truly personal show. Why don't you have a go and try it out? This tool is great for vocabulary exploitation and dialogue building purposes. It's free and easy to use. I'm going to present mine as an icebreaker and speaking activity with a group of EFL teachers I will be teaching in April at the wonderful Lake School of English, Oxford.