1989 - The Berlin Wall

A lot has been written about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of the former GDR on that momentous night in November 1989. I wasn't there to share the jubilation of my GDR friends that evening. I could only imagine the sheer joy, exultation and huge emotion of them all.


BBC News has an interesting and interactive article called "Where is the Wall Now? Well, a small part of the wall is in one of my unopened boxes! Our friend Orv was in Berlin on that historic night and he brought us home a piece of history.

Freedom
I remember crying buckets the day I first crossed from East Berlin into West Berlin. I almost felt guilty in a way that I had the freedom to go to the west ,whereas my GDR friends were obliged to stay within the walled perimeter, at risk of death. I met a former DDR border guard who explained that he was trained to shoot to kill if he saw anyone attempting to cross the border from east to west. They lived in a state of constant fear and surveillance. Those days are happily in the past now.

My life behind "The Iron Curtain"

One of the best teaching experiences in my whole life took place from 1981-1982 in the former GDR in the city of Dresden. I taught EFL at The Technical University of Dresden. I had just done my PGCE in EFL and I was offered the golden opportunity of seeing what life was really like in a Communist country during the end of the "Cold War" in the early 1980's. It was to be a fantastic learning curve for me. Please click here if you would like to read more about this experience.


My Trabant

I will never forget one of the professors in the English department at the Technical University of Dresden telling me he had no car. It would take 7 years' solid wages to buy a car such as a Trabant or Skoda. A car was indeed a luxury in those days. Imagine my excitement when I had the chance to buy a Trabant a few years ago in Oxford. Browsing through a charity shop I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted a perfect miniature version. I snapped it up at the bargain price of £1. It was found in one of my box openings by coincidence a little while back and it has taken pride of place on the mantelpiece.

Pure nostalgia
I have kept everything from my 1981-82 GDR days. Books, postcards, letters, pay slips, bank statements, social security book, night club entrance tickets, a few stamps, posters, ephemera of everyday life. I knew then that I was living in an historical period. My physical memories reside on my bookshelf and in a box marked simply "DDR". My spiritual and innermost memories lie deep within my heart, never to be forgotten.

My East German Hat


I came across an original East German winter guard's hat for the princely sum of £5. It must have been a young boy's as it was a small size and fitted me perfectly. I bought it in England and wore it for about 2 years until the day I mislaid it in a shop. I was extremely upset. That hat had kept my head warm on freezing cold daily bike rides to work and back during the winter months. In addition, a piece of history had vanished into the proverbial thin air. At least, I still have a lovely picture of Joe wearing my hat.

I haven't been back to Dresden since 1982. Twenty seven years is an awful long time!

Links to 1989
Bits 'n'Bobs, Show 'n' Tell: Breach of the Berlin Wall
Free Technology for Teachers: After the Fall
BBC News and The Night the Wall Fell
The English Blog has also posted some great resources on this topic. In particular I like the collection of amazing photos as found in the Boston Picture.

Uno

One year has passed since I started writing my blog. A lot has happened since then. A new universe I didn't really know existed prior to November 9th has opened up. It has changed my life irrevocably. I really was living in the Dark Ages before technology entered my life. My innate fear of wiping out whole systems, of unpredictable computers, of losing data was put to the test. My anxiety about going "public" was great.

Thank You


I would just like to take this opportunity to say a very big Thank You to everyone who has helped me on my way to becoming the blogger I am today. All my mentors, fellow educators, friends, colleagues, family, have all played a part in giving me the encouragement to carry on.
A big thanks also goes to all the staff at the Consultants-e who started me off gently on the journey to becoming a blogger. The 2-week e-course was pedagogically sound and exactly what was necessary for a technologically-challenged person like me, who needed an expert guiding hand. The path was paved for the Future, which has now become the Present.

My very own Virtual Classroom
The sense of being in control of my own destiny in terms of my learning journey has given me enormous satisfaction. I have become a "digital" citizen or a "netizen". I am a student in my own specially created classroom "without walls". The educators I have personally selected to surround me have all opened a huge portal of information, which is certainly keeping me involved, engaged and motivated. Five key words are vital in empowering myself to do what I am doing via my blog.

• Sharing
• Motivation
• Involvement
• Learning
• Engagement

My Favourite Postings through the Year
I have selected a few postings which reflect my journey on this great blogging adventure.

The Google-isation of our Lives

The Call of the Wild- Literally!

Kalinago English Blog Carnival - My Advice Post for Noobie Bloggers

Some of My Fave Tools

Slang Xtranormal Video

Animoto: A Year in The Life of Janet's Abruzzo Edublog



Twitter V Blogging in 140 characters
I like Twitter as a flowing, dynamic, 24/7, express learning tool.
I like blogging as a more reflective, in-depth, personal learning tool.

What about you? Which of these two tools do you prefer and why? (in up to 140 characters )

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

John Dewey

AVEALMEC Conference 5th - 8th November 2009

The world came into my abode yesterday and will continue to stream through at intervals during the weekend. I fully immersed myself into the exciting arena of globalised "connectivism" via a series of webinars based on the theme of ICT tools, Knowledge Building and Communities of Practice, hosted by the excellent AVEALMEC / ARCALL

From the comfort of my own home I was able to interact with educators and contacts from around the world and participate in a series of fantastic video seminars hosted via Moodle and WiZiQ. Here is a link to the programme of events.
Click on this link to the fantastic selection of Guest Speakers and a link to the summaries of the talks.

If you have time today and this weekend to learn more about so many new e-tools, social networking sites and current modes of pedagogical and andragogical learning practice and principles, then joining the AVEALMEC conference will prove to be a very worthwhile and amazing professional development opportunity.

I attended Nik Peachey's inspiring workshop "From Information to Knowledge" earlier today. The excellent presentation including a number of follow-up tasks can be viewed here.

I missed the following talk by Vance Stevens. The excellent slideshow is now available on the web and I have included it here.

Modeling social media in groups, communities, and networks - Socialnetworking 2009 Online Conference

View more presentations from vances.

Post Scriptum
I feel "virtually" exhausted after a weekend full of fantastic live presentations. Graham Stanley's talk on "Before and after Twitter: Personal Learning Environments" has just finished and it was most enjoyable. I even felt brave enough to ask my very first question which was "How do you deal with spam?" Graham answered that it was a problem we all have to deal with and he gave a few good examples of what to do.
AVEALMEC have organised a truly wonderful conference and I have learned a lot of new things. I have also had the chance to "meet" and chat with lots of people in my PLN.
I will add further links to the webinars/slideshows if and when they become available so that you can experience the fun and also share the information so skilfully imparted by the guest speakers.
Thanks to the 3 moderators who did a great job of keeping everything running smoothly!

Moodle:Perfect Timing

To Moodle or not to Moodle, that is the question. To be more precise, Modular, Orientated, Dynamic, Learning Environment. I have been intrigued by this innovative virtual learning platform for quite some time, and I find myself currently right in the middle of it, so to speak, for two reasons.
Watch this short Youtube video which explains what Moodle is.



I like this particular short Youtube presentation which links Moodle with Lego bricks



A bit of a Coincidence?

Firstly, I have begun to follow a 4-week Integrating Technology for Teaching e-course called "Moodle for Teachers". The facilitators are all highly skilled in holding Blended Online Learning Moodle workshops. There are over 120 participants from all over the world. It is incredible to see so many known faces from the blogging world and this is kind of reassuring for someone like me who believe it or not, still has an underlying fear of new technologies. The Moodle WiZiQ webinar on Monday evening was dynamic and involving.

Secondly, it is my great pleasure to announce that I will be reviewing a new (e)-book on Moodle by Jeff Stanford, called Moodle 1.9 For Second Language Teaching. It is literally "hot off the press", published in October 2009 by www.packtpublishing.com. It is pure coincidence that this event and my course have come at the same time and I guess, it was meant to be. My reading through the book from a learner's point of view, and from a prospective teacher's point of view will give me an excellent further insight into this exciting learning platform. Over the coming weeks I will be reading as much as I can through the relevant chapters of interest and I will write up a review based on my experience.

A Review
I will focus on the operability, functionality and practicality of the content of "Moodle 1.9 For Second Language Teaching" from both a newbie Moodler's point of view and from a future practising facilitator's perspective. I am looking forward to this immensely. From my initial brief overview of the book, I can already envisage it is an excellent, comprehensive and rich source of information for teachers, students and educators alike. An invaluable companion on the journey towards Moodle enlightenment!

In the meantime, to whet your appetite, here is a link to an extracted chapter of the book entitled "Listening Activities". If you click on the highlighted link you can download the whole chapter in pdf for you to read at leisure.

Now I must get back to doing all my reading tasks and assignments! See you soon.

Yes, I have! This is my answer to the question above.

George Clooney in Castel del Monte - Update

We set off round the mountains to get to Castel del Monte, one of the most beautiful villages in Abruzzo. There was a slight hidden agenda on my part. My quest to meet George Clooney in person. However, I had forgotten that in Italy this weekend is a long bank holiday due to All Souls' Day.

We got to an eerily quiet Castel del Monte 50 minutes after setting off from home. Only 10 miles away as the crow flies, but you have to drive up and down and over mountains and encounter a lot of perilous hairpin bends. Why was the village so quiet? Where was everybody? Where was George? The evidence that a film was being shot in the village was all over the place. Lorry after lorry of cinema/tv production sets were parked up in the centre. Where was the buzz of the international film crew?

Lots of notices everywhere informing the villagers that 200 camera crew plus 500 extras would be invading the small mountain village from 15th October to end of November. The whole village to be transformed into a film set. Ok, so where were the villagers and the 700 extra American and international crew? K and I seemed to be the only people wandering through the bitterly cold streets......

A prominant notice made my heart sink. The filming of "The American" would recommence on Monday 2nd November. I grabbed a local and asked" Do you know if Mr Clooney is here? "Oh no, my dear. He left yesterday and he'll be back tomorrow". End of dream.

A bit of Local Gossip
Not one to be disheartened so easily, I accepted this and hit a local bar and B&B called "Osteria del Lupo", where I drowned my sorrows with 2 lovely glasses of Abruzzo wine and 2 lots of absolutely delicious homemade bread drizzled in fresh olive oil. I spoke to Stefano, the barman and son of the owner and asked him about his feelings on the effect of the film on the village as a whole. He told me it was a fantastic thing and it was doing wonders for the local economy. He told me Mr Clooney had integrated with the locals and that he was very friendly and amenable. Two weeks had already passed and everyone had accepted the temporary disruption to their daily life with great patience and understanding. A lot of the locals had been cast as extras. It was interesting chatting to Stefano and the bar was very lively and atmospheric. Tomorrow evening, scenes of the film will be shot right in front of the bar so I guess the bar will become very famous! Thank you Stefano for making us feel so welcome!


Halloween: "Miss Strega" Contest
Having viewed the information on the Internet about the yearly "Miss Strga" (Miss Witch") pageant held in the centre of the village, we left the cosy bar in search of the venue. We were informed that due to the sudden very cold weather, the event would now be held in the local sports hall. When we arrived, we found all the local villagers waiting for the children to do a "Halloween" parade. A jury would be present, to vote for the best costume. The hall was beautifully and spookily decked out and children all dressed up in wonderful costumes. We stayed for a while and then decided to make our way home after a most interesting evening.