Oxford Blogs!

I've had the pleasure of teaching at the Lake School of English for just one very intensive week. I taught 2 lovely groups of students.

I spent some time helping my students to create their very first blog. First they created a google account and then went to blogger to register their blog name and address. You can see the fantastic results above and below. I feel very proud of their achievement.

Well done to Maria Anna, Maria Eugenia and Fenisia, seen above in an Oxford college.

Teaching Unplugged
In the morning classes I actually made a big effort to teach "Dogme" style, and I found that a lot of vocabulary soon filled the board as you can see in the second image. It was all language and questions that cropped up from this picture of the Abruzzo countryside where I live.

If you look more closely at my board work below, you can see some of my drawings! Can you spot the picture I drew of a dog? I am certainly no Picasso! As usual, chickens, cats and dogs played a major part in some of the questions and answers....

Getting Down To Phrasals!
I also enjoyed teaching my group of Primary school teachers in the afternoon. I taught my favourite sessions on Using Images, Phrasal Verbs and Britain Today. We discussed topical social issues and then went on to do some vocabulary work on a grand British tradition, the pub.

To bring up the topic of pubs I hid a bar mat in an envelope and played the 20 questions guessing game. I told my class that the envelope contained an object which was very common in Britain. It took only 5 guesses for beer mat to come up. I was very impressed! We then did some vocabulary related to pubs and reordered a dialogue.

I've enjoyed both classes and this week has flown by!

Below a photo of myself and Gosia, a lovely teacher from Poland. More photos to follow..

The Fabulous PLN Challenge - Interview with Leahn from Early EFL

Brad Patterson's inspirational PLN Interview Challenge brought me to Leahn Stanhope, a member of my fab PLN. Leahn writes the lovely Early EFL blog and she lives and works by the beach in the Canary Islands. I was delighted when the opportunity arose to ask Leahn the PLN Challenge questions. Here below are the standard 5 questions with an extra two thrown in at the end.

1) If your students were to label you with 3 adjectives, what might they be?

FUNNY seems to be a word I hear a lot lately, and I hope they would say knowledgeable and patient.

2) What would we find in your refrigerator right now?

I’ve absolutely no idea! The shopping and cooking are left in the hands of my boyfriend. Let me just get up off the sofa and check. Okay, lots of salad stuff, fruit, chicken, sausages, feta cheese, camembert, olives, orange juice, eggs, melon, yoghurt and sandwich making stuff too!

3) If you weren’t a teacher, what might your profession be?

That’s such a difficult question. I know what I wouldn’t want to be but it’s much more difficult to say what I’d like to be. Perhaps a foreign aid worker, dog trainer or horse whisperer!

4) What do you find most difficult about the teaching profession, or What has been your most difficult class as a teacher?

Don’t get me started with TEFL (it’s a love-hate relationship). It’s great when you start out, but as you get older it’s much more difficult to put up with nine month contracts and working in the evenings! Luckily, I now work 10 months of the year and have a morning job!

I’ve been lucky with classes, most of the teaching I’ve done has been in private language schools. The most challenging teaching situation I’ve faced has been in the last three years working in the state system, which has meant large classes, mixed abilities, children with no pencils and teens with no motivation.

5) What was the last book/movie you read/saw, and what have you seen/read way too many times?

I’m mad about books and films. I’m currently reading a graded reader as I have a German exam on Thursday but I’ve got a Spanish book on the go too, it’s called La Catedral del Mar by Idelfonso Falcones. I love Isabel Allende. I can’t help re-reading her books. My all time favourite is Stories of Eva Luna.

The last film I saw was Babel with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. I love the Aliens films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, ET, all the Star Wars films, Platoon and so many more. Just remembered, Gladiator, I must have seen it five times at least!

And here are the two extra questions!

As having quite a few furkids is a connection between us, can you share a few stories about 1 or 2 of your pets and how you first met them or got them?

At the moment we have 6 cats and 6 dogs. Three of the dogs are foster dogs. I seem to have been collecting animals over the past 6 years. I got involved in voluntary work for a cat British based cat charity called Twinkle Trust and the rest as they say is history.This is CC or Crissy as she’s called. I met her a couple of weeks before Christmas last year. She was sitting outside a big electrical and household store. It was really strange; she was just sitting on the door mat as people rushed in and out. As I walked in, I bent down to stroke her and was surprised because she was very friendly. I went in and bought my paint. Feeling guilty, I asked the security guard about her. He told me that he’d been feeding her for a few weeks. I reversed out of the parking lot thinking that it was fine. She had a feeder and she’d be okay. By the time I arrived home I’d decided to go back and get her. It has taken her ages to integrate into the household but now she’s a happy little cat..

What's the best part of living in the Canary Islands? (For me it was definitely the fab beaches!)

The weather, the beaches, the completely laid back pace of life here and most importantly wearing flip flops to go to work!

Thank you very much Leahn for answering these questions!

It was lovely getting to know Leahn a bit more and our love of furkids and our considerable combined collection of 27 of them is quite incredible, I think!! I lived on the same beautiful island in the Canaries (see photo above) as Leahn for a year in 1984. I also love Isabel Allende's the Stories of Eva Luna! So, quite a few connections between us both.

Leahn is an active member of ELTChat held on Twitter every Wednesday, and recently she summarised the "Storytelling" session held on May 18th. It's an excellent summary and contains lots of fantastic links and resources on this very interesting subject.

If you like, you can read another PLN interview on Eva's post "My Wonderful PLN -2".
Watch out for more PLN Interviews on Brad's blog here. Thanks Brad for coming up with this challenge!
You can read all about the Challenge Interviews on Dave Dodgson's amazing Scoop.it page as well.

Reform Symposium - Fab CPD for July 2011

If you are after a weekend full of fantastic free webinars and presentations for Continuous Professional Development purposes, then book your computer for the weekend beginning Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July. The place is the Reform Symposium and you can find out all about it from the link.

Presenters from all over the world will be speaking on diverse subjects such as Technology Integration and Educational Reform and much, much more. The organisers are currently busy preparing for what promises to be a HUGE global event.

I am very pleased to say that I will be presenting on Saturday 30th July at 6pm UK time and my theme is going to be "Fun with Cartoons and Comics"!! I decided to do something new rather than a previous presentation, as that will give me motivation to do a bit of research over the coming weeks....I enjoy creating comics and using them in class, so the preparation should be great fun.

Janet's Daily Archives

I have looked through my archives and below you can read my feedback on RSCON 1 and RSCON 2.

2nd Reform Symposium in January 2011.

1st Reform Symposium in August 2010.

I'll keep you posted on the updates regarding the 3rd Reform Symposium. I do hope you will be able to attend some of the sessions, and that you will enjoy the whole amazing experience. I know you won't regret it!! You have two months to add this action-packed weekend to your diaries!!

Have a look at this post by What Ed Said blog called "10+ reasons to participate in RSCON3". I love the cartoon at the end!!

Here's another inspiring post to read about the forthcoming RSCON3 e-conference by iLearn Technology.

Abruzzo Diary of a Country Lady - Part 1

Chikita has just laid an egg!

I am awakened every single morning by the sound of vociferous crowing, not by a cockerel, but by the 4 chickens who happily reside "chez moi". I love this sound and it means they are so proud to have just laid an egg. I was delighted to be able to take this snapshot of Chikita who had just laid one of her fabulous daily white eggs. Berry is looking on waiting her turn to sit inside my plant tub that has now become the official laying area. The beautiful plant that used to reside here is no more, as it has been squashed mercilessly. This big green tub has also become the place for the cats to have a kip during the day. So all in all this area is now a centre of refuge, peace and calm for a lot of animals.

Snakes
I saw one fleetingly the other day behind my pots and I let out a blood curdling scream, audible only to one man and many beasts.

"My dearest, what's up?" K asked casually as he ambled, yes, ambled towards the source of the screaming fit.

My face ashen white (slight embellishment here for dramatic effect), I pointed behind the pots next to the chicken pen.

"I've just seen a long black slithering hissing SNAKE!!"

" Yes, there are a lot in this area, you do know that, Jan, don't you??!!

Yes, I suppose I did, but at that particular moment, it didn't really help matters.

So where does one go from here? Does one abandon one's idyllic country lifestyle just due to a close encounter with one of its reptile residents?

The answer, of course, is No!! It's a part of the everyday mix of surprises and unexpected events that keep me fascinated with life in Abruzzo.

Every year in Cocullo, a village in Abruzzo, there is a festival in honour of snakes. Please read all about it in this Life In Abruzzo blog post "Getting Slippy at Cocullo Snake Festival". It's a fascinating read, and you will find out what an ophidiophiliac is!!!

Other Resident ReptilesImage of toad found here: http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc68/dalgarvenbooks/toads.jpg

The reptiles do not stop here, however. There are two resident toads who appear only at night time inside more of my pots. Yes, I can confirm they are ugly creatures, hence the term "as ugly as a toad". Now I can say that this comparative phrase is absolutely true.

I stared in utter fascination at a very unusual coloured toad sitting very comfortably and in a very relaxed state, right in the middle of one of my prized pots containing seedling carrots. On closer investigation, I discovered there was another toad buried underneath the soil under the top toad, so to speak.

If you are wondering what I am going to do with these carrot seedlings after being in such close proximity with 2 toads, I can confirm that I have chucked them into the compost bin and will start again from scratch. I don't think I would have the stomach to eat fresh carrots straight from a toad's mouth, would you??

Should I take a photo for posterity? The thought entered my mind. It was after midnight, the moon was shining bright ahead, and I was on my way to bed.

At this point I have to explain that my house is an old "casale" with living quarters downstairs (formerly the stables) and we have to go outside every night in order to get to the sleeping quarters. I find this is very quirky and I love it! It takes me almost an hour to get upstairs sometimes when I inspect each pot for the following creatures of the night:

1. snails and
2. slugs

I dutifully dispense of such creatures by genteely as befitting a country lady, flinging them back into the nature where they came from by means of a stick, which I always carry with me for such purposes. It's slightly tedious, but it's my routine now and I don't mind at all. .

Anyway, I digress!! Back to the toads!! I don't like them. They don't blink, they just stare ahead and I can't bring myself to hurl them genteely back into nature. I just can't. Full stop. Anyway, I have since found out that toads apparently eat slugs and snails, so now I'm thinking maybe that's not a bad thing.
In addition, if you would like to read about how toads can sense impending natural disasters such as the earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009, please click on the link from Italy Magazine called "Some croaking seismologists".

Fluffy KittensThe 4 kittens are growing and are in a very playful stage. I love watching them gambol around and they are absolutely adorable. Samantha who is still a kitten herself, is a wonderful mother and I enjoy watching how she teaches her little ones to copy her. They don't mind being picked up and are already very sociable kittens, with very definite characters.

Feeding time

So, as you can see, my life is surrounded by many diverse animals here in the beautiful Abruzzo countryside. I am learning from them on a daily basis.

The "Abruzzo Diary of a Country Lady - Part 2" might be imminent soon. I just feel that EFL is only one part of my life. I would like to write more often about the other totally different side of my life here in Abruzzo. This is the only place for it on my blog.

Poppy field near home, photo taken on May 30th 2011

Chikita the Movie Star
Chikita proudly showing off the fact that she's just laid an egg!

25,000

I'd like to say a heartfelt thanks to everyone from all the countries above, who reads or has read my blog in the past 2 years and a half since its birth in November 2008.

The figure 25,000 just seems to have a special touch about it and this is what my Clustrs map has just told me. This amount of viewers is very modest in comparison to a lot of the leading ELT bloggers. To me, it means a huge amount and I can't believe how my very modest blog has evolved since November 2008.

I have readers from over 100 countries from as far afield as Guam, Tanzania, Qatar, Belarus, Swaziland, Dominican Republic and it seems every corner of the world. I am absolutely thrilled and deeply touched. Thank you very much to every single person who has ever stopped by to see what this blog has to say!!

Design 565
Nothing much has changed from the original layout. In fact it has remained exactly the same. My one attempt to jazz it up and bring it to the modern world went totally unnoticed until I actually mentioned it to one of my fellow bloggers (thanks Chris) who actually said he liked the new style. However, I decided to re-instate the status quo without undue fuss and here it still is. Design 565 as seen below:

I have sometimes wondered if the blog layout is too fussy and cluttered, but then I actually like it this way and don't have the heart to make it minimalist, as that isn't my character. The same Voki cat is still here with the same message.

So, here's to the next 25,000 viewers or readers. I'll do my very best to write about EFL matters, Abruzzo news and anything else that randomly comes up in my life. This blog is my

• personal and very public virtual Learning Diary
• e-portfolio
• repository of free lessons and lesson ideas
• window to the world outside
• daily source of inspiration
  
• cherished labour of love

The Time To Blog Is Now!
If you do not have a blog and you are a teacher who wants to reflect on your teaching practice, listen to my words of wisdom: start a blog now! I can assure you, you will not regret it.
Below is a list of useful sites and information about blogs and blogging, which will help you learn more about this wonderful subject. Hopefully they will inspire you to want to set up your very own first blog:

Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Tutorials on Blogger.
The Edublogger's Introduction to Blogging
Larry Ferlazzo's "The Best Sources of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers"
Ed Blog Collection by Clive, Sir