Learning is Sharing

Recently I have been very impressed with a PBWiki works wiki created with MA students by Evelyn Izquierdo from the Universidad Central de Venezuela. I was invited to look at the ICT in TEFL 2011 wiki and I was blown away by the whole layout and the notion of being able to freely view work carried out by students and tutors doing a course based on Web 2.0 tools. This wiki is a great example of what can be achieved in a relatively short time and it is a vertitable treasure trove of resources and ideas. Well done to everyone involved in the project!!

To quote from one of the many comments written on the front page:

"This wiki is a great reference for those EFL-ESL teachers interested in exploring different tools to provide easy access to course content, collect and assess students’ work".



Sharing is Caring
This post by English Virtual Community refers to sharing. I have just come across it via onestopblogs and it is called "Hey, teachers! Use Web 2.0 tools."

Carla Arena's post on Three Powerful Mantras for Tired Teachers is very motivational. Sharing is at the heart of what she does as an educator.

Sharing Leads to Fulfillment
From a personal perspective, since I have been slowly but surely sharing new things that I have learned since 2008 via this blog, I have felt more fulfilled than ever before. I have shared freely in the hope that someone somewhere might be inspired, or might use something I have written or published in a beneficial way to aid in teaching. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a very tiny thing. All it has cost me is my time and some effort. What it has given me, however, is absolutely priceless!!

IASKU - An Exclusive Interview with Chiew

I was so excited when Chiew Pang from the wonderful A Clil To Climb blog got in contact regarding doing an interview for his exciting new blog project called IASKU. I was very happy and honoured to be amongst his illustrious cast of interviewees, which includes so many educators, whom I greatly admire and respect. I also felt very flattered to be a part of the "daredevil and avant-garde" group of educators, who have been interviewed so far. I certainly didn't ever set out to be different in any way!!! It kind of just happened along the journey of life without too much drama, and when I least expected it, really.

I'm not so sure if I fit into Chiew's category of teachers who "dare to be different", as I feel I am still the same old me, but thanks anyway, for the fab description!!

However, I think you can certainly teach an old dog new tricks, if the old dog (moi) is still young at heart!! As Chiew mentions, I first met him via our shared interest in idioms, and I had come across his lovely interactive lessons on Idioms on his A Clil To Climb blog, which I began to follow with interest.



Chiew explains here why he has started up this inspirational new project. I have really enjoyed viewing the interviews, and I like the way he has arranged and organised them all. He is really dedicating a lot of time and effort to make this series of interviews such a great success!! Many congratulations to Chiew!!

I wasn't able to do the recording using my own equipment at the time, so I asked a very good friend called Andy to help me out. He did a brilliant job of recording my responses. Grazie mille, Andy!!

I chose to answer Chiew's questions all in one go with no takes, so that my answers would be as they came to me. I am delighted with the result, and Chiew asked some fantastic questions, which I enjoyed replying to. Thanks very much to everyone who has already commented on the interview! I appreciate that.

You can view the interview, which is in two parts if you click on the link below:

http://iasku.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/janet-bianchini/

Once again, Chiew, thank you for interviewing me on your IASKU blog. I really enjoyed the experience and it was a huge honour to take part. Now, I wonder who will be next?? I can't wait to find out...

Comics and Cartoons - My RSCON3 Presentation

I had the greatest of pleasure to present at the Reform Symposium 3 yesterday and I have just uploaded my presentation on Using Comics and Cartoons to Slideshare. I would like to share it with you below. Thank you so much to everyone who attended last night at 6pm London time. The time flew past for me and I really enjoyed myself, once I got going!!!

A huge thanks to my lovely moderators Clive and Sabrina de Vita. They really took care of everything and the whole presentation went off very smoothly, thank goodness :-)

In addition, I would like to thank all the incredible organizers- Shelly Terrell, Kelly Tenkely, Chris Rogers, Lisa Dabbs, Melissa Tran, Clive Elsmore, Mark Barnes, Ian Chia, Cecilia Lemos, Jerry Blumengarten, and Kyle Pace- and Steve Hargadon of Classroom 2.0 and The Future of Education online communities for making this incredible conference possible!! Their dedication has no bounds, and they all did a grand job of making sure that everything went off smoothly. A million thanks!! I feel so proud to have taken part in RSCON3 and to have shared what I am passionate about with other educators. It was a truly fabulous experience!!


I had great fun creating all the comics and cartoons!! I am thrilled that I was able to show off quite a few comics created by my students as well, and also one by my young niece. I asked her to do some research amongst her school friends. The result was that she and her friends absolutely love using comics for creative story writing and literacy sessions at her primary school!

I will be uploading the live session as soon as it becomes available on this post or a new one. Watch this space!

UPDATE: LINK TO LIVE SESSION
I have the link to my live session now, and you can view it here. Once again, thanks to all the many attendees and lovely moderators!!

Fun with Comics and Cartoons

View more presentations from Janet Bianchini

You can view my presentation on Youblisher if you prefer to read it as a clickable book!



View the fun news headline below, which is hot off the press!

Reform Symposium: The Final Countdown

Comics and Cartoons
The excitement is mounting, the pressure is building up and it's time for me to pull my socks up and put the final touches to my Reform Symposium virtual presentation on Using Comics and Cartoons in Lessons.

I am currently teaching 24 delightful primary school teachers of EFL at the Lake School of English, Oxford, and as a group we are analysing and incorporating the use of comics wherever possible.

Below is a MakeBeliefsComix created by Group A to practise collocations with HAVE. Please click on it to enlarge it.

A Writecomics example to practise the use of 2 phrasal verbs is below:

I have gradually created and built up a store of comics to use in class and I now need to organise them to present them in the session in a logical manner. I only have 30 minutes approximately to get my message across and there is so much information available that it's difficult to know how to condense it all.

I still have a dilemma. How can I be truly original when everything has already been published on this subject? Well, I guess I have to create some original comics and cartoons to convey my meaning.

A Young Learner's View on Comics
My 8-year-old niece was able to create the following Marvel Superhero comic in a matter of minutes. She grasped how to use the tool very quickly and she planned how she wanted the comic to look before she created the comic. She told me that she used comics at school to help in literacy classes and for storybuilding. She was very enthusiastic about them and she explained how much she enjoyed learning French via the use of comics. Comics contain few words which are easy to work out the meanings of and they are memorable and engaging for younger learners in particular. I was very impressed with the result.

She enjoyed the whole process very much and the final outcome was that I emailed the comic to her parents to show them what she had done. They then simply printed it off and had the option of making it into a poster.

I have been burning the midnight oil recently and I hope I won't be dog tired by next Saturday. I am as keen as mustard to present at this unique e-conference and I am over the moon to be presenting. Below is a recording of me practising with my webcam. I want to record a short introduction to my session and put it on Youtube. Other RSCON3 presenters have already uploaded their lovely introductions on the site.

Below is an introduction from Eva Densiger, who is going to present on Using Web 2.0 Tools in the Primary Classroom. The session looks very interesting, and maybe my group of Primary school teachers can watch the presentation if they are still around.



The Power of a Twitter PLN
I had no idea how to delete a video (to introduce myself for the Reform Symposium) from my newly created Youtube channel! The video recording had somehow got completely out of synch and I wasn't happy with it. I went onto Twitter and posted a plea for help. Within moments Ron Hautman aka EduTechGeek had very kindly done a screen tutorial to show me how it was done and posted the link on Twitter for me. I was able to follow the very clear instructions and so I immediately removed the video. Many thanks to Ron for helping me in my hour of need!

Below is a new Youtube video presentation I uploaded tonight straight from my webcam. It's much better than the previous one I did!!

Click on the link to view lots of other presenters introducing their topics on the Reform Symposium Conference 3 Youtube channel.

RSCON3 Information

In a few days, nearly 8000 educators from over 40 different countries are expected to attend a free 3 day virtual conference, The Reform Symposium, #RSCON3. This free award-nominated e-conference is going to take place on July 29-31st, 2011. Participants can attend this online conference from the comfort of their homes or anywhere that has Internet access. This amazing conference provides educators new or currently active on social networks the opportunity to connect with educators and professionals in the field of education worldwide. With over 12 Keynotes, 80 presenters, and 3 keynote panel discussions you are bound to be inspired!

• View the schedule to plan which presentations you will attend!
• Download the flyer to share with your school!
• Watch this Youtube video of January 2011's conference!
• See if your school will count this as continuing education credit!
• Consider hosting a viewing party!

We would like to thank the incredible organizers- Shelly Terrell, Kelly Tenkely, Chris Rogers, Lisa Dabbs, Melissa Tran, Clive Elsmore, Mark Barnes, Ian Chia, Cecilia Lemos, Jerry Blumengarten, and Kyle Pace- and Steve Hargadon of Classroom 2.0 and The Future of Education online communities for making this incredible conference possible.

We hope you can join us for this incredible professional development experience!

Joey - RIP

The news from Abruzzo came totally out of the blue today. Joey my faithful companion and beloved mascot has sadly passed away, and is now at peace. He had reached the grand old age of 14. I am over a thousand miles away from where he is, but my thoughts are with him. He is buried near one of his olive trees and my vegetable plot.

Feline Confidence
Joey was the best cat you could ever wish for and I will miss him. I owe a lot to him. My technology integration history began with him nearly 3 years ago. He kind of gave me the confidence I used to lack. I felt it was ok to hide behind his lovely face in the picture you can view above. As you can see, I am hanging onto him for dear life. He was very dependable in that respect.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

A Virtual Jet-setter
Joey has featured in many of my lessons and blog posts. Let Sleeping Cat Lie is one of my favourite blog posts ever. He became quite an international virtual jet-setter. He adapted to his new life in Abruzzo and I can say that he was truly happy there. Lizards, mice, grasshoppers and all manners of wildlife kept him on his paws, and he availed himself freely of their services and often took advantage of their lack of agility. He allowed two Italian cats to take over his territory and ever the quintessential British gentleman cat, he welcomed them into his countryside abode. He even befriended the chickens, and they often eyed each other up with mutual interest. The dogs treated him with the respect he fully deserved. During the latter part of his life, he was even keeping a watchful eye over Fluffy, the latest and most recent addition to the growing menagerie.

We will miss his presence. Life will inevitably move on, as that is the natural order of things. He will remain in my heart as a most loyal pet and companion.

Cat Poetry

A Cat's Prayer to Bast

As I lay me down to sleep
I pray to Bast my soul to keep,
I pray to Bast my soul to take,
And transport it to the sandy lands
Where my forbears worshipped were,
Where my ancient kin were much revered
And where the cat first learned to purr.

As I pad on velvet feet
I pray Bast will give me mice to eat,
And as I use my litter tray
I ask that she will find me play,
In her bright heaven where all cats,
Are stroked by Bast's most blessed hands,
And bask and gambol in her care,
Remembering Egypt's ancient sands.

As I knead upon your knees,
I hope that Bast is greatly pleased
To see her child at rest and play,
Fed and cared for every day,
And when I reach that glorious place
And gaze upon her feline face,
I'll ask that Bast will grant you grace
To join me in eternal play.

Author Unknown