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.

George Clooney in Abruzzo!

The delectable George Clooney is filming in Abruzzo. He is currently filming "The American" in Castel del Monte, one of my favourite and most beautiful villages in the whole of Abruzzo.

Guess where I'd like to go over the weekend? Castel del Monte is only an hour away from home. It's a beautiful journey through rugged mountain scenery, traversing the spectacular National Park of Abruzzo. Yes, I really would like to see George Clooney in person. I wonder if that is going to happen? I'll keep you posted!!

A Parade of Witches
I have discovered that tomorrow evening on Saturday 31st October, there is going to be a "Night of the Witches" Halloween parade in Castel del Monte. This looks like a fun event! The people of Castel del Monte are hoping George Clooney will attend. Must get K to definitely take me there tomorrow!!

Halloween

There are some excellent Halloween ideas for lessons and videos from Tech ELT Blog.
There are some great Halloween Ads from the English Blog.

Olive Oil Cultivation 2009

Our olives have been pressed at the local olive mill and we have been to collect the olive oil today. The label said "L'inglesi" 22kilos. This relates to 24 litres of pure extra virgin 100% olive oil. We are very proud olive oil cultivators. This is our third harvest. First year: 4 litres, 2nd year:18.5 litres, 3rd year 24 litres. The trend is going upwards so I suppose this is very good news. Mother nature has played a great part in cultivating the olive trees as opposed to any natural expertise on our part. The lady at the mill said the olives were "heavy" this year, due to the huge amount of rainfall we have had in Abruzzo recently. The local word is that it's not been a good year generally throughout the region. As of this afternoon, our barrel is full and we are looking forward to savouring the contents in the many months to come.


We spent 2 and a half days in lovely, warm sunshine, picking the 50 out of 60 olive trees. 10 trees are still very young and so did not produce anything. Maybe next year.

A difference in Colour


This is a photo taken today of the freshly pressed olive oil on the left and last year's olive oil on the right. The difference is in the colour and texture. The fresh olive oil is much darker, cloudy and stronger smelling. It's a fabulous smell. The older version smells much sweeter and is very light in colour and of course, just as delicious.

These 2 small glasses of our oil on a balmy late afternoon represented the past and the present. Here was our vintage 2008 alongside our new -born 2009. It was indeed a moment to savour. We can only wonder how the 100% extra virgin olive oil is going to mature over the following months.

Transhumanza time again!


Our dirt track road was full of sheep making their way slowly across the fields going to lower pastures for the winter. This is known as Transhumanza. We met the very same sheep about 5 kilometres away on our way home from errands. There were 4 Isabella look-a-likes protecting the sheep. These Maremma Pastore Abruzzesi dogs are renowned for fiercely protecting their flock of sheep from wolves and other predators. They are usually a white colour and very tall.

Isabella
Below is a picture of our very own Pastore Abruzzese.


Joe
An English "gentleman cat" in Abruzzo having the time of his life on the balcony today.

Hyla Intermedia
This is a frog I spotted on one of the olive trees I was picking yesterday. It is called an Italian Tree Frog. I was shocked to see a frog on a tree! I thought that only happened in Latin America. I had no idea that there were tree-climbing frogs in Europe. I have learned something new! It was very small and the colour was an exceptionally vibrant green. This first shot was taken by K at the height of the day. I love the symetry as the frog has tucked its leg in to minimise its profile.

This picture was taken at dusk as the frog was preparing for its night-time soiree and so you can see its legs unfolded. I love its big sticky toes used to stick onto the tree trunk! It reminds me of some alien from a 1950s sci-fi film!!