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Back to my old blog

Feel free to visit me over at my old blog.

Week 10: A new beginning

Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends. ~Richard Bach

Many of you have written in your final posts on their blogs and in our Nicenet discussions that although we have come to the end of this course this doesn't necessarily mean that we have to break all the links between us. Remember that we live in an amazing age! Today's Information Technologies enable us to be in touch with everyone everywhere. I strongly believe in the saying that if there is a will there is a way.

These past ten weeks have been amazing both for my personal and professional development. I am eager to disseminate and share the knowledge I gained from this course with my students and colleagues. I sincerely hope that the participants of this course will embark on collaborative projects where we'll show our students all the values of intercultural education.

Good luck to all of you and keep up the good work!

Week 10: Stay in touch!

These past weeks have been amazing, not only because I learned so much that I can hardly wait for the new school year to begin, but also because I've been provided with an excellent opportunity to meet and learn from wonderful teachers from different parts of the world.

Now I would like to keep in touch with all of you! Yes, we can do it via Nicenet, e-mail, blog and our wiki, but in my humble opinion, Twitter is the best way to connect with like-minded teachers and to learn from the greatest minds of the ELT. Yes, there are many of those that we mentioned during the course: Larry Ferlazzo, Richard Byrne, Sean Banville, Sue-Lyon Jones, Scott Thornbury, Ken Wilson, Ana Maria Menezes, Graham Stanley and many, many more who can enrich your teaching experience.

I have been "tweeting" for more than a year now and I have developed my own PLN = Personal (or Professional) Learning Network of passionate educators from all over the world.

If you are not familiar with Twitter take a look at my presentation about it or visit this guide.

If you already are on Twitter, you can find me on @abfromz (which means Arjana Blazic from Zagreb)

All about Twitter on Prezi

Week 9: Learning strategies

This week I have been reading not only about multiple intelligences and learning styles, but also about learning strategies. I strongly believe that the instruction of learning styles and learning strategies can help students become better learners.

As stated in The Five C’s (or the goals of foreign language learning standards, which are Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities), by becoming aware of their learning strategies, students’ motivation increases. On the one hand they become confident and self-reliant language learners, and on the other, they become familiar with various techniques for language learning, which focus on their thinking processes. However, students should also be taught how and when to apply the strategies.

There are two types of learning strategies, according to the Five C’s: Metacognitive and Task-based Learning Strategies.

Metacognitive strategies focus on reflection. Students analyze and reflect upon their own learning. In this way they are able to see their own strengths and weaknesses. There are four metacognitive strategies:
• Organize/Plan Your Own Learning
• Manage Your Own Learning
• Monitor Your Own Learning
• Evaluate Your Own Learning

Task-Based Strategies address students’ own resources. There are four categories:
• Use What You Know (e.g. background knowledge)
• Use Your Imagination (e.g. role-play)
• Use Your Organizational Skills (e.g. summarizing)
• Use a Variety of Resources (e.g. the Internet).

In Chapter 5 of Sailing The Five C's with Learning Strategies, you can find different activities that you can use with your students. All of them focus on different learning strategies mentioned above.