PodCasts

10 English idioms in 10 minutes is a podcast I came across and the title pretty much says it all. The narrator (if that's what you call the voice of a podcast, think about it: the person talking may not necessarily be the author) presents listeners with an English idiom, repeats it, explains it in detail, then provides an example. For instance, he brings up the phrase "To pile on the pounds." He then describes this idiom as: "to put on weight, to become fat quickly." He illustrates this idiom with the sample: "Megan's really piled on the pounds since I last saw her."
The podcast would be very helpful for students learning English because it covers commonly used idioms that students may here amongst their English speaking peers, on television, in songs, all over the native English speaking world. A podcast like this one can provide students with a large sample of English idioms and their meaning while a teacher may be unable. Idioms should be apart of an ESL curriculum, however it is unlikely that a teacher has the time or capacity to touch upon them all. By providing students with a link to this podcast a teacher can ensure that students will have at least a minimal amount of exposure to frequently used English idioms.

ePals

Epals seems like a pretty neat place. It offers a variety of tools connecting classrooms around the world. It creates what they call a "Global Community" allowing schools and districts to connect in an online community.

The Learning Space is much like a wiki insofar that it provides a single site of access for students, teachers, administrators, teachers, whoever, to collaborate on a project or work. What makes Learning Space really neat is the ability to include a particular school or district enrolled in ePals.

SchoolMail is a safe, secure alternative to pen pal projects commonly used in the K-12 environment. It allows students the opportunity to communicate with other students from schools all over the world, also connected to the ePals community. The tool offers a variety multilingual communication solutions; including instant language translations.

In2Books is kind of cool. It enrolls children in a sort of mentoring program which connects them to adults who share reading habits and interests. This is another neat alternative to the traditional pen pal system. The tool is completely monitorable by teachers to ensure the students safety.

Big Huge Labs Movie Poster

Alright so check this out. I've made a movie poster for the Shel Silverstien book The Giving Tree. This activity is something fun that a students can do individually or in a group after reading a book as a class or alone. I think it's pretty neat. An activity such as this one can provide students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the most important events and characters in a book. I think it's neat.

Flickr: Creative Commons

So this Creative Commons thing is just like a copyright law but without the lengthy legal process involved...? Alright I can dig that. The symbols seemed a bit confusing at first but the key on the side of the page certainly helps out.
 This guy says its alright to use other people's images as long as you give them credit.
 This one says the same as above but you can't use 'em for commercial images.
 So this means you can borrow and use the image but you can't change it, ever.
 Alright this one talks about licenses and things so now I'm slightly confused. So people can use your work as long as they utilize a license similar to yours.
Now the combinations of these symbols is a bit over my head.

Photo by ucumari

Microblogs & Professional Development

The use of microblogs and social networking sites like Twitter are fantastic tools that help today's teachers continue to grow professionally and maintain a firm grasp on technological tools. By utilizing such tools in my, hopefully not too distant teaching career, I will be able to share, spread, and discuss ideas with other professional educators. As can be seen in this post, the ability to share ideas with like minded professionals is a priceless commodity that has been greatly expanded over the past decade. As teachers we will not be limited to professional interaction within our own schools or districts. By use of these sites we'll be able solve one another's dilemmas, expand on our ideas, or just share strange experiences.
In the future I plan to utilize these tools in order to maintain a plentiful flow of fresh ideas on how to present and prepare meaningful lessons for my students. By following tweets by other teachers or sharing blogs with countless others I will be able to adopt the unique thoughts of other teachers into my own classroom. Through sharing and networking I will be able to seek solutions to situations or lessons that did not go as planned as well as provide my own solutions to the issues others face. Joining one of these online social communities is a must for today's educators.

Classroom Community

I found this blog particularly interesting because it discusses the importance of creating a community within the classroom within the first weeks of school. The example provided is at a higher level of education however, the idea remains the same: within the first weeks of school it is important not only to build a relationship with your students but to build the relationships they have with each other. This is a concept that I feel extends beyond small ice breaker activities and into the realm of more complex tasks students must work together to complete- much like the example provided in this blog.

EFL Classroom 2.0

EFL Classroom 2.0
This social networking site is huge! It's loaded with recent articles about teaching English in a foreign language setting. The site map is a great way to navigate through a plethora of teaching activities, lesson plans, worksheets, classroom games, teacher training's, videos, readings, you name it! This site is awesome, it even breaks apart the age level of learners so that you can choose the level of activity that is most appropriate for your setting.