Week 7 - One-Computer Classroom and Padlet

Greetings to my dear instructor and colleagues!

I feel sorry that just 3 weeks is left for the end of this course, I will miss everybody! :-(

Week 7 was also full of activities, discussions and tasks! There were again 2 topics to discuss. I joined the 2nd one - the use of one-computer classroom! As I mentioned in class discussion, I am also teaching with one computer and overhead projector but no Internet access. We don't always have lessons there. Using one computer is really useful for making the students much more attentive and motivated for the given tasks. We use computer for watching videos, listening to CDs, etc. After watching a video we make discussions as a class or in groups/pairs and do some activities. Listening to the songs the students fill the empty spaces with the relevant words and even we sing them ourselves for having a fun. I sometimes divide into groups and play games (i.e. riddles). These activities enhance the students' collaborative work. Computers are also useful for powerpoint presentations. Teachers can explain and discuss new topics by using presentations. Last week I learned how to create interactive power point quiz and I 'll make several ones in the next future.

This week I chose my partners in order to prepare final project. My partners are Margarita and Maria. We share the same problem. They will also use blogs to improve the writing skills of the students. I am so glad to work together with them!

The last task was Padlet. It was quite new for me, but very interesting! Everybody posted articles, videos, documents about learner autonomy. So did I! I posted an article titled 'Self assessment for autonomous language learners' by David Gardner.

This week we had a guest - Jodi Weber. I thank her for joining the discussions and offering useful ideas to us!

I am so grateful to the staff of Oregon University for their patience, care and attention!!!

Sincerely

Gulnar