Reflections

REFLECTION I

During this week we were introduced to the digital competences world.  We worked on a survey comparing our digital competence level with the one that a primary teacher needs to have.  From this presentation I realize that I need more tools to defend this theme, so I would like to spend more time working on it, because nowadays technology is very useful.

I could not expose this presentation because I did not have my own group yet.

REFLECTION II

As I said in reflection 1, this second week I presented the Reading 1 and then we also had a discussion. We explain an article which told us about the use of technologies in Thai, where the students  manage computers, smartphones and some of them with tablets as well.

On my point of view I think new technologies are very important but I think it is not necessary for children to learn this in their early years because they will have time to learn this even by their own, so I only need to know how can I use it.  The most important point in teaching is to let our students learn about subjects in a more practical way, for example despite of being in class talking about trees, we could go with them to the countryside to see them and to learn about them.

REFLECTION III

This weak we learnt how to use the computer aplication ‘’hot potatoes’’. It is a useful tool for teachers and learners. I think this application is easy to use to someone who is learning and it allows a more enjoyable way to learn.

REFLECTION IV

We used different tools to work with videos this week.  In fact we worked with Movie Maker, Dotsub and Animoto.  In my opinion is very enjoyable because it is a quick way to make beautiful videos by your own. Animoto is probably the easiest for children because you do not need so much knowledge on order to work with it.

REFLECTION V

During this week we used wikis, that is a way to uploading all the content of a class to allow collaboration between teachers, students and parents.  We were told to write a short story and we were given the first and the last line. In my opinion this tool is useful to work together, but at the same time I find it dangerous because all participants can change the information.

REFLECTION VI

The last classes were dedicated to know how to use a digital whiteboard and some programs:
  Audicity, Podcast and Excell.  Digital boards are expensive and we cannot find them in all the schools but there will probably be more and more in classes in the future.  Its use is, not only to allow children to write and work on them as the normal blackboards, but also to show children all what we have in a computer.  Audicity and Podcast are used to create sound an video files.  Excel is a convenient tool to  be used by teachers in order to have all the information about the students, included marks and commentaries.  

This tools are useful to do enjoyable activities and Excel is also useful to evaluate students.

REFLECTION VII

This week we talked about Survey Monkey and Edmodo.

Survey Monkey is a good way to make surveys and we can use it to do level exams among other things.

Edmodo is a tool where you can share homework, information and other notifications. It is a good way to be in contact with your students.

FINAL REFLECTION

At the end of the subject the results are good, in spite of my poor english. From the beginning of the course I realized that my English level was lower than that of my classmates, but I kept on going to class. The subject has been difficult to me, specially some exercises like subtitulating or public presentations but finally I have been able to learn several tools and resources to be used in my future as a teacher. 

New technologies in Christian School.

The Christian School is a private school. Now there are only students from six to eight years old. They are only nine pupils.

In this school they have four computers in the library, some laptops and a search light.They can use other equipment if it is necesary.

New technologies are used  by the teachers to find information. 
Sometimes they use a video or images to complete a lesson.

One of the most important activities in the school is theatre. Once students did a film and for some of the plays they use new technologies: recording their voices.

New technologies are used only by teachers. Students only use computers in some especific games, but it is not frecuent.   

EXCEL SPREADSHEET

Task 1

THE ANIMALS


http://zunal.com/tasks.php?w=269434

LOGIC OF ENGLISH SUBTITLED

IR AL ENLACE:  LOGIC OF ENGLISH SUBTITLED

mindmaps- tools

COOGLEC vs SIMPLE SURFACE 

G.A2

1. https://coggle.it/

- how the tool works

Firstly, you have to go to the website and click in SIGN UP. It is a Google tool so if you do not have a Google account you have to create one. Once you have signed up you can start creating a mind map by clicking on Create.

- how easy it is to use

• It is a bit difficult to log in the first time which might be caused by a slow connection. However, once you are in the site is quite simple to use.
• There is a possibility of using the keyboard or the mouse
• All the controls are specified on the left to check when necessary

- main advantages of the tool

• It is a suitable tool to work on summarize skills because children have to choose only the key words (vocabulary trees)
• Mind maps can be created collaboratively
• Every branch has its own colour and represents a different idea

- main disadvantage (if any)

This tool does not make possible to form complete sentences (subject-verb-complements)

2. http://simplesurface.com/

- how the tool works:

You have to go to http://simplesurface.com/, after that you’ll have to click on use for free now and you can start creating your mind map.

To begin, you just have to double click on the white area and a text box will open, you type, click enter and you will have your first box created. You will have to follow the same process to create further boxes. To edit the text information of any of the boxes click on it and then press space. To change the colour, size, etc.

- how easy it is to use it

It’s not that complicated to use,furthermore, it’s really simple as the steps to create explained above state.  Also, there is a community and a blog that give information about the tool.

- main advantages of the tool

• Simple surface is very easy to use
• You can put your main ideas quickly and using different colours to distinguish the different ideas.
• You can make a surface public to share with who you want
• Boxes can be linked to URLs
• You can export your mind map in text format

- main disadvantage (if any)

• you can not link the information
• you can not colour the text

- which of the two is the group's favourite

The tool we like most is Coogle. The main reason is that it is ideal for children, since it is simple to use, colourful and suitable for working on vocabulary.

Personal Learning Environment

Personal Learning Environment are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. A PLE may be composed of one or more subsystems: As such it may be a desktop application, or composed of one or more web-based services.
I have Symbaloo, a webpage that allow to organize the webpages I use.


When I discover Symbaloo:

At present

http://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcLbHNQ

WEB PAGES

http://lightupyourbrain.com/stories

1) Good points

• Technological

• Pedagogical

2) Bad points

3) Level and age

4) How would you use the web in your teaching practice

This web page is useful to both reading and listen to stories. Afterwards we can take some of the pictures to illustrate the stories. The songs are an ideal resource to work on rhyming, intonation or even dancing (movement) because the teacher can play the songs, give the scripts, prepare a choreography.

http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/easy_reading_listening.html

1) Good points of the web from a technological and pedagogical point of view

This web site has a wide variety of narrations, a lots of them are animated so that you can point at them and they move. In my opinion this fact is very motivating if you’re trying to get students’ attention. They’re short too, so that the kids can’t get bored.

Another good point is that while the fiction is told the script appears too. This is very useful when you’re dealing with reading skills and even spelling!

The last point that is important to share is that with this kind of material it’s easy and appealing to teach new vocabulary, structures and also verb tenses.

2) Bad points of the web

As there is a lot of range, before starting listening and working with a specific link, the teacher must revise every site in order to make the learning meaningful. If this doesn’t happen, beginners may feel  overwhelmed and get frustrated, while kids with a higher level will get spiritless.

Another point is the organization of the web. It seems to be very easy to use, however it needs the supervision of an adult. There is a lot of advertisements that lead to mendacious pages where youngsters may get in trouble.

A diverse aspect is the fact of the pictures moving, explained before in the good points. As the images are animated they can both distract and attract. Here the professor will decide how to deal with this.

3) Level and age

The content of this web page can’t be pigeonholed as only for a certain grade. There are lots of materials that can be used in a huge variety of ways. With most of the stories you can work with student who have begun reading short ones, although it may be suitable for infant grades as well as with the elder groups of primary schools. With the first ones you may listen to the tales in order to develop listening comprehension. In this way they can associate the spoken word with its graphical and visual representation. On the other hand, there is a possibility of improving skills such as pronunciation.

4) How you would use the web in your teaching practice

From my point of view the attachment above allows broad possibilities. As it’s so colorful one can fascinate kids before treating a specific concept, like for example descriptions.

As it is said this type of tools are very useful when dealing with the 4 skills. The teacher can use some of the tales when they want children to read; every one might have their turn to be the one who speaks after the narrator. This fact can be helpful when treating speech capacities (pronunciation, rhythm, etc.).

4. http://www.mightybook.com/MightyBook_free/classroom_songs/blue_song.html

1)Good points

• Technological

3)Level and age: from 3 to 6 year old students

4)How would you use the web in your teaching practice

-The stories and also the songs could be good to work with in the classroom. The songs are a good source to work on the alphabet and some contents such as colors, animals, feelings, sounds…

-Making children sing along the songs would improve their English pronunciation.

5) 2 further webs you have used or would like to use and reasons for your selection

Write all that next to the links (at least half of it as commentaries) in a Word document and finally include that in the wiki in MiAulario

·         http://www.magickeys.com/books/#yc

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning

Lower primary and nursery (Sylvia León)

http://www.speakaboos.com/ (children ́s stories)

This website is good for children between 2 – 8 years old because it is colourful,  accessible and easy to use. It is easy to locate different things because you have  different icons where you can see what kind of story do you want.

Besides you can find many stories about several themes: animals, dinosaurs, traffic, magic, songs, dance...etc

Besides it is really good that while listening the story or the song, it is possible to read the text or the lyrics. This makes easy for children to get to know how to write everything.

What I do not like in this website is that at the top there are advertisements and even if they are controlled it is easy to have opportunities for children to go to other sites that may not be convenient for them. I would be also really useful to have different ways of searching the stories, not only by themes but also by ages, difficulty... And I think that they should add more stories in order to have a really useful tool in class or for children at home.

I would use this website using a song at the beginning of some classes and a story at the end of other classes as a way to make children enjoy the language.

• http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/es/

I would use this webpage as a tool to be used for children by themselves during

Computer class.

• http://www.bbckids.ca/

I would use this webpage in a science class to read interesting material.

• http://www.uptoten.com/

I would use this webpage to get material like colouring pages that children could

use in free time, when some of them finish the activity earlier than others.

TASK HOT POTATOES

ACTIVITIES

QUIZ - My friend Tom:  https://miaulario.unavarra.es/access/content/group-user/2014_0_301716_81_G/1c4be01d-316a-4c1e-9525-23a9566b35e3/sylvia.htm

MATCHING EXERCISE - The animals:  https://miaulario.unavarra.es/access/content/group-user/2014_0_301716_81_G/1c4be01d-316a-4c1e-9525-23a9566b35e3/sylviakk.htm