So Much to Discover, So Much to Create!

As the days go by and as we discover new things each day, I just think that I don't know anything at all, being a teacher is like swimming in a big ocean where you can come across with giant waves. As I have been teaching young learners for a long time, teaching teens, upper primary really excites me, 08-09 was my first year with them, next year, i hope i will keep teaching them because I have very special students this year, i will be very happy to see that they are improving day by day...
As we discuss activities, techniques in the different forums, I really spend much time thinking on each point, basicly because i don't have these kind of experiences yet, but i know i get better day by day by sharing fruitful discussions thanks to the people in the course. I am amazed by the depth of this ocean of teaching and i am thrilled to learn more and more...Dream big...
Take care,

GAMES- which? when? how?

Games are always motivating for my students who are in kindergarten and early primary, it's their natural way to grasp the target language, what about the older ages? Would a high school student like to play games to revise language? Would s/he find it childish or not? What about problematic classes? Would it be easy to facilitate games in those classrooms? Maybe grown up games, like the ones on Tv (Jeopardy, The Weakest Link), may take their attention.
It's very up to the dynamics of the group you are teaching, with the help of time and patience, i think the teacher will decide on the games - which? when? how? But we definitely cannot say games work for all classes.

Presentations♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Here are some of the pictures i mentioned about yesterday, our grade 6 kids either dressed up like the characters or brought some accessories symbolizing the characters from the stories they covered in class and presented those characters. Such a perfect idea for improving speaking, presentation skills and creativity. Highly recommended!

I am waiting for my students to join our wiki, they suggested new ideas for discussion and we talked about about what they want to see in our wiki. Fruitful!!!

Peace...

HipHipHooray!

Hi everybody,

Today we talked to our students with Ms. Nazli and they got their users and passwords. It was great to see that they were really excited about it. I have seen that some of them have started wikiing already! (wikiing: a new word in Eng. ?????????) Let'S see what will happen in next few days.

From tomorrow on i will be sharing the photos of our students' performance duty presentations (i think i mentioned it in our forums, right?). The students were supposed to choose one of the characters among the short stories covered in class. They prepared some questions and answers about the key features and the role of that character in the story. Then they became those characters with their costumes, accessories and make up. And they answered the questions they prepared and presented the characters very well. They were really successful, we - as the teachers- were proud of them, it was a great chance for us to see even the weakest ones were into it!!! Although i sometimes think that performance duty business is a burden on teachers' shoulders, i believe that it's in our hands to make it fun and less painful for both sides- students and teachers.

Cheers!!!

Oh by the way i forgot to tell you the address of the wiki...http://sinemozgoz.wikispaces.com/
Here you go!

What a Day!

I don't know how much time i have spent on my wiki page today but i think it looks ok now. I have realized there is so much to explore when creating a wiki website. How to add pictures properly and how to define users, oh my god!! Should i wait for them to ask for users and passwords or should i give everybody one?? I should think about it.

Today for the first time i mentioned my students about my blog, they asked for the url. On Thursday i will show them my blog and our wiki page and how to use it properly. Please wish luck to me! I hope they will start writing in the wiki asap.

Take care...

Back to the Very Real Life!!!!

During this three-day-break, I had the chance to visit a very nice small town called Beypazari in the west of Ankara, famous for it's historical and traditional houses and special cuisine (yummy in my tummy!)

Now i can confess i really gave a hard time Mehmet when he said that he wanted to go there and i went on until we got there. But the moment i saw the town, i fell in love, love at first sight! Highly recommended for the ones who are into photography and for the ones who love eating and trying new things. Finished? No!! i can still remember the lovely smell of the sheets of the mansion we spent the night when i close my eyes. And the taste of the tea the old lady made for us at the mansion...

Wish to see the old man and the peace in his eyes again.

I will repeat....Strongly recommended!!!

I am reloaded and ready to fight (!)

The first thing tomorrow I will share the url of my blog with my students and will show them what Ms. Sinem is very busy with nowadays!!!

It's been nearly three weeks and my hard disc is already full...I have read and learnt so many new things about learning technologies. Now it's time to take action.

Maybe some brainstorming about wikis and what to discuss on our class wikiiiiiii. I hope they will be interested as much as I am, but i think they will:)

Take care! The countdown has begun!

Sinem