ELTMentor News
Here’s our weekly digest of forum comments, upcoming dates and other snippets of useful information.
Welcome to Elena our latest member of the programme. Elena is an EFL teacher from Bulgaria but living in the UK. I know you will all make her welcome and introduce yourselves.
This week’s half-day training
I have decided to postpone the half-day training to a later date as too many people are unable to make it and I think it would be good to have all of you there.
I started a topic on the forum which a couple of you have responded to.
Could you go and choose your preferred dates for this and we’ll choose the one that most people can make.
SLanguages Conference
If you hang around long enough in the online space a conference is bound to come along!
Another reason why it is better to postpone our half-day training is the SLanguages conference which is being held this weekend.
This is held in Second Life (and Adobe) so here’s an opportunity to explore this area of language teaching and learning.
Like RSCON and The Virtual Round Table (which is now not being held only in April – which is a pity as I was going to get all of you to do something!) Heave a sigh of relief!! Still we’ll be better prepared by April!
Here’s a link to the information http://avalon-project.ning.com/page/slanguages-2011
As with all the other conferences it’s a drop in/drop out just go along to anything you like you don’t have to attend everything.
The Forum
Don’t forget to use the forum for sharing ideas, asking for help or posting successes!
Your passwords should all be your name+elt on the end. If you have problems let me know.
Can anybody who hasn’t yet please post up a short bio? We can’t wait to find out all about you 🙂
Here’s the link again:
If you haven’t managed to find the forum yet let me know.
#eltmentor
Feel free to use this hashtag to post tweets.We will do a twitter session in our half-day workshop and we can explore how to get started, how to use it, how to follow chats and also the advantages of being an English teacher on twitter.
If you want to go ahead and try by yourself then follow the instructions below it is quite easy.
(Sign up to twitter, then sign up to tweetdeck and post a comment there. If you need any help with this let me know).
#eltchat
For those of you who would like to follow #eltchat but haven’t signed up to twitter and would prefer to ‘lurk’ and observe before taking the plunge, you can observe #eltchat on Tweetchat.com. Here is the link:
When you get to the site add eltchat to the # box. You can then sit back and watch the action! If you want to contribute you can sign in but this is really the best place for smart lurking :-0
#eltchat is held on Wednesdays at 12.00 and 21.00 UK time – but the # is in use at all times so you can check in anytime to see what is going on.
To find out more about eltchat here is a link to the site – even if you don’t attend the chat you can get great information and links to resources via this site:
Useful articles
Bill Gates on online versus face to face learning (if you haven’t seen this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Qg80MVvYs&feature=player_embedded
From Karenne Sylvester – Some Speaking activities using TED
http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2011/09/10-speaking-english-activities-using.html
Gapfillers
Don’t forget to give me feedback if you use the site for yourself or with students. Also if you have suggestions they’re always welcome 🙂
We’re running a very special offer (ends today- but I’m happy to offer this rate to any of your students who might be interested) £50 ($80) for a whole year usually £175 ($280). The level as you can see is advanced and the age group I think 16+
If you have any students interested then just tell them to contact me mentioning you and I’ll sort everything out for them.
Just a reminder that we do offer a school licence so if your school has advanced students (if wants to use it for teachers) this is possible – just let me know.
We can also syndicate content which means we can deliver straight to your school site or intranet.
Next Session September 26th 12.00 p.m. UK time
Our topic will be dealing with difficult students – I hope you don’t have this problem! I will be looking at ‘needy’ students as well as those who don’t play ball. I don’t have a lot of experience about discipline in the classroom as I have mostly taught adults so I may have a longer Q&A at the end when you can share your experiences.
Need help with anything?
If anybody else needs help with anything just post in the forum, or on twitter or email me or send a message in Gapfillers. I am really pleased that you are using the forum – let’s get more things posted to discuss.
Don’t forget to put any suggestions in the forum, this is your space to share ideas, experiences and ask questions. It’s been a little quiet there recently it would be good to get it buzzing again!
Until next week
Berni