I hear you ... (Week 3)

Ever since I started this program I feel the whole week has been minimized to two days (Sunday and Wednesday!). I don't know why do I feel so, maybe it has to do with deadlines? It's like important dates are highlighted in my mental calendar and the rest of the days are all in gray. This, of course, does not apply to this program alone but to other projects, tasks, and papers I work on.

This week the tasks were basically on aural/oral skills; focusing on important neglected literacy skills, namely listening. Before I start discussing and reflecting on things I have to admit that while going through the readings and the project I couldn't help but remember an episode from one of my favourite British comedy television series which premiered on ITV in late-1977 - entitled Mind Your Language 

The following is a funny scene where the teacher Mr. Brown is trying to get his students record their voices so as to correct their pronunciation and then the fiasco begins .... 

Listen to Your Voice 

Now let's get back to week three, and the aural/oral skills. I've always told my students that if they don't listen they won't be able to speak. It's as simply as that. Pay attention to what the person is saying in order to "understand" is the only appropriate way to communicate whether in the mother tongue or the foreign language. Luckily, English is widely used in Kuwait; at shops, restaurants, certain colleges ..etc so students are relatively exposed to it but rarely are the speakers native ones. For this reason, schools in Kuwait are providing authentic recorded materials of native speakers of the language to our students. Basically, I teach listening to my students twice a month; something I'm not happy about but I'm restricted and have little freedom to change things. 

This week, I had the chance to read three interesting articles about teaching listening, pronunciation and speaking. I was introduced to a new concept that I was unaware of: CALL and currently I plan on focusing on this concept in my upcoming papers. 

Project task 2 was to read and discuss a past sample project report. I really enjoyed reading the final reports and actually I felt relaxed a bit; knowing what to expect and having an idea about what to expect. I chose a project done by a fellow teacher/supervisor from Burkina Faso. The project was on teaching students writing through emailing. 

Another task that I enjoyed working on was creating a yummy delicious page. I've always kept bookmarking the pages I liked but with delicious I can keep a neat and detailed record of my bookmarks and favourite links/pages! 

Finally, we were introduced to a great number of websites on listening, speaking and pronunciation. I plan on using many of these websites in my classroom. I also am working on a technical meeting where I'm going to introduce these websites to my teachers at the department (I have 13 teachers that I supervise!) and I know my teachers are as anxious as I am to utilize such technology in our classrooms. 

To make a long story short ... listening is a must if you want to get your students speaking! 

Wadha, 

Kuwait 

Let's Roll!... (Week Two)

So two weeks are almost gone and I'm enjoying this experience more and more. To tell you the truth, it hasn't been easy for me as midterms have started (Meaning we have to correct 4,792 exam papers, manually, Oh yeah that's a lot!)

So let's get back to the course work. Before taking part in the Nicenet discussions, I checked the readings and resources section. I read articles on the learning objectives, web searching guidelines and a GREAT article entitled Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally that I really really really recommend. It answered so many questions I had on how to apply and relate cognitive objectives to the digital world.

I, then, moved to the (Weekly Assignments) section to study and read in detail the tasks assigned for this week. I started with Project Task 1, the web-searching task, the ABCD Objective task and here I am working on my last task (which I really enjoy doing); Blogging!

Project Task 1 was very easy as I only needed to describe my class, the students' needs and use of technology, the technology tools available at school and those used by the students at their own homes. While doing so, and while reading my fellow-teachers posts I realized that our classrooms lack a touch of "touch" technology! Classrooms in Kuwait are relatively traditional and when it comes to English Language Classes little do we implement technology and teachers tend to prefer paper-based tasks/readings.

I can't tell you how much I learned and benefited from the Noodletools task. I came across too many amazing search engines. Reading my mates posts, they summarized the benefits and the easiest ways through which you can use these websites.

As for the ABCD objective formulation, it was an easy task as this is exactly what I do prior to any session. While preparing my lesson plan, I specify the objectives but sometimes I do not mention the "Degree" part and I wonder if that makes my objectives less SMART?

I'll catch you later guys ... lunch is served!

Wadha,
Kuwait

The Beginning ... (Week One)

Dear all,

My name is Wadha (Wadheha according to my passport) a teacher of English from Kuwait. I currently am the head the English language Department at a school called Farea Sec. School for girls. I'm also a holder of a master's degree in Interpreting and Translation. I'm extremely happy to be part of this program where people from different parts of the world are sharing their experiences and viewpoints. Everyday I'm learning something about a new tool of technology, method of teaching or even a different culture I was ignorant of.

          Actually, I've always enjoyed blogging but I mainly blog in Arabic (with very few English posts that can be read here) so this is basically my first all-English blog. I use wordpress.com to blog about Human Rights-related issues, books/movies reviews and to raise awareness. Being a teacher of English, for almost 8 years now, I honestly never employed blogging as a tool for teaching English or even for self-reflection purposes. I have my own journal where I keep my day-to-day observations, feelings, experiences and discoveries but I keep all that in a written form. While creating this blog, I was thinking of ways through which I can use blogging to teach my students or even solve work-related problems.

I am waiting for the suggestions and contributions of the rest of the group. If there's anything I can help you with, guys, then please never hesitate to contact me.

Warm regards, 

Wadheha (AKA Wadha)  Al-Dousari 

Kuwait