tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83771862011-10-26T21:11:50.261+09:00A Japan-based native-speaking English teacher (and compulsive diarist) blogs on the subject of autonomous EFL learning (aka angst-ridden self-doubting under the guise of professional inquiry).Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.comBlogger6781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-68520492537929329092009-11-01T11:47:00.005+09:002009-11-01T15:03:33.272+09:00

This blog has moved tohttp://www.autonoblogger.com/and is taking on a new lease of life.(Sorry, I don't know how to do that clever "You will be redirected automatically" thingy, so you'll just have to click on the link yourself by hand.)

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-5367359644668976232007-10-21T17:22:00.002+09:002008-02-18T12:27:05.521+09:00

Facing The Future Originally uploaded by duncmc [Update: Comments have been closed.]So, where to, now?I tried direct instruction. It "worked" in that,* students meekly did what they were told* it gave students a feeling that they were in a "proper" class, taught by a teacher "in charge"* it was easy to sort the sheep from the goats.It didn't work, in that,* students were still not

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-80078716323425690862007-10-21T17:08:00.001+09:002007-10-21T17:19:35.943+09:00

Where To Now? Originally uploaded by Katelyn Gibson Gatto and Holt made the most convincing arguments, and provided the most practical help. Holt pointed out that children (people) learn most from what they themselves actually do, rather than from what teachers do (or don't do): "Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners." (from Holt's

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-25140825264258491732007-10-21T17:02:00.001+09:002007-10-21T17:05:15.046+09:00

facing the wall Originally uploaded by NEINmeister I began to question my own values and assumptions:* was it necessarily A Good Thing to offer more choices, more autonomy?* what if my cultural values and those of my students were different, like Lisa Delpit describes? If that were true here, too, then I might not be doing them the favour I thought I was;* what if all this, the "freedom,

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-11606201004629520802007-10-21T13:37:00.001+09:002007-10-21T15:32:44.254+09:00

Look Back Originally uploaded by InTheSunStudio The next stage (tho it wasn't actually so neatly chronological) was reading stuff about empowerment, about language as power, about power differentials, about the classroom as a stage where power plays are enacted. That seemed to make some sense: * were my students perhaps behaving in ways similar to disenfranchised groups like those Paulo

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-20526693793978854922007-10-21T09:17:00.001+09:002007-10-21T13:40:08.891+09:00

the look back. Originally uploaded by theshanghaieye What was going on? And what should I/could I do about it?My razor-sharp mind soon (after a few years) noticed a few things:1. students need to be told what to do2. they try to blend in with the group, try not to stand out3. they are afraid of making mistakes.4. they seem bored of school (even if they just got here)5. many of them

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-31506785418272423192007-10-20T14:14:00.001+09:002007-10-21T08:52:30.506+09:00

looking back Originally uploaded by jennypenny26 I started this blog as a doodling-pad - a place to write in order to more clearly see what I want to say - as I blundered along attempting to "teach" autonomous language-learning at a private Japanese institution of higher education. I hoped also to attract comments and observations, because I was not/am not getting enough of that where I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-70860675655713163902007-10-15T19:54:00.001+09:002007-10-15T19:56:09.732+09:00

Bad Cop Originally uploaded by snuggle up & read About a year ago, I noticed I had a number of students who were showing up to class but then goofing off or sleeping and not actually doing much work. My solution had two prongs to it: a pitchfork (slightly heated). No, what I did was: a) assigned work in class which either I assessed in class (e.g. student interviews or speeches) or which

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-871770954016243742007-10-10T05:51:00.001+09:002007-10-10T05:51:05.033+09:00

All websites are universally accessible, but....some websites are more universally acceptable than others.Powered by ScribeFire.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-23734669092573300962007-10-03T13:08:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:23.803+09:00

A propos of nothing, except I just read it, If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.If voting could change this system it would be against the law.[Attributed to Idaho Blackie, in the liner notes to Utah Phillips' We Have Fed You All a Thousand Years.]

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-65831269053541798082007-09-28T18:06:00.001+09:002007-09-28T18:32:03.695+09:00

Five Paces Originally uploaded by Charlotte Augusta I'm shutting up shop. My blog and I are parting ways. My primary intererest has shifted away from autonomous language-learning and teaching. I am still interested in teaching and learning, but not within the field of autonomy. Rather than adapt the blog, I'll leave it here (for posterity, ya know), and create a new one. Before that, I'll

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-74434445650511570742007-09-21T15:05:00.001+09:002008-12-10T20:32:23.958+09:00

What do you do if you see a 9th-grader being bullied for wearing pink at school?Read what two brave 12th-graders at Central Kings Rural High School in Nova Scotia did.(Mouse-tip to Aventures d'organisation for the link)Powered by ScribeFire.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-31783178668001563272007-09-14T15:13:00.001+09:002008-12-10T20:32:24.224+09:00

After tracking the amount of time I was spending online just reading posts in my Google Reader (even just scanning them), I decided to throw them all out, and give myself an extra hour per day. They're fascinating, and most of them are still in my blogroll (sidebar). But I really need the extra time as classes start in 2 weeks' time.(Photo credit: mdpNY on Flickr

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-42824757655536485712007-09-11T05:41:00.001+09:002007-09-11T05:41:17.334+09:00

Apparently even Monsanto shies away from Monsanto products.First Starbucks, then Safeway announced they would no longer use milk that contains rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), primarily made by Monsanto. Then I read that Monsanto goes GMO-free... in its cafetaria!Powered by ScribeFire.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-89895623925889576482007-09-09T01:26:00.000+09:002007-09-09T01:32:20.790+09:00

I should have waited a bit before blogging my earlier entry, until I'd seen this TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson (a fellow Brit I'd never heard of). Makes a similar point to Michael Rosen but with a lot more power and in less than half the time (20 minutes). (See Ken's Wikipedia entry and his official website.)

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-46743290865731944452007-09-08T01:38:00.001+09:002007-09-09T01:26:53.220+09:00

This caught my eye:Knowsley Council in Merseyside, has abolished the use of the word school to describe secondary education in the borough. It is taking the dramatic step of closing all of its eleven existing secondary schools by 2009. As part of a £150m government-backed rebuilding programme, they will reopen as seven state-of-the-art, round-the-clock, learning centres. Originally in the British

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-68475254074646913632007-09-07T19:35:00.001+09:002008-12-10T20:32:24.478+09:00

I just re-discovered teachers.tv, a British website (and actual TV programme?) that hosts a host of information about teachers and teaching in British schools. Obviously most of the content is going to be of more interest to people who actually live and teach in Britain, than to people who don't (like me), but I enjoyed this 45-minute video by children's author Michael Rosen from the programme

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-26321390893724805822007-09-03T07:26:00.001+09:002008-12-10T20:32:24.728+09:00

Via Information Aesthetics (a mesmerizing blog, a visual feast), comes this link to an interesting map at Knowledgeworks Foundation & The Institute for the FuturePowered by ScribeFire.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-76124221733991156402007-09-02T17:56:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:24.951+09:00

Here's a good example of how your words may not always convey what you intend them to convey:The video clip's actually in French, but that's not the cause of the "mis-translation".The secret of Brokebank Mountain.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-89026409252740032232007-08-28T21:21:00.000+09:002007-08-28T23:16:35.649+09:00

Doug "Borderland" has another thoughtful and thought-provoking post, this time on start-of-the-year "class management" problems, also called emergence... To be brutal, I didn't understand much of it, but I enjoyed the T-shirt, I mean the comments, especially Stephen Downes', where he discussed the meaning of freedom.I recently read The Road to Serfdom by Austrian economist F.A. Hayek, originally

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-21839368642260751932007-08-28T17:27:00.001+09:002007-08-28T17:27:19.028+09:00

After coming across Dr Marzano on the Excelsior Gradebook website, I did a little search (never afraid of hard work, me), and found this inspiring review of one of Marzano's books, Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work.Another Marzano book What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action has the blurb Any school in the United States can operate at advanced levels ofeffectiveness-if it

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-30703628414176426942007-08-28T14:49:00.000+09:002007-08-28T14:57:18.390+09:00

I just bought a new computer (Windows Vista) which comes with some very basic photo editing software (I'm also playing with Picasa to see if that will do the resizing and cropping that I want), the rather clunky Windows photo gallery (at least that's what it's called in Japanese), so when I read Larry Ferlazzo's blog entry about FotoFlexer, an online photo-editing app, I quickly clicked on it. I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-37713007185376521702007-08-27T20:44:00.001+09:002007-08-27T20:51:25.543+09:00

Last month, after making one too many errors typing in my grades into Excel, I decided to try an online grading system: I'm using MyGradeBook.com's 1-month trial, and so far have been pleased. Today, I also found Engrade Online Gradebook but did not sign up for the free account after the guided tour balked at the first fence. I also found Excelsior's Gradebook which is not an online app but a

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-11870791688351048202007-08-27T20:23:00.000+09:002007-08-27T20:39:25.332+09:00

Via Google (click on "add more content" to your iGoogle page), I discovered Funny Ads. I've had it on my iGoogle page for a few days, but didn't watch any of them until today. A number are in languages other than English (some of those have English subtitles), and a number are "silent", where the pictures tell the whole story.Humour is an element common to all those I saw at a quick glance, and I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-80091187766971851762007-08-26T15:19:00.000+09:002007-08-26T15:20:45.742+09:00

As I'm at present teaching a class on World News, and as I found some of the info on Wikiepedia and bias and the Neutral Point of View page to be of possible value to those World News students, I tried to find the equivalent pages in the Japanese version of Wikipedia. Here's what I found after just 10 minutes searching; if you find better, more relevant ones, please post them in the comments -

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-59035110414389762502007-08-26T13:59:00.000+09:002007-08-26T15:26:56.687+09:00

From a comment Larry left, I discovered his blog, and from there this page of resources for students. An impressive list, although there are lots more resources than student-produced pages. One of the links was to Dandelife "a social biography network". One of the stories I clicked on at random referred to sleep apnea and a successful treatment this guy found called Continuous Positive Airway

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-66992371782906581012007-08-21T09:59:00.001+09:002007-08-21T11:47:14.820+09:00

Here's a roundup of some of my Google Reader content this morning:The Wow Factor - from NextGenTeachers by Justin Medved - introduces Animoto, an online app that creates presentations that look very cool and apparently easy to produce in a short time. The free version limits you to 30-second presentations. Here's one of random Japan images.. (Check out the YouTube trailer to an upcoming comedy

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-34234932404291964132007-08-03T19:44:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:25.213+09:00

David St Lawrence lives in Floyd County and writes about a festival held there. There I found a link to Spiral Hoop Dancer Vivian.I could watch this for hours. She is having such fun, and she apparently did not know she was being videoed. Plus it doesn't hurt that she's very sexy. (This vid is work- and family-safe).Dan Meyer, math-teacher extraordinaire and a dab hand at making and using online

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-34568496833295910822007-08-03T17:40:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:25.483+09:00

Doctor Foster went to GloucesterIn a shower of rain.He fell in a puddleRight up to his middleAnd never went there again.But remember, kids: global warming's just something Al Gore made up coz he was sore at losing the election.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-50928776048767248642007-08-02T10:00:00.000+09:002007-08-02T10:11:34.448+09:00

For all of us working in educational institutions, there is hope: a way has been found out of boredom and despair.Since the prison's physical fitness programme was redesigned Crisanto and his fellow inmates have become musical stars. Some of the 1500 inmates at Cebu now perform mass choreographed dance moves to the strains of Michael Jackson's Thriller, Queen's Radio Gaga and a number from the

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-51805167762739717812007-08-01T21:50:00.000+09:002007-08-01T22:04:34.208+09:00

Just found this plug for online game and web designer, Ferry Halim, on the NextGen Teachers blog, and wanted to promote it here. I haven't tried all the games yet, but they look like fun. I'll be introducing my youngest daughter to them soon.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-46092468692987788802007-07-29T18:13:00.001+09:002007-07-29T18:17:03.503+09:00

My computer died and took all my photos with it. Some are still alive, tho, on a couple of Flickr accounts I have. Downloading them 1 by 1 is such a pain, tho, that I looked around for an easier way, and found Flickrdown by Gregg Man. I could not access Gregg's homepage, but was able to download a copy from SourceForge.net.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-3586907315660222122007-07-28T12:04:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:25.643+09:00

(Photo credit: skydive_upload12 by MikeyDotCom on Flickr)Borderland has an interesting post up called Ground Rush. Great story! Skydiving for school credit, wow! Wish I could have done that.His WordPress spam police fried my comment, and as this could be crucial to the future of education on this planet, I'm posting it here.Turning the main point of his entry, about planning for classes, I was

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-78543254485158275972007-07-28T11:10:00.000+09:002007-07-28T11:15:37.030+09:00

Chris Craft at Crucial Thought posted a link to McAfee's Phishing quiz. Ten questions that test how good you are at spotting fake (phishing) websites and emails. This kind of skill or knowledge is, unfortunately, necessary these days. A neat tool to use in class with students. Bonus question: how can you tell if the McAfee site itself is genuine or not? (I got 10/10. How did you do?)

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-46933794051990306752007-07-25T20:30:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:25.766+09:00

OK, nothing to do with autonomous EFL learning, but I just loved the photo that was on the BBC website.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-88331687955717104612007-07-17T19:37:00.001+09:002007-07-17T19:39:17.690+09:00

Teaching English in a foreign country is a whole different game. I read a few teachers blogs, teachers in the US, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canada. Almost all are teaching in their own native language, and teaching students who mostly have the same native language as the teacher. When you're teaching students who do not share not only your native language but also your cultural

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-15863610664438301672007-07-10T16:48:00.000+09:002007-07-10T17:48:09.799+09:00

Doug's recent comment reminded me of one reason I enjoy keeping this blog: getting comments from people who work in EFL as well as from those who work in other fields. Yes, meta-language in textbooks is one of the (many) banes of a teacher's working life, but I'm not sure this is the whole problem in my case. I keep coming back to what Steve wrote about using English to process meaning. The

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-42878063332254963632007-07-09T22:56:00.000+09:002007-07-09T23:41:12.539+09:00

To redress the balance a bit... I attended 7 presentations. Two were very good.One was the account of the new software to teach large Accounting classes, which I wrote about before. His presentation came right after an awful one which was so full of jargon that no-one else understood it, either. He started out slowly, taking time to relate his subject to knowledge we already knew*, situating it

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-29253548557026495962007-07-08T01:58:00.001+09:002008-12-10T20:32:25.957+09:00

Today I attended an "IT in Education" conference in Tokyo.I've been reading James Atherton's site, and came across these pages on technology (in education) in general and handouts in particular. A couple of points:technology is not neutral, andDo you want students to take notes? Would it help them to understand the material for themselves? Then don't use handouts. I was reminded

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-52939114685505671762007-07-08T00:50:00.000+09:002007-07-08T01:10:55.463+09:00

Steve Herder at Japan Action Research in EFL wrote recently about his joy at hitting on an activity that allowed students to use the grammar they have learned to process meaning. I started to leave a comment, but pretty soon found that it was turning into an essay, so....Here's the essay:lack of experience actually USING GRAMMAR they’ve learned in order to PROCESS MEANING.I've been thinking about

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-79060315174827383562007-07-05T14:42:00.000+09:002007-07-05T14:43:25.787+09:00

Blimey, looks like someone just bought Bilbo's old pad, Bag End, Hobbiton.

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-58695391436959927002007-07-04T19:35:00.000+09:002007-07-04T19:54:14.432+09:00

I (think I) first came across the ideas of Kelly and his Personal Construct Pscyhology in a paper or two or three, written by in-Japan-teacher Gregory Hadley. Well, I've just spent a happy hour lost in the maze of James Atherton's Doceo site, and came across this page on Kelly and Personal Construct Psychology.Atherton also included a link to Phil Race's website, in particular to this Powerpoint

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-37177096750196549212007-07-01T09:42:00.000+09:002007-07-01T20:01:35.925+09:00

Harold Jarche shares his scepticism of the learning-styles theory, and I must say I tend to agree. Simple logistics is one objection I have. It sounds great, benevolent and taking into account students' individual differences and needs, but read this and see if you still agree with it.The list he offers, tho, has much in common with the principles of instruction espoused by many who subscribe to

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-4856400373436935462007-06-30T14:18:00.000+09:002007-07-10T16:48:16.375+09:00

Because the task I described at the end of my previous post, proved a little too challenging for my students, I re-cast it (see below). I'm trying to lead them to an understanding of web 2.0What is good blogging?Visit this blog, then this one. Which is better (more interesting, more useful) do you think? Why is it better? Now visit this blog, then this one. Which is better do you think? Why is it

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-61383473414150277042007-06-30T14:14:00.000+09:002007-06-30T14:17:46.838+09:00

I then set them the following task:Look again at my blog entry British Sports News. Then answer the questions below on your blog.Good blogging is NOT:a diary: Dear Blog, Today I got up at 6.30. I hada cup of coffee for breakfast. I brushed my teeth. I went to work by train. ThenI came home. I had dinner and went to bed at 11 pm. This is not a good blog. Why not? (Discuss with your classmates and

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-11427014801270218792007-06-30T12:53:00.000+09:002007-06-30T14:17:21.907+09:00

This post follows my previous entry on Blogging with students.Today I had another session with the one class I teach this year where we are using the Internet as an integral part of the class. Yesterday, I wrote a model blog entry in order toencourage them to write in Englishshow them what I expect in a blog entryBecause part of this course is reading news articles in English, vocabulary-building

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-32345077851829899222007-06-30T10:47:00.000+09:002007-06-30T10:59:07.737+09:00

This post follows on from my post Assessing student blogs.I created a blog entry and asked students to write their own blog entry using mine as a model. Here's my model below. Any comments or suggestions as a model blog post are of course welcome. There are 6 points about this blog entry I pointed out to students:The topicThe title, where I found it and a link to the original article.Flesh out

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-24688651542378029892007-06-27T18:28:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:26.204+09:00

Last year I blogged about taking attendance in Japanese university classes, particularly about the tendency by so many people in higher education in Japan to use attendance as a measure of achievement, or at least as a factor when calculating final grades.I've been thinking about it again more recently, after reading Mager's Preparing Instructional Objectives, and I've found a link: vague

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-23866989371209018152007-06-24T22:06:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:26.367+09:00

Tried to upgrade my Moodle installs from 1.6.1 to 1.8 (what Fantastico was suggesting). Fantastico had no problem, but all kinds of problems showed up when I visited those Moodle sites and tried to start the upgrade process. In one case, Moodle told me it couldn't even FIND the directory I was pointing it at. In another, there was some problem with the title or something. In all of these, tho, I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-89942957486523254912007-06-24T09:19:00.000+09:002007-06-24T10:31:19.877+09:00

On Harold Jarche's blog, I found a post about a book called Analyzing Performance Problems. Thinking it might help me analyze why my students don't "perform" (i.e. study, learn, practice) as well as I think they should, I borrowed it via the inter-library loan and read it. Fascinating. Helped me look at what goes on in my classrooms from a different perspective.I then ordered Preparing

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-30737174001758740182007-06-23T12:14:00.000+09:002007-06-23T22:25:01.810+09:00

Searching for help with assessing student blogs took a long time. I first found Aaron's summary on Dekita of Jill Walker's list of what works and what does not.In only one class at the moment am I using blogs. I'm having students write in their own blogs about news articles they find on the web. It has taken 2-3 months for students to get used to blogging and searching on the Internet, using

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-55412115952814482692007-06-23T11:25:00.000+09:002007-06-24T10:34:22.569+09:00

While some are on vacation, we in the land of the falling yen are still slaving away, some of us until the beginning of August, to ensure the students get their money's worth of 15 classes per semester. I've been keeping a log of how many hours I spend on non-class work. Being a salaried worker, I get paid by the month for a set number of "hours" (actually 90-minute class-periods, called "koma"

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-5573420523585652452007-06-13T21:55:00.000+09:002007-06-13T22:29:47.558+09:00

When I first started blogging, I used Bloglines as my aggregator, along with millions of other beginner bloggers.About 6 months ago, after Google bought Blogger, I started using Google Reader, and found it so user-friendly I abandoned Bloglines in a fit of mid-life-crisis fickleness.With Bloglines, I faithfully kept all my feeds, adding to them, but rarely culling any, tho I don't think that has

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-33134640361565579652007-06-12T15:58:00.001+09:002007-06-12T16:12:48.702+09:00

In a previous, long-winded post, I blathered rather incoherently about teacher-led classes versus student-led or some form of negotiated curriculum.I have one language class where for part of the time, students work in pairs or threes, each group with their own CD player, textbook and text CDs. They practise a combination of listen-and-repeat exercises, listening only, and speaking only exericses

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-73604831619942769362007-06-10T00:49:00.000+09:002007-07-17T18:29:19.462+09:00

Dan asks how I'd respond to this solution: Cede instructional control to the student. Let her direct her own learning. Curriculum and student desire will align. I teach university students, not high school; uni students are less easy to convince that they absolutely need what I'm teaching; they are IN (the uni) - the major extrinsic motivator for learning English previously.I tend towards a

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-12996409253357652952007-06-07T15:55:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:26.555+09:00

Damn! Another conference I wish I could attend. Stockholm in June. Yum. I feel homesick already. And I'm not from Stockholm, or even Sweden.The website for this Podcamp Europe unconference has done me the favour (there's a hint I'm from Europe) of enlightening me on exactly what an unconference is.I hope some (or all) of the sessions will have online resources posted at some stage or other. Via

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-19280709101077561142007-06-05T23:49:00.000+09:002007-06-07T16:51:28.963+09:00

I mentioned my sense of a mismatch between curriculum provided by the institution where I work, and the students' wants, and I wish to clarify this.In a sense, there will always be a mismatch, or at least a gap: it's inevitable that young people will want to do some things that their elders don't want to spend time on or are unwilling to provide for; and conversely, things that others, from their

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-90360159409714790162007-06-04T18:26:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:26.769+09:00

Having spent half the weekend in Tokyo for JALTCALL 2007, and after spending too much time preparing in previous weeks, I decided to cut out the fancy stuff, and just go by the book for once: just follow the instructions in the teacher's manual. Would you like to know how it went?I knew you would! Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.The book I'm using was chosen for me, and is pictured

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-89193361974568293392007-05-25T23:52:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:27.051+09:00

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifAfter reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, I quickly moved to his system. For archiving and for "live" projects, the A4-sized file folders were great. But not for the stuff I wanted to lug around and "read and review". So I liked the hipster PDA idea (and a variant here).But it looked tatty, and I was always rooting around in my bag for the stack (or "

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-56804009280185005012007-05-25T23:32:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:27.176+09:00

I'm developing a record system, cobbled from bits and pieces garnered here and there. I use manila file folders for each class (from David Allen's excellent GTD). This holds every thing I need for today's class, plus the previous class (e.g. homework I collected, handouts I used, plus the 1-page record sheet I use). Everything prior to 2 sessions ago goes in a larger, heavier 32-ring file. All

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-18062008565161727072007-05-17T00:43:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:27.604+09:00

Just had an odd experience using Gmail. I wrote my email then clicked "send". A window popped up saying "It appears you wanted to send an attachment with this email. Do you want to go ahead and send it anyway?"gulp! How dit doo dat? I did use the word "attachment" in the email, so perhaps Google is just reading my email, not my mind. But I still feel nervous...

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-10611854104889432962007-05-12T16:32:00.000+09:002007-05-12T17:30:04.381+09:00

Here's something that I thought might have valuable implications for teaching, particularly teaching using web2.0 tools (and particularly after reading Dan's post about being engaging).Aggregate displays are everywhere, from the book ratings at Amazon.com to the most-emailed articles at the New York Times to the number of diggs at Digg.com. They’re a primary element of social design. They not

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-48931372020411816692007-05-09T20:56:00.000+09:002007-05-09T20:58:30.492+09:00

If you're "of a certain age" as the French say, you'll probably have fond memories of cassette tapes, like this BBC journalist, who writes about what to do with these, now outdated, sound storage devices.Can you think of any ideas to add?

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-87445341394374682932007-05-09T01:12:00.000+09:002007-05-09T01:35:17.053+09:00

For the EFL teachers in Japan, there are a couple of conferences coming up in Tokyo that I am interested in. I don't think I can attend both, unfortunately.1) ECAP 2007. I've heard Charles Browne present on vocab acquisition. He knows his stuff and is an engaging and relaxed presenter to boot. He helped created VCHECK.2) Jaltcall 2007, in Waseda Uni, Tokyo. Scrolling thru the list of abstracts, I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-71018016769326476832007-04-29T20:26:00.000+09:002007-04-29T22:17:29.734+09:00

Steve Herder asks a couple of questions:Q1) How much L1 vs. L2 you use when getting the students set up to this point? A1) I have used almost entirely L1 (theirs! not mine), throwing in some English words which I think would be useful to know (create, account, register, login, logout, URL, password, user name, ID, firewall, subject, body, upload, download, address, dashboard, post (noun and verb

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-44489672242137224232007-04-28T20:31:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:28.277+09:00

(Photo by seaworthy on Flickr).I'm looking for vocab teaching activities. I really don't have time to make many materials, so I'm looking for stuff that's already out there.I've insisted my students buy word-cards. I show them how I want them to use them, in class. I'm going to set a target for them of 20 new words per week, starting after the holiday (called Golden Week). I've been giving them

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-89994720731869565822007-04-28T12:41:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:28.518+09:00

It is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated setting students up with the software and accounts I want to use in class. Students are simply not accustomed to blogging, creating accounts, creating profiles, the difference (in privacy and exposure) between a subscription-only Yahoo!Group and a completely public blog.Last week, it took 90 minutes to get (most of) the students set up with a Yahoo

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-56941673199717013892007-04-28T11:51:00.000+09:002007-04-29T22:19:24.848+09:00

Yesterday brought up 2 other issues to consider when using Yahoo!Groups in class: firewalls and web-access.Everyone signed up (or I signed them up) ok. They got their welcome message from Yahoo!Groups and the one from me. But nothing after that. Messages they send to the group get stopped by the firewall. Everyone got a message titled (in English) Barracuda Spam Firewall, but the content was all

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-13879373547022923132007-04-26T09:59:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:28.883+09:00

Last year I used Moodle as a repository for class-related materials and files, and for communication with students including their feedback on what we were doing.There were numerous, mostly trivial, problems, mostly technical. But the biggest problem was the large amount of time it took to manage. I have therefore decided not to use Moodle this year. I would, however, like to hear students'

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-28310477364967447032007-04-26T08:41:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:29.069+09:00

(Graphic by Wesley Fryer on Flickr.)A lot has been written about youngsters these days as digital natives, i.e. people who grew up in digital environments, using digital devices, as opposed to "digital immigrants", i.e. the older generation who grew up in a different age and have adopted these devices later in life. (Marc Prensky was, I think, the first to use this metaphor, see here).So there I

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-52479711849073629802007-04-25T09:49:00.000+09:002008-12-10T20:32:29.267+09:00

In a comment to my previous post, Cleve reported:One technique I try to do with the "state the class objective" slice is to borrow a page from the marketing book and frame the objective in a way that Ss feel is important - (simplistic) example with my adult BE Ss: instead of saying "today we'll be working on the conditionals" I'll say "After today's session you'll be able to discuss future

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-49158479965980385702007-04-24T21:27:00.000+09:002007-04-24T21:55:46.195+09:00

I didn't think a great deal at first about Dan Meyer's idea of teaching being an art/science that can be sliced into very (infinitesimally thin) slices, but as time went by I found myself using the concept more and more.Here's one thin slice that immediately helped me understand what Dan was on about:In my first year, I realized I often phrased my instructions as questions, tossing out weak

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-83812333510738671702007-04-20T02:24:00.000+09:002007-04-20T02:45:54.830+09:00

I adapted Rob Waring's paper "How to get your students to use their dictionaries effectively" (OUP, 2001) and created a worksheet for my university EFL students to help them become more familiar with the various functions and uses (and limitations) of their dictionary. Rob Waring stresses that it is best if all students have the same dictionary when you give them this kind of dictionary training.

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-73447853033301456262007-04-20T02:17:00.000+09:002007-04-20T02:24:19.938+09:00

Over the years I've used several different ways of keeping track of exactly what the students and I did in class, but I have yet to be completely satisfied with any one system.I have used hanging files to keep the loose-leaf handouts and student homework, but what about extra copies of handouts that I need to keep for the inevitable few who were absent that day and will (guaranteed) ask me for

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-53671419707111840742007-04-20T01:51:00.001+09:002007-04-20T01:51:10.789+09:00

Wired News editor and Mac-user Michael Calore used nothing but Google Apps for a month. Here's his report. At first, he's ecstatic, then he starts to see cracks in the system...The first major stumbling block was Google Talk, the web-based chat client. I could chat with other Gmail users, but I couldn't connect to my co-workers on AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. Something about the way

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-27454126415048904102007-04-20T01:30:00.003+09:002007-04-20T01:30:21.257+09:00

I'd never heard of 2-channel, but I'm interested in anything that gives Japanese people a voice, so I clicked on the link to this wired.com article. If you live in Japan, and/or are interested in social networking in this country, read on. Here are some excerpts:The 2-channel forum is a Japanese internet phenomenon. This single site has more influence on Japanese popular opinion than the prime

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-11349715344265513642007-04-19T12:57:00.001+09:002007-04-19T12:57:13.345+09:00

Darren Rowse is a professional blogger. Here he writes about how he various blogs grew and why. Some useful tips and info, even for me who isn't and does not (as yet) aspire to be a professional blogger. Darren's entry is short but sweet. Here are some sample:What you do the day after you get on the front page of Digg is inmy opinion just as important (if not more) than what you did to get onthe

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-75117758604525171622007-04-19T12:48:00.001+09:002007-04-19T12:48:52.041+09:00

Steve Olson posted a link to this funny list of incomplete proverbs that a first-grade teacher gave to her kids to complete. I'm not sure I believe these were all written by first-graders, but who cares?!"Better to be safe than ....Punch a 5th grader."is the first one, and they just get better.

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-77068566737057761132007-04-15T19:28:00.000+09:002007-04-15T19:40:08.862+09:00

I'm trying to figure out how to best teach vocab to my uni students.I've been playing with the Vocab profiler, and have input the first unit of all the textbooks I'm using, and separated out the 1k words, the 2K, the AWL ones, and the off-list.I also want to give some basic dictionary training, adapting Rob Waring's suggestions. I think that should cover me for tomorrow, he-he-he.I'm also going

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-40140896743309257202007-04-14T22:12:00.000+09:002007-04-14T22:20:01.450+09:00

A while back, I posted about some "safety online" videos that Quentin D'Souza had posted. One of them shows a photo of a girl lying on a bed; the photo is posted on a bulletin board, and every time someone pulls the photo off the board, it magically reappears there. The moral: once you post a photo of yourself online, it stays there for pretty much eternity.Today, I came across the case of a

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-80339128384781994982007-04-11T23:28:00.001+09:002007-04-12T00:55:59.111+09:00

Some useful tips on good blogging practice, from Idratherbewriting. Nothing revolutionary or outrageous, just common sense, but it works as a useful reminder.#10 spoke to me: "archive by topic rather than date", unless yours is a purely personal journal. "Date archives mean little to readers."Following his own tip of linking abundantly (#8), idratherbewriting includes links to some interesting

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-56386540720877271952007-04-08T23:43:00.001+09:002007-04-09T00:12:04.646+09:00

Harold Jarche points out that blogs are good for conversations, but not so good for longer, more sustained thought, and his own entry is a good example.Homework is only one activity that lacks evidence to support its continuance. Subject-based curriculum, age-based cohorts and reliance on unsound models like Bloom’s Taxonomy to measure learning outcomes are other examples. Oh, really? There are

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-39973104671930261182007-04-06T19:38:00.001+09:002007-04-06T19:38:51.788+09:00

Wired magazine has an interesting article on cyber-attack and possible responses, particularly a wartime and peacetime responses:Last month Marine Gen. James Cartwright told the House Armed Services Committee that the best cyberdefense is a good offense... The general isn't alone. In 2003, the entertainment industry tried to get a law passed (.pdf) giving it the right to attack any computer

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-84104425699236007342007-04-06T18:55:00.001+09:002007-04-14T22:21:11.317+09:00

I've been using Snagit, a Windows program that takes screenshots including grabs of scrolling windows, and they send me a newsletter every now and then. Today's a link to a website that allows you to input some (student-written) text and see if it's been plagiarised or not. I've no idea how it works, or if it's reliable, but am just passing on the info.Three times while I taught English

Guy Jeannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-18960026021701247662007-04-06T18:53:00.001+09:002007-04-14T22:21:36.495+09:00

The indefatigable Quentin D'Souza has created a SplashCast Channel that shows public safety videos on the subject of online sexual predators and cyber-bullying. Pretty interesting videos. There were 6 at the time I visited. Could be useful resources for teachers and parents.

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-76356174342223947832007-04-06T16:21:00.001+09:002007-04-06T19:43:40.226+09:00

Jay Cross, online champion of Informal Learning, quotes Clive Shepherd who quotes research by Dr Donchin at the U of Illinois, from 1986. This is not new news. The question is, are teachers wasting their time?  Not a bad question to ask, and not just once, either, but what about assessment? If 99% of learning is unconscious, and if that means that most of what's learned in your class is not

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-18561421247279065882007-04-05T09:03:00.001+09:002007-04-05T09:03:51.162+09:00

The Farr Feed introduces me to the blog of a photographer buddy, who asksI’ve taken a few “self portraits” over the years. I put that in quotes because the concept is implicitly squirrelly. Where’s the self? How is it a portrait?Whoah! Just taking a picture is such a philosophical act!

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-35242136107841200972007-04-04T20:31:00.001+09:002007-04-05T23:23:55.453+09:00

Dave Warlick likes using the ad for the game Civilization IV. Then he asks,What if you had a commercial for your text book?  What if you made a commercial for your textbook?  Could You?What if you had a commercial for your class?  What ifyou made a commercial for your class?  Could You?Timely thought, as I've started a new intensive EFL class and need to pitch it to students,

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-32394507812608882722007-04-04T16:23:00.001+09:002007-04-04T20:52:54.549+09:00

My friend Aaron has been banging on about these for over a year now: PLEs or Personal Learning Environments.Justin Medved's post on this subject comes via the NextGenTeachers' blog. Be sure to click on the link to Ray Sim's Personal Learning Environment map, and read the three (1) related (2) posts(3) on Ray's blog Sims Learning Connections. I like the graphic mindmap. I want to make one, too.In

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-47629226783143706162007-03-30T21:06:00.001+09:002007-03-30T21:06:09.245+09:00

or anything other than IE, really. According to the BBC,Animated cursors could prove risky for Windows users, Microsoft has warned.The software giant is investigating reports that the way Windows handles alternatives to the traditional arrow cursor can leave PCs open to attack.By booby-trapping a website or e-mail attachment with code that exploits the flaw, malicious hackers could hijack a

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-54910439363806269552007-03-30T12:52:00.001+09:002007-03-30T12:52:09.353+09:00

The Global Information Technology Report (via Harold Jarche):Since it was first launched in 2001, The Global Information Technology Report has become a valuable and unique benchmarking tool to determine national ICT strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate progress. It also highlights the continuing importance of ICT application and development for economic growth.The Report uses the

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-48251604229590867742007-03-28T10:58:00.001+09:002007-03-28T10:58:56.859+09:00

Via NextGenTeachers blog -Kimberly Cofino, who teaches in Kuala Lumpur, linked up her IT class with students in NZ, and everyone was very excited about it. Thanks to our lovely new iMacs (with iSight built in), and Skype, we were able to video conference with our new partner class in NZ this morning.For many of our students this was the first time they had ever participated in a video conference

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-17720129259501047592007-03-28T10:44:00.001+09:002007-03-28T10:44:42.711+09:00

David St Lawrence, ex-Silicon Valley "riches to rags" story, author of Danger Quicksand Have a Nice Day, has an entry about homeschooling:We have a lot of home schooled students in Floyd County and I am always impressed with their maturity and creativity.In my opinion, one of the absolute killer benefits of homeschooling is that children can easily get more education in a couple of hours of

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-6936686075503995342007-03-27T19:06:00.001+09:002007-03-27T19:11:37.464+09:00

From Quentin D'Souza to Classroom 2.0 to Ning, via Steve Dembo's review of Ning. Check it out. Though not everyone is so ecstatic.

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-73273483321503878322007-03-23T02:17:00.001+09:002007-03-23T02:17:47.950+09:00

The [UK] government wants to introduce "education Asbos" and fixed penalty fines for teenagers who refuse to stay in education or training until the age of 18, the education secretary, Alan Johnson, announced today.Sometimes I think there are two fundamental attitudes towards human nature: 1 says, humans are basically weak and evil and need to be whipped or otherwise forced to do what is right;

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-38755129076957037192007-03-18T23:02:00.000+09:002007-03-18T23:05:16.715+09:00

Can anyone give me a pointer? I'm looking for a simple, preferably free, Mac graphic software that will allow me to add arrows, lines, circles, etc on a map. I just wasted 20 minutes looking for one, downloaded ImageWell, but discovered it doesn't do what it said it would. (iBook, G4, Mac OS10.3.9)

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-69089810772037945942007-03-17T12:31:00.000+09:002007-03-17T12:33:47.189+09:00

Dan Meyer is checking out Elgg, Drupal, and others. Dan works fast, and thinks fast. He scribbles notes to himself and lets us read them. Watch Dan go. Go, Dan, go!

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-86433376972298212007-03-14T11:35:00.000+09:002007-03-14T11:54:17.184+09:00

The situation in the US just boggles my mind. My first recent brush with it came after reading this post, then after reading Savage Inequalities and Doc, and again after reading this post.Now, after reading this exchange between Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch on the blog Bridging Differences (HT to Borderland for the link), I understand the situation a little better, although it still boggles my

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-55788188981084724622007-03-11T19:01:00.000+09:002007-04-05T23:21:31.130+09:00

I blogged earlier some of my responses to reading Kozol's Savage Inequalities. My biggest impression was the "zero-sum game" mentality of almost all of those who either justify the inequalities or argue against any real attempts to rectify the situation.I have a feeling that, while there are strong human, Christian (and I'm not excluding other religions of course), and emotional arguments in

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377186.post-31466599878469612182007-03-11T13:10:00.000+09:002007-03-14T11:35:39.348+09:00

I'm nearing the end of Savage Inequalities. As I am not affected in the slightest by what happens in US schools, I was mainly reading it in order to gain some understanding of the mindsets of the people involved. The first third or half of the book is mainly descriptions of schools Kozol visits, starting with the horrific East St Louis schools. The latter half of the book has more facts and

Marc Sheffnernoreply@blogger.com2