Tuesday, May 29, 2007

My Presentation at the British Council

Earlier thoughts:
I have been busy lately preparing for my presentation at the BC on the 5th of June. It will be Webcasted at Alado.On Sunday, I had met with Andy and my dear friend Cris for testing the room and it was a kind of an orientation. I will just let him and Teresa do the job, of "next slide please". I hope it will a success!
Second thought:
I Alas! I have almost finished! Today I decided to put the 101 link into a wiki..Let's see if it could be inserted there. I don't want it to a daunting presentation, but I can't stop feeling the "oh, this is important. they have to know about this..that..!!".I guess here comes what is called "the researcher" instinct, and we Sudanese are not taught to be ones!!!!!
God be with me!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Web-based Learning

To learn through/with the web or integrating web tools in the learning process. This is what the title means.
Web-based learning is a window to the world, through which we, in Sudan could have a powerful telescope to expose us to the whole world.
How does all this relate to English language teaching/learning? It means the possibility t access hundreds of ELT web sites, all skills n English are addressed, authentic languages and materials are there, contacts with teachers from around the world, exchanging information between students around the world to know other cultures, to gain a more comprehensive and complete knowledge and to have a look at other lesson plans and classroom experiences, sometimes for the same lesson!
General Recommendations:
1.Urgent need for ELT educators and teachers to adapt the new ICT.
2.Absolute necessity to 'rethink' the whole educational system in order to adapt it to the demands of the changes.
3.Teacher training to use the tools is a must.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Shifts Do Happen:From November to June



On the 5th of June, I will presenting at the British Council about online teacher professional development.(note the last copied post from my Forward blog!).Last Wednesday, I met at the BC and we had a very rich discussion about ELT in Sudan and the use of the Internet by teachers. She was excited about webcasting the presentation, which I shiver any minute I think about it.
What I have thoughtabout today was to:
1. Have teachers answer an online survey a week before the presentation to create a collaborative presentation.
2. Finiish what I have started with ASTELONLINE Yahoo Group. But I won't use to send the surveymonkey.
3.Email Andy about Alado.
Here is my agenda:
Here is the online survey

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Thoughts:British Council Forum

Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Today,it was the monthly English Forum at the British Council Sudan.The purpose of this post is; my discovery, for my surprise, is that; when I hear myself talking/expressing/discussing/suggesting ,guess what? I am amazed!!!Am obsessed by all these ideas???
I suggested, one day, to Jenny our ELU, that we could meet twice a month, do a presentation about using ICT in ELT,or maybe for TPD,a workshop maybe as a hands-on practice for integrating web tools into our classrooms.How about smashing the nutshell:towards becoming a web.2.o English language teachers".It came up into my mind when I was asked about future suggestions is to create a yahoo group for teachers in the whole of the Sudan:"crossing state:ELTSudan.After I defended my idea,I just fell in love with it!Anyway, I was nominated to join ,after December voting,the steering committee in the Forum.I also put a date to my presentation/workshop/session in March,in shaa Allah!

ICT for ELT

Monday ,November 13,2006
This website is formally a proposal for an Education sub-portal to be developed as part of UNESCO's Knowledge Portal -- specifically that section dealing with teacher education and information and communication technologies or ICT. However, it provides a wealth of resources for those interested in the topic.

Falling in Love

Moved from my "Forward" blog 4/14/07
When did I fall in love with computers and the use of technology to learn/teach English?
Well, when I started teaching ESP in 2001, it was at Computer Sciences Program. This was before Tagana becomes a university. It was a great challenge to me to read, study, collect, organize, and revise all the grammar I studied. I used to read up-to-date news and articles to be able to pick up the vocabulary I needed. It was a hard time .With a computer at home and two little cute organized kids, I fall in love with computers and got interested in it. I found the information useful.
Now, after spending two years at Medicine and Dentistry (another story of being a physician!), I was transferred again to Computer Science College. At first, I thought it was the end of my PhD path, which has not started yet. However, before I completed the first semester, I knew it was Allah's gift to me.
Now, after taking advantages of this opportunity, I ask for help whenever I need something. Help is always at my fingertips. Also, the staff helps me to learn about their students' needs. One of my colleagues made a remark about wishing that his/her students could make better presentations in the course, so I decided to include that in the future. Doing a session on how to present and then evaluate their presentations or give them feedback is not found in any course here at al Tagana.. In order to prepare for this kind of work, I will keep on asking, investigating, sharing offering what I have for the best of my students. Maybe I will find more Ajjr in heaven, but I do not expect anything on earth!! :-)))))

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Thanks Sudan Telecommunication

While hunting for an important email, I found this email I sent to one of the lists asking for help when the website I kept all my photo was blocked in Sudan.
A belated thank you for our telecommunication in Sudan.
Fri, 02 Feb 2007
Earlier on this list, I posted about Bubbleshare being blocked. The
day before yesterday ,to my surprise, I found that Blogger.com is also
blocked! I turned into a mad woman( men know how that would be of
course!!).I called the telecommunication company, as they put their
"how to reach them " button in a big and clear font).After a furious
talk, and to my big surprise, the man was very cooperative ,
listened attentively , took the URL's and among my speech, I said
something about having blocked a website before and I didn't
complained. The man was very keen to listen about the types of these
websites and for what purpose do I use them.Then, he promised to call back.
Guess what? Yesterday, Both were back with a telephone call of apology telling me we are sorry for the inconvience and we promise this issue will not happen again!
I began to think whether Sudan is *really *developing! !!!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Fear of Technology


Another one dedicated to teachers in Sudan.Make the shift now! ( I love it..a title for the British Council presentation in June?mm..maybe)

Paying Attention

I watched this interesting video and I thought of only one obstacle to use mobiles for teaching English.How much money I need to send SMS to nearly 350 students?