Video Conference at the American Embassy

Today, I have attended teleconference at the American Embassy, Sudan.Maria Snarski talked and discussed her experience in Slovenia, based on her article on English Language Forum:" Methodology Material: Braking the Teacher-Fronted Cycle in the Classroom".About 30 teachers of English from Khartoum universities, gathered *in time* for the even.It was nice that I knew most of them, except those two from Al Gazeera, outside Khartoum.On the other hand, it was sad to meet "same faces same names" who are keen to participate and eager to develop professionally.There were so many questions from Sudan part and all attendee had enjoyed the discussion a lot.It was the first time for most of them to attend such sessions.
What I pity,a pity mentioned before the event over a discussion with one of the Sudanese staff at the Embassy, was our "tie"( authentic translation from /Arabic), that anything American or British always holds a glowing look, whatever the content is!
I mean,Conferences like this one, and much more, could be done with many community of teachers around the world.Teachers around the globe are much interested in discussing common problems and issues.Problems like big classes or motivating students to learn English, could be addressed form different prospectives and all are eager to share experiences and find solutions.
When I held my presentation at the British Council, I sent emails and SMS for two weeks to about 100 teachers inside and outside Sudan. Only 30 attended!But, when I announced Vance Stevens coming to Sudan for a workshop, all started to call and email me asking about the date and time! I guess this is found in many parts of the world, not only here.
"Release the power" to your students was what I took away with me."What will the students do with it? Will they abuse it? Will they think you are not serious? Will it be teacher-centered or learner-centered approach? will it work with large classes like ours? Maybe it will a mess if you couldn't manage the classes.It is not an easy task." (Maria Snarski). I imagine my students will be resistance to change, but after I get a one heart attach and two stokes, they will finally say; "Aha! This is how we need to learn!!In a fun way!"

My Growing Multilitracies

The term 'multiliteracies' was coined to describe what constitutes literacy in today's world…not only language, but " multiple kinds of literacies which are embedded in multimodal texts".Warscharure states,on his book "Electronic Literacies" that; "concepts of literacy changes".Also, "..technology change intersects with other social ,economic, cultural and political factors to help determine how literacy is practiced."
I am working on my del.ici.ous account these days, working on the mess, there trying to keep everything in its place, in an organized way, before the beginning of the year.
I was so impressed to see how I was indulged into multilitracies, wondering how did I mange to move from the first page I desinged in PP100, using dreamweaver (with all the broken links except of my baby's!)to the pbwiki I created in PP107 course with Vance.
How great is the gab?

Second Life is not for Me!

I have been to SL only once. It was not a happy experience, as I experienced a computer crash three days later. I didn't know whether the reason is for SL existing inside my hard disk, or was it only a coincidence!
I have not tried to install it again. This year in EVERYWHERE!I HAD to install it because it is one of the tasks I have to go over in both baw08 and Tips and Tricks sessions. I thought, ok, I will give it another try, maybe it is me who didn't work hard on digging and working on it further. SO? I did it! I was there with Dave Winet and some other tipsandtrickers. I spent around three hours there. Yes, I enjoyed it very much, but I am now very sure, SL is not for me as long as I am in Sudan!More reflections after the coming SL tour with Dafne in February.
Above is Me, Caty Habilis, with the foxy face, at the night club ( wow!)in the English Village.

The law of attraction

I can be of control of attracting good things to my life! I have stumbled upon The law of attraction phrase!.I believe I have watched a video with the same title on one of a friend's student's blog.The Law of Attraction is about attracting whatever you wish, want or need to your life.Wow! " I am a living magnet".Also, "Like attracts like".I wish it is that simple. I mean living a life the way you want with knowing the true cause of events in your life.Anyway, life worth to be enjoyed without thinking of attracting 'whatever' you want to you.If you didn't miss somethings you want so bad, life would loose the taste of hard work, laughing with tears, excitement and faith.Digging for the video, this is what I have got.Very inspiring!

Jing & WiziQ

I just lovejing!!
I was participating in a session with one of the EVO08 sessions, Tips and Tricks of David Winet.It was a great session and Dave did a marvelous job leading everybody and talking about WiZiQ.It was an opportunity to play a little with jing, saving videos and images on screencast, and getting to know WiZiQ.The latter has great potentialites for teaching and learning online with a tool that does not need downloading and can work using an Internet connection with a fairly speed.
My first Screecast, without audio after I gave up trying to embed it!

Hajj

I am leaving today for Hajj.After a whole year of preparation,here I am, packing my things for the journey I have been longing for all my life.
I hope it will be accepted.Only Allah knows, how hard I have worked to get there.
May Allah helps in running everything as smoothly and easily as possible.

Changing Perception

It an amazing trip and experience that I consider a turning point, not only in my career , but in my whole life!
Nigeria, with its three tribes and hundreds of dialects and languages, has changed my perception about " Sharing your knowledge, experience, thoughts, information,fear and dreams is not only caring, it is a human potential.As a teacher, I know this is what I have been doing: Helping others to learn.Having a new vision,experiencing new values, seeing other parts of the world, dealing with different cultures in one country and watching the world through new lenses. It is the sense of mission that could fill up or eliminates any other feelings of emptiness that one could ever experience one day.I may sound ridiculous, but again and again, it is the language barrier that doesn't help me convey what I am feeling now.I just want to say that it was a trip that helped me to put my conscious and thoughts in harmony.

My presentation went great, together with Lawan.It was the first of its type.Vance presence for few minutes, added to the synchronous concept that we were trying to explain.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Print Christmas Coloring Pages.

Crossing Continents: Web 2.0 for Teacher Professioanl Development

OK, I am leaving to e-learning conference, Nigeria on Sunday 18th!Because everyone is against the idea, even the people at the Embassy:-)(dangerous Nigeria!), it will be a two-fold trip: an adventure and a presentation. Everything is set, in here, but I hope we could webcasted it at Alado. Unfortunately ,I can not decide this until I reach there and make sure all equipments are suitable and could do the job.

Psychology, not technology

Today, I was on a "cleaning over", going through my inbox"es"", delidious account and many other cyber-scattered documents.I stopped on Terry Freedman article.Here are my favorite quotes"
"What is really interesting is doing stuff that you simply can't do in the normal classroom."True!Technology helped a lot in exposing my students to other cultures and the rest of the world.

" There are three groups of people, broadly speaking: those who are convinced of the benefits of technology, those who have no real opinion one way or the other, but who are getting good results and therefore see no urgent reason to change, and those who won't touch technology with a bargepole."Although I didn't know the meaning of bargepole, these are exactly the types of teachers we have here.Even the second type is too afraid to take the intuitive.

"Psychological aspects are the driving force or the barrier to showing teachers the ineffable value of technology in the classroom." Carla Arena in a comment to Terry Freedman.

Dying Professor's Last Lecture

What Made me go back to this video, is the brick walls I am facing these days. They are getting higher and higher.So, knowing where to go for a relief, thank Allah, I went back to Randy Pausch's last lecture.
"The brick walls is there for a reason. They are there not to keep us out, but to give us a chance to show us how badly we want something."
Some of the many inspiring words:
"If I am not seemed as depressed as I should be, sorry to disappoint you."
"Give people more time before getting angry at them." More to inspire if listened to!!

Making Web 2.0 applications meaningful for Developement

Extermely true!
At the Web2forDev conference,web 2.0 tools were discussed as tools which "have changed traditional patterns of communication and knowledge sharing." However, the audience were warned not to focus on Web 2.0 tools only. Web 2.0 tools are valuable for bringing people together, but it is also important to think further than the web. "When we think about participatory web, it’s not about laptops and high bandwidth… it’s about mobile phones. There are 3 billion handsets worldwide, and it is estimated that 80-90% of people in the developing world can access a mobile phone if they need to. This is a level of penetration of technology that changes the rules of the game. We need to broaden our thinking beyond the Web."

They reached a conclusion that more exploration of the use of these tools is a must."On the one hand Web 2.0 offers us five key tools - blogs, wikis, tags, feeds and mash-ups – but on the other hand, in order to make the application of the tools meaningful for development, we also have to overcome five key challenges: we need to think about how we involve the right people; if the people we are trying to reach have access in terms of connectivity, infrastructure and language; if people actually will participate; how we structure and organize content; and finally, how we will measure the changes we have made. It is only when we use the afore-mentioned new tools with an approach to overcome the five challenges listed above that we will be able to further enhance development activities.’Chris Addison.

Rational Future to Choose from!

I always try not to be like one of my students, who always write about dark sides in Sudan. But, when I lay my eyes on Downes words:
“And I don't see technology as inevitable, I see the
future as the result of choices, not progress, and there is
no one purely rational future to choose from.”
When I watch a video like this one entitled "A Vision of Students Today" for Micheal Wesch,It just bring all the negative emotions up the surface.
Students in my country DON’T HAVE CHOICES!!
Did you feel this before? Not being able to choose your future? I am not talking about destiny, no, and I can never do that. I am just talking about choosing a better life, work hard to achieve it, even it takes you 40 years to reach your long term goal.
Students here, ( or maybe my people too!) stopped to dream. They stopped to plan, Oh!, we are actually not raised to be researchers or planners, but one day we were the bravest people in the Arab world, who were born as fighters, always fight for their our own rights.
I am not describing my own situation, thank God, but I am reflecting a situation of 90% of students in the country. Maybe my kids will be one of them, one day!!:-((

Nigeria e-Learning Conference 200

I received an invitation from a friend, Lawan Dalha, from Nigeria to present my presentation at Nigeria e-Learning Conference 200 .Not bad,ha?I was hesitant at first, but he encouraged me saying teachers in Nigeria do need an "opening eye" to know about Web 2.0 tools and how useful they are in the ELT field.I sent an abstract and I am waiting for a response.
Viva Africa!

Project-Based Learning

Interesting article!
Interesting article, and a relieving one too! This is explains my wondering about the marks of the trainee I worked with lately.The marks for the grammar, reading and study skills were fine and anticipated. The ones of writing, after all the corrected emails and extensive work using online tools, were not!
I am going to copy and paste this part:
What can a computer do that a pencil cannot do?
•It can open the walls of the classroom and connect people from distant locations.
•It makes collaboration anytime and anywhere simple and affordable.
•It can keep track of data when it gets too much for a person to write or to think about and help to analyze that data which provides for some deeper thinking.
•It can make the editing process feel successful rather than frustrating.
•It can even the playing field for students with disabilities

Launching SudaELtech

I will do my best to send invitations for joining SudaELTech YG before Eid.
Yesterday, I attended David Warlick,PRE CONFERENCE KEYNOTE,
“Inventing the New Boundaries” on K-12 Online Conference..Will Richardson writes about it saying:
The entire conference will be delivered as downloadable digital media via the Internet with over 40 sessions presented in four strands: Classroom 2.0, New Tools, Professional Learning Networks, and Obstacles to Opportunities.

Although many of the topics and themes could not be of an interest to teachers here in Sudan, I felt a qualm of not being able to have a platform to notify them of these kind of events.The funniest thing happened with me when I was playing with Elluminate tools.I put my photo there and couldn't take it off!!!In front of 77 people, whom I know only Jeff and Dave.lol
More screenshots are saved Here.

Hero

I think all teachers in Sudan should listen to this song.
We always need to be reminded of the "hero" inside us!!
Thank you Vileta for reminding me of this video!

I Have a Dream!

My dream is to be courageous enough for starting a pilot course/workshop for EFL teachers in Khartoum, or even in other parts of our mini continent, Sudan.
It will be about how to use the Internet for their professional development. It will be like going through an attempt to convince them of the advantages of the free web 2.0 tools. It worth spending time and more energy, but where can I have the courage? Do you have some to lent me??:-)
"Success is never final.Failure is never fatal.It is courage that counts." ~Winston Churchill

"How to attract students who reject ICT"

For the last two months, I was teaching English to fresh graduates of engineers who work for a petroleum company in Khartoum. On coming to the course, some didn’t have emails and never touched a keyboard before!!
When I started working with computers with them, they never showed reluctance or fear from using ICT. On the contrary, they were very excited about the idea and showed “more” enthusiasm and motivation than those who have already an idea about how to use commuters or the Internet.
This was exactly the case when I worked with my first year students in Computer Sciences College.
I believe, for all tyes of learners,if they are aware of the range of choices open to them and how this could can make a difference in any working/studying field, they will NEVER be resistant to the use of ICT.
So, again, and again, it is US who are responsible of leading the way to show that ICT is fundamental to shaping what is happening now, and in the future. It is OUR job to tell them that they are already using ICT, from mobile phones to iPods, MP3 players etc.
The above was a reply to a discusson on Aberedeen, iatefl, about "How to attract students who reject ICT"

Training Career at Etisalat Academy

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This was what took me "ages" away from here!
I discovered that, although I am used to e-multitasking, in real life(RL), it is very difficult to me to keep two jobs at the same time.Looking for perfection sometimes is what I characterize as one of my long list of weak qualities.Maybe I should put it aside.

Simplicity

Do you know how does it feel when a kid is given the bicycle he dreamt about for months? This is how I felt minutes ago, when I saw my name on the BBC British Council Teaching English website.I remembered that one day I added my contribution to the questions and answers about the use of blogs in classrooms.
Happiness in Sudan,as my friend Azza says is very simple to gain!!!