Cultura Study Group

TECH FRIDAY: Diigo in Depth

2010-02-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

This Friday we´re going to explore DIIGO a bit further and learn how we can benefit from using this great tool.

To join CULTURA INGLESA DIIGO group, click HERE orclick JOIN NOW below the sidebar icon.

This is a tutorial which can help you:

In-service Training Feb 2010 - WELCOME

2010-02-02T02:44:00.001-08:00

Day 2: Workshop - Drills revisited

DRILLS on Prezi

Article : TYPES OF DRILLS

ActivInspire - E-board training videos

2009-10-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

This is a series of screencasts I´ve collected to help our teachers get used to the new updated version software for the Promethean e-board. We used ActivStudio before but this vacation all our boards will have the new version, ActivInspire, so here it is.
Watch High-quality tutorials here http://screenr.com/user/anamariacult

The last tutorials are not mine but got from a very good youtube channel.

1. Exploring the TOOLBOX and the RESOURCE LIBRARY

2. Adding ANIMATIONS

You can find great animations @ http://www.sevenoaksart.co.uk/

3. Adding VIDEOS

4. Drag a copy (warmer activity)

5. Hiding Text / Hiding Images

6. Using the Camera to take screenshots.

7. Creating Captions

8. Adding and associating sounds to actions

9. Action Objects and Layers

10. How to make and use containers

11. Saving the Revealer and Spotlight tool

ActivInspire Manual

Activ Inspire Training Manual

HOW CAN I DOWNLOAD RESOURCES FROM PROMETHEANPLANET?

learn from this TUTORIAL

Halloween 2009 - 2010

2009-10-18T13:33:00.001-07:00

Use this video at the beginning of classes this week to advertise the HALLOWEEN PARTY.

Bookr Project: WHO AM I?

2009-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

Este projeto foi desenvolvido pela teacher Polyana Vida com seus alunos de Teen3. Usando a webtool BOOKR, alunos criaram um livro online sobre WHO AM I? (Quem sou eu?)

Check them out, para virar a página, clique no canto inferior direito. Para ver na tela inteira, clique em FULL SIZE. The books are FANTASTIC! Good job!

E-board training - (Promethean)

2009-01-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

These are two tutorials to help you consolidate what we have seen in our face 2 face training. If you can´t see the tutorial on this page, click on the links.

TUTORIAL 1: basic tools
http://recordings.dimdim.com/view/dimdim/5b42c550-3c57-102c-bbd7-003048944478

TUTORIAL 2: Creating flipcharts
http://recordings.dimdim.com/view/dimdim/56b4705e-3d08-102c-bbd7-003048944478

Thanksgiving at Karen´s place

2008-11-30T03:09:00.000-08:00

We´d like to thank Karen from the bottom of our hearts for the lovely party we had last Friday. The menu was sublime and the company couldn´t be better. These are some of the photos I took but soon I´ll include the pictures taken by Gilson, Polyana, Lívia, and other cameras I saw there flashing around.

TDC 29 august 2008

2008-08-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

As requested, these are the ppt. used during the Teacher Development course today.

Luiz Pedro´s presentations:

Ana Maria´s presentations:

Vocabulary learning tips.

2008-04-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

As a student, as long as I remember, it's always been a pleasure for me learning new vocabulary. Therefore I used to have a notebook in which I took notes of every single new word I learned and tried to draw and, sometimes write sentences my teacher metioned in order to fix the new expression.Organising these words into groups came as an idea later on. First I just took notes of them disorganasedly, after some time, and realising these words came from different word groups (e.g.: adjectives, verbs, adverbs, nouns, etc) I tried separating parts of my notebook for each of these and, as time went by I had quite a considerable glossary with the exporessions I'd seen in class.This technique helped me a lot revising before my tests and also on the following semesters as I used to keep these notebook for years on.There are other techinques we can use to help us learn new vocabulary, I hope you've enjoyed this one, I promiss I'll bring you more!

Cheers!

New Co-Editor

2008-04-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

As a result of the relevance of my personal blog subject I've been invited by Ana Maria to co-edit this blog with her. My contribution will be, as a matter of fact, to provide some useful hints you teachers can give your students on how to learn better and more efficently!

I Hope u all enjoy what's coming!

It's a pleasure caring and sharing with you this experience!

Cheers!

A New Way to Publish - Palestra online

2008-03-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

This video is an explanation of what Web 2.0 is, a look at how it benefits children, a closer look at blogs and wikis and tips on how to get started. The lecturer talks about:

What does Web 2.0 mean?
How does it benefil teaching and learning?
How do blogs and wikis work?
How do you get started with Web 2.0?

Watch and learn!

Students today

2008-03-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how hard you should try to get to know the digital world? I know many teachers are actually afraid of dealing with computers, afraid of trying, not willing to spend their time learning about this new world? I guess after watching this video, teachers will give it a second thought. How can we help the "digital natives" take advantage of what there is available to become more creative, to be themselves and learn their own way?

Fabiana´s Farewell Party

2008-03-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

Last night, we said our farewells to Fabiana Bridi who is moving to Australia for a year. We´re all very happy she will be able to fulfill her dream of living abroad and study more. Luiz was our host and as always we had lots of wonderful things to eat and drink. Renato, Angela´s husband played the guitar and Angela showed us her beautiful voice. Rafael, Fabiana´s sweetheart, made all of us cry when he literally gave Fabiana his heart. What a great get together!

Fabiana, we all wish you great moments in Australia and keep us informed in your blog and twitter about your new adventure.

Fabiana´s blog http://eaustralia.blogspot.com/

Fabiana, click on the music icon and listen to the song. As it says, you´re stuck to our heart like a tatoo.

DISCUSSION: Blogging Activities

2008-02-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

This is a discussion proposed by Carla Arena in which different teachers propose blogging activities. Listen to different teachers and you can participate too using a microphone, a webcam or writing a text. Have a look!
http://voicethread.com/#u1749.b60742.i314676

TTC - Pre-Service training

2008-01-24T02:50:00.000-08:00

Dear teachers,

These are the links to the ppt presentations used during the pre-service training. Hope it´s helpful.

Learning with the geese

2008-01-22T04:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back from a deserved rest. So what did you do, did any of you travel? Well, we coordinators are getting everything ready for a smooth start. You will be receiving your list of groups shortly and our first preparation will take place on 8th Feb at Un Centro as usual. Some of us (Camila Sousa, Danúbia, Fabiana and I) have been attending an online workshop about blogging, if anyone is interested , you can still enroll at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogging4educators/

One of the member of this group shared a very interesting video with us which I thought appropriate to inspire us for next semester. The topic is group work. Watch the video and let´s learn from the geese!

Lessons From Geese
Colocado por jamsoun

2007-12-20T02:34:00.000-08:00

My greetings to you:

Get a Voki now!

2007-11-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

Teachers interested in taking TKT or in studying about teaching methodology. This interesting video which seems childish at first shows different techniques used by teachers and then asks you questions about the RATIONALE behind each one. VERY INTERESTING indeed!
http://www.in2english.com.cn/media_file/flashs/1859/index.swf

2007-10-26T06:41:00.001-07:00

Watch Teachers and students saying why Blogging can be an interesting learning tool.

2007-10-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

ASSERTIVENESS
I found this presentation in the Learning with Computers blog and found it very relevant to us. Have a look!

2007-09-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

Our Peace week

Thank you so much to all the teachers who contributed and got involved in the project. You can have a look at the photos (posters, pinwheels and video) at the Cultura Inglesa blog http://culturainglesaudi.blogspot.com/ . Remember to tell your students to invite their parents to have a look.

2007-09-14T15:54:00.001-07:00

THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE - 21st Sept (Friday)

A song for Peace Day: Somewhere over the rainbow / What a wonderful world (HAWAIIAN)

Did you know about this special day? Why don´t we do something special on the previous days? An online colleague of mine , Nick Peachey, shared this interesting site with wonderful ideas for classroom use. I believe this is a unique opportunity to teach more than just English. Have a look at the site:
http://communicty.wikispaces.com/Peace (powerpoint presentations, films and activities)

A young man called Jeremy Gilley , the creator of an organization called Peace one Day, made this great video urging us to do something about PEACE on 21st Sept. Watch it and be inspired.
This is the link to the film:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid933119041/bctid933518995

A wonderful project : Pinwheels for Peace

http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/

WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO YOU WANT? Great Video.

A blog about peace : http://choose-peace.blogspot.com/ (Ramona's blog)

This is a vocabulary quiz about Peace: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizview.php?id=575

Article about Gandhi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/50664.stm

Video: "Stand up for Peace" Really Powerful!

Invite students to leave a comment in the following blog:
http://notreblog.edublogs.org/2007/07/21/23/

A video from Ramona´s blog
http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p316/rddietrich/?action=view&current=Peace3_1.flv

2007-08-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

TDC- Teacher´s Development Course

Have a look at the workshops we´re having this Friday. Hope to see all teachers there.

*Effective Use of Multimedia Resources
*Starting with a Bang - Warmers
* Kill the dictation nightmare
* Integrating technology into the classroom

2007-08-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

E-BOARD TRAINING

The online training was unavailable for some time but you can start learning how to use e-board by clicking on the link below. Choose the course which is free. You'll be asked to create a free account and then have fun. Remember to read instructions carefully.
http://prometheanlearning.com/uk/course/category.php?id=2

2007-08-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

Dennis (in Germany) interviews Illya (from Switzerland): (online colleagues)

Listen to a teacher interviewing another teacher about various topics related to teaching. Great Interview! Well done Dennis and Illya!
http://www.webcastacademy.net/node/1114

2007-08-01T07:03:00.001-07:00

TOP TEN TOOLS
We can learn a lot by looking at this list of favourite sites written by people who are involved with education. I wanted to share with you.
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

These are MY TOP TEN TOOLS.

2007-07-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

LABCI 2007 - São Paulo
We had a great freezinnnggg time at SP in July. The workshops were very interesting and helped us bring ideas for next semester. The only drawback was the weather. check out some of the photos taken, there are other pictures at the Cultura Inglesa Uberlandia website.

2007-07-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

SHARING GRAMMAR LESSON PLANS

Teaching modals (Polyana Amaral)
Teaching phrasal verbs (Ana Maria Menezes)

2007-06-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

ENGLISH INTERACTIVE
You won't believe your eyes! An amazing site for learners for vocabulary and grammar practice.

LINGUALNET learning English through movies

VISUAL ESL (drag and drog vocabulary tests)

INTERACTIVE STORY BOOKS an impressive collection of online stories

2007-06-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Online ACTIVITY: simple past (form)
Matching Proverbs (great for Upper levels)
Scrambled proverbs
Adjectives for people (Inter A)
Reading SIGNS in English
American Slang
Change Idioms to plain English
Months of the Year
Doing or To do (Inter A)
Countable / Uncountable
Revise Irregular verbs (repeat and memorize)
Irregular verbs
Learn a limerick

2007-06-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

A SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE "Teaching Grammar" by Larsen-Freeman.

To watch this presentation, FIRST click on the audio and THEN click to change the slides.

The original article can be found in the book "Teaching English as a foreign language" by Mariane Celce Murcia.

2007-06-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

THE FUTURE IS HERE

Have you ever seen the film "Minority Report" ? You know that scene when Tom Cruise moves images on a board by using his hands? That imaginary future is here now, with the creation of the interactive Whiteboard. It's so amazing I had a hard time to fall asleep after seeing how it works, and the technology is available in Brazil. So, dear colleagues, get prepared for a new era in teaching, there's no turning back, we better get familiar with this new technology as best as we can. This is a page from Promethean where teachers demonstrate and talk about their experience with the E-BOARD.

CLICK HERE to learn more about it.

WATCH A DEMONSTRATION

2007-06-11T05:18:00.001-07:00

MORE ON GRAMMAR

Another suggestion by Larry Ferlazzo: the BBC-Skillwise site. The exercises and games are very interesting!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/
Describing people: adjectives
Giving and following directions (Fantastic)

This one was Libardo´s suggestion:
http://activities.bradleys-english-school.com/

This site has a collection of links:
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html
http://ww2.college-em.qc.ca/prof/epritchard/ (esl blues)

A Past Simple game: http://www.marks-english-school.com/games/b_past.html

Videos to learn grammar and vocabulary: http://www.esl-galaxy.com/multimedia.htm

Now watch a cartoon from Grammarmancomic.com

2007-06-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

THE ADVANTAGES OF Blogging

Click on the link and read how teachers have been using blogs to get their students to pracitse WRITING.

Blogs as writing practice.

2007-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

MORE GRAMMAR SITES

This one was suggested by Larry Ferlazzo. It´s the BBC- Skillswise. I´ve tried the treasure hunt on Grammar tenses and loved it. Have a try!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/

2007-05-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

WORKSHOP: Blogging for beginners
We´re very happy teachers have enjoyed blogging. Here are some of the pictures taken.

You can learn more about blogging clicking in BLOGGING TEACHERS.

2007-05-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

- Get Your Own

LINKS for working with grammar:

Want something different to teach grammar? Have a look at the following links:

Online articles on the topic:

2007-05-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

STUDY GUIDE (“Teaching Grammar” by Diane Larsen-Freeman)

“Teaching grammar means enabling language students to use linguistic forms accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately.”

1. In the Three-Dimensional Grammar Framework, which dimensions must concern us? (p. 252)
2. Think of a grammar topic. Try to identify the three dimensions involved. Which dimension would offer the biggest challenge to our students?
3. Which are the 3 insights she mentions about the Learning Process? (p.255)
4. When talking about the Teaching Process, she mentions some noticing techniques such as enhancing the input, consciousness-raising task, the garden path and input processing. Can you describe them? (p. 257)
5. What activities does she suggest when the focus is on FORM? (p. 258, 259)
6. If the focus is on MEANING, what are the suggestions? (p. 260)
7. What are relevant practice activities when the challenge is the USE of a structure? (p. 260, 261)
8. What problem does she point out with the way the PASSIVE VOICE is taught? (p.261, 262)
9. What´s the difference between a deductive approach and an inductive approach to dealing with grammar? (p. 264)
10. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: “Teachers should concentrate on teaching reasons, not rules.” “ Reasons are meaning based and use based”. (p. 265)

2007-05-16T06:21:00.000-07:00

NEW TOPIC: "Teaching Grammar"

This Friday,18th May, we have our group discussion about the article "Teaching Grammar" written by Diane Larsen-Freeman. Have you already read it?

Have a look at this suggested link, it integrates grammar with listening, reading and writing.
CLICK HERE

2007-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

MINI-CONFERENCE

The mini-conference was a way of sharing the outcome of our discussions. It´s also the product of our reflexions brought into practice. Congratulations to all presenters! Thank you for sharing your work.

For more listening resources look at the "Learning with Computers" BLOG.

2007-05-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is a summary of the text "Skills and Strategies for Proficient Listening" by Pat Wilcox Peterson presented during our Mini-conference on Listening.

2007-05-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

MINI- CONFERENCE

Topic: Listening
Date: 11/05/07
Time: 15:00 - 16:30

The mini-conference is being promoted by the study group in order to share the outcome of our last meeting with the rest of the staff.

Great News! Camila Sousa and I are taking part in a Yahoo community called "Learning with Computers" and look what we´re discussing this week , LISTENING. I´ve included an extract of an e-mail message written by a teacher called Gladys where she suggests various links to deal with Listening. Have a look!

Remember this month we've agreed to discuss "TEACHING LISTENING WITH COMPUTERS"? This being the first week, it's devoted to "RECOMMENDED SITES". Here goes my shortlist:

ELLO - "ELLLO stands for English Language Listening Lab Online. It is a collection of over 1,000 listening activites that students can view free via the internet. Most listening activites come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcipt and interactive quiz. ELLLO offers a variety of listening activities that each target a specific listening skill, need or interest."

ComAudio Online - "You can listen to many different kinds of audio items and read the texts at the same time. To find the meaning of a word, you can click on it and then click the Find button. ... You also have the option of doing a ... CLOZE. You have three chances to get it right. If your answer is wrong, you will see this immediately. However, if your answer is correct, please wait while the full text is being processed."

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - Looots of quizzes in English for General Purposes, and English for Academic Purposes, Videos and a lot more! (classified by level and topic) (also by Randall: http://www.dailyesl .com/ - which integrates listening into lesson plans!)

British Council - LearnEnglish - Stories for Kids - Ideal for younger learners, here you can listen to (and read) short (and longer) stories in simple English. Great fun!

CNN Stories Archive - Each module includes the full text of each story and interactive activities to test comprehension. Your can choose to read the text, listen to the text, and view a short video clip of the story.Enough to get started, I'd say!

2007-04-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Next Article: "When the teacher is a non-native speaker" by Peter Medgyes.

The article we´re reading for our next discussion is about the differences about native and non-native teachers. Read the article and remember to bring some questions with you.
Next meeting: 27 April

Willing to read more? Have a look at the following articles:
The native speaker Concept
Native and Non-native Teacher: A Matter to Think Over

2007-04-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

OUR NOTICEBOARD
This is a noticeboard for notes and photos. It´s ours! Study group members, please upload a picture or leave us a note.

2007-04-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

MEETINGS 1/07

30/03
13/04
27/04
11/05
18/05
15/06
29/06

In our last meeting, we discussed an article about LISTENING "Skills and Strategies for Proficient Listening" by Pat Wilcox Peterson and decided to dedicate some more time to it. We´ll be trying to use some of the suggested activities from the article during these following weeks so that we can present them to each other during our next meeting on 13 April.

These are some interesting articles on Listening:

Leave your impressions about the articles in the comments area.

2006-11-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

TEACHING teaching, UNDERSTANDING understanding

This is a wonderful short-film about education. Watch the film and let me know what you think.
WATCH THE FILM

2006-10-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

QUOTATIONS

2006-09-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

MEETING 29 Sept
Lexical Approach again. Remember to take more questions with you. Have you read the texts suggested in the previous post? They´re very interesting.

2006-08-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

NEXT MEETING - 22 Sept

The next article we´re discussing is about the Lexical Approach. If you´re interested in reading more about it, here are some links to interesting articles:

Chunking for Language Classes

Why I won´t say goodbye to the Lexical Approach

2006-08-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

MEETINGS 2/06

September- 22, 29
October- 27
November- 10, 24