Picks from Rod's Podcaster Guide and E-Learning News Follow Rod's e-learning news sources and his Delicious bookmarks Interview:  Matthew Wasowski, Senior Manager of Customer Programs, Blackboard Collaborate Learn about industry leading tools for synchronous and asynchronous learning. Matthew discusses Wimba Classroom, Pronto and Wimba Voice and how these products and Elluminate will be combined in the upcoming Blackboard Collaborate, due this summer. Podsafe music selection from Ioda Promonet Laura Sullivan plays "Pachelbel For The Potomac" from "Pianoscapes For The Trails Of North America" Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Amazon MP3 Duration: 21:42

We like to keep this blog as up-to-date and relevant to you, our readers, as possible.  We strive to keep our list of guest bloggers fresh and varied, as well as give people a chance to share their opinions and knowledge. Now we’d like you to share yours! Whether you’re an experienced blogger, a complete novice, or just want more exposure for your work, we’re welcoming submissions from anyone for the chance to be featured here. Plenty of people have already written for us and (we hope!) they’ve all enjoyed the experience. What’s in it for me? There are lots of reasons why blogging for a big publisher like Oxford University Press is great for your personal and professional development. The opportunity to reach out to a huge audience of teachers and language professionals around the world - our blog is read over 1,000 times a day; every article is shared with our Twitter audience of over 31,000 ELT professionals and our Facebook audience of over 166,000 teachers worldwide; and our ELT website receives approximately 1.5 million views per month.* It’s great publicity for both you as a professional, and your website or blog. It could help you attract new readers to your work and connect with like-minded individuals around the world. It’s valuable experience for your personal and professional development. Teachers and language professionals who take an active role in online professional development feel far more supported and enthused to take what they’ve learned into the classroom. Become a guest writer for our industry-leading blog *Audience numbers accurate as of 04/02/2015. How can I get involved? If you’ve written an article that you think might be suitable, or you have examples of previous work that you’d like to show us - even if you just have an idea for an article - you can get in touch with us at elt.marketing.uk@oup.com with ‘Guest blogging’ in the subject line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Are there any rules I must stick to? There are no rules, as such, but here are a few guidelines as to what we’re looking for and what we think works best on an ELT blog: Articles must be related to English language teaching or learning, education in general, technology in education, etc. If in doubt, take a look at our Categories page to see if your idea fits in with our themes. Articles should be helpful and provide something of value to the readers. We won’t publish anything that is promotional or commercial in nature. Posts should be about 300-600 words and have an interesting title. If you want to include images in your post, please make sure that you either own the images, or you have permission to use them. Creative Commons search is a great website where you can find images that are licensed for commercial use. Please check your spelling and grammar. Of course, we’ll work with you to improve anything that isn’t quite right, but the more accurate your post is to start with, the more likely it is that we’ll be able to use it. If your article is chosen to be published on the blog, we’ll ask you to provide a short biography and a photo for our Guest Bloggers Send your article to elt.marketing.uk@oup.com with ‘Guest blogging’ in the subject line to help us find and respond to your message as quickly as possible. We look forward to receiving your articles.Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: blogging, EdTech, Education, ELT, ESL, guest blogger

I am very blessed to include among my friends, some extraordinarily talented people. Two of them feature in this post.The first is Jeremy (Jerm) Nell, a South African cartoonist of note. I have known him since he was just a boy, and have watched his talent blossom into something that has made people around the world sit up and take note.Jeremy recently got married. And this is where the other half of today's equation comes in. Justin de Reuck is an exceptional photographer, and he did the photos for Jerm and Janel's wedding. Oh... and Jeremy would like to make it known that he was not crying in that photo of him first catching sight of his bride, 'kay? Yeah. Right.Both of these men have the uncanny ability to see things in a way that others might miss, and then to draw that perspective to our attention. Jeremy casts a cynical eye over situations and lampoons them mercilessly in single frame political satire cartoons, then proves he has a whimsical side with his Biggish Five strip.Justin sees potential in angles and lighting and goodness knows what all else and captures a fleeting moment. His photographs of his own family and friends are achingly beautiful, and his wedding photography is among the best I have ever seen.

In January this year we asked teachers from around the world to vote for their top writing challenge. Over 450 teachers took part and the results are now in! With 23% of the vote, the most popular writing challenge was: ‘My students don’t want to write’. Many teachers felt that demotivation lay at the heart of this challenge, with students unable to see the importance of writing beyond the classroom. Martina in the Czech Republic said: "Lack of motivation is hard to break. (Students) say they don’t need to write in their lives and what they need is to be able to speak English. They even say they’ve forgotten how to write by hand, and they don’t have computers in class." Maja in Croatia faces a similar challenge: "My students find writing boring because it usually takes longer than other tasks and they do not feel it is important, since they are not used to writing in their own language. They feel it is something they have to do for school and not something they would do in everyday life." Close behind with 21% of the vote, the second most popular challenge was: ‘My students keep making the same mistakes’. Jolinda in the Netherlands emphasised how frustrating this can be: "It seems to me that students do not refer to corrected work which makes me feel like my work is more or less superfluous. The students do not learn from their mistakes." Lenka in the Czech Republic was also able to relate to this challenge: "I feel that the more meticulously I correct my students´ writing, the more mistakes they make, even if I write examples at the bottom of the paper." The final challenge that made it into our top 3 with 14% of the vote was: ‘It’s hard to find enough class time for writing’.  Silvina in Argentina explains: "It’s difficult to dedicate enough time to written activities with only two lessons a week and groups of thirty students. We usually do as much as we can, but I know that the weaker students don’t get enough guidance or scaffolding from me, and sometimes peers are unwilling to help them." Hanna in Ukraine faces similar limitations: "The hours given for English classes are minimal, so writing is usually given as a home task, so checking it is rather complicated. I usually use some extra hours at home and use additional tools like Skype, email or blogs to check this writing." Join us as we dedicate a month to each of these three challenges. Through a series of webinars and blog posts, Oxford’s top teacher trainers will cover a range of strategies and ideas which you can use in the classroom straight away. Challenge Webinar (session 1) Webinar (session 2) Teacher trainer My students keep making the same mistakes 24th Feb 26th Feb Olha Madylus My students don’t want to write 19th Mar 20th Mar Gareth Davies It’s hard to find enough class time for writing 21st Apr 23rd Apr TBC Filed under: Teenagers Tagged: EFL, ESL, Solutions, Teenagers, writing challenge

I'd like to tell you a true story about something that happened to me quite recently.We keep getting mail for the previous owners of our house. We have lived in this house for more than two and a half years, so mostly, it's just junk mail. But there's one rather serious-looking envelope that keeps arriving from Paris. It's addressed in French and indicates it contains official documents which require a signature. I think it has something to do with tax, but I'm not quite sure what gave me that impression.I have repeatedly done a return to sender, but the documents keeps returning, each time with a more urgent looking message on the envelope. Last time, I wrote on the envelope in large letters: Mr Bloggs has not lived at this address for well over two years, please update your records.The documents came back last week.I was tempted to open them to find some contact details, when I noticed what appeared to be a phone number on the front of the envelope. Nothing ventured...I used Google translate to find out how to say, "Is there anyone there who can speak English, please?" and practised it a few times.When the phone was answered, I stumbled through "Est-ce qu'il ya quelqu'un qui parle anglais, s'il vous plaît?"The lady told me that there was not.Hmm. How was I going to explain my situation to her? I know enough French to say "Je ne parle pas francais, mais une moment, s'il vous plait..."I typed into the translate box, "You keep sending me letters for Mr Bloggs." followed by "But he hasn't lived in this house for more than two years." I then used the 'listen' button to play this to her through my phone.She figured out (more or less) what I was doing and spoke very slowly back to me in a combination of French and English. Eventually, we managed to establish that I no longer wanted Mr Bloggs's tax demands (or whatever they were), that I didn't have a forwarding address for him, and that she should stop sending his mail here.It was clunky, but you know what? It worked. Now where's my flipping babelfish?

There’s only one month left to submit your Headway Scholarship entry and have the chance to win a 2-week all-inclusive teacher training course at Oxford University. But why should you enter? We asked some of last year’s winners to share their top 7 reasons why you should apply for the Headway Scholarship. The top 7 reasons why you should apply for the Headway Scholarship: Gloria Rossa Professional development and personal growth Experiencing life in an English-speaking country Studying in a renowned Oxford University college, with top yet humble tutors Increasing self-esteem and feeling a sense of accomplishment Meeting teachers from different countries and sharing teaching experiences with them Meeting one of the inspiring Headway authors, Liz Soars, and sharing teaching anecdotes with her Practising English in an academic environment and getting used to a variety of accents Gloria also writes her own blog, My English World, in which she discusses her Headway experience in more detail. A great resource for anyone considering applying for the Scholarship! Marianne Chavarria First of all, Oxford is a magical place, full of ancient buildings and stunning colleges, with colorful gardens and parks that invite you to relax and enjoy nature. Second, having the opportunity to meet teachers from all over the world, developing friendship ties, partnership and creating a great chance for learning from everyone’s culture. Third, improving my professional development by learning new techniques and tools to apply in my teaching practice. Fourth, developing my language skills by practicing everyday with people with different accents and backgrounds. Fifth, having the reliability that all members from OUP, The Department for Continuing Education from Oxford University and IP Teachers’ Team will do a great job in organizing a pleasant journey, an optimal stay and a worthy experience for teachers. Sixth, the workshops are given by professional teacher trainers that are very well prepared, full of expertise and willing to share their knowledge and promote our professional growth. Last but not least; learning to trust a little bit more in myself, in the fact that I am capable to participate and win in this kind of competitions, and be a proud ambassador for two weeks for my country. Magya Dygala Magda couldn’t pick just 7 reaons, so here are her 8 top reasons! As it comes to these 7 reasons, I guess I could enumerate at least 20 of them but I will try to make it shorter… Oxford was, is and always will be a place where my heart belongs. I will quote here Aung San Suu Kyi who described Oxford in such a beautiful way: ‘The past is always there, it never goes away, but you can select what is best from the past to help you go forward to the future…’ Having a chance to meet the incredible and warm person, the author of Headway - Liz Soars Getting professional experience and knowledge from amazing Oxford tutors. A chance of a lifetime - meeting new people from all over the world and sharing teaching experience with them. Making friends for life Having a chance to experience being ‘out of the box’ (out of your country) in an English speaking country. Having a pleasure to have classes and dine at 700 year old Exeter College. Experience living in a place where past meet present, and every building has its own history. Last but not least, make your DREAMS come true and believe in yourself more Irina I. Krestianinova Well, it’s been twice Headway was a turning point in my both professional and personal life. The first time was when I started teaching with it twenty years ago. That is where the FIRST reason why I applied for the Headway scholarship 2014 comes from. My essay was meant to be a thank-you to Liz and John Soars and the Headway team. I mean people who do the extraordinary work should know there is at least one person who highly appreciates the significance of this work. I mean it! The second turning point was a two-week course at Exeter College, Oxford in Aug 2014. And this is the SECOND, as well as the THIRD, the FOURTH, the … reason why I would strongly recommend taking part in the competition. Just at the moment you arrive in Oxford and open the heavy old oak door to Exeter College, you feel you are in the right place and at the right time; You become a part of the community, the fellowship of 60 people from 33 countries from all over the world. People who come from absolutely different social, political, religious, and cultural backgrounds, but who, in just two weeks, manage to create their own tiny world full of patience, tolerance, and love. People who you might not see ever again, but who have come into your life and will stay forever; Every day in the course, though thoroughly planned and scheduled, is absolutely unpredictable. Every day with a lecture, workshops, social activities, free time, and whatever, is an amazement, even for a person who is hardly prone to be amazed; Great, inspiring and motivating lecturers, course  tutors and students who shape you in some way. You try to pick up something from everybody. You then introduce it into your classroom back home and realize that both you and your students really love your new shape; taking part in the competition for the Headway scholarship, no matter if you win or not, is sure to give you the greatest sense of achievement: you’ve managed to come out of your comfort zone to find out the new surrounding is much more comfortable; and in the end you feel you’ve lived another life, no way better or worse than your usual one, but, anyway, different. You’ve been an Oxford student for at least two weeks and in that way you’ve become at least some tiny part of its tremendous history. Do you still need convincing? Liz Soars, author of Headway, explains why she and John set up the Headway Scholarship 11 years ago: Start your entry today by visiting our Headway Scholarship competition page! Deadline: 8th March 2015. The Headway Scholarship is made possible through the generosity of John and Liz Soars.Filed under: Professional Development Tagged: Adult courses, American Headway, Competition, English Language Learners, Headway, Headway Scholarship, Scholarship

Professor Hans Rosling waxes enthusiastic as he shows an animation of world health and wealth over the past two hundred years. It's an excellent video and he ends it on a very positive note. Perhaps you have to be African, though, to grieve over the fact that the back end of the continuum is almost entirely blue.

What is lesson flipping? Is it an effective technique for language learning? Thomas Healy, co-author of Smart Choice Second Edition, explains how he has used the concept of ‘flipping’ in his classroom ahead of his webinar on 17th or 19th February on the topic.  Since I started teaching over twenty years ago, there is one challenge that I continue to obsess about: I have many students, but there is only one of me. To address this reality, I’ve tried over the years to do a better job of making use of group work, collaborative learning opportunities, as well as trying to help my learners develop independent learning skills. Dealing with the needs of individual learner’s needs, however, remains a major challenge. Recently, I’m trying to go beyond I’ll see you after class and Here’s an additional  worksheet.  I was intrigued when I stumbled on mathematics lectures on Youtube that were make by Sal Khan, and the concept of ‘flipping’. Flipping is a very simple notion. Essentially, it means reversing how a teacher deals with presentation and practice in and outside of the class. In a flipped class, students experience (typically on video) the presentation of new material as homework. This, in theory, allows more time for students to practice and ask questions the next time in class. So, for example, in Sal Khan’s flipped classes, the learner would watch a presentation on how to multiply at home; they would do practice exercises in class, with the teacher present when they need help. Fascinating, I thought, but would this work with language learners? How could I flip conversation practice, pronunciation exercises, and group work activities? Would students do the homework, or would I end up presenting the new material in class anyway? Soon, it became apparent to me that I could not flip many elements of the class. But I could flip some. Or, at the very least, I could create a bank of resources that students could review again and again. For example, I could make videos explaining frequent errors what leaners make, which they could access independently. When I went about this project, I was amazed at how simple the technology was.  I’ve struggled with technology all my life, and still have problems connecting a DVD player to a television.  Of the many available, I’ve been using Camtasia. Camtasia, which is available for Mac and PC, can be downloaded easily from the Internet. It is a ‘screen capture’ program that records what appears on your computer screen. In addition, you can add your voice, animated annotations, as well as subtitles. Here is an example of how I’ve used Camtasia. Some of my students struggle with using ‘Make’ and prepositions. I made a video to review the grammar, provide examples and help students test themselves. Step 1. I made a presentation, using PowerPoint. Actually, you can use anything, including Word. Step 2. Then I wrote out what I wanted to say- a script. Step 3. I played the slides on my computer, using Camtasia to record what was on the screen. Step 4. Then, while playing back the recorded presentation, I added my voice. Step 5.  I added animated annotations and subtitles, and posted the video on Youtube. I included a simple quiz, which students could use to test themselves. While I don’t ‘flip’ very often in the true sense, I do like to have bank of grammar, vocabulary and reading skills videos available that students can refer to independently. I’ve never had a student who, on first exposure to a new grammar point or language skill, said, "I understand. I’ve got it! I’ll always remember it!"  Currently, I’m looking through examples of student writing samples and student videos to try to identify common accuracy issues so that, in the future, in addition to saying, ‘Here’s an additional worksheet, I’ll be able to say, "Watch the video and try the quiz." And if they still don’t get it, I’ll see them after class. Want to find out more about lesson flipping? Take part in Thomas Healy’s live webinar on 17th or 19th February. Thomas will discuss models of lesson flipping and provide a technical demonstration of how to implement this technique. Register today!Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital, Professional Development Tagged: EdTech, Flipped classroom, mlearning

Social Media Resources Rod's Annotated Bookmarks for over 80 Social Media links Faculty Social Media Survey by Pearson Learning Pressible: Columbia University's Social Network for Educational Content Vialogues: Columbia University's Social Media site for Video Interview:  Brian Hughes, Associate Director of Design, Publishing, and Service at Teachers College's Library of Columbia University. We address the questions... What are the best ways to use social media for novice faculty? Has it been shown that using social media improves learning? What is the best way to prepare faculty to use social media for teaching? Podsafe music selection from Music Alley "From the Beginning" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, from their "Then & Now" Live 1998 Album Duration: 23:38

Just lately, I have been thinking about some of the ironies inherent in our financial systems.When we lived in South Africa, bank charges were very high. You paid a cash-handling fee when you deposited large sums of cash. You paid an admin fee every time the bank processed a cheque of yours... or one from someone else that was made out to you. You paid for a new cheque book when the old one was empty. Basically, you paid for everything. Walk into the bank and breathe, and they charged you for the air. This is something that people in the UK simply can't relate to. Here, many bank transactions are still free. But we'll come to that in a minute. Back to South Africa for a moment (sorry, are you getting whiplash?).If you agreed never to drop below a certain balance, your banking became free. And the balance was not just a few Rands, either. So, basically, if you were flush enough not to need every last cent you had, you could have all your bank services free of charge. If, however, you were balancing on a knife edge, and needed every cent you earned, you had to pay to access this money. And it's no small matter, either - total bank charges could be among your larger expenses.It gets worse. Let me relate an anecdote that I witnessed on more than one occasion. Person X, let's call him Thando Sijawe, came into the bank to draw some money. He couldn't use the hole-in-the-wall, because, like many South Africans, he was illiterate. He explained to the cashier that he wanted R10, and she wrote out the withdrawal slip for him, which he then endorsed with his thumbprint. She gave him his R10 and he went on his way. What he didn't know was that the bank charged him R7 (I kid you not, that was the exact figure) for this service. If he had drawn out all his money at once, this might have been less significant but crime levels were (are?) high in South Africa, especially in the poorer areas where Thando lived, so the tendency was only ever to carry money enough for your immediate needs, taxis, buses and the day's food supplies. People like Thando had to deal in cash, because their illiteracy meant that they couldn't use the pay-by-card option.So, not only did Thando get penalised for being poor, he suffered the double whammy of being further penalised for being uneducated, too.But it's not just Thando. And it's not just in South Africa.In the UK, much of our banking is free. The flip side is that it is also slower. Everything takes longer. And you can do so much less at the hole-in-the-wall. But you learn to live with that. However, if you're having a bad month and one of your standing orders bounces, there is a fee of £22 that is levied. So basically, they're fining you for being broke.As I have already (very publicly) stated, my business is being declared bankrupt. This morning, I was advised that I need to pay £2500 for this process. It seems I am too broke to go bankrupt. Go figure.I'm not sure what happens next. I am going to see an insolvency adviser to discuss my options.I apologise if this transparency makes you feel uncomfortable. I just hope that it will prove helpful to others who may be having a tough time of things, right now.I also think it's important to shine a spotlight on some of the things that strike me as being out of balance in society. After all, the fat cats of the banking industry are the ones taking home the huge bonuses.Everyone knows my understanding of accounting is negligible, but I can't help feeling the wrong people are paying for those bonuses.

Olha Madylus, an experienced teacher and teacher trainer gives her thoughts on the first of our Solutions Speaking Challenges: ‘My students keep making the same mistakes’. As teachers we may despair of marking our students’ written work and writing that ‘C+ must try harder’ at the bottom of their compositions, but let’s spare a thought for those poor students, who may after all be trying as hard as they can. First let’s admit it - writing is hard! They are on their own Students face a number of challenges producing correct and appropriate texts. For a start it is usually a solitary task, often given as homework and therefore unsupported. In class students can find support from each other doing pair or group work and also from their teacher. Writing a composition for homework, they often don’t know how to help themselves. *Consider allowing students to write compositions collaboratively in class, especially when writing long texts is new to them. Topics can be uninspiring  How easy would we find it to write something interesting (let alone grammatically correct) on the topics given. While practising other skills it is possible to be genuinely communicative and even have fun, but this is rare in writing practice. *Consider allowing students to choose their own topics to write about; doing creative writing; tapping into the interests of the students. Too much feedback is counter-productive When it comes to motivation, students often feel a great sense of failure when they have writing returned to them covered in red ink, with each mistake highlighted. It is not easy to know how to pick yourself up and start again. If our students are teenagers this is particularly difficult. They may put on a show of not caring, but teens find criticism very painful and may feel great frustration in not understanding exactly how they can redress their weaknesses in writing. *Consider being selective about what you mark; marking positively; reducing the word count of written tasks so that students can focus on quality rather than quantity. Writing is a difficult skill even in our mother tongue - consider how often we have to write continuous impressive prose in our lives, especially when texting and emails encourage short abbreviated text. There are many skills involved in producing good compositions. We should not expect students to be able to write well without breaking down the skills and practising them separately. Footballers practise shooting at the goal, dribbling, tactics etc. They are not simply asked to turn up at the match and play the game! These are just some of the skills needed to produce good writing: Correct grammar Range of vocabulary Accurate punctuation Correct layout Correct register Accurate spelling Good range of sentence structures Linking Imagination Planning Drafting Proof reading Communication I am sure you can think of more! Rather than expecting students to put all these skills together, we must consider how to break them up, practise them effectively and gradually combine them - on the journey of developing writing. Students sometimes get register confused when writing. This activity helps them to recognise style/register. Hand out this list to students, or pop in onto a PowerPoint slide and display each line one at a time: Once upon a time… I regret to inform you… All my love, Boris xxx She grabbed the gun and pointed it at Dillon.  Add two tablespoons of sugar and stir… Ask students to consider, discuss and then suggest where they think these are taken from and why. For example, the first one must be from a children’s story, because it’s formulaic. To expand the activity, ask students to work in pairs and add one more line either before or after using the same register. Check together if they sound correct. This type of task (which doesn’t have to take a lot of class time) helps focus students on the conventions of different styles of writing. It can be used if you notice that students are using incorrect register in their writing assignments to raise awareness.Filed under: Teenagers Tagged: English Language, ESL, Solutions, Solutions writing challenge, Teenagers

Excerpts from the Educause Live! Program on "The Future of Fair Use" by Steve Anderson, PhD, Director, Media Arts + Practice Ph.D. Program and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California Copyright Fair Use Resources Rod's Annotated Bookmarks on Fair Use Creative Commons Critical Commons - for Fair & Critical Participation in Media Culture Center for Social Media Fair Use Evaluator Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 of the United States Code § 107 Podsafe music selection from Music Alley "Don't Be Long: The Beatles v Elken", a Beatles "Blue Jay Way" mashup by Elken, a 60's influenced band from Dublin, Ireland Duration: 20:21

EFL teacher, teacher trainer and Principal of St. Giles International, Keith Harding has authored and co-authored several courses published by Oxford University Press. To mark the release of stunning new video material for International Express, Keith Harding and Rachel Appleby have prepared a series of four articles to be used alongside units within the course. Today, Keith shares some ideas and video resources for Elementary Unit 6 - Santiago, Chile, focusing on comparative and superlative adjectives. The introduction of video as a learning medium in the classroom needn’t mean passive learning, or a risk of students ‘switching off’ from being engaged. The key to maximising learning potential, as with any listening or reading text, is to prepare and predict. Before watching: Here are some ideas for preparatory work, before watching the video: Countries and cities Show the picture of Santiago from the video as a still image. Where is it? Which continent? Which country? Ask students in pairs to write down as many South American countries and cities as possible. This can be done as a team race - for example, the first team to name five countries and five cities. Show an outline map of South America (from the Internet, or an atlas or wall map of the world if you’ve got one). Locate the cities and countries. Comparatives and superlatives Use the list of cities/countries (and the map) to make comparative and superlative sentences. Which is the largest/smallest country? Which is the most beautiful/the highest city? Examples could be: Brazil is larger than Chile; Argentina is further south than Chile. Use Chile as much as possible, as the video is about Santiago and Chile. Practise the language What do you know about or think you know about Santiago? Consider: Location Scenery Buildings Things to do Tourist attractions To prompt show four stills from the video, such as: Map of South America (1:40) City buildings (2:16) Church (2:50) Scenery and city (3:11) While watching: To maximise the learning opportunities, set tasks for students to focus on throughout watching. Remember: tasks can be graded to the level of the learners, even if the content is not. This will involve you having to press pause, rewind, and also the sound-off or mute button, in some cases. Silent play Play the whole video (or just a section) with the sound down. Have your students write down what they see, particularly the objects and places, and then compare with a partner. If you wanted to make this more interactive, get the students to stand back-to-back with a partner - one will look at the screen, whilst the other looks away. The student facing the screen describes to their partner what they can see, and the student facing away writes down the words. They swap roles halfway through. Then rewind the video or section and have them watch it back together, to see how much they identified or what they might have missed. Stand up! Give each student a letter - A, B, C, and D. They must stand up every time they hear a word from one of the following categories: A: a word for a building B: a word for scenery C: a comparative D: a superlative After watching the video: Follow-up tasks and activities will help to reinforce the language and will also provide the opportunity for more communicative and interactive language practice. Vocabulary work on other world places: Country (e.g. UK) Capital (e.g. London) Language (e.g. English) People (e.g. British) Speaking activities Why not try out these activities, taken from the video worksheet that comes with the International Express Teacher’s Resource Book DVD. All the worksheets are also available for free here. You just need your Oxford Teacher’s Club log-in details to view them. Make a film Ask students to make their own film about one of the cities they have researched on the Internet, or of their own city/country. It might not be possible to actually make the film (although this could always be filmed on a mobile phone, for ease), but the students can plan the film (frame by frame) and write the script (using the Santiago script as a model). I hope you enjoy trying out some of these activities in class! In the next article in this series, Rachel Appleby will be exploring the Selexyz bookstore video from the Pre-Intermediate level. Look out for it next week.Filed under: Multimedia & Digital, Young Learners Tagged: Bringing Online Video into the Classroom, Classroom activities, EFL, ELT, free online lesson plan, International Express, Keith Harding, video-based learning, Young Learners

Ray Henderson Interview: Ray Henderson, President of Blackboard's teaching and learning division, Blackboard Learn Hear about the key differences for faculty between Angel and Blackboard 9.1 Hear about Blackboard's future direction, including How the purchase of iStrategy relates to Blackboard Outcomes Blackboard Resources Blackboard Learn Blackboard Learn: On Demand Learning Center Ray Henderson's Bb Blog Rod's Annotated Bookmarks on Blackboard Podsafe music selection from Music Alley Kiss This! (Hey IRS)" by Robert Lund of the Funny Music Project, a parody of Faith Hill's "This Kiss" Duration: 21:23

Have you ever noticed how, whenever you're going through something, everyone always knows exactly what you should be doing and how you should be feeling?New mothers with tiny infants are told exactly how they should be handling the business of being a Mom and how they should feel about all the things their new babies do. Newly bereaved people are told exactly how they should be responding and are given only X amount of time before the good graces of friends start to wear out because they really should be over it by now.And my situation is, of course, no different. Everyone knows exactly how I should be feeling. And it seems the one thing I should not be feeling is guilt. "You've done nothing wrong!" they assure me. And they're right... in a way. But that changes nothing.I guess I've known on some subconscious level that there are different kinds of guilt, but right now, I'm neck deep in it, and am intimately acquainted with it.As a practising Christian, I subscribe to the notion of sin, repentance and redemption. I do. And when I sin, I experience guilt. So I seek forgiveness. And - I believe - I get it.But that doesn't have bearing here. Because, of course, not all failings are sinful. And, if I were the only one to be impacted by the failure of my business, I could handle that.But I'm not.Yes, my business is a limited liability company, and so my personal assets are not forfeit to the collapse of the business. But, the collapse of the business has meant a loss of income. And my failure to find an alternative source of income does place our personal assets at risk.And this is where the guilt comes in.You see, my husband works extraordinarily hard. He always has. It's the nature of the man. He currently commutes two hours each way, every day. Scooter, train, tube, train, walk. He would prefer not to, and when he started at the company, the plan was to move his role to a town 20 minutes' drive from our home. But the recession put paid to that idea. So he continues to commute, two years later.He hasn't failed at anything. He continues to work to the same standard. He continues to earn the same salary. But he still stands to lose his personal assets (including, under extreme circumstances, his home).Now you can paint that any colour you want, but I did that, and I have to live with it. He is not angry with me. Good grief, what kind of man would he be if he did? He fully supports me in every way.I have been harangued fore and aft for feeling guilty over this. I have been told I shouldn't because it doesn't make sense on a logical level. I have even been told that my guilt is unChristian and sinful, because it is tantamount to saying that I don't accept God's forgiveness. I simply cannot get people to understand that I don't believe I need to be forgiven.I tried to explain it to one person like this:You are told that you have to hold out two 5kg weights at arm's length and at shoulder height. The moment you let them drop, someone large and powerful is going to slap your husband (wife, son, daughter) humiliatingly in the face and kick him in the stomach. So you hold those weights. You hold them beyond endurance. But eventually, you simply cannot. You are not capable. You reach the end of your ability, and you are forced to let them drop. Your husband is duly slapped and kicked.Now tell me you don't feel guilty.You didn't sin. But you did fail. The task was beyond your capability, you were not able to perform it, and he paid the price.Okay, it's a simplistic analogy, but please tell me you get my drift. Sometimes you fail without sinning/wrongdoing. But you still fail. And you still feel guilty when your failure hurts the ones you love.Surely this is perfectly reasonable?On a side note, permit me to brag. My husband had a long talk with our younger son (the older one is out of the country on a gap year) about the possible implications of our situation. He asked him what worried him most. Did my 17 year old talk about the loss of the nice big house? Did he express concern that his driving lessons could be forfeit? Did he worry about not being able to afford the lifestyle he currently enjoys? No. He said he was worried about the impact on my well-being. He was concerned that I would feel like a failure and that my confidence would take a knock.In the midst of everything falling down around my ears, that strikes me as a success story, wouldn't you say? We must have done something right. I am so proud of his lack of selfishness that I could just burst.

Interview: Ray Henderson, President of Blackboard Learn Learn about Blackboard's ePortfolios offerings, and Open Database Inititative Open-source competition Blackboard Resources Blackboard Learn Blackboard Learn: On Demand Learning Center Ray Henderson's Bb Blog Rod's Annotated Bookmarks on Blackboard Podsafe music selection from Music Alley  "Midnight" by singer/song writer Adrina Thorpe from the album "Halflight & Shadows" Duration: 21:03

Interview: Dr. Mark Nestor, Associate Provost and Chief Information Officer at the University of the Sciences in PhiladelphiaPanopto Focus Lecture CaptureLecture capture systems offer important benefits: an alternative when students miss class; an opportunity for content review; and content for online course development Podsafe music selection from Music Alley"California Dreamin" by The Mamas and The PapasDuration: 21:36

Aisha Walker, Associate Professor of Technology, Education and Learning at Leeds University, introduces her webinar, Technology Enhanced Language Learning, hosted by Oxford University Press on February 25th and 26th. As I lead an MA programme in TESOL and ICT I frequently see draft student assignments that open with a sentence such as: "Technology is increasingly important in the world today." The student may then go on to say that today’s learners are ‘digital natives’, that technology motivates and engages students and that all teachers should be using more of it.  Luckily, because we offer students the opportunity to get feedback on drafts before submission, I can catch these broad statements and ask students to be more measured and more critical in their approaches to concepts such as the ‘digital native’ or ‘technology for learner motivation’. So why should language teachers make use of digital technologies?  I see two main reasons although there may be other pressures such as institutional policies (if a school has spent a lot of money on a new online learning environment, for example, they will want teachers to use it).  The first reason is that digital media are part of the way that we use language in the real world.  Much of our day-to-day communication is mediated by digital tools including email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, What’s App and much more.  These tools are normal sites of language use and it is as important to explore these with learners as it is to explore older media such as newspapers and radio (now often online, of course). The second reason is that technology can provide solutions to some of the problems that we encounter as language teachers.  For example, in the context of a single-language classroom there is little reason for students to communicate in the target language except that the teacher tells them to.  Digital tools may enable them to communicate with an audience outside the classroom, for example by posting blogs or videos either to a general audience or in partnership with a class of learners elsewhere.  Whilst I do not believe that technology is intrinsically motivating, novelty and variety do engage and motivate students.  Technology offers plenty of novel possibilities from new ways of presenting material to new games for language practice. In summary, digital tools and media are part of everyday language use and should, therefore, be part of language learning.  In addition, the range of possibilities offered by digital tools mean that there are many ways in which technology can enhance language learning. But… ‘learners are digital natives’? It’s more complicated than that! To explore how using everyday digital tools and media can be part of language learning, join us for Aisha’s upcoming webinar Technology Enhanced Language Learning.Filed under: Multimedia & Digital, Professional Development, Skills Tagged: EdTech, Educational technology, EFL, ESL, Language learning, Technology in education

Jane Hart has shared her journey from elearning to social business in this blog post. Her journey has similarities to my own... and perhaps to yours.Jane is probably one of the best known advocates of the use of social media for business performance. She and the other members of the Internet Time Alliance (Jay Cross, Clark Quinn, Harold Jarche and Charles Jennings) are running a workshop in London next week. If you're an L&D professional (other than a consultant to whom the invitation is not extended), you might want to find out if there are any spaces open.This could change your professional practice.Seriously.

Interview: Donald Doane, CEO, ConnectYard Inc.ConnectYard a centralized social media communications platform that seamlessly integrates Facebook, Twitter and video as well as text messaging with popular Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard, to better engage students and expand overall institutional communication.Podsafe music selection from Music Alley"50 Ways to Lose Your Luggage" by Robert Lund of the Funny Music ProjectDuration: 15:42

Interview: Lou Pugliese, Chairman and CEO, Moodlerooms, Inc.Moodle: a "free" course management system that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.Moodlerooms, Inc.: a hosting and support company for users of Moodle.Podsafe music selection from Music Alley"Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen - featured on several TV shows including "House", "Scrubs" and "Grey's Anatomy"Duration: 25:17

A recent post from Doug Belshaw, in which he quotes extensively from Steve Shapiro got me thinking about a conversation my husband and I often have, out of sheer frustration.One of the things South Africans in the UK are often accused of is being gung ho. This is because of a different formative workplace experience. I don't know what it's like now, but during the years that we lived and worked there, actions would be allocated during meetings, and the owners of those actions would be expected to go away, do the job and come back with the completed chart, project, design, whatever. If you needed help doing X-thing, you spoke to the person with the skills or the access or the authority and you got it done. If you had a meeting with your line manager or your team before the task was complete, you would report on your progress and then get back to it afterwards. If you needed to escalate the matter to your line manager because you weren't getting the results you wanted, you did. But you owned the task.So when we moved to the UK, we adopted the same approach... and it didn't go down at all well!As an example:I once worked at a company as the in-house IT trainer. I should point out at this stage that it was explicitly stated that they wanted me to be able to hit the ground running, because my line manager (the IT director) had a big project looming, and wouldn't be able to allocate much time to training. At a meeting with the stakeholders, it was decided that everyone in the company needed to have (among other things) certain Excel skills. Now of course, the skills that were needed day to day by the people in that company weren't the same as the skills needed by people in another company. So we identified the core actions that were likely to form part of pretty much everyone's day job within the organisation. We also identified a set of additional Excel skills that a subset of employees would need. These we would address separately. It was decided that everyone should be invited to attend a core skills workshop, but that, initially, at any rate, only those who used the additional skills would be asked to attend that workshop.It seemed pretty clearcut to me, so I did what I thought I had been asked to do. I hit the ground running. I designed a core skills workshop. I set up exercises using familiar spreadsheets that users were likely to encounter on a day to day basis, in order to provide context for the features being covered. I created a manual, using screen grabs as signposts. I created an index, so that attendees could refer back to the manual after the workshop. I spoke to the in-house print team, and got them to do a nice layout for me.We had already drawn up a very nice questionnaire which served as a base level TNA, and we had a clear idea where the greatest need was.We had also kitted out the training room with the equipment needed.So, we were all systems go. I invited my first batch for the pilot session of the workshop... and all hell broke loose.Apparently, I was supposed to check back with my line manager at every step of the way. Each step needed to be approved before I could move on to the next step. Since no-one above me on the food chain had the remotest idea about learning or training... and were singularly lacking in people skills, I was completely non-plussed. We had already decided everything that needed to be decided, surely? I had been given my actions, and I was, well, actioning them.My husband's experience is similar. He will be asked to write a report on X thing, but the report is sent back umpteen times, with minor changes and edits, sometimes to changes and edits made earlier.And it is this ethos that I think stands in the way of the successful implementation of social business, collaborative working and collaborative learning. I have been in situations where it has fallen to me to create a shared space for a certain project (for example, a wiki). Immediately I have done so, the rest of the team has then deferred to me as the owner of such space. Instead of editing material entered, they would send me an email, identifying suggested changes. I have also worked with organisations that have introduced systems such as Sharepoint in order to encourage collaborative working, but then immediately locked down all the permissions and so on, so that only management approved materials can be published in shared space.So, I would suggest that, if social business is to become de rigeur, then the offline attitudes and culture need to be addressed, too.When you give someone a task to do, you need to trust them to do the task, and empower them to call on such resources within the business as are needed in order to do so. You need to trust them to manage their time, to assist others with other projects as and when it is appropriate. You need to allow them to have an exchange of emails without CC-ing you in all the time. You need to be available to them, if they need your help, but not hanging over their shoulders to make sure they do the job as you would do it (if you don't have anything else to do, maybe you should have done the task yourself, huh?). You need to let them make mistakes and ask them what they learned and what they would do differently... then let them try again. You need to let them take credit for what works and own up to what fails without feeling that they are failures.In other words, you need to trust yourself, too. If you hired them, because you believed that they could do the job, then let them do the job and appreciate the time it frees up to let you do yours!In most of the organisations I have worked with, the nature of online relationships replicates the organisational culture offline.Until we start to give people a bit of room to breathe, I think we're not going to be able to properly harness the power of social business....or that's what I think, anyway.

Interview: Aaron Wasserman, Director, Blackboard MobileAaron is one of the founding members of Terriblyclever Design. Terriblyclever worked with Stanford to conceptualize iStanford, a suite of iPhone, Blackberry, and mobile web applications for fellow students. In 2009 they were acquired by Blackboard and Aaron now leads the new Blackboard Mobile division. We'll try to answer the questions:what is Blackboard Mobile?which platforms are supported?what are the benefits to an institution?why is a native app better than a web app?can you customize apps for your platform?what’s on the future road-map for Bb Mobile?Podsafe music selection from Music Alley"Maybe I'm Amazed" by Blake Morgan. His licensed cover of the Paul McCartney classic has topped the charts on the iTunes Music Store. Duration: 22:49

Trent BatsonInterview: Trent Batson, Executive Director of The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning.A Survey of the Electronic Portfolio Market Sector: Analysis and Surprising TrendsThe Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based LearningPost Secondary Electronic Standards CouncilThe International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP)Pearson's Open Class LMSPodsafe music selection from MagnatuneVivaldi: Concerto No. 3 in F Major "Autumn" (Allegro movement) by the American Baroque Orchestra. The full CD "The Four Seasons by Vivaldi" is available at magnatune.comDuration: 31:00