Celebration session

I have no doubt that the last session of the course was an influential one to all of us. It touched us deeply especially when we were asked to choose a colleague to give our presents to, and to justify our choice. Some of us had more than one choice because we dealt with each other with a real team-work spirit and we had also some fun and that proves that there is no contradiction between education and fun.  If you are able to make education fun not a burden for you and your students, this would be the absolute success. Thanks to Dr. Joy, who played a real smart part in creating a sanguine atmosphere which resulted in creating some kind of harmony among us.Those who didn't attend that unforgettable session really missed much.
Those who took the photos please, don't forget to share.  
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." – Dr. Seuss  

Facebook as an Educational Tool

One minute movie

I have always been fascinated by nature and the universe. Man has learnt a lot from mother nature, patience from cactus, peace of mind from birds, wisdom from the tortoise, cunning from the wolf, grace from the deer, boldness from the lion and beauty from the peacock.

6 fabulous iPad Apps to Help Students in Their Studies

6 fabulous iPad Apps to Help Students in Their Studies
Since we all greed that modern technology is going to replace or is currently replacing the traditional way of teaching, I want to share with you these educational iPad Apps which can help us as well as students to organise their work and maximize the benefits of using technology in learning.

Overcoming Resistance to Change - Isn't It Obvious?

Change has never been for change in itself, but we change because there is a good reason for change. Introducing technology to the world of teaching has become a necessity as it has dominated the world of our students. Integrating technology with the curriculum makes learning more enjoyable and familiar with students.

Better teaching and learning

The last session proved two things about teaching and learning. Firstly, teaching languages is not that easy. The session reminded me of my first years in teaching, I tried a lot of methods and struggled much to get the lessons across to students in a way that could foster learning, interaction and satisfy me as a teacher.
Secondly, the key words to the success of any project is communication, collaboration, integration and aware management among team members. Assigning tasks among team members, who is responsible for what then helping each other to reach perfection or near perfection, as nothing is perfect 100%. All these elements could lead to better teaching and learning.

A Practical Lesson

Happy Eid (feast) to all of you. The last session was a practical lesson of how a teacher can change his or her  method of teaching to reach all learning styles, if one method fails, try another. The instructor gave us different kinds of references and a worksheet to fill in to practice writing references according to APA Style. Now, I think I can write a book, an article or a chapter reference correctly. If we forget we can go back to the manual Dr Joy sent us as a kind of extended teacher's support. 

Am I hallucinating?

Does social media help our students to be sociable?
Through my experience with my students and my kids I have found that social media supports what I can safely call virtual social communication not the real one. We are being pushed to a new kind of interpersonal communication. Are we pushed to towards technological isolation and be enslaved to technology? I am afraid that one day all human kind will be connected as computers are today.
I don't know whether it is bad or good. Am I hallucinating?
What do you think?     

The Impact of Videos on Education

The Impact of Videos on Education

Now, I am learning!

As soon as I received Dr- Joy's email telling us that non of the summaries and reflections were up to the expected academic standard, I was shocked and asked myself " How on earth could I meet such standard?" I waited for the next session, I read Dr Joy's feedback, but I couldn't understand what the circles and the underlined statements mean. At the end of the session I went straight to her and she elaborated on her feedback. To my surprise I found that some of my mistakes were because of technology, specially concerning citation and bibliography. I found myself saying " Now, I am learning!"   

Mobile Learning: Cell Phones meet the English Classroom

In her comment on my last post, my colleague Elham pointed out that without a supportive school administration and community we are helpless.  Since then  I have been thinking on how to utilize available technology within our hands to integrate it with our classroom teaching. I started thinking and searching the web for an answer. I have found that utilizing mobile phones which we rarely see a student without one is the answer to overcome the problem of lack of support to integrate technology inside our classrooms. In this video we can the teacher doing different activities using this simple tech tool to engage her students with the learning process and increase her students participation, so I thought of sharing this video with my colleagues.

Education and Society

Education is a vital service given to any society. Without education there won't be an organised, well-structured and developed society. This relation between the society and the educational system should be built on give and take. We have just mentioned how eduction can benefit the society; the question is what can the society do to benefit from education? the society in return should provide and support the education system technically and financially. Technically by providing the educational system with qualified teachers, up-to-date curricula and teaching aids and well-equipped educational institutions. Financially through salaries paid to those who work within the educational system , besides providing the required logistics without which there won't be education in the first place.
It is a mutual relationship; as much as you give, as much as you reap benefit.     

What does blogging mean to me?

I have more than one blog on the internet, but this one is different. Sure you will ask why?
Here is the reason why it is so. Since I started having blogs on the internet, I have been  reblogging only, I have never expressed my thoughts or reflections on anything. Being a teacher who is interested in technology, I asked my self, why don't I make use of such tech-gift for the benefit of my students and my colleagues and that's what I have decided to do from now on. Not just to be a reblogger or a transporter of the others' ideas, but to put some of ideas into practice to contribute adequately to my community.
Here comes another question, how?
I am thinking for making my blog as a hub for English language learning and teaching, a place where my students and colleagues find it useful for their learning and teaching.

Blogs could be reached anywhere, there is no need to be with my students in one place to communicate or interact. All what we need is just a computer connected to the internet. I can recap topics taught in class, follow up their homework or respond timely to their questions and much more.