Goodbye, to this course (and this blog).

Hi∼ It's me, your favorite ELT student, and it's time to say goodbye to this course, and with it, to this blog.

I took this course's contents in reverse (I took Current Issues in Teaching first) so this is really goodbye for me, unlike last time. Let's talk about what I think now.

My view of technology integration did not really change, though it presented new methods to work with. Current Issues in Teaching already changed my view about technology integration, and I liked the assignments we made there more. However, that is not to say this course is not good. It is a good first step, I can see it being a precursor to the Current Issues course. Though it did not work very well for me, haha. At least the assignments were not as hard. 

Let's continue. As I said, it only enhanced my view of technology integration. I already know it is inevitable (though there are still many issues to be discussed around it). Coming to the assignments, I liked the AI assignment the most. It is the most realistic one, and I think my future students would like it as well. As for the one I did not like, It's either the podcast or the collaborative writing task. I don't know, I just could not see much real word use for especially the collaborative writing one. Maybe my view will change in the future, we'll see.

As for my suggestions to improve the course, I would make it more AI centric. AI is definitely dominating every aspect of our lives already and it will continue to do so in the future. Therefore, I think focusing on it would improve future teachers' skillset to work with them.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did. Farewell.

Voice-chatting with AI! What's next, flying cars?

 Hi everyone, it's your favorite ELT student here, and I am here to talk about an interesting topic, which is voice-chatting with an AI. Let's dive into it.

So, I talked with an AI, yes. And it was surprisingly good! I'm used to texting with AI, but voice chatting is something that I am not an expert of, haha. Anyways, it felt off-putting at first, because the voices of AI that I am used to is very primal compared to ChatGPT's voice model, which is incredibly advanced. It can mimick human speech very well, though you can understand it being an AI, except for the elders, I guess. It clearly seems like AI because it gives incredibly fast and well-thought-out responses on complex topics, which humans definitely would not be able to do. Also, it has perfect pronunciation, which humans do not have as well. Now, an AI like that would be interesting indeed.

Enough chit-chat, let's talk about the assignment's content. Thankfully, it was an individual assignment. Anyhow, this AI chat did not really challenge me, though it made some things clearer in my head. I asked to it about how young learners class would be and how high schoolers' class would be in 2040, and it answered well. Though not challenging, obviously. 

I can see using AI in the classroom for various purposes, I mean that's inevitable. However, it is important to remember the human touch, which AI can't perfectly replicate (yet). And even if it did, what would be the point of education at that point. That's a whole another topic.

Thank you for reading my blog, here are the relevant documents: the document

Collaborating with friends for a movie review!

 Hi everyone, it's your favorite ELT student, and this time I am here with a collaborative writing task.

For this task, my group consisting of myself, Lara, and Evrim was assigned to collaboratively write a movie review. We chose to review Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino. Our goal was to analyze the movie in terms of its plot, style, and cinematic elements while sharing our opinion. We worked together using Google Docs.

Writing the review went smoothly. We divided the work based on the review structure. Evrim focused on the introduction and plot summary, I analyzed the cinematography and music, and Lara wrote the final opinion and recommendations. Google Docs made it easy to see what everyone was working on, and we used the comment feature to suggest changes and improve each other's parts. 

Once we finished writing, we shared our document with another group and gave each other feedback. They commented that our review was well written and appreciated the specific examples we gave.

Overall, I think Google Docs is a great tool for group writing. It allows everyone to contribute equally and gives space for real-time feedback and editing. The comment feature is especially useful for peer review.

Evrim's blog link

Lara's blog link

Link to the review

Let's learn how to make a sandwich!

Hi everyone, it's your favorite ELT student here. As part of my English Course, it was obligatory for us to produce a short video on how to perform a simple task. I chose ‘How to Make a Sandwich' as the topic. The objective of the course was to learn how to provide basic instructions, as well as, improve our planning, filming, and educational speaking skills.

I captured the visuals and my partner did the recording, which were later produced into a video. The process was sliced in parts such as “first,” and “then,” further narration was done by my colleague. It was very critical to maintain a low vocabulary level and clear representation on the screen so that the general audience could understand it.

While the assignment seems straightforward on the surface, I now understand how instructional accuracy, timing, and your audience’s needs all play a massive role in the ease of completing an instructional video. It proved to be a useful experience, not in terms of enhancing one’s linguistic abilities but in improving cooperative and technological skills.

All in all, the assignment fostered my understanding on the combination between visual language and spoken language aimed towards teaching something. It was a pleasant educational endeavor that I would readily engage in for subsequent lessons. Here is the video.

60 Seconds Idea to Improve the World.

  

     Hello everyone, It's your favorite ELT student here. Today, I was asked to take part in the 60 Seconds Idea to Improve the World series and create a 60 second podcast around an idea that should improve the world. In my podcast, I described the idea of a local center called “the zero waste community hub” designed to teach people how to live sustainably. These community centers would also teach locals how to compost, recycle, and provide tools needed for repairing so as to encourage waste reclamation. This plan aims at encouraging people to come together for a common noble goal of cleaning the environment and promote sustainable living.

    Completing this specific task was challenging and exciting at the same time. When I first set out to create the podcast, I had a very interesting and detailed idea but struggled to get it to fit into a 60 second podcast that was captivating all the way through. Balancing engaging delivery and informative content was difficult, but once I got to “the zero waste community hub” everything just clicked. Getting my thoughts out in recording form was fun considering I was able to deliver my idea in a lively and comprehensible manner. I can easily admit that the task was extremely enjoyable and creative while delivering an important message.

    This is definitely a task that I would assign to students in the future as it tackles numerous important factors. Clearly defined goals teach critical thinking as every element must be created from scratch, resulting in creative outcomes while needing to consider structure.

    In today's fast-paced world, the ability to teach complex ideas with simple, impactful materials is a useful skill. This is even more useful when one is aware of time constraints. While the time challenge might be frustrating to some, that limitation enhances attention and decisiveness. The task also increases awareness of universal topics and motivates the learners to devise and contemplate on the effect of implementing them. All in all, constructive learning can be achieved through this method, and it is highly enjoyable too.

Here is the podcast.

Cyber safety tips!

 Hi everyone, it's me again, your favorite ELT student. Today I'm going to talk about our infographic assignment, and what i picked as a topic.

We had different topics to choose from to create our infographic, such as cyberbullying, netiquette etc. I chose cyber safety and privacy because I think it is getting more and more important each and every day. Our lives are getting more integrated with technology with each passing day. Therefore, cyber security becomes more important. Anyway, after choosing the topic, we had to create an infographic. I have to say, if i did not take current teachings in ELT course last semester, this assignment would be harder. However, since I am more experienced now, this assignment was a breeze. Because I am more familiar with canva now, it was much easier to do than my first assignment for current issues in ELT course, for example (although this course was a precursor to that one, I'm doing it in reverse, haha).

As for why infographics are important in today's teaching landscape, I think it's because they draw attention. Students' attention spans are much shorter now than before because of predatory technologies, that is why infographics are good because they are not just simple texts, they use pictures, various colors, fonts etc. So I think we should use them more in our teaching life, maybe we could pin them somewhere in the class to make it always available. 

See you in my next post!

Here's the infographic

21st century learning

 Hi everyone. It's me again, your favorite ELT student. Today I'm going to talk about why technology is crucial in 21st century education.

    In the 21st century, technology changes rapidly. We lose track of what to keep up with. And that is exactly the reason why technology in ELT is crucial. We, as teachers, should pinpoint what technologies to use in this technological mess and help our students navigate through it. 

Technology can do so many things for a language learner. I would not be able to learn english nor probably be here learning to study how to teach english if i did not have access to any technology. They sparked my curiosity to learn more about English and made language learning fun. That's exactly why we need technology in ELT classrooms. To make learning more engaging and fun, so that the students curiosity do not die down. Technology helps us strive toward that goal. We should be the motivators of students in the classroom, we should not let technological literacy get in our way.

This was my introductory post to this year's course. I hope we can all have fun in this semester.

See you in my next post!