Pete Sharma Associates

What a great weekend! It all started in Devon….

Thanks to everyone  who came to my session. Wow – so much to get through so we kinda ran out of time!

If you didn’t pick up a Handout with a couple of practical ideas using the IWB from the Macmillan stand afterwards, you can download it here: handout

If you would like the presentations (in a ‘lite’ vesrion i.e. not graphics hungry, then please click below.

opening-lite

part2-lite

part4-lite

The article – 10 things to do with an Interactive Whiteboard (polite version) – appeared in Modern English Teacher: MET Vol 19 Number 1 January 2010.

Thanks a million to Macmillan for sponsoring this talk, and to the conference organisers.

Afterwards, ma femme et moi explored Devon (Drogo Castle) and Cornwall…..:-)

Pete and I were in Stuttgart on Saturday giving a one-day training day on how to use technology to enhance the use of authentic materials in an in-company teaching environment. It was a challenging day for us, not least because 83 trainers registered for the event! These were all trainers for kmp, based in Sindelfingen, Germany, and there was of course a wide range of skills and experience within the group.

The day appeared to go really well, and it was interesting for us to focus specifically on this aspect of using technology. The event went very smoothly, with a great venue. The organisation by kmp was excellent and reflected very well on them as a company. We are looking forward to following this up with feedback, online information and more.

On Sunday I am making my second appearance at the Virtual Round Table organised by Heike Philp and her excellent team. There were a couple of IT issues last time that meant this is really my third appearance as I ended up repeating the talk last time. I think the technology has become reliable enough now that such virtual conferences have really come of age, and the idea that I can lead a workshop online from my little office in a little village on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England is still quite surreal for me. While I probably still prefer a physical conference, the fact is that many people do not have the opportunity to attend the major conferences, so a virtual conference gives them this opportunity. And I have to say, I find the experience very enjoyable.

My presentation/workshop is an introduction to Moodle, so if you are interested, Google the Virtual Round Table and join in. There are lots of other interesting talks as well.

We THINK the workshop has started well. Scary!

Enjoying leading people into fog (what is a VLE? cuisenaire rods? dogme or DOGMA?) Then pouring light into their lives……ha ha

Three zillion years ago, I started teaching in Madrid with a piece of chalk.

Great to go back to Marid – as ever – and see Graham Stanley run a race between teacher with chalk and a teacher on an IWB!!

I loved popping over to the conference, strutting my stuff in the graveyard session and then disappearing to watch Matt Damon and Emily…sorry, too much information.

Teaching in the Digital Age

thanks so much if you came to this session!

Here are the ‘lite’ versions of the Power Points, as promised:

Part one opening-lite

Part two and three part2-lite

Practical ideas part4-lite

Enjoy!

Looking forward to returning to Madrid for our symposium in May.

I have recently reviewed Teaching Online, by Nicky Hockly with Lindsay Clandfield. I have to say that it was a most enjoyable experience, and it actually left me pining to…. TEACH ONLINE!!

“Increasing numbers of language learners are opting to take online language courses; increasing numbers of teachers are teaching online. For many, (this) is a leap into the unknown……….. The appearance of Teaching Online is therefore both timely and welcome”.

The complete review is available in the ELTJ and can be cited as:

Teaching Online: Tools and Techniques, Options and Opportunities
Pete Sharma
ELT Journal 2011 65: 217-21

Any opportunities out there? Back to bricks and mortar tomorrow……..

Don’t you love caught time at airports. I do. Printing out stuff (sorry, environment) to read on flights is one of my favourite pastimes.

I’ve just printed some of the links from Nik Peachey’s latest Newsletter.

To subscribe, go to the “Technology Newsletter” newsletter where you can also download a copy.

Like Kevin’s future Smartphone, you cannot live without it.

Happy reading…..

I seemed to spend most of this Saturday driving around central southern England with a car full of often sleeping passengers. I often do some effective thinking in such situations, and this time my mind turned to smartphone apps. My mobile phone contract runs out in June, and I am looking forward to replacing my current phone with a fully-fledged smartphone, probably with a Windows 7 operating system. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not an app freak in the way that you can see on Twitter. I personally fail to understand why some educators seem to think that the world wants to hear continuously about iPhone/Pad apps. These devices will never be owned by anything but a minority of students, even in the rich West, and if it works on them, it won’t on the other devices available. I see a big future for such devices, I just don’t want to see a situation where we are only looking at Mac-apps.

To get back to the point of this post, I was wondering what kind of app would be really useful for language teaching. I’m not talking about “I would like to see an app to mark the homework” type of thing, but something really possible and useful. A bit of lateral thinking could even lead to something that makes a real difference to the teaching/learning process. Pretty much all the ideas I have seem much too complex, and even as I write I am desparately trying to think of an idea to kick the process off. Something that assists collaborative learning, perhaps. Or how about linking where you are to a task (“go into Burger King and ask what vegetarian choices they have.”), with an option to record what you plan to say and submit it to your tutor?

I would really like to hear what you think on this topic. Leave a comment here or on LinkedIn at the Learning Technologies for Language Teaching group.

Kevin