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Yours
Elena

First of all I’d like to say that inter-cultural awareness is indeed of utmost importance while studying foreign languages. The tasks seem to be appropriate for the target audience -1st and 2nd year students of different specialties and require intermediate level and above.

The plan is quite comprehensive but I would advice to put some more details.
For example, there is no information about the approximate time limits. To find peers interested in collaboration can turn up to be the most difficult and time consuming task, so this part could be a kind of preliminary work to be done before the project. Also I think some limits can be set in relation to maximum pages of brochures, otherwise, one group may have 2 pages, another 12 and so on.

The webquest has all necessary sections. The introduction draws the reader by relating to the learner's interests or goals and engagingly describing a compelling problem and prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the quest is about. The task requires analysis of information and putting together information from several sources. Here I’d like to thank you for various interesting links which provide enough information for students. They will be very useful! Just a small point: you need to give the full name of the site with http, www, otherwise readers can’t open the link with one click.

Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors. But as for the sections “content” and “design”, it can be rather difficult to distinguish for example “basic knowledge” from “basic knowledge and additional details”, “minimal artwork” from “little artwork”, so a bit more details should be given.
In conclusion I’d like to underline again that the project will be very useful in teaching and complies with educational standards.

First activity 

Name of the activity Get that job
Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/getthatjob/index.shtml
BBC has a site specially designed for those who study English. There are different sections (News English, Business, Grammar and vocabulary, Communicate, Quizes, etc) devoted to different aspects of learning English.

Brief description of the activity  “Get that job” is a part of Business English section. It describes steps which one needs to take while applying for a job –job search, writing CVs and covering letters, preparing for interviews. Every time there is a short explanation of the step and some activities, e.g. filling in the gaps (variants are offered in drop-down menus), arranging words into sentences, matching exercises . One can check himself – there is a check button at the bottom. There is also a glossary column with difficult terms and their definitions

Authenticity evaluation The audience was not defined, I suppose it was intended for everybody who is interested in this topic. It promotes mostly reading skills and helps enlarge the vocabulary. It would be a good idea if they could offer a dialogue to listen (an interview, for example) or provide a blank form of a CV to complete it and then check grammar mistakes, or if there was a role play with a short description of each role and some hints. On the whole, this section can be very useful when we discuss this topic with students. They can look at it and do the exercises at home or if there is a possibility –in class. The information provided here is of utmost necessity for students as they will undoubtedly encounter this problem after graduation. There are foreign companies which place job advertisements and they certainly take into account all these moments.


Second activity 

Name of the activity Webquest Today’s news
Source : http://www.ugr.es/~inped/module4_4/m4_2.htm#intro
Author: Isabel Perez Torres
Audience: It was not actually said about the age and level, but was mentioned that it is for students
Brief description of the activity. The quest highlights the language used in different types of newspapers in Britain. Students will have to prepare two front pages of two papers covering a week period. The objective is to show the fellow students which were the most relevant news during the week. First the students must select the news to be included in the front pages among all the articles that are published during a week. One of the front pages will be from a quality newspaper and the other one from a tabloid. Then they should do some exercises in the workshop section connected with the language features. There are also some templates of front pages and students have to choose the most suitable for their kind of paper. Finally, students will have to write a paragraph justifying the content and the style they have used in each front page. Students are to be divided into pairs. One student will work for a right- wing newspaper, another will work for a left-wing one.
What skills/competences it is intended to develop: It is supposed that while doing the quest students will analyze the structure and style of news writing, learn vocabulary used in headlines and news articles, learn how to read the press more effectively, increasing the comprehension and reading rate, will be able to understand British culture better.
Authenticity evaluation
This quest represents a mixture of a set of various vocabulary, grammar and reading activities and simulated situations. It has all necessary sections : introduction, task, process, evaluation, and conclusion. The introduction effectively prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the quest is about. The task requires analysis of information putting together information from several sources. Every step is explained but there are numerous boxes to emphasize the objectives of each step , that students can get lost, so navigation requires some improvements. As for the evaluation section, it clearly describes the criteria to judge what students must know and be able to do to accomplish the task. Nowadays, students are not so interested in newspapers, although they may read some news on the Internet. No wonder, newspapers were called “endangered species” by the Economist. The quest can help draw students’ attention to electronic versions of some famous British papers.

Third activity 

Name of the activity On- line lesson Airports ban liquids on planes
Source : http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0608/060814-baggage-e.html. By the way it is a great site in relation to listening and discussion of current affairs. There are on-line lessons which can be used in class. Students can either listen to the texts on-line or download them.
Author: Sean Banville
Audience: Target audience was not mentioned, but there are 2 variants of texts and exercises–easy and harder
Brief description of the activity. First there are some warm up activities to get students involved into the topic such as a short discussion, finishing the sentence starters, writing down different words associated with terrorism . Then, while listening to the text, students are offered to fill in the gaps. There is a big number of exercises following listening: true / false sentences, synonym match, gap fill, word search, discussion. There are even home assignments and keys for teachers.
What skills/competences it is intended to develop There is no information about skills development.
Authenticity evaluation The lesson consists of rather well-structured exercises which in my opinion are aimed at developing all kinds of skills- listening, reading, writing. Students are supposed to work individually, in pairs and in groups. The lesson is ready-to-use, but can be shorted or enlarged depending on the level of the students, their interests and the needed goals. Of course these are primarily learning activities, students will not do them in the real life, but for example my students who will work for customs may want to share their view on the topic in future with their potential colleagues.

Hi, everybody
Merry Catholic Christmas!!!!
Wish you all the best
Our group #3 would like to invite you to have a look at the script of our second chat http://www.projectwork.wikispaces.com . We tried to arrange a voice one, but only Alex and me could do it, but again it wasn’t truly voice as Alex couldn’t hear me because of problems with my microphone , so I had to type and she spoke. Unforgettable experience it was)) Like talking to a bot) Then in a textual chat we sorted out some key moments of our projects.
Yours
Elena

Hi, again

I never thought that it would take much effort to arrange a chat with several people. There are, of course, plenty of methods how to do it, but due to some technical problems we managed to do it only in IRC. If you have looked at the script, you’ve noticed quite a few spelling and grammar mistakes (especially in my lines)) I was so glad that I hurried and didn’t preview sometimes) but it didn’t interfere our conversation, so accuracy isn’t important unless it makes the talk difficult to understand. On the whole, this experience was extremely interesting)

What my very very deep sorrows are about is that 10 years ago we couldn’t use these tools otherwise I would keep on exchanging news with the friends I made when I studied in England. When you wait for a month for a reply it certainly doesn’t maintain the relations((

Yours
Elena

Hello, everybody
Our group (#3) would like you to look at the script of our groupchat) Alexey asked to put it in a blog, but it's rather long and we decided to place it in wiki and write comments in the blogs.
http://projectwork.wikispaces.com/
Yours
Alex, Iraida, Rimma, Elena

Hi, everybody
You're welcomed to the new page http://projectwork.wikispaces.com/ which I've created to share our thoughts about the projects) Will be very glad to receive some messages)
Yours
Elena

Hello again

I used to be afraid of the word “blog” when I encountered it because I didn’t have even a vague idea of what it is. Now I can call myself a blogger with pride)) This feeling has become deeper when I knew that blogs belong to the second generation web.))

Some people share their thoughts with diaries, others prefer to share them with people. Blogs provide opportunities for both groups. Shy language learners can create a personal blog and make it available for reading only by teachers. This would give them more freedom in expressing views in their essays, for example. The teacher gives comments and nobody else can see them. Advanced students would enjoy the possibility of writing for readers beyond classmates. As it was said in the article “self-publishing encourages ownership and responsibility on the part of students, who may be more thoughtful if they know they are writing for a real audience”.

Here is my list of do’s and don’ts
Do study as many possibilities of blogs as possible
Do try to reply to all comments
Do show your emotions and feelings with the help of icons, colours and pictures
Do enjoy the process of communicating

Don’t neglect simple rules of punctuation
Don’t forget to check spelling
Don’t be offended by people’s sayings as they could mean other things
Don’t sound negative
Truly yours
Elena

Hello everybody
What a nice day we had on Saturday! I felt as if I was in a fairy forest with branches nearly breaking because of sparkling heavy wet snow lying on them. Maria said it was +2 in Omsk , we had only +1).Excellent t for snowballs and snowmen). Indeed our extreme climate never stops surprising us)

Today it’s frosty – 20 and I’m again sitting in my favourite armchair in warm and relaxing atmosphere and trying to arrange my views on e-mail exchange and blogs.

When reading the article by R. Greenfield I couldn’t stop thinking how thorough was this qualitative case study. You can find theoretical thoughts about CMC , very detailed instructions on the project, various tables with the results.

Greenfield underlines that a tremendous amount of teacher set-up and planning must precede a CMC exchange : “..students were given training in cooperative learning, process writing, and oral discussion and negotiation. … were given a "computer use survey" which identified individuals requiring special assistance with hardware or software, as well as those with particular expertise who could serve as peer tutors.”

She clearly states the main goals: “(a) implementation of student centered
paradigms, (b) an integrated approach for combining computers and language learning, and (c) academically sound pedagogy, methods, and theory.” Some more types of learning goals can be added to the list: cooperative learning, communicative language learning, project-based learning.

“Cooperative learning and theme-based education were utilized to teach important skills of social interaction and group discussion…. The teacher played the role of facilitator while classmates discussed, negotiated, and ultimately decided on their own theme.”

Greenfields agrees with Warschauer that CMC projects should be integrated into the larger curricular program, rather than function as stand-alone activities.

Quite interesting were the results and feedbacks of the students. They liked the “freedom to write or imagine what one wants to”; more opportunities to communicate with native speakers, but at the same time they mentioned that foreign partners' comments were discouraging.

Greenfiels concludes that “developing a well-designed CMC exchange for the second language classroom is not a simple endeavor. It is intricate, integrated, and multi-layered -- demanding the utilization of a host of skills and instructional paradigms by the classroom instructor.”

Of course such implementation of CMC in language learning process would “absorb” a huge amount of time. We simply can’t afford it. Probably the question is can we replace some other activities with this one as it’s obviously on the side of communicative approach .

If I could allow the time, I would probably follow approximately the same order as in Greenfield’s project. But again such tasks demand great commitment.

Yours
Elena

Hello, everybody
Hope all are fine and enjoying the life)

The day may come when I’ll be telling my grandchildren about the time when I spoke with a bot for the first time. I will reveal a secret and say how afraid but interested I was. They will listen to me and won’t be able to grasp the idea of how pupils could do without these bots. And this day will remind me of my own granny and the day when she told me about a book she read at the age of 15. The book described one interesting big box with moving pictures. It was about TV sets. My granny said that she couldn’t believe in it and thought it was a science-fiction. Can you imagine your day now without this box?)

We live in the era of enhancing technologies, so, naturally, we have to possess new literacies, to be just computer-literate isn’t enough. For you to be able to read this entry, I followed the links and evaluated the information located in the offered sites, and, of course, resorted to the word processor to check spelling (as ideas come sometimes faster than fingers can type)).

In order to give an image of all of us, as we can’t speak face to face, we have chosen special fonts, colours, and layouts. I’d say visual mode is prevailing as it’s eye-catching. Unfortunately, we have to use what is offered and this is only a limited number of variations.

Webquests are going to be my new favourites))!! They resemble role-plays and case studies which we broadly use for senior business students. But what attracts is their plans, more detailed explanations, and, of course, their motivating interactivity! I did several ones found through the search and enjoyed the ideas a lot. When I have some free time, I’ll try to find quests more relevant to our syllabuses. This tool certainly gives an opportunity for authentic language learning, they imitate real life situations and can be used to improve not only reading, writing or listening skills, but also professional ones – e.g. how to set up a business, how to sell a new product.
To be continued
P.S. Ira, thanks a lot for help. It works))

Hello, everybody

In the readings for the 3rd week there is a huge variety of viewpoints . Some authors support each other, others try to persuade that their understanding is right. On the one hand , this diversity is a bit too lavish:), difficult to follow every one, but on the other hand, debates give birth to truth, as we all know.

While I was studying at school, our country was changing a lot. We were oktyabryata and were very proud of it, then we showed off wearing our pioneer ties, but we didn’t become komsomolets in the end.

As I can recall , in the Soviet times , teaching tended to support the objectivist paradigm. During perestroyka teachers were given a little bit more freedom and we all loved our teacher of the Russian language and literature, because she tried to implement new kinds of tasks, which were very interesting , cognitive and variable. Fortunately she taught to us till the last grade and I’m still very grateful to her, because she showed how interesting it can be to learn something.

Of course we didn’t have any computer-based assignments , we had only lessons of computer languages such as Basics. We , especially girls understood so little, though))). I still wonder what was the purpose of these lessons)) When our teacher was away we played early computer games .

Also I remember our physics lessons when we were in the 11th grade (another funny moment – we skipped 1 grade(7), from 6 right to 8). She asked us to be the teachers from time to time, so when it was my turn I tried to understand everything in details. As I can see it now, a quite useful exercise (I practise it with my students sometimes). And , surely, I can’t miss my last English teacher. She had worked abroad and it ,certainly, gave her more reputation among us. On the whole, her teaching was on the side of constructivism and what I clearly remember is my surprise, when suddenly I realised that I understood the grammar, knew a lot of words and could speak. My own progress was a sort of mystery for me.!!


P.S. Elena Krutko and I would like to say sorry that we couldn’t answer all replies and give comments on all entries as we were very exhausted helping to organize our traditional festival . On 27 is the final show and we’re simply looking forward to coming back to chatting with all of you.

Yours
Elena

Scientists and policymakers got used to measure the value of practically everything with the use of numerous tests. For example: how is genius defined? In terms of IQ tests, but what about people whose genius is in arts? Their talent can’t be checked by all these tests. I agree with Thomas K. Glennan and Arthur Melmed that “the simple question "how effective is technology-supported education?" is essentially unanswerable because of the many ways in which technology can be used”. Kathleen Fulton supports this point of view: “In other words, to ask if technology works is almost the equivalent of saying "Do textbooks work?" Yes, some textbooks “work,” in some conditions, with some teachers, with some students, but these same textbooks may not “work” in another educational context.”
Kathleen Fulton, Thomas K. Glennan and Arthur Melmed provide a lot of examples how computers can be used in education, and here the main verb is CAN. I totally agree with Kathleen Fulton that “what makes any course good or poor is a consequence of how well it is designed, delivered, and conducted” and with Thomas K. Glennan and Arthur Melmed -“appropriately implemented, computer- and network-based technology can contribute significantly to improved educational outcomes” Our curriculums should be properly adopted to meet technological needs.
I also believe that “the teacher is a key variable in technology implementation and effectiveness”( Kathleen Fulton) and that “teachers serve as facilitators for student learning. Teacher fluency and comfort in using information technology determines the success of the model. And technology is just one of a number of strategies for achieving an educational purpose.”(T.Glennan, A.Melmed)
As for Oppenheimer’s The Flickering Mind, well, really, it’s difficult to judge his opinions having not read the whole book, because the reviews and praises and even some excerpts can’t give full understanding, but he surely deserves deep respect , because his study isn’t a superficial overview of strengths and weaknesses of ed-tech, but a thorough research.
What I definitely can’t agree with him is his opinion on Power Point Presentations. Of course, when students first meet this software they need time to learn how to use it, but then they can cope with it much faster. He claims, that “it’s content was no deeper or more complex than what one commonly sees in civics papers done elsewhere”. He didn’t specify whether he spoke of the content of the research or the presentation itself. Nevertheless he was “struck by the clean graphics, the strong colors, and the digestible writing” But that’s the main values of this program as a visual aid . It was designed to assist , not to replace the content of the research itself.
I also support Steven D. Krause(reviewer) when he says: “Oppenheimer is so intent on advancing his "failure of technology" argument that he seems afraid to admit that there have been any successes with computers in the classroom. Those of us who know better will spot these omissions, but the majority of Oppenheimer's audience won't, and these readers will be left with an overwhelmingly one-sided, negative, and ultimately unfair perspective on the role of technology in schools.” Who can understand the value of radio, films and television better than us, teachers of foreign languages in such country as Russia, where our students can’t speak with foreigners face-to-face in the same extend as they do it, for example, in Europe.
By the way, did you do this small funny quiz about the new technologies? I did and was greatly amused)))(None of my answers was right)
The points where I’m with Oppenheimer are that “to prosper, students need to think critically, have fertile and flexible imaginations, be able to listen and communicate…” “… the Internet offers valuable resources for research projects. The key is to use computers as a supplement in each of these areas, not as a replacement for traditional studies.”
Well, certainly, all three readings are a must-read, because we aren’t aware of what exactly is going on in this field abroad, but we shouldn’t forget that in the reports , the authors discussed technological issues mainly of schools and spoke about such subjects as maths an so on. For us, the effectiveness of ed-tech goes without saying and overweights all negative sides.