Broken legs in Andorra, aka To Hell with Cholesterol!

Broken legs in Andorra? Yeah, that's Cockney rhyming slang for broken eggs with chistorra, and yeah, I've just invented that, the slang, I mean. :-)

Cheese-toh-what? Well, that's a type of sausage that hails from Navarre, in the north of Spain. Wikipedia tells the story better than I can, although my images are better. And the Spanish will tell you I haven't got a grandmother. :-)

Broken eggs is a literal translation of "huevos rotos"; the recipe being "Huevos rotos con patatas y chistorra". The recipe I'm publishing here wasn't copied from anywhere else; I've sampled (or stuffed my face with, depending on who's saying it) the dish in restaurants several times, and it doesn't look too complicated. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you can do it the way you like! This post is dedicated especially to Phil Wade, a sucker for fry-ups!

Ingredients:

Measurements are approximate (I use my eyes more than the scales) and are given for 1 abundant portion (with leftover for supper); multiply accordingly by the number of portions you want to prepare for.

600g potatoes

50g chistorra

3 eggs

oil for frying and 1 tablespoon of olive oil

sea salt

1.   Prepare all the ingredients. Slice the chistorra thinly. Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into long pieces (chip-shaped). Soak them in water. Drain them before frying.

2.  Place the sliced chistorra on the frying pan without any oil. Heat it over a small to medium flame and watch the fat ooze out! Lovely! Tip: Occasionally, scoop the excess oil and pour it into your deep-fryer. I like the sausage really well done, i.e. melt as much fat away as possible.

3.  Heat abundant oil in a deep frying pan, or a deep-fryer, if you have one. When it's hot enough (when you see steam floating up), put the potatoes in. Watch your hands! Occasionally, turn them over. You'd want the chips to be done, but not too done, or they'll be too dry.

4.  At the same time, heat a tablespoon of olive oil (if you can afford it) over a small frying pan. Heat it on a lowish flame (on my glass ceramic induction hob, I do it on mark 4). Break the eggs into the pan gently, avoiding breaking the yolks. You want them sunny-side up, and you want them slightly under-cooked. The heat of the chips will cook them further.

5.  What you're aiming for is for the three ingredients to be ready in about the same time. Practice makes perfect! When they're done, place the chips onto a deep bowl. A mini-wok is great. Sprinkle a little (only a little) sea salt over the chips. Add the chistorra. Tip the eggs over this mix, oil and all.

6.  With two forks, start breaking the egg yolks roughly, and toss the mixture. Serve immediately, straight from the bowl with some warm sliced baguette, if you wish.

7.  However, if you're one of the finer creatures on this earth, or your guests are, you can dish it onto a plate, like this.

Enjoy! The photos are available from ELTPics, or with a reasonable fee, you can have the higher resolution versions to adorn your greasy café! ;-)

Dogme still has its bone! The saga continues...

As titled in my previous post, dogme is indeed like a dog with a bone. The recent IATEFL 2011 Conference in Brighton seems to have started it off on a roller coaster ride once again. The weekly Twitter #ELTchat featured it for the second time, prompting a lively hour-long session, and with that in mind, Scott Thornbury decided to respond to five of the most common issues surrounding dogme.

1. Dogme is nothing new - we've always been doing it. Scott's answer: It wasn't so much that dogme was an idea whose time had come, but more that it was an idea which needed labelling.
2. It's OK for some, but it won't work in our context. Scott's answer: No single methodology is universally applicable, but comments from teachers applying dogme in a wide variety of situations suggest that it might be more elastic than some critics would have us believe.
3. Dogme is prescriptive; it imposes its rule of conversation-driven, materials-light, and emergent language top-down. Scott's answer: It isn't so much prescriptive as descriptive.
4. Dogme is evil! It's irresponsible and unprofessional. Scott's answer: We aren't suggesting that teachers go into the classroom without having a clue of what they are going to do and just hoping that something will just come up; we're actually suggesting that they go in with a very clear idea of how and where they want things to go, in relation to that particular class and the needs of that particular class.
5. To end the video, Scott addresses some positive comments such as 'It's changed the way I feel about teaching', 'One of the reasons why I like dogme is because it fights conservatism and laziness', and 'we overestimate the value of branded materials and underestimate the potential of ordinary people'. Scott's answer: What has been extraordinarily encouraging has been the responses of teachers saying things like how dogme has changed their way of teaching, how it's made them feel good about teaching, how it's given them professional self-esteem, and how it's given them a boost and often at a time when they needed it most.

There is life left in DOGME!

Related posts:

To be like a dogme with a bone

To be like a dogme with a bone

If you haven't heard of dogme, you must have been hibernating in your shell for too long, and you'll have an awful lot of catching up to do. If you have heard of it, you'll know that if you were to mention the word to another teacher, you're likely to win a friend for life, or... you'd be left wondering if you had bad breath! I don't know what it was really like in Brighton, but from afar, I can't help but think that some teachers are like a dog with a bone on the subject of dogme, and it's contagious!

Whether you've heard of it or not, whether you're in favour of it or not, I'd suggest you watch these enlightening interviews with Luke Meddings and Anthony Gaughan at the recent IATEFL 2011 Conference in Brighton. Unfortunately, their presentations weren't recorded (I think). Also, don't miss Diarmuid's hilarious parody of the dogme saga after that! Click on the image and the video will open in a new tab/window.

Then, there are a couple of excellent blogs, whose links I've posted at the bottom, which are currently discussing dogme. Do visit them from time to time. Interesting reading indeed.

Interesting thought-provoking discussions are going on at the moment here:

Diarmuid's Questions which dog me and
Gaughan's Every dogme has its day

Wiki, of course, has a page on Dogme language teaching, and more links can be seen there.

And, if you really want to know more about the subject, read Scott Thornbury and Luke Meddings' Teaching Unplugged.

Of course, both Scott & Luke have their blogs, which, undoubtedly, will contain references to dogme from time to time.

Related posts:

Tweeting is for the birds
What is m-Learning?
Speaking using close-ups

Tweeting is for the birds: Hockly vs Waters, IATEFL 2011 Brighton

This, along with the PechaKucha night, must have been the highlights of the IATEFL 2011 Brighton conference. The motion for the ELT Debate was 'Tweeting is for the birds, not for language learning', with Alan Waters speaking for the motion, and Nicky Hockly, against.

Here is an opportunity for those who haven't had the chance of watching a live debate in action to do so. The format of the debate differs slightly from the system I have been advocating for use in the classroom, but the essence remains the same.

Listen out for key points in debating:

• Language style
• Rebuttal
• Support (quotes, statistics, analogies, case studies, etc.)
• Clarity & logic
• Organisation
• Expression & delivery

So, watch this entertaining debate, and I hope it will inspire you to hold one of your own in your class/school. Please read the following:

Related posts

All you need to know about debate in the classroom

Debate: Tasks for everyone

Jackson Browne on Ted Talks: If I Could Be Anywhere

Ted Talks has a speaker with a difference - he isn't going to speak!

Don't worry - it isn't a silent video, lol.

Jackson Browne is one of my favourite singer-songwriters, and he has written many powerful songs in his long career, this one here being no exception. What I would like you to do first is to watch and listen to the song, and try to understand as much as possible.

Then, watch it a second time; this time, scroll further down and follow the lyrics.

When you've finished, think about the message Jackson Browne is trying to put across. Comment below by clicking on the pencil icon.

Sliding through the shimmering surface between two worlds
Standing at the centre of time as it uncurls
Cutting through a veil of illusion
Moving beyond past conclusions
Wondering if all my doubt and confusion will clear

If I could be anywhere,
If I could be anywhere
If I could be anywhere right now, I would want to be here

Searching for the future among the things we're throwing away
Trying to see the world through the junk we produce every day
They say nothing lasts forever,
But all the plastic ever made is still here
No amount of closing our eyes will make it disappear

If I could be anywhere,
If I could be anywhere
If I could be anywhere in history, I would want to be here

The Romans, the Spanish, the British, the Dutch
American exceptionalism, so out of touch
The folly of empire, repeating its course
Imposing its will and ruling by force
On and on through time

But the world can’t take it, very much longer
We're not gonna make it, unless we're smarter and stronger
The world is gonna shake itself free of our greed somehow

If I could be anywhere,
If I could be anywhere in time
If I could be anywhere and change things, it would have to be now.

They say nothing lasts forever,
but all the plastic ever made is still here
No amount of closing our eyes will make it disappear

And the world can’t take it, very much longer
It's not gonna make it, ‘less we're smarter and stronger
The world is gonna shake itself free of our greed somehow

And the world can’t take it, that you can see
If the oceans don’t make it, neither will we
The world is gonna shake itself all the way free somehow

If I could be anywhere, If I could be anywhere in time
If I could be anywhere and change the outcome, it would have to be now.

Related posts:
We are the champions - Ideas for using songs in the classroom
A day in the life (The Beatles)
Conditional Type II with Norah Jones
Conditional Type II - Comparing countries
Conditional Type III with Keith Whitley

Second Conditional Activities: Comparing Countries

We have already seen an activity for second conditional with Norah Jones, and I'd also touched on the subject of countries prior to this. However, from my experience, the concept of conditionals isn't too hard to grasp, but it could be used as a springboard for speaking activities. Please see my post on The Best Countries as well.

With that in mind, I introduce to you this interesting website, If It Were My Home. I'll have to admit that I first heard of it from Nik Peachey. Andy Lintner and Annette Calabrese first started the page in 2010 to highlight the magnitude of the BP Oil Spill disaster, but have since expanded it to include interesting information on many countries.

If you click on 'Country Comparison', if I remember correctly, it will ask you permission to access your IP address to know where your home country is. This happens only once. If you do this, it will assume you wish to compare your home country with another. Click on another name further down the page.

When you've done that, something like this will be what you get:

Here, we're comparing Spain to Australia. On the map, you can see the difference in size of the two countries. It also lists a few comparisons between the them, e.g.

  "If Australia were your home instead of Spain, you would have 68.51% more chance of being employed."

If you wish to compare your home country (Spain) to a different country, select another from the drop-down list by clicking on the arrowhead, then on 'compare'. However, if you want to compare the chosen country (Australia) to another, you select the following button, where it says 'Compare (Australia) to other countries'. When you click this, a list of countries will be displayed. Select one.

In this way, you can compare any two countries you wish. Below, you can see a comparison between the two most digital countries in the world, according to a recent survey.

Notice that the statistics are highlighted in three different colours. Red is negative (e.g. ...you would consume 5.1 times more oil), green is positive (e.g. ...have 87.74% more chance of being employed), and blue is for babies! At least I haven't seen any other statistics highlighted in blue.

If you want to see additional information on a particular statistic, just click on the arrowhead to its right, and more information will appear.

Further down, you'll see a thumbs up and a thumbs down sign. These are for you to vote. Below this, you'll see more information on the country you're comparing to.

If you scroll even further below, you are allowed to enter your comments, and read those of others (if there are any) of the compared country.

So, as you can see, there's ample material for students to come up with second conditional sentences. Conversation shouldn't be restricted to this grammar structure; students should be encouraged to speak about any of the statistics they see or even the comments. For more ways of using the site, I'd recommend your reading Nik's post.

Related posts:

Index of all Material by Category

Conditional Type II with Norah Jones

Conditional Type III with Keith Whitley

The Best Countries To Live In

Nuclear Energy Power Debate: What's the way forward?

With all the headlines on the problems of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Northern Japan, now is a good time as any to have a debate on the viability of nuclear power as a source of energy.

The strongest objection of the anti-nuclear power lobby are the safety concerns, but what other methods of producing cheap clean energy have we got? Is nuclear power a dirty word? Is alternative energy the way forward?

I'm sure this topic will generate heated debate in the classroom, so why not organise one?

If you are not familiar with formal debate, make sure you read these: All you need to know about debate, and Debate: tasks for everyone.

There are lots of information available on the web, but I'll include a few here to start you off on the right track.

Learn how a Nuclear Reactor Works

-  How Nuclear Power works from How Stuff Works.

-  The Nuclear Fuel Cycle from BBC

-  How a Nuclear Plant Works from BBC
-  BBC also has a graphic explanation of the Fukushima nuclear alert and some facts about radiation.
-  Updated 11 April 2011: Detailed BBC analysis.

-  The Union of Concerned Scientists in Facebook has links & information

All comments will be most welcomed. Thank you.

Have you got an e-Reader/tablet? I need your views!

  

Was it an unintentional mind-over-matter mishap, or was it a sublime message from divinity?

I had just started thinking, over the weekend, if I ought to get myself an e-Reader when suddenly, yesterday, after staying quietly fixed on the wall for almost ten years, one of our bookshelves decided it was tired of being there, ripped itself off from the aforementioned wall, and plunged down onto the other shelf below it, and both came thundering down on me!

Instinctively, I shot out my arms and my right foot (!) to stop them from crashing on the floor! Crazy, huh? Well, it could have been worse, I guess, but I 'only' ended up with a swollen ankle and sprained wrist.

And the moral of the story is ... get rid of all the books!

Seriously speaking, though, I would like to hear from all of you regarding e-Readers.

Have you got an e-reader or a tablet? Kindle, Nook or Sony? iPad? Which? Why did you choose that make/model?

Do you think e-Readers are here to stay, or will they be obsolete soon?

Will there be a piracy problem as in the music industry? If you're an author, what are your views?

Do you read more/less with an e-Reader? Do you leave more books unfinished?

All opinions would be sincerely appreciated.

Can adults learn language as well as babies?

  

All of us are familiar with the belief that children learn languages far easier than adults. It turns out that, actually, the critical period is between 0 and 7 years. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences at the University of Washington, talks about this critical period and investigates the brain process during this time.

This is a fascinating video inviting a variety of opposing opinions. Watch it and tell us yours. Can adults still learn a new language effectively? Should we bombard babies with a multitude of languages to groom them to be future linguists?

Setting Goals

For most people, running to catch the bus will leave them panting, struggling to catch their breath.

Then, there are dedicated joggers who run regularly to maintain their fitness, or to keep themselves slim.

Some of these get hooked to running to the extent that they start running marathons, which cover a distance of 42.195km. These are normally run on roads, and the world record of 2h 03:59 is currently held by Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia).

Well, I thought that was the maximum. 40km is a lot of distance to walk, let alone run, and I admire these 'marathoners' greatly. Running just one marathon in your life would have been seen as a fantastic achievement, don't you think?

But, for some people, running is like an addiction; they just can't stop running. They compete in several marathons annually, and they train whenever they can, covering enormous distances. Stefaan Engels recently became the first man ever to run a marathon every single day of the year! He almost didnt make it, suffering a swollen foot after 21 days of running. But, what did he do?

For two weeks, he 'ran' the marathons on a wheelchair! After that, he never stopped until he crossed the finish line in Barcelona last Saturday, 5th February, using up 25 pairs of shoes!

Then, I had a student who competed in triathlons, swimming 3.86km, cycling 180.25km, and, for dessert, throwing in a casual marathon! That was when I first heard of Ironman triathlons.

Our dear friend, Stefaan, by the way, holds the world record for competing in 20 triathlons in a year!

So, what's the limit, right?

Now, I have a student who runs ultra marathons! What's that? And I thought a marathon distance was almost superhuman! These ultra marathoners run marathons as part of their training!

"What are ultra marathons?" you may very well ask. Well, basically, they are anything more than 42.195km. But, that isn't the end of it. Most of these ultra marathons are run over treks, not roads, covering beaches, mountains, deserts, and what have you. Distance? Well, they speak of 50km as a piece of cake!

Takahiro Sunada (Japan) is the official world record holder of the 100km ultramarathon distance, with a time of 6:13:33.

This student of mine participated in the recent 'Maraton del Meridiano' in El Hierro, a gruelling run through varying altitudes, reaching the summit of Pico Malpaso at 1500m, and then running back down again. The winner, Francisco José Rodríguez de Paz (La Palma), completed it in 4:17:45.

This very same student will attempt to run the Transgrancanaria Ultratrail, starting in Playa del Inglés on Saturday midnight (5th March), running along the beach to Maspalomas, then crossing the mountains, finishing on Las Canteras Beach some time on Sunday evening. Distance? Ahem... 123 kms.

So, what makes these people tick? Why do they punish their bodies so? Most of them, when asked, say it's to test themselves, to see what their limits are, so to speak. It's a question of setting goals, and to work at achieving them.

Stefaan Engels, who, incidentally, was an asthmatic when he was a young boy and who was actually discouraged by doctors to participate in sports, said, "if I can get somebody to run five or 10 kilometres, or get involved in any sport, I will have succeeded – because I know how good sports makes me feel, how important it is to a person’s life.”

What is your next goal?

I want a robot, too!

Remember HAL9000 from 2001, A Space Odyssey: "I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen" or ED209 from Robocop: "Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply"?

Of course we mustn't forget Star Wars' R2-D2 or Knight Rider's Kitt either.

Love them or hate them, the movie industry has been having a serious fixation with robots ever since Maria appeared in Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1926.

And, did you know that Aristotle said way back in 320 BC or thereabouts, “If every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it... then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.”

30 years before that, Archytas, the Greek mathematician, built the first robot (a mechanical bird) propelled by steam.

We have come a long way since then, naturally. Robots are now widely used commercially and scientifically in areas such as assembly, space exploration, scientific research, etc.

But what about in the home? Just today I was thinking... cleaning the house is a nightmare. It's time-consuming and the house never stays clean for more than a few hours at best! Wouldn't it be nice to have a noiseless robot do it for me?

For others, that isn't good enough. They want robots to be able to interact socially; they want them to be able to monitor us with out diets...

Who needs babysitters?

Cynthia Breazeal, director of Personal Robots Group at MIT’s Media Lab, talks about the creation of fascinating robots, and it seems that she's opened a can of worms with what she's been doing. Listen to her, and tell us of what you think.

The Fun Theory

Some of you might have noticed that the motto of this blog, as seen on the header, is 'Putting the Fun into Education!", but little did I know of Volkswagen's initiative, The Fun Theory, expounding "the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better".

So, I wasn't the only one who believed that fun is the key to changing people's perception of what they might consider boring. Perhaps VW had read my blog... haha. Anyway, they had the resources to go out and prove it in some really interesting ways! Watch these videos.

Sir Ken Robinson Responds To Twitter Questions #5-8

A couple of months ago, I published Sir Ken Robinson's first four replies to questions he received on Twitter. Here's the next four. If you haven't heard about Sir Ken, please do watch this video here:

Does Education Kill Creativity?

Q5: Finding Your Element

Surely not everyone who is aware of their element will necessarily find the success they desire. Pessimistic or realistic?

Q6: Is there something positive about seeking to find you element - as it feels pretty frustrating to me!

What steps can someone take if they are not lucky enough to have discovered their element but want to do so?

Q7: Will creativity suffer in an education system of 'rigour and rote'?

Q8: Does focusing on science and math give students necessary skills and mindsets for innovation?

The World's Best Countries: Games and Activities

If you had a choice of a country to live in, where would you choose? What would your criteria be?

Newsweek recently compiled a list of the best countries in the world based on health, economy, politics and the quality of life. The project took them several months to complete, but their results are now available. Click on the image below to browse the scores and rank of the country of your choice, interactively.

Do you agree with the list?

This topic provides endless possibilities for classwork. You can have debates, web quests, conversations on food, culture, weather, etc., work on grammar points such as conditionals, and so on.

Below, I provide you with two point-and-click games: the first is on the geographical locations of the best 20 countries, and the second is one on their flags.

If you have any interesting ideas on how you can use this topic for your class, why don't you share it here with  others?

    

You may also like these:
Flags of the World
Capitals of the World
Latitude & Longitude, explained
Places on Earth Quiz
Find these Cities
Countries & Nationalities

Sir Ken Robinson Responds to Twitter Questions

About a month ago, the great Sir Ken Robinson put out a request on Twitter for us to ask him questions (#askSKR) about education. He has, unsurprisingly, been inundated with questions. He has, so far, published four video responses, with more coming along the way, I would imagine. If you haven't heard about Sir Ken, please do watch this video here:

http://aclil2climb.blogspot.com/2010/06/does-education-kill-creativity.html

Q4: Educational Hierarchy

Q3: How do you feel about the actual subjects covered in school? What should the youth really learn and study? (I personally would replace 'actual' by 'current' and remove the definite article from 'the youth'. Does anyone else share my thought?

       

Q2: Assessing Creativity

Q1: In January 2004, US college grad's unemployment rate exceeded that of high school dropouts. What does this mean for diplomas and degrees?

Does education kill creativity?

If you're an educator, you must watch this video! If you're a student, watch and see if you agree with the speaker. Subtitles are available in several languages, but I'd suggest you try English first.

Now that the school year has ended, you can spare these few minutes to listen to what Sir Ken Robinson has to say. And, he's so hilarious! To be a good public speaker is a great talent, but to be a funny one is even more admirable.

Those who have heard Sir Ken before know that he's rather wonderful with quotes, and here he makes no exceptions, and uses Yeats' Cloths of Heavens (1899) and Abraham Lincoln's message to congress just one month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) to great effect.

"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

- William Butler Yeats (The Wind Among the Reeds 1899)

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

- Abraham Lincoln's Annual Message to Congress -- Concluding Remarks, 1862

Now, after watching that, you must be curious about his other talk, so here it is, the one he gave in 2006:

So, what are your opinions? Is Sir Ken right? Is education too academically orientated? Are we stifling creativity in our children? Your opinions, as usual, will be most appreciated.

Should more technology be used in the classroom?

UPDATED: 13 June 2010 to include a new video.

Original post by Sue Lyon-Jones can be seen here.

This video is especially dedicated to those from 'the old school' who stubbornly hold firm to their paper-bonded ideas, but since they would be the last people to come here, I would like to hear the opinions of the students themselves!

What do you think?
Should more technology be used in the classroom?
How? In which subjects?
How often are you brought to the computer lab? Which subjects?
Does technology help you learn better?
What is the most interesting subject? Why?
What is the least interesting? Why?

All comments are welcomed! If you aren't confident of writing in English, you can write in your native language. I don't mind!

Thank you!

They tried to make me teach with Edtech,
I said No! No! No!
Yes I'm old hat, don't care about that,
I don't want to know,
I ain't got the time,
And if the students think I'm fine,
They tried to make me teach with Edtech,
I don't want to know!

I ought to be at home, marking essays,
My week has only got seven days!
And there's nothing, nothing you can teach me,
That I can't learn from Mr Thornbury!
Don't need no edtech in my class,
It's such a load of faff - no thanks! I'll pass...

They tried to make me teach with Edtech,
I said No! No! No!
Yes I'm old hat, don't care about that,
I don't want to know,
I ain't got the time,
And if the students think I'm fine,
They tried to make me teach with Edtech,
I don't want to know!

Alexandra Francisco just made this one, so I though I'd add it.

Analysis: End of School Year 2010 Survey, CLIL & Non-CLIL Classes

Last updated: 15 June 2010

Complete details of the survey can be seen here: http://spreadsheets.google.com

I'd be lying if I said I was pleased with the number of students participating in the survey. A total of only 140 students from 3 schools completed the questionnaire. Here's the breakdown:

Los Tarahales:

1ºB (CLIL) --> 27

1ºA (Non-CLIL) --> 24

2ºA (Non-CLIL) --> 27

Total --> 78

Alonso Quesada:

1ºB (CLIL) --> 9

School X:

1ºA (CLIL) --> 18

1ºC (Non-CLIL) --> 6

2ºA (CLIL) --> 17

3ºA (CLIL) --> 11

4ºA (CLIL) --> 1

Total --> 53

In the case of Los Tarahales, I personally had the opportunity of bringing one class to the computer lab, and the other classes were brought by other teachers.

The turnout from Alonso Quesada was severely disappointing, to say the least.

It was rather difficult since I was no longer in the schools to remind the students to do it. I managed to cajole some of them through the various social webs I happen to find the students in, and I was hoping the teachers would be reminding the students about the survey, but I suppose they had more important matters in their minds, or they hadn't attached as much importance to this survey as I had.

ANALYSIS

It is worth noting that an overwhelming majority like being on the project and believe that their level of English has improved since they started on it. It is also hardly surprising that most would like to have more class time with the linguistic assistant.

Those who said they do not have the assistant in their English class unanimously agreed it would be a good idea if they did.

Since I started this project, my English has _____

I like being on this project.

To some, perhaps the most popular answer to the question, 'What do you like most about your English class?' will come as somewhat surprising. Games are, naturally, very popular, but significantly, 'grammar' scored quite high, too. For me, it's perfectly understandable as grammar provides a learner with confidence to use the language. This also explains the popularity of the grammar activities I have in the blog.

This leads us to the usage of the blog as a teaching resource. Unfortunately, teachers don't bring the students to the computer lab often enough, either due to lack of availability of computers, or the lack of belief on ICT as a resource, or, quite simply, they don't consider my blog activities as useful enough. I'm inclined to plump for either of the last two reasons as, significantly, half of those who responded said that their teachers never set the blog activities as homework.

Does your teacher set the blog activities as homework?