RSCON never sleeps...

For most people RSCON has come and gone. The weekend of 11-13th October 2013 might have been a mind-opener for some, a disappointment for others, but there can be no denying that it was a special event. It was completely online, completely free, and completely run by a group of dedicated unpaid volunteers. Unpaid in kind, but paid  in the knowledge that someone somewhere in the world would have been inspired enough to start the reform ball rolling in their community, their network.

I'd played a small part in helping the team in RSCON3, but as circumstances would have it, I found myself involved in a far greater scale than the previous event. Even while RSCON4 was still going on, we were already discussing the improvements we would like to see for the next event. Those who have continued to follow us in the social network would have noticed some of the groundwork being laid for RSCON5.

Here are some of the things that have been going on:

RSCON on Flipboard

We have created a magazine on Flipboard to display posts that RSCONers have written regarding their experience of RSCON4.

If you wish to be included, fill in the form here: I want to be included!




When's the next RSCON?

The Reform Symposium has always been for the people, so we want to make that even truer by inviting everyone to have a say as to when they would like to have the next conference. Each day, it gets more complicated as more and more organizations (especially the professional ones with a significant budget as opposed to volunteer organizations such as ours with zero budget) jump into the bandwagon with the result that on any one day, you are bound to find a free webinar of one form or another.

Since a party is useless if no-one comes, we want the biggest audience possible, and we want to know which month gets the majority of votes. Have your say here: I want to vote!

I want to help!

We have started collecting names of people who wish to be part of the Reform Symposium community. Experience is not necessary; passion is! That's our motto. There are many ways in which you can be of help: design, promotion, presenting, moderating, training, etc. So, if you can spare some time to help others help themselves, fill in this form: I want to help!

RSCON on Facebook

Since we want to reach the maximum number of people possible and even the most non-techie person is using Facebook, we decided that it is the best platform for us to use to keep our followers up to date. So, if you want the latest juiciest information, be sure to "like" us!

In addition, we have also created an RSCON group as groups seem to be more user-friendly than pages! Join us:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RSCON/

I would like to propose a presenter

Now you can! Just fill in this form: propose a presenter. Remember passion is more important to experience for us!

Thanks for sharing our passion!

How do you teach English?

Kaplan surveyed more than 500 ESL teachers from around the world to discover what tools they use to enhance their lessons. Here's an infographic they created to show the results.

Which do you use?

A case for CPD and PLN...

Photos by me. See more here.

Here's an example of how a seed is taken and planted with care many miles away where it soon grows into a pretty flower. This flowering stem is again taken some distance away, where it grows and grows and we now have a lush beautiful garden...

It all started with a comment I made in Scott Thornbury's post on iTDi's blog "How important is homework?" I'd first talked about it in The Dogme Diaries, but I don't suppose many people read that ;-)

I mentioned that the homework I set a class of adult teachers was basically three questions:

• What have you learnt today?
• What part of the lesson did you like or dislike in the class today?
• What would you like to do in class next week?

A couple of months later, Alexandra Chistyakova wrote to say that she'd used the questions with her class of university students, and how well that had gone down. You can read about how she moulded my homework to suit her personality and that of her class here:

http://eltdiary.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/who-to-ask/  and

http://eltdiary.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/who-to-ask2-or-what-do-students-want/

Then, a little while later, Barbara Bujtás read Alexandra's posts and decided to adapt it to her class of 3-year-olds! You can read about it here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458868754141154&set=a.420855051275858.108546.100000541016537&type=1&theater

You can see the beauty of her work here:

So, if you're not involved in a PLN (personal learning network) or have not been convinced of it, I hope this little episode will serve to change your mind!

Alexandra and Barbara, you both rock!

Learn about continuing professional development here: http://www.scoop.it/t/continuing-teacher-development

Learn about the benefits of Twitter here: http://www.scoop.it/t/why-twitter-for-teachers

Needs Analysis for Business Students

If you're a business student of mine, please take a few minutes of your time to complete this survey. Click the image below to begin.

It will help me tailor to your needs more accurately. Thank you!

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

TEA 2010 Tenerife Bridging the Gap Between Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants SURVEY

Thank you all for getting out of your bed this Saturday morning to attend my talk. I hope it was worth your while. Please complete this survey - I'd appreciate it very much. It shouldn't take you more than a couple of minutes.

Click on the image to start it. When you've completed the survey, there should be a link ("Ver Respuestas Anteriores") for you to see the results. In any case, you can also click on these links below at any time to look at the analysis:

Results in Charts
Results in Spreadsheet

Please note that the count for the number of people who have taken the survey is 4 more than the actual number. This is because I did 4 tests, and Google had included them in the analytics. Deleting the spreadsheet entry doesn't change the analysis.

Please do stay tuned to the blog as I'll try to post some help soon. I'm sorry that the workshop session wasn't long enough for me to have been able to help you all more. In any case, post all the questions you want, and I'll try to answer them.

Why don't you all organise more sessions, and I'll be only too glad to fly over. I'm quite cheap ;-)

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?

CLIL Survey School Year 2009-2010

Updated: 27 May 21:15 GMT

I've modified a couple of questions in the survey: I changed the last question to 'Which class do you belong to?'  and inserted a checkbox question 'Select your school'. This will make it easier if you are just interested in seeing your school's replies (possible only if you're viewing the spreadsheet). Go to VIEW on the menu bar and select LIST VIEW. In this mode, you can select whatever you're interested in. For example, if you're only interested in IES Alonso Quesada, scroll onto the column SELECT YOUR SCHOOL, choose IES Alonso Quesada, and the spreadsheet will only display the results where this has been the selection.

Since, I've just made the change, surveys taken before this (see date/time above) will not have the last question reflected.

Well, unfortunately, the time has come for me to say goodbye to you all. Of course, I would have liked to stay until the end of the school year, but the decision wasn't mine to take.

With any luck, I will be back again with you next school year. I hope you will keep coming back to this blog in the summer, if only to say hello to me!

Please take 5 minutes of your time to complete this survey. You might have done one with your respective schools, but this is for me. As I'm a strong advocate for a paperless society, mine is online, and the results of the survey can be seen by everyone.

There are 4 sections; no question, except one, is compulsory. If the question doesn't apply to you, leave it blank. You can give your name, or you can remain anonymous. The only information that you must give is the name of your school and your class.

Thank you!

Although this survey has been designed by myself for myself, everyone is welcomed to do it. Just leave the questions that don't apply to you blank.

After completing the survey, you can see the results of the survey. If you want to see them directly, here are the links:

See the analytics.

See the spreadsheet.

Oh, incidentally, if you aren't able to see the analytics on Mozilla Firefox, try Internet Explorer or Google Chrome.