Reflective+Learning





//**Week 1A **//

**In the first session of the Call Course, I learned a lot of interesting things that I did not know before. For instance, I have learned the aims of the course and its relevant terms. The lecturer also gave us an ICT Can-Do-Lists which we had to complete in order to see how many things we know concerning language learning and teaching with the use of Information and Communication Technology. Moreover, we went through the course outline in order for the lecturer to explain us what we are supposed to do until the end of the course. Also, we were informed that all our progress throughout the course LaLi-274 Call will be included in our wiki page that we are going to create by ourselves. ****After reading the course outline on the first lesson, I realized that this course is based on technology so it will be very demanding and it will need a lot of preparation. I thought that the course will be very boring because I don’t really like using technology**.




**//Week 1B// **
**//Week 2A//** Today we were assigned to create our own wiki. I never believed that one day I would be creating my own website and I will feel excited about this because as I have mentioned before I am not really a fun of using technology. Now, not only I have created my own wiki page but I have also discovered that it is very easy to create one. I have to say that I had no idea how is it possible to make one until today. Despite the fact that we learned how to create our own wikis, the lecturer in order to help us, she gave us some web addresses of some online digital portfolios in order to get some ideas of how to develop our own digital portfolios. After our search, we had to answer some questions concerning the digital portfolio, the important features of a digital portfolio, its advantages, disadvantages etc. I must say that after creating my own wiki, I realized that I will gain a lot from this course; yet I will improve my teaching skills and learn how to import technology into my lessons.
 * In this session we discussed the historical overview of Call and our ICT self- assessment results. Also, **** we went through the course outline once more in order the lecturer to solve any question. Moreover, she described in detail the requirements of the course. After the second lesson, I change my mind and I started looking at the course from a different perspective. I found the assignments of the course very interesting and actually I believe that I will learn a lot of new things in the process of doing them. **** I am really looking forward on what is coming next, and I really believe that the course will be very helpful for me and above all it will be interesting and exciting. ** [[image:79082h0evyh0of3.gif]]

**//Week 2B //** In this lesson we have continued working and developing our wikis. We also learned how to add videos, audios, images and music something that personally has excited me because before this session I didn’t know that you can do so many things with technology. Moreover, we learned how to invite our classmates in order to become members of our wiki pages. Also, in this session we had the opportunity to visit each others’ wiki in order to exchange ideas and make suggestions on how we can improve our wikis. Moreover, we had the opportunity to work on our reflective learning and our discussion questions. As in every session, our homework was to continue developing our wiki pages.


 * //Week 3A //**
 * Today's lesson was really ****gainful ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 14pt; color: #993366; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> for all my classmates since ****<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 14pt; color: #993366; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> all ** students' wikis <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #993366; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> were projected and the whole class discussed, compared and suggested for their improvement. This was very helpful for all of us as it gave us new ideas for the organisation of our wiki and what is more, we had the chance to spot the faults and strengths of each person’s wiki. I really liked Andria’s wiki page because her wiki was very attractive and organised. I believe that Wiki is the new revolutionary tool which will change the standard way of teaching. Lastly, we were given homework  where we had to do a search on the internet and find web pages about wikis and digital portfolios in order to be able to describe what they are and how they can be used in language learning.

** //Week 3B// **

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff9900; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff9900; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In today’s session, we were asked to create our own rubric which will include a set of possible criteria. These criteria will be useful for the student’s evaluation. **** Our lecturer in order to help us complete this task, she gave us a set of criteria for evaluation and also she gave us a web address to visit and see Julie Linsey's Rubric sample in order to get an idea on how to complete our own. The lecturer told us that we could cooperate with 2 or three of our classmates for the completion of this task, so I decided to work with Andria and Chrysostomos. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff9900; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I found the task very appealing as I also learned how to use positive language in the evaluation of the students. ** **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff9900; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Also, in today’s lecture we were asked to create our personal video. In this video we will be talking about ourselves or the course requirements. However, the real reason of creating this video was to learn how to create a video through a mobile device and post it in to our wikis. I must say that in this course except of learning new things which we are going to use as future teachers, we are having a great time because it is fun working with technology. **


 * // Week 4A //**
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In the first session of week 4 we are supposed to start searching for a school or an institute where the teacher uses only technology in her teaching environment and then observe the lesson. After the completion of our observation, we must find a school or an institute which will give us the permission to teach their students only with the help of technology. This task made me feel very nervous because it is not so easy to find in Cyprus, a teacher who uses technology in her/his teaching. Moreover, we further developed our rubric to make it more precise concerning the contents of a wiki. The teacher repeated once more that in order our rubric to be proper we must use only positive language because negative language can put down a student and discourage him/her. Also, the teacher created a working progress page in the Call Wiki in order all colleagues be able to check whether they have completed the given tasks until now. **** The course started to be more challenging and demanding as we proceed and that makes me feel very anxious. **

===** In this session I have learned how to plan a thematic unit. This was a challenging task for me as I have never done anything like this before. Our lecturer in order to help us understand what a thematic unit is and how to plan one, she gave us an example ** which was a trip to England **. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In my opinion, a Thematic Unit is ** a very useful way for students because they can improve their knowledge on a range of universal topics such as Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and so on. I found the task very motivating because I believe in this way students will be able to communicate with other people in a number of contexts. What is more, in my point of view, a thematic unit is a helpful way of organising our thoughts and ideas. ===
 * // Week 4B //**



**// Week 5A //**
 * <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This was a very interesting session as we spend some time ** ** discussing about the requirements of the course. We made suggestions on how we can improve the course outline in order to feel more comfortable with the completion of the given tasks. ** **<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I must say that our lecturer was very flexible with the course outline because she **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">deleted the observation and <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">the <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">teaching task. The reorganization of the outline, made me feel more relaxed. After our course discussion, we focused on the pronunciation skills. <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #3366ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> The teacher asked us to read a chapter from our book and answer some questions concerning the development of pronunciation skills and moreover she provided us with some interesting links where we could find some pronunciation activities that we like and comment on them. This gave us the opportunity to observe many different ways which we can use to teach pronunciation. Today’s task was very useful because as we know pronunciation is an important issue in teaching and we must pay attention to it if we want to become good future teachers.


 * <span style="font-size: 16pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Week 5B **

<span style="font-size: 16pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 16pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Today we focused on listening and speaking skills. Again, we had to read a chapter from our book and answer some questions regarding the use of listening and speaking skills in a class environment. The reading part was not very exciting but the searching for listening and speaking activities on the internet was very interesting and enjoyable. These last two sessions were very useful for me because I have learned many different ways which I can use in my teaching as a future teacher. In my point of view, **<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">internet activities **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">motivate the students and they easily grasp students’ attention. In other words, a **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #cc99ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">lesson which includes this kind of activities can become effective and entertaining for students and teachers. **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">

**// Week 6A: //****// Green Monday //**

// Week 6B // This lesson focused on three other major skills: Reading, Grammar and Vocabulary. Once more we had to go through the theory part and then find two activities for each skill. <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ffcc00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Moreover, I realized that technology can be very useful in the teaching process because as we know students prefer the internet and the teachers must motivate their students and they must make them feel comfortable in the learning environment! <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ffcc00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> I have to mention that the fact that we are given time to work in class is really important. I also must say that I am feeling very proud of what I have done until now in this course. My wiki could be my future tool that will help my in my teaching. <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ffcc00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * // Week 7A //**
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: lime; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In today’s session we focused on writing skill. I read the theory part concerning the use of the writing skill in the class environment and then I answered the related questions. Furthermore, the lecturer gave us several links where we could find some interesting writing activities. Writing is a very useful skill and if we want to become great teachers we must pay a special attention on this skill. Now, that I have completed all four tasks I have 8 interesting and effective activities I can refer to. **



<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * // Week 7B //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The session started with a Power Point Presentation which was prepared by students and teachers. Also, the lecturer showed us an online collaborative project between **** Australian and French students. I have to say that I liked this project very much. It is a fresh way of promoting culture in language through computer software and internet. **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Then, I came across a term that I have never heard in my life, Webquest. In this session we learned that Webquest is a powerful culture tool. We also learned what their main characteristics are, what type of learning they promote and what criteria we can use to evaluate them. **
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Moreover, we were given a number of links of what are Web Quests, Web Quest Examples and Articles. The today’s task was to create our own Webquest or just write an annotated review for four Webquests of our choice. The truth is that I got really excited with the whole idea of creating my own. However, I finally chose to do the annotated review because the creation of a Webquest takes a lot of time which I don’t really have; I have a number of other assignments that I need to complete. Now that I have learned how to create a Webquest, I may create my own one in the future as it is a very useful and powerful culture tool. **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #99ccff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">

Today I focused only on my Voki because I didn’t want to work again on my annotated review. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff99cc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Annotated Reviews have become boring and monotonous and I believe that our lecturer should make a change in the lesson. **
 * // Week 8A //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #ff99cc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #ff99cc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In this section we continued working on our previous task. While I was searching on the internet in order to find some examples of Webquests, I found something interesting. I discover a tool known as Voki. **** Voki enables users to express themselves on the web in their own voice using a talking character. Your Voki can also reproduce the written text which you can easily add. I was so fascinated with my discovery that I asked Salomi if I could use a Voki for my personal video. My lecturer accepted my suggestion. When my classmates saw my Voki in my wiki page they started asking me where I found it, how can they create own too and so on. I was very happy because all my classmates enjoyed my Voki.

// **Week 9A** // <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">**In this session we continued working on the previous task that we were given by the lecturer, which was describing how a specific Web 2.0 technology can be used in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language.**
 * // Week 8B //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #ffcc99; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">
 * Today we were introduced to a new topic of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies. We were informed about the specific technologies through the videos and links that our teacher had listed for us. At first I thought that I was not familiar with these types of technologies but when I visited the links that our lecturer gave us, I realised that e-mail, facebook and Voki belong to Web 2.0 technologies. This session was very informative for me because first of all I learned the difference between the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. However, our today task was to do a research on web 1.0 or 2.0 and learn more about these technologies. Furthermore, we were supposed to choose one of the two types of technology, describe it and then describe how it can be used in the Teaching of English as a Foreign/Second Language by finding related articles on the Internet or books in the library. I and Andreas wanted to do our research on e-mail because e-mail is the only one that we are very well familiar with. However, I told to Andreas that he can do e-mail and I will do my research on Voki. My lecturer suggested to me that it will be interesting and challenging to write how we can use Voki in Second Language Teaching. Also, I would like to mention that almost all my classmates embedded a Voki in their wiki!!!!!!**

PUBLIC HOLIDAY!!!
 * // Week 9B //**


 * // Week 10A //**
 * Today we focused on the new task known as ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: aqua; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Thematic Unit Planning **** . We were asked to use what we have already prepared on the Thematic Topic section and then develop our Thematic Unit Planning by doing a search on the internet in order to create a small lesson plan. The activities that we will found they have to be related to the topic that we choose for our thematic unit. I decided to plan a thematic unit with the topic Christmas since Christmas is the children’s favourite holiday. My Christmas activities will grasp my future students’ attention and they will also motivate them. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: aqua; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I can’t wait to find interesting and fascinating activities concerning Christmas which I will be able to use them in my future career in order to make my lesson entertaining and above all effective **.

**// Week 10B //** PUBLIC HOLIDAY!!! = = = =
 * // Week 11A //**

<span style="display: block; color: #ff6600; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">** In this session, we continued working on our thematic unit planning. I have already found some Christmas activities and now I will chose the best for my thematic unit plan. It’s really interesting and fascinating to plan a thematic unit. Its preparation takes a lot of time but it is worthy. ** ==<span style="display: block; color: #ff6600; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">//In my opinion,every teacher must plan his/her own lesson because it is your secure guidance during the whole lesson. I will definitely use this method in my teaching as a future teacher because first of all I will always be prepared and secondly you I will use the same lesson plan as many times as I want.// ==

**// Week 11B //** **I have to evaluate my tool based on criteria that our lecturer pointed out in the call wiki. Also, I will have to collaborate with my colleagues that belong to my group in order to compare our testing tools. The discussion with my partners about our tools will be accomplished via the internet. We will use email, MSN and our wikis as a way to communicate with each other. Technology is a powerful way of communication. Basically, I discovered through this course that with technology you can do everything.**
 * <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Today’s class was about traditional Learning theories and Constructivist views of Learning. Our next task is to complete the online language testing. **** In this task we have to evaluate a tool that tests the skills of a student that learns English as a second language. My testing tool is TOEFL. **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">


 * EASTER HOLIDAYS!!! **



//<span style="display: block; font-size: 20pt; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">**Week 12A** // ==<span style="display: block; color: #00ff00; font-style: normal; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">The lesson started with our lecture’s comment on our progress. She told us that she is very proud with our work. That moment, I felt very happy but also her comments gave me the strength to carry on and continue with the improvement of my wiki .I hope that we will not disappoint her. Also, she told us that she observed some grammar, spelling, expression mistakes which we must correct them. Today we also discussed about the presentations of our Wikis and we set the timetable of our presentations. I must say that the presentation task makes me feel very anxious. ==

// **Week 12B** //

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EL; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">**This is the last section of the call course before our presentations. Today we continued working on our Wikis in order to finish with our incomplete work. I will check my wiki one more time in order to be ready for the final step and most difficult part for me; my presentation.**

<span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: center;">//** Week 13A **// **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This week we will all present our wiki pages. **** Each student should give a presentation of his/her wiki page and generally of all the things he learned throughout the course. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Today Andria, Tom, Andreas, Vassos, Sally and I were presenting. **** The rest ones are going to present their wikis on the next session. **<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> ** I found the presentation task very fascinating since the wikis of my colleagues were all excellent and everyone have gain new knowledge, experiences and skills that will help us in our future careers as teachers. ****<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: purple; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> All of them were really good however I have a preference of Sally’s and Andria’s wikis. The positive aspects of these two wikis are that both of them were very attractive and organized **.


 * // Week 13B: Presentations //**