Love You, Goodbye!

  Hello, everyone!

1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the course?

As a strength, it was nice that we were constantly in touch with technology. However, it was a weakness that we did all the assignments in groups of two or three people. 

2) What did you find easy or difficult about the course?

The detailed instructions given for the assignments made our job easier. However, due to the intensity of the course content, it was difficult for us to work 100% efficiently.

3) What was your most and least favorite task? Explain your choices.

My least favorite task was "Corpus-Based Teaching Material" because I didn't like the tool we used. My favorite task was "AR Integrated Teaching Material" because the materials we used were enjoyable.

4) What would be your suggestion to improve it?

Course load should be reduced, it is difficult to catch up with.

5) What would you tell to the students who would take this course next year?

I would tell them that they should choose carefully the partner(s) with whom they will work on assignments throughout the semester. 

6) How would this course contribute to your professional development?

I learned how to use today's most significant technological tools like MagicSchool.ai, Freepik, and ChatGPT. I plan to use these tools when designing materials for my future students. 

That's all from me for now. I wish you all a sweet break that you can rest a lot. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Creating an AI-integrated Teaching Material: It Was Fun!

 

Hello, everyone!

With my partner Buse Açıkgöz, we created an AI-integrated teaching material suitable to EFL high-school prep students. We decided to prepare material for the topic "Comparison and Contrast" and chose the title "Preparing Movie Posters" from the book. We discovered the AI tool called "Runway" which converts text into visuals. Firstly, we created a separate worksheet for our students on how to use this tool. Then, we generated a sample poster for the movie "Karate Kid" using Runway and prepared another three-stage worksheet. Lastly, we enriched our materials by using images and QR codes.

In my opinion, the use of AI in ELT classrooms is beneficial and reinforcing for both students and teachers. Therefore, it is critical to integrate the use of AI into English lesson plans.

Before leaving, you can take a look at our materials:

That's all from me for now. Take care, see you soon! 💜

AR Integrated Language Teaching Material: A Fun Way to Learn!

Hello, everyone!

With my partner Buse Açıkgöz, we created a material for teaching via Augmented Reality (AR) suitable to the A2 level. We decided on the first option and prepared our material about Paris using Canva. We selected the "Eiffel Tower" and "Notre Dame Cathedral" as two landmarks, "Louvre Museum" for the museum, and "Crepes" for traditional food. Then, we found 360 videos/3D objects and added them to the material in QR code form. We also included visuals, explanations, and questions regarding Paris. On the last page, we provided the project of preparing a blog post about the handouts. 

In my opinion, AR is a beneficial and significant tool for language teaching. Its combination with the lesson plan is critical to enrich the course and facilitate the learning process for both students and teachers. 

Before leaving, you can take a look at our material:

That's all from me for now. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Flipped Classroom Approach and Its Implementation in ELT Classes

Hello, everyone!

Flipped learning is a teaching strategy in which the traditional classroom setting is replaced with individual learning spaces.

The advantages of the flipped approach are as follows:

Students can have more control over their learning.

A flipped classroom makes course content easily accessible.

The disadvantages of the flipped approach are as follows:

Students can come to class without watching the videos.

A flipped classroom can require more preparation time.

Our assignment with my partner Buse Açıkgöz was creating a vocabulary teaching video for a flipped EFL classroom. We chose the "Animals" unit from the MEB's 5th grade English coursebook and determined twelve words from that unit. We decided to use "Animaker" to create our video. Then, we wrote a text introducing the animals, and each of us voiced half of it. We created a quiz on our content using “MagicSchool.ai” and added the questions to our video using "Edpuzzle". Finally, we completed the task by attaching our voice and sharing it on Youtube.

While doing this assignment, we encountered some problems. One of them was to pay attention to our pronunciation/intonation. We solved this with the help of online dictionaries.

You can examine the tools we used:

Animaker is a software for creating homemade videos. With the use of pre-made characters and templates, users can produce animated videos. You can visit this website by clicking here. 

The platform called Magic School AI aims to automate the tedious task of lesson planning to simplify the teaching profession. You can visit the website by clicking here.

Edpuzzle is a tool that allows teachers to add different question types to Youtube videos. It is useful to test students' knowledge. You can visit the website by clicking here.

Also you can take a look at our video:

That's all from me for now. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Creating a corpus-based teaching material: using COCA

Hello, everyone!

In our recent "Current Issues in ELT" lesson, we learned about what corpus data means. Then, we created a corpus-based teaching material with my classmate, Buse. You can visit her blog page by clicking here.

Our aim was helping to the EFL learners enrolled in a high school in Turkey to comprehend the word "ache" and its collocates. We chose COCA as our corpus data source. Since it is a bit complex website, we prepared a detailed worksheet on Canva which includes the steps for how to use COCA with screenshots. After that, we worked on our corpus-based teaching activities accordingly. The objectives that I would fulfill by using the corpus-based material are as follows:

1) Students will be able to build knowledge on how to use COCA competently.

2) Students will be able to test their knowledge about the term "ache" by building a word web.

3) Students will be able to develop their knowledge of the term "ache" and its collocates via corpus data.

4) Students will be able to practice the term "ache" in different contexts.

The material designing process was both challenging and fun for us, we had to shorten the instructions and change the design. It was fun because working on Canva provides various options as a teacher candidate. If our material was implemented in a real classroom, there would be several possible problems that might occur. These are as follows:

1) Students could have problems with the Internet connection/their computers.

2) Students could have experienced time constraints in completing the activities (since one class hour is approximately forty minutes).

3) Students could have difficulty understanding the instructions we prepared for using COCA.

To sum up, creating a corpus-based teaching material was both an innovative and enjoyable experience for me. I find the integration of corpus data into classroom activities very beneficial for both students and teachers. 

That's all from me for now. Take care, see you soon! 💜

Before you leave, you can take a look at our "Using COCA" and "What do you know about 'ache'?" sheets.

Oh, Here We Go Again!

Hello, everyone! 

After a loooooong time (literally nine months later) we are together again! On this semester, I will continue to use this blog, which I created last year, for my "Current Issues In ELT" course. I hope that the content I share will not only serve as school assignments but will also help me improve my language proficiency skills.

If you want to contact me for any reason, you can fill out the contact form on the right of my page. You can also read the "about me" section on the left side of my blog to access more personal information about me. You can review my profile picture or check out my favorite singers/books/movies/activities.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts. Take care, see you soon!💜

The End Of The Semester: This Is Not A Literal End, Though!

 

Hello, everyone! In this post, I will talk about the entire semester in detail. 

First of all, before I started taking the Educational Technologies course, I had no positive or negative opinion about technology integration into English language teaching because I had never thought about it. 

At the moment, I think these two should always go together because the contribution of technology makes English language teaching more enjoyable and memorable. This course made me realize that technology integration is very significant and plays a reinforcing role in the field of ELT. 

Considering the courses I took this semester, my favorite course was Linguistics, and my least favorite was Adult Education. My favorite lesson was linguistics because I have known the teacher since last year; I also love and respect him very much. Therefore, this course was educative and likeable. 

I enjoyed adult education the least because I couldn't concentrate as it started very early in the morning. In addition, I didn't like the teacher's lecturing style. 

Finally, I think individual and more crowded group tasks should be increased because sometimes working in pairs is tiring and frustrating. I prefer being alone or in a larger group than trying to find a common idea with someone else. 

That's all from me for now; I hope I can keep writing here. Take care, see you soon! 💜