Videos and activities for improving ELT.

Developing writing skills in ELT lessons.

2012-02-07T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Developing language skills has always been a very hard and interesting task. The process of writing suggests that teachers can actually teach students how to write with coherence, an appropriate grammar structure and an acceptable spelling. One of the effective ways to do this is to motivate the students and make them aware of the steps involved in effective writing.

The article “Some practical teaching ideas for developing writing skills in ELT lessons” deals with this subject and states some of the reasons about why many University students dislike writing. It also states some ideas about how English teachers could motivate their students to write in class through different activities.
If you are interested in reading it, find it online at http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/developing-writing-skills-in-english-as-foreign-language.htm

The article was written by three Cuban English teachers Mercedes de La Torre Valdés, Amada Iglesias Fernández and myself.

Hope you find it interesting and useful for your work!
Ill keep in touch!

Online Journals

2012-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I guess that, we as English teachers enjoy very much teaching to our students, but this is not the only thing we have to do as really professionals.
So as part of our job, we need to do some research about different topics related to our educational context in general. But after spending some time reading, we feel the necessity of writing what we think, so we write articles such as; academic essays.

However, in my opinion the most difficult part for English teachers is not only writing articles but also finding where to publish them. That is why, I am sharing with you today some prestigious web sites of journals where I have published my articles and you as English teachers could send your articles as well.
I am sending also the emails of each journals’ editor, so you could contact them.
Hope this information helps you!

Good luck!

1. GESTIOPOLIS Journal
Alejandro Jáuregui aportes@gestiopolis.com

2. REVISTA CIENCIA.COM? Journal
investigaciones@revistaciencias.com.

3. Cambridge University Journal
Email: journals@cambridge.org

4. Voices Journal UK
Alison Schwetlick aschwetlick@tiscali.co.uk

5. Revista de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias
rciencia@servidor.unam.mx

6. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
Francisco Ignacio Revuelta Domínguez fird@usal.es
Lourdes Pérez Sánchez lopesan@usal.es

New articles written by Yordanka Brunet

2012-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Its a long time without being in contact with all of you but I have been organizing an English course for Teacher trainers from Cuba.

Any way, I would like to invite you to have a look at some articles that have been published abroad recently about the Methodology of teaching languages and the importance of teaching Sexual Education to young learners among other subjects.
So please, look at the following web sites and read the articles and let me know about your point of views.

¿Could english teachers develop Sexual Education through ELT lessons?.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/could-english-teachers-develop-sexual-education-through-elt-lessons.htm

Practical activities for using video in language teaching.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/practical-activities-for-using-video-language-teaching.htm

¿Is there any particular method or approach to teach English efficiently?.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/is-there-any-particular-method-or-approach-to-teach-english-efficiently.htm

ALC-GELI 20th Annual Convention CUBA

2011-09-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Being part of 45th IATEFL Conference was an extraordinary experience for me! It was great sharing with all the scholarships winners, teachers and teacher trainers from all over the world.
Thank you IATEFL!

This time, I would like to invite all English teachers and teacher trainers to participate in our GELI Conference that will take place in Cuba this year.

If you are interested in coming, please let me know using these emails. nayyor@infomed.sld.cu or yordankavalle@googlemail.com

I am sending the details now!
Looking forward to see you in Cuba.
Yordanka Brunet

ALC-GELI 20th Annual Convention
December 17-20, 2011

Havana - Cuba

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The 20th Annual ALC-GELI Convention offers ELT professionals exciting and productive opportunities for professional development.

Sessions at the Convention will include:

Canadian Studies SIG Open Forum - Papers - Workshops – Posters – Research-
Plenaries by Cuban and foreign specialists
Submissions are welcomed from teachers, teacher trainers, researchers, program administrators, and material and curriculum developers.

Types of sessions

a) SIG Open Forum. The SIG Open Forum of Canadian Studies, brings together speakers and audience with a common
interest. Ideas will be presented and there will be opportunities for interactive discussions. The open forum will be led by
a convener and will include a minimum of four other presenters. Although its length will vary according to its own
features, the open forum normally runs for two hours.

b) Paper (15 minutes). A paper is most effectively presented as an oral summary with occasional reference to notes or a text. It describes and discusses something that the presenter is doing, or has done in relation to either theory or practice. The presenter often provides handouts and may also use audiovisual aids.

c) Workshop (45 minutes). A workshop should include very little lecturing by the leader, the emphasis is on the participants’ activity, which is carefully structured by the leader. The leader works with the participants, helping them solve a problem or develop a specific teaching or research technique.

c) Poster Session (1 hour). A poster session allows for individual discussion with participants during the time that a self-explanatory exhibit is on display. The exhibit is presented on a large display board: 4’ x 8; it includes a title, the name and institutional affiliation of the presenter(s), and a brief text with clearly labeled photos, drawings, graphs, or charts.

d) Research (20 min.). Research presentation normally describes and examines in more detail the presenter’s findings
resulting from the careful study of ELT-related issues and concerns involving either small-scale investigative projects in
the classroom (action research) or long-term research.

e) Plenary (1 hour). There will be plenary sessions given by Cuban and foreign specialists on topics of general interest.
Plenary speakers and topics will be selected by the Organizing Committee from among proposals received.

What are the steps in submitting a proposal?

These instructions should be read carefully so that the Presenter’s Proposal Form will not be disqualified:

There must be no more than two presenters for each proposal. Use the same Presenter’s Proposal Form for both.

One requirement for acceptance of the proposal is to provide an abstract that will appear in the Academic Programme if the proposal is accepted. The abstract helps convention participants decide which presentation will be the most appropriate for their concerns and needs. It should not exceed 150 words and must be written in English.

What disqualifies a proposal?

1.The Presenter’s Proposal Form is not completed according to the guidelines outlined in this Call for Participation.
2.The Presenter’s Proposal Form is not accompanied by the abstract.
3.The abstract exceeds 150 words.
4.The Presenter’s Proposal Form is not received at ALC Central Office by the deadline of November 12, 2011.
5.The proposal has more than two presenters.

REGISTRATION

All participants will have to fill in the Individual Registration Form, whether they submit a paper to be presented at the convention or not; thus, presenters will have to submit both the Individual Registration Form and the Presenter’s Proposal Form as well.

Please, notice that the deadlines for the submission of the forms are different.

For more information, e-mail:

Ada Chiappy Jhones,
ALC-GELI President
Grupo de Especialistas en Lengua Inglesa
Asociación de Lingüistas de Cuba,
E-mail: alcgeli@ceniai.inf.cu

XX ALC-GELI ANNUAL CONVENTION
Havana, Cuba
December 19-21, 2011
INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION FORM
(Please return this form by email by October 22, 2011)

(Please complete it in capitals)
Title: Prof, MSc, PhD or other (e.g. Student) Family Name: ……………….
First Name: ………
Institution……….……..
Address… …………………………………………………… Country: ……
Tel: …………………………….
E-mail: …………..……………
GELI Member: …….Yes (Show receipt as proof of payment of 2010 membership fee) ……..No

Registration Fees and Payment
Registration and payment Full Attendance
until October 22, 2011: - Membership Rate: $50 MN
Non- Membership Rate: $70 MN (or CUC for foreigners)
Student Rate: $15 MN (or CUC for foreigners)
Registration and payment Full Attendance
after October 22, 2011
and until November 12, 2011 - Membership Rate: $60 MN
Non-Membership Rate: $ 80 MN (or CUC for foreigners)
Student Rate: $15 MN (or CUC for foreigners)
I wish to register for (please check)
□ Membership Registration □ Non-Membership Registration
□ Student Registration

-The registration fee includes access to the academic event, conference documentation, “Approach” Journal for GELI Members + tea, coffee and snacks at the breaks.
- Participants from Havana City MUST hand in personally, to the Registration Officer, both the registration form and fee in cash.
Contact Teresita Rojas at “M. Fajardo” Medical School, English Department, only on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12 – 3pm.
-All national participants from outside Havana City province, as well as foreign participants, may send this registration form by e-mail and pay their convention fee in cash at the convention venue upon registration. The amount of the fees depends on the date of registration.

Date: ________________________ Signature: ____________________________

Please send the completed form to:
Teresita Rojas, Registration Officer: tere.rojas@infomed.sld.cu
AND
Organizing Committee Headquarters: alcgeli@ceniai.inf.cu

XX ALC-GELI ANNUAL CONVENTION
Havana, Cuba
December 19-21, 2011
PRESENTER’S PROPOSAL FORM
(Please return this form by e-mail by November 12, 2011)

Details of the Main Presenter
Title: Prof, MSc, PhD. or other (e.g. Student) ________Family Name: __________
First Name:_______________________________
Institution: ___________________
Address: ___________________________________________________________________
Country: ____
Telephone: __________________
E-mail Address:
GELI Member: Yes____(Show receipt as proof of payment of 2010 membership fee) No______

Registration
All presenters must be GELI members and register by October 23, 2010. Presenters who have not submitted this form by e-mail no later than this date will not be included in the Academic Programme.

Details of Presentation
Main presenter_____________________________
(Please underline your family name or write it in capitals)
Place of Work_______________ or Freelance □

Joint Presenter (only if attending the Conference)

1) Family Name (with title) _____________________ First Name________________________

Place of Work________________________________________

Fax_______________ Phone number _____________ E-mail address________________________

Title of presentation： __________________

Type of presentation: Please check
□ Paper □ Project Report □ Lecture □ Workshop □ Poster □ Research

Area/Field of the Presentation: Please check
□ Teacher Training □ESP □TEFL □Linguistics □Literature □ ICT □ Young Learners

Duration of presentation：Please check
Project Report 20 min Workshop45 min Paper (15 min)
Poster Research (20 min)

Please include equipment required Please check
□ OHP White Board □ Cassette Unit □ CD player

Power Point presentation equipment is NOT guaranteed

REQUIREMENTS

The summary must accurately reflect the content of your presentation as it will help participants to decide which sessions to attend.
Submit the summary of the presentation in Word 6.0 and saved in txt format, font Times New Roman 12, maximum 150 words.
Send it to the Coordinator’s Office by e-mail no later than November 12, 2011.

Closing date for speakers’ proposals is November 12, 2011. No exceptions will be made. Any proposal received after the date will not be considered.

Please e-mail this form to BOTH addresses below:

Nury Vázquez, Academic Programme Coordinator
alcgeli@ceniai.inf.cu
and
Ileana Amador, Organizing Committee
ileamador@infomed.sld.cu

Date: ________________________ Signature: ____________________________

A Blog for traning teachers 45th IATEFL Conference

2011-05-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I would like to share with all the teachers and teacher trainers my Conference about a Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class. I talked about it last April at the 45th IATEFL Annual International Conference, Brighton, UK.

If you couldnt see it, I am posting it on my Blog now, so please have a look at it and leave any comment about it.
Thank you!

A Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class.
Author: MSc Yordanka Brunet Valle
English Teacher Trainer
Havana Medical University
Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”
Havana city, Cuba.

Good afternoon, my name is Yordanka Brunet Valle, I am from Cuba. I am an English teacher trainer since 2004. Since that time I worked at the prestigious Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona” and at the present I am working as an English teacher at Havana Medical University in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”.
Before starting I would like to thank all of you for being here with me today.

I must also thank to the IATEFL Organization for inviting me to come to the conference and for becoming a dream into a reality.

Thank you very much to the Trinity College London for all its support.
Finally I must thank to the tutor of my MA dissertation in TESOL Mr. Russell Stannard, because his assistance was very important for the design and development of this blog.

So, as you can see the title of my presentation is “A Blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class”, which is the main result of the MA in TESOL done at Westminster University in 2008.

So, I would like to share with you some ideas about:
-The use of videos as a support of the English lessons.
-My experience about the design of this blog, its content and improvement since that time until the present.
-The results of some questionnaires applied to validate the blog.
-The benefits of the blog to better other teachers’ training regarding the use of videos in ELT lessons.

That is why the objective of this presentation is to share the experience about the design of a Blog and its content for training teachers to integrate videos into the ELT lessons.

As Dudeney G. and Hockly N. State:
“Technology in language teaching is not new. Indeed, technology has been around in language for decades – one might argue for centuries, if we classify the blackboard as a form of technology.
Tape recorders, language laboratories and video have been in use since the 1960s and 1970s, and are still used in classrooms around the world.”
(Dudeney G. and Hockly N. 2007: 7)

Despite the fact, new technologies have emerged for enriching the teaching learning process of the languages; teachers still use videos in class due to their contributions to the lessons in general. However, there are some language teachers who still don’t feel enough confident when using videos in ELT lessons, because they are not trained enough with respect to their use.

-Besides they don’t have enough knowledge concerning the most appropriate activities according to the level of the students.
-Another element is that they don’t sufficient materials to support their training regarding the use of videos in class.
Due to the advantages the use of videos allows to better the foreign language acquisition and in particular the English language, I wanted to focus my MA dissertation about the use of videos in general.

Because as you know Through a video the students could:
1.Increase the motivation towards any topic.
2.Develop the listening skills allowing them to get global understanding and also to get only details.
3.Improve the speaking skills: because the students after watching the video could interact in pairs or groups by means of debate about its title, content, its final part, giving their opinions regarding the topic.
4. Expand their vocabulary: it is probably that they don’t have the meaning of some words, so the teacher should provide the meaning by means of synonyms, antonyms, gestures or just giving the meaning of the word.
5. Reinforce the grammatical structures.
6. Acquire not only the knowledge concerning the target language, but also the culture: I am teaching to 3er medical students in a multicultural class, where my students´ mother tongue is not the English language. When teaching Unit IV “Travelling here and there”, I showed the video “Most beautiful cities around the world” which is posted in my blog. So, when they watched that video, they added new information regarding the cities presented in the video because some of them have been in those places with their families, so they talked about their experiences when they got there.

The students developed a set of activities regarding the video in class and as a final project; they had to prepare an oral presentation about their own countries. They should work together according to their nationalities and they could bring any souvenir or typical costume that identifies their country.

It was a beautiful activity where they talked about their traditions and costumes, putting into practice all the content they have learned before. They learned a lot about their countries from each other and me as a teacher learned different aspects related to their costumes too, that I did not know before.

Develop of Input: because the students while watching and listening to the video are absorbing and making an effort for understanding and comprehending the information, so they are receiving an Input that after doing the activities and discussing in class with the teacher and in pair work, this Input will become Output and the target langue will be highly developed.

So, it is clear evident that USING VIDEOS IN CLASS STIMULATES THE PRODUCTION OF THE LANGUAGE and offers excellent opportunities for improving the English lessons.
However, it is not easy when the teacher is planning a lesson, to find the appropriate video content from the web, as a support of it, because as Stannard, R. states:
Stannard R. (2007) argues it can take a long time to find things that are suitable for use in class. The trouble is that lots of the videos are too crazy, contain sexual images or really don’t have much of a storyline. Teachers should take time selecting short videos and not very difficult to understand, otherwise, students could feel uninspired and don't pay attention to them. “The key issue is the selection of the videos”.
So, teachers have been incorporating videos in their English lessons, trying to achieve better results in the ELT lessons. However, as I mentioned before, there are some English teachers who don’t feel enough confident when preparing their English lessons by means of videos, because they are not trained enough with respect to their use.

So, when analyzing which could be a different way for showing teachers and teacher trainers around the world, how to use different videos with a variety of activities the idea of designing a blog emerged.

Results of the research
- The blog among wikis and podcasts, which are all social software, is the most attracted computer tool, allowing its author to add among other elements, videos.
This is what I wanted to do, to find a computing tool that allow me to post videos and examples of activities taken place in class, so teachers around the world could consult them and learn from my personal experience about the use of videos in ELT lessons.
- Besides, as part of my research, I realized there was not any blog in Cuba with educative purposes. So I decided to design a blog for training teachers to integrate videos in class.

What is a Blog?
According to del Toro, M. (2009), a Blog is a Web site for people to publish news, articles (called post) in chronological order or according to dates. It gives the chance to leave comments and ideas about what you see and read. Besides, it allows people to contact the author by email.

Let see some characteristics of blogs.
As Dudeney G. and Hockly N, (2007:87) state:
The most common type of blog is kept by one person, who will regularly post comments, thoughts, analyses; experiences of daily life, interesting links and also it may include pictures, audio and video.

Most blogs will allow people to comment on blog entries, thereby creating an online community around a common topic, interest or person, that is why, blogs are referred to as social software.
Let see some important issues related to blogs.
1.-Teachers can keep their own edublog as a diary.

2.-Teachers can use an edublog as a Web Page, so they can find it through Internet, learn and develop their knowledge about the use of videos for example, in the English lessons.

3.-Teachers can write comments about the labels presented in any edublog and send emails to the author as a way to keep in touch with him/her. So the edublog would be highly improved after getting some immediate feedback from teachers, students and professionals in general.

Lest see my blog now!
“Videos and activities for improving ELT”
web page: www.ybrunet.blogspot.com

OBJECTIVES:

1- To train teachers about how they could integrate
videos in the classroom.

2- To allow teachers learning a different way of
improving the English lessons through videos and
activities divided into three main stages; the
Preparatory and Understanding activities and the
Extension Work. Besides, in the Blog there is an
article that makes reference to the design of Blogs
in general.
Content of the Blog
-Some short videos from YouTube about different general topics such as; the environment, culture and traditions regarding English spoken countries among others.
-A set of activities based on the videos watched. They are divided into three main stages; the Preparatory and Understanding activities and the Extension Work.
-Examples of video lessons which show how teachers could work with the videos and the activities in class and also the reaction of the students towards that experience.
-Different articles about the use of technology for teaching English at the universities, the process of designing blogs and the methodology for teaching English as a foreign language.
-A summary about the author’s curriculum in English and Spanish languages.
-A link that allows people to leave comments about the content of the Blog, and the author’s email with the purpose to send and discuss people’s opinions.
Application of a questionnaire to validate a series of activities selected (Preparatory, Understanding and the Extension Work).

Objective

This questionnaire was created for asking some English teachers about the usefulness of the activities selected in order to improve the students’ acquisition of the English language and to better their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills through the use of videos in class.

The questionnaire was answered by 20 English teachers from different universities and countries who were studying the MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Westminster University, London in 2008.

Results
The results from the questionnaire evidence:

- The activities selected are very useful for using in the video lessons due to they better the teaching-learning process of the English language through videos.

- The activities are good examples for using with videos in class taking into account the stage of the lesson, favouring students to improve their knowledge regarding the English language and to enrich the cultural aspect.

Application of a questionnaire to validate the Blog.
Objective
This questionnaire was designed for showing teachers, students and teachers’ trainers around the world how to use videos with different activities in class and train them how to integrate videos in the classroom.

In addition, the Blog designed should contribute also an example for teachers in general about its design and content, so after receiving some feedback from teachers the author could realize if the purposes for designing this Blog were successfully accomplished.

The questionnaire was answered by 20 English teachers from different universities (the ones mentioned before).
Results
The results from the questionnaire evidence:

- The Blog created is a very useful and interesting tool which favours the development and improvement of the English language in the students. But also it contributes with respect to the students’ acquisition of some ethical and socio cultural values.

- It’s design shows how teachers, students and teachers’ trainers can use videos with different types of activities in class, allowing them to learn not only about the use of videos but also about its design and content.
WHY USING VIDEOS IN ENGLISH FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS?
The English language subject is part of the program of the Medicine career and the students should learn English from the 1st year until the 5th one.

They get a general background of the English language from the 1st year to the 3rd one and after that, they start learning English for Specific Purposes by means of different medical topics.

Interviews to 20 English teachers from Havana Medical University working in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”, about the use of computing tools, mainly videos for teaching English lessons and the results were that there are not enough computing tools which allow to improve students’ motivation towards the English language and also to better its acquisition.

Teachers mainly use the book and the blackboard; there are some video cassettes and some interesting software that have plenty of useful grammar activities which enrich the English lessons, however, teachers argue that those materials are not enough for their lessons.

Besides, in the Faculty there is not any video in English related to the topics the students learn in each unit, such as Hypertension or Tropical diseases.
That is why; I started looking at some appropriate videos in English from YouTube about different diseases. After, I posted some examples of those videos to my Blog which I consider valuable for enriching the English lessons with 4th and 5th year medical students.

The teachers started using those videos as a support of their English lessons and after having watched them they developed different activities in class such as, Seminars and Oral presentations related to the topic presented in the videos. I filmed some of those activities and I posted them to the blog too.

That is why the Blog also shows some short videos from YouTube about different diseases, such as Tropical diseases, Cataract and Glaucoma, Hypertension, among others and some examples of video lessons where students are making oral presentations regarding some diseases.

A questionnaire was applied to the 20 English teachers from Havana Medical University working in the Faculty “Calixto Garcia Iñiguez”, who teach lessons to 4th and 5th year medical students for gathering information about the videos posted to the Blog and they really liked them.

Besides, the medical students from the same Faculty started looking at the Blog and writing favourable comments about the videos, the activities and articles posted to it. This fact makes me feel more confident and happy with respect to the work done.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Positive arguments:
-It is a very useful way that allows sharing educative knowledge around the world.
-It is important to design the blog in a very attracted way, so people could feel motivated towards its content and consult it.
-The blog designed should be updated; otherwise, people won’t be interested in consulting it.

CONCLUSIONS
1.The Blog created, is a very helpful tool that train teachers in general to integrate videos into the classroom and use them in ELT lessons efficiently. Besides, the Blog allows teachers to improve their knowledge about the use of blogs when teaching the English language in class.
2.Besides, it has been very favourable to get positive feed back and recommendations from a variety of English teachers, teachers’ trainer and students around the world with respect to the design of the Blog and its content.

RECOMMENDATIONS
-To better the Blog adding new materials to it in order to improve the ELT lessons.
-To consult the Blog at the web page www.ybrunet.blogspot.com and leave any comments for enriching the English language teaching using videos through it.

Some examples of my articles:
-Design of English educative software. “Premédico” (Premédico Colection) Cuban Edition (Organo) ISBN: 959-18-0136-X 2006.
-Methodology for improving the use of videos in teaching English lessons at the University. Revista Ciencias.com
Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/publicaciones/EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx.php Code: EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx 2006
-What makes a good teacher? Teaching English British Council BBC. 2008. URL:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/what-makes-a-good- teacher - 27k
-Video Content from the Web. Monografias.com. 2008. Category: Technology URL:http://www.monografias.com/trabajos65/video-content-web/video-content-web.shtml
-Diseño de un blog para elevar la calidad del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del ingles como lengua extranjera. Tecnología e internet http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/diseno-de-un-blog-para-el-proceso-de-ensenanza-aprendizaje-de-ingles.htm 2009
-La creación de un blog con fines educativos. ¿Simple o complejo? Tecnología e internet.
http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/creacion-de-un-blog-con-fines-educativos.htm 2009
-Integrating videos into ELT lessons. IATEFL Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. November-December 2009 Issue 211. ISSN 1814- 3830
- “The acquisition of culture through English lessons by means of a video".
URL: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/acquisition-of-culture-through-english-lessons-by-means-of-a-video.htm 2011.

A 45th IATEFL Conference`s summary.

2011-05-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hello dear teachers and teacher trainers,

Hope you are fine. I was very lucky to participate at the 45th IATEFL Conference that took place in Brighton, UK last April.

For the ones who couldnt make it, I am sharing my impressions about it with all of you.

Being part of the 45th IATEFL Annual Conference and Exhibition in Brighton was an extraordinary experience for me as an English teacher trainer. I learned from all the presentations in general and the teachers’ experiences from all over the world enriched my professional development. The one I loved the most was the Blogosphere symposium, because I could improve my knowledge about the use of Blogs and their design.
Another significant moment was when I met all the stuff from IATEFL at the Scholarships’ Tea; they deserve all my respect and consideration. It was also great to meet other scholarships winners.

Application of a questionnaire to validate a series of activities and the Blog.

2011-04-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is the Chapter 6 of my MA dissertation in TESOL.

Chapter 6: Testing the activities selected for using with videos in class and a Blog for training teachers to integrate videos into the classroom.

6.1 Introduction

Chapter 6 deals with the testing process regarding the activities selected for using with videos in class and a Blog created for showing teachers, students and teachers trainers around the world how to use some videos in English lessons through different activities. In order to validate the activities and the Blog designed it was necessary to create a questionnaire for teachers with the main purpose to obtain some feedback about their effectiveness for improving the English language students’ acquisition in class.

Then in order to achieve the questionnaire, the author consulted different materials regarding this topic. But there was a book that offered some explanation in details about what a questionnaire is, its importance, its diversity and how the questions could be created. So, the author based her questionnaire on Nocedo de León and Abreu (1984: 38-49).

6.2 Application of a questionnaire to validate a series of activities and the Blog for training teachers to integrate videos into the classroom.

It is significant to achieve a questionnaire that contribute to validate the series of activities selected (Preparatory, Understanding and the Extension Work) for using with any videos in class. This questionnaire was created for asking some English teachers about the usefulness of the activities selected in order to improve the students’ acquisition of the English language and to better their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills through the use of videos in class.

In addition, it is considerable to achieve a questionnaire that allow the author of this research to validate the Blog designed for showing teachers, students and teachers’ trainers around the world how to use videos with different activities in class. In addition, the Blog designed should contribute also an example for teachers in general about its design and content, so after receiving some feedback from teachers the author could realize if the purposes for designing this Blog were successfully accomplished.

6.3 Analysis of the data.
The questionnaire created was answered by 20 English teachers from different universities and countries who were studying the MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Westminster University, London in 2008. They completed 6 questions regarding the activities selected for using with videos in class and 10 questions about the Blog and the video lessons included.
Regarding the activities selected for using with video in class, teachers opinions were very favourable, although there were some teachers who argued with respect to the moment of achieving few activities according to the stage of the lesson.
The first and the second questions were designed in order to get a general picture of the selection of the activities. Then, the following questions were more specific in which teachers should provide their own opinions about the contribution of the activities towards the development of the English language and the cultural aspect in the students.

6.3.1 Some teachers’ comments about the activities.

1) Are the activities suitable for all kind of videos?
Yes X No ___

The 20 teachers, who answered the questionnaire, choose the positive answer, for this question making an equivalent of 100 % from the total, which means that all the activities selected can be used with any videos.

2) Are the activities properly organized according to the stage of the lesson?
(The stages deal with the Preparatory, Understanding and Extension
Work or which is mainly known as before, during and after watching and
listen to the video)
Yes X No ___

Concerning this question, 17 teachers from a total of 20, answered positively arguing that the activities were logically organized and achieved taking into account the stage of the lesson. However, 3 of them stated that some activities could be achieved in more than one stage, for instance, in the case of the Preparatory activity 6, they argued that it could be achieved also in the Understanding as it is shown in the Blog but not in the questionnaire. In addition, the Understanding activities 8 and 10, according to some teachers’ criteria they could be achieved as Extension work. So in general, it could be stated that an 85% agreed with the organization of the activities and a 15% disagreed, so looking at the results given by the majority of the teachers reinforces that the activities could be achieved in class in the way originally organized.

3) Do the activities allow students to improve their knowledge regarding the English language? If yes, in which way?
Yes X No ___

The 20 teachers (100%) agreed with the aspect stated in this question, arguing that all the activities allow students to improve their knowledge about the English language due to they can develop the listening, speaking, writing and reading skills. Besides, as most of the activities should be achieved by means of the interaction in pairs or groups, they learn from each other allowing an increase in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structures and the communicative functions in general.

Besides, as the activities are related to a content previously studied, make possible to students fixing what they have learned before and to acquire by means of games, role plays, some predictions, among others, the new knowledge. In addition, these activities enrich the development of Input because they motivate students towards the topic encouraging them to participate and talk in class, which contributes to improve their Output, a very beneficial issue teachers should have always in mind.

4) Do the activities develop students’ knowledge regarding the cultural aspect? If yes, in which way?

The 20 teachers (100%) stated that all the activities allow students to acquire and develop a general cultural background. Regarding the activity about the global warming and its effect on the weather, they let students to understand better the causes of many natural disasters and to feel more concern about the nature in general. So, the activities and the video concerning that topic increase students’ motivation towards it allowing them to start thinking about possible solutions to the problem and climates’ problems are part of the environment culture.
On the other hand, the activities dealing with the most beautiful places around the world contribute to increase students’ culture, enjoying through Internet marvellous and exciting examples of places from different continents, so this is a way students can learn about others’ countries culture.
Apart from that, students can acquire some other aspects like the music, which is one issue that characterize the culture of a country. In this sense, the activities related to the video about how to dance salsa, students could learn not only some general steps about dancing salsa, but also they are identifying the music as one cultural element that belongs to a specific country.

5) How do you consider the activities selected for the video lessons? Tick one answer, please.
Very good ______ good _____ suitable _____
not suitable _______ others _____

As it is evident through the graph, the results of this question brought different answers, but all of them favourable, due to a 13 teachers (65%) from the total considered the activities selected for the video lessons, very good, 4 teachers (20%) considered the activities good and 3 teachers (15%) selected suitable as their answers. So, the result in general evidence that the activities selected can be achieved in English video lessons efficiently.

6) Are the activities selected good examples for using with videos in class?
Yes X No ___

The 100 % of teachers stated that the activities selected are good examples for using with videos in class.

6.3.2 Some teachers’ comments about the Blog
Regarding the questions concerning the Blog, 20 English teachers (100% from the total) answered the questionnaire. Their opinions were very favourable, there were some general questions dealing with the performance and usefulness of the Blog and the video lessons. Then, there were some others more specific about the content and significance of using a Blog as a tool for improving students and teachers’ studies regarding the use of videos in ELT lessons.

1. Did you find easy to navigate through the Blog?
Yes ___ No ___
The vast majority of the teachers 18 which represents the 90% from the total evidenced that it was easy to open the Blog and read all the information provided in the labels. Nevertheless, there were two teachers that represent the (10%) from the total, who faced some difficulties when opening it, due to some Internet and network problems, which are some inevitable aspects that teachers should take in mind at the moment of working with our students using the Internet.
2. Do the videos from the Blog develop not only the English language, but also some ethical and socio cultural aspects in the students?

Yes X No __
The 100% of the teachers choose the positive answer, although they did not have to provide opinions, some of them stated, that they realized that the videos were not chosen at random, on the contrary, their selection was based not only on the acquisition students will do concerning the English language, but also it was taken into account some important values students need for their development as human beings, and this is the case of the value regarding the monuments and patrimonies from different countries around the world that are shown through one of the video. Besides the protection for the environment in general is another significant element that is exposed by means of the video, developing this value in the students.

3. Do you consider the Blog a useful tool for showing teachers, students and teachers’ trainers how to use videos with different activities in class?

If yes, how? ______________________________
If no, why? _______________________________

The 100% of teachers stated that the Blog created is a valuable and useful tool that illustrate and explain students, teachers and teachers’ trainers around the world how to use videos with different activities in class, due to when someone clicks on the Preparatory or Understanding activities for instance, the person will read a description about each activity concerning the stage selected, the objectives of achieving that, and an example of the activity taking place in class, which gives an idea about how the teacher can develop one activity, the instructions stated, the way students behave when doing the activities, among others aspects.

They also stated that there’s some sort of avoidance from many teachers to use this beneficial tool because they assume it takes a lot of time to prepare the activities and because many of them are lack of technology training and cannot handle this. In addition, they argued that it is absolutely important for teachers, students and teachers’ trainers to get involved in the use of this media.

4. How useful do you find the content from the Blog? Tick one answer, please.

Very useful _____ useful _____

not useful _____ others _____

As it is shown in the graph, 15 teachers that represent the (75%) from the total stated that the content of the Blog created is very useful for students and teachers, but 5 teachers consider the content of the Blog useful, representing this a (25%) from the total. So taking into consideration teachers’ criteria, we can state that the content of the Blog created is very helpful in all sense.

5. What are your impressions of the Blog created? Give your opinion, please.
The evidence in general show that the Blog created has a great value regarding the English language teaching, due to through it teachers can improve their lessons by means of some videos and the most appropriate activities achieved according to the stage of the lesson. In this sense, they argue that it was very useful to provide the aim of each activity and their description. Besides, according to teachers’ opinions the Blog has a very nice design although it would be useful to use colours to highlight the titles of the activities or adding the activities to a word document so that teachers can download them and as well to post the solutions.
Another criteria was dealing with the integration among the activities, the videos from you tube and video lessons. The teachers state that this integration allows any person to acquire enough information regarding the improvement of the English language through videos.

Another impression was related to the feedback provided in the Blog, because it gives the possibility to students and teachers to write comments based on what they read and watch and they can also send emails to the author, establishing a direct contact between the author and the person interested in learning from the Blog. Some other teachers stated that the Blog also gives whole range of information about the writer.

In general, they consider the Blog an amassing and simple tool because as some stated, language learning is mainly about having a ‘motive’, and also technology is about simplicity, therefore the Blog is very good for the intended goals.

6. Was there any part from the Blog that you found very valuable?

If yes, which?
The 100% of the English teachers consider the Blog a very valuable tool in all sense. But most of the teachers argue that one of the most useful parts from the Blog is the one related to the videos selected from you tube which motivate students towards the development of the English language and the cultural aspect. They also found the video films very valuable attractive, captivating and informative. Others enjoyed and learned from the activities selected for using with videos in the different stages.

7. Is there any part from the Blog that you consider not very useful? If yes, which?
The 100% of the English teachers consider that all the information provided in the Blog is useful.

8. Does the Blog created explain and show teachers how to use videos with different activities according to the stage of the lesson? (Preparatory/ Understanding and Extension Work)

Yes X No __

All the teachers (100%) agreed with the fact, that the Blog illustrate and explain in details how teachers could improve the English language by means of videos, achieving different activities according to the stage of the lesson.

9. Could students and teachers use the Blog as a helpful tool for their studies regarding the use of videos in ELT lessons?

Yes X No __

The 100% of the teachers stated that the Blog designed contribute to improve students and teachers’ knowledge with respect to the use of videos in English lessons, so according to their criteria, it is a very useful tool which allow any person to acquire some information regarding this subject. Besides if there is a teacher who decides to carry out a research about this topic, they can consult the Blog as a reference for their studies. Although in order to improve it for future work, some teachers consider that it would be more beneficial if the author creates two independent sections in the Blog, one for teachers and another one for students. Besides in my view, the students can use the Blog as a valuable tool for improving and making some progress concerning the English language.

10. Do you think the Blog allows teachers to train them about its design and content?

Yes X No __

The 100% of the teachers consider the Blog a valuable example for showing teachers how they could design a similar Blog in terms of the content and the way it is expressed.

6.4 Conclusion
To conclude it can be said that, the results from the questionnaire evidence that the activities selected are very useful for using in the video lessons due to they better the teaching-learning process of the English language through videos.
The questionnaire’s results illustrate that these activities are good examples for using with videos in class taking into account the stage of the lesson, favouring students to improve their knowledge regarding the English language and to enrich the cultural aspect.
The results also showed that the Blog created is a very useful and interesting tool which favours the development and improvement of the English language in the students. But also it contributes with respect to the students’ acquisition of some ethical and socio cultural values.
It’s design shows how teachers, students and teachers’ trainers can use videos with different types of activities in class, allowing them to learn not only about the use of videos but also about its design and content. Although the design of the Blog could be improved allowing teachers and students acquire its content easily.
So, there is no doubt that the Blog created, is a very helpful tool that train teachers in general to integrate videos into the classroom and use them in the English lessons efficiently.

Apart from that, the Blog created is considered a valuable tool for teachers and students because through a creative and efficient way, it allows the integration among different media such as; some videos from you tube, the video lessons which show some examples of activities taking place and the Internet that gives the possibility to illustrate and expand the work done regarding the use of videos for improving the English lessons. So by means of this integration, the Blog becomes a very powerful tool that should be consulted in order to better the acquisition and improvement of the English language.

The novel issue of this Blog will be related to the theory about the integration of the different media previously state, with the objective to teach students, teachers and teachers’ trainers about the use of videos and the most adequate activities concerning the stage of the lesson, favouring the teaching-learning process of the English language in any institutions, but mainly at the Higher Pedagogical Institutes in Cuba. That theory will be developed in future works.

Video about Glaucoma from You tube

2011-03-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This is a short video about Glaucoma. Teachers could use it as a support of their English lessons for developing the listening skills in their students and also it could contribute to expand their students´vocabulary related to this topic.
Hope it could be useful for your English lessons.

Video lessons about Glaucoma

2011-03-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Hope you enjoy this video lesson where medicine students are talking in English about Glaucoma after having watched a short video about this topic. These students are from different countries and they are studying medicine in Cuba. They study English because, this subject is part of the Medicine Program.

Video lessons about Glaucoma

2011-03-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is another video lesson about Glaucoma.

Video lessons about Glaucoma

2011-03-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This is a video lesson from the Medical Faculty Calixto Garcia Iñigez in Cuba, where medicine students are making an oral presentation about Glaucoma in English. These students are from different countries where the English language is not their mother tongue.

This type of activity you watch through this video lesson is an example of the Extension Work activity the students could do in the classroom after having watched a video from You tube regarding Glaucoma topic.

Hope you enjoy it!

Video about Cataract

2011-03-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I would like to share this short video that teachers could use as a support of their lessons while teaching English to medicine students.
Hope your students improve their medicine and English knowledge while watching and listening to it. Besides, the students can expand their vocabulary related to Cataract disease.
Hope you like it.

Video about Pneumonia

2011-03-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This time I would like to share with the English teachers this short video, that could be used for enriching the vocabulary related to Pneumonia topic in class.

Hope you like it!

Video about Ophthalmology.

2011-03-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hello!
I have looked at some interesting videos from Youtube about Ophthalmology that could be useful for teaching English to Medicine students in Cuba and around the world.
Hope you enjoy them!

Video 2 about Tropical diseases

2011-03-15T10:29:00.001-07:00

Videos about Tropical diseases

2011-03-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hello!
I would like to share with you a couple of interesting videos that might support your English lessons regarding the Tropical Diseases topic.
Hope they can contribute to enrich your lessons!

Video 3 about Hypertension.

2011-03-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Video 2 about Hypertension.

2011-03-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Short Videos about Hypertension

2011-03-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I have been teaching English at the Medicine Faculty in Havana and I am still working with videos for improving ELT lessons.
This time I would like to share with you a group of interesting videos about Hypertension.
They could be useful for teaching English to 5th Medicine students.
I hope you like them!

“The implicit or explicit knowledge for a better second language acquisition”.

2011-02-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

MSc Yordanka Brunet Valle

Introduction

One of the issues that have been analysed by many authors is the fact concerning the implicit and explicit knowledge of the Second Language, their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages and their contribution to Second Language Acquisition.

Development
In my view the subject concerning how learners should acquire the second language is a very controversial issue. It is not easy to identify if it would be better for learners to acquire the language through implicit or explicit knowledge, in an unconscious way or the other way around.
When we make reference to explicit and implicit knowledge and its contribution to the acquisition of the second language, it is necessary to mention that both provide benefits to the second language and allow students to acquire it but in different ways.

Implicit knowledge contributes to the acquisition of the second language through different actions, but mainly by means of the interaction with native speakers. The interaction between learners and native speakers give the possibility to acquire new vocabulary, chunks, phrases, and even slang.

Students make a great effort trying to communicate and being understood by people, but they face lots of difficulties concerning communication, because the most important issue in the implicit knowledge is to get the meaning of the messages, and there is not focus on grammatical structures, which is a very important element for communicating efficiently. Consequently, it is necessary to mention that the interaction helps learners to improve their pronunciation and to highly develop learners’ speaking skills in the second language because it will force them to talk.

When learners are sharing with native speakers in the second language, the culture of it should be acquired too. Through interaction, going outside and visiting different places such as museums, theatres, restaurants or galleries learners will have the opportunity to acquire the second language and a general cultural background by means of implicit knowledge. So, the culture will allow learners understand the language they are acquiring in a better way.

Besides implicit knowledge contributes to the acquisition of the second language when students read. Learners can read materials, such as newspapers or magazines with interesting subjects written in the second language that allow them to get and improve their level of assimilation and interpretation concerning the second language. That is why it is so important teachers stimulate students to read systematically.

Another action that favours the acquisition of the second language through implicit knowledge is watching a T.V program. Taking into account a film, for instance, it allows learners to fix the content very well because they establish a link between the visual scenes and what they are listening to. So, they will acquire the second language in an unconscious way.

Due to the reasons mentioned before, it is clear evident that the role of implicit knowledge in the second language acquisition is significant because it helps learners to obtain certain knowledge and the culture which is part of the language. However, explicit knowledge contributes to the acquisition of the second language but in a different way, because it occurs in the classrooms based on the teachers’ support, using different materials such as books, videos or software and the interaction mainly happens between the teacher and the classmates or between the classmates.

So, explicit knowledge contributes in an effective way to the acquisition of the second language, because teachers emphasise the development of the four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. So, through interaction with the teacher in the classroom learners consciously learn the grammatical structures perfectly, because teachers focus their attention on the explanation of the rules in order that students can communicate correctly

By means of peer interaction in the classrooms explicit knowledge contributes to the acquisition of the second language. Teachers organize different types of communicative activities, like, dialogues, dramatizations, role plays and games that favour the acquisition and the development of the four skills, mainly the speaking skills, based on the communicative approach. Those activities also help them to develop creativity and to increase motivation towards the target language. But the classrooms’ atmosphere should contribute in a positive way to the development of the teaching-learning process.

The use of some materials as a support of the second languages’ lessons is an important issue that provides the acquisition of the target language. The use of videos, for instance, makes learning more interesting, dynamic and motivating and if teachers use authentic videos in which native speakers appear, the result of the acquisition of the second language will be better.

In conclusion there are several reasons why either the implicit or the explicit knowledge contributes to the acquisition of the second language because each of them provides the knowledge of the target language but using different ways. Even though, some authors are totally in favour of the implicit knowledge, in my view, the explicit knowledge plays the most significant role for learners’ acquisition of the target language, because all the support they will need, they will find it in classrooms. What do you think?

The acquisition of culture in English lessons.

2011-02-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The way in which learners acquire languages in general has been a topic of interest of linguistics, teachers and researchers. Different methodologies, approaches and theories concerning teaching and leaning process have emerged trying to find out a better acquisition of the language. As we know it is not an easy process because it requires not only the acquisition of knowledge and the development of some skills, but also the necessity of getting the culture of the target language spoken.

It is important to increase the interest on human beings about knowing more issues about the different cultures existed in the world, to respect, tolerate or adapt to a new culture depends on each individual’s decision. Therefore, the cultural issue has a great value in our lives, if we want to communicate with another person from a different culture and being understood efficiently.

As part of the teaching-learning process development, the use of technologies as a support of the language teaching begun and this has contributed enormously since the very beginning. By means of technology students not only acquire knowledge and develop skills, but also, they increase their culture.

This article will report some information about a way of acquiring culture in an English lesson by means of a video.

If you are interested read it and please leave any comment you like!
The acquisition of culture in English lessons.

La creación de un blog con fines educativos. Simple o complejo?

2009-10-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
I have a new article that was published in Gestio Polis.com this month,but this time it is in Spanish language. Hope you enjoy it! It is related to the design of a Blog.

You can consult it at the following address. http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/creacion-de-un-blog-con-fines-educativos.htmç
Kind regards, lots of xxx.

Some interesting articles.

2009-09-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I would love to share with you in this opportunity some articles which have been written by myself and have been published by Cuban edition, online magazines and international educational websites. I hope they could be useful and interesting for you. I will really appreciate if you can provide any comments about any of them. Thank you.

 Design of English educative software. “Premédico” (Premédico Colection)Cuban Edition (Organo) ISBN: 959-18-0136-X Abril-2006

 Design and validation of a Theorical and Practical English lesson about the importance of studying English at the Medicine career. (Proyecto Premédico) RevistaCiencias.com Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/ publicaciones/EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG.php
Code: EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG Friday 16th June / 2006

 Methodology for improving the use of videos in teaching English lessons at the University. Revista Ciencias.com
Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/ publicaciones/EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx.php
Code: EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx
Friday 23rd June / 2006

 Validation of the English software SUNRISE. Órgano Editor. Cuban Edition. ISBN: 959-18-0152-1 Junio/2006

 What makes a good teacher? Teaching English. British Council. BBC. 2008.
URL:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/what-makes-a-good- teacher - 27k

 Inspiring fringers attract capacity audiences. Revista “Cuba Sí” Published by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Spring 2008.

 Video Content from the Web. Monografias.com. 2008.
Category: Tecnology URL:http://www.monografias.com/trabajos65/video-content-web/video-content-web.shtml

 Critically evaluate the role of implicit and explicit knowledge. Monografias.com. Category: Education. 2008.
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/language-learning/language- learning.shtml

 Videos and activities for improving ELT lessons. 2009.
Monografias.com. Category: Tecnology
URL: ybrunet.blogspot.com/2008/07/introduction_1021.html - 43k

 Blog Varona - Videos y actividades para perfeccionar la Lengua Inglesa en clases. 2009.

URL:www.varona.rimed.cu/varona_blog/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=63 - 26k -

 How the English accents have changed through history?
Monografias.com. Category: Language and Literature
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/english-accents/english-accents.shtml

 Using a Blog as a medium for training teachers to integrate videos into the classroom. Monografias.com. Category: Education. 2009.
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles.shtml.

CURRICULUM VITAE EN ESPAÑOL

2009-09-08T17:38:00.002-07:00

Nombre y Apellidos: Yordanka Brunet Valle

Lugar de Nacimiento: Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba.

Nacionalidad:Cubana

Dirección: C/ José A. Bañuls. 259 entre General Rego y Máximo Gómez. Campo Florido. Municipio Habana del Este, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba.

Correo: nayyor@infomed.sld.cu or yordankavalle@googlemail.com
Tel: 790 15 14

Celular: 053 39 0608

Calificaciones:
Licenciada en Educación, especialidad Lengua Inglesa en la Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógicas “Enrique José Varona” en Julio del 2004.

Máster con Merito, en la enseñanza del Inglés a hablantes de otras lenguas (TESOL) en la Universidad de Westminster en Londres, Reino Unido, en el año 2008.

Trabajé en la Universidad de Ciencias Pedagógicas “Enrique José Varona” como profesora de Práctica Integral del Inglés y de Metodología de la Investigación desde el curso 2004 hasta el curso 2009-20010. Trabajé en la UCI en el diseño de un software educativo en Ingles para los estudiantes latinoamericanos que estudian medicina en Cuba. Diseñé un blog como un medio tecnológico de apoyo a las clases de Inglés. He trabajado como traductora e intérprete en eventos nacionales e internacionales. También he tenido la oportunidad de organizar eventos en el exterior.

Trabajo actualmente como profesora principal de Ingles de la carrera de Medicina en la Facultad Calixto García de la Universidad de Ciencias Medicas de La Habana, Cuba e imparto clases de Ingles en la Facultad a dos grupos de estudiantes extranjeros.

Ejemplos de artículos publicados:“Metodología para el uso del video en la enseñanza de la Lengua Inglesa en la Universalización” en la Revista VIDEO Número 6 ISSN: 1027-2135 (en soporte magnético), Sept./05.

Diseño del software educativo Inglés Pre médico” en Órgano Editor Educación Cubana. ISBN: 959-18-0136-X Abril-2006

Diseño y validación de una Clase Teórico Práctica sobre la importancia del estudio de la asignatura de Inglés en la carrera de Medicina (Proyecto Pre médico) en RevistaCiencias.com
Sitio: http://www.ilustrados.com/ publicaciones/EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG.php
Código ISPN de la Publicación: EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG
Publicado Friday 16th June / 2006

Validación del software educativo SUNRISE. Órgano Editor. Educación Cubana. ISBN: 959-18-0152-1 Junio/2006

“Diseño del software educativo Inglés Premédico” (Colección Premédico) Memorias del evento UCIENCIA 2006.( I Taller de Software Educativo y Multimedia) ISBN: 959-16-0463-7 Publicado el 6 de Julio del 2006.

Brunet, Y. (2008). What makes a good teacher? Teaching English. British Council. BBC
URL:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/what-makes-a-good- teacher - 27k

Inspiring fringers attract capacity audiences. Revista “Cuba Sí” Published by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Spring 2008.
Brunet, Y. (2008). Video Content from the Web. En Monografias.com.
Categoría: Tecnología
URL:http://www.monografias.com/trabajos65/video-content-web/video-content-web.shtml

Brunet, Y. (2008). Critically evaluate the role of implicit and explicit knowledge. En Monografias.com. Categoría: Educación
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/language-learning/language- learning.shtml

Brunet, Y. (2009). Videos and activities for improving ELT lessons.
En Monografias.com. Categoría: Tecnología. URL: ybrunet.blogspot.com/2008/07/introduction_1021.html - 43k

Brunet, Y. (2009). Blog Varona - Videos y actividades para perfeccionar la Lengua Inglesa en clases. URL:www.varona.rimed.cu/varona_blog/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=63 - 26k -

Brunet, Y. (2009). How the English accents have changed through history? En Monografias.com. Categoría: Lengua y Literatura
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/english-accents/english-accents.shtml

Brunet, Y. (2009). Propuesta de un Blog para el entrenamiento de profesores. En Monografias.com. Categoría: Educación
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles.shtml

Brunet, Y. (2009). Diseño de un blog para elevar la calidad del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del ingles como lengua extranjera. Tecnología e internet http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/diseno-de-un-blog-para-el-proceso-de-ensenanza-aprendizaje-de-ingles.htm

Brunet, Y. (2009). La creación de un blog con fines educativos. Simple o complejo? Tecnología e internet.http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/creacion-de-un-blog-con-fines-educativos.htm

Brunet, Y. (2009). Integrating videos into ELT lessons. IATEFL Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. November-December 2009 Issue 211. ISSN 1814- 3830

Brunet, Y. (2009). Integrating videos into ELT lessons. IATEFL Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. November-December 2009 Issue 211. ISSN 1814- 3830.

Brunet, Y. (2011). “The acquisition of culture through English lessons by means of a video".
En: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/acquisition-of-culture-through-english-lessons-by-means-of-a-video.htm

Brunet, Y. (2011). Practical activities for using video in language teaching.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/practical-activities-for-using-video-language-teaching.htm

Brunet, Y. (2012). ¿Could english teachers develop Sexual Education through ELT lessons?. Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/could- english-teachers-develop-sexual-education-through-elt-lessons.htm

Brunet, Y. (2012). ¿Is there any particular method or approach to teach English efficiently?.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/is-there-any-particular-method-or-approach-to-teach-english-efficiently.htm

Brunet, Y. (2012). Developing writing skills in English as a foreign language. Some Practical Teaching Ideas. Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/developing-writing-skills-in-english-as-foreign-language.htm

Participación en eventos nacionales e internacionales:
“Moving Young Minds 2008. The world Seminar for Education Ministers”. Londres / Enero/ 2008.
“National Union of Teachers. Annual Conference 2008”. Manchester/ Marzo/ 2008.
“NASUWT Annual Conference”. Birmingham/ Marzo/ 2008.
“ICC 15th Annual Conference. Intercultural Dialogue Language and Communication across Cultures. “Reino Unido”.
Universidad Westminster Londres/ Marzo/ 2008.
-Premier “DVD Film Art” en Greenford, Londres. French Institute, Londres/ Mayo 2008.
Método Cubano de Alfabetización ¨Yes I Can¨. NASUWT Londres / Julio 2008.
-UCIENCIA 2008, presentando los resultados de la Maestría en la UCI Octubre /2008.
“Teaching with vision” con el professsor británico Barry Tomalin de la Universidad de Westminster. Enero/ 2009.
-V Taller Científico-Pedagógico de Idiomas. Facultad de Lenguas Extranjeras de la UCP “Enrique José Varona”. Ciudad de La Habana Febrero /2009.

-Por una Clase Mejor. Facultad de Lenguas Extranjeras de la UCP “Enrique José Varona”. Ciudad de La Habana 28-29 de Mayo/2009

-Forum Nacional “Forjadores del Futuro BTJ” Facultad de Lenguas Extranjeras de la UCP “Enrique José Varona”. Ciudad de La Habana Diciembre (Junio/2009) obteniendo el 1er lugar.
Evento GELI “Why using a Blog for training teachers to integrate videos into the ELT lessons”? Capitolio. Ciudad de La Habana Diciembre, 2009.

-Evento GELI celebrado en la Universidad de Ciencias Pedagogicas EJV, en Ciudad de La Habana Diciembre, 2010.
- Invitada a la Conferencia Internacional de profesores de Inglés IATEFL a celebrarse en
Harrogate, Reino Unido del 7al 11 de Abril del 2010.

- Ponente en la Conferencia Internacional de profesores de Inglés IATEFL en Brighton, Reino Unido del 15 al 19 de Abril del 2011.

- Evento GELI celebrado en Alianza Francesa J y 15 en Ciudad de La Habana Diciembre, 2011.
- Evento “Coloquio del Caribe” en Casa del Alba, Linea, Ciudad de La Habana Diciembre, 2011.

Miembro de la Asociación de Lingüísticas de Cuba.

Miembro del GELI.

Miembro de la Asociación Internacional de profesores IATEFL desde el 2007.

Otras actividades:
-Reconocimiento Profesor Vanguardia Nacional otorgado por el SNTEC. Diciembre/2009.
-Premio “Sello Forjadores del Futuro” otorgado por las BTJ, por resultar destacada a nivel provincial en la actividad científica e investigativa. Teatro del Ministerio de la Agricultura / 15 de enero del 2009.
-Premio de una beca de financiamiento otorgado por la Trinity College London para participar en el evento internacional de la IATEFL Conference and Exhibition en el año 2010. Publicado en la revista Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. Enero-Febrero 2010 Issue 213. ISSN 1814- 3830.

Competencia lingüística:
Español: Excelente
Inglés: Excelente

45th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition

2009-09-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

45th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition

Hello everyone!

I would love to invite you to 45th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition/ Brighton UK 15th - 19th April 2011.

The Brighton Conference and Exhibition will bring together ELT professionals from around the world to discuss, reflect on and develop their ideas. The conference programme will offer many opportunities for professional contact and development. It involves a four-day programme of over 400 talks, poster presentations, workshops, panel discussions and symposiums.

I invite you to participe with me on Monday April 18th, where I will talk about the Design of a Blog for training English teachers to integrate videos in ELT class.

I hope we can meet there and learn together! Thank you!

VC in English of Yordanka Brunet

2009-09-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Name and Surname: Miss Yordanka Brunet Valle

Place of Birth: Havana city, Cuba. Date of Birth: February, 18th, 1982

Nationality: Cuban Marital Status: Single No. of Children: No children

Address: La Coca neighbourhood, between Mártires de Girón Street and Final Street. Bulding # 6, apartment #19. Habana del Este Municipality. Havana city, Cuba.

E-Mail: yordankavalle@googlemail.com and nayyor@infomed.sld.cu

Home phone: 790 15 14
Cell phone: 053 39 06 08

Education and Qualifications:

I got the Higher Education Degree at “Enrique José Varona” Higher Pedagogical University in Cuba in July, 2004.
I got the MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) with Merit at Westminster University, London. UK in July, 2008.

Present position: I teach English language at the Faculty Calixto Garcia, from the Medical Sciences University of Havana, located in Havana city, Cuba.

Association Membership:
I am a member of the National English Teachers Organization (GELI).
I am a member of IATEFL since 2007.

Language Competence:

Spanish - Excellent
English – Excellent

Technical Competence:

I am good at working with computer programs such as: MS Word, Excel, Power Point and Word Perfect.
I have experience designing Blogs.
I am good at using videos, softwares and some other media.
I have a high qualification at teaching English as a second language and also teaching Methodology Theory and Practice to university students.
I have experience teaching Spanish as a second language.
I have experience organizing events and particularly symposiums about the use of ICT for education.
I have experience as a translator from Spanish into English and vice verse.
I have experience working as a leader at work.
I have excellent skills organizing projects.
I have experience writing an informal letter, a letter of application, a CV, a recommendation letter and a biodata.
I have had excellent relation ship among my co-workers.
I have been always considered a reliable person at work.

Professional experience:
I have been working at “Enrique José Varona” Pedagogical University since September, 2004, when I graduated as an English teacher trainer. Since that time I have been an English teacher trainer, obtaining excellent results at the end of each course.

I graduated in 2004, since that time I have been doing different activities as an English teacher trainer. Some of them are below.

Teaching English to students who are doing the Bachelor in education, speciality in Primary education. Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”.

Teaching English to Latino American students who are studying the medicine career in our country.
The Medicine Latino American School.

The design of educative software of English. Informatics Science University.

Teaching English to 1st year students of the course Bachelor degree in Education. Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”.

MA in TESOL with Merit at Westminster University. London, England. U.K Full-time September 2007 August 2008

Teaching English to 1st year students of the course Bachelor degree in Education. Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”.

During the course 2010-2011 I have been teaching English to 3rd year foreign University students who study Medicine at the Faculty Calixto Garcia from the Medical Sciences University of Havana.

Major achievements:
I won the Trinity College London Teacher Trainer Conference Scholarship 2009 in order to finance my participation in the Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition, in Harrogate, UK, 7-11 April 2010.

FURTHER INFORMATION
I wrote a conference about the importance of studying English in the medicine’s career and how to increase the motivation and interest in it. Now days it is part of the program of the English subject.

At the same time, I was a member of a group of experts who worked in the design of an educative software of English, for the formation of Latino American students who will be doctors in the future times. It was achieved in the Informatics Science University. The creation of this software is very important because it increases the interactivity, efficiently, the motivation and interest in the teaching-learning process of the English language in semi presence contexts. This software will be a great help for the education in other countries.
I have worked as adviser of some students from different years of the career, concerning the methodological, scientific and research aspects and also during the teaching-learning process.
I have worked as adviser of different Term paper and Diploma paper of students from the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”
I have worked in the design of the English language program for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of the career, preparing methodological materials, that will contribute to the development of the program in general terms and also a workbook for each unit, that will be used for the students and teachers.

I organized and taught a methodological activity called “The structure of a foreign language lesson” for the teachers in my department.

I have been a member of the jury of the Students Scientific Events.
I studied French Language in the school called Alianza Francesa in Havana City, Cuba, with excellent results.
I studied a post grade in Methodology Theory and Practice at the Pedagogical Institute ¨Enrique José Varona¨, obtaining excellent results.

I studied also a post grade in ICT at the same Institution.

I have written some articles which have been published by Cuban edition and online magazines and educational websites. There are some examples below.

 Design of English educative software. “Premédico” (Premédico Colection)Cuban Edition (Organo) ISBN: 959-18-0136-X Abril-2006

 Design and validation of a Theorical and Practical English lesson about the importance of studying English at the Medicine career. (Proyecto Premédico) RevistaCiencias.com Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/ publicaciones/EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG.php
Code: EEVpuAuVyltSSEZIuG Friday 16th June / 2006

 Methodology for improving the use of videos in teaching English lessons at the University. Revista Ciencias.com
Site: http://www.ilustrados.com/ publicaciones/EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx.php
Code: EEVEEpkZpVnigxqQyx
Friday 23rd June / 2006

 Validation of the English software SUNRISE. Órgano Editor. Cuban Edition. ISBN: 959-18-0152-1 Junio/2006

 What makes a good teacher? Teaching English. British Council. BBC. 2008.
URL:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/what-makes-a-good- teacher - 27k

 Inspiring fringers attract capacity audiences. Revista “Cuba Sí” Published by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Spring 2008.

 Video Content from the Web. Monografias.com. 2008.
Category: Tecnology URL:http://www.monografias.com/trabajos65/video-content-web/video-content-web.shtml

 Critically evaluate the role of implicit and explicit knowledge. Monografias.com. Category: Education. 2008.
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/language-learning/language- learning.shtml

 Videos and activities for improving ELT lessons. 2009.
Monografias.com. Category: Tecnology
URL: ybrunet.blogspot.com/2008/07/introduction_1021.html - 43k

 Blog Varona - Videos y actividades para perfeccionar la Lengua Inglesa en clases. 2009. URL:www.varona.rimed.cu/varona_blog/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=63 - 26k -

 How the English accents have changed through history?
Monografias.com. Category: Language and Literature
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/english-accents/english-accents.shtml

 Using a Blog as a medium for training teachers to integrate videos into the classroom. Monografias.com. Category: Education. 2009.
URL: http://www.monografias.com/trabajos66/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles/propuesta-blog-profesores-ingles.shtml.

 Diseño de un blog para elevar la calidad del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del ingles como lengua extranjera. Tecnología e internet http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/diseno-de-un-blog-para-el-proceso-de-ensenanza-aprendizaje-de-ingles.htm 2009

 La creación de un blog con fines educativos. Simple o complejo? Tecnología e internet.http://www.gestiopolis.com/administracion-estrategia/creacion-de-un-blog-con-fines-educativos.htm 2009

 Integrating videos into ELT lessons. IATEFL Voices. Linking, developing and supporting English language teaching professionals worldwide. November-December 2009 Issue 211. ISSN 1814- 3830

 Brunet, Y. (2011). The acquisition of culture through English lessons by means of a video. URL: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/acquisition-of-culture-through-english-lessons-by-means-of-a-video.htm

 Brunet, Y. (2011). Practical activities for using video in language teaching.
Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/practical-activities-for-using-video-language-teaching.htm

 Brunet, Y. (2012). ¿Could english teachers develop Sexual Education through ELT lessons?. Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/could- english-teachers-develop-sexual-education-through-elt-lessons.htm

 Brunet, Y. (2012). ¿Is there any particular method or approach to teach English efficiently?. Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/is-there-any-particular-method-or-approach-to-teach-english-efficiently.htm

 Brunet, Y. (2012). Developing writing skills in English as a foreign language. Some Practical Teaching Ideas. Ubicado en: http://www.gestiopolis.com/organizacion-talento-2/developing-writing-skills-in-english-as-foreign-language.htm

I have also assisted in different national and international events as a speaker, translator or just as a participant. There are some examples below.

- “Moving Young Minds 2008. The world Seminar for Education Ministers”. London / January/ 2008. (Translator)

- “National Union of Teachers. Annual Conference 2008”. Manchester/ March/ 2008. (Speaker)

- “NASUWT Annual Conference”. Birmingham/ March/ 2008. (Speaker)

- “ICC 15th Annual Conference. Intercultural Dialogue Language and Communication across Cultures. United Kingdom”.
Westminster University. London/ March/ 2008. (As a convenor of the symposium about technology.)

- Premier “DVD Film Art” about the collaboration between the San Alejandro Arts School in Havana city and the Cardinal Wiseman School, en Greenford, London. French Institute, London/ Mayo 2008. (As a participant)

- Cuban literacy method ¨Yes I Can¨. NASUWT London / July 2008. (Speaker)
- UCIENCIA 2008, presenting the results of the MA. Informatics Science University. October /2008. (Speaker)
- “Teaching with vision” with the British professor Barry Tomalin from Westminster University. January/ 2009 (Speaker)
- V Taller Científico-Pedagógico de Idiomas. Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”. Havana city. February /2009. (Speaker)

- Por una Clase Mejor. Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”. Havana city. 28-29 de Mayo/2009 (Speaker)

- National Forum “Forjadores del Futuro BTJ” Faculty of the Foreign Languages at the Higher Pedagogical University “Enrique Jose Varona”. Havana city. (Junio/2009) (Speaker). I won a national award in this event.

- National event GELI “Why using a Blog for training teachers to integrate videos into the ELT lessons”? Capitolio. Havana city,December, 2009.

-National event GELI Pedagogical University. Havana city,December, 2010.

-Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition, in Harrogate, UK, 7-11 April 2010.

-Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition, in Brighton, UK, 15-19 April 2011.

-National event GELI. Alianza Francesa J y 15, Vedado. Havana city, December, 2011.

-Caribbean event Casa del Alba, Linea. Havana city, December, 2011.

2009-05-25T06:22:00.002-07:00

2009-05-25T06:22:00.001-07:00

Different tools that VLE can offer.

2009-05-22T09:25:00.001-07:00

Different tools that VLE can offer in order to favour the teaching learning process of the English language. Some examples of teaching situations appropriate to use in VLE.

MSc Yordanka Brunet Valle

INTRODUCTION

The world at the present time crosses by crescents and vertiginous transformations that determine the necessity of professionals with better preparation by means of an educative process that responds to the exigencies of a society that requires new creative ideas and flexible behaviours with high human values.

The twenty-first century is characterised by vast, exponential technological changes.

For education, this explosion of technological changes has enormous implications, for both teachers and students.

The majority of the students are learning, acquiring, and using technology faster than their teachers, and many teachers are highly fearful of the technologies that the students take for granted.

According to Marc Prensky (2007), in the past five to ten years, new technologies appeared with a strong potential. Most of them were put into practice in education. They include email, search, testing and instant messaging, bogs, wikis, the Wikipedia, pod casting, polling devices, peer-topeer (P2P), complex computer and video games, networking, augmented reality, social and community building tools, digital cameras/video cams, phone-based cameras/video cams, GPS, speed enhancers, interactive whiteboards and DVD.

Additional he states that, the key point is that new technologies for education are arriving and changing really fast.

For example the VLE is one of the best things that have favoured the development in the teaching learning process. Using the VLE there is an electronic space where learning can take place or where interactions occur.

It has given the possibility to students and tutors participate in online interaction through different kind of courses.

This essay will report about some information concerning VLE in general terms. In the first part of the essay there will be a brief description about what VLE is according to the definitions given by different authors such as: Paul Chin (2002), Peter Clinch (2005) and Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly (2007).

Then, in the second part, there will be an analysis made by some authors about two of the three main companies that promote VLE, these are, Moodle, Web CT and Blackboard. There is also my opinion about these at the end.

The next level of the analysis will mention and explain some of the different tools a VLE offer, as for example, pages of links to other web resources, discussion board or web based e-mail tools, simulations or interactive tutorials into the course site, lectures with online tutorials that end with a self assessment quiz, online courses with fully integrated activities, forums, chat and video conferencing, online learning materials, communications tools, interactive content delivery, assessment tools, interactive whiteboards, calendar, diary and loading notes.

Then, the essay will briefly remark the advantages and disadvantages of VLE in education, particularly in distance learning courses because of its great importance for this kind of course.

The final level of the essay will assume the author’s opinion about VLE in general.

So, the main purpose of this essay is to demonstrate through definitions, descriptions and analysis that the use of VLE in the teaching-learning process is very significant and important.

DEVELOPMENT

There are many people who are still doing research and going deeper into the development of VLE because of its great importance in the teaching learning- process. After having analyzed some definitions given by different authors, this essay will present only the ones that provide more information.

According to Chin P. (2002) a VLE is an online (computer) environment, where various tools are provided for the student to facilitate learning. Some VLEs require specific software to be installed on the user’s computer but most VLEs operate across the World Wide Web, so you often only need an Internet connection to access a VLE.

Besides, Clinch P. (2005) thinks that the term VLE is used to refer to interactions of various kinds which take place between learners and users.

The authors Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137) state “Online learning is often delivered via a learning ' platform’ of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)”

In addition to this, Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137) add that “a Virtual Learning Environment is a web-based platform on which course content can be stored. It is accessed by learners on the Internet, and they can not only see course content, such as documents, audio and video lectures, but also do activities such as quizzes, questionnaires and tests or use communication tools like discussion forums or text and audio chat.”

“Increasingly popular in the VLE world is Moodle, an open source VLE which is free" Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137)

Aberdour M. (2007), in his article gave the following definition; “Moodle is designed to support social and collaborative learning which comes at a relevant time as the industry refocuses on informal and blended learning models. Functionally, Moodle is a credible substitute for any standalone LMS. It comes with an impressive array of features and is highly configurable and extensible. And, of course, the bit that is on everybody’s lips: Moodle is free”

He also goes on to suggest that in Further Education in UK FE institutions,
Moodle is used in 56%. Many FE Moodlers cite Blackboard and WebCT (now acquired by Blackboard) as being too slow to respond to changing customer requirements.He adds that the schools market is keen to embrace Moodle, but there are political barriers to entry. In his article there is evidence about the fact that Moodle is noticeably perceived as high value in the education community and has also made an impact in government where open source is routinely evaluated alongside proprietary solutions. However it is yet to make much impact in the corporate sector. Moodle’s existing functionality is not yet geared towards common business requirements. In particular, areas like skills gap analysis are not supported.

According to Mougalian C. and Salazar A. (2005), one of the most eminent advantages of Moodle is that it facilitates collaborative work. They add that Martin Dougiamas designed Moodle under a social constructivist philosophy and I totally agree with them, because, this philosophy gives the possibility to students being the centered in the class, they are able to work independently, analysing by their own and reflecting on the work of the rest of the students.

According to constructivist philosophy, learning occurs as a reflection of the ideas and experiences we construct about everything that goes around us. In a joint classroom connected to an on-line environment, awareness is therefore constructed through interaction with the colleagues.
After having consulted some authors and analysed what they have said about what Moodle is and its importance, it can be said that Moodle is extremely important because it is centred around collaboration, activity-based learning, and critical reflection, it has many power uses outside of the education sector, such as provision of e-learning materials for corporate training, among other things.

“Other one well-known VLEs are WebCT, which recently merged with Balckboard, And First Class, although neither of these is free”. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:137)
The author Rowan M. (2004), explains in his article that WebCT’s interface is aimed at the non-programmer and allows easy organisation of media and resources for the delivery of web-based courses. It is very popular with academics throughout the world and UK Higher Education. However, because courseware development software is highly automated, and is a relatively new field, most courseware development software currently available has some accessibility difficulties.
He also, adds that with the impending removal of the education exclusion from the Disability Discrimination Act and new Human Rights legislation, courseware that is produced using these products may become potentially illegal. WebCT is aware of these issues and intends to include more accessibility features in version 3 of their product which he considers that will be available in June 2000. Until then, it is recommended that these products be used with care. There is now a brief explanation about WebCT V1 and WebCT V2 according to his point of view.
WebCT V1
“This version uses a frames format which makes both the student view and the designer view potentially inaccessible to users of adaptive technology such as a screen reader. The navigation system in the course content has no text link equivalent and the bulletin board system also uses frames. Because of these problems, designers have to create alternative navigation and bulletin board systems to ensure accessibility. WebCT also relies on Java applets, which makes the interface inaccessible to users of assistive technologies.” Rowan M. (2004)
“Accessibility is further compromised by the lack of opportunity to include ALT text in pages generated by the courseware. The bulletin board/mail systems have a complex three-frame structure that is fairly awkward for anyone to use and even more difficult for users of screen readers. The chat is java-based and also inaccessible. “Rowan M. (2004)
WebCT V2
He considers that Version 2 reflects more improvement and that nowadays, educators should use WebCT Version 2 with caution regarding accessibility.
He considers also that, Version 2 give the opportunity to the designer of the course to add ALT text to images generated by the courseware. “The new site map feature has been added to help users with navigation and the new mail tools provide pop-up windows as an alternative to frames. New strategies to improve the access to student tools / navigation are currently being developed.”(Rowan M., 2004)
After having read about this subject, it is clear evident that WebCT is very useful in general and offers a great help to teachers and students because among other things, it allow to teach different courses and give the possibility to students to have access to them any time, it offers the possibility to design, maintain, and add course materials interactively through the Web and quickly update and change course content.
VLEs also provide fairly sophisticated tools. For example, Chin P. (2002) points out in his article there are many tools a VLE can include such as communications tools, interactive content delivery, assessment tools and interactive whiteboards.

He suggests that, “probably one of the most fundamental tools offered by a VLE is the ability to provide students with interactive subject content. Although this can include lecture support notes, reading lists and so on, simply providing passive notes does not in itself constitute good teaching practice. Another core tool of any worthwhile VLE is a communications tool. This enables the lecturer to communicate with their students in a variety of ways via email or by electronic message and online discussion boards.” Chin P. (2002)

Many VLEs also present some sort of formative and/or summative assessment tool. There are a range of other tools available such as being able to link to external resources or design online student groups to promote peer support and group work. Chin P. (2002)

Therefore a VLE can offer similar teaching opportunities which can be used to support traditional teaching methods, but people interaction must be presented.
Perrie Y. (2003) provides clear evidence about the fact that discussion boards, chat rooms and emails can all form part of virtual environments communication in chat – rooms where students can talk to each other virtually and tutor can add input and advice when required, can prove a good mechanism for peer support. Tutors can also participate and provide e-tutorials by agreeing set times in which they will be able in the chat room to discuss any issues or problems.
VLE can also be used to provide general practice and feedback for the students, for example: online tutorials or videos that end with a self assessment quiz and that focus on areas where students would appreciate additional practice can be added.
VLE can provide flexible resources that effectible deliver or enrich learning experiences to an audience with a wide variety of learning requirements. Students are given the freedom to learn where, when, and how they want and active learning can be encouraged.
VLE offer many advantages to the teaching-learning process and in the future times a lesson won't be totally good if it is not supported by VLE.
According to Chin P. (2002), “taken separately, communications, content delivery and even assessment can be delivered via the Web without the need for a VLE.”

He also comments that, there are a number of challenges in Higher Education which VLEs can help with and these include the following, increasing student numbers, automated assessment, widening participation and improved access to limited resources.

ILIEV A. (http://anton.iliev.tripod.com ) in his article points out the benefits of using VLE.
There are only few examples presented in this essay, for example, it allows tutors to create a study environment which makes the relationship between assessment and learning activity explicit, it enables the learner to view resources in the context of learning activity, it allows www-based and traditional non-electronic resources and lecture programs to be referenced in the context of specific learning opportunities, creations of study environments (COSE) allow the course designer to choose suitable resources and present them to the students, COSE view a course as a group of people to whom learning opportunities are assigned, rather than as a body of content to which people are assigned, tutors and learners can search all published content on their COSE server and "collect" relevant items in a "basket"; tutors can readily assign and cross-assign learning opportunities to course groups among others.
According to O'Leary R. (www.swap.ac.uk/elearning/using5.asp - 51) there are some important features that must be taken into account when making reference to a complete learning and teaching experience. To sum up we can say that one of the most important examples is “the communication between tutors and students”, this means that through discussion boards, e-mails, and virtual chat they can be in touch and share ideas and experiences in different ways: one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many. Another one is the “self-assessment and summative assessment”, it facilitates the multiple-choice assessment with mechanical marking and direct response, the next one is “delivery of learning resources and materials”, for the development of lessons it is important the use of learning and teaching materials such as images, video clips and assessment activities. Another significant feature is “shared work group areas” that allow selected groups of students to upload and share files as well as communicate with each other. The “student tools” is another useful feature and a student web pages, electronic diaries and calendars are good examples of it.
It can be argued that I am in favour of these features and also consider that VLEs is completely excellent for different types of teaching situations, mainly for distance learning courses. According to Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:136) “the term distance learning originally applied to traditional paper-based distance courses delivered by mail. Nowadays distance learning includes learning via technology such as the Internet, CD ROMs and mobile technologies, hence the new term e-learning. “
So, distance learning courses can allow flexible resources that effectively deliver or improve learning experiences to an audience with a huge variety of learning requirements. Students have the opportunity to learn what ever they want in the moment they select without the press ion or demanding of a teacher in front of them. Besides, VLEs provides general practice and feed back for the students, for example online videos can motivate them to study any subject or to enrich new aspects about a culture, etc. Students will improve their abilities in searching, organizing their ideas, discussing with other students out or inside the country, and this is one of the main aspect that there must be taken into account, because students love to consult and share what they have done with colleagues. So, the chat rooms are part of virtual environment communication, students can talk to each other virtually and tutor can check and add input and advice if it is necessary. Teachers through the chat rooms discuss any aspect or problem with the students with out moving of their seats.
On the other hand it is important to say that distance learning courses are made not only to develop students’ knowledge but also to improve the development of teachers or professionals in general. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:143) consider the following “with increasing access to the Internet, teachers, too, can find opportunities for professional development which do not involve expensive courses or travel.” So, through some websites like Google they will find many online courses, certificates and degrees.
So, Internet offers the possibility to teachers and teacher trainer being in contact and share ideas and experiences concerning the research they have been doing and also, gives the chance for permanent qualified advance.
However, from my point of view, it is necessary to highlight that there are still some teachers who despite the fact they have the technology in front of them to use it in class with the students, they don' use it at all and they still want to continuous teaching subjects using the traditional way. Maybe they have not learned how to use it very well or maybe they do not feel comfortable using it as a material support for their lessons. Though, if the teachers are extremely motivated they will learn by their own how they must use it.
With respect to this point, the authors Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:148 ) think the following “one of the main entry points into technology for a lot of teachers has been their own experience of it in the form of distance training, with more and more busy professionals finding themselves only having the time and resources to develop professionally by taking advantage of online courses in teacher education -from short skills-based courses to the longer in service-training like the distance learning version of the DELTA. Courses like these have obligated many teachers to engage more with technology, which has resulted in a change of attitude. Rather than learning technology skills in isolation, they have seen at first hand how technology can enhance training, and these experiences have permeated their own professional practice.” Besides there are short methodology online courses for teachers, like Teaching Young Learners, for example that offer also pre—service certificate courses, in-service diploma courses, this is the case of the Cambridge ESOL DELTA and MAs and university diplomas. Dudeney, G. and Hockly N. (2007:143)
Having considered the advantages of VLE it is important to examine the disadvantages.

As ILIEV A. (http://anton.iliev.tripod.com )points out there are some disadvantages in using VLE, for example, students must have fast and reliable Internet connection; the materials can be explored when they are fully downloaded by the students; there must be learners who do not have the necessary technical equipment at home nor access to Internet.
On the other hand, Perrie Y. (2003) states some disadvantages of using VLEs for teaching and training in her article Virtual Learning Environments, for instance she argues that, web casts received over the Web require a fast modem and/or considerable bandwidth (may prefer to issue these tutorials as CDs or offer them as an alternative), less opportunity for independent searching and serendipity, reduces face to face contact, e-learning itself is not yet in line with established study patterns (for example, bulletin boards are unfamiliar as a way of learning), hard to take account of whatever hardware the students have to work with off-campus, difficult to change/update (unless you have an accompanying content management system) among other.
According to Schulte-Mecklenbeck M. (2004), “both instructors and students need training in order to be able to use the VLE. As with every new tool, it takes some time to learn usage and gain confidence. A VLE can become a 'dumping ground' for material not designed for online delivery. Filling up a VLE with hundreds of journal articles, long lists of links, or high-resolution pictures/videos hinders accessibility and lowers satisfaction. Often, the advice faculty give to students about how to sign on a VLE or use it is ignored and the students do not take advantage of the VLE in a course. A VLE does mean additional work in students' spare time, so make the added value transparent to your students and propose reachable goals.”
On the other hand, the authors Lyne C. and Scott B. (2005), state that concerning the incorporation of the VLE into the learning, teaching and assessment (LTA), there are some disadvantages of assessing the on-line activities, for instance: not in the true spirit of autonomous learning if students are forced to do the activities, time-consuming to prepare, limited number and type of questions and technical problems may arise, e.g. Students being 'locked out' of quizzes.

So, in my view, it is extremely necessary to emphasize that, VLE is very useful for students and teachers, although it has some disadvantages that should be taken into consideration. Students from different part of the world can study and acquire knowledge during the distance learning course, but it could be affected by the following features. For example, the lack of face to face interaction is one of them, because students sometimes may get low-spirited when they are interested in sharing information with other students and see their reaction, gestures, or movement concerning the results they have obtained in the tests. There are some students who love listen to how great they are in a specific subject, they want to be congratulated most of the time from their tutors, partners or friends, and this is one of the things that distance courses can not offer as such.

An additional argument is the variety of activities that can keep them motivated must of the time. In this sense, it could be argued that these activities should be very interactive, completely new for them, interesting and dynamic, so students are learning and enjoying what they are doing at the same time without out getting boring. In relation to this aspect, it is important to say also, that teachers when are preparing the activities should take into consideration the main goal of the lesson and the didactic and pedagogical point of view.

Concerning this fact, Jobbings D. (2006) stated that” The VLE is no "quick fix" to presenting good quality teaching and learning materials. Like most educational activity, there is always the need to establish pedagogy for effective e-learning in practice.”
In my opinion, also, another important feature that may disappoint students is when teaching materials have been out of stock as a result of technical problems, so as they want to consult the material and it does not appear this makes them to feel frustrated or disappointed and as a result they may lost their interest in the course.

And the last one that may be taken into consideration is how students will acquire and develop through the distance learning course their human values, mainly children and adolescents who are changing their attitudes and behaviour most of the time.

In conclusion, there are several reasons why the use of VLE is very beneficial for the whole society, and very significant and important for the teaching learning process, allowing the possibility to both students and teachers increase their knowledge and skills. Although it has some disadvantages that should be taken into account in order to improve the way people design different courses using the VLE as a support. Step by step people will fell more confident using VLE and more satisfied with the new favourable changes that will occur in future times in relation to the development of VLE.

Bibliography

Aberdour M. (2007) 2006: The year of Moodle The meteoric rise of Moodle Copyright Epic Performance Improvement Limited. [Accessed 22nd October 2007]

Chin P. (2002) Virtual Learning Environments. Available from http://dbweb.liv.ac.uk/ltsnpsc/briefing_papers/pdfs/vle5.pdf
[Accessed 20th October 2007]

Clinch P. (2005) Presentation at UKCLE seminar on teaching and learning for legal skills trainers. Available from http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/biall/clinch.html - 39k - [Accessed 22nd October 2007]

Dudeney, G. and Hockly, N., (2007). How to teach English with technology. Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh Gate. Harlow Essex England.

ILIEV A. (-) Open and distance education – essence and problems Available from http://anton.iliev.tripod.com [Accessed 19th October 2007]

Jobbings, D. (2006) Anytime, Anywhere Learners Insights into the digital world for our learners - whether they are young or old.
[Accessed 19th October 2007]

Lyne, C. and Scott B. (2005) Making the best use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) for language learning Faculty of Organisation and Management Sheffield Hallam University Available from http://
www.llas.ac.uk/resourcedownloads.aspx?resourceid=2337&filename=VLE_handbook.rtf - [Accessed 2oth October 2007]

Mougalian C. and Salazar A. (2005) Moodle, the electronic syllabus, lends itself to PrOCALL Downloads moodle and prOCALL Available from http:// faculty.miis.edu/~bcole/CALLme/page2/page9/page9.html - 20k –[Accessed [Accessed 22nd October 2007]

Perrie Y. (2003) Virtual Learning Environments 7th Available from http:// www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/tlr/vles.html - 88k
[Accessed 18th October 2007]

Prensky M. (2007) We are all learners. We are all teachers. British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)
ISBN: 1853794678
[Accessed 18th October 2007]

O'Leary R. (- ) 'Virtual Learning Environments'. (SWAP) Available from www.swap.ac.uk/elearning/using5.asp - 51k [Accessed 19th October 2007]
Rowan M. (2004) "Web CT Accessibility" Available from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/disinhe/intro.html - [Accessed 19th October 2007]

Schulte-Mecklenbeck M. (2004) Brave New World ... Wide Web Blending Old Teaching Methods with a Cutting-edge Available from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1666 - 36k -
[Accessed 19th October 2007]

INTRODUCTION

2008-07-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hello:
My name is Yordanka Brunet Valle and I am an English teacher trainer from Cuba. I got MA in TESOL at Westminster University, UK in 2008. I enjoy doing research regarding the teaching learning process of foreign languages and the use of technology as a valuable support for their acquisition and improvement.

It is a reality that being successful teaching a foreign language in class is not an easy issue to achieve, however teachers by means of videos can allow students to acquire the target language efficiently.

So, through this Blog you will learn how to use videos as a support of the English lessons in class, based on some examples of the most appropriate activities which will be divided in three main stages; the Preparatory, the Understanding and the Extension Work. These activities were selected taking into account that they are suitable for all levels, can be used with any videos because they are general, interesting, and simple, so they are easy to put into practice.

In addition, the Blog designed should contribute also an example for teachers in general about its design and content.

The Blog has the topics organized on the left side according to the alphabet. The Introduction offers an explanation about the Blog in general, then, you will see the Preparatory activities, the Understanding activities and the Extension Work, which are the activities achieved as a support of the videos. So, when clicking on one of the bottoms regarding the activities, you will see a window with three main tittles; Description, Objectives and some Examples of the activities taking place in class. Then, you will also enjoy the videos used from YouTube for the filming lessons.

These activities could be very useful for teachers, students and teachers trainers because, any time teachers want to use a video in class and they are not sure about which activities are the most adequate and the methodology for using them, they can go to Internet, click in the link and find out the information they need.

At the moment I am teaching English to foreign students at Havana Medicine University and I realized there is a lack of computing tools, mainly videos for using in class. So the blog has also some examples of short medicine videos in English which allow to increase the motivation of the students towards the English subject due to, the videos deal with medicine topics and also they allow the students to enrich their English communicative skills.

Besides, the Blog has some examples of articles related to education that have been published in Cuba and abroad.

The Blog gives the possibility to write any comment regarding the topics presented and allows to contact the author through email.

Well, I hope you learn and enjoy from the content of this Blog how to teach English language by means of videos and improve its acquisition in the students.

Thank you very much and good luck!

"Most beautiful Places in The World"

2008-07-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hello! How are you?

This is a very nice video used for the filming lessons. The title is "Most beautiful Places in The World".
Maybe you are from one of those places...
Enjoy it!

"Anyone Can Dance - Salsa: Beginner Clip"

2008-07-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hi!
This is another video from YouTube used for the video lessons. The title is "Anyone Can Dance - Salsa: Beginner Clip"

Do you know how to dance salsa music?
I hope you like it!

"Climate Change"

2008-07-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hello!
This is a very interesting video from Youtube. The title is "Climate Change". It was used for the filming lessons.
Hope you like it!

EXTENSION WORK

2008-07-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

1- Complete the following sentences using the information provided in the video. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck
a.Life depends on ( ) being trapped by the layer of gases that surround the Earth.
b.As the world gets hottest, the climate would change ( ) effects we have witnessed may become more frequent.
c.If we could see the gases, ( ) would be obvious to everyone.
d.The solutions exist and ( ), but we have to act now, today.

Description: In this activity the students should complete the spaces in blank using the information provided in the video. So the teacher will play the video once and they should just listen to it. After listening they should complete the sentences given by the teacher with the information they heard. They should write more than one word in each space. It is a pair work activity.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to improve the listening and writing skills in the students.

Example:

2- To write a paragraph about a video segment expressing their opinions. After finishing, they should report in class what they have done. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: In this occasion the teacher should select a video segment and ask students to watch it until the end. After that, they should write a paragraph expressing their opinions about what they have seen. The students can support their ideas taking into account the information provided in the video and their personal experiences and knowledge about the topic. After finishing, they should report in class what they have done.

Objectives: The main goals of this activity are to improve the writing and speaking skills, to practice the knowledge acquired before in class and to reinforce the one learnt through the video.

Example:

3- To perform a dramatization putting into practice the content acquired through the video. They can add new details. (Anyone Can Dance - Salsa: Beginner Clip)

Description: After watching the video, the students should do a dramatization in which they represent the characters from the video and will try to perform as the original version. So the teacher lets them to select their favourite character but helps them with the scrip they should say by heart. So, they will need some time for learning what they have to say. They can add new information but it should be related to the video.

Objectives: This activity improves the students’ speaking skills and develops the process of fixing a new content through the memory.

4- Watch the video and create different questions about its content. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: In this activity after students having watched the video, the teacher will ask them to create different questions related to the video. The teacher will divide the group in four small groups (A, B, C, D) and give them 5 minutes to create the questions. After that, the teacher writes the letters in different pieces of papers and put them in a bag. One student should select one of the papers without looking at it and the letter chosen indicates which team will start asking the questions and the rest should answers them. Then, this will be the methodology to follow with this activity. The teacher should correct any mistake produced by the students at the end of the activity, allowing them to feel free while communicating in the target language.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to provide and improve the acquisition of the vocabulary related to the video and at the same time, to develop the communicative functions regarding the units previously studied, including the development of the writing and speaking skills in the students.

5- Different tasks using the same scene from the video (Dance moves: An Emergency Guide For Men.)

Description: In this activity the teacher should divide the classroom in two parts and let a half of the class watch a scene of the video without audio and let the other half listen to it without the pictures. Students from each half of the class will talk about the situation and characters, and will do a performance of the scene.

Objectives: This activity allows students to make a deeper comprehension of the video, based on the content acquired through the visual information and the listening.

6-Dramatizations based on the video content. (Dance moves: An Emergency Guide For Men.)

Description: In this activity the teacher will select some students in class who will watch and listen to a segment of a video and will dramatize its content to their partners who are not watching the scene and who should ask questions in order to guess what is happening in the scene.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop in the students the speaking skills and to improve some grammatical structures like asking and answers questions.

7-Organize and recreate all the scenes from the video based on the dialogue lines and students’ memory. Pair work activity.

Description: In this activity the teacher should write on separate strips of paper some dialogue lines regarding a video watched and let students to organize and recreate all the scenes based on the dialogue lines and what they remember having seen. It is a pair work activity. After finishing organizing the information, they should report to class.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop the process of memorization in the students, although they have a guide (which is the dialogue lines) but they only work as a basic support, they should be able to report almost in details the content of the video, contributing to enrich the speaking skill in the students.

Example:

8-Create a different title of the video, taking into account its content. Provide reasons.

Description: In this activity the students should create a different title of the video, taking into account its content. Students will work individually and after 5 minutes, they will read the new title aloud and provide reasons about their creativity.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to realize how much students have understood the content of the video and to develop their creativity and some skills like the writing and the speaking ones.

UNDERSTANDING ACTIVITIES

2008-07-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

1- Description and narration of a video sequence. It is a pair work activity. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change).

Description: The teacher should sit students in pairs one facing the other one. But one of them should be watching the screen, the other facing the back of the class. The teacher should select a short fragment of the video that contains visuals actions and the students who face the screen will watch it but without any sound, so the watchers will describe what is on the screen to their partner. After that, the student who did not watch the video, should talk about it, taking into account what his/her partner described to him/her.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop in students the description and narrative abilities and also to engage students with the topic. This kind of activity offers them a lot of fun due to the watches should describe to the partners the sequence of video quickly.

Example:

2- Circle the words from the list. List: (life, early, usually, government, climate, surround, warmer, issue, gases, challenge) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck(Climate change)

Description: The teacher will present a list with some words to students and while they are listening to the video, they should circle the words they listen to. They will do it individually and when finishing, they can consult their answers with the partner.
List: life, early, usually, government, climate, surround, warmer, issue, gases, challenge.

Objectives: This activity highly develops and improves the listening skill in the students, due to they should pay a careful attention to the video in order to do circle the words.

Example:

3- Predicting the content of the video. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck
Description: The teacher should select a fragment of the video and let students to watch it and listen to for a minute. Then, the teacher will make a pause and students should predict what will happen next. It is a Pair work activity.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop the creativity and imagination in the students, but also to engage them with the video they are watching.
Example:

4-Some comprehension questions (Climate change).
a)Does the change in the climate affect our ways of life?
b)Life depends on the warmth of the sun being trapped by the layer of gases that surround the Earth.
c)Does the video mention the solutions to tackle the problem?
d)Do we still have time to stop the problem?

Description: The teacher will present some comprehension questions to students and will give 1 minute to read them I silence. Then, the teacher asks them to determine which of the questions are answered through the video? They should give reasons.

Objectives: This activity allows students to improve their listening skills forcing them to pay a special attention to the video, due to they should realize if the video provide the answers to those questions or not.

Example:

5-Students should discuss in small groups some general questions such as:
-What is happening in the video?
-Which could be the causes of the problems from your point of view?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: The teacher will give students some general questions and ask them to discuss them in small groups of four or five students. They have around 5 minutes to do the activity. After that, one member of each group will provide the answers. The teacher should guide the activity and clarify any doubt or mistake students might produce.

Objectives: It allows to support the understanding of the content and to promote the active reflective and critical observation.

Example:

6-Listen to a sequence from the video without watching it. Pair Work activity. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)
Description: The teacher should select a sequence form the video and will let students to listen to it with out watching it. Then students should write a paragraph describing in pairs what they listened to. After checking the activity the teacher will play the same sequence of video but this time they will have the possibility to watch it. So, they can compare their description with the real scenes.

Objectives: This activity will allow students to improve their listening skills and creativity, besides it offers them the possibility to work in pairs helping each other, trying to do the activity successfully.

Example:

7-Watch a fragment of the video with out any sound and write a script. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: The teacher will select a fragment from the video and let students to watch it without any sound. They should take some notes because after that they will create a narrator’s script in pairs. The main issue is that the script should synchronize with the images. So, the teacher will play the segment again and students will report what the characters are saying.

Objectives: This activity enriches the vocabulary in the students, due to they should create what the characters are saying based on the images. It also develops the writing skills in the students due to they should take some notes and at the same time it enriches the speaking skills and improves their pronunciation, because when reporting the teacher will correct the mistakes or errors students might produce.

Example:

8-Watch a fragment of the video without any sound and do a performance to the partner. (Anyone Can Dance - Salsa: Beginner Clip).
Description: In this activity the students should work in pairs, one of the members will watch a fragment of the video but without listening to it and should do a performance (just with gestures and body language) about what is happening in the video to the partner. So, the student who is not facing the screen should guess what is happening in the video.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop the creativity in the students, and if you are a teacher trainer, this activity shows students how to teach a foreign language not only by means of the knowledge or materials as a support of it, but also by means of the gestures and mimics which highly contribute to the acquisition of a target language.

9-One of the members will watch a video sequence while the other one will read the script without watching it. Discuss in pairs their criteria about the video sequence. It is a pair work activity

Description: In this activity the teacher will select a video sequence and ask students to work in pairs. One of the partners will look at the video without any sound and the other one will read the script without watching the video. Both activities occur at the same time. After that the two members will sit together and interchange criteria about the video.

Objectives: The main goal with this activity is to increase the students’ motivation towards the video and forces them to be more observers due to the watchers should decode the information presented through the visual images that will be compared with the ones reported by the partner who read script.

Example:

10-The students should narrate and describes a fragment of a video which contains lots of actions without any sound.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: It is a game in which the teacher should select a fragment of the video which contains lots of action but without any sound, so students while watching it should narrate and describe the events being creative. It means that they should use as many adjectives as they can. The teacher will select a team of students (who will be the advanced ones) and they should select the winners or the winner, who will be the student who describes and narrates the events committing few or any mistakes and using a huge variety of adjectives.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to develop in the students the speaking skill and the ability to describe using different adjectives according to what is happening in the video sequence selected by the teacher. It also contributes to expand the lexical items in the students due to they should find out the most appropriate words in order to narrate the events.

PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES

2008-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Description: A brief commentary about what students should do in each activity and if they have to work in pairs, individually or in groups.

Objectives: The purpose of doing each activity in class.
Examples: Some examples of the video lessons taking place in class.

Title of the video: (Most beautiful places in the world)
1-Before watching the video the teacher asks a general question like:
Have you ever been somewhere so beautiful that made you want to live for ever? Students will discuss in pairs.

Description:
In this activity students should discuss with the partner the question presented by the teacher with out watching to the video. It is a warm up activity, which will contextualize students concerning the content they will acquire and will develop their creativity.

Objectives: The idea of the exercise is to prepare students towards an active and reflective observation of the video and to motivate them towards the topic they will deal with.

Example:

Title of the video: (Most beautiful places in the world)
2- Students will watch and listen to the video and debate after that, if their opinions coincide with the content of the video. Students can add another place that does not appear in the video and give reasons.

Description: Trough this activity the students should watch and listen to the video trying to find out what are the most beautiful places around the world according to the author. So, after listening they will discuss with the partner about the places mentioned. They could agree or disagree with the author and could add some new places they consider beautiful and have not been mentioned in the video. Students should provide reasons that justify their criteria.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to keep students motivated towards what they are going to hear so they focus all their attention on the listening activity rather than listening without a specific purpose. To prepare students with respect to the information presented through the video. It is important that the information tribute to their interests and curiosity. This activity also highly contributes to the students’ culture’s acquisition due to the video deals with different places around the world.

Example:

3- Teacher should create a brainstorming before students watch the video. So, he/she will present the general topic of the video and ask students to discuss about it. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change) The global warming and its effect on the weather.

Description: The teacher will introduce the general topic of the video and let students generate all the vocabulary and other information they know about the topic. Writing the information on the board helps students to share the information they have created and offers them at the same time a great support before watching the video. It is a pair work activity.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to prepare students towards an active and reflective observation of the video. It allows students to feel motivated and interested towards the knowledge they will acquire.

Example:

4- The teacher will present the following list of words (layer, warmth, ozone, trapped, tackles) and students should link these words with the content of the video with out watching it. Then they should discuss with their partner their ideas.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: Before watching the video the teacher will write on the board the key words related to the video and the students should work with the partner predicting the content of the video based on the words presented. The teacher should provide the meaning of the words in case they are unknown for the students.

Objectives: This activity enriches the creativity of the students establishing a link between the words presented and the content of the video. It also stimulates students towards the video they will watch.

Example:

5-The students should look at some pictures carefully and discuss in pairs their ideas concerning them. They should be able to relate the pictures with the video they are going to watch.

Description: The teacher will show students some pictures from the video they will watch and ask them to talk with their partner predicting the content of the video taking into account the pictures.

Objectives: The idea of this activity is to demonstrate that the use of videos stimulates not only the skill of listening through the ears, but also the skill of acquiring the information by means of the eyes. The activity will allow students the possibility to decode the information presented through the images and will motivate students towards the topic.

Example:

6- Predict the content of the video. (Climate change) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck

Description: Teachers will let students to watch and listen to a fragment of the video and will stop it asking them to predict what’s going to happen next.

Objectives: This activity allows students to get involved in the video and so, they can anticipate the content before they watch it. Besides, this activity develops the creativity, coherence and logic in the students due to they should take into account the previous content and link it with the unknown context. It helps to keep students interested with respect to the video until the end.

Examples:

7- To watch without any sound the first 45 seconds from the video and ask them to write a commentary afterwards.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55TdqC9Luck (Climate change)

Description: The teacher will let students to watch without any sound the first 45 seconds from the video and ask them to take some notes while watching it. After that, they should work with the partner writing a commentary about what they have seen and report it in class.

Objectives: This type of activity stimulates students towards the video and engages them with respect to the topic they will deal with, but also the activity generates and improves the vocabulary in the students.

Example:

8- To present the title of the video and ask students to discuss about the content of it without watching it, just taking into account the title. Pair work activity.
Description: The teacher will write the title of the video on the board and ask students to predict the content of the video based on the title. Students will debate with the partner their ideas and criteria about the relation between the title and the content.

Objective: The main goal of this activity is to develop the skill of prediction on the students.

Example: