Hmm... It already Week 7 (TIME seems to fly)

HEY ALL! I'm sure all you guys are busy attending to home work assignments, amidst so many other responsibilities. We have been exposed to so much new innovative thinking and learning strategies during the past few weeks. This week, the most important and crucial information I gained was 'Learner Autonomy.

YEP, the role of the learner in the classroom is of dire importance. Especially coming from Sri Lanka, most educational institutions and schools schools still adhere to very traditional teaching methodology and strategies.There is a dire need for a dynamic and inspired change in the curriculum to usher in learner enthusiasm and autonomy in the classroom and learning process. Obviously, technology can give that much needed boost to create learner interest and motivation for learning a language. From my experience as a teacher, I feel that students should take charge of their learning process; with moderation and guidance by the teacher.

I have realized that especially in developing countries, English Language Education should be more broad based. The policy makers should pioneer a redistribution of power in knowledge, especially with the advent of IT infusion into language acquisition.

I was very challenged drawing up a lesson plan for a 'one computer classroom'.Many schools in rural Sri Lanka, has very limited access to computers. Most schools in the under developed areas would only have a few computers in the library that can be used only by teachers. In this context of limited IT access, a one computer classroom is a reality for most teachers in Sri Lanka.

HI ALL! Its Week 6 already
Only today, I'm doing the blog for last week, (week 6), as it was hectic and crazy week for me. My yahoo email got hacked, and I had no way to access my email account. I was totally lost, as it was the email account I had used for over 15 years. Thus, I couldn't do my E courses assignments either. Anyways, now the email account is restored and life seems back to normal. I have managed to do catch with the assignments for week 6 as well.

Yes, the readings for week 6 were very informative indeed. I have been using PP for teaching for a very long time. Nevertheless, after getting through the readings for week 6, I belatedly realized that the interactive element had been minimum in the PPs. I realized that merely including pictures, graphics, charts, tables in PP presentations makes it visually stimulating and entertaining, but not necessarily  interactive.I noted down many suggestions that would make PP more interactive, and thus a more useful and productive teaching method to achieve learner objectives.Especially in language teaching, what matters most is usage, more than knowledge; and interactive PPs are very useful to keep learners engaged in the task, with maximum peer interaction.

It was a very educative experience, reading through the sample PP given in the course readings.The new knowledge I gained from the readings helped me in planning and designing the interactive PP for the project task.

Week 5
Well, we are already half way through the course.I have learnt much from reading about PBL in the assigned readings. I realize how much PBL helps to make a definite change in helping students to develop language skills.I look forward to integrating PBL based activities into my general language teaching. Technology can be used to enhance PBL activities, as the web is an excellent tool to locate material based on student interest. Getting through the assigned readings for week 5, made me reflect on the inherent drawbacks and disadvantages in traditional teaching  such as drills and grammar based curriculum.I sure look forward to enriching my teaching by using PBL/

I realize the importance of using PBL to promote student motivation.In this respect, web quests can be a creative tool to be used by teachers to enhance learning through PBL activities. From the assigned readings, I gathered how to create student tasks, designate resources and encourage students to work in groups in utilizing web quests for teaching.

Week 4

HI! Its week 4 on the E course and I have already learnt so much. The weekly readings on Reading/writing skills, using the internet as a teaching aid opened new horizons for me. I was exposed to and learnt creative and innovative teaching methodology to use in a classroom. I hope to use online lessons in the curriculum as the students would be exposed update material, with wide variety and choice to suit different age groups and professional interests (in case of adult students who are already employed).The role of the teacher in a wired classroom is very dynamic, and I intend to implement much of what I have learned through the E course in my teaching.

Reading sample lesson plans (given for readings) made me reflect on my classes and make assessment about achieving teaching objectives. Writing a lesson plan for the project task helped me to explore new avenues of  enhancing student output in class. Importantly I realized the advantages of utilizing technology (as far as possible as Sri Lanka is a developing country and all classrooms do 'not' have access to technology) to enhance language skills and competency of students.