The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli

The studies, together with other research showing similar results (Chertkow et al., 2010), demonstrate a significant delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, for people who have been lifelong bilinguals.

Socrates As A LifeLong Learner In A Digital Age

Socrates As A LifeLong Learner In A Digital Age:

“The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know.” Socrates

Lifelong learners seek to examine the claims and theories within their disciplines’ body of knowledge before accepting them as worthy of belief.

Socrates/Quotes

• An unexamined life is not worth living.

• True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.

• I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing.

• When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser.

• Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

• Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.

• By all means marry: if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

• To find yourself, think for yourself.

• I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.

• There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

• • 
    
  Socrates determined that while learning new information, we are challenging our current understanding. He discovered that by applying this method of probing questioning to theories of people in power, they could not rationally justify their claim to knowledge just because they held positions of authority. By questioning and examining life, Socrates established that persons could hold high position yet still be deeply confused, have self-contradictory beliefs and inadequate evidence to their rhetoric (National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 2019). I view this philosophy as the beginning of empirical research.

New research and new information should not only inform our experiences but challenge our accepted frameworks for understanding, interpreting, translating and analyzing to form our own knowledge. Application of knowledge for the examined life is of utmost importance in the learning and teaching journey. As lifelong learner practitioners and scholars, it is our profound duty to apply this philosophy and probing questioning within the classrooms we study and within the classrooms where we teach.
 As an online educator and practitioner-scholar, I strive to help each student realize his or her potential as a worthy, effective, and positive member of society. While I am teaching, I am also working to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, the acquisition of knowledge and skill, and the thoughtful formulation of worthy goals. I exert every effort in this process in order to provide an online classroom climate with the freedom to learn, high yet attainable standards, and the guarantee of the opportunity for equal education for all.
Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org
Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/lifelong-learner-in-a-digital-age-socrates

Native speakers know the culture? - BBELT 2017

Discover the Global Scale of English

Global standards are everywhere. In business, energy, science and nature. Even chillies have their own scale! So why not English language learning? Why is there no single standard that every person, company and institution can use to benchmark learning progress? Well now there is - the Global Scale of English (GSE), the world's first truly global English language standard which will allow you to measure progress on your English language journey.
http://www.wiziq.com/halina-maria-ostanko

Inspiring Curiosity Through Intercultural Learning

Inspiring Curiosity Through Intercultural Learning

This year, AFS-USA will be participating in Global Leadership Week, a conference that brings together administrators, teachers, nonprofit leaders, and students to inspire advocacy in global education. This weeklong conference (April 25-29th) is free to the public with the primary objective of connecting leaders in global education to encourage dialogue and promote resources to foster global competency.

AFS-USA will be hosting a virtual event that will demo an eLearning tool to foster global competency through Intercultural Learning. By exploring different topics, Culture Trek: Classroom Connections, will challenge students to think critically about pressing world issues and the important role of youth in promoting peace. Participants will be provided curriculum resources, lesson plans, and links to relevant online platforms in order to successfully embed global learning into classroom studies throughout the school year.

The session, Inspiring Curiosity Through Intercultural Learning, will be hosted onThursday, April 28th at 2:00 PM EST. To register for this webinar, click here.

To learn more about the events that will be taking place during GLW, please visit the GLW Event Directory. We encourage you to join an event and participate in the discussion using the hashtag #globaled16. 

We hope you can join us during Global Leadership Week 2016!

Meet the IATEFL Online Team

Meet the IATEFL Online Team

Carol Read (IATEFL) and Julian Wing (British Council) talk about this year's conference and say goodbye to the online viewers. - See more at: 

http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2016/interview/meet-iatefl-online-team#sthash.oleIknrT.dpuf

Click on the link to watch goodbye video.

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IATEFL Birmingham Online

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Join-IATEFL-Birmingham-live-online-from-Tuesday-12-April-.html?soid=1102090353602&aid=Ldd-1p_uZbY

Live coverage from IATEFL Birmingham Online begins on Tuesday 12 April, from 12.00 pm, UK time. Don't miss a thing! 

IATEFL President, Marjorie Rosenberg, gives you a warm welcome to the IATEFL Birmingham Conference.

Why not join one of the highlights of the English language teaching calendar? 

I am joining and you?

Learning Language Theories

This is my latest video.

Language Learning Theories

Learning Theories

There are 12 learning theories:

•    Constructivism

•    Behaviorism

•    Piaget's Developmental Theory

•    Neuroscience

•    Brain-Based Learning

•    Learning Styles

•    Multiple Intelligences

•    Right Brain/Left Brain

•    Thinking

•    Communities of Practice

•    Control Theory

•    Observational Learning

•    Vygotsky and Social Cognition

http://www.funderstanding.com/about_learning.cfm.

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Learning means bringing changes, by learning human enters new society and culture. When they learned new understanding, they perform on it. Otherwise, they lose it.

As stated earlier, learning transfers changes (behaviorism) and creates new knowledge or increases information (cognitive skills).  Education empowers our brain and beliefs, so it encourages our intellectual power to improve knowledge.

Most important theories related to language learning.

1.       Behaviorist,

2.       Cognitive,

3.       Constructivism,

4.       Chomsky’s Universal Grammar

5.       Schumann’s Acculturation / Orientation in a new culture,

6.       Krashen’s Monitor

7.       Conversation

The conversation theory is a transdisciplinary learning theory. Developed by Gordon Pask in 1975, it is influenced by a range of cybernetics, linguistics, computer science concepts, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology.

What learning theories do you follow and why?

How do you incorporate them into your teaching? Try to be as specific as you can. 

I use the mix of different theoriesIt depends on the kind of my students.

In my view, theoretical concepts do not yield concrete prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

Non-formal education and informal learning are vital for improving language learning.

How People Learn and What are their Learning Styles?

This is my video about the topic

https://youtu.be/ANObYwBfmu0?list=PLSY4veVfjc63CFZvyfcU96ZodmJp3h5xV

Nowadays the dominant theory is socio-constructivism which can be defined as an approach according to which individual knowledge relies on its social construction of it. (Piaget, Doise and Mugny, 1984). Particularly relevant in this respect are the communication processes (learning dialogs) occurring in situations where at least two persons try to solve a problem. The social world of a learner includes the people that directly affect that person, including teachers, friends, students, administrators, and participants in all forms of activities. Accordingly, learning designs should enhance local collaboration and dialogue but also engage other actors (e.g. domain experts) to participate in certain ways. Research on collaborative learning is particularly interested in learning mechanisms that are triggered by specific collaborative activities.

Key functionalities of a socio-constructivist learning environment are:

• Reflection & Exchange
• Scaffolding & Storyboarding
• Facilitation & Content
• Monitoring & Assessment
• Production, Investigation, etc.
• Psychological support & Community.

         http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Socio-constructivism

Theoretical concepts do not produce actual prescriptions for classroom application, but the good theory can be used flexibly and creatively by teachers in their planning and educational practice. At the same time, not all learning takes place in the classroom as much of it occurs at home, on the sports field, in museums and so forth (non-formal education), and sometimes implicitly and effortlessly (informal learning).

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. I find this theory increasingly relevant for students and adults, especially in today's education.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Additionally, I would like to highlight Constructivism as one of the hot topics in educational philosophy right now. It potentially has profound inferences for how current `traditional' instruction is structured, since it goes with several highly exposed educational trends, for example:

• the transition of the teacher's role from "sage on the stage" (fount/transmitter of knowledge) to "guide on the side" (facilitator, coach);
• teaching "higher order" skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and reflection (for example, see also creative learning);
• enabling learners to learn how to learn;
• increasing flexibility in the evaluation of learning outcomes;
• cooperative and collaborative learning skills.

For me, language learning through conversation and open communication is the most effective teaching technique.

I want my students to become active learners. As the brain works on a use-it-or-lose-it style, means students must apply whatever they learn.

It is necessary to use the new phrase or character in a real situation. Also learning the words and phrases through original videos helps to learn faster.

Moreover, I encourage my students to make language learning a passion.

I combine the fun of language learning with the commitment to follow through. They should remember that feeling the need to learn a new wording is not enough to take an action. Give yourself clarity on what exactly compels you to learn a new language.

My tips are;

• Figure out the how to comprehend a desire to learn.
• What’s the goal behind it?
• What’s the bigger picture?
• How will learn a new language open opportunities in future?
• Just answering these questions will motivate learners to get to the much higher level to take action when necessary.

3 Tips for Capitalizing on Your Students’ Digital Literacy Skills - Top Hat Blog

 This is very important article for teaching with technology approaches.
I am a lifelong learner and a teacher.
I would like my students to follow new ways of learning.

3 Tips for Capitalizing on Your Students’ Digital Literacy Skills - Top Hat Blog:
Digital literacy is one of the few skills that we don’t formally teach in the classroom, probably because it is one of the few skills that the students are more comfortable with than the instructors. I have never had to hold a class of the proper use of hashtags. Nor have I ever been forced to discuss the intricacies of the Facebook “like” vs “dislike” buttons debate. Surprisingly, I have never once thought, “you know what we need in this class, a close examination of Vine videos”…Maybe I should start thinking this way, because the literacy that I learned with a pen and pencil has long since been replaced by the language of daily communication: digital literacy. This new-age literacy comes out of the rise of integrated social networking. To clarify, this network has become all encompassing. Every time you..

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning
According to the definition provided by Hewlett (n.d.), open educational resources are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others”. These can include whole courses of open content, textbooks, multimedia, software and any other materials which may be used to teach or support learning such as lesson plans and curricula. There remains some debate about what should qualify as an ‘open’ resource, with some definitions emphasizing open access to resources and others focusing on the affordances for revising and repurposing afforded by open licenses (see Creative Commons, 2013). However, any disagreements tend to be limited to the specific kinds of licenses for educational that are termed ‘open’ and whether they should permit specific forms of re-use (such as only allowing non-commercial re-use).

Google Form Culture of Learning

Moodle MOOC 7 (MM7) takes place from November 1 - 30, 2015 on Moodle for Teachers. The purpose of the MOOC is to connect for instruction and learning, personal and professional development, best practices and challenges involved in teaching with technology.

This is my introduction to the MM7 session on WizIQ.