FOREVER YOUNG - Rod Stewart and daughter Ruby DUET

"Forever Young"

May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
surround you when you're far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you'd have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you'll always stay
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young

May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
with a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain
and in my heart you will remain
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young
Forever Young

And when you finally fly away
I'll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose
I'm right behind you, win or lose
Forever Young, Forever Young
Forever Young ,Forever Young
Forever Young, Forever Young
For, Forever Young, Forever Young

Halina's English Academy

http://halina-s-english-academy.teachable.
com/admin/onboarding


http://www.wiziq.com/halina-maria-ostanko

ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION

HALINA’S 

English  ONLINE COURSE 

Simulated immersion

Simulated immersion

What is simulated immersion?

Simulated immersion is based on the idea that the best way to improve your listening is to be immersed in the target language in a native speaking environment. In the absence of such an opportunity, we try to simulate the conditions that make immersion favorable.

 Those conditions are:

• Large amounts of time spent simply hearing the language - several hours per week rather than mere minutes spent in a typical class

• Maximal exposure to authentic texts

• Exposure to a wide range of situations and language forms

• Emphasis on bottom up processing to aid in real-life scenarios

Practical ideas

This is my daughter listening.

Hearing versus listening
In class, teachers invariably set tasks to accompany ‘listenings’. This is understandable - it would be a bit weird to simply press play and hope the students got some value from it.

But simply hearing a language - being exposed to it in the background, in the car, on the radio or TV, or in the form of music, for example, is extremely valuable. It’s a much looser, less structured form of practice than is found in class, but it acclimatizes the learner to the sound systems and structures of the language. I will call this type of listening passive listening.

 Tom Hayton, freelance teacher and trainer
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/simulated-immersion

Introduction - Marek Kiczkowiak - IATEFL 2016 panel discussion

As a non- native I am interested in this discussion.

Nativeness - a feather in your cap for language teaching? webinar by Jam...

I am a non- native English speaker.
Will you join my online English Courses?

Transforming Schools into Democratic Communities | Ramin Farhangi | TEDx...

Published on Jun 22, 2016Ramin believes that we can build a democratic society if we have the courage to transform our schools into democratic communities.He quits teaching to create a democratic community in which children are free to do whatever they want with their lives. 5 years ago, Ramin decided to resign from the Boston Consulting Group to follow his lifelong passion for education. Throughout his experience with teaching Math and Physics in high school, his doubts grow all the way to completely losing faith in the modern schooling system. He quits teaching to create a democratic community in which children are free to do whatever they want with their lives. Dropping out from the rat race, from school, from his own mind... Ramin is traveling beyond limits which only a few daring pioneers are challenging today throughout the world
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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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ELTJ Signature Event - This house believes that teacher training is a waste of time

ELTJ Signature Event - This house believes that teacher training is a waste of time

Presenter(s): 

Graham Hall

Penny Ur

Session details:

Many people assume that a training course is valuable – even essential – preparation for professional English language teaching. But does training really help ... or is it just a waste of time and money? Should we call a halt to teacher training? Our two speakers will debate the issues. Please come along, have your say, ask questions – and join in the vote.

Speakers: Peter Grundy & Penny Ur
Chair: Graham Hall

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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?

Blended Teaching vs Flipped Teaching

Blended Learning vs Flipped Learning

By Halina Ostańkowicz- Bazan

According to Horn and Staker, blended learning is:

“Any time a student learns, at least in part, at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and, at least in part, through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace. The modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience.”

The most significant piece of the definition is the “element of student control” highlighting the flowing instructional models to enable improved student-centered learning, giving students greater than before control over the time, place, path, and/or the step of their learning tracks.

Blended learning offers a balanced approach, focused on redesigning instructional models first, then applying technology, not as the driver, but as the supporter, for high-quality learning experiences that allow a teacher to personalize and make the most of the learning.

The technology helps to supply instructors with data, expand student choices for educational resources and learning materials, and deliver opportunities for students to practice and to exhibit the high-character performance.

Broadly speaking, I am for blended learning, which means taking advantage of both traditional f2f techniques and possibilities presented by new technologies.

Flipped Classrooms generally provides pre-recorded material (video or audio) followed by classroom activities. Learners watch the video before or after the class, this happens outside F2F meetings. Thank’s to that classroom time can be used for interaction, such as Q@A sessions, discussions, exercises other learning activities.

This is the perfect way to “invert” doings in the class with activities outside the teaching space.

Flipping is not just about video and technology.

Moreover, technology does not replace good teaching. It enhances good teaching.

Flipping helps us to get the best use of class time. It is a methodology that permits the instructor to involve students intensely in the collaborative community and produce a shared problem-solving workshop.

My students very frequently have to find some info, largely online, and in class, they present materials on a specific subject. We use it as a foundation for deeper analysis and actions.

Sometimes, instead of giving lectures, I call for scholars to watch chosen PPT, videos or podcasts at home, so when we gather in the course of work, we are able to concentrate on the debate, as well as interpretation of the problem.

In my point of view, there are some significant ways to involve students during a lecture such as short demonstrations, surveyed by group debate as well as PPT lecture, followed by expounding, discussing and particularizing the material.

I am convinced that dialogue is necessary for my Polish History and Culture lectures. I take advantage of novel methods to build up active learning skills and to encourage students toward further learning, or else to mature students' thinking skills. For most of my learners, the techniques I use are fresh. They come to study in Poland from all the Globe and the majority of them are not used to blended learning as well as flipped classes.

They have to be talked into active learning and taking the responsibility of their own knowledge. My role as a teacher is to be a learning coach, mentor and a source of support as well as inspiration.

Flipping provides students opportunities such as; interactive questioning, mind exploration, answer “why this is important for me to recognize this?” and student-created content.

During my language classes, I also use flipped methods because I believe in learning by researching as well as having fun while studying.

Wolff, Lutz-Christian, and Jenny Chan. "Defining Flipped Classrooms. “Flipped Classrooms for Legal Education. Springer Singapore, 2016. 9-13.

http://www.inacol.org/news/what-is-blended-learning/

http://www.christenseninstitute.org/blended-learning/

Technology in Education

http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/index.html

Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil.

Easter Traditions 2015

 Easter is coming with all Polish customs and traditions.

Video 4

I have been teaching languages for over 40 years.

I taught Polish as a foreign language in traditional settings at the Wroclaw University of Technology for about 41 years. I have been teaching English to speakers of other languages for over 25 years.

In 2000, I became an American Citizen.

In 2010, I started my online adventure mainly on WizIQ. Since that time I have been using technology in my classes.

I have been training in both face-to-face and blended learning arrangements.

Overview

Are you unsatisfied with your level of Spoken  English?

Do you want to become a forward-thinking speaker and reach to a great extent fluency?

Is joining English meetings very challenging? Is it difficult to participate and communicate efficiently?

If so, my course is for you!

Target Students

·       Are you nervous about communicating in English with foreign colleagues?

·       Do you have a good command of English, but feel like your flexibility may be lacking?

·       Would you like to learn how to sound more natural when making small talk and discussing problems?

·       Do you feel the need to improve your conversational skills?

Halina's Coversational English Online Course

Welcome to Halina’s Conversational English online course

A bit about me.

I have been teaching languages for over 40 years.

I taught Polish as a foreign language in traditional settings at the Wroclaw University of Technology for about 41 years. I have been teaching English to speakers of other languages for over 25 years.

In 2000, I became an American Citizen.

In 2010, I started my online adventure mainly on WizIQ. Since that time I have been using technology in my classes.

I have been training in both face-to-face and blended learning arrangements. 

Technology and the teacher’s personality

Teacher extraordinaire Mr Keating appears as the epitome of the charismatic teacher – one that his students are sure to remember long after their school years are over. Way over the top as this might be (though I am sure that, whatever we may say, many of us would love to feel we are a little bit like Mr Keating) it is only natural to ask ourselves: does the personality of the teacher matter in this Brave New World of technology and on-line courses?
As teachers we are in the business of influencing people. How can we do that? It helps if we imagine each individual as a big elephant with a rider sitting on top of it (a metaphor first used by J. Haidt 2006). The elephant is our emotional side; it is big, strong, somewhat impulsive and not as predictable as we would like it to be. The rider is our rational side; it can guide the elephant and the latter usually allows itself to be directed by the former (but if there is a disagreement, we all know who we should bet on! J )
So how can we influence people? There are 3 ways: a) We can motivate the elephant; this is what charismatic teachers do – they inspire their students, and this clearly works best in a f2f context. b) We can direct the rider – appealing to the logical part of our students and telling them what to do. This can work equally well in a f2f and an online context. c) We can shape the path down which the elephant and the rider will walk (an idea first proposed by Heath & Heath 2011 – click here to watch a 2-min clip). By careful use of choice architecture (see Thaler & Sunstein 2008), we can ‘nudge’ the duo in the direction we would like them to go. * An on-line environment is ideal for such an approach. However….

References:

• Bloom, P. (2008) Introduction to Psychology. Yale Courses, You Tube
• Haidt, J. (2006) The Happiness Hypothesis. London: Arrow Books
• Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2011) Switch. London: Random House
• Lieberman, M. (2013) Social. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Thaler, R. & Sunstein, C. (2008) Nudge. Michigan: Yale University Press

Language Learning Theories

This is my latest video.

Learning Language Theories

This is my latest video.

Teaching English Adults

When we decide to teach adults, the awareness, as well as comprehension of whom we teach and what we teach, is essential here.

1)     Adults do not want to waste the time.

Some adults take language courses because of a job requirement while others have their specific goal to attain (such as a language exam or a professional interview ).

Adults expect direct, practical benefit. All of them will raise the similar questions

·        Why,

·        What for,

·        How,

·        Who (is my teacher?),

·         What else could I achieve instead?

·         Is the time well spent?

All lessons must have a clear outcome, perhaps even a practical takeaway. It is necessary to define specific profits at the end of the lesson and associate the benefits to the individual learning purposes.

2)     Adults are reflective learners; they think about

·       what is challenging or where I require more support

·       individual learning strategies and self-evaluation

·       maintaining a sense of responsibility for learning and achieving goals  

3)  Motivation is varied, and flexibility is crucial.

Teachers have to be flexible and ready for different approaches, wide-ranging content or even unconventional paths to lead to the same goal.

Creating a context for meaningful learning is one of the tasks.

4) Mature students feel the need for direct benefit as well as dominant language skills.

·        Learners are looking for a solution to an exact problem at hand, immediately.

·       The fundamental question is: “What should I do to get this to work?”

·        Mature learners usually want to accomplish a particular task, or at least, see a noticeable benefit for the future.

·       Adults want to use language for a real-world reason.

5) The different abilities of adult learners are evident.

I am against using grammar tables, linguistic terms and other abstractions in language teaching. However, if they can help the grown-up learner why do not explain the grammar rules?