Post-TESOL Reflections - The Ginga Movement

I finally could write my reflections on the thrilling experience of meeting the Webheads again and getting to know f2f some others. New York with the Webheads could only be full of Ginga!

Here's my post about the Ginga Movement.

My photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/sets/72157604412851519/

I also made a very short video during the Electronic Village so the ones who were not there could have an idea what it looks like.

Nina's TESOL 2008 slideshow

Pleasure to meet you Nina

Nina,
It was lovely to meet you in New York and chat a little. I will be steadily connecting in the future and will search for the group on Facebook. Perhaps we can meet in tapped in as well, although I need to refresh my memory on how to do this. I picked up a lot of useful information at the conference, but I feel I missed even more. Jeff LeBow's Voicethread is interesting. I have to keep hunting. Your lovely invitation encourages me to keep at it.

Thank you.

Invitation to teach/learn American Culture Together!

Dear all,

My name is Daniela Munca, I am an ESL instructor at Ole Miss, University of Mississippi, and I am teaching American Culture to international students from all over the world. We have created a blog where we post different links, articles and online power point presentations, comment on, learn new words from, etc. My ESL students would like to find other students interested in the same subjects and exchange ideas and suggestions. This is our blog: http://dvmunca.blogspot.com/ - last week we talked about Niagara Falls and Grand Canyon.

This is our Slideshare page - you can find lots and lots of great power point presentations my ESL students have created this semester and leave comments (you will also find them on the toolbar of our ESL class blog)! let us know what you think and we will get back to you asap! http://www.slideshare.net/daniMD/slideshows

Tools for Online ESL/EFL

TESOL Conference Tools to Explore!
Dear all, my experience at the TESOL conference in New york has been equally exciting and productive. I have learned how to use a couple of online tools worth exploring: I think any ESL/EFL instructor could use them to engage language learners in creative mini projects. I would like to share these with you:
1. Dvolver: http://www.dvolver.com/live/home.html allows teachers and learners to create and direct their own mini-movies. There are a few easy steps to follow - you can choose your characters, scenes and backgrounds, add text and music and your movie is ready! You can see the one I created for my American Culture students here : http://dvmunca.blogspot.com/2008/04/having-fun-with-cartoons.html

2. Online Comics Generator: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Choose as many characters as you want, give them a "mood", add a thought or a talk balloon and your comics is ready for printing and using in class (great with elementary students).

3. Screen-o-Matic: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/Need to create a tutorial for your students? Do you want your students to create online projects where they would use their own voice? Try this tool - it's easy and it's free! (I recommend it for intermediate to advanced students)

Check my blog for other tools: http://dvmunca.blogspot.com/

Thanks Dennis!

Dennis, you are so kind!  Dennis sent us oodles of beautiful red roses, which were distributed at the webheads' second dinner last night at Becco.  There were at least twenty people with so much coming and going that some of us were afraid the restaurant staff might toss us out--but they didn't, dinner was delicious and we all had fun.  More details (and photos) to come.

Ready to Present

I am sitting at Mac 7-8 station in the EV.  My EV Fair presentation, "Before, During, and After: Connecting with Students Online" begins in ten minutes!