To use classroom 2.0 widen our classroom

I always feel grateful to today’s world, the formal ways of learning had already been changed by web more and more. Classroom 2.0 is an open, free and community-supported network which welcome everyone who is interested in web 2.0 and social media in education. As I opened the page EFL CLASSROOM 2.0. I saw a neat, organized social network page, I decide to join in this big interesting community as soon as I open it. Here I can share my learning and teaching experience with each other, of course including many knowledgable and experienced good teacher. The resources I can get from here are videos, pictures, articles, technical tools and so forth. And the resources are free, they are all contributed by volunteer members. So generous! I can even listen to the music that provided by the web while I’m reading some members’ blogs. Through this enjoyable way, learning is not boring anymore. Thus I have a great opportunity to meet EFL teachers all over the world. The information here updates very fast, if I have questions about teaching, for example classroom management, I could raise questions here and have members contribute their ideas. Sometimes, only one word may solve your problem last for month. Teaching foreign language is a worldwide work, teaching in different countries can have totally different situations, when I read the blogs and watch the videos in this website, I was learning the things not exist in the book. That's exact the magic of social network, the world becomes small.

For me, teacher is like a leader in my learning life. I always have the feeling that teacher are most common people who walk past the street, once they stand in the classroom, there is a shining light of a leadership around them. Though they are a little bit higher than us, they are still stand by stand among us.

 The most impressive sentence from the Siemens’s article is “One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The ‘half-life of knowledge’ is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of Training and Documentation (ASTD). To combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations have been forced to develop new methods of deploying instruction.” Siemens, G.  (2005, January).  Connectivism is a learning theory based on the acknowledge than knowledge exists in the world rather than in the heads of individuals. People learn through contact and interaction. In the digital age, people can learn from others via internet, which accelerates the speed of knowledge transmition as well as the obsoleteness of knowledge. After reading the article and watching the video from Siemens, I started to think about my formal life in China. The big change for my life is learning.

A learner today is like a communicator in a big net. We actually gain a lot of new information and knowledge not from textbook or our teacher, but from the network around us, both in real life and online. We check our email several times a day; we log on Social Network Site to see what's new, we use digital devices in class as teaching materials. When I reflect on how much I learned from the network, especially the online network, the answer is "ultimate". So why? In the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=3 Retrieved January10, 2009.

 The Impact of Social Software on Learning Siemens mention " the knowledge in the technology field changes extremely quickly". If we don't involve in today's network, if we don't update our information every moment, we will be washed out. Besides, network provides us an easier way to enrich our knowledge and information. All you have to do is click. We have to adjust us into this new situation, because this is a revolution.


 In the article, Connectivism:A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, the author mentioned that "Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently know". That's the typical principle of connectivism. That's also the standard and requirement for today's learner.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=3

BIZ LADIES: BOOKKEEPING 101

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/09/biz-ladies-bookkeeping-101.html
This is the blog that I'm quite interested in: http://www.designsponge.com/
The name is DESIGN SPONGE

I was attracted by the image firstly, because this post is on the door where I work in campus. I wondered when I saw this post at first time, after I read this blogger, now I knew where it came from.
It's quite interesting that use new technology to handle the most complicated thing--money, we always think the high-advanced money operating system only exist and useful in security exchange and big companies, thanks for this blog author's wonderful advises, I want to try manipulate my budget with new tech.

Edu Blogs

Emma Herrod: http://emmaherrod.com/category/blog/

The Daring Librarian: http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/

Free Tech for teachers: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

English Companion Ning: http://englishcompanion.ning.com/

Audiotrainer: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,3657,00.html

Well I have to admit "I didn't know".

Before I watched video "Did you know? version2". http://www.youtube.com/watchWell I have to admit that I didn't know a lot.
I didn't know since computer had been invented, the world is changing by this incredible masterpiece every second. Jobs, environment, social communication, academic research, and so forth are changed by this.
And thinking about it with teaching foreign language, how to use the technical tools appropriately is still a very important issue for every teacher.

LAI 590 blogs

My blog: http://anniechen526.blogspot.com/
Classmates' blogs:
Branden:http://electricenglish.blogspot.com/
Alex: http://alexandriathinks.blogspot.com/
Rosa:http://librarianrosa.blogspot.com/
Jim: http://eslatmosphere.blogspot.com/
Lim: http://haelimchoi.blogspot.com/
Amber: http://missbalseca.blogspot.com
Sarah: http://sarahhart120.blogspot.com/
Rose: http://learninglanguageswiththeworld.blogspot.com/
Fang: http://fanghua1119.blogspot.com/
Ashely: http://lai590-ashley.blogspot.com/
Casey: http://bsn98288.blogspot.com/
Bin:  http://binbinhu.blogspot.com.
Han: http://jen-jensenglishvillage.blogspot.com/
Kim: http://euntaeki.blogspot.com/
Emily: http://exploringblogging-emily.blogspot.com/
Chang: http://iris-mybloging.blogspot.com/
Tai: http://belinda-tesol.blogspot.com/
Peiwen: http://rachel-lan.blogspot.com/

Reflection on Brave new technology using in SLA teaching

I strongly agree with the theory that SLA teaching need big exposure to target language input, however “How can this realistic, if not sobering, depiction of adult SLA be sped up and made more efficient? Increasing contact with the target language is the most obvious solution.” It is true that “Formal L2 teaching is often unsuccessful because learners receive impoverished or insufficient input in the target language like Cummins side (Cummins 1998, 19). So in today’s modern world, technology then, if used wisely, could play a major role in enhancing L2 learners’ contact with the target language, especially in the absence of study abroad.

As Pica, Kanagy, and Falodum (1993, 11) represent well the interactionist stance when they state, “Language learning is assisted through social interaction of learners and their interlocutors, particularly when they negotiate toward mutual comprehension of each other’s message meaning”. And technology assisted activities should fit in with the FL curriculum. I’m a second language who has more than ten years’ learning experience, I deeply feel a interactive language learning environment is essential to a second language learner. If there is no such good target language environment, even teacher and students interact very well, students would still rather communicate in first language, therefore the target language exposure is limited. However computer with internet well compensate this shortage. People could communicate in internet, using the technical tools like wiki, voice threads, video clip, and blogs exchange abound resources online.

Reeves and Nass’s research further reinforces the notion that computers can make a significant contribution to the SLA process because the students themselves feel that they are interacting with the computer in a real social manner. I think that’s the reason why Twitter and Facebook are so popular worldwide. Of course, the pros of computer-mediated communication, text-based medium amplifies students’ attention, L2 written production, less stressful environment, more equitable and nonthreatening forum, expanded access channel with possibilities for creating global learning net works.

Blake, Robert J.  & Dorothy M. Chun.  (2008)  Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning.  Washington, D.C. :Georgetown University Press