Author Archives: admin

About admin

I am an English (EFL/ESL) teacher specializing in blended & web-based teaching English for Business, Academic & General Purposes to adults. I am particularly eager to teach conversation and accent reduction classes to speakers of Russian & Estonian, because I can speak the respective languages well, and know all about the problems that speakers of these two languages encounter, and what can be done to address those problems successfully.

Bilingualism: Facts & Stats

Posted on February 3, 2009 by admin

Source: The Bilingual Family: A Handbook For Parents by Edith Harding & Philip Riley, 1999, CUP. Over half of the world’s population is bilingual. This fact is usually surprising to many Europeans, who are under the impression that living with … Continue reading →

Posted in Accents, ESL Facts & Figures, ESL statistics, Learning Language Teaching, Statistics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pair & Groupwork vs Teacher-Student Interaction

Posted on February 2, 2009 by admin

According to Mckay & Tom (Teaching Adult Second Language Learners, CUP, 1999, p. 26), working in groups helps students feel they are part of a community. They come to know each other as individuals & friends Pair-  and groupwork serves … Continue reading →

Posted in groupwork, Learning Language Teaching, Teacher Skills | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Social Presence

Posted on January 13, 2009 by admin

Social presence is the degree to which an individual feels real or is seen as real while studying in an online context. The higher the degree of the learner’s social presence in a VLE, the lower the probability of the … Continue reading →

Posted in E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Observations | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Online Language Lessons – Idea Bank

Posted on January 11, 2009 by admin

It looks like more and more language teaching is being done on the web. Let me summarize what online language teachers have on offer, what they do or could do in theory.  I will list several examples from Curtis J. … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Learning, Course Design, Digital Storytelling, E-Learning Design & Management, groupwork, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, Observations, Teacher Skills, Using Blogs in EFL, Using Wikis in EFL | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The 4 Types of Multilevel Class Activities

Posted on January 10, 2009 by admin

Heather McKay & Abigail Tom (1999, CUP, Teaching Adult Second Language Learners, pp. 21-22) suggest teachers differentiate among four types of mixed-ability activity.  Unless the text is in quotation marks, it is my own interpretation. same input, same task What … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Learning, groupwork, language learning e-tivities, Learning Language Teaching, Teacher Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Is Studying 1-to-1 Pairwork?

Posted on January 9, 2009 by admin

Does studying 1-to-1 qualify as pairwork? And is it necessarily teacher-centered and bad? Anyone?

Posted in Collaborative Learning, E-Learning Design & Management, groupwork, Learning Language Teaching, Observations | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Sources of Frustration for E-Learners

Posted on January 8, 2009 by admin

According to research, e-learners are likely to be frustrated by technical difficulties communication breakdowns Source: Hara., N (2000). Student Distress In a Web-Based Distance Education Course.

Posted in Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Instructional Design, Observations, Statistics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Interactivity & The 5 Ts that Make it Fail

Posted on January 6, 2009 by admin

Ian Forsyth (Teaching & Learning Materials & The Internet, 3rd edition,  p. 135) defines interactivity as emulating the traditional classroom He lists the 5 Ts that cause interactivity to fail on the Internet (pp. 19 -23) time technology timid territoriality … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaborative Learning, Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, groupwork, Instructional Design, interactive CD-ROMs, Learner Skills, Learning Language Teaching, Teacher Skills | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

E-Courseware Design: Issues

Posted on January 5, 2009 by admin

Let me list some of the topical issues that keep emerging and need to be addressed asap. usability – what I mean here is all the extra clicks that either my students or I make, which takes time. Distributing courseware … Continue reading →

Posted in Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Observations, Teacher Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Web 2.0 Synonyms & Opposites

Posted on January 3, 2009 by admin

The opposite of hyperlinking is RSS aka really simple syndication. Users find content on the web and hyperlink to it . The opposite is subscribing to syndicated content aka RSS feeds. RSS readers are also known as aggregators. Metadata or … Continue reading →

Posted in Course Design, E-Learning Design & Management, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, language learning e-tivities, Web 2.0 Buzz Words | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment