Multiliterate Doris

How literacies change the way we do things

2011-01-15T10:50:00.001-04:30

For children e-mail is "something your dad does" and their search engine of choice is as likely to be YouTube as Google.

For assistant head teacher Amy Barton, social media has to be part of the curriculum.

"Social media is challenging the traditional view of teaching. You can't get away from it, we've got to teach it," she said.

Chris Hague is one of the directors of Radiowaves.

"We set up at a time when schools were shutting the door on social networks, we were saying that they needed to embrace them," he said.

"Our first priority was to make sure it was safe."

Many schools still block access to YouTube, Facebook, instant messaging and other technologies that are the favourite haunts of young people.

But the tide could be turning, thinks Professor Stephen Heppell, a leading educationalist who has been advocating the use of radical technology in schools for years.

"Half of schools have now unblocked YouTube. Five years ago it was one in every 1,000," he said.

con referencia a:

"Many schools still block access to YouTube, Facebook, instant messaging and other technologies that are the favourite haunts of young people. But the tide could be turning, thinks Professor Stephen Heppell, a leading educationalist who has been advocating the use of radical technology in schools for years. "Half of schools have now unblocked YouTube. Five years ago it was one in every 1,000," he said."
- BBC News - Profile update: Your teacher has now joined Facebook (ver en Google Sidewiki)

VenTESOL XXIX Annual National Convention

2011-01-06T19:25:00.000-04:30

We are getting ready to participate in The XXIX Annual National Convention "Redefining Today's ELT in Venezuela" It will be held in Maracaibo-Zulia State

The event will be carried out at Universidad Rafael Urdaneta (URU) during the weekend of May 28th (Sat) and 29th (Sun). You may learn from this important university here: http://www.uru.edu/.

The Convention Organizing Committee is looking for volunteers:

Do you live in Maracaibo?

Do you want to be a volunteer?

There are many ways to participate, click on this link http://ventesol.ning.com/forum/topics/annual-convention-maracaibo and add your contact information there.

If you are planning to attend the 2011 convention, Join our XXIX Annual Convention Group.

Live VenTESOL's spirit!

VenTESOL Executive Board 2010-2011

Revisiting online communities.. my Yahoo Groups

2011-01-06T17:44:00.000-04:30

Image by: Prof. Miguel Mendoza

On this New Year, I decided to try to go back to my online communities. I started by visiting a discussion list I belong to and haven't visited in a long time.

This discussion list is: VENELT · VEN-ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, the home for English Teachers in Venezuela. There we discuss various themes related to the EFL profession. The moderators are: Juan Pino-Silva (Ph.D.), from Universidad Simón Bolívar (R)and Evelyn Izquierdo (M.A.in EFL) from Universidad Central de Venezuela. They cordially invite EFL educators to join in and share their thoughts in this community.

To become a new member please send a message to Venelt-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. and another one to educaonline2@yahoo.com. The message MUST include:
(a) your reasons as to why you want to join this group,
(b) your interest in Venezuelan ELT issues and
(c) a brief note about your background.

Their latest discussion is about the profile of the Good Collaborator in online communities. I must say that I haven't been a good collaborator lately, but on line discussion lists were the place where I first could read,and learn that there were others educators I could talk to or learn from to finally dare to share and even participate in projects.

Well, reading the list I found the question Juan Pino asked:

During the early seventies and eighties research development on the "good language learner" was followed with interest by both researchers and classroom teachers. The expression "successful L1 and L2 learner" was everywhere in those days. Borrowing the word "success" from those days and that literature (or whatever you understand by success in the context this question is made), what attributes would you say should be part of a "Good collaborator/participant" in online groups such as Venelt?

He then asks participants in the list to comment if they deem necessary. Ouch! that hurt ... I felt so bad.. a good collaborator.. *shaked my head and felt guilty* but anyway I started reading what others said about it. The first one was from my dear friend Evelyn Izquierdo:

'good' collaborator in an online community might be that one who always contributes with interesting points to be discussed; someone who actively participates in the disussions and/or add new issues; someone who is always willing to share useful information and resources with his/her peers; someone who encourages others to participate or is a sample model to follow with his/her work.

I absolutely agree with Eve. *sighs*. Another response I related to was Juan's. He didn't answer what he thought but asked two participants their opinions: a colaborator and a lurker. (lurker is someone who reads and follow what's happening in a list but doesn't feel ready yet to participate fully... I am a lurker in this list now.. *smiles*). He came up with a list of 23 items:

1. Motivation,
2. Commitment to the group,
3. Manager of a number of strategies to participate,
4. Good reader and writer in both L1 and L2,
5. Leadership,
6. Desire to play the game and compete to be on top,
7. Fully aware of what is to be gained as a result of collaborating,
8. Use of online writing tools such as spell checkers, dictionaries (is there a better word for this?), Google, Wikipedia,etc. With the purpose of gaining confidence in one's writing,
9. desire to get noticed,
10. Show respect for and value all opinions,
11. Display leadership ability,
12. Mobilize and get others to mobilize,
13. Self rate own and rate other collaborators' production,
14. Separate daily, weekly hours to respond or jump in conversations,
15. Do whatever you do online for an additional purpose such as doing own research, keep abreast of ELT issues, get ideas for the classroom,
16. Know all or most of the tools of trade well,
17. keep own yahoo group (or any other tool ) with students as participants,
18. Ability to take the (virtual) floor,
19. Accept that we're learners of both matter and English,
20. Manage anxiety, stress, family problems to be a player, a winner if possible,
21. Metacognition: awareness,
22. Never say :I don't have an opinion, I don't like this topic, I'm not interested.
23. Manage frustration levels ( take some time out but come back to the list)

Carlos Mayora's contribution was also interesting he related the good on line collaborator with the idea of the English Teachers as professionals. He supported his position on the following quote:

In 1997, Ur said that English Teachers as professionals

    * "are an identifiable group, whose members are interested in interaction with one another for the sake of learning {...}
    * "communicate innovatory ideas, whether theoretical or practical, to one another and to the public at large {...}
    * "also learn continually -about our subject matter, about teaching methods, about many other things that make us better educated and therefore better educators {...}
    * "are responsible for training new teachers"

(Ur, 1997 reprinted with permission in Richards and Renandya, 2002: 391)

Also, he commented on Juan's list what overlaps and added two element missing in the quote: (a) mastering a technological component, and (b) "products" of such tasks need to be visible in the screens of other teachers.

Now, after reading this great collaborations.. I realized how much I was missing. I think I fill the profile of the English teacher as a professional and most of the items Juan's mention. A little bit to excuse myself for being a lurker..is that ...writing this post and commenting about it.. as well as promoting the discussion list ..it's my own way to participate, collaborate and share... I believe in open spaces.. but lists are more intimate. Well, also this is the way I won't forget what I learned from the participants in the list. Thanks so much for contributing and sharing..here, there or wherever you share.

To finish the post .. my dear reader... what's your thought about it...?

Doris3m
Keep on shining Love and Peace!

2010-09-29T06:26:00.001-04:30

Digital literacies for a modern context

2010-08-14T11:43:00.002-04:30

Conole 15 june

View more webinars from grainne.

Information Literacy Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

2010-04-18T12:47:00.001-04:30

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Information Literacy Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

View more presentations from Mark Mitchell.

Wordle In The Classroom

2010-04-18T12:45:00.001-04:30

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Wordle In The Classroom

View more presentations from Hellen Harvey.

The IATEFL 3rd Annual Pecha Kucha Evening

2010-04-10T10:49:00.001-04:30

This happeed at the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG Pre-Conference Event, Harrogate, UK, on 7 April 2010. Pecha Kucha is presenting a slide show of 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds, giving a total presentation time of six minutes and forty seconds before the next speaker is up. wowow! Wish I could do that!!!!

This is an example... Have fun!!!!

Shaping the Way We Teach English

2010-04-10T10:13:00.000-04:30

Shaping the Way We Teach English is a 14-module teacher training video series developed and produced in cooperation with the University of Oregon. The series incorporates classroom scenes from around the world and is accompanied by a teacher trainer manual and additional readings.

The goals of the program are:
1) To build an academic or “pedagogical” foundation in language teaching.
2) To improve language teaching classroom practices.

The 14 modules are divided like this:

Approaches to Language Teaching: Foundations
Module 1: Contextualizing Language
Module 2: Building Language Awareness
Module 3: Integrating Skills
Module 4: Pairwork / Groupwork
Module 5: Learner Feedback

Approaches to Language Teaching: Extension
Module 6: Managing Large Classes
Module 7: Learning Strategies
Module 8: Authentic Materials
Module 9: Critical & Creative Thinking
Module 10: Alternative Assessment

Focus on the Learner
Module 11: Individual Learner Differences
Module 12: Younger Learners (K-5)

Teacher Development
Module 13: Peer Observations
Module 14: Refl ective Teaching

From what I have seen so far .. this material is excellent and I am going to propose professors in my university to follow it... so keep tune ..we will reporting our adventures following this training program to be better EFL professors.

Technology Skills We Should Be Teaching in College

2010-04-02T11:11:00.000-04:30

Technology Skills We Should Be Teaching in College

Howard Rheingold and "21st Century Literacies"

2010-01-29T09:17:00.001-04:30

Howard Rheingold gives a talk titled "21st Century Literacies" at the Reboot Britain event in London, July, 2009. Anyone who knows me knows that I love Howard Rheingold - in this talk he claims that we need to teach students how to use their 'crap detectors'.

2009-09-30T07:56:00.001-04:30

Photo Art

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by MyHanh | Upload your own presentation

Enseñanza Cooperativa.. y eso con que se come..

2008-07-04T16:47:00.003-04:30

Le toca el turno a la enseñanza cooperativa... resulta que yo vengo usando ese aprendizaje cooperativo desde hace mucho rato y lo encuentro que funciona muy bien... la cosa es saberlo aplicar. De las cosas que he aprendido es que se debe aplicar los distintos tipos de aprendizaje de manera ecleptica.. tomando de cada una de las teorías de aprendizaje lo que funcione en tu circunstancia muy especial como lo decía nuestro querido Ortega y Gasset. Curucuteando por la web, específicamente leyendo el blog Aulaciencia: como participar para aprender, me encontré con esta powerpoint que me parece muy acertada.

| View | Upload your own

También me encontré este espectacular articulo sobre el aprendizaje cooperativo de la Ing. Margarita Aste. Ella comienza su articulo así:

Entremos a una clase cualquiera, no importa la materia que se esté estudiando. ¿Qué es lo que veremos? Probablemente esté el profesor “dictando” clases (hablando solo) o realizando la única estructura empleada para lograr la participación de sus alumnos: Pregunta Para Toda La Clase- Respuesta Un Alumno.
Supongamos que el salón tiene 30 alumnos, si el profesor está dictando la clase, existe un 0% de participación de los alumnos. En el caso de estar en Pregunta-Respuesta, 1 de 30 o un 3.3% del salón están participando. ¿Y el restante 96.7%? ¡No debe sorprendernos que los profesores tengan problemas de disciplina! A todo nos gusta participar, es más aprendemos mucho mejor si estamos participando, hablando, preguntando y discutiendo. ¿Por qué entonces se quiere que los alumnos estén callados? (¿Alguna vez ha estado escuchando únicamente…cuánto tiempo puede estar así? ¡Aún a los adultos se nos complica esto!)

Creo que lo que señala la Ing. es absolutamente cierto.

Otra super presentación que sigue explicando lo que es el aprendizaje cooperativo...

| View | Upload your own

Wondering about 2.0

2008-05-01T10:12:00.000-04:30

To my siter

2008-01-05T20:16:00.001-04:30

The man who planted tress

2008-01-04T17:01:00.001-04:30

Excellent story... hope you enjoy it.

Announcing Bloggers for the sep-dec2007 trimester!!!

2007-09-24T09:28:00.000-04:00

Well, finally ...here they are:

Let's start with Alejandro Araujo... http://portumaracucho.blogspot.com
Cristina Velasco: http://tinavelasco.blogspot.com/
Rs.Ellasalvatore: http://ellasalvatore.blogspot.com/
Johann Nuñez: http://federer-johann.blogspot.com/
Anabell Ayala: my blog http://anabell5ayala.blogspot.com/
Eric Sanchez: http://cirewhite.blogspot.com/
Roberto Roman: http://robblog12.blogspot.com/
Ludim Pereira: http://ludimpereira.blogspot.com/
Deyjos Carruci: my blog http://deyjos13.blogspot.com/
Maria Zerpa Blanco: http://mariandres2901.blogspot.com/
Manuel Hidalgo: http://motoman21.blogspot.com/
Luis Enrique Govea Diaz: http://kikegovea.blogspot.com/
Ileana Yoris: http://ileana85.blogspot.com/

Those are all for now...

Firma contra el cambio a la Constitución Nacional Petition

2007-08-23T23:13:00.000-04:00

Firma contra el cambio a la Constitución Nacional Petition

‘e-Tools n Tips’

2007-08-18T10:51:00.000-04:00

Dr Elizabeth Hanson-Smith posted at our webheads in Action Yahoo Group this announcement: Australian Flexible Learning offers some neat free seminars online. This notice relates to the next series to be offered.

‘e-Tools n Tips’
These ‘how to’ sessions are especially for those NEW to e-learning. There are 8 sessions on moblogs, podcasting, virtual worlds, social bookmarking, personal learning spaces, digital storytelling, video in e-learning, and wikis and blogs.

ALL of these sessions are FREE and require NO REGISTRATION.

You simply join the sessions using the relevant URLs found on the Networks site at: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/flx/go/home/projects/2007/pid/440 There you'll find more information about the online seminars:

All sessions are live synchronous ones using the virtual classroom, Elluminate.

‘Live Conversation’
This is a synchronous session using Elluminate associated with the lead article of Edition 14 of The Knowledge Tree e-journal – http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/knowledgetree

When: TUESDAY 21 AUGUST 2 – 3pm AESTWhere: http://tinyurl.com/3cq9rd or https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=995&password=M.FEEDBBE1DF8D17DCE69A254F8565AB

Content: What is ‘connected intelligence’ ? What is its impact on learning in organisations? How can you use some ‘connecting intelligence’ tools, such as ‘Facebook’? For the answers to these and other intriguing questions, join the live conversation! To read the article before the session go to: http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/edition-14/

Help with Elluminate
To participate in an Elluminate session your computer will need to be configured to run the Elluminate software. To download Elluminate and to configure your computer click this link – Configuration RoomYou need a microphone and speakers to interact in the Elluminate virtual classroom. In some cases, you will need to contact your IT people to open ports on firewalls. Documents on accessing, using and giving information to IT professionals on Elluminate is on the Networks site (scroll down the page): http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/flx/go/home/projects/2007/pid/259

An upcoming practice session in using Elluminate is on - -THURSDAY 23 August, 12 – 1pm AEST https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/meeting.jnlp?sid=995&password=M.CFF4A1C752D16CABBF2EFB54DA6EBB

Also, for ‘hands on ‘ assistance at any time, do not hesitate to contact the Networks Team –

Email: networks@flexiblele arning.net. auPhone: +61 2 6207 4832 Jyothi Jayaram

Kind regards
CathyCathy

BaxterE-learning Networks Project Manager

Supporting e-learning projects for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework

» Paper Blogging - more ideas! Mobile Learning

2007-08-18T10:24:00.000-04:00

I found this wonderful idea on how to teach what blogging is about, using a paper based task... I found it at mlearning posted by Leonard Low. Leonard has a great blog dedicated to mobile devices and how to teach using mobile phones, PDAs, etc.

This is the description of the task
» Paper Blogging - more ideas! Mobile Learning

Here you can find Papper blogging task.

Also if you'd like to participate in an online seminar you can join Leonard Low, who will be explaining what MOBLOGS are:

MOBLOGS (Images, Audio and Video)
Presenter: Leonard Low, Canberra Institute of Technology

When: Monday 3 September at 12:00pm to 1:00pm AEST
Where: Access the session at least 15mins before the session start time here or go to http://tinyurl.com/2elxw5

What:
What is a moblog?
Try it out!
Why would someone use a moblog in education?
Overview of various sites which enable simple moblogging (using various media)
Creating customised (and more flexible) moblogs by connecting your social web services
Advanced moblogging techniques: geotagging and locoblogging

Who: Leonard is Educational Technology Strategist at the Canberra Institute of Technology. He is author of the Mobile Learning Blog (http://mlearning.edublogs.org), ACT Representative on the E-Standards Experts Group (EEG), and was Lead Researcher for the EEG's Standards for M-Learning project. Leonard has over ten years of experience in flexible learning as a student, teacher, manager, administrator and developer, and combines these perspectives in his work in flexible and mobile learning.

EAD Course

2007-08-04T11:56:00.000-04:00

Time Lines!!!

2007-08-04T11:36:00.000-04:00

These is a great idea for timelines! Here you can see Paris Hilton's timeline

I registered to Edublogger in Español!!!!!

2007-07-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

Find more videos like this on EduBloggerWorld

My Friend Karen Garcia

2007-07-25T07:06:00.000-04:00

My friend Karen Garcia is a special lady. She's been my fairy godmother and on line sister for the last three or four years. She's from Puerto Rico, originally but she lives in Massachusetts right now. I met her when I joined the Webheads in Action Community. I was participating in an online conf at LearningTimes, when I heard that beautiful Puerto Rican voice of her for the first time. It was such a nice, cantarina (like a song) voice, it felt really good and I nmediately liked her. At that time I was a newie to the online world. She helped me and adopted me, tutored me, advised me, and make me be a better teacher.

I visited her blog The Guru speaks, today and found this beautiful picture that I want to share with you today. This picture belongs to ROSA IBARRA, paintings/obra: http://www.rosaibarra.com/.

The angel in this picture represents at least to me all the love and friendship Karen Garcia has given this online teacher from Venezuela. I'm writing this post as an homenage to you my dear Angel Friend.

Let's sing it!

2007-05-28T07:28:00.000-04:00

World Press Freedom Day

2007-05-03T09:04:00.000-04:00

Today is an important day. World Press Freedom Day! I looked for this topic at wikipedia and this what I found:

World Press Freedom Day is a day designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Also I found this at the unesco site:

“The rights to life and to liberty and integrity and security of person and also to freedom of expression are fundamental human rights that are recognized and guaranteed by international conventions and instruments.” (UNESCO Resolution, General Conference 1997)

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano's writings had offended Colombia's powerful drug barons.

Unfortunately, today in my country we are facing the possibility of an important televison channel to be closed. This channel was denied the possibility of continuing working by the President of the Republic himself. His argument to do this, it is just that this channel is "golpista" and it's always denouncing what's wrong in his goverment. This is really serious. If RCTV is closed, Press Freedom will be diminished in our country. I just would like to ask our president for his reconsidering of this decision of closing RCTV and support ofthe strengtening of Free Press in Venezuela. It's important to remember that RCTV has been with us ,Venezuelans, for 53 years and they have been the same channel in every goverment. You can watch RCTV on line here: http://tv.venezuela.com/rctv.html

Happy Day to journalist and free thinkers and

WritingMatrix Project!

2007-04-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

Well, my good friend Vance Stevens have invited a group of teachers from different parts of the world to blog with my students and have my students blogging with all the students in the other countries. So, we said yes... and this is the result:

My students from levels, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 set up their blogs as final projects to reflect on what they learned over the trimester courses at URBE. (January-April 2007)

Please, visit and leave a comment to give them the opportunity to keep on blogging, sharing, and learning. To visit them, go to our class blog.

Congratulations to all new bloggers and their progress in EFL!

Keep on shining!

Doris3m

A funny image!

2007-04-09T10:43:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite photoblogs is The daily dose of Imagery. Today's photo was great but what I liked the most was the comment.....

The author says " Apparently if you're missing a leg or a shoulder, you can't enter St. Peter's in Vatican City. Sorry Cherry Darling!

What do you think about the photo and the comment? leave your comment here or go to Sam Javanrouh's photoblog, read the comments there and leave a message.

Here you can see his work....

Keep on shining!

A POEM for Women!

2007-03-19T14:57:00.000-04:00

A poem about violence against women and girls, for International Women's Day (8 March). This was taken from: http://www.food-force.com/index.php/blog/a-poem-for-women

Liberation
By Abena Busia

We are all mothers,
and we have that fire within us,
of powerful women
whose spirits are so angry
we can laugh beauty into life
and still make you taste
the salty tears of our knowledge-
For we are not tortured
anymore;
we have seen beyond your lies and disguises,
and we have mastered the language of words,
we have mastered speech
And know
we have also seen ourselves raw
and naked piece by piece until our flesh lies flayed
with blood on our own hands.
What terrible thing can you do us
which we have not done to ourselves?
What can you tell us
which we didn’t deceive ourselves with
a long time ago?
You cannot know how long we cried
until we laughed
over the broken pieces of our dreams.
Ignorance
shattered us into such fragments
we had to unearth ourselves piece by piece,
to recover with our own hands such unexpected relics
even we wondered
how we could hold such treasure.
Yes, we have conceived
to forge our mutilated hopes
beyond your imaginings
to declare the pain of our deliverance:
So do not even ask,
do not ask what it is we are labouring with this time;
Dreamers remember their dreams
when they are disturbed-
And you shall not escape
what we will make
of the broken pieces of our lives.

Abena Busia is the daughter of the late Kofi Busia, a former Prime Minister of Ghana. In her poem “Liberation” she lyrically describes the plight of women and their power to overcome violence and be free.

Let's play this interesting GAME!

2007-03-13T15:43:00.000-04:00

Samorost is an adventure game that is full of clicky puzzles and beautifully rendered scenes mixed with animations and various gadgetry. The soundtrack is delightful with sound effects and music to fit the mood of the surrealistic adventure. It's not very long, but will keep you busy for just the right amount of time. Enjoy this masterpiece of creativity and interactive art. There are two games so far Samorost and Samorost2. I've played the second one and I loved it.

Samorost 2 is about a little white gnome whose dog has been kidnapped by the aliens. Your mission is to rescue the poor puppy.

Here you can find tricks and hints to play the game. Have lots of fun! Tell us how you liked the game... leave us a message.

My friend Elsa Pereira is back in town!!!!

2007-03-10T10:03:00.000-04:00

Dr. Elsa Pereira is back! This is to welcome her and let her know how happy we are because she's back. Welcome my dear friend! Lots of projects are waiting for you. In Elsa's honor I want to share this wonderfull song with you all..and remember keep shining, keep smiling!!

Dionne and Friends, a one-off collaboration among Dionne Warwick featuring Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder , won Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager.

Here you have the lyrics..... so let's sing together!!!!

That’s What Friends Are For

Performed by Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Steve Wonder

And I never thought I'd feel this way
And as far as I'm concerned
I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe I love you

And if I should ever go away
Well then close your eyes and try
To feel the way we do today
And then if you can remember

**
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For/In good times and/in bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

Well you came and opened me
And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way I thank you

And then for the times when we're apart
Well then close your eyes and know
These words are coming from my hearts
And then if you can remember

** Repeat three times

Well, my dear friend Elsita..... Keep smiling, keep shining......Knowing you can always count on me, for sure!

Do you have a comment about the song? Please, share it with us!

He had a dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream

2007-03-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

Listen , watch and read this famous and beautiful speech!

American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream

Leave a comment about Martin's Freedom ideas....
Keep on shining!
Doris3m

ESLPod.com's Guide to the TOEFL® Test Podcast

2007-02-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

ESLPod.com's Guide to the TOEFL® Test Podcast

A Super Teacher!

2007-02-24T01:39:00.000-04:00

Teacher Alejandro Romero received a recognition for his work as a teacher, dentist and young Venezuelan. Congratulations on your Dia de la Juventud medal!

Keep on shining!

Doris3m

CI42 Blogs!!!

2007-02-24T00:45:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to CI42 students. They just finished their level 4. Here you can visit their blogs and read what they did during their classes. This was their first time blogging. Most them did a good job! Some of them still have to check on their work and review some of their writings. Anyway, what matters it's that they tried to communicate their ideas and learned to used BLOGS to record their work. Here, there are the links to their blogs:

Please, visit their blogs and leave a comment.... Let's support our fellow students!

Doris3m

Aiden Yeh's Speech Class podcast!

2007-02-22T06:26:00.000-04:00

This is another great PODCAST site. Here you can listen to more students having their voices heard. So, hurry up.... let's start having our voices heard, too!

Click here to get your own player.

The Bardwell Road Centre Podcast

2007-02-22T04:57:00.000-04:00

Hi! This is to introduce you to "PODCASTS" Podcats are short radio programs made by common people like you and me. In this posting I'm really happy to introduce a group of students and teachers from Bardwell Road Centre in England, who record and post to the internet a series of short podcasts. They are basically short interviews on different topics. Here you have an example:

Click here to get your own player.

To visit their postcast site go to:
The Bardwell Road Centre Podcast

Well, have fun listening to these students who are like you in this adventure of learning a new language. Hope you like it!

Doris

Quiz: Your Romantic Attachment Style!

2007-02-19T07:31:00.000-04:00

This a BONUS TASK!!!!!

I know we're a little late on Valentine's Day! But, this an interesting article I found around the web and thought that maybe one or two of you could be interested in these things related to love - romantic love! Well, hope you have fun reading and taking this quiz.... The quiz is to find out what l kind of relater you are: Pursuer, avoider or secure. After you finish taking the quiz, remember to comeback here and leave a comment. We'll be delighted on reading what you have to say....

To take the quiz just click on the following link:
Tango: Your Romantic Attachment Style -- Yahoo! Personals

Here we have some love birds!
Dario and Merly

Nelson and Marla

Marlon and Gaby

Jose and Anita

Keep on shining!
Doris3m

Multiliterate Doris: A Photo blog task!!!!!!

2007-02-17T18:48:00.000-04:00

Multiliterate Doris: A Photo blog task!!!!!!

A Photo blog task!!!!!!

2007-02-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

Hi, there! I've been looking at photos and found great ones. So, this is the plan... please, go to Joan's trip to South Wales! Look at her photos, read her story and answer the following questions:

Where did Joan go on her little trip?
How long did she travel?
Where did she start her trip?
What did she do first?
What can you do at the Bay Development in Cardiff?
What Civic building is at the center of Cardiff?
What can you do at the dockside?
What's there in Penarth? Where's Penarth, exactly?
What two island can you see from Penarth?
Where did Joan go after visiting Penarth?
What can you see there?
Where did Joan and her friends sit?
What can you see along the grassy cliff tops?
What's a cliff and are there any cliffs in Ogmore-by-sea?
What other seaside town did they visit after Ogmore-by-sea?
What did they see there?
What do they lifeboat service do there?
What other places did they see along the South Wales coast?
Where did they stopped briefly?
What did they do in Llangennith?
What do her friends have in Llangennith?
What did they do after checking out the beaches and sand dunes?
What's your opinion about Joan's trip?
Would you like to go with her?

After you finish answering the questions above:

Read the messages left at Joan's photo Tabblo and leave her a message with your opinion.
Draw a mind map of Joan's trip to South Wales.
Write a short composition telling Joan's trip with your own words.
Post your composition at your community: eflcenterlevel3 eflcenterlevel4 eflcenterlevel 5 eflcenterspeakinggroup eflcenterwritinggroup

Have fun and enjoy the photos.... traveling virtually around the world and practicing your English!

Keep on shining!
Doris3m

Nature Photoblogs!

2007-02-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

More Nature photoblogs! Beautiful!!!

W y s s & W y s s

Photoblogs!

2007-02-11T22:17:00.000-04:00

I found this beautiful photoblog. Hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do.

Daily Walks | Diane Varner

Two talented musicians!

2007-02-05T14:38:00.000-04:00

Nelson and Mayuya (his guitar)!

Hello, my name is Nelson Luis and I´m here to talk about my talents. I play basketball and soccer. My favorite basketball team is LosAngeles Lakers. I love this team!. I play acoustic guitar and electric guitar, and play music with my twin brother. He plays the drums. I can sing very well but I am a Shy person.

Bye.

Victor and his bass guitar

My name is Victor Marquez and my hobby is to play the bass guitar, I have my own bass guitar and I have been playing it for two years, I play it everyday in my room so I can have some privacy. My favourite music band is "Dream theater" my favourite bass player plays there and is my inspiration to play, his name is Jhon Myung my favourite song to play is called "the ytsejam". My bass is a 4 stringed fretted bass. My bass brand is "phil pro", before I play bass I used to play keyboards but I just did't like it because I had to study a lot of different keys pattern and I didn't want to play guitar because there are a lot of guitar players in the world and I though that the bass guitars would be a good option an I liked it. My dream is to become a known bass player and play in a great band and be a good musician, I play my bass with two friends that play the electricguitar and the drums almost every saturday a few hours just to have some fun and I think t is the best talent I can do.

Talent Show

2007-02-04T19:15:00.000-04:00

Cool Slideshows

Last week we had our Talent Show week! Students from Level 2 told and showed their classmates what they could do very well. We had a lot of fun and the desserts were delicious! Among the talented people we had, flamenco dancers, Boxing lessons, art exhibitions, radio announcers, performers "payasitas", an archer that's in Zulia's Archery Team, Arabic dancing, Rock musicians and singers, a wonderfull chello player who is in our Orquesta Juvenil del Zulia, lots of cooks, volleyball, tennis, soccer, ping pong players and future writers. Congratulations to everybody! You did and excellent job! My talented students!

A video Activity!

2007-01-22T17:17:00.000-04:00

Watch the video and write your opinion about it. Use your imagination and write a different ending for this video. The best ending get a surprise reward! Please, don't forget to include your name and session.

Here you can read the lyrics in English

Because I'm a Girl

I just can't understand the ways
Of all the men and their mistakes
You give them all your heart
And then they rip it all away

You told me how much you loved me
And how our love was meant to be
And I believed in you
I thought that you would set me free

(REFRAIN):
You should've just told me the truth
That I wasn't the girl for you
Still, I didn't have a clue
So my heart depended on you, whoa

(CHORUS):
Although I'll say I hate you now
Though I'll shout and curse you out
I'll always have love for you
Because I am a girl

Been told a man will leave you cold
Get sick of you and bored
I know that it's no lie
I gave my all, still I just cry

Never again will I be fooled
To give my all when nothing's true
I won't be played again
But I will fall in love again

(REFRAIN)

(CHORUS)

I loved you so
Now you leave me in the cold
How could this be
I thought that you'd only love me

Into the night
I will pray that you're alright
You hurt me so
I just can't let you go

You took advantage of my willingness
To do anything for love
Now I'm the only one in pain
Will you please take it all away

Never thought being born a girl
How I can love you and be burned
And now I will build a wall
To never get torn again

(CHORUS) [2x]

Here you can read and listen to the English version of this song: Because I'm a girl in English

Visit this community of love! Here you can find love poems in English.... Valentine is coming soon

to write you comment click on comment.... just right down here.

Mind Mapping!

2006-11-07T19:40:00.000-04:00

Cool Slideshows

Best Scores this term! Listening test. Semester Sep-Dec 2006

2006-10-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

Hello. Well, this is to announce and praise all the students that tried their best and got 20s on their final first term grade.

Remember, everybody can get 20s ...if you try... work on your homework, workbook and participate for extra "puntos".

Let's start with the class with more students with perfect score:
Class C111. Engineering School Morning Class. Congratulations!!!!
The students with perfect scores are:

Carlos Chacin, Gabriel Goitia, Cristobal Leiva, Jammary Luzardo, Carlos Olivares, Armando Prez, Daniel Rodriguez, Orlando Valbuena, Cesar Villalobos and Juan Zambrano.

Some of the students in this group have volunteered to be tutors. So if you need any help with homework or someone to practice with don't hesitate in contacting them at EFL Center Level 1 Community

C111 is not the only class with students with 20s. Here, we have some more:

P211: Jhonny Ziskiend (My favorite Martian) Jhonny is a volunteer tutor. An Angel. Always willing to help his classmate. A special Thank you to you Jhonny. Contact jhonny at EFL Center Level 2 Community

T123: Juan Guerrero and Alonso Velazco.

P111: Vanessa Leon, Vanessa Mavares, Angel Tang, Carmen Roldan, and Betzaida Navarro.

D402: Raul Amundaray.

N112: Alberto Ardila, Antonio Arrieta, Joaquin Dela, Jose Garcia, and Alexander Kuiper.

T323: Sandy Nip and Alfredo Nuñez.

and last but not least

D113: Javier Areche,Annelis Guanipa and Vanessa Guerrero. Students from Law School.

Meeting Antonio Arrieta.

2006-10-22T03:45:00.000-04:00

My name’s Antonio Arrieta. I’m from Venezuela. I’m from Maracaibo, originally. I’m Venezuelan and my first language is Spanish, but I speak a little of English, too. I’m a university student at URBE. I'm in the first level of English. I'm and engineering school student. My teacher's name's Doris de Martins. I’m 17 years old and I’m tall and slim. I’m friendly, smart, nice and funny sometimes.

The weather in Maracaibo,my city is hot and sunny, for that reason most of time I wear fresh clothes.

This is a photo of my Vacations trip to Margarita. Margarita is a Venezuelan Island. In the picture, I am in front of the Indian’s Cave. In the picture, I’m wearing an orange cap, black sunglasses, and a dark blue sweatshirt. I’m also wearing a necklace. It's hot and sunny, so I’m wearing clothes for warm weather.

My favorite color is blue, and my favorite kinds of music are Reggaeton, Pop and Rock.

Meet Raul.... a musician...EFL student

2006-08-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

Hi, my name's Raul Struve but everybody calls me Rauli, I'm from Maracaibo, originally. I'm 21 years old and I study electronic engineering at URBE. I live in Maracaibo in Milagro Norte Street.

I love music, mainly rock and jazz music, also playing soccer and video games with my friends, my family, pizza and play the guitar. I'm in a band. Our band's name is INCIERTO. I'm a composer.

I hate listening to Reggeton, smoking, war, envy, injustice and to eat liver.

My dream is to graduate in electronic engineering and to be able to live on music and production, also travelling and learning about new cultures, traditions and their music.

My opinion about English… I think English is very important as much for my career and plans.

Interview: Francisco Padron

He's name's Francisco Padron. He's 25 year old. He likes music, to play baseball, watch TV and his town. He hates war, injustice, smoking, lies and eggplant.

His dream is to graduate from mass communication school.

His opinion about English… is very important to work, in all the companies people need employes who speak English.

Interview: Paola

Her name's Paola. I'm 22 years old. She loves to play volleyball, eating hamburger and strawberries. She hates… cleaning her house, getting up early and listening to rock.

Her dream is to get married, and to find a good job as a lawyer.

Her opinion about English… She thinks English is the most important language of all because if you speak English you are able to live anywhere.

!!!! My favourite web site www.myspace.com/inciertoweb!!! Please, visit me there and leave a comment.

Bye Bye !!! see u

Odeo

2006-07-27T15:43:00.000-04:00

Work of ART at URBE

2006-07-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

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These are some examples of the art work our students here in URBE do. The topics were Narnia, metamorfosis of Frank Kafka and vampires. They were hanged on the walls of the stairs of building F. You can appreciate their work while going up to class.

World Cup......Soccer Planet!

2006-06-27T11:41:00.001-04:00

World Cup 2006: Japan vs Brazil 1-4

World Cup at URBE

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Level V final Presentation

2006-04-27T08:46:00.000-04:00

Hello! We just finished our level V Intensive course and here we have the slideshow of our final presentation projects. The theme of the projects were countries, Venezuela's cities and states. The best project was about Costa Rica... the most interesting thing we learned was that Costa Rica doesn't have an army... good for them... love and peace (my new friend diggerstorys sent me this link). It was a good show and we enjoyed sharing with other students.

One of my students Jhon is from Merida, he brought some food and drinks from his hometown on his last trip back home. We had the chance to try some kind of drink made with fruits and alcohol. It was clear that they were for a cold weather. They taste really strong and we felt warm inside really fast. You can see Jhon in the slideshow. He's the tall youngman wearing a "ruana".

The presentation about "La Sierra de Perija" was especially interesting. We learned a little bit more about it from people who actually live there. They told us about their problems with the "guerrila", housing, food ......"Parrilla de mono" is one of their favorite dishes and their festivities.

Well, got to go now.. Here you have the slide show of the presentation. Enjoy it.

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Introducing some of my students from URBE!

2006-02-21T10:32:00.000-04:00

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Blogging and Podcasting!

2006-02-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, Blogging and Postcasting! Two wonderfull ways of practicing and sharing. I registered two these courses offered by Electronic Village Online Jan-Feb 2006. I'm learning about Blogging with my dear friend Susanne Nyrop at blog06 · COLLABORATIVE BLOGGING IN ESL/EFL. There we are examining and comparing several current blogging tools and how they could be put to use with ESL/EFL learners. We are also considering how to use multimedia content, such as audio recorded voice messages, podcasts, photos and videos. How exciting!

I also registered at a Podcasting course at Podcasting for ELT "A Hands-on workshop in how to podcast, what tools to use, and applications in ESOL. Although the workshop is suitable for total beginners (no prior knowledge of podcasting is expected), educators with experience are also encouraged to join us in discussion and debate to help develop the potential of this exciting new medium" Begginers they say...... well, count me in. I'm learning a lot.

I'll try to write more about what I'm learning since this is my playground!
Keep on shining and sharing!
Doris3m

and now we're going to start podcastig.. Wow!

2006-01-06T19:45:00.000-04:00

Well, Happy New Year to everybody! Love you all and wish you the best! Hope you shine the most beutiful light this new year!

Thanks to my dear friend Buth, I have discovered a new literacy.... Podcasting and you won't believe how easy it's to post your voice so people can listen to what you have to say... It's unbelievable... you can listen to my voice at http://doris3m.podomatic.com/ and why don't you give it a try.... you won't be disappointed!

Keep on shining!
Doris3m

First time blog entry! Multi.... que?

2005-10-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally made it! My first blog and the first time I dare to write about what I think and get from hanging out with my dear friends the webheads. I want to thank you all webheads and new partners in this adventure for all your sharing and supporting each other... that's the best part of all.
I don't know how to do this right... I'm still getting skills but I strongly believe that we learn by doing, so I'll just try to write what I see, feel or think.

Ok, let me get back to what multiliterate means to me... at the beginning I though that being literate was just being able to write and read .... oh, gosh! that's how illiterate I was, but reading about it and nurturing from Bob's, Vance's, Dennis's, Buth's, Hyman's and Daf's comments I have found out that being literate is much more than being able to write or read correctly. I come from a education system that taught me to memorize information without analyzing it or telling me what to do with it or that I have to do things with it. Now, thanks to new technologies and wonderful people like my partners in adventure, things are changing rapidly and my way of looking and handling new and old information is changing, too. Now, I know that to be able to claim yourself literate you’re supposed to be able to do things with what you know and according to Siemens, you should also know where to locate reliable information sources. I thought there was only the need to be literate, I know now there are multiliteracies, too. I guess that means that due to rapid changes brought by the use of new communication technologies, the way we make sense of things is changing and new literacies are being born. Now, I realized that to make sense of new technologies you need to be visual, spatial, audio, linguistical and many more kind of literate. These new ideas are revolutionizing my world and my practice as an educator. After this experience, I will walk into my classroom and do things differently to give my students a better chance in this new world.
Well, I think that’s enough for today...