Friday, March 11, 2005
EFL105 - 2004-2005 Spring Semester
EFL105 - 2004-2005 Spring Semester
Thanks Seval for sharing your experience with us. It's really encouraging to see how you've started to use a blog. I had a look at the comments your students wrote--interesting to note that some chose to write in Turkish, while others wrote in English. Did you give them the option, or did you just leave it up to them? Perhaps it's just LAW students (but I think not!) that have an obsession with exam preparation and grammar, but it's really interesting to give students a forum like this where they express their needs.
In my group, Nazenin and Makbule were helping me out with the f2f contact while I was still at home. I was in the unique position of not having seen them f2f, so I used the blog as a sort of 'ice-breaker' - I was encouraged by the quality of the responses, even though only four found time to reply so far. But, like you, I find this blogging environment very easy and 'sympathetic' and even 'fun'! Now, if it actually makes our lives easier, and improves the service we try to provide to our students, I think we may be on to a winner...
If anyone else is attempting to use a blog with your students, don't hesitate to drop a note in this blog so we can share ideas and experiences.
Thanks again, Seval, for getting back to us with your blog.
[P.S. I'm really interested in getting hold of 'authentic' student writing-like the comments in your blog--to analyze from a lexical point of view. Would you be willing to let me have a copy at the end of the term? I suppose, we would also have to ask the students for their permission as well, since they have copyright on anything that they create in your blog. But, it would be a great resource, as we could not only get a profile of the productive lexis that students 'comfortably' produce by comparing it with the BNL, but we could also produce a concordance of these writings which would highlight a lot of the common problems in terms of grammar, syntax and lexis. In a few years time, with a few more blogs, we could have quite an interesting database. Let me know what you think.
Thanks Seval for sharing your experience with us. It's really encouraging to see how you've started to use a blog. I had a look at the comments your students wrote--interesting to note that some chose to write in Turkish, while others wrote in English. Did you give them the option, or did you just leave it up to them? Perhaps it's just LAW students (but I think not!) that have an obsession with exam preparation and grammar, but it's really interesting to give students a forum like this where they express their needs.
In my group, Nazenin and Makbule were helping me out with the f2f contact while I was still at home. I was in the unique position of not having seen them f2f, so I used the blog as a sort of 'ice-breaker' - I was encouraged by the quality of the responses, even though only four found time to reply so far. But, like you, I find this blogging environment very easy and 'sympathetic' and even 'fun'! Now, if it actually makes our lives easier, and improves the service we try to provide to our students, I think we may be on to a winner...
If anyone else is attempting to use a blog with your students, don't hesitate to drop a note in this blog so we can share ideas and experiences.
Thanks again, Seval, for getting back to us with your blog.
[P.S. I'm really interested in getting hold of 'authentic' student writing-like the comments in your blog--to analyze from a lexical point of view. Would you be willing to let me have a copy at the end of the term? I suppose, we would also have to ask the students for their permission as well, since they have copyright on anything that they create in your blog. But, it would be a great resource, as we could not only get a profile of the productive lexis that students 'comfortably' produce by comparing it with the BNL, but we could also produce a concordance of these writings which would highlight a lot of the common problems in terms of grammar, syntax and lexis. In a few years time, with a few more blogs, we could have quite an interesting database. Let me know what you think.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
BBC | British Council teaching English - Resources - Blogging for ELT
BBC | British Council teaching English - Resources - Blogging for ELT
Hot off the press - a British Council 'spin' on blogging. Nothing much that we haven't already read or talked about, but interesting to see blogging hit mainstream EFL endorsement by THE Council...
Hot off the press - a British Council 'spin' on blogging. Nothing much that we haven't already read or talked about, but interesting to see blogging hit mainstream EFL endorsement by THE Council...
Friday, March 04, 2005
Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?
Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?
If you're not quite sure about the BlogThis! feature, this page explains why it's useful, how it works, and how to install the BlogThis link in your browser. Seval has used BlogThis to share her blog as a posting in our SFLBloggers blog...I'm looking forward to seeing a few more once you've sorted out your profile photo. :) Or, if you don't want to use BlogThis! for your own blog, but rather another web page, feel free to do this as well (as I've done here with the Blog Help web pages.)
If you're not quite sure about the BlogThis! feature, this page explains why it's useful, how it works, and how to install the BlogThis link in your browser. Seval has used BlogThis to share her blog as a posting in our SFLBloggers blog...I'm looking forward to seeing a few more once you've sorted out your profile photo. :) Or, if you don't want to use BlogThis! for your own blog, but rather another web page, feel free to do this as well (as I've done here with the Blog Help web pages.)
Blogger Help : How do I add my photo to my profile?
Blogger Help : How do I add my photo to my profile?
If you've succeeded in publishing photos to your blog, but are having trouble adding a photo to your blogger account profile, the instructions on this page should help.
If you've succeeded in publishing photos to your blog, but are having trouble adding a photo to your blogger account profile, the instructions on this page should help.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Seval Niyazi
Seval Niyazi:
"Bogaz is one of my favourite places :)"
Well, Tuncer gets the distinction of being the first SFL blogger to make a posting in our initial brainstorming activity, but Seval has the honour of being the first to go beyond the "Final Frontier!" Congratulations Seval!!
If you want to see why Seval likes Boğaz so much, pop in to her blog and see her photo. Reminds me that spring is on the way!
"Bogaz is one of my favourite places :)"
Well, Tuncer gets the distinction of being the first SFL blogger to make a posting in our initial brainstorming activity, but Seval has the honour of being the first to go beyond the "Final Frontier!" Congratulations Seval!!
If you want to see why Seval likes Boğaz so much, pop in to her blog and see her photo. Reminds me that spring is on the way!
