Leo’s teaching confessions

     This semester is almost over and most students are studying for the finals. During the last ten lessons the learners applied digital technologies, such as voice recording, PowerPoint Presentations (PPP), making videos and Edmodo (Virtual Learning Environment), in order to promote learning responsibility and independence. Additionally these activities were planned to encourage students to speak, to listen to themselves, to experiment, and to ask questions. a profile in Edmodo        Some research has shown that social software tools can be effectively integrated into both face-to-face and online environments (McLoughlin, C and Lee, M. 2008). By implementing a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) the students received a collection of integrated devices which helped them enhance their oral skills and provided a system to deliver information, access to resources, track students’ performance, and assess.      As a matter of...

In my previous post I talked about PowerPoint Presentations that students are implementing inside their oral English classes. However, students also implement Audio Voice Recording. Most students are already familiar with audio recording in some form: voice messaging, playing online in Virtual Worlds and even Now recording apps make it easier than ever to use audio recording as a classroom tool (King, M. 2016). Besides, hearing one’s own voice on audiotape can be an eye-opening experience. Having the opportunity to record can be a powerful method for promoting independent judgement and goal setting, along the ownership of the learning process (Hudson, R. 2005). In my introductory class, students experimented with an IPA website in order to be able to read pronunciation. By doing so, pupils were encouraged to study more efficiently by promoting the use of digital technologies and carrying out more dynamics activities implementing Audio Voice Recording (AVR) and an IPA ...

     This week was the eighth one in my oral English classes. The semester is almost over and it is time to draw some conclusions about the methodology that was implemented during these lessons.       In previous posts I said that four pieces of technology were going to be implemented in order to enhance students’ speaking skills in each class, to know: voice recording, Edmodo (Virtual Learning Environment), making videos and PowerPoint Presentations (PPP).      Even though each class is unique and has its own challenges; this post attempts to share an experience about Chinese university students using PowerPoint Presentation (PPP) in public speaking to enhance their public speaking and oral English skills. At the same time, this entry will provide information about the benefits and possible pitfalls of PPP implementation in an oral English class. Student doing a public speaking presentation with PowerPoint.   ...

This post discusses the importance of collaboration and cooperation between students and teachers when engaging in talks, chats or debates in online resources such as emails, online discussion boards, wikis, virtual learning environments, or blogs. task posted on Edmodo In the last post of this blog it was stated that one of the objectives of applying digital technologies is to promote learning responsibility, independence and encourage students to become good learners. Students should be willing to listen, to experiment, to ask questions and to think about how to learn. From my point of view these characteristics describe good learners not only inside but also outside the classroom.   students posting their video (link)  From my experience I can say that these Chinese students, who have been in my oral English classes, not only lack of motivation for studying English but also have a mindset of traditional students, meaning that they do not develop ef...