Partnership for Teaching 2007: Jordan-Syria

Congratulations

2008-03-27T06:43:00.000-04:00

Dear all colleagues,
I'm very pleased to read about your sucsessful conference. I took a look at the schedual and your workshops. They look very useful.

Wishing you all the best.

Hala Moukayed

Conference

2008-01-17T15:35:00.000-05:00

hello everybody, i hope u r ready with ur proposals 4 the conference.
looking forward to eassing u in Amman.

amer

You Deserve it!

2007-11-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

Dear Amer,

I'm so happy to hear that you have become a father. Finally!

Anyway, you deserve it!!!!!

Tell me how your life is going to change now!!!!

I'm really happy for you.

I know now that we found the suitable pride for my son!!

hi all

2007-11-22T06:20:00.000-05:00

hi all,
i am glad to hear ur good news. here everything is great as i became a father 2 weeks ago. i have ababy girl now who was born 6 weeks earlier than her time.

Happy Feast, Let Go the Beast

2007-10-11T10:49:00.001-04:00

Dear P4TJS2007,

How are you all. I hope you enjoy this eid with all yor friends and family members.
This Ramadan was very hard for us as teachers. I'm sure after the feast, we will let go the beast inside us.

Love

I miss you all

2007-10-07T06:27:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody ,Iwish that you enjoy your time .How is teaching with you ?

Ramadan Kareem

2007-09-29T09:36:00.000-04:00

Hi
I wish you all happiness and forgiveness during this holy month.

A GOOD LINK FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

2007-09-25T14:55:00.000-04:00

DEAR ALL,

PLEASE, CHECK THIS LINK. YOU MIGHT LOVE IT.
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR FEEDBACK.

http://www.studygs.net/index.htm

LOVE
MOUHAMMAD UTMAH

Happy Ramadan

2007-09-18T06:24:00.000-04:00

Happy Ramadan everyone.
It's the month we all fast.
Things are better done,
and family together at last.
All sins are gone
and vanished in the past.

Good deeds widely bloom,
We are again real men.
Joy is there in every room
And so sad is Satan
That is his final doom
So happy Ramadan again and again ....

Kassem wishes you a happy Ramadan.

Happy Ramadan

2007-09-14T09:43:00.001-04:00

Happy Ramadan dear P4T2007JS,

How are you doing at your shcools?

To me, I'm experimenting a lot of new things that I would like to share.

Keep in touch.

hello my name is joe

2007-09-07T13:21:00.000-04:00

heloooooo every single person
i realy miss all the things we had together.
now i know the importance of beautiful delaware...
it brought us al together.

hello my name is joe.

Hi

2007-08-11T05:58:00.000-04:00

Hi, everybody I wish that you enjoy your time with your families .

2007-08-03T20:01:00.000-04:00

2007-08-01T17:24:00.000-04:00

Hi every body:
I am hussam
I wish you a happy stay with your families. It was really nice to meet you all. You became brothers and sisters. I would like to thank everyone I had met: Najeh( Abu Qutaybah), Suhad( Um William), Hazar( Um Nabeel), Abeer, Eman( Um Mo`men), Amer, Inas, Mohammad Kasasbeh, Nina, Najwa,Mohammad Uttmeh, Ashraf, Sawsan, Hala, maha and Ahmmad.Please, keep in touch.
If you think to call me, please, call me on
00962/776989104.
E-Mail: secret_vague@yahoo.com

I hope I can see you soon.
Your brother:
Hussam Mohammad Abu Sarris

Hand out

2007-08-01T17:12:00.000-04:00

“Group Work” Works
Presented by: Hussam Abu Sarris
Goals:

1. What is the “group work works”?

2. Why does it work?

3. How does it work?

4. How can we do it?

************************************************* *********
1. What is the “group work works”?

Various names have been given to this form of teaching, and there are some distinctions among these: cooperative learning, collaborative learning, collective learning, learning communities, peer teaching, peer learning, reciprocal learning, team learning, study circles, study groups, and work groups. But all in all, there are three general types of group work: informal learning groups, formal learning groups, and study teams

Informal learning groups are ad hoc temporary clustering of students within a single class session. Informal learning groups can be initiated, for example, by asking students to turn to a neighbor and spend two minutes discussing a question you have posed. You can also form groups of three to five to solve a problem or pose a question. You can organize informal groups at any time in a class of any size to check on students' understanding of the material, to give students an opportunity to apply what they are learning, or to provide a change of pace.

Formal learning groups are teams established to complete a specific task, such as perform a lab experiment, write a report, carry out a project, or prepare a position paper. These groups may complete their work in a single class session or over several weeks. Typically, students work together until the task is finished, and their project is graded.

2. Why does it work?

Students learn best when they are actively involved in the process. Researchers report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes. In group work, you can draw on each group member's knowledge and perspectives, frequently giving you a more well thought out paper at the end or a better understanding of the class material for exams, labs, etc.
You can also draw on people's different strengths. For example, you might be a great proofreader while someone else is much better at organizing papers.
Groups are great for motivation: they force you to be responsible to others and frequently, then, do more and better work on a project than you might when only responsible to yourself.
Group work helps keep you on task. It's harder to procrastinate when working with others.
Working in groups, especially writing texts together, mirrors working styles common outside school. In business, industry, and research organizations, collaborative work is the norm rather than the exception.
3. How does it work?

General Strategies:

1* Plan for each stage of group work.

2* Carefully explain to your class how the groups will operate and how students will be graded.

3* Give students the skills they need to succeed in groups

4* Create group tasks that require interdependence

5* Make the group work relevant

6* Create assignments that fit the students' skills and abilities

7* Assign group tasks that allow for a fair division of labor

8* Set up "competitions" among groups

9* Consider offering group test taking

10* Decide how the groups will be formed

11* Be conscious of group size.

12* Keep groups together
13* Help groups plan how to proceed

14* Regularly check in with the groups

15* Provide mechanisms for groups to deal with uncooperative members

16* Give students an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of their group.

17* Decide how to grade members of the group

4. How can we do it?

By making some activities.

References:

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html

Connery, B. A. "Group Work and Collaborative Writing." Teaching at Davis, 1988, 14(1), 2-4. (Publication of the Teaching Resources Center, University of California at Davis)
Cooper, J. "Cooperative Learning and College Teaching: Tips from the Trenches." Teaching Professor, 1990, 4(5), 1-2.
Cooper, J., and Associates. Cooperative Learning and College Instruction. Long Beach: Institute for Teaching and Learning, California State University, 1990.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/group/pop1a.cfm

Happy Flight Back to Jordan

2007-07-28T07:43:00.000-04:00

I wish you a happy and safe flight back to Jordan. It was really nice to work with you all. You became brothers and sisters. I would like to thank you all ; Sameer, Narjes, Atrees, Um William, Abeer, Um Mo'men, Hazard, Al-Mariana, Hussam, Wajdi and Mouhammad Kasasbeh.

I cannot wait till I see you again, but I'm sure we will by God's will.

Please, keep in touch. If you think of coming to Syria, please, give me a call 00963933182794.
e-mail: translingua@hotmail.com

See you soon

Mouhammad Utmah

JORDANIAN – SYRIAN P4T CONFERENCE 2007

2007-07-27T13:18:00.000-04:00

JORDANIAN – SYRIAN P4T CONFERENCE 2007

First Day: July/23/2007
Time
Workshop Number
Workshop Title
Workshop Presenter
9:00-9:30
Welcoming Speech
Eman & Najwa
9:30-10:00
P4T 01
WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM YOU AND ME?
ABEER AL-HIJAZI
10:00-10:10
BREAK
10:10-10:40
P4T 02
MAKING LANGUAGE MAKE SENSE
MOUHAMMAD UTMAH
10:40-11:00
COFFEE BREAK
11:00-11:30
P4T 03
HOW DO WE TALK WITH OUR BODIES!
EMAN AL-GHNIEMIN
11:30-11:40
BREAK
11:40-12:10
P4T 04
DRAMA IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL OF EFL
MHMMAD KASSASBEH
12:10-2:00
Lunch
2:00-2:30
P4T 05
VOCABULARY PRACTICE GAMES
SUHAD ALIMADANAT
2:30-2:40
BREAK
2:40-3:10
P4T 06
TEACHING 4 SKILLS THROUGH STORYTELLING
MARIANA VICTOROVA
3:10-3:20
BREAK
3:20-3:50
P4T07
HOW TO MAKE STUDENTS NEVER SHUT UP!
ASHRAF AMATOURI
3:50-4:10
COFFEE BREAK
4:10-4:40
P4T 08
USING PICTURE STORIES IN TEACHING WRITING &SPEAKING
HAZAR GHRAYEB
4:40-4:50
BREAK
4:50-5:20
P4T 09
USING VIDEO TO TEACH 4 SKILLS
NAJEH AL-RAWADEH

Second Day: July/24/2007
Time
Workshop
Number
Workshop Title
Workshop
Presenter
9:00-9:30
P4T10
WHO SAID IS GRAMMAR BORING???
NINA ALAJAHJI
9:30-9:4O
BREAK
9:40 -10:10
P4T11
THINK LOCALLY AND ACT GLOBALLY
HALA MOUKAYED
10:10-10:20
BREAK
10:20-10:50
P4T12
PASSION –BASED LEARNING
NAJWA KHIAT
10:50-11:10
COFFEE BREAK
11:10-11:40
P4T13
STIMULATING STUDENTS’ APPETITE TO SPEAK FLUENTLY
SAWSAN MATAR
11:40-11:50
BREAK
11:50-12:20
P4T14
GROUP WORK WORKS
HUSSAM ABU SARRIS
12:20-2:00
LUNCH
2:00-2:30
P4T15
(INPUT-OUTPUT) TEACHING LISTENING USING TECHNOLOGY
WAJDI AL-SHAWAQFEH
2:30-2:40
BREAK
2:40-3:10
P4T16
NO SHY STUDENT LEFT BEHIND
INAS AYYOUB
3:10-3:20
BREAK
3:20-3:50
P4T17
NEW NEWS ABOUT USING NEWS
MAHA GHRIWATI
3:50-4:10
COFFEE BREAK
4:10-4:40
P4T18
TEACHING QUESTION FORMATION USING SCENARIOS
AMER DARWEESH
4:40-4:50
BREAK
4:50-5:20
P4T19
INTEGRATING ONGOING COLLABORATION IN TEACHING EFL
AHMED SA’D AD-DEEN

2007-07-25T12:05:00.001-04:00

A book is to be published

2007-07-25T07:11:00.000-04:00

A book that contains some stories, activities and logical explanation of grammatical structures is to be published. All trainees can send their stories and explanations by e-mail to translingua@hotmail.com and get their names published with them.

INPUT & OUTOUT

2007-07-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

University of Delaware
English Language Institute (ELI)
Partner 4 Teaching
Input and Output
(Teaching Listening Skills Using Technology)
Wajdi. A. Shawaqfeh

The Goals (Objectives):
 To show how technology is useful in teaching English as Second/Foreign language (Listening & Speaking Skills).
 To show that the pupils can get input in English language (foreign language) by using technology.
 To prove that technology can increase the motivation of the pupils.
 To make pupils eager to learn how to use technology in order to get output and feedback that will help them improve their language proficiency.
 To change the atmosphere of traditional classroom, to increase the pupils motivation to be more active in class and able to expose to authentic language used in daily life that they may not hear in classroom.

The Rationale
 This topic is chosen to show the teachers how technology is important in the process of education; it is the best way to save time and the best way for the student centered approach; to increase the pupils’ opportunities to speak or to produce output.
 Also, to tell the teachers that they do not have to be a technologist and not to be afraid of being replaced by technology because it is looked at as a tool of education.

The Activities

Activity One:Listening to a weather Broadcast
The Procedures:
1. Asking students warm up questions.
2. Playing the weather broadcast.
3. Distributing weather maps to students.
4. Stimulating the discussion in groups. (Speaking & Writing)
5. Asking students to volunteer to present a weather forecast in front of everyone.
The Purpose: To stimulate the students through the use of technology to practice speaking and writing skills (OUTPUT).

Activity Two:A famous T.V show
The Procedures:

1. Playing the interview for one minute, first and ask the audience some general questions.
2. Then, continue listening to the interview and here listeners have to listen carefully because they will be asked questions that are more specific about the interview.
3. After that, pupils tell their predictions. “What will happen next in the interview?”
4. Suggest audience to work in groups of two where on of them will play the role of the interviewer and the other one will play the role of a famous person.
5. Next, two or three groups can perform that interview in the front of everyone.
The Purpose: To use some technology to practice speaking skill (Technology will be as a motivator). Moreover, to teach students to work in groups.

Activity Three:Two Digital Stories
The Procedures:

1. Show the students two or three digital stories made by two teachers using Windows Movie Maker, let them comment on them.
2. Connect between the ideas of the two digital movies.
3. The Purpose: The main purpose is to stimulate students writing and speaking skills through technology.

References:
1. http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/.
2. Mariana’s digital story “Cultural Shock”.
3. http://www.accuweather.com/company.asp.

Useful Websites & Shortcuts: The following are useful websites and shortcuts that can help the teacher in preparing his lesson using technology in teaching any skill at any level:
1. www.manythings.org.
2. http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/technology/animationresearch.html.
3. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/movies.mspx.
4. http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/forum/profile.php?mode=activate&u=364851&act_key=504e13f0.
5. http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/index.shtml.

linguistic983@yahoo.com

Another Lesson

2007-07-24T21:36:00.000-04:00

This conference taught me another lesson. There's something in common between teachers and students. All human beings share the same fear of change. Some people are afraid of trying new things.

Some people are controlled by what they are used to. To them, breaking the routine means destroying their identity.

All brillinat methods start as ideas that strike somebody's mind in the bathroom or somewhere else. The challenge, then, is to gound this theory. However, people who are afraid of change deprive themselves of the unexected results.

These people, who are afraid of change, will reject any new ideas under different execuses such as practicality, hardening langugae to certain concrete shapes or "This is not the way we teach." In fact, they are afraid of change because they feel insecure in a competitive environment.

The most important advice is for them to start changing because reality is very changeable to wait for them.

I don't know how we can change our students for the best if we are afraid of change. To me and to a lot of my colleagues in this conference, we are to experiment all new things and we don't believe in the existance of red lines.

Let the others live behind the green barriers they set for their minds. We are travelling to STARS.

Workshop : Using video to teach the 4 skills

2007-07-24T18:56:00.000-04:00

Our conference,the second day

2007-07-24T14:17:00.000-04:00

Making Language Make Sense

2007-07-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Making Language Make Sense
By
Mouhammad Utmah
translingua@hotmail.com or utmah@udel.edu

Introduction:
Some people say that to learn another language it’s really important to learn it as you learnt the first one. Some ESL learners go and live in an English-speaking country to learn English by need. Yet, it's not easy to elicit the rules of ESL when learners speak and listen to English two hours a day only. Sometimes, they might start to speak fluently but not accurately. Eliciting takes babies years of hunger, thirst and misunderstanding to learn a language they listen to all the time. Moreover, babies are more teachable because the language structure in them is designed to absorb the first revelation.

On the other hand, teaching the rules directly for learners to practice is completely different from the way human beings learn their first language (the most fluent), so a second language is not going to be as fluent as a native one. Sometimes, it’s not accurate either, because the need for fluency certainly affects the process of transforming the studied rules into accurate sentences.

Therefore, it will be better if we can mix the two ways; the direct teaching of rules and the natural process of eliciting to achieve both accuracy and fluency. It’s all about quickening the process of language acquiring and language generating. Chomsky’s ideas of syntactical structures and generative grammar are extremely important here.

Short-term Goal:
Learners will be able to understand the logic behind a second language rules (Language Mechanism) in a relatively short period of time but still through eliciting.

Long-term Goal:
Learners will be able to sculpt a mental cliché to produce consistently accurate sentences and eventually to accelerate this mechanical process. In future, they can work on decorating the outcome or even the cliché but not at the expense of accuracy.

Strategy:
To accomplish the above-mentioned goals, we should make language make sense either by figuring out the logical relationships or imposing them, which is how the second language acquisition is different from the first language acquisition. Learners can even use a physical cliché to start over with eliciting.

Techniques:
Different techniques will be used in making language make sense such as using drama, jazz chants, MS MovieMaker, story telling, using drawing …etc

Activities:
- A functional warming up activity: the trainer is going to ask a group to act out a grammatical structure, while the others will try to guess the sentence. Then, every group is going to name a grammatical structure and direct other trainees to mime this structure without telling the rest about it, while the others are going to guess what sentence it is and speak it out.
- The fruit basket of parts of speech. Trainees will make sentences by representing parts of speech instead of fruit. A part of speech is to be named and the trainees representing that part of speech are supposed to switch to form other correct sentences in 30 seconds.
- Trainees will listen to a story and then they will try to apply it to a grammatical structure. Finally they will pick another structure and try to write a story about it and tell it to the rest who are going to try to guess.
- Trainees will listen to a jazz chant and figure out what mistake was made depending on the story mentioned in the previous activity.
- A board is to be shown to trainees who are going to elicit the rules of that grammatical structure. Now, trainees are supposed to pick another grammatical structure and try to make a board for it.
- A drawing can be posted on the wall, so students has the chance to elicit the rules through applying the drawing to a grammatical structure.

A book that contains all these stories, activities or logical explanation of grammatical structures is to be published. Any trainee can send his story or explanation by e-mail to translingua@hotmail.com and get his name published with it.

Time for harvest (0ur conference)

2007-07-23T20:37:00.000-04:00

Wrath of Grapes

2007-07-23T20:31:00.000-04:00

Discussion on” Wrath of Grapes “
I read a similar story : in a class room a teacher told her students to draw his /her mother and father .One of the student drew an apple and a banana ,the teacher said “there are no father and mother like this “and she taught him who to draw a face . In the End of the day an apple and a banana came and picked up the student from the school.
The pieces of massage which I understand are:
1- Don’t rush to give any final judgment
2- You have to respect others responsibilities and don’t undermine their attitude.
3- Don’t take it for granted that you are the only person who is right.
4- Mutual respect and understanding make life better.

2007-07-21T12:48:00.000-04:00

It's All about Motivation
One night, I couldn't go to bed because I was thinking about how I'm going to teach the charecteristics of each god and godess in the Greek and Roman mythology. At the end of the seconed term, students are usually unwilling to memorize any extra piece of information.
"It's all about motivation," I though. When we were done with that lesson, students could remember a large number of those gods and godesses. But how?

I asked them to prepare for a costume Party where everyone is supposed to memorize his part and how he/she relates to other gods and godesses and to improvise something during the party. Just, have a look at the following results:

Lessons learnt form "The Wrath of Grapes"

2007-07-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

The Wrath of Grapes

When there’s somebody traveling your trip, nagging and giving you a hard time, don’t judge him/her depending on what he/she says.

Some people sound the opposite of what they really are.

Sometimes, people sound bossy and irritating while they are caring.

If she stopped talking forever, he would lose the opportunity of getting to know her truly.

When there’s someone bothering you, everything he/she will be illogical and irritating to you. You lose.

The real character of a person is hardly revealed through his/her way of expressing himself/herself.

Try to find excuses for your fellow traveler.

Prejudice turns the warming grapes into cold ones.

Still, the deaf parents aren’t ANDREI CODRESCU’S problem and he’s ok. He’s NOT an old man and he’s not under her control. She’s not responsible. If she had talked to him like she talked to her parents, she would have turned out to be crazy.

Using Jazz Chants Functionally

2007-07-20T08:42:00.000-04:00

Hello
My name’s “PACK$”
I’ve got some money
I like
Skiing
One day
I broke my leg
My life got boring
One night
I had some toast
I set
The house on fire
I’ve got no brothers
Who’s gonna help me?
At once
My neighbor “DOE”
He came to help me
For that
He took my money.
*****************
Hello
My name’s “PACK”
I’ve got no money
I like
Skiing
One day
I broke my leg
My life got boring
One night
I had some toast
I set
The house on fire
Who’s gonna save me?
At once
My brother “WILL”
He came to save me
He is so kind.
*****************
Hello
My name’s “PACKING”
I’ve got some money
I hold
My brother’s stuff
I like
Skiing
One day
I broke my leg
My life got boring
One night
I had some toast
I set
The house on fire
Who’s gonna save me?
At once
My brother “AM”
He came to save me
For that
He kept
His stuff all with me.
*****************
Hello
My name’s “PACKED”
I’ve got no money
I hold
My brother’s stuff
I like
Skiing
One day
I broke my leg
My life got boring
One night
I had some toast
I set
The house on fire
Who’s gonna save me?
At once
My brother “HAVE”
He came to save me
For that
He kept
His stuff all with me.
*****************

Assessment

2007-07-20T08:39:00.001-04:00

Assessment

What I know about assessment is that the assessment way should match the teaching and learning methodology followed.

Last year, we were encouraged to use multiple intelligences and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students and I exerted a lot of efforts to make succeed. It did. Students started to think critically and to respond to different kinds of learning styles.

The disaster was that the tests were very traditional. Sometimes, they were worse. Marks didn’t reflect students’ improvement. It, however, let them down. They weren’t enthusiastic anymore. The started to feel that all the methodologies they used to have fun with aren’t useful anymore. They felt that other students who weren’t being taught in the same way were privileged because they got extra marks.

Students should be tested on what they went through, even if it means to have two different copies of tests.

Workshop Delivery

2007-07-20T08:37:00.001-04:00

Thinking, Writing and Learning
By Dr. Stephen Bernhardt

Getting Students Attention:
The use of technology; namely chat; kept students attracted because it’s a new way they have never seen in this context (in a workshop). Moreover, the idea of creating the PowerPoint presentation in the classroom gave the impression that everybody’s input is important and constitutes a part and parcel of the overall outcome. However, after forty minutes when the information presented didn’t exceeded the expectations, the trainees stopped to pay attention.

Explaining Exercises:
The workshop was more theoretical. No exercises were provided. The trainees expected some practical tricks of direct benefits instead of the theories they have to reflect on in order to come out with practical materials that suit their own classes, which can be a reasonable excuse.

The Material Presented:
Even the trainees who expected more practical materials expected also some theoretical ones that provide some deep aspects of the issues. The PowerPoint presentation posted on the website isn’t more than a summary of different reflections of different trainees. All the theoretical information presented is considered the minimum of what the trainees are supposed to know.

Involving the Audience:
The idea of brainstorming about the topic of the workshop let the trainees come out with everything they know about writing and consequently set their expectations of the workshop, so they started to discuss ideas concerning them. The presenter provided a safe environment for all kinds of ideas. Moreover, to make sure of everybody’s participation, he moved to the chat to enable shy unconfident trainees and get them involved. What really got the trainees involved is the sense of competing with other groups through eliciting ideas and comparing them with a list made by American trainees.

Story making with Windows Moviemaker
By Tricia Scott

Getting Students Attention:
Again the use of new technology keeps trainees attracted, let alone when the whole workshop is about the use of a certain technology. The presentation of some models, whether funny or shocking, ignited the trainees’ enthusiasm. However, the elaboration on the importance of story telling distracted the trainees and let them get bored after they lost hope that she’s going to start soon with the practical side.

Explaining Exercises:
It’s always different when it comes to technology. The presenter modeled the most important aspects and let the trainees to learn by discovering and making mistakes while they are trying to accomplish the mission required, which was of a great help. Deep details were up to the trainees to discover themselves. Sometimes, the lack of exercises is an exercise itself.

The Material Presented:
The presenter provided some tutorial websites. Moreover, a lot of links that provide an access to videos, pictures and sound tracks were given too.

Involving the Audience:
The models presented at the beginning were of a great help in engaging the trainees. On the other hand, what really got the trainees involved is the discussion about the possibilities of using this new technology in teaching. It addressed some purposes in each trainee and the presenter was generous to provide other technologies for the purposes that cannot be served through this one.

The Advantages and Shortcomings of My Learning Styles

2007-07-20T08:33:00.000-04:00

The Advantages and Shortcomings of My Learning Styles

Reflective vs. Active
· I like drafting and I really spend too much time thinking but this spares me troubles of trying things and ending up in a mess.
· Too much thinking causes hesitation.
· Whenever I like to try things against my will of thinking, I will be in a big trouble and later I discover what went wrong in details.
· I like playing solo and in an orchestra I would like to be the conductor, which sometimes makes a dictator of me.
· Sometimes, I learn things through mechanical steps, which makes me resist change.

Intuitive vs. Sensory
· I don’t accept what people experienced before. I like discovering my own islands through my own waterways.
· I have a high sense of ownership, so I hate what people have set, which makes me lose what other people learnt.
· I can spend hours discussing about theology and sometime I sail away from the real world. Still I like geometry and hate algebra.
· I frequently make some silly mistakes because I’m familiar with the outcome and the process doesn’t matter.

Visual vs. Verbal
· I memorize registration plates, phone numbers and some lessons by having a glance at them, which can be easily mixed with other images.
· Whenever I summarize, I don’t write full sentences. Instead, I use arrows and boxes, which makes my summaries readable by me only.
· I have a systematic way for using colors and sometimes I discover new meaning because of the system.
· Even when I write poetry, I use imagery and metaphors.
· Sometimes, I don’t feel words are suitable to describe what I have in mind.
· I am an expert at mind mapping and sometimes in a very complicated way.

Sequential vs. Global
· I cannot accept the next point until the previous one is verified even when it hypothetical, which makes me a tough debater.
· I often get lost in details till I see the pig picture especially when I read long novels. I often spoil the enjoyment of being surprised by reading a summary.
· Usually, I connect new things to my experience where I can find a point of similarity to build on. Then I apply all old rules to the new events.
· I would like to keep a track of what I’m doing, so I can repeat it the next time.

Conclusions:
· A reflective student is a thinker of higher levels.
· An active student is a good athlete and a disaster in the class.
· An intuitive student causes headache to unprepared teachers.
· A sensory student is a traditional future teacher.
· A visual student is a fast preceptor.
· A verbal student is a woman.
· A sequential student is a tough debater.
· A global student is details free.

Student Centered Teaching

2007-07-20T08:31:00.000-04:00

Student Centered Teaching

“This is not a classroom! You are not students! I am not a teacher!” I said when I first came into the first class in my life. “This is a ship sailing to SUCCESSLAND. You’re my sailors and I’m your Captain. Either we sink together or we survive together.”

A captain won’t do most of the work. Sailors aren’t passengers on the deck. To arrive to SUCCESSLAND is everyone’s responsibility. On the other hand, a captain is always there for his sailors.

This is the spirit my students had all over the year and when we made it to SUCCESSLAND, it was everybody’s achievement.

When I was a student, I was a “naughty” one who didn’t accept what teachers said. Everything raised some questions in me, which didn’t get along with teachers’ standards of a good student. That bad student became a good teacher.

Teachers cannot avoid being in the driver seat all the time if they were in the back seats all the time when they were students. We should break this chain for once and forever. By putting the students in the driver seat we are preparing a new generation of teachers who are willing to let students in control. Most teachers are willing to teach in the same way they were taught.

I teach “Elements of Literature”, a book with integrated thinking activities. However, it’s not only the materials that empower students. The same book was used by some traditional teachers and turned out to be a disaster. My “naughty” character that doesn’t obey rules helped me a lot in raising questions and issues when I was a student and enabled me to model this strategy so students became willing to follow it.

Enabling students is more practical than being an announcement to be made. Last year and during the first semester, we had that motto: “Pay It Forward”. In that semester, students were supposed to establish a chain of help. Each student was supposed to help a weaker student and ask a better student for help. This project made students find their own ways to teach the lessons to their friends. These methods they followed were more like them or they were their own. Away from repetition, this raised a sense of ownership in them. In the second term, a similar project under a different motto was launched; “It Takes Two To Tango”. Students started to form groups of two. Everything was made through these groups. An assignment of 10 questions was made by groups choosing the questions they would like to answer. Later, a journal containing answers of students from all the sections was published with the students’ names under their answers. The quizzes that included this kind of assignments were easily passed.

Some answers in the first journals were “rubbish”, but as far as a safe environment is provided, students’ answers became more acceptable. I remember when I drove my father’s car for the first time, he didn’t blame me for knocking the gate down. If he had, I would have knocked every gate I encountered down.

What really helped students in writing the reflective journals was a website devoted for the book they were studying. That website contained informational articles related to the stories in the book, which provided a kind of a background that evoked thinking. Having students read the articles in the website made them aware of different aspects of the issue discussed and consequently determined what the teacher is going to illuminate. Moreover, students were responsible of their learning.

This resulted in a war to be waged by my supervisor against me. That’s because there are no instructional books or materials that determine the steps of empowering the students. On the contrary, each group of students, not to say each student, requires a different approach, which minimizes the possibilities of having efficient materials. Instead, materials about creativity in dealing with different psychological patterns are more available and useful.

The comment that will be made is that this will increase uncertainty because of the experimental nature of this method. However, empowering students focuses on the process that leads to an outcome. As long as the process is ok, the outcome will be in hands sooner or later.

You will pass by different islands in your way to SUCCESSLAND. Once you are there, it will become your colony which you are going to build depending on what you experienced on your way to it.

It isThe Time

2007-07-16T22:39:00.001-04:00

Hello all Jordan-Syria. Its the time to start the real work.
The conference is just few days ahead.
Lets give the best we can.Good luck to all of us.

Its

2007-07-16T22:39:00.000-04:00

STRATEGIC INTERACTION / SCENARIOS

2007-07-15T22:29:00.000-04:00

STRATEGIC INTERACTION

Learning Language through Scenarios

Presented by Joe Matterer

First of all, I’d like to say that this workshop was one of the amazing workshops I have ever attended.

The presenter started his workshop by giving a brief summary about the history of the strategic interaction/demonstrating scenarios approach which emphasizes students’ interaction or competence.
There are many definitions for the scenario; the scenario is an open-ended strategic interplay of roles functioning to fulfill personal agendas within a shared context. It is also a key device in making foreign-language discourse strategic in the classroom where the main objective is to use the language in an appropriate way in different situations and different people with different roles (boss - employee), (mother - daughter).

Students are assigned roles in scenarios that oblige them to work out and implement personal game plans through dialogs where they are always themselves providing the input for the content of language instruction.

The strategic interaction approach contains six essential components:
-strategic interplay
-non-complementary roles
-personal agendas relevant to participant’s lives
-shared context
-dramatic tension
-physical involvement

The characteristics of the strategic interaction approach:
-interactive
-student-centered class
-task-based
-students are themselves
-develops BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills).
-emphasize communication and intelligibility.
-utilize group-work

The role of the teacher in this approach:
-model
-facilitator
-reference
-counselor

The Scenario Directions:
-rehearsal
-performance
-debriefing

The language itself is not enough to say that someone is good in it. It should involve the full knowledge of human behaviors. It is not only the cognitive aspect of it but the social and personal one as well. Human beings are concerned with accomplishing their purposes through the tool of language.

New Branch of the Tree of P4T

2007-07-11T09:56:00.000-04:00

I can see new generation
Beyond all imagination

Enthusiastic and active
Proud of being interactive

Happy to join P4T
And go as long as a tree

Which originally has deep roots
And ripens there more fruits

We need this tree again
To shade under it and then
To share with students' need
And be teachers indeed.

Dear all , I'm happy to share this poem with you and I enjoyed reading your postings. I'm from Syria but I've just arrived from Saudi Arabia. I appreciate your efforts and I can feel myself with you. Enjoy your time and bless you all.

Technology: Web Resources For Teaching and Teacher Training

2007-07-09T00:23:00.000-04:00

INTERNET RESOURCES FOR TESL/TEFL
A Brief Guided Tour
Presented by Grant Wolf
On Tuesday 07/03/07
The presenter went through the following steps:
* = DISCUSSION
I. How are you, as an instructor, already using the Internet in your teaching?

II. How do your students, on their own, already use the Internet in ways
that expose them to English?
III. What are some of the advantages and benefits of using the Internet as a
teaching tool?

IV. What are some of the problems and obstacles of using the Internet in teaching?

V. A Question of Choice

Using the Internet, like any other teaching skill (or life skill, for that matter) is a question of choice. It takes time to survey all the options, evaluate them, test them, and learn to use them effectively. The vastness and flexibility of the internet make choice the crucial element—it all looks good, but you can’t use it until you choose it.
VI. A BRIEF TOUR OF SOME INCREDIBLY USEFUL RESOURCES, FOR YOU TO EXPLORE
One way to help you make sense of the vast resources of the Internet is to classify them . . .
A. Comprehensive Resources for TESL/TEFL
Actually, everything you need (and much more than you need!) can be found in these six sites.

Comprehensive Directory of ESL-dedicated sites:
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/tesol98/webresources.html#esl

Dave’s ESL Café. The “Mother” of all ESL/EFL websites, for students and teachers: http://www.eslcafe.com/search/index.html

Online English Language Center, from the University of Oregon. This one is new for me. It’s professionally compiled, up-to-date, and looks extremely useful: http://oelp.uoregon.edu/

Internet TESL Journal. A free monthly journal, offering a wealth of practical ideas for teachers. http://iteslj.org/

Total ESL. Another excellent comprehensive website, especially dedicated to teachers in Asia and the Middle East. http://www.totalesl.com/
B. On-Line Discussion Groups:

1. A short, easily navigated list of On-line Discussion Groups for teachers: http://www.linguistic-funland.com/tesllist.html

2. On-line discussion groups for ESL/EFL Students, with a variety of topics to choose from: http://sl-lists.net/

3. Another discussion forum for students, through the famous Dave’s ESL Café site: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/student/index.php

4. Find penpals (actually “keypals” for your students) at
http://www.tesol.net/penpalpostings.html

C. Authentic Language Content-based sites that ESL/EFL teachers have found useful

1. LiteracyNet. Ready-made, news-based high-interest lessons designed for literacy instruction. Includes both listening and reading, with full text as well as abridged text. http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/

2. English Listening Lounge. This offers a variety of natural-speech listening excerpts, complete with transcripts. It is a commercial site, but some good material is available for free. http://www.englishlistening.com/

Pulse of the Planet. This is a sound and text feature of National Geographic, with many short but fascinating topic selections. http://pulseplanet.com

4. English Listening Lab Online. Native speakers of a variety of “Englishes” along with video, transcripts and exercises. www.elllo.org

5. Favorite Poem Project. Poetry read by many diverse voices, accompanied by video, sometimes with long, natural-speech introductions. Transcripts of poems available.
www.bu.edu/favoritepoem/thevideos/index.html

D. On-Line Activities, specifically for TESL/TEFL students and teachers

1. Hundreds of on-line games and activities for your students: http://iteslj.org/games/

2. ESL Independent Study Lab: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html

3. Quia: English http://www.quia.com/dir/eng/ Another commercial site, with some good free examples.

4. A Free, Easy Authoring Program for Teachers: Filamentality http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil

5. Phonetics: A state-of-the-art animated visual and sound resource from the University of Iowa. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

6. This is one dedicated solely to everyone’s favorite. . . prepositions!
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/prepositions.html
E. A small sampling of fun and varied websites for you and your students to try (great motivators!)
Simeon’s Cave of Magic: http://www.caveofmagic.com/zndex.html
Amazon.com Activity: http://iteslj.org/guides/amazon.html
Cuisine Net: http://iteslj.org/guides/dining.html
Jokes for TEFL: http://iteslj.org/c/jokes.html
F. Just for Kids
Gokidding. Basic single-word reading, writing, and rhyming for kids. http://www.gokidding.com/Language.htm

Sesame Street Coloring pages, for learning the alphabet.
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/coloringpages/

IATEFL Young Learner’s Interest Group Site. This is a huge, annotated list of resources for teachers of children. Definitely worth the time to explore. (Note that it is color-coded by age group). http://www.countryschool.com/ylsig/

Longman’s Young Learner’s Page. A commercial site for Longman’s products, with several excellent free resources and activities. http://www.longman.com/young_learners/teachers/index.html
F. More for Kids:
Phonics and Stories on Line. Many to choose from, with sound and simple animation for various elementary grades. http://www.beenleigss.eq.edu.au/requested_sites/sounds/

PBS Kids. Exceptionally high quality songs, video, animation and games. http://pbskids.org/

Kizclub. A Korean English language site you’re probably familiar with, including stories, phonics, pictures, and crafts. http://kizclub.com/Sbody.html

Korea Englishtown. A nice assortment of children’s songs with motions and video. Also tongue twisters and a few video scripts.
http://korea-englishtown.net/fun1.php

Yahoo Kids. Another wonderful Korean site you’re probably familiar with, including wonderful animation and simple language for young children. http://kr.play.kids.yahoo.com/eng/

G. For Further Research
Designing Your Own Web Activities: Working the Web for Education, by Tom March. A very readable introduction to creating your own websites, it also includes many ready-to-use examples.

http://www.web-and-flow.com/help/formats.asp
H. Independent Exploration:

MAKE A CHOICE!
We began this workshop by talking about making choices. We all agree that the Internet is a vast and amazing resource, but remember: You can’t use it until you choose it. So, right now, before this workshop ends, choose a website that you want to use in your classes, as soon as you get home. Copy the URL (web address), and send it off in an email to yourself. Finally, be ready to tell the class about your choice.

Summarized by Ahmed Sa’d Ad-Deen asap8engg@gmail.com
The Syrian Group
(P4T) UD Summer 2007

Assessment

2007-07-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Portfolio Assessment workshop
UD, Summer 2007
Dr. Jorge cubillos
Wed, 6,27,2007 3,00 PM

Dr. cubillos starts his lecture with a question. Are tests necessary?
-Testes are expected components of academic life
- Tests are valuable diagnostic tool
- Tests can enhance the learning possess
- Testes can also interfere with learning
And then he Said “ TEACHER NEED TO ENHANCE AND REFINE THEIR TESTING SKILLS ON A REGULAR BASIS.

What is a test?
Test is a method of measuring person’s ability, knowledge or performance in a given domain.

Prencipples of language assassment

What is Assessment?
-On going process
-Formal or in formal
-Formative or Summative
-Norm –Referenced or Criterion Referenced

And there are: Informal Assessment, Formal Assessment, Formative Assessment, Summative Assessment, Norm –Referenced and
Criterion- Referenced.

3-History of language history testing
-Direct connection with methodological trends
-Grammar translation?
- Audio –lingualism?
- Direct method?

DISCRETE POINT TESTS: Constructed on the assumption that language can be broken down into its component parts and that those parts can be tested successfully.

Integrative tests:
-Oller’s Unitary Trait Hypothesis (1979). Indivisible view of language proficiency.
-Communication approach. Real- World tasks. Quest of authenticity.

PERFORMANCE –BASED ASSESSMENT: Authentic interactive task.
4- CURRENT ISSUES
- New views on intelligence.
- Alternative assessment
- Computer- based testing

5- BASIC ASSESSMENT TRENDS:
- Ongoing assessment
- Performance –based testing
- Test as milestones of progressive
- Positive reinforcement
- Learners autonomy
- Technology-Assisted Assessment

An ideal one is that meets the five principles of test effectiveness:

1- Practicality
2- Reliability (Student –related reliability,
Inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, Test administration reliability)
3- Validity (Content-validity, Consequential validity, Face validity)
4- Authenticity
5- Washback
Most of the students find this workshop interesting and useful, but some think that it would be more useful if it was divided into two parts or more.

Digital storytelling

2007-07-03T16:03:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody,

Don’t you want to be a movie maker of your own story? Don’t you want to be the director in charge of selecting, adding and modifying elements in a way that really serves your purpose and conveys your thoughts in a concise but impressive way? If the answer is yes then join me in my summary of a very illuminating workshop presented by Dr. Tricia Scott, entitled “ Storymaking with Windows Moviemaker ".

First, what is digital storytelling and how does it help in our classroom?

Digital storytelling is the integration of both writing and multimedia to tell a story of your choice; whether it is personal or imaginary.

However, digital storytelling has seven elements that should be taken into consideration:

1. Point of view or the purpose of telling the story

2. Dramatic question which means engaging your audience in your climax
3. Emotional content which means engaging the audience to make them want to listen to you through conveying a truth about yourself that no one knows about

4. The gift of voice by which the personality of paper comes alive

5. The power of sound music that stirs up an emotional response

6. Economy which means using only one written page and three minutes for the movie to covey what you want to say through visuals and recorded voice

7. Pacing which incorporates rhythm, punctuation, and a space for the listener to listen and reflect.

Now, having considered these seven elements you can set off on writing, creating a storyboard, and utilizing windows movie maker to record voice and images.

How does digital story helps in our classroom?
It enhances critical thinking, expository writing, and media literacy. It also teaches how to document real events and reflection, and how to narrow the focus through correct word choice in both the writing and the digital story.In conclusion, it is certainly the organization and the emotional appeal of using an authentic voice which make the digital story a unique experience to remember for both the teacher and the students.

Audience Response
Almost everybody liked the idea of using technology in a creative way to motivate students of all ages to get involved. One of the responses, however, claimed that this technique can only be used once or twice throughout the course. Well, personally I’d say that using this technique would involve all of the students over a long period of time that would allow them to do their research for authentic material, to document it, and to make up a unique story. This alone would certainly have an everlasting impression.

2007-07-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

Workshop Design and Delivery , Deborah Detzel / Wed.,6 / 27

The main steps:

1:Welcome and introduction
2:What is the observation?
3:Models of observation
4:Activity
5:Workshop feedback

First of all Baerbel introduced Mrs. Deborah Detzel as the presenter of the workshop. The observation (as defined by my colleagues) is a record or a remark of certain teachers for their lessons.

We were given some models of the observation. There was a Teacher Observation form included the lesson organization,Techniques Used, Assessment and Class Climate.

There many others (Tool 6 Foreign Language Observation Checklist, Tool 19 Cooperative Groups, Tool 5 Anecdotal and Checklist Data Collection Method, Tool 13 Variety of Instructional Methods and Tool 8 Observation Guide using Bloom's Taxonomy ).

There was an excellent workshop which we shared a lot of ideas all together and wrote them down on the chalkboard after discussion.Here's a sample:

1: Response to a problem observation:
- Figuring out why the teacher fell behind the curriculum.
- Adjust ideas by methodolgy.

2: Peer Teaching:
- Teaching / learning ways.
- Highlighting whatever should be done differently.
- Help teacher think outside the box ( an outside eye).
- Comparing both teaching approaches.
- Exchanging ideas.

3: Supervisory observation:
- Evalute teachers.
- Formal observations by supervisors.

4: Learning / Sharing observation:
- To improve / develop certain teachers.

Feedback on Teaching Strategies / Positive and Negative Comments

The questions and the results are here:
1: Materials and methods presented will be adaptable in our own country: 100 %
2: The presenter explained activities clearly: 100 %
3: The presenter involved the participants sufficiently: 100 %
4: The presented explained the goals of the workshop: 100 %

Everyone liked the presentation of the workshop, the discussion , the involvement of the class in the workshop and the smooth flow of ideas.

There were also some suggestions to have a real observation and if we can go over a little bit slower over the handouts:

There was a question that if the informal observation has the same points of the formal one.
There was someone who has a lot of questions for Mrs.Detzel so he'd like to observe from time to time.

welcome to the dorms

2007-07-01T21:12:00.000-04:00

Wajdi and Amer would like to welcome u all at the dorms.

2007-07-01T21:06:00.001-04:00

The Delaware State Legislature – DoverDover

2007-07-01T18:37:00.000-04:00

The Delaware State Legislature – Dover

We got in through the back door as if we were family. To the left was the House of Representatives. To the right was the Senate. In the middle stood some stairs that led to the governor’s office on the 2nd floor.

In the House were 41 representatives who were elected by people in their districts for 2 years, while in the Senate were 21 senators who were elected by people in larger senatorial districts for 6 years. Both representatives and senators can be elected for as many terms as possible as far as voters are satisfied.

Every ten years, there is a census that will determine how the state is going to be dissected into representative districts and senatorial ones.

Today is the 26th of June, just 4 days to the closing session of the 144th general assembly which usually starts on the 2nd Tuesday in January. For the other six months, senators and representatives keep in touch with people trying to sensor their needs. Being a legislator is a part-time job. Some legislators are teachers, lawyers or ever farmers.

Neither the House nor the Senate is ethnically dissected. If you are 24, you can be a representative, while you have to be 27 to be a senator. Neither color, gender, education nor religion matters as long as you’re an American citizen.

Ruth Ann Minner, a Democratic businesswoman, is the 1st female governor of Delaware. When she was 16, she left school to work for the governor. She was elected for the House for 2 terms then for the Senate which she presided as one of her duties as a lieutenant governor. In 2001, she became the 1st female governor and she was re-elected for a second 4-year term in 2005. A governor cannot be elected for more than two 4-year terms.

Unlike the Senate that has a Democratic majority led by Senator Deluca, the House has a Republican majority led by Representative Cathcart.

Representative Spence, the Speaker of the House, is the longest active speaker who has been in the position for 19 years.

Unlike Senators, Representatives, Governor and Lieutenant Governor who are elected, the support staff is recruited.

The building of the State Legislature has a federalist colonial architectural style which you find in the Independence Hall in Pennsylvania. The paintings inside go back to 1987, the 200th anniversary of Delaware Legislature.

The seal of the state has been changed 3 times. Recently, some 4th graders have drafted a law to change the dates on the seal. The old dates were the dates of changing the seal. The law was approved and more important dated replaced the old ones on the seal. They are as follows:

1704 is the year that Delaware established its general assembly.

1776 is the year that Delaware independence from Great Britain was declared.

1787 is the year Delaware became the first state by ratifying the US constitution.

For more information jim.rafte@proforma.com
Summarized by Mouhammad Utmah translingua@hotmail.com

Integrated Skills: Using Music to teach the 4 skills

2007-06-29T22:41:00.000-04:00

St. Wajdi. A. Shaw
linguistic983@yahoo.com
University of Delaware (ELI)
2007 P4T (Jordan - Syria)
Integrated Skills: Using Music to teach the 4 skills
Janet Louise (WHL 208)

Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well so far. Today, I am going to summarize what we have done and learned in the last workshop “Integrated Skills: Using Music to teach the 4 skills” which was presented by Janet Louise.

Firstly, Janet began the lecture by playing different kinds or genres of music then she started to ask about how we felt when we were listening to each one of those genres of music. I think she wanted us to put ourselves in the places of our pupils so we can choose the appropriate music in teaching them the language, and obviously, there were many different opinio ns about those different genres of music. And here are some of the songs that we listened to:

1. “They Got So Much to Say” – Bob Marley, Exodus.

2. Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight” 1st Movement – Beethoven.

3. “Festival Music “(Music of the Malinka” – African Tribal Music and Dances.

In addition, Janet showed the manners we, as teachers, choose a song and that by asking ourselves the following questions:

1. “Is the topic or language possibly offensive?”

2. “Is the theme very suitable for my students’ ages?”

3. “Will the students enjoy the songs, or is it just a pleasure for me?

4. “Is it too short, obscure or simple?”

5. “What’s about time, is it enough to play the song for three times or more?”

6. “What’s about the clarity of the words of the song?”

7. “Will the students get bored before finishing the activity?”

After that, we learnt how we download lyrics and songs from the Internet (free websites) and make sure that CDs or cassettes and lyrics match.
Next, Janet provided us with some songs that might be used in teaching the students in kindergarten or elementary schools with some exercises, like “BINGO”.
She also gave us many handouts of songs that might be used in teaching the secondary school and collage students, as: “I love ESL (Rock Talk)”, “Thank you”, “I can’t Make You Love Me” and “Banana Pudding” before we started to listen to them.

As a wrapping up, Mrs. Louise offered us some of useful websites and books which can be our resources of songs and lyrics or teaching using music, such as:

1. www.rhino.com : Storyteller: Alanis Morissette, 2005. Viacom International, Inc. Warner Strategic Marketing.

2. www.palmpictures.com : Freestyle: The art of Rhyme, 2004.

3. “Rock Talk and the Vowel Sounds”: Music Creating Language Experience: by Jenny Redding, 2005. Musical Educational.

4. “Songs in Action”: Dale T. Griffee. 1992, Prentice Hall International (UK)
Ltd; ISBN (0-19-437055-0).

5. “Fun Learning Songs!” Elementary School Rock; Kindergarten Musical Note2000. Item Workshop Feedback Form

Well, I was surprised by the different responses and attitudes of my colleagues toward the lecture so I am showing their comments in the following Table & Chart:

Table (1)

Chart (1)

**** Teachers’ Suggestions (written just as they are on the Workshop Feedback Form):

a) The presenter could have used Multimedia Programs (Computer) and that would have saved her a lot of trouble and would have saved time.

b) We need more materials to use music in teaching.
**** Astonishing Comments!!!:

a) I think we can still do the same activities without using music or songs.

b) What was the goal of this workshop and how can I (as a teacher) adopt this method
to my classroom? I still do not know ….

c) I didn’t grap any practical thing.

Thinking, writing and learning

2007-06-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

Thinking, Writing and Learning presented by Dr. Stephen Bernhard

In this workshop the presenter used new technological techniques in teaching writing. He used the WebCt.
Writing is a means of communication. It pulls together thinking, analyzing and learning, so the presenter talked about different ways teachers can use to improve student writing and communication skills.
Why Write?
Sometimes we write to demonstrate learning, to integrate new learning, to encourage verbalization, or to manage a large project.
Writing could also be used as a feedback on learning and ownership of ideas.
Formal or Informal Writing?
There are different ways of writing ranges from exploratory, questioning, tentative to polished, published and delivered.
All ways help the teacher know about the level of his students and where they really are.
A lesson from WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum)
It helps the students to be good learners, so writing is sometimes used to promote learning.
Communicating and Thinking
Communicators need a context- it could be a sense of purpose, audience, genre or a sense of how it will be evaluated.
Writing offers the chance to own information and understand things in a better way. Writing is thinking and discovery.
College students are most engaged with courses that assign writing because it is the one skill they want to improve as often as any other skill.
What kinds of writing (GENRES)?
Letters, short stories, essays, biographies, memos, reports, forms, charts ...etc.

What kinds of Speaking?
Expert interviews, rehearsals, progress reports, team discussions........etc.
What makes a good assignment?
It should relate to course goals, define clear situations and set standards for communication.
How do we integrate communication?
By reflective writing, using technology, modeling, clustering, etc.

Attendees’ comments:
The workshop was interesting. The teachers liked the idea of using modern technology with modern methodology and they also liked the interacting through writing in the chat.
For some teachers, the workshop fell short of their expectations. They hoped they would learn specific new techniques to guide their students to better writing.

summary of storytelling

2007-06-27T12:13:00.000-04:00

The presenter of storytelling was Debra Darrell . she coverd the following topics :
1.the benefits of storytelling in the classroom like; help students to make sense of the world
and gives them the ability to imagaine.
2.language skills practice with storytelling like;oral stories which develp listening in a unique and resposive way.
3.Helps students to understand the structure of a story.
4.It can give students a sense of writing techniques such as strong beginning and end.
5.the presenter was clear and she used different techniques ,like painting ,role playing.

Audience response:
All the teachers' responses were possitive.

American culture summary

2007-06-25T22:11:00.000-04:00

Dear teachers,

I hope my summary for( AMERICAN CULTURE)/American ways ,which was presented to us by "CHRIS WOLFE" will be of great benefit to all of you!

Chris told us that what he tried to explain to us is how "American people" understand themselves. He made it clear that AMERICANS have high respect fo the LAW but low respect for the GOVERNMENT eventhough the government is the one who makes the LAWS.He talked about the historical background of AMERICA and the Europian origin,he also mentioned that AMERICA is a nation of immigrants and gave us these statisics:
9.3%of the current population was born in another country.
13% of Americans normally speak a language other than English at home.
40% of all new students at NYD do not speak English as their first language.
Chris mentioned some generalities of American culture such as;individual freedom and self reliance,equalityof opportunity,strog sense of individual privacy.
The way he presnted all that was really great because he mentioned many examples of his own experience since he has travelled alot and saw different cultures.
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
The response of all teachers to the lecture was positive.One teacher thought that one lecture was not enough and another asked for a CD which talks about AMERICAN CULTURE.

Discipline and Classroom Management Workshop.

2007-06-25T21:45:00.000-04:00

Hi every body!

I'm going to write about one of the workshops that we had. The title of that

workshop was "Discipline and Classroom Management". It was presented by Dr.George Bear.

The workshop started with meeting some American teachers in Delaware.

Dr.George divided us into groups according to the class level we teach,then we had comparison discussion with the American teachers.

We compared the Jordanian educatinal system with the American system. We

also discussed what types of discipline we can do in our classrooms.

We also discussed some major facts of discipline problems in our classes. After

that we asked each other some questions like the following :

1- Why did you decided to be a teacher ?

2- What standards do you follow?

At the end we discussed how we can prevent problems in the classrooms.

hi every body I'm glad to be with you .

2007-06-25T16:19:00.000-04:00

Syrians are in - day 1

2007-06-25T15:52:00.000-04:00

We are glad we are here and we hope we can catch up with you soon.

Hello

2007-06-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

Mouhammad Utmah

2007-06-25T15:25:00.000-04:00

This is Mouhammad Utmah, an English Teacher from Syria. I'm really interested in learning new techniques for teaching

oral intelligibility

2007-06-25T15:22:00.000-04:00

The question of what makes a speaker intelligible was raised by Earl Stevek in the beginning of 90s.Then the trend was captured and developed.Dr Scott,the presenter,successfully introduced different techniques of teaching pronunciation on segmental level,rhythm,intonation,linking,projection and reductions on the suprasegmental level.Each technique was discussed accurately and different types of examples were offered.The most interesting ones were:1)using rap music to practise suprasegmentals;2)using nursery rhymes to practise stressed elements;3)teaching linking through sound productions;4)teaching the change in meaning by sentence stress paraphrasing;5)using kazoo to immitate intonation patterns. The importance of drama based methods on the example of Manhattan transfer and oral dramatic readings was interestingly presented.All the feedbacks from students were positive.

Technonlogy: Introduction to THE BLOG (Baerbel)

2007-06-25T00:41:00.000-04:00

St. Wajdi. A. Shaw
University of Delaware (ELI)
2007 P4T (Jordan - Syria)

Technology: Introduction to the online P4T course materials, assignment and the Blog

Hi everyone! It is Wajdi and I am going to summarize the way how to use The Blog or how to post a massage to the Partnership for Teaching blog site. Although it is easy process but I have to write something about it because some of my colleagues have asked me to do so.

Baerbel said at the beginning of the lecture that if one wants to get an account at the blogger (http://www.blogger.com/), s/he should have at least one account at either (http://www.yahoo.com/) or (http://www.google.com/) in order to receive an invitation to get an access into the blog.

After she made sure that everyone had an invitation, she showed us how to sign up by following these steps:

1) Go to (http://www.blogger.com/).

2) Click on the “New Blogger: using your yahoo or google account.

3) Type your username. Your username is your e-mail address.

4) Type the password that you selected when you created your account.

5) Click on SIGN IN.

6) Click on New Post under the Partner for Teaching 2007: Jordan-Syria.

7) Type a word or phrase for the title. Then type your message in the big box.

8) When you finished with your message, click on BUPLISH at the bottom of the screen.

9) You can see your new massage by clicking on VIEW BLOG.

10) Finally, when you finish what you want to do, DON’T FORGET to click SIGN OUT at the top right area of the screen.

Note: Also, with the blog you can see what are your colleagues’ ideas or questions about the program or any subject concerned in (P4T) program or anything else.

Wajdi. A. Shawagfeh
linguistic983@yahoo.com

Teaching listening

2007-06-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

listening is the most important skill. That is very clear in our daily life. For example , when a pregenant woman suddenly hears noisy , she reacts or does a sudden movement so her baby will respond and begins moving. Why ? Because he hears sounds.

In the classroom , the essential point is that students need to be able to understand what is said in order to function satisfactorily in the situation. One way of doing this task is that students talk to themselves through a routine day and try to note all the different listening situations that occur, for example to make an interview with his friends, to listen to the news , to read the instructions.
One of the reasons of why students listen is ( listening for comprehension ) , and the aim of listening for comprehension in the classroom is that students should learn successfully in real-life listening situations ( as I mentioned before ) , and what sorts of things the student needs to be able to do in order to comprehend in a very successful way in a variety of situations.

- Using pictures , drawings , letters to be circled is a good way of teaching listening.
- Using signs , gestures helps also .

Technology-Podcasting

2007-06-23T08:43:00.000-04:00

what is podcasting?
it is about recording voices and souds to be put in the computer and used as a mean of teaching (listening & speaking).

why pod?

we can use it for different educational purposes like teaching speaking or listening.It makes the lesson more enjoyable,it makes lessons student-centered and it can be another kind of assessment in a way it enables teachers and students to see the progress they make during the scholastic year by comparing their records at the begining and at the end of the year.
Students can evaluate themselves when they listen to their voices and it can help them in pracising speaking like story-telling.

How do we pod?

the first thing we should do in order to be able to pod is to open an account on
www.tunaruna.com/podcast/
When we record anything (e.g. interview with host family) we can upload it as following:
1- use a wire to connect the tape recorder with the computer.
2- go to (start) then (audacity) then you will have an empty screen with buttons on the top.
3-turn on the recorder at the same time hit the recording buttonor on the audacity screen.
if you want to save it you can go to (file) then (save projet) but if you wish to add more sounds you can do the following:-

1-check www.tunaruna.com/podcast/
2-go to (freesound) 6th on yhe list.
3-type the soud erea you like(e.g. park.birds)
4-hit (submitt)
5-you have many sounds,choose the one/s you lik
6-on the right side of the screen use a right click to hit (download)
7-save target as..
8-discktop (or your flash)
9-go to audacity=>project=>descktop=>choose it.
10-now it is added to the audacity screen.

# if you wish to delete a part of your recordind use (I) to make the target erea the hit (delete).
#if you want one of the recording to start before the other you can use (<->) to pull one of them to the right side of the screen and it will sart later.
#to save go to file =>save as MP3 then it is at the desktop.

2007-06-21T11:16:00.001-04:00

have a nice day with shopping in u s a
hazar

2007-06-21T11:16:00.000-04:00

hi to every one in my group

i'm dlade to see you

2007-06-21T11:14:00.001-04:00

hi; i miss my family soooooooooooooooooooo much

hi all

2007-06-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

hi eveybody,this is ur new blogger amer from jordan

najeh

2007-06-21T11:12:00.000-04:00

i am najeh saleh i am from jordan , i am married i have two kids . i am an english teacher. i have been teaching english since 1993. you are welcome

welcome

2007-06-21T11:11:00.000-04:00

hi,
i am Hussam i have been a teacher for four years ago, and i teach 4th and 5th grade in Jordan. I am very glad to be in the united state. it is very good experience

greet every body

2007-06-21T11:10:00.000-04:00

hi every one.i hope every one is okay

hi 2 all

2007-06-21T11:08:00.000-04:00

hi,good 2 join u all.

welcome

2007-06-21T11:06:00.001-04:00

hi im suhad madanat .Iam an English teacher from Jordan. I teach 1st ,2nd,3rd ,4th and 5th Grades .I studied in Muatah Univercity .I am very interested in learning English Language . I .ve been teaching English for 8 Years .

greetings

2007-06-21T11:06:00.000-04:00

Hello!I am Marianna Viktorova.I was born in Ukraine,lived and studied there,then at the age of 17 my family moved to Jordan,where I studied at the University of Jordan.I am very much interested in learning languages,teaching.Ihave finished M.A.degree and have been teaching English for 10 years at Rosary School in Amman, Jordan and at the University of Jordan .

hii all

2007-06-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

hii all this inas your new partner in this programme

Hope but Cope

2007-06-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

Hope but Cope

Whenever you see a light
Remember
There is an end to every night.

All the time there is hope
However,
Just keep holding to the rope.

And never say it's not my day
It's yours
But there might be a delay.

It is time to work hard
Look!
We've already lost our land.

If you postpone you goal
Careful!
You might also lose your soul.

Those are for normal persons
How about
When it comes to senior citizens?

Our mission as teachers
Is
To shift normal to senior creatures.

And when they are senior
It's better
To drive them to be superior.

Teachers are not only who teach
In addition
They are all who need to reach
The ecstasy of this beach
The beach of peace and love
The love of share and care
The care of all who dare
To be there, ready and willing to teach.

2006-10-11T13:20:00.000-04:00

Dear Deb,

With recognition to all your highly appreciated efforts to teach your Arabic speaking students at the ELI the 'phonics-type work (both decoding and pronunciation) and corresponding "rules" and the use of reductions and linking in pronunciation' ,I think I have a suggestion to make in order to help solve their problem and yours.

In "our" educational system, as far as I remember as a child, we started learning English the hard way: students look at the written words and repeat after the teacher chorally and then individually. Then students are asked to write the words in their note books several times_ maybe 10 lines each word. The teacher checks the homework assignments next class and makes sure everyone has done theirs alright. Illustrations may go hand in hand with the written form of the words so that students connect them and draw their image in their minds. To the best of my recollection, my teachers had a funny way of pronunciation so that most of the students mocked them and even mimed the way they uttered sounds. No tape recorders or players were in "our" class rooms then.

Nowadays, most, if not all, of our class rooms are well equipped with videos, TVs and cassette/CD players. So there's a better chance for "our" students today to learn foreign languages_ English if you will, than ever before. However, what I can see in my classes as of today, is that my students know exactly how to read and write the spelling of so many words_ God knows how many, but they can't pronounce them properly nor can they use the 'reductions and linking in pronunciation' .

I can give you a very good example of this two classes I started giving right after I got back home from the States_ they're ACCESS Program students at the age of 16 = 11th graders. They actually started some 10 months ago with their American teacher from the AMIDEAST office in Damascus. They have been doing True Colors syllabus Levels: 3 and 4. They are chosen students and good at English, too. But guess what! Even though they have developped their listening skill remarkably, they can not "say" acceptably what they read and they can not repeat after the recording unless they follow in their books and read literally_ word by word. Mind you, they spell words perfectly! I couldn't pick any spelling mistakes in their written exams.
SYRIAN STUDENTS, huhh?! I'm just kidding!!!!

Have I ever made my point? Have I ever been helpful to you in this respect? I do hope so!!!

By the way, I haven't heard from you about the evaluation of my presentation in our last day conference at the UD. I blew it didn't I? I'm terribly sorry if I ever did.

Kind regards,

En'am

2006-10-03T09:41:00.000-04:00

The song of the month
Ramadan

Age: 14 and up
Level: Elementary up
Time: 20 – 25 minutes
Focus: Listening, feeling the rhyme in a song and practice some religious vocabulary
Material: Photocopies of the song, cassette or CD player.

Preparation:
1- Make photocopies of the song.
2- Download the song from the following website:

www.nancymusic.com/Ramadan.htm

Procedure:
1- Ask students to look at the song and focus on the pictures. Let them guess what the song is about.
2- Ask them to work in pairs, read the first part of the song and try to figure out the missed words.
3- Listen and check.
4- They listen to the second part of the song and write down the dropped out words.
5- Listen and check again.
6- Complete listening to the song and checking.
7- Listen again to the whole song and motivate them to sing with you.

Tips:
1- Before starting step 2 in the procedure remind them to think about the meaning and the rhyme at the same time.
2- Notice that the previous tip rhymes, so say it loudly and exaggerate the rhyme.
3- They can easily figure out the words because they know the topic of the song. Even if they get the words in Arabic first, they will never forget the meaning in English later.

Here is the song. You can print and make as many photocopies as you need. May be it is better to print it on the web itself because I couldn't download all the pictures and maybe you would like to drop out different words.
I hope you will enjoy it with your students.

Ramadan

by Nancy Stewart copyright 2001

I have a ................., his name is Omar

His family celebrates Ramadan

The ninth ................. of the lunar year

His family ..................... Ramadan

Chorus:

Ramadan , Ramadan

His family celebrates Ramadan

Every morning they get up

And have a big meal before the ...................

Then they don’t eat, and they don’t ...................,

They fast until the dark of night

(chorus)

I have a friend, her name is Ameena

Her family celebrates Ramadan

We go to school together and ................,

Ameena ................ five times a day, during

(chorus)

On the first day of the month that follows Ramadan

Their families ................... us to the feast that they put on Celebrating

(chorus)

Ramadan Mubarak (have a blessed Ramadan) Ramadan

2006-10-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Colleagues,
Thank God for giving us this chance to meet in so wonderful conditions.May God bless all those who helped and participated to make it a bright point in our hearts.
Ramadan Kareem to all of you . I miss you all so much,our friends in Syria,Jordan and Delaware.
I have been trying to email you on the group site but everytime I got a message from yahoo that they couln't convey my message.I don't know why, although I sent Haddel a respond to her email after that and it got through.Now Iam copying my last email again which I tried to send maybe on September 27 or so because I really want to share this with you.
I'd like to tell you about one of the activities we did in our center which was so interesting and a lot of fun for the students and the teachers.
We gad three classes of the same age with three different teachers.They were all tenth grade students.
For the first class ,the teacher went out with some of them and took different pictures of them in the stores,on the steert ,in the street market ,and around.Then every group took a picture in order to create a suitable conversation to go with it.They typed their work and prepared big copies of the pictures.Some of the students chose to write paragraphes telling stories about the pictures.
The second class surfed the net to collect information about their favorite sports or athletes.They typed the information with big pictures of the sports and athletes.
The third class made their own jewelry.They used beans,seeds,dried plants and things like that.Then each group wrote about the materials they used and how they made the jewelry .
Now,in the hall ,we have a wonderful exhibit of what these classes prepared.And we ask other classes to go around in the break and have a look at the exhibit.Then in class ,they discuss what they think about it.
It is so enjoyable for the students .I hope you will find it useful.
Best regards,
Balqees
PS Deb,I was so excited when I read your email .Thanks for sharing more of your experience with us.

2006-09-25T10:15:00.000-04:00

May all the joys of life shower on you.
When you enjoy teaching, you enjoy learning at the same time.
This is the month of learning, teaching and sharing peace and love.
I wish you all the best.

Kassem

2006-09-16T04:37:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone !
I miss you so much. I’m soo sorry for not writing continously because I worked in remote school . I can only check my e-mail only at the week end because the internent access doesn’t work in my school .
I’d like to say the most workshops activities are useful and applicable for the four skills in our classrooms . Also we can get benfits from the box of books . I use one of these books (Breaking the Writing Barrier ) to enable my students ( ninth grade ) be motivated and excited about writing . As we know writing is the most difficult skill for most teachers so they spend more time for correcting the mistakes of their students . I follow this way for teaching writing in my class :
I give my students to choose the topics of writing during the semester accoring to their interest e.g. (Writing Class Rules , Description of Their Perfect Mate , Using Photographs , Trips at your School , Creating Encyclopediads ,…etc) .
Every student choose the topic that he would like to write about , I collect from them and put them in a box . Then allows a student to choose a paper ( the first paper he chooses it , it will be the first topic and so on ) . This way good for students to give them opportunities to feel successful in communicating through writing in effective way . This is a breif summary about the first topic that applied in my calss for ninth grade on Wednesday . All students participated in writing this topic .

· Writing Classroom Rules : the students will be much more likely to follow rules and support you in enforcing the classroom rules if they have a part in making them . Allow students to work in groups to discuss possible actions , reactioins , and cosequences for the rules they have created .
Example :
Rule : Don’t be late .
Action : A student comes in late .
Reaction :
a-Everyone looks at the student and stop working .
b-The late student has missed hearing the instructions
c- The teacher gets angry .
d- The teacher stops teaching and explaining the lesson to the hate student .
Consequences :
a- The student does an extra work .
b- The student loses points .
c- The teacher calls the student’s parents .

With all my best wishes .
See you soon .
Bye !

2006-09-02T04:46:00.000-04:00

Hi everone !
I miss you very much . This a breif summary for some activities that I applied in my class last week :
1-Using Games to Teach the Alphabet for 2nd and 3rd grade : As we know games are fun and childrren like to play them . Through the games children discover and interact with their environment . I use the games to teach the beginners the alphabet : ( after students learn the alphabets by heart , I divide pupils into two groups and give each pupil a card that includes a letter illustrated by word and picture , then ask each pupil to read his letter and write it between the lines . After that asks some pupils to re-arrange the letters in the right order .
At the end of the lesson teacher draws a column and asks pupils to complete the column of the table with words that begin with that letterfrom the list of words . Each puiple / group gets one point to each score :
Example
( sport / apple / numbers / cat / bag / zoo/ ant /bird …..etc
Aa
apple
ant
Bb
bag bird

Cc car cat
Dd door dog
Ee ……etc

2-Using Jazz Chants to Teach the Months of the Year for 4th grade :
We use Jazz Chants to develop student’s sensivity to English Rhythem . I teach pupils the months of the year by using the Jazz chants . I prepare pupils to snap their fingers to make the rhythem . Then divide the pupils into two groups and the months into 4 groups .After that start singing the months :
January February March ( 1st group)
April May June July ( 2nd group)
August September October ( 3rd group)
November December ( 4th group)

3-U sing Drama to introduce each other for 9th grade : I use this game to enable students to know each other in my new school for 9th grade and they are new students :
I asks students to make a big circle . Each student in the circle makes a gesture or body language while introducing his name with his favourite hobby . He will be remembered with that name and get fun . Really it’s useful idea and activity that can be adapted in our classes and All of my students enjoyed these activities .

Finally : I’d like to thank Kassem very much for his great peom , really you have great passions and emotions .
With all my best wishes for my colleagues . Please keep in touch .
Bye .

Notice: I can’t check my e-mail daily because I worked in remote area ( undeveloped ) and the Internent Access doesn’t work in my new school. I can check my e-mail at the week end .

2006-08-30T02:23:00.000-04:00

Summery of the first month
Kassem Al Tarras

Dear all,
I miss you so much. This is a brief summery of last month which was the first after the arrival from the US.

My family was waiting for me at Damascus Airport. I was so pleased to hug them warmly with flashes in my mind of my last minutes leaving Philadelphia Airport.Your words Baereble have come true. In Jordan you said that I wanted to see you at the end of the program so happy going back home but at the same time sad leaving those people and that area. I believe that you and the staff of the P4L went beyond teachers’ success into a great achievement that I can’t give a name but I can feel and we all need it.

My family and my friends:
Right from the beginning my cousin was driving me home with my family in the car and they started asking me about America and the American life. I told them, and later my friends, how beautiful the nature is and kind the people are. I showed them the photos. They liked them and asked for explanation. Who is this in the picture, where and what were you doing?

After my arrival I slept for six hours and went immediately into business. There was a book fair started the same day, so I went there and continued managing things for the bookstore again.
After three days I started my new course in the institute.

My students:
There is a sentence in the workbook talks about the Empire State Building. I made use of this sentence and told them that I have been there. Then I developed it and talked briefly about Delaware as the first state. They have never heard about it, but now they know a little bit about it and quite well about the people there.

The first week I was concentrating on students’ projection through out taking roles in acting some conversations and using the body language at the same time.
Last week we had a unit about Telling Tales. I put students in groups and we wrote the first two sentences of a story on sheets of paper. Then each group added one sentence only. After that I circled the sheets and again each group added another sentence. Finally, we got different stories of the same theme. I am planning to do it again but this time using emails. A student adds a sentence and passes it to another one with a CC to the teacher. (Thank you very much Deb. Really you’ve got useful ideas and activities that can be adapted in our classes).

I also attended with my students two movies in the American Culture Center. The first one was “The Road to Perdition” and the second “My left Foot”. Students loved the second one so much. We did some vocabulary activities in class the next day.

I met an American in Damascus who is very special. He is a rap singer, so I invited him to class and he had a lovely conversation with students. It happened that he lives in Washington D.C. and studies National Affairs at University, so he talked about that. He had his laptop with him and we listened to a song of his.

My Colleagues:
Last Saturday we started our first teachers’ meeting in the institute. Some of the teachers were waiting eagerly to talk to me after my arrival. During the meeting I summarized the P4L program and gave them two important reasons for why they should be interested in this program. The first one, they still have a good chance to be directly involved in the program next year because this is the first year in Syria and there might be other programs. The second one, they are indirectly one of the participants as far as I am supposed to share what I had with them.
I drew a sketch of the map of Delaware and the states around it. I put the teachers within the general atmosphere.

I made a list of the books in the box and handed it out to the teachers after explaining about the idea of Books in a Box. I told them that I am ready to share them and they can use them as materials for themselves and their students.

I picked an important book out of the box “A Course in Language Teaching” and I suggested making a photocopy of it, then splitting it into chapters and giving each teacher a chapter to give a workshop about it. They all welcomed the idea and I will be the first one next month, so please wish me a good luck. Next meeting, I will provide them with a list of the workshops we attended and the ones of the mini conference we did. I will email you the lists on the yahoo group so that you don’t need to do them again in case you need them.

The public school in Syria is starting in two weeks. Hopefully, I will have a good start there. Well begun is half done.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Scott Stevens very much. I remember when he visited us in the institute in Damascus and we first heard about the program, one of the things he mentioned is that this was the third year for Morocco and some other countries. I asked him at that time to give us some of the results of the program and he did. However, I myself can touch, feel and possibly say the results now.
Thanks also to Mr. Abed Al Raouf Adawan in the ACC in Damascus. He was the first face I saw for this program and the bright face all the time supportive and of great help.

2006-08-27T18:47:00.000-04:00

salam...
Qassem... They really really no words to describe my feeligs when i read your poem.. i think u could sum up all our feelings, apreciation and regards and acknoledgement to the ELI staff specially, Baerbel, Deb, Dr, Stevens, Jenessa and Brett in a wonderful poem...
Ruba...i hope your Dad is getting better now ... he might've missed u too much!!!
Bilal... i heard some bad news about u...i hope nothing's right.. i couldn't get your email to ask u privately about it... please ... write to us and assure us about u very soon, brother.

2006-08-24T14:45:00.000-04:00

Words to be Said

Days come and days go
Carrying lots of Bingo.
One of the best we’ve just had
With which we were very glad
Is the time we spent there
In the nicest Delaware.
None can text the experience
Or thank enough the Delawareans.
Yet I'll say some words
Similar to the singing birds.
Thanks from the bottom of the Heart
To Dr. Stevens, Baereble, Deb and Brett.
Jenissa, I didn't forget you
You did the best to do.

And you Rozina too

So nice, kind and true.
I do remember the host families
Generous and open mind mentalities.
Lots of people to be thanked
But human lack in this first ranked.
However, all thanks are to the Lord
He who offered us this world
Especially this nice programme
With great people from Jordan
Eygpt, Morocco and Syria
And the best time in that area.

2006-08-18T08:23:00.000-04:00

salam every friend of a great group that will never be forgotten . i mis u all sorry for not wtiting before . i was worried about my father he is not feeling well .i hope he will recover soon . anywat i keep telling people about many nice things that we had together . i wish that we would exchange any new ideas or materials to use in our classrooms . wish me luck and the best luck to all of u and happy israa and miraj.
ruba

2006-08-13T04:54:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
When it comes to writing, I am very lazy like my students, and when I start my mind goes blank and I can't express my feelings on paper.
I just want to thank each and everyone contributed in this program (Baerbel, Dr. Stevens, Debb, Brett, Janessa, Rozina and all of you my colleages....I love you and thank you all from the bottom of my heart). For me, my trip to the US is a dream come true and with your help it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I haven't started teaching like my friends but I'm sure that as a teacher I have changed because everything I learned is in my mind and heart and it will be reflected in my class and as a person I'm a new one, inside there many conflicting feelings but I'm sure that it's normal and it's the same for all of you. This trip affected my life and it will never be the same.

2006-08-12T18:13:00.000-04:00

Howdy, fellas! How's life treating you?

I started giving my classes today at the language center, and guess what? I couldn't believe myself doing some of the activities I learned at the ELI_ PROJECTION, THE ACTIVE LISTENING and most importantly THE STRATEGIC INTERACTION. All of my students enjoyed these activities, and now English means something different to them. All of my co-teachers and the admins soon heard about this new classroom breakthrough and warmly welcomed the newly in-coming ideas.

It was this " My name is so..and..so, and I like .....ing " introductory game that made every one in class happy to join the club and act out their hobby with a smile.

Thanks to ELI, the University of Delaware, now I'm on the right track at last. If I'm ever happy in class, I owe it all to you, guys!

With love from me to you,

Enaam

2006-08-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

salam,I really miss every single moment we spent together on campus, in the dorms or with the Egyptian-Moraccan group..There were special moments we all shared as Jordanians and Syrians everyday.. our adventures, support and sense of humour will always stay in my heart and mind... i'll neevr forget this talented group for the constant effect it had on my personality and life... it was perfect in every way... hope we'll all keep in touch and support each other as much as we used to do in the states..Hadeel

2006-08-05T18:49:00.000-04:00

salam,
I really miss every single moment we spent together on campus, in the dorms or with the Egyptian-Moraccan group..There were special moments we all shared as Jordanians and Syrians everyday.. our adventures, support and sense of humour will always stay in my heart and mind... i'll neevr forget this talented group for the constant effect it had on my personality and life... it was perfect in every way... hope we'll all keep in touch and support each other as much as we used to do in the states..
Hadeel

2006-08-02T06:13:00.000-04:00

Hi Debreal !
Thank you very much for your efforts in the conference .
You're really very great .
bye !

2006-08-02T06:05:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone !
I'd like to to express my congratulations for your efforts in all the workshops , you're really very genius , well done !
Thank God for our arrival at our home safely .
We miss you very much .
You're really great friends . Keep in touch .
with my best wishes .
Hussein Otoume

2006-08-02T06:04:00.000-04:00

Hi Janissa!
I'd like to thank you ver much for your efforts during our training course .
Really you're ver great .
bye !

2006-08-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Prett !
I'd like to exoress my special thank for you very much . Really you're a great friend . We felt you're a closer brother with us .
We miss your voice and smiling very much .
Keep in touch .
bye !

2006-08-02T05:55:00.000-04:00

Hi Baerbel !
I'd like to thank you for your efforts in the conference .
you're really great suppoter and helpeful .
Thank you very much .
bye !

2006-07-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

Hi DBE. I met many people in my life. afew of them has touched my life the way you did. THANK U 4 everything. GHADA

2006-07-27T08:38:00.000-04:00

Hi Brett & Jenessa thanks alot 4 the increadable support and encouregment u gave us during the last six weeks. I will always remember the great friends u r. GHADA

2006-07-26T20:53:00.000-04:00

Hi Dr.Stevens. The story u told us today really touched my soul. u've always known when 2 say what. Thank u 4 everything. GHADA

2006-07-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Hi Baerbel. Thanks alot 4 all the encouregment and support you gave us during the conference.
U were GREAT.
GHADA

2006-07-26T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. This is GHADA. I'd like 2 congradulate u all 4 the great workshops u presented. They were very interesting and helpful. Hope u will all arrive home safely.

2006-07-26T00:08:00.000-04:00

Congratulation every body

This is Muayad, I'd like to congratulate each one of you since you were great in your workshops and really you did very good presentations. you are brave presenters...... I wish all of you good luck.

2006-07-20T09:40:00.001-04:00

7/18/2006
Senior Center Presentation and Discussion

Hi everybody .This is Rania and i'm so glad to summarize to you the tour to the Senior Center.

When we arrived at the center we were warmly welcomed by some kind senior people . we were so pleased when they hang up our flags on the board . That showed that they were so interested in us and the place we came from.

They started talking about the center and its goals. The center has educational, exercise, and entertainment programs. It's a community for people who are over 60. The majority of are retired.

After some discussion we split to goups and started the tour aroung the building.

The center consists of many rooms . The meeting room , the computer room, the game room, the painting classes, the library, the dinning hall, the gift store, the swimming pool area and the Day Care Center.

After the tour we split again into small goups and had discussion with some seniors . Most of the discussions were about social and life issues.

What drew my attention was a sculpture of three old people from different races holding each other's hand ,with a big smile on their faces; as if they are telling everyone " we are old, yet very happy together". There was a sign that was hung up on the wall behind the statue saying "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be". That was so impressive .

2006-07-15T21:42:00.000-04:00

The Use Of Drama In Teaching English
Dr.Scott Stevens
Hi everyone. This is Ghada again, and this time I'm summarizing one of the most important and interesting workshops that we had during this programme. Of course I'm talking about "The Use Of Drama In Teaching English". I have to say that I was impressed and amazed by everything Dr. Stevens said or did. during the two workshops of drama.
First Dr. Stevens started by giving a short introduction about drama, then he explained that the workshop will be talking about three main things:
1-why would we consider the use of drama?
2-how to organise a class?
3-do some drama activities.
After that he talked about his personal experience in using drama and how he believes that all the skills can be taught using drama. He said that while teaching through drama, he discovered that it also helped for oral intellegibility. He said many things that I'd like to quote:
"to learn and to have fun is a wonderful marriage"
most of the jobs in the world aquires you to adress people and drama gives you the confidence to do it"
"the notion of drama is that the voice give more power to a second language learner"
"drama helps teenagers to see the purpose to language learning"
He explained that in order to have drama we need sitting, characters, action,and emotional content. After that he compared Role play to Drama.He said that RP can be dramatic but it is not most of the time. He also said RP is two dimention whereas drama is three dimention. Next Dr. Stevens talked about the five important things to organise the class:
1- physical warm up
2-voice activities
3-rehearsals
4-performance
5-cool down
Dr. Stevens said the best way to learn is to practice so we practiced some games.:
1-the great shake
2-eye got you
3-mirror work
4-projection warm up
5-partner fighting
6-circle intro-game
7-master cermony
8-preposition game
9- cross country discussion
In the second workshop Dr.Stevens started by summarising the main things in the previous workshop. Then we practiced some more games:
1- what are you doing?.
2-whenever I see you.
3-procan.
4-freeze game.
5-fruit basket.
In the last part of the workshop he intreduced puppet drama.He talked about the need of it and how affictive it can be. He also talked about how it was used to fight AIDS in Africa. Then he explained the advantages of puppets. They are simple ,easy to use,cheap and any one can make them. The theatre is not expensive nor complicated either. He showed samples of stick puppets and sock puppets, and presented a puppet show. Finally we- the teachers- presented our puppet show.

2006-07-13T23:49:00.000-04:00

University of Delaware
Memorial Hall 034

Grant Wolf

Thursday 06-29-2006

INTERNET RESOURCES FOR TESL/TEFL

How to work on this post:
-Read the introduction carefully.
-Keep in mind the challenging question in bold blue every time you log into a website.
-Explore one of the recommended websites every two or three days.

Introduction: (by Kassem Al Tarras)

This workshop by Grant Wolf might be the most important one in this training course for the following simple but crucial reasons:

It is the key to log into the websites we need.
It facilitates how to directly hit what we seek on the internet with minimum waste of time among the huge stuff available there.
It is what we really need as a resource for our workshops, presentations, lesson planning…etc. We have tons of ideas piled over there.

I would like just to remind you that what you need is for sure available on the internet but the question is how you can reach it and are you going to capture it on time?
The challenging question is what useful stuff you can add to this incredibly enormous source (the internet) and how you would allow people who need it to simply reach it. It is supposed that we have been internet explorers for sometime but now we need to be also bloggers and share some helpful ideas with other professionals around us or maybe overseas. Remember that the world is a small village but please mind what you are doing in this village.

During the workshop we discussed the importance of the internet as a resource for both teachers and students, how do we use it and what are the obstacles of using it. Then we went into a brief tour of some useful websites. I explored them and selected the most important ones. I hope I satisfied your needs. Please spend enough time exploring them and enjoying them because they are really enjoyable.

Note that phrases and lines in green are not originally in the handout but I added them.

A. Comprehensive Resources for TESL/TEFL
Dave’s ESL Café. Dave was one of the pioneers to use the internet. The “Mother”of all ESL/EFL websites, for students and teachers:
http://www.eslcafe.com/search/index.html
Internet TESL Journal. A free monthly journal, offering a wealth of practical ideas for teachers.
http://iteslj.org/
B. On-Line Discussion Groups:
A discussion forum for students, through the famous Dave’s ESL Café site: http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/student/index.php
C. Authentic Language Content-based sites that ESL/EFL teachers have found useful.
Content-based sites for reading, discussing, problem-solving, etc. (uses authentic language, generally designed for young native-speakers of various grade-levels):
http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/project/history.html
Ready-made, news-based high-interest lessons designed for literacy instruction.
Includes both listening and reading, with full text as well as abridged text.
http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/
D. On-Line Activities, specifically for TESL/TEFL students and teachers
Hundreds of on-line games and activities for your students: (You can develop them to be a drama activity).
http://iteslj.org/games/

ESL Independent Study Lab: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html

A Free, Easy Authoring Program for Teachers: Filamentality If you are really ambitious you can have your own website.http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil

Phonetics: A state-of-the-art animated visual and sound resource from the University of Iowa. This website might be very important regarding oral intelligibility.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

This is one dedicated solely to everyone’s favorite. . . prepositions!
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/prepositions.html

This is one dedicated solely to everyone’s favorite.
www.englishpage.com

E. A small sampling of fun and varied websites for you and your students to try (great motivators!)

Amazon.com Activity. In this website you will learn about one of the largest and most famous stores on the Internet. You will learn how to navigate the site and how to search for products:
http://iteslj.org/guides/amazon.html

Jokes for TEFL. Teachers often use jokes in the ESL/EFL classroom to teach culture, grammar and vocabulary.:
http://iteslj.org/c/jokes.html

F. Just for Kids

Sesame Street Coloring pages, for learning the alphabet.
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/coloringpages/

IATEFL Young Learner’s Interest Group Site. This is a huge, annotated list of resources for teachers of children. Definitely worth the time to explore. (Note that it is color-coded by age group). http://www.countryschool.com/ylsig/

Phonics and Stories on Line. Many to choose from, with sound and simple animation for various elementary grades. It is useful for Story Telling.
http://www.beenleigss.eq.edu.au/requested_sites/sounds/

Big Books on-line. Pictures, texts, and sound with simple animation for kids. It is useful for Story Telling.
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/bigbook.htm

H. Independent Exploration: HOMEWORK!

During the next week, spend some time exploring and playing with the Internet resources we’ve looked at today. Choose your favorite one and think about how you might use it in your classes. Then send me an email at gwolf19@yahoo.com Tell me the address of the website, and briefly, how you will use it in your teaching. I will compile all your suggestions and send them to the entire group, for your mutual enjoyment and benefit.

Websites added to the handout by Kassem

http://www.englishclub.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

2006-07-13T21:59:00.000-04:00

Hi,
Yesterday we attended a workshop for Dr.Grant S Wolf entitled " Teaching Grammar Interactively." It was really fruitful, creative and interesting and they say " The most important learners in a school are its teachers" we learnt several new ways to teach grammar interactively. Grammar books only give us rules and exercises not the meaning and that's why we should teach grammar interactively through integrating skills. Dr Grant also gave us a good piece of advice that we should animate our grammar lessons with videos because the brain needs pleasure in order to learn something. In his point of view,he thinks that the contextually rich language input, high motivational level and shared classroom experience of popular videos provides a perfect resource for teaching grammar interactively.
He taught us three grammar aspects ( comparisons / cause and effect / and modals ) while watching a film entitled " Witness " starring Harrison Ford . After we watched the film we were asked to talk about the difference between the Amish and the American people using comparisons. Then we talked about the comparative rules. Then we did many exercises in groups trying to find the most suitable adjectives to finish the sentences about the film. After that we discussed the rules. What I liked in all the exercises is that the students become independent while learning becausethey don't depend on their teachers on everything and I'll never forget what Sydney J .Harris once said" The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." So students should depend on themselves and find the rules by looking through the window.They shouldn't learn it parrot fashion from their teachers. Then after one hour we got tired and bored, so he gave us pieces of paper that contains uncompleted sentences to give us an idea about coordinating conjunctions and we did that through mingling around in the classroom trying to complete meaningful sentences using coordinating conjunctions. So we both learnt from each other and had fun at the same time and got rid of bordom. In my opinion , Teaching is not entertainment but we've got to try because the brain needs pleasure while learning.
Because students find it difficult to understand and learn grammar rules, they will find it easier when they learn through entertainment and lots of thanks to Dr wolf and all the ones who are responsible for this training course " Partnership for learning".

Prepared By : Sophie Sammour and Nancy.

2006-07-13T21:44:00.000-04:00

Hi,
my name is Sophie. I'm an English teacher.I'm attending an interesting training course in Delaware.

2006-07-13T21:35:00.002-04:00

Hi again.This time I am going to give you an idea about a workshop by Barbara Gilette with the title:Material Development from authentic Sources: Using broadcast and print sources.
Let's start by speaking about what is an authentic material.Well,It's a real document from the target culture which was not prepared for teaching purposes.The purpose of this material is for natives by natives.It's the same as realia which can be tickets, menus ,bus schedules,etc.
Ms. Gilette started her workshop by explaining the things she was going to speak about.She said she had a video and a written article.
Then the question was :Why should we use authentic material?It's because what is authentic is not prepared and not simplified.That's how you learn the right word and the latest vocabulary using culture as a motivating rule.At the same time it shouldn't be shocking to students.
What do you think of when choosing a piece of realia?
1-How does this fit in what I'm teaching?
2-What are my students' interests?
Ms.Gilette then gave us a piece of paper showing how to design the materials.It goes like this:
STEP ONE :Pre-Listening/Pre-Reading.
This is to prepare the students for the topic.We get some brainstorming to engage them with the subject and get some background knowledge.
STEP TWO:Core Text (Video or Reading)
It's a video or a written text .
STEP THREE:Global Understanding(Main Ideas)
Students try to find the main idea.It's better to start with global knowledge then to get to some relevant details.You don't want to encourage students to understand everything every time.
STEP FOUR:Relevant Details(Content /Language)
It's when we try to use this information productively.
STEP FIVE:Follow-Up/Skills transfer
Like for example if the material is used for listening practice,you can use the follow-up as speaking exercise,it's like doing a role play for instance.
To give us an example :
1-Ms. Gilette played a video from the ABC News about soccer in the US. A video is a very good way of teaching the language because it's a slice of real life which gives students a chance to be there.She said that sometimes she plays the first part of the video without the sound and asks them about what they understand.This is to show the students that they really understand more than they think they do.The second time they watch and she asks about some ideas.Then she can ask about more details.
2-For the second listening she gave us a list of questions like:
-How many young Americans play soccer?
-How much does 11-year-old Kyle love the sport ?
-What do you think a" soccer Mom" might be?
-Explain why soccer is an ideal sport to play. etc.
She said that you could grade the task according to the level of your students.
3-Then she gives the students a list of vocabulary and phrases to focus on some linguistic details.
4-The follow-up can be mock interviews.Here it's an interview with a famous athlete.But they shouldn't tell who the athlete is.It's like a mystery guest game.Then the class will guess who the athlete is.
Concerning the reading she gave us a piece of written realia from a newspaper which was a movie review of "The Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest." Then she started asking us questions like:
-What kind of article is this?
-What's the name of the newspaper?
-What does the writer think of the movie?
-When was this review puplished?
-What kind of film is it? etc.
In case you don't have suitable authentic articles ,you can get articles from the internet about a movie they know.
For your students you can lead a pre-reading discussion with them about movies.Then they read for the main idea.You can help them to find it in the title,sub-headings,and the pictures or they can read the first and last paragraphs of the article.We should train our students to be good readers.You can also use labeling:Which paragraph speaks about the characters?Which paragraph speaks about the plot? etc.
As for the follow -up ,she asks students to write a real movie review.
Finally I would say that the workshop was very interesting.Although most of us use something like this in our lessons,it will always be useful to have some confirmation that what we are doing is good.I believe we can find some tips in what we read which can really be rewarding.

Prepared by Balqees Abu Assali