Review/consolidation of Modules 1-3

Everything is good about the 3 modules we took so far. However, I need to look again at the phonology and the phonetic chart in particular. I am making a plan nowadays for revising Modules 1,2 and 3 in order to be prepared for the final exam.


I wish luck to everyone.

Questions for Module 3

Q1: Choose (T) for true statements and (F) for false statements and write the correct answer for the false ones

A- Echo Correcting: means repeating what a learner says with rising the intonation.


- T          - F

B- Reformulating: ignoring errors that are above learner's level.


- T          -F

C- We use correction codes to indicate the types of mistakes that the learner has made.


- T          -F

D- Finger correction: is using the face expression to show that the student has a mistake.


-T          -F





Q2: Choose the definition for each term.
1- Peer feedback
2- Tutorials
3- Portfolio

A- Small meetings between the teacher and one or few students to discuss about their learning.
B- Learners give feedback to their classmates.
C- File that include all the student work and it shown every week, month and/or end of semester.

Error Correction 1

I would recommend these articles to any English teachers; it discusses the learner’s errors and corrections in depth. Attitudes to error correction, categorizing errors, and model for correcting writing are the most things that pulled my attention. It gives me good tips about how to deal with my students in this important point (get benefits from correction), because I believe that teacher's feedback to their students is what make THE difference in the process of learning.

Using games in teaching English

Games become part of language learning nowadays more than any time in the past. In addition, it becomes a big investment in education in general. Another point is that involving games in teaching English is one of many ways that make students use technology.

One of the advantages is that games to teach English learners can help to make language learning a positive and exciting experience, which will be important and motivating to the students. If we keep students motivated and engaged in the lesson, the results can be incredible!

Another advantage is that games are very useful tools for fluency, as "Children tend to forget they are learning and so use the language spontaneously.

I really recommend my classmates to look at this article for more info about games and how can teachers use it in the classroom.

Blog review about writefix.com

The site is aimed at people who are learning English and taking the IELTS or TOEFL exams in writing or speaking. This site is good to help learners how to do argument essays, graphs, other writing, and speaking for IELTS, PET, and TOEFL.

As a teacher this website can help him to give his/her students good examples of different types of writing. It is also a good source of outside class activities, so the teacher can give his or her students homework from this site. Another advantage is that the site has a section about problems and solution that might face the learner.

I believe that making your students go and use technology is another advantage of using this site. It also makes them self-learners, so that they can practice at home and improve themselves without the teacher being around them.

Mock test reflection

Actually I didn't study for this test at all, and to be honest I did that on purpose, I wanted to see how my level is, am I getting anything from attending or not. I got 55 out of 80 (3 out of 4) and I realized that I have to focus more at Phonemes transcript, and I knew that because I only had 1 correct answer and the rest was wrong (I'm talking about the transcripts questions). Now after I saw my result I am sure that I can get band 4 out of 4 in this module, I just need to read some chapters again and to practice more. This mock test gave me a good picture about how the real test going to be, and that makes me more confident.

TKT quiz for units 5&7

www.quizbean.com/r/qbXwkxLWvsXk


this is a short quiz for units 5&7 (Reading and Listening)

E- Reading

E- Reading

Technology is playing a big role in everyday life; we can find it everywhere and in almost everything. E- Reading is taking a part of education in these days, and it has many advantages that make it spread fast among people around the world. Many advantages can be observed when we look at E- books it saves time, money and it is very easy to be accessed, actually you can have a big library in a 30 inches device!

There is an interesting study that shows how e- reading influences people. According to study results posted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in April of 2012, Americans are reading more with e-readers. Here are some bullets from that study:

·         people who used e-readers read more books in all formats

·         43% of those who used e-readers reported spending more time reading, especially men under age 50

·         E-reader device owners were more likely to buy books, particularly e books

·         Readers preferred e-reading devices for convenience,but they like printed books for reading to kids and sharing with others.

Do teaching adult poetry hopeful?

Do teaching adult poetry hopeful?

Poetry is the window that shows any culture as a colorful picture and since language and culture is so important for each other. On other words, in order to teach English well teachers have to shade the light on its culture/s, that help learners to understand the language and how it can be used in everyday life.

I believe that teaching poetry is a helpful tool that can help both teachers and learners. Poems can be used to introduce or practice new vocabulary, language structures, and also help learners to express their feelings in English. Another issue that face English learners is how to think in L2, because thinking with L1 and transfer it to L2 will lead to many mistake in the L2 main skills (Reading, Writing, Speaking).

Teachers can teach poetry in a way that learners can be exited with. For instance, using English songs and the song’s lyrics to teach Vocabulary/ Listening. Another example is to use written poetry to read, and after that the teacher can ask the students to write a short paragraph about it.

Teachers should take many things into consideration when they teach poetry. For low level learners is a good idea to start with easy and short poetry, because once learners find it difficult it will be so hard for the teacher to change the idea of poetry being hard and they will find it boring. Another thing is that teachers should bring poems that are related to the learners life, so they can link what they read with their life easily.       

Lectures Aren't Just Boring, They're Ineffective, Too, Study Finds - Science magazine

Lectures Aren't Just Boring, They're Ineffective, Too, Study Finds

Many teachers around the world like to teach by lecturing (teacher is talking and students are listening) and they kept doing that for years. Science magazine showed an article that argued about the effectiveness of lecturing and it also showed some studies that talked about the usefulness of that teaching ways.

            (The western European universities were founded in 1050 lecturing has been the predominant form of teaching ever since) “Biologist Scott Freeman of the University of Washington” and that is a good evidence that proves that this way of teaching is not successful in any ways.

            The same scholar analyzed a study of 225 undergraduates, and the results showed that active teaching methods can reduced the failure rate and can also make learners active participants rather than passive listeners.

            As a result, I believe that teacher should use active methods to teach, and never stick to one method all the time, because using different teaching methods make the learners more active, and make the learning process more enjoyable.   

How useful is it for students to listen to speeches recorded on websites like YouTube and Ted - Mohannad Alhumaidi

Involving students in real life materials is so important for English learners in general. Teachers have a big responsibility to raise the awareness among their students on how to use things around them to improve their English and how that can enhance the process of learning.

The web is one of the biggest examples that learners use every day and spend hours and hours using it. YouTube, Ted is a recorded speech website which can give them huge materials to use. The good thing about these websites is that it can provide variety of videos with different styles that can match any taste, so a learner can listen to something he/she is interested on.

Another good thing about it is teachers by this way can involve students into technology and get them to be familiar with it, because even with all the technology around us teachers will have some of their students who are not using technology in his life so much. However, using websites such as YouTube and Ted can distract learners and sometimes it will draw their attention to something else and make them forget their goal (which is learning English)

Mohannad Alhumaidi - How useful is it for students to learn new books

Reading outside the classroom is very important for language learners. It makes them link what they have learned in the classroom with the real life around them reading texts, articles, etc. It gives them a wider look at different writing styles, and that will help them to think in English! . Another thing is that, reading from outside the class (real books) gives them the choice to read what they like, so that will raise their willingness to read and not to feel bored.

In order to make sure that students are getting benefits from reading real materials, teachers can give them some tasks to do. They can ask them to write 1 page summary of what they read, mentioning what they like and what they dislike about it. Another task is to ask them to make a small presentation in front of the class talking about the material they read.

            As a result, I believe this way will make the students more confident about themselves, and it will also teach them how to be (self-learners) which will help them to discover how to improve their language without the teacher help.

Mohannad Alhumaidi - Arabic speakers problems

Arabic and English phonological systems are totally different in everything sounds, emphasis placed, vowels, consonant and expressing meanings and that goes with writing system as well. All these differences will affect Arabic speakers when they talk in English.

When native Arabic speakers learn English they go through many problems like distinguishing between (p) and (b), and that will lead us to talk about the influence of the first language (mother tongue), and because the sound (P) is not in the Arabic sound system many Arab learners will find it difficult to focus when they talk. The problem is that simple mistake in pronouncing the sound (P) will lead to big problem in understanding, for instance the word (Park) when it pronounced with (B) sound it will completely change the meaning of the word.

As a result, teachers have to do extra work with their Arabic students to help them get over some of the pronunciation problems by giving them more oral tasks to make them speak more and to correct them when they pronounce the word wrong. Encouraging them to concentrate more while they talk and teach them to never be shy when they talk, all that will build a self-confidence which will help and motivate them to produce the sounds correctly. 

Learning vocabulary online

People have different styles when it comes to learning language, and there is nothing called the best style or way in learning, but all people like the fastest and easiest way to learn and. The same thing goes with learning vocabulary, and since vocabulary is the main element in any language learners need to memorise a big number of it.

Learning vocabulary online gives the learner many options when he/she search for any word; It shows the meaning of the word and how it pronounced and how to use it. What makes the online dictionary special is that you can find the meaning so fast and It will not take long time from you to look up a word or a phrase. Some people are against online dictionaries because they believe that learners will forget the meaning fast because they get it fast "easy come easy go" and that if a learner spent some time to look up a word he/she will never forget it. I believe that learning vocabulary online is better than using notebook or flashcards for many reasons. First, the learner can get the meaning so fast and it will not take long time. Second, the learner can hear the word so he can pronounce it properly.

Learning vocabulary by using notebook or flash card is more familiar with many people because this style is been taught for many years until now and almost everybody know it. Some people think that this way of learning vocabulary take time and effort from the learner and that help him not to forget the word fast. I believe that this way of learning is out of date and it is not beneficial like before, it took time and its not available outside the classrooms and study places while learning online you can brows your dictionary on your phone or any other device in any place, and that will help learners to use the waiting time in something they can get benefit from.