Publisher

There is another program from the computer that we rarely use - the Publisher. We are so familiar to words and power point, but Publisher provides us with lots of functions where we can be creative as well! I did explore this program on my own before but it was just for fun...from what i could remember... there were a few times I used it to design greeting cards..but that was years ago. we can get authentic materials from the newspapers or magazines to be used as teaching aids, but why don't we try to design them ourselves sometimes because we can make it more personal to the pupils. Moreover, pupils may appreciate more on the things that the teacher prepares for them. At the same time, teachers can introduce this program to the pupils and teach them what they can do with it to come out with their own cards or brocheurs, which they may enjoy doing it. It is a good medium for teacher and pupils to be creative and at the same time able to acquire the language.
Back to the task assigned to us... we were required to get into groups of six and produce a newsletter.. wow! A newsletter!! Hmm.. a new thing to learn..with the help from other group members, I think we can come out with one.. now, we are still in the discussion to determine what we are going to do for the newsletter.

The Journey Begins

Find a pair and start to work on the second assignment!! Honestly, I could hardly breathe as loads of assignments from different courses are in my hands now, waiting for the datelines to come. well, this is what a university student has to face. As this assignment need to be done in pairs, I have to keep on the same pace with my partner and give out the best I can because I do not want my partner's marks to get affected because of my laziness and carelessness.
I watched the video several times to get a rough idea on what kind of English activity I can come out with. I found that the images of animals and polluted environment gave big impact, therefore, I decided to make use of these images as part of my teaching aids. At the same time, to make the lesson more comprehensive, I browse the internet and search some other images which are appropriate for the lesson. Anyway, the result of this assignment yet to be seen...hopefully I could finish it on time.:)

Writing skills

The e-book assignment has been completed, and now comes to the next task, which is to design activities for pupils which focus on the four skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing. we were assigned to complete this task in groups of four. I was assigned by my group members to design on activity that focuses on writing skills. During brainstorming session, all of us had decided to pick on the topic 'Direction'... This small task was assigned to us to prepare us for the third assignment - developing the four skills. So it was a good practice for us after a long break from designing teaching-learning activities compared to previous semester.
As my focus is on writing skills, I decided to design a writing activity for the post stage... I edited some photos and inserted them in the map that I designed for the activity. Holding to the theory that pupils are easily stirred by colourful pictures, I had chosen colourful pictures for the map that I designed, but not to the extend that could cause distractions. Anyhow, this is just part of what we are expected to do in our upcoming assignment, and I hope I will be able to come out with creative and exciting activities by implementing what I've learnt in previous lessons.

Electronic book...

When we hear about e-book, immediately we would think of a sophisticated way of getting reading material from the internet. As e-book starts to be one of the prefered options for reading, tonnes of e-books for youngs learners to adults could be found online. It is a new way to make reading more fun as it could encourage young children to develop the interest in reading. As teachers, we have to keep up with the changes that occur in educational world. Therefore, I think the task for this week that requires us to develop an e-book is a very good exposure for me and my other friends as we learn how to make it based on our own creativity to meet our pupils' needs. Besides, most of the ebooks from the internet require us to purchase them, which might not be convenient for us. So, it is a previllage for teachers to have the knowledge on how to produce an ebook.

By using basic program like Microsoft Power Point, I can easily design my own e-book. I make use of the skills that I gained from previous lessons such as audio, photo and video editing and apply them in this task. I did it at the last minute, but thank God I manage to finish it on time, thanks to my coursemate Joshua, for guiding me to finish up this task. I also discover new functions from Power Point, which is recording voice for narration. Nothing much can be said about the process, but I'm very happy to see the final product... now I know, if others can do it, I can do it too!!

Video editing

After learning how to edit photos and audio, now it's time for us to apply what we have learnt to produce a video. Videos are effective stimulus to get pupils attentions and interests. This is because videos are colourful, entertaining and more lively compared to other types of teaching tools. We can get thousands of videos from the internet but it is more appropriate if a teacher can develop her own video to meet the needs of the learners.



Even though technology in computer is very influential in educational field today, we must always keep in mind that it could only assist us in teaching and learning, not to take the role of a teacher as the educator. The technology that we utilise should be practical and appropriate, so that they are useful for the young learners. Thus, we should not take it for granted to make teaching and learnining easier, but we should apply it to make teaching-learning more effective.



Some important factors to consider in the selection of a video are the length and independence of the extract, appropriateness of content, sound and picture quality, extent of visual support and language density. Extracts should be brief: Stempleski suggests that 2-3 minutes of video will provide sufficient material for a one hour lesson while Ellington & Race [1993 : 196-7] note that "concentration spans tend to be short, especially with a medium which has conditioned people to a relaxation approach. Sound quality is a particularly important factor because, as Arcario notes: "most language students...have little tolerance for poor sound quality" Visual support may be less important: MacWilliam [1986] suggests that it is actually easier for learners to understand video material when the face of the speaker is visible.



Well...in the progession of making this video, I try to integrate all these qualities. However, I admit that, I'm still in the process of learning, thus, me and my partner do the best our can to meet at least half of the criteria stated above...Hopefully our lecturer enjoys watching this video:)

Teachers as teaching aids??

Although we are now living in ICT world and have access to different types of resources and materials to be used as teaching aids, there is one aid which is convenient, portable, functions even in the dark and available at anytime. Curious?? The answer is the teacher him or herself.

A teacher can involve pupils more in classroom discussion and activities by following these simple steps:

1. Sitting behind a desk creates a "distance" between the teacher and the students. Try to have an aisle and enough space between the rows so that you can easily reach those at the back. This way you can talk to individual students, allow the shy ones to ask questions quietly without the fear of embarrassment, as well as check their work and help them . Stepping forward to emphasise a point, small steps towards different sides of the class lets the student feel that the teacher is taking genuine interest in what he or she is saying.

2. Make an effort to keep eyes lively, aware and interested. Fix them on specific students, but not for so long that they become uncomfortable! Avoid focusing on the worst or best students.
Knowing that the teacher demands eye contact keeps the students alert. It also gives the teacher a feedback on the impact of what he or she is saying. This is particularly important in large classes, where "distance" between the teacher and learner is greater, and individual attention is more difficult.

3. Gestures that involve arms and hands are a very expressive visual aid. They can be used to describe shapes, actions, movements etc. but, remember to keep still while listening to a student . Otherwise the message sent to the student is that he is being longwinded or boring.
Habits such as fiddling with notes and books, playing with pens , key chains, or doodling with chalk on the black board can be both distracting and irritating for the student.

4. A smile can make wonders. It encourages the student to participate more actively and dispels the notion that the teacher is over critical. Also, try to look interested while a student is speaking. A smile, a grimace, a curl of the lips, raised eyebrows etc. at appropriate moments will send messages as needed.

5. Give students plenty of time to talk! It will keep them alert. Make small jokes, be friendly.
at the same time, call students by their name. It sounds warmer and friendlier and lessens the distance between the teacher and learner.

So, do all these make sense? We need to make use various types of teaching aids in order to develop pupils cognitively and aesthethically...but...there is no teaching aids that could take over teachers' role...:)

Photo editing

In traditional method, teachers are always seen using picture flashcards as teaching aids. Young learners' aesthetical value can be easily stired with colourful images. However, the traditional way in preparing pictures for teaching aids which basically requires us to prepare manila cuttings, newspaper cuttings and do some colourings might take a lot of our time. Moreover, it is not easy to find pictures that we need for the lesson. However, with photo editing software, nothing is impossible. We can do miracles and magic with the pictures. I didn't know much about photo editing besides to brighten the colours, remove red-eye, resize and cropping.


Now, I'm so excited to learn more about editing pictures, which could be very handful for me as a teacher in preparing teaching aids. One of the softwares that we can use for photo editing is Photo Studio.

burning and dodging using Photo Studio

There are new terms and functions which i come across:


Layers:

Think of cutting out your subject and placing it against a completely different background, or stacking several images over one another. Layering allows for limitless creative possibilities.


Burning and dodging:

These are terms left over from the darkroom days. These tools allow you to brighten or darken specific areas of your photo to add drama.


Filters:

Filters are special effects you can apply to your photos, such as charcoal drawing, blur, embossing, and many more.

I can be more creative using by using this software. I do not have to waste a lot time looking for pictures and cutting them out or going to the photocopy shop to enlarge the pictures . Everything can be done using one particular software. It is very practical for teachers as we have loads of work to be done. So, it is best for me to learn more deeply on how to use more advanced software so that I can produce a better teaching aid for my pupils.