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How to Make Good Oral Presentations

Delivering effective oral presentations involves three components: what you say (verbal), how you say it with your voice (vocal), and everything the audience can see about you (visual). Verbally (and as a general rule), do not write down and memorize or read your full text, because then your presentation will sound like what it is: a recited written text. Instead, memorize the outline of your presentation — that is, a tree structure of main points and subpoints — and speak ex tempore, reinventing the words as you go along. As you do, you will occasionally need to think about what to say next and find the most appropriate words to say it. Instead of using filler words (um, er, you know, I mean, etc.), simply pause. If you say um, you get about half a second of thinking time and the audience is likely to notice the um and be irritated by it. If you keep silent, you can get up to two or three seconds of thinking time without the audience noticing anything. Even if attendees do notice th...
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Choose your own Adventure Story Project

Project Goal You will create an original narrative in the form of a Choose Your Own Adventure interactive story. Your story will be evaluated through the Choose your own adventure story rubric. Task During the 1980s a series of books called “Choose Your Own Adventure” entered libraries with a new concept of giving the reader the power of choice about how the story would turn out. These were popular with many students, and at most school libraries there was a waiting list to check these books out. As we move further into the 21st century, publishing companies are looking for ways to engage the digital generation in reading. Using what you know about the topic you are studying, design a digital choose-your-own-adventure story to engage readers at your school. Engage Take some time to explore a few “Choose Your Own Adventure” books and online hypermedia stories to get a better understanding of how these stories are structured. You must be familiar with the basic elements of a story:...

Reading Screens Questionnaire

In pairs, answer the following questions 1) List at least three teaching implications. Mention possible 1) pre-computing, 2) computing, and 3) post-computing activities. 2) Will screens ever replace books? Why or why not? 3) How can we foster critical hypermedia?

The Changing World of ELT

Who said it? Read the statements below and decide which of the following perspectives they reflect: technologist’s, social pragmatist’s and/or critical analyst’s. Explain why. 1) The Internet could be looked at as one giant “garbage dump”. 2) Working with technology is difficult and frustrating. 3) The notion of “communicative competence” should be expanded to include the interactions that take place through oral and written communication with a computer. 4) “Data” is viewed as a degraded form of knowledge. We tend to accept or view Internet sources uncritically. 5) We take into account the context in order to examine the reality of day-to-day technology use. 6) Our ultimate goal was to create a person. We look at communication between humans and computers.

Review Classes 1 & 2: Teaching Scenario

Mary is a primary EFL teacher. She has been told she needs to incorporate multimedia into her classes but she does not exactly know how to do so and is doubtful whether her 10 year old students will benefit at all. She is also concerned because many of her students live in poor areas of the city and do not have access to technology. Can you help Mary? Based on the course bibliography and the material covered in classes 1 and 2, answer the questions below. 1) Define the concept of multimedia for Mary 2) Propose 3 different ways in which Mary can incorporate multimedia into her lessons 3) List 5 possible benefits of incorporating multimedia into her classes 4) Explain to Mary the impact that the digital divide may have on education. Propose 2 different strategies or approaches to help bridge the gap among her students. You may want to check out the following link for more ideas: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb15/vol72/num05/Helping-to-Close-the-Digital-Divide....
The Digital Divide: Even as technology becomes more affordable and internet access seems increasingly ubiquitous, a “digital divide” between rich and poor remains. The rich and educated are still more likely than others to have good access to digital resources according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The digital divide has especially far-reaching consequences when it comes to education. For children in low-income school districts, inadequate access to technology can hinder them from learning the tech skills that are crucial to success in today’s economy. Review the course bibliography and the Powerpoint Presentation for class # 2. What are other possible consequences of the digital divide in the context of education? How do you think we can help bridge the gap? Explain in no less than 150 words.