This is the blog for Scott's English II classes at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan
Hello World!
I have just started a new blog with my students here at the University of Calgary. I am now teaching for the LEAP program. That is the Learning English for Academic Purposes program (it's part of the faculty of education). It's a lot of fun, and my students are really great. If anyone is ever bored, they should have a look at my new blog and say hi to me and my students.
http://www.leapintoenglish.blogspot.com
Stay cool!
Here I am, back in Japan, working hard at my desk. Actually, I am just blogging, but that is kind of like work, isn't it? Anyway, I just wanted to tell the world about my new blog:
www.kansaigaidaienglishtwo.blogspot.com
This is where I am going to be blogging next semester, so if anyone is interested in reading what my new students are blogging about, or if they want to see what I am doing, please have a look at my new blog. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Love ya!
Scott
Yahoooooooooooooo! Janet and I just finished our presentation in San Antonio Texas all about the blogs we did with our students last year. It's amazing, Janet and I have been thinking about this project and what we were going to do for over a year, and finally we have made our presentation. It was such a wonderful experience. There were a lot of people in the audience (at least over 50), and many people asked some very interesting questions. I hope more people will start blogging with their students. It seems like this blogging thing is just growing and growing.
Janet and I also met a reporter from China. She took our pictures, and she is going to write an article about the TESOL conference. Wow, I feel kind of famous :-)
Anyway, tomorrow, Janet and I have to host a "post presentation discussion". I'll let you know how that goes!
For any teachers out there who may read this blog, here are some ideas I have about Vygotski and blogs. All of the page numbers are from:
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This is just a rough copy of my ideas . . . any comments?
The work of L.S. Vygotski can contribute to a theoretical basis for using blogs in teaching ESL or EFL. Vygotski stressed the social origins of language and thinking (page 6), and blogs provide a virtual social community in which students can communicate, think and learn from others in the target language of English.
Vygotski believed that learning should be matched with a student’s developmental level (page 86). Blogs are able to do this as the students set their own level of difficulty in their blogs by writing freely about topics that they choose themselves. For Vygotski, there are two levels of development. These levels of development are demonstrated by two groups of functions: those a student already possesses, and those he or she can perform under guidance, in groups, and in collaboration with other students (page 87). As a student initially creates his or her blog, the entries demonstrate the language that the student already possesses. This is the student’s actual level of language development. However, as the student interacts with other students in the blogging community, he or she begins to be able to preform at a higher level of language because of what he or she is learning from his or her peers in the blogging community. This learning takes place in the zone of proximal development, which is defined by Vygotski as being
. . . the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidence or in collaboration with more capable peers (page 86 – italics mine).
The key to this definition in this discussion of blogs, is the idea that the students are learning from their peers within the blogging community. As the students see other students using new words, or grammatical structures, they can begin to use them in their own blogs. Vygotski saw this process of imitation as being very important within the zone of proximal development as it leads to greater developmental levels. For Vygotski, students can imitate a variety of actions that go well beyond the limits of their own capabilities. By using imitation, students are able to do much more in collective activity (page 88) and thus reach towards higher developmental levels. This is reflected in the blogs and the way that students are able to copy the grammatical structures and new vocabulary they see in other blogs. A zone of proximal development is set up in the blogging community, and learning can take place as the students constantly move toward higher and higher levels of language. The students are learning from each other. Vygotski asserts that an essential feature of learning is that it creates this zone of proximal development and that the learning process only operates when students are interacting with people in their environment and in cooperation with their peers (page 90). Blogs provide an ideal environment in which students can interact with people and learn in cooperation with their peers. For Vygotski, human learning presupposes a specific social nature and a process by which students grow into the intellectual life around them (page 88). Vygotski saw learning as a profoundly social process, and because of that he emphasized dialogue, the need for students to collaborate with their peers, and the role that language plays in instruction and cognitive growth (page 131). Blogging can provide a vibrate place for students to socialize and improve their language as they grow through the sharing of their own personal stories and ideas.
Here's a blurb that I just wrote about myself. What do you think?
Teaching English is my passion, and I have had the privilege of working with learners of all ages and abilities throughout the world. I have a M.Ed. (TESL) degree from the University of Calgary, and my chief research interests include language through content curriculum development and using weblogs as a tool for fostering BICS and CALP. Additional academic pursuits include teacher training of non-native EFL teachers, using global issues as a vehicle for language acquisition, and employing Freirean pedagogical techniques in the classroom.
For my students who don't know, Freire was an educator from Brazil that I really admire :-) He's the reason I ask you guys so many questions!
I went skiing last weekend. It was so great. I went to Skijam in Fukui Prefecture. I’m glad I got a chance to go skiing because I guess that’s going to be my last time this winter. It’s almost Cherry Blossom season again. I can’t believe how fast time is flying!
Skijam was really awesome. The snow was great, and the weather was amazing. It was really warm! I guess the good weather brought lots of people to the hill last weekend, because at first it was really crowded. Sometimes as I was going down the hill, I had to play “dodge the fallen snowboarder”. I couldn’t believe how many really bad snowboarders there were everywhere. It was kind of dangerous! My friend and I would be going up the chairlift, and we would count all of the fallen snowboarders lying in the snow. You never saw skiers sprawled in the snow like the snowboarders. I wonder if they were having fun . . . the funny thing was that even though they were all sprawled out in the snow, they all had really, really expensive snowboarding clothes and equipment. I guess it takes more than expensive goggles to be a good snowboarder!
Anyway, I had fun. I also got to stay in a hundred year old Japanese house. I went to Fukui Prefecture with my friend Taka and his parents, and we stayed at his Grandmother’s house. His Grandmother is in the hospital now, so the house is empty. It was a very traditional Japanese house, with sliding doors and tatami mats. There was also a Buddhist alter. It was really interesting exploring the house and the storage house next door to it. The house itself was originally built with mud, wood and straw. Because of that, it was a little bit cold in the house, but luckily we had a kotatsu to keep us warm, and at night we slept in very warm futons. I’m really lucky that I got to visit this house. I feel like I had a really good Japanese experience!
One more week until I go to the big English teacher’s conference in Texas – wish me luck!
Hello Everybody!
Thanks for all the great comments you guys made during the holiday. I can't believe that my entire holiday is over already, and here I am sitting at my desk in my office at Kansai Gaidai University.
I didn't really do much over the holidays. I was planning on going jogging every day so that I could get into great shape, but that lasted about two weeks before I decided it was more fun to read books and eat cakes all day. However, I am going to start running again soon! Mostly, over the holidays, I just read a lot of books, and I did some writing too. It was nice and relaxing, and I'm ready to be back at work.
Right now, I am working on my blog presentation for Texas. Janet and I have divided up all the research, and we are almost ready for our presentation. I can't believe that we are going all the way to Texas to make this presentation. Our students are going to be famous :-) I'm so proud of all of my students and their great blogs. I can't wait to show the whole world!
Anyway, let me know how you guys are doing. Keep on blogging!
