WAYS TO IMPROVE THE WEBSITE READY-STUDY-GO-AHEAD USING A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SITE (LMS).

In this post, we are going to analyse how to improve the website Ready-study-Go-Ahead. It is about helping students to cope with the demands of a job abroad, learning the main aspects for being able to work in sectors such as hotel, bakery, vehicle, restaurant and service sectors. The material combines professional and general vocabulary with cultural coaching and information on the work culture.  

From my point of view, I think that this page is very simple. Although it deals with the main aspects, we could improve it by doing several changes and adding some information. Using a learning management site we could organize better the learning process by establishing a calendar with deadlines. Furthermore, it would be useful to create a section with doubts and questions where students could interact and help each other. In addition, it would be a great idea to include online activities in order to assess the knowledge acquired for the learners.

CMS EXAMPLES

Now, I’m going to show you several Web sites built using a Content management System (CMS), such as Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, PHP-Nuke, Zikula, SPIP, etc.

·      Sites created with Drupal:  -       http://www.salesianos.edu/alicante/  -        http://www.iesenricsolerigodes.com/drupal/    ·      Sites created with WordPress:  -       http://navarrosantafe.edu.gva.es/wordpress/  -        http://iesbenjaminjarnes.wordpress.com/    ·      Sites created with Joomla:     -       http://www.iesdoctorbalmis.com/    -       http://iesleonardoalacant.edu.gva.es/web/    -        http://cavanilles.edu.gva.es/  ·      Sites created with PHP-Nuke:     -    http://www.iesjaumeprimer.com/pphp/nuke/html/index.php  ·      Sites created with SPIP:     -       http://nsd.hhdc.net/  ·      Sites created with Zikula (mostly in Catalonia):     -        http://agora.xtec.cat/iessantjust/intranet/    -       http://agora.xtec.cat/iesnumancia/intranet/  ·      Sites using Mestre a Casa (official web offered by Conselleria):    -       http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/ieslacanyada  -       http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/fpabeniassent/  ·      Sites directly using Moodle as site and VLE:     -       http://fpaibi.edu.gva.es/aulavirtual/  -       http://www.iesalquibla.net/moodle/index.php    After having a look at these links, I find all of them practical and really interesting. But if I have to choose my favourites websites, these are those that at first sight I have found visually more attractive. For that reason I’d like to talk about the websites of IES Doctor Balmis, IES Leonardo Da Vinci and Salesianos. Although they haven`t been created with the same CMS they are very similar in respect to the structure and visual appearance. The most I like about them is that we can find all kind of information easily. They content a wide variety of data useful not only for students but also for parents, teachers and everyone interested in knowing something more about them. The WebSite of Salesianos is marginally more elaborated than the others. What I mean is that it has exploded almost all the possibilities that Drupal offers. It includes moving images, videos, several links and it is connected with Social Media.  In addition, you can download all kind of materials such as units, resources and documents about of the school management.

JOOMLA  

Do you know what Joomla is? Let me introduce you to this brilliant Web site.

Joomla is an excellent content management system that allows you to create your own Websites and wonderful online applications. It is the most popular Website due to several reasons. First of all, it is really easy to manage, but the most interesting aspect is the fact that it is freely available to everyone. For these reasons, it is well known in the school environment. It is also worldwide used to power Web sites of all shapes and sizes such as magazines, newspapers, corporate intranets and extranets, government applications etc.

If you want to discover how it works, be ready to download the latest version and install it in your computer. 

Once you go inside Joomla world, you we’ll realise the amount of extensions it also has. In my case I have found HTML5 Flipping Book as the most interesting one. It is a digital publishing software that enables creating publications in the form of eBooks, magazines, portfolios, brochures & catalogues.

Using HTML5 Flipping Book Component you will be able to create an attractive and realistic content with a variety of media files (images, audio, video, pdf) and HTML5 advanced features, including links to YouTube, Vimeo and other media websites. In addition, you can be sure that your online books or magazines are visible for mobile users as well.

 

SUBSCRIPTION TO A NEWSLETTER

I have joined the CBU Newsletter School of Sciences for several reasons. First of all, it is a newsletter in relation to Science and Maths. In addition, I have seen that it is an active one. In fact, the last post was on February. And finally, I have found really interesting that they are going to organise an event to celebrate Math Awareness Month this April. The theme is Mathematics, Magic and Mystery and I’d like to Know more about that.

CBU Newsletter

 

COMMENT SOME APPLICATIONS:

Now I’d like to highlight the most interesting tools among those I have shown to you in my LINO presentation.

1. MANGA HIGH

We all know how addicts teenagers are to online gaming. With this tool we can encourage our students to learn Maths doing something that they love, playing. My favourite one is “Algebra Meltdown”, where the fate of the world only depends on the speed of the student’s algebra skills. My strategy would be to tell him that at the end of the lesson they are going to play a game in relation to algebra for example, and the three best players will obtain some marks for the final exam. Despite the cute manga theme, this is a really serious maths learning site, and we also can find several resources and lesson plans.

2. DAILY NUMBERS: A DAILY MATH SKILL REINFORCEMENT ACTIVITY.

This is a lesson plan for whiteboards that we can use daily to reinforce maths skills. Using this methodology we can show students a more attractive way to practice the concepts explained previously. In addition, learners not only experience maths success on a daily basis, but also receive daily reinforcement in a wide variety of maths skills. And lastly, they achieve higher scores on state-wide tests.

3. NUCLEAR ENERGY

In this site you can find several science plan lessons for printing easily. It is divided in five units in relation to nuclear energy that can be taught in the classroom. In every unit it is explained the objectives. It also offers a variety of exercises and more resources.

4. ONLINE CALCULATOR

This a free online calculator for computers with which students will be able to perform not only simple arithmetic calculations and perform basic commands but also calculate the square root, work with trigonometric functions, perform scientific calculations, raise a number to a power, etc.

And the best thing is that learners can do all these operations without the needed of buying an expensive calculator.

5. POLLUTION

This is a really interesting e-book that can be used in the classroom for explaining in detail some concepts. So as a teacher, I can demonstrate my students the most important pages of the e-book with the content I want them to know.

APPS, TOOLS and Applications.

In this post I'd like to show you useful tools that we can find searching the Internet and apply in our classroom. These materials not  only makes our lesson catchier, but also easier to prepare it.

In the following link there is a presentation about interesting apps for tablets and computer, apart from free lesson plans and e-books.
 

LINO

The cloud. Advantages and disadvantages.

 

Nowadays, “the cloud computing” is becoming increasingly popular among internet users worldwide. Broadly speaking, the term cloud means the possibility of store and access data through internet, and also the programs you need. And at first sight, it seems to have exclusively benefits. But if you went in depth, you would realise that there are some disadvantages that should be taken into consideration as well.

 

Talking about the advantages, the most attractive one is the fact that it doesn’t involve a huge cost. In addition, it can be used by lots of people at the same time and wherever they stay. Not only does it offer a wide variety for the customers, but also it is an agile technology that makes easier work with it.

On the other hand, there are several disadvantages. To begin with, there is a general feeling of lack of control for business owners, who can’t do anything to solve the problem when the system goes down. Moreover, this system is not yet plenty of reliability and your privacy could be invaded.

 

Here I show you some links where you can obtain more information about the cloud computing and their positive and negative aspects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

http://sn.com.au/what-is-cloud-computing-its-advantages-disadvantages/

http://www.apexcloud.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-cloud-computing /

 

And finally, I’d like to say that I find the cloud really useful as I use it for several reasons. For example, I use Dropbox or Googledrive in order to share diverse kind of documents with colleagues, classmates and friends. Besides, I usually do collaborative tasks using Google Docs.

 

Past experiences.

I'd like to say that during my childhood and also in the University the main methodology through I have been taught was based on a teacher explanations and learning things by heart. And It was when I did my Master in Education When I really experienced a real way to interact for acquiring the content. To be honest, I find this kind of methodology very useful.  

Interaction with students.

In this post I'm going to talk about how I'd like to teach Maths to 3º ESO group.

I think that the best method for students is by doing mathematics themselves, and not through a method based only on teacher explanations. For that reason I consider very important to create an interactive class.

In order to achieve my objectives I’m going to list some of them:

-     Creating an appropriate environment for asking doubts.

-     Using online tools such as web quests, blogs, forum, chat room, wikis, etc.

-     Practicing content by playing in groups.

-     Teaching in a meaningful way to help children appreciate the importance of maths in the daily life.

-     Reproducing everyday situations in which it’s useful to apply the concepts of the lesson.

-     Using digital blackboard which are more attractive for students and promote participation.

-     Reproducing everyday situations in which it’s useful to apply the concepts of the lesson.

 

In what concerns advantages of this methodology, the most important are to catch learner’s attention and to motivate them.

On the other hand, I’d like to remark that the main problem is the acquisition of modern technology which not always is available for the school and the tough schedule that teachers have to carry on.

 

 

WORD MAP. Maths

 

Glossary.Maths

Number: a word or symbol that represents a specific amount or quantity.
Probability: the chance that something will happen.
 Angle: the difference between the direction of two lines or surfaces that come together.
Statistics: a type of mathematics that deals with the study of statistics.
Geometry: a branch of mathematics that deals with points, lines, angles, surfaces and solids.

Corpora.

Corpora are collections of oral and written texts on a specific topic. And if you want to know better the context in which an expression or collocation is used, you can check them through http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/,  and that also helps you to understand the meaning. In my case, I have tried that with 'carry out', and I have obtain a list with 2659 examples.

 

  

In relation to parallel corpora this is what I have obtained looking for the same group of word in http://www.linguee.es , as you can see, it shows the translation as well.

 

 

 

Thesaurus

Thesaurus.

Thesaurus are dictionaries in where  words that  have the same or similar meanings are grouped together.

Teaching Maths, the word 'calculate' is extremely used. Therefore, I'm going to find out how to say it in other words so as to not being too repetitive.

 

This is what appears in the screen when I write the word calculate:

 

 

The list displayed can be organized depend on your interests. There is a filter that allows you choose relevance (A-Z/Z-A), complexity (+ or -), length (+ or -), common words, informal words, type of words...and it also shows antonyms.

Comparison of Dictionaries

As a teacher, have you ever asked yourself what ‘Education’ means? Let’s figure out together and compare the results.
According to Oxford Dictionary:

·         the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university:

In Webster Dictionary we find the following definition:

·         the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university

According to WordReference:

·         the act or process of acquiring knowledge, esp systematically during childhood and adolescence

In my opinion, Webster Dictionary is the most complete one. Apart from several definitions, it also includes synonyms, antonyms and terms and rhymes in relation to the word. However, the link to the pronunciation doesn't work. In what concerns Wordreference, we can find only several definitions, and as I have realise looking for other words, not always we can hear the pronunciation. And finally, Oxford Dictionary gives us the main aspects of the word and also the way to pronounce it, for those reasons I think this last one is the most useful.


And well, if we search again the term Education in http://www.learnersdictionary.com we'll find

• the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university.

The definition is the same as the one found in Webster because these two dictionaries are connected each other. But I find this last version more focused on students because of its simplicity. And it also includes additional tools such as  'vocabulary quiz' and mobile application.

Students' needs: 3º ESO Maths.

The aim of this entry is to give a brief explanation about the required contents for Mathematics and specifically for the level of 3º ESO.

According to the Decree 127/2012 these are organized in the following 6 blocks:

Block 1: Common contents.

Block 2:Numbers.

Block 3:Algebra.

Block 4:Geometry.

Block 5:Functions and Graphs.

Block 6:Statistics and probability.


In order to achieve the contents, first of all it is needed that Students are familiarized with the following key terminology:

Key terminology

Addition +	Subtraction -
combined increased total of sum added to together plus	minus less than less fewer than difference decreased take away more than
Multiplication x	Division ÷
multiplied product of times of	divided by into per quotient of percent (divided by 100) out of ratio of

On the other hand, it is also necessary the use of some expressions  for a communicative class. Here there are some examples: 

Teacher:

1.   Let’s call the roll. Is everybody here?

2.   Could you open/close the (door)?

3.   Switch the lights on, please.

4.     Get out your Mathematics book and pencil.

5.     Put all your things away.

6.     Can you lend (him) a (pencil), please?

7.     Has anyone an extra (pencil) for…?

8.     Listen to me, please! Pay attention!

9.     Silence, please! Be quiet!

10. Stop speaking now!

11. Who knows? Hands up!

12. Do you understand me?

13. Right, that’s all for today.

14. Please, line up quietly by the door.

15. Go out to the playground.

 

Students:

  

1.     May I come in, please?

2.     I make my apologies for coming late.

3.     How do you say ……… in English?

4.     Teacher, please!

5.     Can I go to the toilet, please?

6.     Can I drink water, please?

7.     Can I sharpen my pencil, please?

8.     Can you repeat, please?

9.     Can you help me, please?

10. Can I borrow a (pencil), please?

11. Have you got a (pencil)?

12. Thank you . You’re welcome.

13. I know.

14. I don’t understand.
 

If you want more examples have a look at the following link:

http://quizlet.com/18167297/useful-classroom-language-english-spanish-flash-cards/