Janos Blasszauer
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Posts posted by Janos Blasszauer
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Dear All,
It was great to meet you all in Toulouse. I found the weekend highly inspiring and I learned a lot from you guys. Thanks a lot for the good company.
Here goes the outline of my presentation. You will find some useful links at the end of the document.
What I have done with ICT that has improved the quality of teaching/learning?
1 Background
1.1 1997 teaching journals
1.1.1 e.g. Tillyer, A. (1997) “The InfiNET Possibilities: English Teachers on the Internet.” Forum 35.1, pp. 16-25.
my philosophy
The guiding principle in my teaching is that teachers should seek to empower students with the necessary skills to take control of their own learning (i.e., the "tricks" of successful language learning), and, at the same time, emulate the behaviors they expect their students to acquire.
I strongly believe that the main goal in my teaching and project activities is that students can learn to function outside of the sheltered classroom environment, shifting the burden of learning from the teacher to the student.
I also believe that teachers should take charge of their own individual development as teachers, researchers, mentors.
1.2 a scheme founded by the Ministry of Education
1.3 to meet the requirements of communicative methodology and the project-based approach
1.3.1 Quotes
"The principal goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done."--Piaget
“Technology itself is not the curriculum. Technology is a key that opens opportunities for students to learn in the classroom. It is a way in which we can bridge what in the past have been large gorges that have separated students from opportunity.”
"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason to hope." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
2 Theory and Practice
2.1 interactionist approach originally derived from Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis.
2.2 both ESL and EFL, language exposure is artificial, limited, and anxiety often arises.
2.3 acquisition will occur when the input provided to learners is comprehensible, interesting and relevant, not grammatically sequenced, provided in abundant quantity, and in such a way as to promote self-confidence and self-direction, while arousing little or no anxiety.
2.4 wanted to encourage students to use English for pleasure outside class, and thought if I taught them the basics of e-mail and netsurfing, they would be likely to continue these activities during their free time.
2.5 I wanted students to be exposed to a range of English, wider than they usually encounter in their daily lives in Hungary.
2.6 History of CALL
2.6.1 behaviorist CALL
repetitive language drills, referred to as drill-and-practice
computer was viewed as a mechanical tutor which never grew tired or judgmental and allowed students to work at an individual pace
2.6.2 communicative CALL
computer-based activities should focus more on using forms than on the forms themselves
encourage students to generate original utterances rather than just manipulate prefabricated language
stressed that learning was a process of discovery, expression, and development
2.6.3 integrative CALL
shift from cognitive view of communicative teaching to a more social or socio-cognitive view
greater emphasis on language use in authentic social contexts
led to perspective which seeks to integrate various skills
integrate technology more fully into the language learning
students learn to use a variety of technological tools as an ongoing process of language learning and use
3 What I would like to be able to do in future with ICT?
See a good example of making use of oral history: education.html
3.1 planting the roots of CALL by training the future teachers in areas where schools are still waiting for CALL to arrive
3.2 blogs, wikis, mobile phones, online courses, MOOS, VLEs
3.3 According to Stephen Bax computers will be: "an integral part of learning and teaching" "... an integral part of every lesson, like a pen or a book. Teachers and students will use them without fear or inhibition, and equally without an exaggerated respect for what they can do. They will not be the center of any lesson but they will play a part in almost all. They will be completely integrated into all other aspects of classroom life, alongside course books, teachers and notepads. They will almost go unnoticed."
3.4 Things to be done: - need for software and hardware - easy access to the technology - 'top-down decision to use computers' - provision of support (lots of support) - technical support should be aware of EFL methodology - personalization of technology (learners are comfortable with it / sense of ownership) - teachers should be "PC and Internet empowered" - training for teachers - involvement of teaching staff in decisions of implementation - some help with suitable material for integrating CALL into teaching (or teachers setting up their own virtual environments
3.5 "PEOPLE TRAVEL TO WONDER AT THE HEIGHT OF MOUNTAINS, AT THE HUGE WAVES OF THE SEA, AT THE LONG COURSES OF RIVERS, AT THE VAST COMPASS OF THE OCEAN, AT THE CIRCULAR MOTION OF THE STARS; AND THEY PASS BY THEMSELVES WITHOUT WONDERING." --ST. AUGUSTINE Now we have a powerful tool to make a difference in the world and we can get our students to discover their main potentials: they can communicate, collaborate, do research, share thoughts and feelings, furthermore we can make them more open-minded, getting them not only to tolerate but to even marvel at the multi-cultured and multi-ethnic Europe.
3.5.1 "All education springs from some image of the future. If the image of the future held by society is grossly innaccurate, its education system will betray its youth." ~ Alvin Toffler
4 Internet projects
4.1 engage students in authentic, real world tasks
4.2 Students generally work in co-operative groups
4.3 requires specific content knowledge and skills, and typically raises problems to be solved
4.4 may vary widely in scope and time frame, and the end products also vary according to the technology level.
4.5 research their topic, design their product and create a plan for project management. They then begin the project, solve problems and deal with issues that arise in production, and finish their product, reflecting on and evaluating their work
4.6 entire process is meant to be authentic, mirroring real-life activities and utilizing students’ own ideas and approaches
5 Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
5.1 harnesses the main potential of the medium: that students can share thoughts and views on topics they are interested in, collaborate with partner classes focusing on a particular theme, and create online databases
5.2 Telecollaboration, or tasks completed in groups via the Internet, enables teachers and students to establish connections with other online citizens and engage in activities using the FL. Telecollaborational projects include e.g. keypal exchange projects and live chats.
Recommended Tools:
Photo Story can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/d...ry/default.mspx
Narration can be inserted over series of photographs, and is ideal for students to tell their own stories.
QuickTopic
For any one-topic group discussion, use the QuickTopic free bulletin boards instead of just email! Your messages will be in a private central place, and each of your friends can opt to participate by email or just use the web forum. That's because QuickTopic's super-easy single-topic web bulletin boards are also fully email-enabled: you can get and post messages via email. Use it on your web site too.
3D Writer
http://www.3dwriting.com/html/download.html
3D Writer is a simple yet powerful writing tool with hypertext abilities.
InstantWebquest
http://www.instantprojects.org/webquest/
InstantWebquest is a web based software for creating WebQuests in a short time. When you use InstantWebQuest, you will not need any of writing HTML code or using any web editor software. InstantWebQuest creates all the necessary files and puts them into the server free. Hosting is FREE!
Backflip
http://www.backflip.com/login.ihtml
It's the easiest way to save and share important things you see on the Web. With Backflip's organization and powerful search, you'll never lose anything interesting again. You can use it from any computer. And it's totally free.
Gagglenet
There are dozens of free e-mail services, but Gaggle.Net is the only service designed specifically for classroom use. The biggest difference is that the teacher is in charge. The system automatically monitors message content. If a suspicious message is detected, it is sent to the teacher for review. The teacher decides whether to send the message on to the intended recipient. The monitoring controls can also be turned off or customized by the teacher at any time.
Noodle Tools
NoodleTools is a suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research. From selecting a search engine and finding some relevant sources, to citing those sources in MLA or APA style, NoodleTools makes online research easier.
Filamentality
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/
Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into learning activities. It combines the "filament" of the Web with a learner's "mentality". Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way. In the end, you'll create a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that www-dot stuff.
Click Answers (downloadable tool)
Search engines are terrific when you've got a complex request; if you are trying to recall, say, the name of a Victorian Scottish woolen bonnet*, there's probably a page out there that you can dig up. But if you need to know what pie in the sky means, when Benjamin Franklin was born, or whether Aeschylating is a cromulent word, a search engine isn't your best bet. You need a FREE one stop reference tool. This is certainly a great tool to download.
Oral history sites
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/online.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson...ist/ohhome.html
http://www.oralhistory.org.uk/advice/
[/url]http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/oralhist/ohhome.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/education.html
(scroll down on the landing page and you will find an overview of teaching Oral Histories, A Brief Guide to Developing Student Oral History Projects with Interviewing tips and more, and Lesson Plans and Activities that use Oral Histories.
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Members and associates of E-Help are invited to post a summary of their forthcoming presentation here
What I have done with ICT that has improved the quality of teaching/learning and what I would like to be able to do in future with ICT?
I have been interested in the potentials of information technology in English as a foreign language (EFL) education since 1997, when I read about email projects in English language teaching journals. I started thinking about the application of the technology to meet the requirements of communicative methodology and the project-based approach. As an EFL teacher, British Council in-service teacher educator, and European Schoolnet project advisor, I had an opportunity to take an increasingly growing interest in developing teaching practices and methods.
The guiding principle in my teaching is that teachers should seek to empower students with the necessary skills to take control of their own learning (i.e., helping students to learn how to learn). In order to achive this goal I have turned to making good use of ICT. I have involved my students in telecollaborative projects, webquest projects and tried to exploit one of the main potentials of the Internet, namely its power that enables fast and cheap way of communication.
I think ICT in the future will link more and more schools to the global learning community, and by creating student-centred learning environments the teacher’s role will shift from being the purveyor of information to the role of an organiser, collaborator and coach.
I also share Stephen Bax's views who claims that computers will be "... an integral part of every lesson, like a pen or a book. Teachers and students will use them without fear or inhibition, and equally without an exaggerated respect for what they can do. They will not be the centre of any lesson but they will play a part in almost all. They will be completely integrated into all other aspects of classroom life, alongside coursebooks, teachers and notepads. They will almost go unnoticed."
As for teaching history, well I'm not a history teacher but I'm member of several lists and the other day someone asked if anyone knew of any web resources that would be useful for designing an oral history project for High Schoolers about local
history/history of their school.
And even though I am a teacher of English I've found some recommended sites highly relevant to my teaching context. For example the http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/education.html http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/education.html site
(scroll down on the landing page and you will find an overview of teaching Oral Histories, A Brief Guide to Developing Student Oral History Projects with Interviewing tips and more, and Lesson Plans and Activities that use Oral Histories.)
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I was interested to read about János's background as an EFL teacher in Hungary. I was Director of the East European Computer Assisted Language Learning project (EECALL) in Hungary from 1991 to 1996. ...........
Thank you very much for the information you have provided. It is really great to hear that you used to work in Hungary and actually at an institution I know very well since I graduated from that college before finishing my university studies.
I hope you have some nice memories from your stay in Hungary.
Unfortunately I haven't been lucky enough to know Janos Kohn, the highly valued and respected EUROCALL colleague. But next time when thinking of going to a EUROCALL conference I'll make sure to apply for the scholarship.
Otherwise Crakow is a wonderful place. I was invited by British Council Poland to an ICT training held there in Crakow (9-12 September 2004) and ran several workshops there.
The town is magnificient! Grazyna Studzinska was there, too. I'm absolutely sure that she is doing a good job organising the upcoming EUROCALL conference.
Your Hungarian is impressive. In Toulouse you could brush up your Hungarian with my wife since her English is rather poor.
Remélem hamarosan látjuk egymást! :-)
Janos
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We plan to hold our first E-HELP meeting in Toulouse (17th February – 20th February). The theme of the first meeting is the identification of current good practice. We hope to run part of our meeting online and would like as many people as possible to get involved in our debates.
We will be discussing the value-added aspect of ICT. What have you done (or seen done) with ICT that has improved the quality of teaching/learning, that would have been impossible/difficult to achieve without ICT?
The E-HELP team is interested in your ideas. If this thread is successful we hope to get this material published in book form.
I am very much looking forward to the trip to Toulouse and to meet you all.
I have been rather busy with different projects like the Spring Day in Europe 2005 project.
I am the national pedagogical adviser for Hungary on the international advisory board of this project, and besides that I do all the translations of the texts that appear on the website. Incidentally I do some teaching at school, and some teacher training as well. :-)
Well, but here comes some examples of how I made use of ICT:
Introduction
I am a Hungarian EFL teacher at an academic grammar school in Nagykanizsa and have been interested in the potentials of information technology in English as a foreign language (EFL) education since 1997, when I read about email projects in English language teaching journals (e.g., Tillyer, A. (1997) “The InfiNET Possibilities: English Teachers on the Internet.” Forum 35.1, pp. 16-25.). I began to understand hardware and software, the use of teaching and learning packages, and some of the latest developments on the Internet, such as easy and free file and voice message exchanges and the opportunities of their use at schools supported by a scheme founded by the Ministry of Education. I started thinking about the application of the technology to meet the requirements of communicative methodology and the project-based approach. As an EFL teacher and a British Council in-service teacher educator, I had an opportunity to take an increasingly growing interest in developing teaching practices and methods.
I have been involved in several projects with my students, such as the ones I mention in an article I have written about collaborative projects, and the Tolerance project, Spring Day chats, and even the Spring Day eventswere trigerred by and preceded by some online preparation and collaborative work. I have also got my students engaged in webquest projects. I have created several webquests (e.g. Webquest on tolerance, Webquest on the Enlargement), and online games like the online quiz on the enlarged Europe, and have created together with my students the visual poster on Hungary, and this year I will try to get my students' reflection on such texts as the Charter of the Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union.
I have found several benefits of ICT projects. They increase students’ self-esteem as they realise that English is not only another compulsory subject they have to learn at school but it is a vehicle for communicating with their peers all over the world. My experiences with online projects also show that they accommodate different learning styles - e.g. shy students open up when it comes to writing emails; learners are encouraged and motivated to become involved in authentic communicative situations. In keypal projects students write for a real audience, usually to their peers instead of merely composing a piece of writing for the teacher. In addition, the privacy afforded by technology allows learners to participate cooperatively in the educational process.
I think ICT projects can reduce the feelings of isolation by linking schools with the global community, and by creating a student-centred learning environment the teacher’s role changes from being the purveyor of information to the role of an organiser, collaborator and coach. Students and instructors do not need to be masters at ICT skills. The only prerequisites of ICT projects are to enable students to communicate, search for and analyse information in an electronic environment.
The essential role for teachers in our era is, as I see it, to give students the opportunity to discover and take an active part in this new world, which has an increasingly important part in our lives.
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Here are some of my favourite quotes:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
Proust
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."
James B. Conant
"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."
Henry David Thoreau
"Good teaching is more a giving of the right questions than a giving of the right answers."
J. Albers
"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn."
J.C. Dana
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
W. A. Ward
"The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones."
Lord Keynes
"It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question."
Ionesco
You can subscribe to daily quotes at: http://www.surfnetkids.com/quotations/
You can see a nice movie on educational quotes at:
http://www.surfnetkids.com/movie/
You can even get a screensaver version of the movie free of charge.
I have this screensaver on one of my computer. It's really nice. The quotes are great. Worth checking out the site! Well, and I must mention that I'm not affiliated anyhow to surfnetkids. :-)
Finally, I must say I have immensely enjoyed reading your quotes and jokes and it was good idea to have a special section of EF as a way of commemmorating its birthday. Many happy returns of the day, Education Forum!
Keep up the good work guys!
I hope I'll be able to contribute much more to the forum's success in the year 2005.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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My name is Janos Blasszauer, I am currently the head of English department at Batthyany Lajos Academic Grammar School. I am also a pedagogical advisor for the Zala County Pedagogical Institute and the Hungarian pedagogical advisor on the international advisory board of two European Schoolnet projects. One is the Myeurope project and the other one is the Spring Day in Europe 2005 project.
I am a certified teacher trainer who can run accredited courses for teachers on the modern matura exam. I have been an active member of British Council ELT in-service teacher training project.
I have run several trainings here in Hungary and abroad as well and have given several presentations on ICT-related issues at various conferences.
During the last couple of years I have learned many skills while I have been heavily involved in many international projects.
I hope these skills will help me to become a useful member of E-help project.
I constantly take part in online professional development trainings and am member of several educational communities like Tappedin, Learning Times etc. I have written several articles on ICT issues. I have recently launched at the IATEFL-H conference the ICT SIG with some of my colleagues.
I firmly believe that my ICT expertise can be exploited in the E-help project.
Let me just cite an example showing that I am up-to-date with new developments not only in the field of ELT and ICT but history teaching as well.
I know for instance that these days the The Teaching History with Technology Newsletter made its way online at:
http://thwt.org/newsletter.htm
Well, that's all for the time being.
Later I may specify in detail how I concretely envision my contribution to this great project.
I am looking forward to working with you.
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Well, let me start my reply by writing first about the advantage of the communist regime. At first though I would like to clarify something. I happened to grow up in the socialist era (I am just 38) so I know about the communist regime only from history books, from documentaries, from my parents’ and grandparents’ stories ie. from accounts given by people who lived and suffered under the communist regime.
I know the terms communism and socialism are sometimes interchangable, and in the past the media in Western countries designated a country communist which had a communist leadership. However, these countries called themselves socialist since, according to ideology and doctrine, socialism was an intermediate phase on the way to communism, which they were striving for.
So the advantage: Well... it is not that easy to mention even one. Perhaps, the biggest advantage was that there was absolutely no unemployment. Nowadays a lot of people have a feeling of insecurity, for unemployment is a problem people did not have to face in socialism. Therefore, some people tend to look back upon socialism even with some nostalgy.
The biggest disadvantage, the most dangerous traits of the communist and socialist rule was that the government leaders’ tried to totally control the people’s minds. They used different propaganda techniques to achieve this aim.
Also, there was an acute shortage under the communist era. In the socialism there was not that big shortage but there were limited options between products. I think some political jokes well represent the era:
(1) A competition for the best political jokes was announced. Do you know what the first prize was?
No- Fifteeen years.
(2) What’s the difference between socialism and capitalism?
Capitalism makes social mistakes and socialism makes capital mistakes.
(3) Doctor, I don’t feel well.
Who does?
(4) A man goes to a psychiatrist. Doctor, something is very wrong with me. What’s the matter? Every night I dream I’m crosssing the frontier ilegally. Don’t you worry, a lot of people dream that. Yeah, only I dream that I cross it to the east. (towards the Soviet Union).
(5) In Budapest in 1956 the Hungarian uprising/revolution has been crushed by Russian tanks and the city was in ruins.The battered buildings shows the friendly assistance given to Hungary by the Soviet Union. Two men meet on the street. You know come to think of it, we Hungarians are very lucky people. What? You don’t mean you’ve become one of them? Oh no, but just think. The Russians came here as friends. Imagine what the’d have done if they came here as enemies.
And finally let me suggest an excellent poem (it is translated into English) that gives back the atmosphere of the communist regime. Here goes the URL.
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I am János Blasszauer (39), a father of two, living in the provincial town of Nagykanizsa. I have been teaching English for ten years now. Currently, I am working at Batthyány Gimnázium (academic grammar school). I am the head of the English department. Since October 2001 I have been the pedagogical advisor for the Zala county Pedagogical Institute. Among many other tasks as e.g. the organisation of the county English language contest in different categories I give hands-on presentations for secondary school teachers and give advice to heads of schools with regard to ICT. I am the Hungarian advisor on the international advisory board of two European Schoolnet projects. One is the MyEurope project, the other one is the Spring Day in Europe project.
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I am János Blasszauer (36), a father of two, living in the provincial town of Nagykanizsa. I have been teaching English for ten years now. Currently, I am working at Batthyány Gimnázium (academic grammar school). Since October 2001 I have been the pedagogical advisor for the Zala county Pedagogical Institute. Among many other tasks as e.g. the organisation of the county English language contest in different categories I give hands-on presentations for secondary school teachers and give advice to heads of schools with regard to ICT. I am the Hungarian representative of Spring Day in Europe (Spring Day in Europe).
I have graduated from Berzsenyi Teacher Training College. This alma mater was the place where I got acquainted with CALL. I received my MEd degree in English at Pécs University. My thesis was written on Computer Supported Collaborative Projects (http://www.geocities.com/blasszauer), and in it I describe how I introduced ICT in two secondary schools bearing in mind sound theoretical principles.
E-HELP: Recommended Software
in E-Help
Posted
Here are some softwares/tools that you might find useful:
Photo Story can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/d...ry/default.mspx
Narration can be inserted over series of photographs, and is ideal for students to tell their own stories.
QuickTopic
http://www.quicktopic.com/
For any one-topic group discussion, use the QuickTopic free bulletin boards instead of just email! Your messages will be in a private central place, and each of your friends can opt to participate by email or just use the web forum. That's because QuickTopic's super-easy single-topic web bulletin boards are also fully email-enabled: you can get and post messages via email. Use it on your web site too.
3D Writer
http://www.3dwriting.com/html/download.html
3D Writer is a simple yet powerful free writing tool with hypertext abilities.
InstantWebquest
http://www.instantprojects.org/webquest/
InstantWebquest is a web based software for creating WebQuests in a short time. When you use InstantWebQuest, you will not need any of writing HTML code or using any web editor software. InstantWebQuest creates all the necessary files and puts them into the server free. Hosting is FREE!
Backflip
http://www.backflip.com/login.ihtml
It's the easiest way to save and share important things you see on the Web. With Backflip's organization and powerful search, you'll never lose anything interesting again. You can use it from any computer. And it's totally free.
Gagglenet
http://www.gaggle.net/
There are dozens of free e-mail services, but Gaggle.Net is the only service designed specifically for classroom use. The biggest difference is that the teacher is in charge. The system automatically monitors message content. If a suspicious message is detected, it is sent to the teacher for review. The teacher decides whether to send the message on to the intended recipient. The monitoring controls can also be turned off or customized by the teacher at any time.
Noodle Tools
http://www.noodletools.com/
NoodleTools is a suite of interactive tools designed to aid students and professionals with their online research. From selecting a search engine and finding some relevant sources, to citing those sources in MLA or APA style, NoodleTools makes online research easier.
Filamentality
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/
Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into learning activities. It combines the "filament" of the Web with a learner's "mentality". Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way. In the end, you'll create a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML, Web servers, or all that www-dot stuff.
Click Answers (downloadable tool)
http://www.answers.com/
Search engines are terrific when you've got a complex request; if you are trying to recall, say, the name of a Victorian Scottish woolen bonnet*, there's probably a page out there that you can dig up. But if you need to know what pie in the sky means, when Benjamin Franklin was born, or whether Aeschylating is a cromulent word, a search engine isn't your best bet. You need a FREE one stop reference tool. This is certainly a great tool to download.
Mindmanager X5 Pro (the software I used in Toulouse) :-)
http://www.mindjet.com/eu/
It's a visual tool for planning and collaboration.
You can have a free trial for 21 days.
Cmap tools (Great tool)
http://cmap.ihmc.us/
The CmapTools program empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. It allows users to, among many other features, construct their Cmaps in their personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link their Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of their concept maps on servers, edit their maps synchronously (at the same time) with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map.
The CmapTools client is free for use by anybody, whether its use is commercial or non-commercial. In particular, schools and universities are encouraged to download it and install it in as many computers as desired, and students and teachers may make copies of it and install it at home.
NB.: I have put some materials online making use of this tool: http://www.eltandict.com/oral/erettsegi.html