I felt very excited when I got the message about the opportunity to follow the Building Teaching Skills online course. I am someone who is always on the look out for the best methods to be used in language teaching, learning and assessment activities in classrooms. For a long time I have been looking for a course of this nature and I feel very privileged to have been able to join the course. With the new knowledge, methods and experience gained through the course, I wish to learn and do great things to facilitate language learning in my class rooms at my university in Sri Lanka
I taught ESL to undergraduates in a computer and multimedia facilitated language laboratory at my university, but I hardly ever tried using wikis and blogs to assist my teaching, because I did not know how to use them effectively. What I have experienced in this week has convinced me of the huge potential it has for learning and sharing knowledge.
It is wonderful that being at home, without exerting ourselves much, we can teach, learn and take part in discussions. It is really interesting to see, we, from different parts of the world from different backgrounds, without having to travel thousands of kilometres loaded with luggage, are on one platform sharing in our knowledge and experience. Technology has made it possible and let us live with it and go ahead with it and we can really make use of the opportunities made possible by it in the days to come, only if we do it today.
Hello Tharanga
ReplyDeleteI agree that one of the biggest benefits of technology is that we can have a class like this, with people dispersed at great distances with a common interest who can join together. It is quite a tool, even if not perfect.
~Robert
Hi Tharanga!!
ReplyDeleteI'm also from Sri Lanka and it is a small world indeed. I graduated from the University of Kelaniya with a special degree in English. I too believe that use of technology in ESL teaching can be very effective, especially in the university system in Sri Lanka, as it has better facilities compared to the school system.
Umesha
Hello Tharanga!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that this a new world of exciting feelings that we can experience. Being in the different parts of the world, we share best practices that we have accumulated for the time being in our teaching experience, and now when on the board of a new course, we can learn some more really exciting things for ourselves and make our adventures in teaching even better.
I am sure that by the end of the course we shall all be very well-informed about all advances of technologies and become their proficient users.
Good luck to you, me and all of us!
Yuriy