Take care

I want to say a massive thank you and congratulations to everyone for completing this course and making it such a success.   I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you through reading your blogs, skyping and meeting in SL.   I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and I hope we can stay in touch.  From your feedback I will continue to improve this course and I hope I can provide more enriching experiences with other students.  Please take some time to write a goodbye message below and complete my short survey here.    I’m very grateful that you spent the time contributing to this course.  Your continued support and participation has really helped me in the completion of my dissertation which I hope to submit by August 19^th.  If you think you might be interested in reading it then please let me know and I will e.mail you a copy.

Best of luck

Take care

Andy

Second Life Meeting

Time: 12.00 Uk, 13.00 Germany, 19.00 China

Date: Saturday 25th June 2011

Lesson Plan:

Warm up game : ’Ready, Steady, Write!’ your turn.

Main Activity –

Part 1:

Explore SL:

1. Choose a place which you have explored in SL and share it with the group.
2. As a group, We will decide which place to visit.  Think about some questions to ask other SL residents you meet on your travels.
3. You will have 10 minutes to explore the place with the other students.
4. I will tp you back when the time is up
5. Talk about your experience together.  What did you see?  Who did you speak to? Would you return?

 

Part 2- ‘Dish the Dirt’: Time to reflect on global imaginarium

This is your chance to reflect on the one month course and be honest about your experience.

            Please share your views and opinions with the group.

Cool Down: Virtual Party and goodbyes

Task four (Virtual explorer) 22nd-29th June

Blog of the week: It’s a tie!!  congratulations to both name (web address) & name (web address).  You both seem very comfortable with writing blog posts and expressing your own points of view on topical subjects.  The pictures you chose really added to your post and  I particularly liked reading your opinions on the news stories you chose.  Well done! Keep it up!

Task 2 feedback:  Well done to those students who have successfully completed task three and interacted with other students.  The meeting in Second life was a great success and your blog posts were brilliant.  Please continue to write interesting posts and make sure you show continual support and interact with each other.  Don’t forget to look at one another’s  blogs and vote for your blog of the week.  This course will be succesful if you make the effort to share your thoughts and opinions with everyone.  The weekly discussion is very important so please add your thoughts to the comment box.

You are now ready to start task four (the final task).  In this task you will become an explorer in Second Life, where you will visit a country/place you would like to visit such as virtual Paris or virtual Hamburg or some other random location, take pictures and reflect on your experiences while you were there.  What did you see? Who did you talk to? What did you talk about? Would you return?  Share your experience with the group and think about how Second Life could or has benefited your English skills.

This week I want to meet everyone in Second Life to discuss our experiences from your weeks adventures and visit some of the places you visited.  This will be our last time to meet up together as a group so I would like to finish the course by talking about what you have liked/disliked about the course and whether you would like to continue learning practising/learning English online.

Let’s get started!  Please click on the task four tab above to begin

Andy’s Tip of the Week:

As you become more comfortable with the online environment you should become more reflective and creative.  Taking more responsibility for your own learning is extremely advantageous.  Always question what the purpose of an activity is and think about how you are benefiting from the experience.

Best of luck and see you ‘in-world’

Andy

One – One Meeting times(UK time): See you in-world or on Skype

These are the same times as last week.

This one-one meeting is optional. However,  I will be available if you want to chat.

If you can’t make these times, but want the one-one, please e.mail me ASAP  to arrange another time.

Group meeting time : Second Life

If you CAN’T make this meeting, please send an email to andywebster79@gmail.com cheers! 

UK (BST): From 12pm – 1.30pm

China (CST): From 7pm – 8.30pm

Germany (CET): From 1pm – 2.30pm

Meeting in Second Life

Second Life Group Meeting

Time: 12.00 Uk, 13.00 Germany, 19.00 China

Date: Saturday 17th June 2011 (Tomorrow)

We will engage in discussion on the following topic:    The News (current)

To prepare, please make some notes about your thoughts on a news story that has caught your attention recently.

Then, during discussion, share your opinions with the group.

Lesson Plan:

Warm up game : ‘Ready, Steady, Write!’

Main Activity –

Part 1:

Personal Headlines:

1. Think of a headline which summarises/exaggerates a recent event in your life.
2. ex. Bad internet connection ruins my week.
3. Each student takes a turn to ask a question about the headline.
4. Whose headline did you enjoy the most?

Part 2-

Part 2- Talking about the news(Expand on task 3)

1. Think about an important news story which interests you and give your opinion about it.
2. remember to ask questions it’s not a presentation, it’s a discussion. Your views are equally important.

Cool Down game: ‘Taboo’

Task 3: It’s all in the News (Learn from each other) 15th – 22nd June

Blog of the week: Congratulations name (web address) .  Thanks for  sharing an interesting blog with us.  Your post was a fascinating read and very inspiring.

Task 2 feedback:  Well done to those students who have successfully completed task two and interacted with other students.  I’m very impressed with your latest blog posts and it was wonderful meeting you all in Second Life.  Please continue to write interesting blog posts and make sure you continually  support and interact with each other.  Don’t forget to look at one another’s  blogs and vote for your blog of the week.  This course will be succesful if you make the effort to share your thoughts and opinions with everyone.  The weekly discussion is very important so please add your thoughts to the comment box.

You are now ready to start task three.  In this task you are required to become a news journalist, which simply means to  investigate a current news story that interests  you and then share it with the group, in your own blog.

Also, this week we will all meet  in Second Life(Saturday 18th) to discuss our news stories which should be great fun.

Let’s get started!  Please click on the task three tab above, to start the task.

Andy’s Tip of the Week:

Talking about the news is a great way to start a conversation.  Sharing your own opinion about a story can be helpful for yourself and others.  This week you should look at other Students blogs to learn about news they are interested in and write your thoughts about their story.  Sharing your thoughts on the same topic will help us to develop knowledge together.

Best of luck and see you ‘in-world’

Andy

Meeting times(UK time): See you in-world or on Skype

These are the same times as last week.

This one-one meeting is optional. However,  I will be available if you want to chat.

If you can’t make these times, but want the one-one, please e.mail me ASAP  to arrange another time.

Task 2 (Let’s Share) : 8th – 14th June

Well done on the last task, I’m really impressed with your efforts so far! you are now ready to start task two.  In this task you are required to find a blog/website which interests you and then share it with the group in your own blog.

Blog of the week: Congratulations name (web address) .  Your blog was fantastic and really reflective and insightful.

Task 1 feedback:  Well done to those students who have made their blog and interacted with other students.  I’m delighted with the amount of interaction and support given. Please continue to write interesting blog posts and make sure you continually  support and interact with each other.  Don’t forget to look at each others blogs and vote for your blog of the week.  This course will be succesful if you make the effort to share your thoughts and opinions with others.  The weekly discussion is very important so please add your thoughts to the comment box.

I have one suggestion; perhaps you could upload a picture of yourself or a picture that represents you.  See my blog as an example 🙂

This week I will meet you in Second Life which should be great fun.

Let’s get started!  Please click on the task two tab above, to start the task.

Andy’s Tip of the Week:

When  looking for a website/blog, think about how you can benefit from it and why you think it would be useful to share with other people.  Sharing useful, interesting or even bizarre  information can provide a spark to begin a conversation with others.

Best of luck and see you ‘in-world’  (a term commonly used by second life residents when entering the virtual word of Second Life)

Andy

Meeting times(UK time): See you in-world

These are the same times as last week.

If you can’t make these times then please e.mail me ASAP  to arrange another time.

Task 1 (Lets connect): 1st – 7th June

Welcome everyone! It’s now time to start task one.  In this task you are required to make your first English blog.  Blogs are great for practising writing and sharing your thoughts with everyone.  Additionally, many blogs are really interesting to read and they keep you up-to-date with current affairs. Conversations are started by showing an interest  with other bloggers by writing comments on their blog posts.  Let’s get started!  Please click on the tab above to start the task.

Andy’s Tip of the Week:

When writing a comment try to keep it brief and friendly (one or two sentences are fine).  Asking questions keeps the conversation flowing.

Best of luck

Andy

Meeting times(UK time): See you on skype

I used the information you gave me on the doodle to make sure you were available.

If you can’t make these times then please e.mail me ASAP  to arrange another time.

    

Welcome

Hi everyone, welcome to the ‘Global Imaginarium’.  It’s great to have you on board.  Please introduce yourself in the comments box below and let me know how you are feeling about starting this online course, i.e., What are you expectations? and how do you think it can benefit you?

Andy’s Tip:

Sharing your thoughts is very important as it helps you to express yourself and encourages others to develop and share their thoughts too.  Please don’t worry about mistakes.  We are all here to help each other.

For more information please click on the tabs above to see the course content and netiquette. Also, please make sure that you subscribe to this blog to receive any updates (You can do this by clicking on the button sign me up found on the right hand side of this page).

This is going to be an exciting and fun course which I’m sure you will enjoy.

All the best,

Andy