MY PLE- Personal Learning Environment-

Dear Friends,
This week we have been asked to create our PLE. It is a mindmap in which we have to write down all the sources that have improved our knowledge during our lives. My PLE just deals with my English learning process because I thought that general learning was too difficult to include. Indeed one never finishes to learn and there is such a great amount of sources that you cannot enclose them in a paper.

I divided my mindmap into two different groups: FORMAL and INFORMAL.

I started by working with the first one. I was sure there could not be many elements to write down because if you think about formal learning what comes to your mind are teachers, school and university. But, as long as I was developing this part of the paper ,I realised that there was a lot more to add. So I decided that the informal learning group should contain three minor groups: people, places and tools. I'm not going to write you everything I included in my PLE because I believe that most of the elements I cited are cotained in your tables as well. What I want to tell you is that I was really surprised by the fact that the more I was writing the more I wanted to add.
The group that made me realised my biggest changes was the one called tools. It is made up of other sub-groups and one of them is dedicated to the online world. Wow! I had never realised there are so many things in the net that have helped me with my English learning process! it is unbelievable the number of sites and applications I wrote in my list! Most of them come from our experience in this English course thus making me understand how much my "life" has changed in the last months!

The Informal group was the one that caused me the biggest problems. Each of us knows that everyday we learn something from the people we meet, the places we see and the actions we carry out. Therefore it is more difficult to list them all. And again, once I started writing some ideas on my paper, many others were ready to be included. There are so many places and people that can be useful for you to learn a different language. You may or may not agree with me but I also included discos among the places in which you can learn! I believe that meeting foreign people and talk to them is one of the best ways to learn a different language. Tools are a subgroup of informal learning too. Internet, telephone, television music and many others are major sources of teaching and learning.

I found that the idea of making us create a PLE sounded a bit strange at the beginning. Now I can understand how stimulating and useful it may be to sit down and reflect on the possibilties we have to improve our knowledge.
Everyday we should learn as much as we can from what is around us!

Alida

Image from flickr

...SOMETHING ABOUT WIKI 2...

Everybody surfing the net could come and read what we had written but they could never leave a comment or other information. When i first entered Edutech, I understood that it was completely different. Indeed this is a wiki created by the University of Geneva. It deals with Educational Technology and it is useful both for teachers and students. This wiki has little to do with the one we created, indeed everybody can come here and edit the numerous pages it contains. Obviously there are some rules to follow and that's why Sarah made us read them before starting to do anything. We all had to choose a page to edit and improve its content with new information. Alexandra and I chose to edit the News feed Aggregator page. We thought it may be interesting because feed aggregators is one of the topics we have experienced throughout this year.
Wow..it was not such an easy work..you have to take into consideration many things: the rules, the fact that aybody can read it and that here is a webmaster that may decide not to accept what you have written. In addition I feel a bit responsible because I did not want a student to get confused about this subject just because I had written mock information on the page.
By now I can say that "our" page has improved since the first time we had a look at it. It seems to me as if it looks better and more interesting.

By the end of this course I've understood that collaborative works and experiences are something useful and positive. There is nothing wrong in giving your help to someone who needs it!

Alida

...SOMETHING ABOUT WIKI 1...

Before starting this course I had never heard about wiki, and now, I can even state that I've used more than one type! This is amazing!

During last semester we developed a wiki called Tulanepadovawiki. I found it extremely interesting for several reasons. First of all it was our "bridge" to the U.S. students in New Orleans. I must thank our professor for giving us the opportunity to keep in touch with people so far from our country but so willing to share with us their thoughts and ideas.
Moreover I liked our activity on the wiki exactly because it was something I had never seen before. The fact that you can create a page in which many other people can leave additional information, was something completely new to me. At the beginning I did not feel very comfortable to go into my colleagues' works and edit what they had written so far. It seemed to me as if I had no right to go there and change what they had considered worth writing. At the same time when I opened my page and saw that someone else had decided what was good or not, made me a bit disappointed. As time passed by I started appreciating the fact that my friends' interventions could be seen as something positive; something that could improve my work instead of making it worse. This new approach made me face all the activities on the wiki with a new mood. Editing the others' pages became something that could help them and make their works easier. I remember exactly when I edited Viola's page about the Latin Dances! I spent some time in thinking how I could add something nice and original that she could appreciate as well and...eureka!...I started searching for audio files that might be suitable and finally I added them on the page. (I found some good ones on ODEO).
I believe that the initial efforts were due to a cultural question. We, italians, believe that we do not need anybody's help when we do something. The reason is that we do not want to share our victory with the others......Maybe these are just stereotypes but the truth is that we have never been taught to take an advantage from collective writing or other types of collaboration during our school career. That is why it took us some time to appreciate this kind of activity.

But additional troubles were still to come! If I had thought that giving a contribution in that wiki would have been difficult, I hadn't come across the Edutechwiki yet!
In "our" wiki we were the only ones who could edit and create pages.

Photos from Flickr

REFLECTIONS ON YOU TUBE + a shocking political video

Dear all,

Yesterday I was reading my father's favourite magazine and I came across a little article about this video. So I decided to search for it on You Tube and what I found was really shocking!

Please take a look at it and let me know what you think. I believe that it was created by one of Barack Obama's supporters. The video shows a scaring ad against Hillary Clinton. They show her as a crazy oppressor while talking in front of an audience made up of slaves. You get the impression you are watching either one of those scaring movies about future dictatorship or about concentration camps. What is even more shocking is that they used a speech she really told in front of the U.S. people in 1984 but the images are so strong that you won't be able to say anything by the end of it.

I can understand that there is a political competition between the two candidates but I think that this video is a bit too excessive. I really can't understand why the author has been so cruel also taking into consideration that they are part of the same political party.

There is nothing else I can say about it but I'm waiting for your comments.. Especially Sarah's one! I'm looking forward to reading and understanding how an American person feels in front this video!

I had never entered youtube.com before Tuesday morning though I had heard a lot about it.

Wow! It is terrific! You can find videos dealing with everything. I wrote words in different languages on the "search box" and it always found videos that corresponded to my tags from all over the planet!

The videos may be funny, unbelieveble, shocking and dangerous as well. I bet you have heard about those videos recorded by teenagers while they are in class..This is one of the sites in which they put all their "garbage" that can be easily reached by the others. I'm afraid that the more young people watch these videos the more they emulate one another thus doing stupid things again and again.

In addition I think that youtube is very interesting because you can share your personal experiences with people from all over the world. As always, I do apprecite the fact that you can leave a comment so you can get in touch with people without being just captive audience.

You can choose to create a "closed" group and invite just a limited number of people. This is useful for all those who live far from their families and friends because they can continue sharing their lives with them.

Youtube is an interesting educational tool as well. You can find videos dealing with educational subjects that may help you with what you are learning. Students of languages may find everything they want to improve their linguistic skills because nothing is more effective than listening to oral speeches.

What I liked most of this site is the presence of funny videos. Sometimes I found myself wondering how it is possible that people are so crazy!

Once again I must say that this week e-tivity has been useful and interesting...perhaps this time it was a bit funnier than last weeks..

I'm really waiting for reading your comments on the video because it really shocked me.

Have a nice weekend and Happy Easter to all of you!

yours Alida

You tube. GF

Dear Friends,

I had never entered youtube before yesterday and I found it terrific!

I have chosen this video because it makes me laugh so much so that I always have stomachache!

This video was taken from the Italian Big Brother (4th edition) starring Patrick and Katia. They were two characters into the house and were followed by cameras 24 hours per day.

please take a look and laugh!

I'll be adding something else to make you feel happy again!

Hughs!

Alida

WEB FEEDS

Dear Friends,
today I want to talk to you about feed aggregators. They're very useful tools that allow you to reach all the pieces of information you need on the Web. One of the best feed aggregators you can find on line is called Bloglines.
On the Bloglines site, you can sign up and create a personal page. Here you can put a list of sites of your interest. Bloglines will show you their contents every time they are updated by opening a little window on your screen in which you can find what you haven't read yet.
What is really interesting is that you can create some playlists where you can include all the sites sorted by topics. Instead of looking at a long list of feeds and getting confused by them, you simply choose which topic interests you in that precise moment and you will get just what you are searching for. On my Bloglines page, you can find three different playlists:

1. The first one is called NEWS. It contains three links: to the BBC site, the Bloglines News and Libero.This site offers you the opportunity to get informed of any subject but I chose to get updates about Cinema. I decided to be informed on movies and actors because it was the topic that interested me more than all the others they offer.
2. The second one, named del.icio.us, allows me to see if someone has added new sites to my network. Therefore it will be easier for me to get information about the topics I'm interested in.
3. Last but not least: bloggingenglish. I chose to get feeds not only from the first page, but from my friends' blogs as well. So I don't have to open their pages everytime I need to know if they've added something new.

Unfortunately there are still some sites which don't have feed links so you cannot add them to your list. By the way I consider feed aggregators extremely useful. They provide another way to exploit the net without getting lost in it and wasting time while doing a search.


I must admit that I really appreciate our English course because I'm learning many new things that will help me in my future. Do you agree with me??

So girls..have a nice week end!
Alida

Photo from flickr

Social Bookmarking

Picture from flickr

Dear friends,

here I am again!

Today we are going to talk about bookmarks!

I've been asked to comment one of the bookmarks you chose on del.icio.us...here you are my feedbacks:

1. Alessandra P.: After reading your notes on the sites I decided that the one called English for business... was worth reading. Indeed it was very interesting! I also think that I'll take it into consideration in the future because there are so many useful suggestions that I'll surely use! Therefore thank you for this site!



2. Viola: Among the sites you suggested the one that struck my attention was Sound intelligent.... I liked it because it gave many interesting suggestions about how to behave in front of the others. I appreciated also its layout and the fact that it was written in a clear way.



3. Ilaria83: I read the site called Glossary of linguistics terms and I considered it extremely useful. Indeed, as we are attending an English linguistic course, it may happen that we come across with something we don't know. This site provides all the answer we need. Good job!



4. Shoun (Tania): Dear tania, you chose many original and interesting sites. Anyhow the one I liked most was Common Errors in English. The fact that they give you explanations on the mistakes one makes rather frequently is very amazing. I'm sure it is going to be useful in my next English activities. Thank you!


5. Elenabiro: Dear Elena, I chose Writing and Presenting a Thesis among your sites. I decided to read it because it is time for me to be interested in that topic! I found this site very interesting and well done. Unfortunately it was also a bit scaring because I know I should follow those suggestions to write my own thesis. But there are thousands of them!!! Anyway..nice choice!


6. Alexandra: American English vs British was the site I appreciated most. It is really very funny and it is nice to see how an American person perceive English people and their language. I think that it is always interesting to notice how different cultures can be perceived from the others.



7. Martina: The Online Etymology Dictionary caught my attention more than all the others you cited. I had never thought that this kind of research could be interesting but it is. You can learn a lot by knowing the origin of a word.


8. Susi: My favourite site was Internet Article Writing. By looking at this site you can realize how the world has changed! Once you could not even think about an article that differed from a journalistic one. But now everything is different. If you read what the author wrote in this site you'll understand that the internet has changed our lives. It sounds unbelievable!


9. Aleteso: I chose Word Spy among your sites. I decided that tis was worth reading because it was a bit different from all the others. Indeed it was. I found extremely interesting the idea the author had. In fact it often happens that you come across with new words while reading a newspaper. As we are supposed to be advanced learners, we should read English press and this site may be an useful tool.


10. Erica Buzz: What I found interesting was Blog Rules. I decided that it was worth reading because blogging is what we are doing now. Many of the author's suggestions coincide with what we wrote about the blogging etiquette but there is much more to learn!


11. Erica Berg: About: Job Searching is really very useful! I want to thank you because I'll surely use it in the future. Indeed I wish I could work abroad and this site offers a lot of CV samples. Good job!
    

Unfortunately I haven't find Imma's bookmarks yet. Therefore I did not write anything about her. I'm ready to add my comments on her site as soon as she puts them on the net.

Girls, some of the sites you suggested are extremely useful. Thank you so much!

Have a nice week! Don't forget that you are free to add your comments!

Alida

STUDIO 54

After having surfed the blogsphere during the last two weeks I've started appreciating this innovative communicative tool. Blogs can eihter be personal or about some precise topic, nobody can tell you what to write.
A blog is your space in the online world.
What I consider amazing is the fact that everybody can come to your blog and leave a message writing his/her opinions about it.
I'm going to add some photos and links in order to relate my space with what is out there , so people won't get bored just by my personal thoughts.
I think that surfing the blogsphere is very useful for students because they can come across colloquial English. In fact knowing grammar perfectly won't be enough when you are trying to communicate with foreign people.
So I hope that many of you are going to leave a comment or a message and I'll be glad to answer!
Feel free to write me anything you want (but don't forget about the blogging etiquette!)
Enjoy your trip into my music!!


Honestly I'm feeling rather sad these days but I don't want to start my blog with something depressing because I don't want everybody to run away from it. That's why I chose to talk to you about my favourite music: DISCO MUSIC FROM THE 1970s.
That's why I'd like to write something about a disco, which can be probably considered the temple of this kind of music. Its name is STUDIO 54. It was located in New York and became the most important place for all those who wanted to enjoy real fun!

STUDIO 54 was said to be the disco everybody talked about!

I hope that you have already heard something about it but if you haven't, click immediately on the following link. You are going to find everything about its history and what used to happen there.

I've always loved disco music and when I first watched the movie about this place I literally got crazy! The movie, starring Neve Campbell, is called exactly STUDIO 54. it deals with the life of a young and beautiful boy who leaves his hometown in order to make a fortune in NY. He starts working in that disco and what happens to him is something amazing, unbelievable and sometimes a little too odd. I think that you'll appreciate this movie just if you are as crazy as I am.
Two months ago I succeded in getting the STUDIO 54 SOUNDTRACK. If you like disco music it will drive you crazy. It contains some of the most popular songs of that period and many fantastic others. Here you are some of the titles:

1. You make me feel
2. Dance Dance Dance
3. Don't Leave Me This Way
4. Fly Robin Fly

and many others..

What is really incredible is that I've just received an invitation to a STUDIO 54 party on Friday night. Do you believe it???

I hope I have been able to arouse your curiosity with this post.
Go to the site, read the information and the interviews. Then listen to the songs and you'll be rushed into the 1970s!

By the way I hope that my personal situation is going to improve otherwise I think that the next time I'll write here won't be as funny as today.
So wish me good luck!
Hugs!
Alida

(photo from flickr)