COURSE EVALUATION 

1- What did you most like about the course? 

 - I learned new websites, applications which are fun and facilitates language learning. 

2- What did you least like about the course?
 - Doing homework in ever week was difficult. 
3- How does this course contribute to your develoment as a future teacher?
 - I don't know but if I become a teacher, I will use good ones
4- What would you suggest to improve the course? What topics could be added to the syllabus, etc.?
 - I don't have an idea but surely It can be developed. 
5- What has been your favourite assignmet? Why?
 - Maybe interview assignment coz it was easy for me

6- What would be your message to the students who would take this course next year?
 - I would say just try to have fun! This is the most important part of learning. 

BUSUU

busuu is a social learning app for languages. It is available on web and via iOS and Android. Courses are available in twelve languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Polish, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese. Learners select one or more of these languages and work through the self-paced lessons, studying vocabulary and grammar, which they can then practice in spoken or written conversations with native speakers in the busuu community.

Busuu was designed to incorporate the communicative elements of social networking into self-study language learning. Through its website and mobile apps, the business offers free and premium paid-for access to courses in 12 languages.

busuu offers courses based on (CEFR) levels A1, A2, B1 and B2. The study material for each language is broken down into thematic lessons, each based around common conversational scenarios. Lessons contain vocabulary and grammar practice, pronunciation exercises, interactive quizzes and conversational practice with native speaker members of the busuu community. Learners act as both student and tutor, correcting one another's work. They can converse via asynchronous voice recording or text chat.

There are two classes of member: ordinary member, and paying premium member. Grammar content, spoken and written conversations and some features, such as offline mode and spaced repetition vocabulary training, are available only to premium members.^[5]

Uniquely, the platform encourages collaborative learning by offering users the unique opportunity to learn the language and practise their listening, writing, reading and speaking with assistance from a rapidly growing community of native speakers. In this way, every busuu user is both student of a foreign language and tutor of their own ‘mother tongue’.

Here are ss' of application

Here is a link of video which  givesiinformation about a grammar subject. 

MAKE BELIEF COMIX 

MakeBeliefsComix is for people of all ages who like to play and explore. They include, for example, those wanting a few minutes of fun; youngsters and their parents; students and teachers; business executives trying to unwind from the stress of work, and activities directors and social workers who try to help people express their deepest thoughts and feelings. My intent is that you will regard this site as a safe place where you feel empowered to create and to test new ideas and ways to communicate through art and writing.

Increasingly, teachers, educational therapists and parents who work with special needs students are finding MakeBeliefsComix.com a useful resource in helping their youngsters express themselves and communicate. To help them we have just launched a new Special Needs section which features ideas and tips sent to us by those who use the site with students who have a wide array of disabilities. We encourage you to send us your suggestions, too. We have also introduced new comic characters with physical disabilities to reflect the diversity of users, including those with special needs.

Since launching this site in late 2006, there have been over 22 million site visits to MakeBeliefsComix.com from more than 200 countries. Many of them have been educators who use the site with students to encourage writing, reading and literacy and the learning of English. In fact, Google and UNESCO selected MakeBeliefsComix as one of the world's most innovative web sites in fostering literacy and reading. Creator of this cite explains Why we should use this site like that: Dear Friend,

"I envisioned MakeBeliefsComix.com as a place for you to come to and have fun by creating your own world of comic strips. My hope is that by giving you a choice of characters with different moods and the chance to write words and thoughts for them, you will tap into your creativity and explore new possibilities. After all, there is no greater force in life than the power of the imagination to free us from our immediate problems and to spur our energies to find solutions to our befuddlements" Needless to say! It's awesome for every kind of learner.

Here is a example

Also we presented this website in classroom with my pair namely Beril.

Here is the link of her blog 

Digital storytelling is a short form of digital media production that allows everyday people to share aspects of their story. The media used may include the digital equivalent of film techniques (full-motion video with sound), stills, audio only, or any of the other forms of non-physical media (material that exists only as electronic files as opposed to actual paintings or photographs on paper, sounds stored on tape or disc, movies stored on film) which individuals can use to tell a story or present an idea.
These aspects of digital storytelling, pictures, music, and narration reinforce ideas and appeal to different learning types. Teachers can use it to introduce projects, themes, or any content area, and can also let their students make their own digital stories and then share them. Teachers can create digital stories to help facilitate class discussions, as an anticipatory set for a new topic, or to help students gain a better understanding of more abstract concepts. These stories can become an integral part of any lesson in many subject areas. Students can also create their own digital stories and the benefits that they can receive from it can be quite plentiful. Through the creation of these stories students are required to take ownership of the material they are presenting. They have to analyze and synthesize information as well. All of this supports higher level thinking. Students are able to give themselves a voice through expressing their own thoughts and ideas.
We used Moviemaker for our digital storytelling. Windows Movie Maker (formerly known as Windows Live Movie Maker in Windows 7) is a discontinued video editing software by Microsoft. It is a part of Windows Essentials software suite and offers the ability to create and edit videos as well as to publish them. 

Here is our video that is an example for Digital storytelling.
Also if you want to see my partner Beril's post, you can enter by this link

 

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary; originally RDF Site Summary; often called Really Simple Syndication) is a type of web feed which allows users to access updates to online content in a standardized, computer-readable format. These feeds can, for example, allow a user to keep track of many different websites in a single news aggregator. The news aggregator will automatically check the RSS feed for new content, allowing the content to be automatically passed from website to website or from website to user. This passing of content is called web syndication. Websites usually use RSS feeds to publish frequently updated information, such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, video. An RSS document (called "feed", "web feed", or "channel") includes full or summarized text, and metadata, like publishing date and author's name. The RSS that I use is feeder.co

 SS OF THE BLOGS THAT I FOLLOW 

THE BLOG THAT I CHOSE IS TeachingEnglish 

About the blog:


The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. They create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. They do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries They work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
They work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year They reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, through broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, They are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.
Their work in English aims to bring high-quality language materials to every learner and teacher who wants them. In developing and post-conflict countries, They teach English and train teachers through radio, web and TV broadcasts. They offer more than three million UK examinations worldwide, helping people gain access to trusted qualifications to support their career and study prospects.

Website evaluation

ELLLO

Who authored the website?

His names is Todd Beuckens, and he is the creator of elllo.org. He is an English teacher in Japan. Each week he publishes two new, free listening lessons.

What is the content of website?
It is about learning languages. There are lots of information about target language.
Who is the target audience?
This website is for people from every age. There is no restriction. Every kind of people who wants to learn language is  the target audience.

What is the purpose of the website?

The aim of the site it to make learning English fun, effective, and free and to provide teachers and students with materials that you cannot find in traditional textbooks

Is there a date that the site has last been updated?

New lessons are published each Monday.


Accuracy of the information- are they any errors?

Actually there is no information about this but Author has been teaching English for over twenty years. Also he has taught in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan. Namely he is multilingual and experienced. Maybe some times coz he is a human

Are there any broken links?

Elllo is free and author create it in his spare time because he is a full-time teacher, so the site is basic, but he tries to modernize it from time to time.


Are the images of high quality and appealing to the target audience?


He created elllo.org in 2003 as part of a MA TESOL graduate school project. Since then, elllo has published more than 2,500 free activities featuring more than 300 speakers from over 100 countries.
It seems that yes it is appealimg to the target audience

How it can be applied to EFL teaching?


Students can use the site to practice English by working on listening, reading, vocabulary and even pronunciation and speaking 

Crazy Kermit the Band

We made a song with my buddy namely Beril. I think it's kinda funny :)) but listen! Coz it is worth... I think we can put together a music band..<3 https://vocaroo.com/i/s0UnDrocbMQu


         

       

Information about CALL

A brief history of CALL

CALL's origins can be traced back to the 1960s. Up until the late 1970s CALL projects were confined mainly to universities, where computer programs were developed on large mainframe computers. The PLATO project, initiated at the University of Illinois in 1960, is an important landmark in the early development of CALL (Marty 1981). In the late 1970s, the arrival of the personal computer (PC) brought computing within the range of a wider audience, resulting in a boom in the development of CALL programs and a flurry of publications. Early CALL favoured an approach that drew heavily on practices associated with programmed instruction. This was reflected in the term Computer Assisted Language Instruction (CALI), which originated in the USA and was in common use until the early 1980s, when CALL became the dominant term. There was initially a lack of imagination and skill on the part of programmers, a situation that was rectified to a considerable extent by the publication of an influential seminal work by Higgins & Johns (1984), which contained numerous examples of alternative approaches to CALL. Throughout the 1980s CALL widened its scope, embracing the communicative approach and a range of new technologies. CALL has now established itself as an important area of researchin higher education

21st century learning

These 21st century skills  have been identified and supported by national educational and political leaders in the United States, including President Obama. In January 2016 members of the US House of Representatives created a bipartisan Congressional 21st Century Skills Caucus. The Four Cs have been adopted and implemented into the curricula of schools, school districts, and professional development programs.
The Four Cs of 21st century learning, also known as the Four Cs or 4 Cs, are four skills that have been identified by the United States-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) as the most important skills required for 21st century education: critical thinking , communication, collaboration , and creativity 

Welcoming Post

Hey guys!  My name is Hale and I am a student in Marmara University. I created this blog to bring my information and experiences to you. Sharing is such a beautiful thing! I hope you'll enjoy while learning.