The USA Science & Engineering Festival...

        I have volunteered at the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival in D.C on April 27, 2012, and it was really a wonderful opportunity for me to organize an important event like this. My job was to organize the crowd and delivered to its proper place.  I've really amazed me the cultural diversity, which I found at the festival I met people from different ages and states and countries. I LOVED to be there and see all the wonderful things. It is a great place with access to all of these spectacular organizations together in one place. My favorite one was NASA's corner. 

I had a great time there and I can't wait for the next one!!

 The USA Science & Engineering Festival logo by: here

Class Reflection...

          I am delighted to have the opportunity to take ED 554: Computers & Technology in the Classroom course. I love technology and want to merge it into my career as an ESL teacher. I think it's one of the most important factors that can help teachers today, when it is used properly.  Before the beginning of this semester, I had little knowledge about how to integrate technology into the classroom.

        This course provided me with the technological resources that I will need as a teacher. Through various assignments, I have mastered the use of technology like never before. Interaction and experience with tools such as blogs and web pages that allow me to share my ideas and projects with other people are wonderful. I think that this is very useful in conveying your message, especially in education.  In covering the create wikis groups, Google websites, blogs, digital storyboards, and Photoshop, creating SMART board activity and so on, I feel so lucky to have experienced with them. Additionally, I was also very pleased to know how to create a strong site portfolio teacher, I believe that surly will help me when will be looking for a job in the future.

         As with other classes at the university, this class has shown me how a lot of planning is required to create interesting lesson plans. Technology makes life easier in some ways, but integrating technology into the lesson plans still takes a lot of work, planning, and creativity from the teacher. Truly ED 554 class is relevant and useful because it provides a large practical experience that can be applied in the classrooms to keep the lessons dynamic and interesting—two key components to success for students.

Responding on: "PowerPoint is Evil” by E. Tufte,and NPR story

After reading  Edward Tufte's article on PowerPoint and listening NPR story, I agreed about the same issues that may occur in misusing of PowerPoint and dealing with in visual communication in general. Personally, I believe that technology is a helpful tools in may ways, and it is provide many options to how to use it effectively, furthermore, I strongly believe that the main problem is on poor presenters. A lot of people know how to use PP, but a very few people don't know how to use it . So to avoid PP's looming problems, educators or presenters should need to learn how to use PP as well as learn how to presented it in a  proper way.

This is a funny video talking about the common mistakes that people make in PowerPoint presentations.

Responding on: Moving at the Speed of Creativity Blog

  In this blog entry, Twitter – A Powerful Collaboration Tool for Teachers the author Eric Langhorst; he talks about how can the social networks contribute in education positionally epically; Twitter. 

I like this post because sometimes I used Twitter to teach and communicate in English with my friends and students in Arab world.The students loved it and received some valuable advice on the spot. This is a good way for students to interact with both the teacher and their classmates. It is also useful in the collection of ideas and the expression of how one feels about something in particular. Twitter also provides education in the real world right at one’s fingertips. It is a great tool for gathering information, and very educational. Anyone can find teachers, librarians, and more using Twitter.

Teaching English as a second language is a field in which Twitter works very well in helping students to practice language informally on a daily basis. One of the best reasons to set up a Twitter account is that it provides a means for the exchange of information in a timely manner with a real audience. I have a Twitter account because I want to share new information with others and I want to read about when the people I follow have new information to share. My Twitter network always offers many great ideas and advice, and I find that have a great deal to contribute about innovative education.

All teachers want their students to take every opportunity to learn outside the classroom, and one way to do this is to point out any interesting sites/articles that you find on the Internet. It is very useful!

Create Digital Images...

Halloween

Toy Store

Madame Tussaud Museum

The Library of Congress

Arabian Restaurant "Lebanese Taverna"

I’ve created a couple images that have rich cultural experiences to achieve ESL standards in order of understanding of how English languages should work.Basically, the main idea of those images is to make ESL students to express (speaking and writing) vocabulary and ideas correctly in English.

I chose one of interesting characters in the silver screen the volleyball “Wilson” from Tom Hanks movie’s “Cast Away” and put it in multiple places in DC. Firstly, I’d open a class discussion and the students will express their thoughts in English about: where’s Wilson? Why she’s in that place? What’s she may doing? In the image of the restaurant I’d ask students to create conversation about eating at a restaurant such as: how to order a meal for Wilson…and so on. After that, I would ask the students to write a short paragraph about any of cultural experience in U.S. that interest them by putting themselves in Wilson’s shoes.

Wilson Image's:  IMDB

Recommendation for ESL teachers& students...

       EnglishCentral is a web-site which I've always recommended to all ESL students. This site make students improving their English in fun way. EnglishCentral allow users to watch famous and popular videos, learn vocabulary, speak aloud and receive instant pronunciation feedback. 

And It's all free! 

http://www.englishcentral.com/ 

Responding on: Inquiry-Based Learning...

I think that an inquiry-based learning approach can be useful in the classroom for many reasons. I am new to this type of education as, in general, I came from a completely different educational environment and culture in which I was used to the memorization information in classes, as well as, a little interactions with the teachers. However, I can now feel how asking questions in class can be useful in gaining a better understanding anything. I think that students have a better chance to learn and keep information if they explore it through questions and discussions in their classes.

As a future ESL teacher, I want to use inquiry-based learning in my own classroom. I also want to be happy along with my students about learning and want to know why and how the learning process works. By using the English language in their daily lives, students can apply their knowledge towards thinking critically. I do not think this will be an easy work. Still, I believe that including inquiry-based learning in the quarterly classes will benefit my students for the rest of their lives.

Inquiry-based learning can help motivate ESL students by encouraging them to collaborate as they learn. ESL students can also benefit by having to communicate orally as they participate in activities with their peers. Students also need to learn to give reasonable evidence, and make a good conclusion. As teacher, I believe that when students feel good about themselves, they defiantly will do better in school. Surely this inquiry-based learning is going to help the students realize that the skills they are learning now can be applied later in the real world.