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Participants

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 1 month ago


 

Dennis Oliver

 

Happy 2007!I'm Dennis Oliver and am posting from Phoenix, Arizona. For the past six years, I've taught ESL and developmental English at a community college. In the 20 years or so before that, I did a lot of things: taught pre-university students and did administrative work at a university IEP, taught secondary-school students in a now-defunct private boarding school, served as an editor and writer while I worked for and with a well-known ESL/EFL materials developer, and taught, did teacher training and curriculum development work, and served as a textbook editor for a chain of proprietary ESL/EFL schools. I'm really happy to be part of this group for at least three reasons: because I'm familiar with the work of our moderators and am impressed by it, because I'm eager to gain more insight into CMC through blogging, and because I have a feeling that all of us will learn a great deal from each other. I'm greatly looking forward to our time together!

 


 

Nina Liakos

 

My name is Nina Liakos and I live in Maryland, outside of Washington DC. I am married (my husband is from Greece) and have one daughter, 14 years old. I have taught ESL at the University of Maryland's English institute since 1981. I took Becoming a Webhead in EVO 2007 and became very interested in blogging at that time. I have since used blogs in 2 classes and a summer program and I have several different blogs on different hosts (wordpress, blogger, multiply...) because I like experimenting with different types of blogs. Even though I am not exactly a beginner at blogging, I think that I can learn more from Carla and her team in this course! I am looking forward very much to working with all of you!

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Carla Raguseo

 

/> My name's Carla Raguseo. I'm an EFL teacher and Computer Lab coordinator at A.R.I.C.A.N.A., a Binational Center in Rosario, Argentina.I've been using blogs for different purposes with my classes for a year now, but I still need to enhance my skills especially regarding template personalization and the use of RSS. These are some of the blogs I've created for my classes:www.carla2006.learnerblogs.org, www.intensive6.edublogs.org, www.6thyear.edublogs.org.

However, the most exciting possibility is to carry out online exchanges between groups of students in different countries. Have a look at the one we coordinated with Carla Arena between Adol. courses at Casa Thomas Jefferson - CTJ in Brazil and my school in Argentina: www.brazilargentina1.edublogs.org.

One of my greatest challenges in 2006 was to create a website for the group of South American teachers with whom I traveled to Texas on a scholarship for EFL teachers. I've embedded a couple of blogs in the website to allow for asynchronous communication with the group and with the new groups of teachers that have traveled ever since. Please feel free to check it out:www.asi2006.com.ar and make any comments or suggestions. There's still a lot of room for improvement!

I'd like to thank Gladys, Claudia, Carla, Erika and Silvana for this wonderful initiative.Look forward to learning and collaborating with you all!

 


Ana Maria Poblete

 

Hi! my name is Ana Maria Poblete, I'm from Lima, Perú. I'm an English Teacher and I'm finishing a Master's Degree en TEFL. I teach primary and high-school students. I'm married and have two sons one is 24 and the other is 22. I am also a ballet dancer , I have been dancing almost all my life and I'm currently member of the CNDP (Consejo Nacional de Danza-Perú). I'm interested in using new technologies to help teaching English. I'm glad to be part of this group, I 'm sure everyone is going to have a good time learning about Blogs. Last year I enroled in EVO's Webquests for beginners and we really had fun learning how to use this tool to enhance our teaching.

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Susan Burg

 

No picture yet This is Susan from Florence, Italy. I have been involved in a variety of these wonderful sessions since 2002 and am happy to participate again this year. I am a CALL ESL teacher at the University of Florence as well as a few other schools.

 


 

Barbara Paz

 

Hello! I'm Barbara Tous Paz and I'm from Bahía Blanca, Argentina. I'm 28 years old and I worked as an English teacher in Peru for 4 years. I want to learn more about teaching English and about blogs.

 


 

Isabel Teixeira

 

My name is Isabel. I´m from Brasilia, Brazil. I teach English in a public language center.I know a little about blogs and have used them with some classes, but I feel I have much more to learn about them.I hope I can learn much more with you.

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José Antônio

 

My name is Jose Antonio. I am an EFL teacherr in Brasilia, Brazil. I am joining this group to learn a little more about blogging and share what I know with this group. I am looking forward to start our sessions. This is the second time I take part in an EVO session. I waas at the session called ICT in ELT in January of last year and I really learned a lot.

 


 

Jean-Marc

 

No picture yet Hello, everyone! My name's Jean-Marc Lesert. I'm French. I teach English here in the North of France to kids between 11 and 16. I'm 48. I've never used blogs but I feel they might be useful to our teaching so I'm looking forward to these sessions.I found out about you thanks to another English teacher on a mailing list for teachers of English here in France. I feel blogging could be a good means to motivate my students and make them work differently to improve their English. I also would like to share with other teachers .

 


 

Ganga

 

No picture yet This is Ganga from Nepal. Waiting to share experience with friends around the globe through this site. I teach English in Nepal. I am a teacher trainer/educator.

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Nina Lyulkun

 

I came from the Far East of Russia, but have been living in another side of the former USSR - Ukraine - all my adult life. I teach English for students majoring in economics at National University in Khmelnitskiy city. Since 1998 (when the Internet access became available at our university) I have been involved into many different international projects. I am interested in blogging very much. We offer our students online courses created in Moodle platform for their autonomous learning. It also includes blog and wiki.I have a hope to enrich my knowledge outfit with new latest online technologies, and blogging and implement them to my classes. I have a great hope to collaborate with you and your classes in the future.

 


 

Sasa Sirk

 

Hi, I'm Sasa Sirk, I teach English at Vocational College for Informatics in Nova Gorica, Slovenia and I'm looking forward to exploring blogosphere with you - I'm sure we'll have a great time.

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Elena Vyushkina

 

Hello, everybody. My name is Elena Vyushkina. My friends call me Lena or Elena. I hope that we'll become friends very soon.I live in Saratov, Russia. It's a big city (its population is about 1 million)on the right bank of the Volga river in the central European part of Russia. I was born here. I am an associate professor at the Department of English Language and Cross-cultural Communication of Saratov State Law Academy. My degree is called "Kandidat of Pedagogy" (to my mind it is closer to PhD than to Master. It usually takes three years to submit a thesis and get a degree). A foreign language (most of the students choose English) is a required subject in any higher education curriculum so all our first- and second-year students (17-20, very few of them are older) have 4 hours of English per week. We teach general English with elements of legal English. Also I teach Legal English for the third-year students who study for an additional degree "Translator in the Sphere of Professional Communication". I have a group of students by correspondence as well (they are from 17 to … ). This academic year we've started an experiment of introducing some distance education methods in English course for students by correspondence. I'm very excited to take part in an EVO workshop for the first time! I'm sure it won't be the last time :! I also joined ESP potpourri. I hope I'll manage to do both. I'm married. I've got two sons - Peter (16) and Fedor (10). They are schoolboys. I'm fond of sports in its modern form - fitness. And I still remember how to ski (I went into cross-country skiing when I was a student) and sometimes take part in local competitions. The awful thing is that Russian winter is somewhere else, not here, this year. "A terrible secret" - my first degree was in Physics :. I taught physics at school (for a while), took part in Russia Teacher Assistant Program in 1995 and worked as a TA at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of University of Wyoming.

A foreign language (most of the students choose English) is a required subject in any higher education curriculum even for students by correspondence. This academic year we've started an experiment of introducing some distance education methods in English course for students by correspondence. I haven't used blogs or wikis for this course and I hope that after B4B I'll be able to include these "teaching techniques" in my course. I hope that our cooperative work will enrich our teaching experience.

 


 

Galina Romantsova

 

Hello, everybody! My name is Galina Romantsova and I'm a Fulbright scholar from Russia. I'm doing my research at Oregon State University. I'm looking forward to this workshop!

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Loretta

 

No picture yet Hello, everyone! My name is Loretta and I`ve been teaching English here for about 8 years. I`m originally from California. I`m interested in teaching online and blogging would be a good stepping stone for me and my students. I`ve never really blogged before. I have seen that you can create your own blob in Yahoo but I haven`t really done much. I`m looking forward to learning how to use blogging to teach English!

 


 

Mônica

 

Hi everyone! Feliz Ano Novo! My name is Mônica (Yahoo ID mveado) and I've been teaching English to advanced students in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for over 15 years. Right now I'm also working on my master's dissertation, and my project investigates collaborative writing processes using different internet tools (blogs, wikis, etc). I'm sure this workshop will be a great opportunity to exchange ideas with teachers/bloggers from all over the world and learn more about our own experiences using web resources.

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Sônia Triana

 

/> Hello, everybody.I'm Sonia Triana, posting from Bogotá, Colombia, South America.I have a B.A. in Education and Modern Languages. I've been an EFL teacher at university level for 30 years but I feel that time went so fast. My interest in Technology goes back to 1997 when I got a Specialization in Multimedia. From that time "I've been in love with technology". It has been a long and lonely journey but I never gave up. Last year, I found EVO online and it was fantastic! I joined Webpresence, Moodle for webheads, and Oral skills& technology. There were some many new things, groups, tools, accounts that I felt confused but… that feeling is part of learning and changing. And I learned a lot! From that experience I developed a special interest in online communities and carried out a project with a group of pre-school and primary teachers who were beginners in English and scared of technology. Although that was a huge challenge, it has been one of the most rewarding of my life. Blogging for beginners is the opportunity to learn everything about blogs and about their pedagogical uses. In EVO2007 I also joined Digital Gaming and Learning. Good luck to the moderators and I hope to learn and have fun in this group! Saludos desde Bogotá.

 


 

Alfia Mironova

 

Hello! I am Alfia. I feel very reserved, though I know that everybody is so friendly. I am a teacher of English from Russia. I teach at a specialized school on all levels: elementary, intermediate, upper-intermediate. I got interested in webtools last year at Baw06. I didn't learn much as I was very new to computers and had some technical difficulties. I'm sure that will be different this year. I want to use blogs in my teaching. Blogs are really very powerful. They are the tools of the future for presenting information, for giving assignments, for receiving students´ papers.And I'm sure there's much to learn at the courses, and now I'm more skilled in the work with computers: taking part in chats, forums, communicating with a messenger. That's why I want to be in your group very much. I want to greet our moderators - they are so charming and professional. I wish good luck to everybody! I'm confident that everybody will advance very much in learning and teaching. I hope to work together online soon.

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Gutierrez David

 

No picture yet My name's Gutierrez David. I'm a 23 year-old English teacher from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I teach teenagers as well as adults. I'm currently working for a well-known English Language institute in the southern area of Buenos Aires and, in downtown, I teach Business English. As to the levels I'm in charge of, they are from elementary to intermediate. I've always found using tehcnology in the classroom very interesting...and time-saving! and I've just realized that the more I learn, the more I wanna know.I have a medium dog called "Peke" and at the time being I'm looking after my best friend's dog so Peke is a bit jealous. I love listening to music and attending live music events! I also enjoy going to the theatre or cinema as well as having dinner out with friends. This is the first time I join an EVO session and I truly hope to become familiar with the usage of blogs for the EL classroom. I've already had a go at it on my own but I gotta admit it wasn't good at all!

 


 

Hala

 

Salaam everyone. I am an English teacher at the University of Technology and Science, Khartoum ,Sudan. I teach ESP /EAP for freshman students. I am interested in blended leaning in teaching writing and study skills. I joined LwC (Learning with Computers) last year, but couldn't be more active than a tortoise in completing tasks, but hopefuly this year I will be much faster, let's say a rabbit!!! I have to add other features (a long with the rabbit's ), as I am involved in another two sessions( a monkey maybe?),but I will do my best not let this great team leave me without getting the utmost benefit from them about blogs and using them in EFL classroom.Thank for the great team who provide constant help even after the sessions ends.

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Dulce Casarin

 

My name is Dulce P. Casarin. I'm from Curitiba, Paraná - Brazil. I work for the Secretariat of Education in the State of Paraná mainly as a pedagogical advisor. This is the first time I join an EVO session and I hope to become familiar with " blogs " for the EFL classrooms. I am looking forward to this workshop.

 


 

Maite Martinez

 

I am an EFL teacher wishing to learn as many communicative resources that help my students have a real contact with target language as much as a non-stereotyped culture acquisition. I think computers are so motivating to them...however I am completely overwhelmed by all this so I hope to get things little by little and get to know most of you as this course goes along. By the way I am spanish, from Barcelona, however living in Alcalá and I am a mummy of two wonderful girls and an angel. Wish you all most success and enjoyment!

 


 

Marsha

 

Hello, Everyone. It's exciting to see all your messages and meet so many colleagues from all over! I'm Marsha Sprague, and like Nina Liakos, have been at the Maryland English Institute, University of Maryland for many years. In fact, Nina has been a great motivator for me to join this group (Thanks, Nina!).I'm looking forward to learning a lot, getting to know you all, and becoming confident in blogging. Thank you to our moderators,who have already done so much to make this possible.

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Paul Beaufait

 

/> Thank you, Gladys et al., for creating this opportunity for educators from around the world to take part in an Electronic Village Online session for novice bloggers. Here in southern Japan, I teach English as a foreign language (EFL) to first and second year university students. I also coordinate in-service teacher development activities mainly for secondary school EFL teachers. Next April, I will begin using blogs with second year writing classes. I am most interested in finding ways to avoid overwhelming learner participants with numerous tasks, new tools, and time-demanding activities during the first few days or weeks of blended (off- and online) courses. For learner participants' sake, I want to facilitate and streamline blended learning opportunities so learners can concentrate on language learning and communication (January 15, 2007; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloggingforbeginners/message/46). The photo to the left is part of the vegetation in my office. Though the color balance was probably off in the camera that I used to take the picture back in '05 (2005, that is), I like the greenery. Like an even older plant here, that one has been chopped back to revitalize it. Looking at it occasionally gives me a peaceful feeling as I work long hours in the glare of flourescent lights and multiple computer screens (January 23, 2007).

 


 

Inez Woortmann

 

I'm Inez from Brasília, Brazil. I Have been working as an EFL teacher for more than 15 years. Currently working for a bi-national center called Casa Thomas Jefferson, here in Brasília. The same school where José Antônio, and one of our tutors, Erika, work at. At the school, I have been dealing with teens and adults, on general English, conversation and exam preparation courses for TOEFL and Michigan. I am also an IELTS examiner/trainer for the British Council and work as a private language teacher with Business English and IELTS preparation for adults.

I am trying to get through an MA at the Univ. of Brasília. My area of interest is Writing.

This is my second EVO online course. I first started last year with a course on Mentoring, also an area I have an interest in. Am really glad to be joining such a far-reaching group of professionals. Hope to learn a lot from and with you all!

I learnt about the course through Carla Arena, the person responsible for our site and a tutor/moderator on the course. I would like to learn more about blogging because I want to use blogs with my Sts. I already make use of e-mail to communicate with them extra-class: clarify doubts, receive and give feedback on compositions, direct them to interesting sites and online dictionaries,etc. This has enhanced rapport and allowed me to give more personalised feedback. However, it's on an individual basis. I would very much like to be able to do this in a collaborative, collective environment, which I believe blogging allows for. I do know something about blogging. I attended the 1st Brazil Hornby Summer School 2006 and was fortunate to have Barbara Dieu as a tutor on the course. However, I have only made very tentative use of what I leanrt and confess I have forgotten some as well. This would be a refresher course for me and would enable me to finally make effective use of blogging as an online teaching environment/tool.

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Sesilia Rani

 

I knew about this On line courses from Heather Linville, a fellow from RELO. I am interested about this on line courses because they provide so many new things for me. Blogging for beginners seem a new topic for me and I woyld like to know more about this. Furthermore, I am interested in Podcast. Blogging and Podcast can be a great advantage in teaching listening since I am administering listening at the moment.I am teaching Listening at the English Department of UI, which is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. I'd like to learn more about blogging and I intend to implement that in the classroom. It's nice learning with all of you.

 


 

Jenni Denman

 

  I found out about the group via an e-mail to members of the English Teaching online group here in the Netherlands. I'm very keen on setting up at least one blog at each of the two schools where I work as an English as a Foreign Language teacher - one is a teacher training school, and the other is a lower/upper secondary school.

 


 

Beyza Yilmaz

 

I'm Beyza from Turkey. I'm 24 and I'm an instructor of English at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.I've been teaching for two years at Bahcesehir University I have taught English for 3 years.I've taught reading ,writing and ESP to many different levels of students. I'm very interested in using technology in ELT and learner autonomy.I look forward to sharing ideas and learning how to use blogging to teach English.

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Ana Maria Rozzi

 

My name is Ana María Rozzi de Bergel and I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am an English Teacher, a "Licenciada" in Education Management and I hold a Master's Degree (Magister, in our country) in Education Management. I teach Materials Design, lecture and write books and articles. I also teach Literature and Language to AICE level at a secondary school.

I have been married for thirty-six years, I have two daughters, a son-in-law and a grandson who is just seven weeks old! I love theatre and technology. As I am as old as the hills, computer technology came to me as a second youth, and I am glad I was blessed with the best of the book culture and the opportunity to participate in the birth of a new culture.

I was an actress, director and régisseur and from time to time, when my friends ask me, I still perform in theatre plays - but I refuse to direct. Theatre and teaching go together and I have always explored the field of Applied Drama for ELT. It's fun, it's productive and fascinating.

I coordinate the Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés at Universidad CAECE.I am a member of the Distance Education Team at CAECE, that's why I want to explore all possible web-based educational resources.

 


 

Carolina Isla

 

No picture yet I'm Carol from Argentina and this my first time at an EVO session.I am an Italian and Spanish teacher and coach people in different languages within the Iulm, located in Buenos Aires. My main motivation for joining the group is to be able to familiarize with blogging more deeply since I think it could be useful for my professional development and to help other teachers to create their own blog for educational purposes.

 


 

Ira

 

I feel great to joint this group.I am an elementary teacher & also a mom of two.I teach K1 - K3 children , but most of my time is dancing Indonesia's traditional dance. I really need to educate myself, especially because I only have little knowledge about preparing blogs for me, my students and the school.

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Nora Brussolo

 

Hi. I'm Nora from Argentina. I've been teaching English at primary and secondary schools for 18 years and I'm always looking for new ways. I have never created or worked with blogs, but I am really enthusiastic on everything connected with using computers in the classroom and it all started some years ago when I was part of the virtual comunity of the UNQUI (Quilmes University, Argentina) where I got my degree as 'Licenciada' in Education. I'm married and have two kids aged 10 and 6. And at present I'm working at a secondary school with students with an upper-int. level. I hope to learn a lot and make lots of new friends.

I'm member of the english_language Yahoo group and Gladys Baya, another member sent us the information about the EVO workshops. I read it all and found it was quite interesting. As I am always trying to improve my ways of teaching and introduce new techniques in my classes. That's why I consider this an interesting opportunity.

 


 

Kafi Payne

 

I am a high school Spanish teacher and I learned about the classes through an on-line listserve for language teachers. I want to incorporate more technology in my classroom.

 


 

Deana Alonso

 

My name is Deana, I teach Spanish at a Community College. I am from Mexico City and love to travel. I love computers and using technology in the class. I am looking forward to meeting you all and learning a lot about blogging.

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James May

 

My name is James May and I am a retired teacher of French and Spanish. Now I work as a mentor with both foreign language and ESL teachers here in Milwaukee. I am interested in how blogging can be used in the classroom so I can share this new technology with other teachers.

 


 

Jane Petring

 

I'm Jane Petring from Montreal. I teach college-level ESL and have integrated blogs in my courses over the past three years. Last year I co-moderated the session on Collaborative Blogging. The group of moderators is a terrific, active bunch of highly dedicated teachers who were wonderful participants in last year's EVOs, then in a "mid-year EVO" (Learningwithcomputers). With their inquisitive talents, I know I'll learn more about blogging!

 


 

Karen Nieto

 

/> I'm Karen Nieto, originally from Houston, but married an Ecuadorian and have lived here many years. We have four children - two are bilingual teachers. I work at the Universidad Casa Grande as a teacher educator coordinating the International Education Program which includes a TEFL Certificate program, a licenciatura and post graduate program in teacher education. Most recently I taught Teaching With Standards. I have always believed that English and Internet are two indispensble tools for EFL learners and teachers, so that's why I taking this course. I've never participated in EVO, but have been to two TESOL Conventions - Long Beach and San Antonio. In San Antonio I presented Online Projects can Enhance ELL with an international group of iEARN enthusiasts from Senegal, Morocco, Tailand, Egypt, Argentina and Ecuador. We will soon offer our TEFL certificate program online and we are thinking of starting a blog for networking purposes for English teachers here in Ecuador. This is my only EVO workshop. Two of us from the Universidad Casa Grande are participating in the EVO in order to give us some metacognition about learning online before starting the TEFL online. So that's why I'm here.

We have a beagle named Holly that I walk every morning early. I LOVE the internet and am connected almost all day. We like going to the beach. I photograph almost everything from my grand children; my collections of bugs, children's art, shells, stamps; even student work to use for teacher workshops.

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Andrea Giordano

 

Hi, I'm Andrea from San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I've been teaching English for many years and I'm running a language institute. As most of my pupils are teens I want to keep their pace and find new strategies to motivate their learning. All this is a challege to me. I hope we get to know very well and share this wonderful experience.

 


 

Mits

 

I am Tim Murphey. Call me Mits. Originally from Florida, USA, but am an x-native speaker, after 15 years in Switzerland, and 15 in Asia. I live in Soka, Japan and teach at Dokkyo University, a variety of English classes, teacher training, and communication psychology -- what they are more recently calling positive psych or Happiness 101. I was a co-moderator the JiTTJamming EVO course last year. I am looking forward to learning a lot from you all. I love juggling and singing and I use them in my teaching a lot. I love playing with ideas -- imagining already how we might have a singing blog. My Personal Webpage

 


 

Cristina

 

Hello, dear colleagues!I am happy for this opportunity to learn about blogs and how that can help us to teach and learn English. I'm a public sector teacher in Recife - PE and my students are young and young adults workers in a project which helps them to finish high school in 18 months.

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Karen Vlaskamp

 

No picture yet Hello. My name is Karen Vlaskamp. I am currently living in Alexandria,Virginia, right outside Washington, DC. My job consists of both teaching and administration in an ESL program at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. I have been interested in incorporating blogging into my writing course for some time, but after exploring a bit on my own, I decided a more focused learning opportunity with support, like this one, would be more beneficial than trying to do it alone.

 


 

Sally Thelen

 

My name is Sally Thelen (yahoo ID: sally_thelen), and I'm currently residing in Buffalo, NY. I have just completed the TESOL Ed.M. program at the University at Buffalo, where I also taught classes in their English Language Institute. Prior to my returning to school, I taught English in Japan, Washington DC and Brazil. In March, I will return to Japan to teach English at Konan University in Kobe. I'm really looking forward to participating in this forum to learn more about using blogging in the ESL classroom. I started using blogs a little bit this last semester in one of my classes, but I think there's still a lot I need to learn about blogging and how to use blogging more effectively. I'm excited to begin blogging with everyone!

 


 

Helen Davies

 

No picture yet I'm Helen an English resident in Nice with four charming children, 2 guinea pigs and a big aquarium. To stop me from getting bored. I also work in a French state secondary school. This basically means trying to teach English to a bunch of spotty hormonal teenagers who think English is a waste of time ( they can be quite lovely at times .....). I'm hoping to participate as much as possible and try to get to grips with blogging. I've been doing very modest email exchanges English special needs pupils and our school's special needs pupils, but the email thing can be quite cumbersome to put into action. When I'm not working I enjoy my aikido classes - which helps me to unwind after a hard day on the chalkface!

 


 

Edilson Duarte

 

No picture yet Hi, My name is Edilson Vargas I have been working for three years with young adults, and teenagers, and I consider this a really nice opportunity to learn not just about blogging but from expericences.

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Mary Hillis

 

My name is Mary Hillis and I teach English to university students near Osaka, Japan. I´m originally from the U.S. (Ohio State). I´m glad to meet everyone in the group and to see several others who are working in Japan. Greetings Mits, Paul, and Jodie! Last year, I joined Becoming a Webhead 06 during EVO and later joined Learning with Computers. These experiences prompted me to start experimenting with blogs a little, but I would like to learn much more and also find out some more about blogging with students. When I´m not teaching, I love spending time with my daughter who is almost two-years-old, doing yoga/pilates, and so on! Thanks to all the moderators who have volunteered to guide us through the blogging experience.

 


 

Marian Schreppers

 

My name is Marian Schreppers. I live in Haarlem in The Netherlands and I work in Almere. As far as I can see, I'm the only one teaching in a primary school. I'm the deputy head of a public primary school of 450 students. I also coordinate the English lessons. We start with teaching English in group 4 (4 year olds). More information can be found at http://www.letterland.nl. This is the first EVO workshop I'm doing and since I'm not good in making choices I also subscribed for another EVO workshop.

 


 

Lahcen

 

Hello everybody, I am glad to take part in this course and I hope we will all make the best of it. I am 32 and I teach EFL at a high school in the south of Morocco (Guelmim Bab Sahara).I have a B.A in English language and literature and I graduated from the Teacher Training College in Rabat Morocco in 1998. I have been active within the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE) and I am also a TESOL member. Glad to E-meet you all!

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Emsal

 

I am Emsal from Mersin University, Turkey. I've been teaching at the English Language Teaching Department and I love spending time on my pc. This is my first time on an online course, so I am excited. I am eager to apply what I have learned to my courses (for writing especially) I'd love to hear some new ideas and meet new people interested in ICT and English Language teaching.

 


 

Daniela Arghir

 

My name is Daniela Arghir and I would like the group to call me Daniela. I was born and live in Sibiu, Romania. I am married but have no children yet. I am a teacher of English as a foreign language at Colegiul National Gheorghe Lazar here in Sibiu. My students are 11- to 19-year olds. Their level of English ranges from begginer to advanced. This is my first time at an EVO workshop. I have joined these workshops as well:Tips and Tricks for Successful Online Teaching and Learning, E-Assessment Tools for Language Teaching, Teachign with PowerPoint, and Digital Gaming and Language Learning. My hobby is reading science fiction stories...I m looking forward to learning a lot from so many interesting people from all over the world.

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Hana Prashker

 

I'm Hana. I teach at a community college in New Jersey, USA. I am in transition though since my contract was not renewed for next year. I have taught all ages of students from 5 year-olds through graduate school and adult ed. I believe ESL teachers tend to be the most adaptable teachers and themost open-minded (in general). I'm also one of the co-moderators for the e-assessment course. Therefore, I am unsure how vocal I will be here. I hope to participate a lot but time will tell.This is my first time being involved in a blog so I am excited to find different ways to incorporate it into my classes. I'm ready to begin.

 


 

Catherine

 

No picture yet Hello everyone -- my name is Catherine and I am an instructor of English and an English/TESOL master's student at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion (Population: 7,000. Temperature: 3 degrees below 0 (Fahrenheit).I am so excited to learn from the moderators and participants of this group. As you can understand, the TESOL resources in the rural Midwest are somewhat limited, and I am excited to design a curriculum that uses blogging for my independent study course.

 


 

Betty Burgos

 

I am Betty Burgos. I am a retired teacher, but still active. Now I am an online facilitator in Creative Arts. I live in Paramaribo the capitol of Suriname, South America. This is my second time in EVO session. I also have subscribe in an other workshop to learn building a website. Hope to learn a lot in this session.

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Samara

 

No picture yet My name's Samara, but all my friends call me Sam. I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is my first time at an EVO session, so I'm really excited about everything that's already going on. I work at a English language institute in Rio. I've been teaching for 18 years, and I've been working as an academic supervisor for the past four years. I don't know much about blogging and its possibilities in the classroom. I'm really curious about two things: how to use it with my own groups and how to find a way of making our students from different branches interact via blogs.It's great to have this chance to talk with teachers from all over the world and to learn a little bit about your lives. I'm married, and my husband, despite being in a different field, has learned to cope with my endless working hours. I guess that's why our marriage has lasted for so long. As I told you, I live in Rio. As a good Carioca (people who are born in Rio), I love Flamengo (soccer team) and Mangueira (samba school). Rio a beautiful place to live, and please don't believe everything you see in the news. It's still a lovely place to be.

 


 

Ehsan Amini

 

I'm Ehsan Amini from Tehran, Iran. I'm 28 and single. I have a B.A. in English Literature. I have been teaching general conversation courses to adults at Intermediate or Advanced levels during the past 10 years or so (yes I started teaching early :) ). Until recently I was also in charge of the Foreign Languages Department in something like a community college at an academic & research center in a university for grads & post-grad degrees. But I quit it as I like teaching better than executive jobs. It's my first time at EVO, and I find it absolutely wonderful. Already I have learned so much and developed many friendships with people all over the world. All moderators are very kind and helpful.I love Classical Music, and I'm interested in sciences: I like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and other Life sciences, Geography and other Earth sciences, Psychology and other humanities,Sociology and other social sciences, and of course LINGUISTICS (as you can see my reportoire is fairly vast!).For my education I'm planning to follow an interdisciplinary field that investigates the relationship between natural language, formal logic, mathematics, and the mind. It's something between the philosophy of language, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, and Information Theory. I like sports too: I practice Judo, not professionally though.When it comes to computers, I'm a rookie, but I learn fast. I have a personal blog (not for teaching) where I post my thoughts sometimes. It's at cmaj.blogspot.com. Some of the posts are in Farsi so you wouldn't be able to view them, but a good many are in English. At present I'm also setting up a website for learners, teachers, researchers & administrators. It's a very large scale project with a comprehensive database for teachers and language schools, teaching material, tests, EFL articles & news, etc. It's at www.tehranenglish.com. It's still in the first phases yet, but I plan to launch it in April. I am looking forward to finding ideas & assistance here. All are welcome to honor me with your contributions.And the secret I'd like to share with you? Well, I have to confess that I have signed up in six!! EVO workshops and I'm getting drowned in the e-mails, reading assignments, and everything. But hopefully, I'll be able to catch up soon and be with you throughout.

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Angeles

 

No picture yet I'm very proud to belong to this group. My name is Angeles Hernandez Polanco. I'm an EFL teacher from Spain and would like to be called Angeles.I have a MA in English. Professionally, I started teaching English 23 years ago. I started at Primary school first but 3 years later I began teaching at a state language school where I've taught young and adult people ever since.It is a long-life learning official language school, so we receive all kind of students from the age of 16.We also do some teacher training for the bilingual sections at secondary education. I am married and a mother of two. My children are 10 and 15. At the moment I am very busy since I am having my house redecorated, which will last for a month and a half. That's why I don't know if I will have enough to follow all the tasks. I'll do my best not to miss anything though.When I was younger I got involved in teacher training, those were the times when the communicative approach was beginning. Then I started a career as a school manager and administrator.Now I am back to teaching and learning. I am doing my PhD on Learning with computers.

 


 

Veronica Baig

 

My name is Veronica Baig--sorry, but no contractions allowed for Veronica! I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada--the last time I looked at the map, I think I was the furthest north of all the participants. For those of you who are missing winter, this is the place to be. I'm originally from England--a long time ago. I wanted to see something of the world, and I've seen far more than I ever expected.

I administer and also teach in the English Language Studies program at Athabasca University, Canada's Open University; we are also a distance education institution. The university is actually a two-hour drive north of where I am; I work from my home. As I've been plugging away at my computer this morning--marking, answering e-mails--I've been receiving the notices of e-mail notices posted to this group. I'm finally getting around to seeing what the fuss is all about.

This is my first time at an EVO workshop, but I have attended some conference presentations on blogging. I can see the application in a regular classroom, but I don't have a regular classroom, so I wonder about the possibility of extending this technology to my situation. My students are literally all around the world, and they are all at different places in any given course. I would like to decrease the isolation that some of them feel and think that blogging may be answer.

As far as personal information goes--I'm past my "best before" date! I still feel as though I'm running to keep up with the technology. I'm married, and as some other people have indicated, I'm also in an intercultural marriage. I think people involved in ESL are more open to other cultures, and there are increased opportunities for us to meet people from other places (although that's not how I met my husband). We have a grown son who is currently living in France, so I'm also trying to improve my French; I don't want to be totally incompetent when we visit there, and it's been over 40 years since I last studied the language. So 2007 is definitely the year that I challenge myself.

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Marina González

 

No picture yet My name is Marina González. I work as coordinator at a language school and this year I will be devoting myself mostly to languages other than English. Resources are, if not scarce, at least not so abundant for the teaching of other languages. In this scenario, technology is what we are planning to use to expand our work.

 


 

Rodica Fesnic

 

No picture yet I am Rodica from Romania and I hope I am not too old to learn new things.I am 48.I have been teaching English for many years. I used to teach French, too.I am interested in using technology in ELT, but I am not very technical. I am grateful the organisers of this workshop, for this opportunity to meet teachers from all over the world and learn new things. As I can see there are many gifted teachers in this “community” of teachers.

 


 

Nafiye Cigdem

 

I am Nafiye Cigdem from Mersin Turkiye. I am teaching speaking and writing skills to freshman ss. of different faculties and giving translation courses to ELT ss. in Mersin University. I am interested in using technology in teaching. My MA Thesis was on CALL. I feel I am a bit of behind the latest developments so I am eager to start this course for blogging. Hope to share ideas soon.

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Jodie

 

No picture yet Hi! My name is Jodie and I'm currently teaching English communicative skills to undergraduate students in two universities in and close to Tokyo. I also teach modules on, among other things, autonomous learning and materials production in a teacher training course. When I'm not working, I like to relax by taking a yoga class, exploring the city on my bicycle, or indulging in the national pastime - shopping! This is my first time to participate on an on-line course such as this, and it will be my first time to make a blog, so it does feel a little daunting at this stage. But the coordinators have done a wonderful job of setting things up and making sure that there is a human touch...it has been much easier to start than I imagined! Thank you!

 


 

Simon Gill

 

Greetings from the Czech Republic. I'm Simon Gill, originally from England, but that was a long time ago. I've been in what used to be Czechoslovakia for eighteen years now. I help to train future teachers of English at a university teacher training college here and am very keen to learn more about blogging as I think it is a tool with great potential for teaching and teacher training but don't really know what that potential is or how to realise it! As well as learning more about how to do it from the technical side (I'm not exactly a technically proficient kind of person), I'm eager to pick up ideas from the group about ways in which this technology can be used in our work. Looking forward to spending the next few weeks in the company of this wonderfully international group of enthusiastic people!

 


 

Tracy Chase

 

No picture yet I'm Tracy Chase, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, but currently residing in the Washington, DC area. I'm a fairly new ESL Instructor of 3 years, after working many years in database technology. I teach 2 intensive academic classes (Reading and Writing and Listening and Speaking) to college level students, most of whom wish to pursue degrees in US universities. I'm a first time EVO participant, and have enrolled in this session, plus the one on E-Assessments. In terms of interests and hobbies --- I never reject a margarita, pisco sour etc.. and enjoy listening and dancing to Caribbean, Latin American and other world music. I also enjoy reading.

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Susan Ryan

 

Hello Everyone, like Tracy above I currently live in Washington, DC. I have been here for one year teaching computer skills to adult immigrants from around the world. I previously taught in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in San Francisco, California. I wrote my master's thesis on how to teach low literacy ELL's about email. I have a blog that I am using with my class but I'm not very good at this yet. http://sumryan.wordpress.com/ . I am happy to have found this group!

 


 

Marcela Devoto

 

HI, I'm Marcela Devoto de Anello, from Beccar, Argentina. I've been teaching and learning for 38 years. I teach Englih to teens at a Technical school in Pacheco, and adults at a middle school in Bajo Boulogne. I also give NLP seminars to teachers. I am a Master Practitioner in NLP. I have no experience at all with blogs, but I expect to be able to follow the course more or less successfully.

I have been married to Vicente (an engineer) for 34 years. We have 3 daughters and 2 sons. Two daughters are married, one, Hilaria, a music teacher, has 3 children and the other, Luchi, a primary school teacher, is expecting her fourth child. One of my sons, Francisco, Licenciado en Ciencias de la Educación and Kitesurfing instructor, is getting married in April and the other one, Mariano, engineer, is still single. Gloria lives with her boyfriend, and she is a Singing and Drama teacher. I enjoy spending time with all my children and grandchildren, reading novels, windsurfing, rowing, travelling. I sing in a choir, too.

 


 

Linda Neas

 

I am mother of four daughters, a granddaughter and another on the way in April. I have written poetry since childhood, had my own column in two different newspapers and worked in various positions in education, medicine, and writing for over 35 years.

I taught ESL during summer and had several year long exchange students. My exchange children come from Switzerland, German, Spain, and Argentina. I was supposed to have an exchange student from Brazil, but they powers that be wouldn't give her or any of the exchange students coming that year, a visa.

At the moment, I am working on my Master's degree in Reading and Writing concentrated on Critical Literacy and Contemplative Education.

My beloved Roger and I live in an enchanted cottage in what is called the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. It is lovely, green, slow paced (in comparison to say, Boston!) and very quaint.

In my spare time, I write, garden, write, play with my granddaughter, write, do hand work, write, work on renovations to the house, write, work on school work, yes, more writing and head a Social Justice team at my church.

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Françoise Ashbourne

 

No picture yet I have been a teacher for nearly 25 years but in Switzerland for only a year. I presently teach in an international school and for the first time in years I teach both ESL and French. I worked quite a lot with email exchanges in the past few years and found lots of benefits for the students and I am now working on a project of creative writing that pupils like but I feel that working with a blog would make it even more exciting. So, I am hoping that I will eventually understand how it works!

 

 


 

Mirta Fernandez

 

No picture yet My full name is Mirta Fernandez and you may call me Mirta. I'm from Mar del Plata, a beautiful city in the coast of Argentina, but I'm temporarily living in Villa La Angostura which is another attractive city in the west of my country, close to the Cordillera de Los Andes. I'm a teacher of English, working with all levels and ages. I'm married and have 3 sons, 1 daughter and 3 daughters-in-law. I'm not a sporty person but I'm learning "telar", a kind of weave.

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Kari Miller

 

No picture yet Hi everyone. My name is Kari Miller and I am originally from the States (St.Paul, MN) but married an Ecuadorian twelve years ago and have lived here in Quito ever since (Hi Karen!). Currently I am a teacher trainer and academic coordinator at the National Polytechnic School, in its Continuing Education Center, but I also have experience working with high school students. I have done a little bit of blogging for fun, but would really like to learn how to incorporate blogging into both teaching and teacher training. I am really looking forward to learning how to incorporate the Internet into our classrooms, so I think this workshop will be fun! This is my first time with an EVO workshop.

As for my hobbies, I love to read and write. My biggest passion is scrapbooking, however. With two small children at home (3 years old and 10 months) I could spend hours filming them, taking pictures of them, and then scrapping the memories. Of course, with two small children at home, I don't really get a chance to do many of my hobbies, but it will get better, I'm sure (won't it?).

 


 

Horacio Idágarra

 

I am a 73 venezuelan retired teacher. I live in Guacara, estado Carabobo, Venezuela. I help students as a tutor at FUNDAUC in Guacara and give classes as a free lancer. Last year I joined baw06. By that time I had not been able to write this info. That´s wht I am joining it again. To see what else I can learn. Besides that, now I have a lot of friends all around the world. I hope all of you be patients with me because I am no very skillful online. My best wishes for all of you in the beginning of the new year.

 


 

Lucía Rivas

 

I'm Lucía Rivas, from Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina. I am a teacher of English and I teach Phonology and Discourse and Pragmatics at university level, and I also have my own private institute where I teach general English to children, adolescents and adults. Last year I updated my "computer lab" at the institute and I'm eager to learn about different ways of using computers to enhance students' learning. This is my first time in a workshop online. I hope to be able to cope with all this and to be able to learn a lot. at this moment I have the inconvenience of being far from home, as I am enjoying my holidays in the beach, so I'll see how I can manage with the workshop. I really love reading and studying. Now I'm trying to work on my dissertation for a master in English - Applied Linguistics, on Critical Discourse Analysis, investigating interviews in the media and the question of identity.

 


 

Mary Sousa

 

I am Mary Sousa an American EFL teacher in Budapest, Hungary. My main activity is a university-level special translators program (horticulture and food science), but I also teach adults and do exam prep.I spent two years at the English Language Institute of the University of South Florida, where I got an intensive introduction to CALL, and since then have been trying to use that knowledge at the university, where computer resources are limited, and our students can't use the Internet regularly because it is very expensive here. I would like to make a class blog as a project with a group of horticulture students who are in their last semester, because I think it could attract other horticultuists, possibly doing similar research etc. and start a very special communication which would be useful to my students after graduation as well.Looking forward to a real challenge!

 


 

Wilma Luth

 

No picture yet My name is Wilma Luth. I'm a Canadian teacher who lives and works in beautiful snowy Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan. I teach mostly Oral English and reading classes at a college and two universities, so during the school year I'm pretty busy. I'm also a teacher trainer with SIT's TESOL Certificate course. Last fall I started a blog that was going to be my online teaching journal. (http://wayleadson.blogspot.com/) It didn't last very long. So in this course I'd like to learn ways of using blogs that will help my students' learning. If my students are counting on me to provide updates, I'll be motivated to keep the blog fresh.

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Georgia Jarrell

 

No picture yet I am so excited about this group. Although I am not a teacher of English, I teach French and Spanish to High School students in Massachusetts, USA. I am always looking for different ways to engage my students, and with the many innovations thanks to the Internet, I try as much as I can. I haven't set up a blog yet, but know that many students have them and are interested in them. So, I hope to learn lots from the course.

I see that there are many people from many parts of the world. GREAT! What a wonderful resource we will be for each other. I look forward to "meeting" you all.

A little about myself: I live in New Hampshire and have for the past 5 years. I have been teaching French and Spanish for the past 21 years. I love teaching and I love my students. I also love different languages and learning about cultures different from my own, and hope to impart some of my enthusiasm for same to my students. I have just bought a house and am in the process of trying to decide where to put everything. It is my first house alone, and I am looking forward to making it a home. I have two children, my son is 30 and is a chef in North Carolina, and my daughter is 23 and a public reltations consultant in Florida. Needless to say, I don't get to see them often, which is sad. But when we do get together, we have fun.

 


 

Juan Luis

 

My name is Juan Luis Sánchez, you can call me Juanlu, I live and work in Mérida, Spain. It`s a town of Roman origin, with interesting monuments, and a beautiful river, Guadiana. I`ve been a teacher of foreing languages for 15 years now: English, French, Spanish. Now I teach Portuguese to adults in a public school of languages, in Extremadura, on the border with Portugal. I like it. It`s been four years since I last taught English, so I am beginning to lose much of my capacity to interact in that language. It`s my first experience in EVO, I follow the video course too. This year I decided to start an educational blog (amendoal.blogspot.com ). I`m happy with the response. However, I`d like to start the blogging journey from scratch with you, that`s why I am not on the advanced course for bloggers. I like technological adventures, but step by step, and I like meeting new people.

 


 

Berta

 

I work at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela, where I teach EFL/EST reading comprehension to freshmen and Theory and Methods of ESL Teaching and Learning in our graduate program. This year I am spending my sabbatical at the University of Toronto and making the most of this great opportunity.

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Dorinda

 

I am an ESL, Spanish, Comp, and whatever else the college wants. I work for the local high school and the local community college. I am the mother of two wee ones 2 1/2 Nicole and 13 month old Patrick. My hubby is from Argentina and so our home language is Spanish. It is fun to see our daughter becoming quite proficient in both languages. Anyway, I am very busy, but so excited to part of this group so I can learn more how to incorporate Internet blogs in my ESL classes!

 


 

Pranita

 

My name is Pranita and I am working as a Teacher Educator for the last 4 yrs. At present I am based in New Delhi ( the capital of our country). As a teacher educator, I work with students who are aspiring to be English Teachers. I have been thinking to blog soon, but then always something or the other has made me postpone my blogging spree:) I hope to "formally" learn and blog during and after this course:)

 


 

Jurate

 

No picture yet Hi everybody. My name is Jurate Kukanauza. I am from Venezuela, I am currently living in Valencia which is the second biggest city in Venezuela. I work at the University of Carabobo in a teacher training program. I teach English Phonetics and Phonology and Didactics. I am very interested in incorporating technology in my classes that’s why I joined this group. I am amazed to see that there are people from all over the world taking this online course. It’s nice to read about everybody but it’s overwhelming. I just don’t have enough time to do this, but I hope I can make new friends through this course.

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Elizabeth Anne

 

Hi everyone - I live in Grenoble, a beautiful town in the south of France surrounded by mountains. I've been teaching scientists at the University here for more years than I care to remember. I come from the UK (Hull in Yorkshire) and got into English teaching quite by chance - I originally studied Physics, and all my young life I was exceptionnaly bad at languages, then when I came to do a training period here in Grenoble I will never know by what miracle I started speaking French ! (I have since been through the French school system by proxy since I have four children and three grandchildren). Now I enjoy helping my University students to use the English they don't realise they learnt at shool. France and England have such a long shared history it led me to this http://dsu-net.ujf-grenoble.fr/pool/anglais/enseignants/eanne/AngloNorman/speechi.html which I put on our department's new web page. You can see I'm not new to computing - but the world of blogs is a total, repeat total, mystery to me.

 


 

Camino Bueno

 

No picture yet My name is Camino Bueno and I am from Pamplona (Navarre) in Spain. My city is famous for its festival, called San Fermin, when the bulls run in the streets in what is called the encierro. I work at the Public University of Navarre and at a vocational college. I teach English for Commerce, Business English with a focus on Labour Relations (so Future Human Resources) and English for Computing and Agriculture. As you can guess teaching all these subjects makes my life quite interesting and busy. I have enrolled in this course because I want to discover what blogs can contribute to my classes and whether it is worth practicing writing this way.

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Monika Zuccoli

 

Hello everyone, I´m Monika from Mar del Plata, Argentina. I´ve been working as an EFL-ESL-ESP teacher at local bilingual schools and language institutes with all age groups, where my students and I had the opportunity to experience CALL. I am very keen on all types of art: music, painting, ballet, the theatre, puppeteering; as well as health and well-being. I am already enjoying this learning process with you!

 


 

Margaret

 

I'm Margaret a University of Toronto (TESOL) student. I'm also a Web master and editor for a laboratory medicine program. I'm a new blogger. I started in September as part of a team of crazy salsa, merengue, bachata dancing blondes who either work in or travel to the Dominican Republic http://blondesdrblog.blogspot.com/ . I then started my personal blog -- Zah'ra http://zahrach.blogspot.com/ . Recently I presented a poster on blogging to my fellow students and I was approached to volunteer for an International Student Centre course on blogging. Tomorrow I'll be meeting with my group of 10 students. I have no idea how it will unfold, but I'm very excited about it. It's primarily a conversation program with a focus on blogging our way around Toronto. We'll set up blogs, discuss and agree to attend various events in the city. The links are on the side of the blog and we'll communicate through a Yahoo Group as we workout the details between our weekly meetings. Perhaps my ten students will create bi-lingual blogs to share their impressions of Toronto with their friends and family. Who knows where it will lead! I'm hoping to learn from other TESOL educators as I embark on my own experience.

 


 

Janet Tucker

 

My name is Janet Tucker. Originally from New York, I have been teaching EFL to science, technology and medical students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel for almost 30 years. This is the first time I have participated in anything online. I have never even used instant messenger or a chat room. Usually I'm a lurker on the various lists I belong to, but this time I will be participating. I also joined the video course and as a complete beginner I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. It didn't help that I got a late start this week because of a 4 day vacation at the Dead Sea (only an hour and 15 minutes away from home). I’ll be working hard to catch up. I’m looking forward to participating and learning with everyone -- and having fun too.

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Vita

 

Hello! I'm Vita from Ukraine. I`m a teacher at English Teaching Centre. Thank you for an opportunity to learn how to use blogging to teach English and to exchange ideas. My students are of different age (from 6 till 6o years old) and I'm sure blogging will be interesting and helpful for all of them. So I'm looking forward to our sessions..... and good luck to everybody!

 


 

Sharon Holdner

 

Teaching English, which was my avocation, became my vocation 10 years ago when I left the corporate sector and returned to school to get my CTEFL and CTBE. I have enjoyed many different aspects of teaching English, from basic literacy through to college and graduate school prep, in the metropolitan area of Boston, MA. Through my introduction to webheads in 2005 I became interested in the use of technology to teach. The use of blogs in education fascinates me and I continue to explore their possibilities, even now as I am teaching native speakers in non- language related areas. My blogs are mainly used for information for my students, with the exception of a couple of private blogs that serve to inform the public Through tracking the number of hits on the blogs, I can tell if the students are doing the readings!Looking forward to meeting new friends and hoping to connect with some who would like to engage in collaborative blogging!

 


 

Liz Flynn

 

No picture yet My name is Liz Flynn. I live in San Diego, California, and I teach English to adult immigrant learners, ages 18 and up, mostly 30+. I consider myself lucky to teach an intermediate level class with 24 computers for student use, which has really enriched the learning and teaching that goes on. Is anyone else out there working with adult students (not college level, but non-credit or adult school)? I'd love to talk with you about it, so let me know. This is my first EVO workshop and I'm taking it because I've been thinking about using blogs in class for a long time, and I'm ready to give it a try. I'm hoping it will be a great way to get students doing more writing. One fear I have, however, is that blogging will be complicated for my students. Many of them are just beginning to use computers, and basic keyboarding and email skills have been a struggle for some. I hope that the motivation of participating in a class blog will help overcome this.... We'll see!

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Mary Nunaley

 

I'm Mary Nunaley (please call me Mary) from Hendersonville, TN USA (just north of Nashville, TN) but I am originally from Chicago. I am an associate professor in our Hotel/Restaurant Management program and I am also a full time Instructional Designer/Course Management system Administrator/Online teacher mentor. I work at a community college so I am working with students between the ages of 18-60 and faculty between the ages of 25-65. I also homeschool my 12 yo son and want to teach him how to use these tools, too since he is taking all of his high school classes online. This is my first time at an EVO workshop. I've also joined the Webcast Academy. Some other stuff about me - I'm learning to play tennis, my son is a competitive tennis player. I teach rubber stamping classes in my free time http://mnunaley.stampinup.net , I am chairing our Relay for Life team and I am a member of the Rotary club. If you watch US football- I am a huge Chicago Bears fan and if you follow tennis, I'm a big fan of Andy Roddick and Amer Delic. Looking forward to learning more about everyone - just need to get caught up on all these messages.

 


 

Chris Jones

 

I'm from Yuma, Arizona USA, but moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in August 2006. I'm an instructor at Zayed University in the Academic Bridge Program, which is the EFL program to prepare students to take all their academic classes in English. I'm one of the coordinators for EVO, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with all you busy bloggers:-) I did some blogging with community college students in Arizona, and I hope to get some ideas for using blogs in my new location. I'd like to find time to follow some of the activities in the openpublishing EVO group as well, but I expect to get behind in everything because I'm going on vacation for two weeks starting January 26.

 


 

Daniel Ivanus

 

I'm Daniel Ivanus, I come from Romania and I am currently researching for my PhD in the UK, Lancaster. I look forward to starting and learning about blogs, I have no experience whatsoever. But very interested to learn!

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Karim

 

Greetings from Tetouan (tiny town) in the north of Morocco North West Africa. My name is Abdelkrim BenYahya, Karim for Bloggers. I started teaching English back in 1987 at a public high school in Tetouan and I've been doing the same thing all these years (sounds boring ..) but it is not. That's why I love this job. Every year there is something new. Every year, I feel that I haven't mastered this art yet. Just when I thought I was close, I found out about this EVO session. It's just great. I love it. I'm so glad I joined. This is not really my first EVO session as I had joined The Webquest Session last year but unfortunately was unable to keep up due the constraints of work and my two little girls. I am resolved this year to spend some sleepless nights to enjoy the pleasures this village. I had heard about weblogs and its importance last EVO and managed to lurk and later, long after the session ended, started going through some of the material and learned quite a bit at my own rhythm. I tried to put up something for my students in spite of the frustrations and the limitations of computer skills which I would like to share with you and get some feedback. Thank you all for this valuable opportunity.

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Mousa

 

I'm Mousa from Rasht, Iran. Its great to get in touch with people remote in space , but close in thought and feelings. I am a member of faculty teaching at the English translation Dept.Islamic Azad University.( the prefix "Islamic" is only as good as a prefix and does not imply anything !) I'll be glad to be of some help at any subject I could.

 

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Jennifer Verschoor 

 

My name is Jennifer am an Esl teacher, translator and I´m about to finish my Master´s Degree. For sure this is an active group!! I started blogging last year and once you start it´s very difficult to get out!! I have to update some of my blogs and wish to incorporate new tools for them. Warm regards from Argentina. http://www.jenverschoor.blogspot.com

 

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Maria de los Angeles

 

My name is Marìa de los Angeles Berman (please call me Angeles). I live in Cd. del Carmen, Campeche in Mexico. It`s a beautiful island located in the Gulf of Mexico. I`m an EFL teacher. I work in a public secondary school. My students are aged from 12 to 15. Last year I entered baw06 but late and I didn`t have the experience to work in a collaborative enviroment like this. This year, I started Baw07 course and this one now. I hope to finish both of them. I promise to work hard. I like computers use a lot and teaching English too. So enjoying this site. Not specially skilled but hardworking :)

 


 

Anne Marie

 

 

Hello ! I am Anne-Marie Pissavin from Chevannes near Auxerre, or Chablis, which some of you may have heard of because of its delicious white wine, in France. French is my mother tongue but I fell in love with English when I was 10. I am 56, and it is hard to believe, I have been teaching English for so long that some of you weren't even born!!! Rely on teaching to keep you young and fit. Well, I teach youngsters from Terminale (12th grade) to post-baccalauréat at lycées in Auxerre. The students are from 16 to 21, rarely older. One of my classes has a Wiki that I use more like a site than a wiki actually. I also have a personal blog that I don't often complete : I lack the time to do that. But it is thrilling, like a forbidden fruit. I don't think I have had more than a couple of visitors as yet in 2 years. I hope that this year my Internet connection won't let me down as it did 2 years ago and keep my fingers crossed. I'm looking forward to improving my skills with your help.

 


 

Tim Murphey

 

I am Tim Murphey. Call me Mits. Originally from Florida, USA, but am an x-native speaker, after 15 years in Switzerland, and 15 in Asia. I live in Soka, Japan and teach at Dokkyo University, a variety of English classes, teacher training, and communication psychology -- what they are more recently calling positive psych or Happiness 101. I was a co-moderator the JiTTJamming EVO course last year. I am looking forward to learning a lot from you all. I love juggling and singing and I use them in my teaching a lot. I love playing with ideas -- imagining already how we might have a singing blog. cheers, mits. Personal web page http://www2.dokkyo.ac.jp/~esemi029

 


 

Pat Maceda

 

I am a teacher of English from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I've been teaching English for more than 15 years. Currently, I am teaching at a language institute, at a teachers' training college, at a state secondary school and in some companies. As a hobby I like painting and when I have time, I like travelling. I happened to mention this since I have these two things in mind for blogging. One can be a travel log with already-made trips and (why not?) future ideas for the next one. And the other project (maybe to be carried out later on) is to have an exhibition of my paintings on line. These are the personal blogs, then during the year (which for us is starting in March) I am already thinking about others for the classroom. Thanks a lot for being here in this cyberspace.

 

Susan Marandi

 

No picture yet

Susan Marandi from Tehran, Iran. I hold a PhD in TEFL and teach at Al-Zahra University. Some of you may know me thru the EVO coordinating team. I'm not exactly a 'beginner at blogging,' since I started blogging a couple of years ago, and my students all had
personal blogs for their Essay Writing class last year, but I still have a *lot* to learn about blogging, and this group has fabulous
moderators!

 

 

 


 

 

Claudia Bergquist

 

No picture yet I am Claudia Bergquist, call me: Clau.  I live in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina. My birth place is Maracaibo, Venezuela.
I coach conversational English to intermediate and advanced students whose first language is Argentine Spanish. They are mostly professional adults including moms whose kids go to bilingual schools and want to keep up or polish their English skills. I am a newbie at this, and walking in unfamiliar territory. Uniqueness?: Mother of four precious boys, artist at heart (oil on canvas on the weekends), I visit my family once in a while in the USA. My soft spot is Argentine wine with empanadas and a round of friends.

 

Claudia Ceraso

 

 

I am an Argentine EFL teacher living and working in Buenos Aires.  I am joining this group after Claudia Bellusci’s invitation via My Blog Log. Yes, we met online! Claudia said “...although you are no beginner at all”; however, blogs and wikis open up the doors for lifetime learning. That's why we are here.

 

I have been exploring the use of web tools to enhance my teaching since March 2006. My projects include two blogs:

My class blog: The FCE Blog

My teacher-always-learning-something blog: ELT Notes. Just notes.

A fledgling wiki http://corpus.wikispaces.com/, which I hope leads me to some collaborative project with another FCE class somewhere (take this as an invitation!).

A curiosity: I’ve custom-made a TEACHING ENGLISH Search Engine (a Swicki platform). I’ve manually added all the great sites I've come across –including this B4B wiki. The community of users can edit it, rank sites and make it work better.

 

At the moment, I am studying literary and scientific translation and a post-graduate course at CAECE University, where Ana María Rozzi (see her profile above ac) is my tutor. Small world once we share online.

I look forward to seeing fellow teachers explore and reflect on the subject of blogging in ELT. There’s so much to learn!

Contact details:

Skype id:  claudiaceraso (please e-mail before calling or if you need a Yahoo id)

e-mail: fceblog (AT) gmail (DOT) com

 

 

Comments (2)

Anonymous said

at 7:29 pm on Jan 26, 2007

Hi,
I'm just following the instructions to post a comment.
It's really exciting to see how many we are, isn't it?
Hope we can keep on working and reach our goals!
Best wishes to you all, and thanks to the brilliant team for their kindness and patience!
Marcela

Anonymous said

at 1:55 am on Jan 28, 2007

Dear B4B group: Thank you for sharing all your experiences in blogging. It's enlightning to read all your posts and comments. I'm just begining to use this ICT tool and I find it full of possibilities used in the area of teaching.
Hugs to all,
Ana Maria

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