Canan Elicin's blog

How to Make the Process of Teaching and Learning a Language Enjoyable

December 7, 2012 by · No Comments · ACTIVITIES

HAVE YOUR STUDENTS MAKE A WEBSITE

Thanks to wix.com, you can create your own websites and publish them for free instantly. All you have to do is to sign in. You can ask your students to make a website as part of an assignment or a presentation. Later on, all the class can improve it, or it can be converted into a class website. You can even announce the assignments on the website, and be in touch with your students. The parents will also appreciate this because they will get a chance to see their children busy doing curricular activities online.

Enjoy!

TWO GREAT LINKS FOR ESL TEACHERS

September 5, 2012 by · No Comments · educate esl students, IDEAS, reflective teaching, Web 2.0

A few days ago, I received one e-mail from Tim Handorf (bestcollegeonline) and one from Rosa Ray (onlinecollegecourses). Both of them mentioned the link to their recent posts. After visiting their blogs and reading the posts, I couldn’t help sharing the links with you.

Tim Handorf’s post includes 25 design principles every educator should know.

Rosa Ray’s post shares 50 incredibly useful links for ELL educators.

Enjoy and please leave a comment. Thank you :)

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“HOW TO EDUCATE ESL STUDENTS”

August 2, 2012 by · 2 Comments · educate esl students

‘A few weeks ago, eCollegeFinder,  an established online education resource,  teamed up with Language Magazine  to celebrate insightful ESL blogs, written especially for those teaching or learning English as a second language, and those earning a TESOL degree. Their aim at presenting this award was to provide a reference for student readers who aim to broaden their learning and teaching experiences. Read more about the award here.’

My blog was also nominated for Top ESL Blogs Award. The nomination and voting processes were extremely fair and successful. I wholeheartedly congratulate both eCollegeFinder and Language Magazine on this!

‘Upon the closing of Top ESL Blogs Award Competition, they published a paper outlining the issue of whether ESL students should be educated through English immersion or bilingual education.’

Here you can read dear Brittany Behrman’s own words. Thank you Brittany for your amazing post :)

 

Which ESL teaching method do you support: Bilingual Education or English Immersion? In the United States, each state, teacher, parent, and student has an individual view on how we should educate English Language Learners (ELLs) in our schools. In order to help readers form their own opinions, the eCollegeFinder blog investigated what the two ESL programs entail and the benefits and shortcomings of each.

Click here to read the facts in the “How to Educate ESL Students” whitepaper.

We appreciate the opportunity to be a guest on Canan Elicin’s Blog and hope that we’ve inspired its readers to learn more about this important issue! Please let us know your opinion by contacting Canan Elicin’s Blog or Brittany Behrman at brittanyb@ecollegefinder.org!

 

About the author:

Brittany Behrman is a staff writer for the eCollegeFinder blog. In June 2012, the blog ran a series on ESL and held an industry-first competition, cobranded by Language Magazine, to determine the Top ESL Blogs, as voted by its readers. The eCollegeFinder blog’s parent site, eCollegeFinder is an education portal that specializes in matching students with online colleges that offer 1,000s of different degree paths, including certificate programs for those wishing to Teach English Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Please leave a comment! Share your own ideas on how to educate ESL students! THANK YOU

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3 Ways 2.0 Create Buttons for Your Blog/ Websites

July 22, 2012 by · No Comments · ACTIVITIES, Web 2.0

Last day I was thinking about how to create buttons for my blog and after some search online, I came across 5 practical and simple ways to do so. Now I want to share them with you in case you are also interested. Please see “Do it 2.0 day” button on the right side bar as example. They are all free and no registration is required. Just click on the link, type your text and you have your custom buttons.

  1. Da Button Factory allows you to create buttons and get CSS Codes to get a badge. Just write your text in the box provided and then click on “image” or “get CSS code” on the left.

 

2. CSS Button Generator helps you create css codes without logging in. It’s free and very easy. Once you have generated your css code click on “my button” and copy/paste the code that appears below. Here is your button. You can also decide on the shape and size of the button, as well.

3. Cool Text is another tool to generate buttons, logos and fonts. You click on the buttons on the top and choose a button design. For example, I choose “”ah Pink”.

After choosing the design, you type your text and decide on color, size, font, etc. Finally you click on “generate button” and here is your button. You can download it to your computer or copy/paste the code provided to embed so that you can post it on your site/blog. ENJOY :)

Which tools do you use to create buttons? Any better tools?

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My Favourite Photos of ELT People!

July 6, 2012 by · No Comments · Just for fun

Here are some photos taken throughout last year with ELT people in Istanbul, or those that visited Istanbul.

Below you can see ladies at 1st Offical Istanbul Tweet-up (Zeynep Kivilcim, Isil Boy, Emine Bulur Civanoglu, Merve Oflaz, Nihal Yildirim, Yesim Cakir, Sultan Zeydan, Beyza Yilmaz, Basak Temel, Buse Aral, Sevim Acikgoz), and me with Ozge Karaoglu, then again me with Luke Meddings, finally Yesim Cakir, Meltem Ipek Oner, Sultan Zeydan.

 In the second collage, you can see Rod Ellis and Vivian Cook having a little chat during a break at Sarajevo FLTAL 2012, Ken Wilson doing a presentation at Istanbul the 3rd ELT Student Conference 2012 , and me having a big smile on my face, next to Ken, Azamat Akbarov presenting awards to Rod Ellis and Vivian Cook after the conference, and finally Yesim Cakir and Sultan Zeydan having a good time at 1st Offical Istanbul Tweet-up.

I like past memories. Hope to see more photos on your blogs, as well :)

 

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Have Fun With Your Students: Ambiguous Sentences

June 25, 2012 by · 13 Comments · Classroom Discussion, Just for fun

Write these sentences on the board, and ask your students (preferably advanced or intermediate level) to interpret them. Do not tell them that each sentence has more than one meaning. This activity will hem them analyze English sentence structure and lexicon better.

  • The lady hit the man with an umbrella.
  • He gave her cat food.
  • John went to the bank.
  • The man saw the boy with the binoculars.
  • They are hunting dogs.
  • I saw her duck.
  • I told her books were funny.
  • I sais see you on Sunday
  • I love hunting dogs.
  • Will Will will the will to Will?

If you do not understand the sentences, ask me :)

What else can you add to this list? Leave your example sentences below please.

 

 

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Web 2.0 Tools Series I: “Have Fun With Your Photos”

June 22, 2012 by · No Comments · Web 2.0

PHOTO EDITING

BigHugeLabs: “It helps you do cool stuff with your digital photos and have fun with your photos”. Using your photos and this tool,

  1. You can make a custom mosaics of your recent photos/ projects.
  2. You can make posters.
  3. You can make magazine covers.
  4. You can make jigsaw puzzles.
  5. You can make maps.
  6. You can make badges.
  7. You can make calendars, cubes,CD covers, captioners, slide shows, and many more.

 

 

 

 

PicMonkey.com: It lets you create photo collage and edit a photo in many ways. For example, you can remove wrinkles, make teeth whiter, add symbols, frames, words. You can also create cover photos for Facebook. It has got an App for FB.

Look at the collage I created using photos of Istanbul!

iPiccy.com: It helps you edit your photos, create collage, create a new painting with texts, shapes. You can also add stickers. Ask your students to create their own paintings with a message on it for a special day. Choose the best one.

LunaPic.com: It lets you create animated texts, swapping faces, twitter backgrounds, side by side blended photos, . You can also remove objects or blemish from a picture or paste objects. Watch tutorial videos, as well.

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VOTE FOR ME!

June 21, 2012 by · No Comments · ACTIVITIES

My blog has been selected as a nominee for the eCollegeFinder and Language Magazine Top ESL Blogs Award! Voting for the competition begins today!

You can click HERE to place votes for the blogs you feel are the best ESL resources. Each visitor may only vote once during the voting period, which will continue through June 27, 2012 at 5 PM EST.

Please vote for me using the link above or the badge on the right (click here to vote)

THANKS A MILLION :)

THE MORE YOU REFLECT THE BETTER YOU ARE!

June 13, 2012 by · No Comments · reflective teaching

Reflections on last year

Last semester was a fruitful one for me. I tried and succeeded new things in my teaching career. I met new people, attended a lot of conferences, taught English to many students:), started writing a blog, started tweeting, etc. On the other hand, I missed many chances, as well.

Let me list only what I have done and exclude what I have missed for the sake of being positive.

The Good:  

  • A New Workplace: I started working at ITU. Change is good!
  • A Blog: I started writing a blog regularly. Although I cannot reach as many people as I wish, writing makes me feel relaxed. I also feel that I am contributing to the field :) such a motivation!
  • A Big Number of ELT Conferences: I presented at four different ELT Conferences. One of them was my first international presentation. See!
  • A Bigger Circle of Colleagues: Thanks to social media and conferences, I have met a great number of educators from different areas and regions. I am getting and giving invaluable ideas from them all. Thank you all!
  • A Book: My first book ever was published.
  • A New Language: I managed to make a telephone conversation in Persian understanding my interlocutor and without repeating any words or using Turkish :)
  • A New Posture: I could keep doing pilates every week (almost:)

Thank you Yesim Cakir for the inspiration.

 

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My greatest advice for ESL teachers

June 5, 2012 by · 4 Comments · IDEAS, reflective teaching

Teaching a language can sometimes be painful. You are maybe a novice teacher or an experienced one suffering from “teacher burnout”. Imagine that you are teaching a group of adults older than 30. None of them have an English learning background. Or imagine yourself in front of 30 little monsters, or young adults. Let’s leave student profile aside. Let me ask you some questions: How about school setting? The administration? Are they contributing to your development as a teacher? Do you have enough materials? Is your school technologically well-equipped? Are your colleagues cooperating with you? How about your professional development? Are you satisfied? How do you keep yourself motivated?

What I advise for ESL teachers:

  1. Inspire and get inspired: Good teachers teach, but great ones inspire. So, inspire your students. Inspire your colleagues. And never lose a chance to get inspired, as well.
  2. Get a twitter account: It’s a must! Don’t lose even one minute. Go online and get a twitter account to use for your professional development. You can reach millions of English teachers there. Once you get one, the rest will come. They are all sharing and doing it for free. Learn and share! The sense of belonging to a community will keep your motivation high.
  3. Attend ELT conferences: Search on the net for upcoming conferences. It doesn’t have to be in your hometown. Go abroad to attend a conference. It’s worth it, believe me! You will get a chance of meeting your PLN on twitter. It’s like seeing “stars” :)
  4. Get tech savvy: Learn the basics of using technology in classroom. It is hardly possible to keep your students motivated without making use of technology. Show your students that you are not a technology avoider.
  5. Write: Keep a blog of your English teaching experience. Write about your students, your lessons. Give practical ideas to others. Receive feedback on your teaching. Reflect on it.

Thanks for stopping by

Do you have any advice for ESL teachers? Please feel free to comment

 

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