The Cloud

Nowadays most of us make use of what we call ‘The Cloud’ but indeed, what the cloud is? A simple definition would be that the Cloud is Internet but if we dig a little more we can say that it is a network of servers that allow us storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of our computer hard drive. This means that the videos, photos, documents, games and other software that we have in our mobile phone, tablet or any other gadget live in the cloud and are available on any device with an Internet connection. We can access our stuff from anywhere.

Cloud computing has many advantages. One of the most significant is the cost saving. No matter what type or size of document we want to upload, we don't have to pay unless we excess the storage capacity, that store much more data compared to a personal computer. Another advantage is the simplicity, agility and manageability to access to information; we just need to be connected to Internet, hardware isn’t required. This also means continuous availability wherever the user might be located while they are connected to Internet.

However, there is always a ‘but’. Security and privacy are the two main concerns when talking about data. Consumer has to rely on the company as they must ensure the privacy of the data by protecting them from unauthorized access. Companies must be reliable in order that people have confidence in them. Another drawback is the limited control we have just as we can only control and manage the applications, data and services, not the backend infrastructure. Technical difficulties are also a point to highlight being that the whole setup is dependent on internet access so any connectivity problems will render the setup useless. Finally, talking about vendor Lock-In, companies’ promise that the Cloud will be flexible to use and integrate between different platforms. But actually, from my experience this isn’t true because integrating Cloud applications on another platform have interoperability and support issues

I believe that Cloud Computing is a very useful tool because of its utilities. Despite the disadvantages listed above it is easy to see how the advantages can easily outweigh disadvantages. I am sure that there are many uses of the Cloud that I still don’t know but in my daily life there are ones that are essential. When taking photos I have it immediately in my laptop and tablet and also I can share it with friends. Furthermore, when changing my phone I can have my list of contact in the new one just pressing a button. Another innovation is if you lost your phone you can know where it is from your laptop or tablet.

Here I add you some links with handy information:

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/what-is-the-cloud

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp

http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2013/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-cloud-computing-cloud-computing-pros-and-cons.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu4FYSFeWqg

Interaction in Class

Thinking about teaching English in any level of Primary Education I consider the most appropriate approach is the Communicative. Why? Communicative approach emphasizes communication through interaction, involves meaningful and real communication and in my feeling, taking into account the personal experiences of students is the best way for them to learn a language.

  Interacting with children is more easily than we think being that they are always ready to talk and to have fun so in order to that we must create the correct classroom environment for supporting natural acquisition. How create it? By storytelling, learning by teaching, songs, interviews, debates, role playing, working in pairs, games…

Some learning and teaching strategies to promote interaction in class can be:

- Use different mediums to present information: visual, written

- Meaningful vocabulary

- Taking into account background knowledge

- Physical involvement

- Emotional connection

To my mind, there are a lot of advantages like students are responsible of their activities, they learn significant and useful contents of their everyday life, they learn in different ways developing different competences in each activity… But as everything, it has some disadvantages as can be that children don’t know what the aim of the activity is and they just have fun or play. Also, they can get lost easily if they don’t have the correct instruction of the teacher and for the teacher as well it can be difficult to identify and correct mistakes.

Word Map

Corpora

The idiom ‘get on like a house on fire’ as you may know, means getting along with someone. In one hand, looking this idiom up in British National Corpus you can guess the meaning by the examples given but there isn’t a definition explaining the idiom. In the other hand, what Linguee gives you is an example and the translation of the example in the language requested. I am afraid I don’t like either of both pages.

Thesaurus

Thesaurus is a very useful tool I have been using since I started studying English. It gives you synonyms and antonyms of the concept you are looking for. I have searched the word ‘Child’ and first of all Thesaurus gives a short and simple definition of the word and then a huge list of synonyms. You may choose any depending on the context and the register you are using. Although you aren’t searching for antonyms it gives you two or three. As well, you can find a list with vocabulary related to the word you have chosen.

Comparision of Dictionaries

The term I have looked up is ‘Cognition’.

Between Oxford Dictionary, Merriam-Webster and WordReference I choose Merriam-Webster because it gives a more complete definition and also explains the same word in different ways. I prefer also this dictionary because it gives you some examples to understand better the definition. Besides, you have the option to have the definition in a less complex way for kids and for English language learners too. Moreover, I like this dictionary because it has a clear presentation of the contents, unlike the other two.

Learners dictionary has the same definition as in Merriam-Webster but in contrast, it gives you just the technical definition without examples.

Students' Needs

I have chosen the first grade of ESO because, as you know, I’m a primary school teacher and I think that the official requirements in first of ESO are a summary of all the things studied in the subject of English in primary education.

In one hand, if we talk about the required grammar and language functions we will see that children at this grade must know how to use the basic structures and functions related to everyday situations.

For greeting, asking and understanding personal information, describing and comparing places, things, people, expressing physical states, habits, obligation and suggestions, children must know some basic grammar: the verb to be, have got, can, present simple and continuous, as well personal pronouns, adjectives, possessive, prepositions, connectors, numbers, etc. Also, they are expected to talk about future and past situations using will and the past simple as well adverbs related to the time referred.

In the other hand the lexicon, as is obvious, is related with common expressions and vocabulary related to everyday contexts, for instance: days of the week, months, seasons, whether, family and school environment, places, countries…

Related to phonetics they must produce the basic patrons of rhythm, intonation and accentuation of sentences and words. Also, they should recognize some phonetics symbols specifically in the pronunciation of plurals.

To carry this out we will have to create a daily routine in our classes. First of all we would begin the class greeting and asking question such as ‘How are you?’, ‘How old are you?’, ‘Where do you live?’… Secondly we would ask ‘What’s the weather like today?’. Furthermore children would have to talk about their daily life, ‘What are you going to do tomorrow?’, ‘What did you do yesterday?’. Basic communication and exchanges in class must be in English, for instance when making suggestion, asking, requiring things… trying to create and understand short simple messages.

An illustrative video of ICT in the classroom

This video shows us how the use of internet, computers and technologies has change from several years ago to now and as well, all the facilities that ICT gives us in our daily life and in the classroom.

I have chosen it because it explains in a very clear way how important ICT is for teaching and how it has changed the learning environment, increasing educational possibilities. I have also chosen this video because it tells us the reality of the existence of some drawbacks such as the easy access to information that can be useless.

I recommend this video for those people who want to know the benefits of ICT and how teaching through ICT can change the way of teaching and learning.

What's a blog?

A blog is the logging of someone thoughts, information, experiences, passions…all in one place in the web!

It is a fantastic tool because in one click you can share opinions, news and everything that you want in an easy way. A blog is a little of who you are, the automatic expression of you in the web.

Firstly we must know that blogs are made for four main sections: the header or the title, the sidebar (where you put things that you want to highlight, widgets, etc.), the footer and the body. The body is the most important area of the blog, is the main area where our thoughts and ideas come to life.

Individual articles that you put in this area of the blog are called posts.

In these posts you add thoughts, images, videos... These posts are usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent post at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom. Posts have the option for a comment section where others can add their own ideas and provide feedback.

Nowadays, with the advancement of technologies, mobile phones and all the different kind of gadgets that we have, our blog can be seen at any time from anywhere.

Blogs are for everyone! People for all ages share information and they maintain their blogs updated daily for different purposes: school, work, play…

The web has become an important resource for teaching and learning (National Center for Educational Statistics [NECS], 2003). So, creating a blog is the perfect way to share our knowledge and connect with other people, in this case with children. Why? Because, it is one of the most powerful and motivating tools.

Here I attached some of the resourced that I have used to create this post:

- Martindale, T., Wiley, D.A. (2004). `Using Weblogs in Scholarship and Teaching’ in Teach Trend, vol.49, issue 2, pp.55-61.

- What is a blog? Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjwUHXoi8lM

- Official website of BlogBasics http://blogbasics.com/what-is-a-blog/

-Teaching Guidelines from the European Project LTE http://valenlinia.slc.ua.es/plataforma_2014_15/pluginfile.php/1341/mod_resource/content/1/guidelines2.pdf

A little about myself!

Hi everyone!

  I'm Nuria Cases, a spanish teacher of primary education specialized in the field of English.

  Nowadays, I have to say that I'm not very lucky because I haven't got a permanent job in a school, but I work in a school dining room and also as an English teacher in after school activities. It isn't my dream but I love working with children and this is, for the time being, the best opportunity I have.

  Last year I took the B2 of English but I have to say that my level of English when I finished my degree was horrible. I'm really into this language and few years ago I decided to study it on my own and since then, here I am!

  Technologies not drive me crazy...well, when I don't know how to use it, YES!!!! Despite this is the first online course that I do, I have a general knowledge about computers. When smartphones didn't exist, I used to switch on my laptop everyday to check my e-mail, the page of the university, Facebook. At the present time, I can see all these things in my phone and also in the iPad so I just use my PC to work.

  Here I add you a photo in Camden Town, London.