November 08, 2017 at 07:56PM

Time to check in…..

Hello readers, yes it’s a blue moon and time to take some time even though there is no time to post here. I see this as almost a more detailed journal that is public. It’s nice every once and a while to think about where I am in this career of mine and look back.

So where to start…when I last posted I was halfway finished with my coursework. I finished my last course in January 2017, had the Qualifying Exam in early May and after passing that settled into the dissertation proposal writing phase. I explain it so matter-of-factly as if it was a stroll in the park. I was not, to say the least.

Two things impacted me the most. One was not seeing my cohort buddies every week. I felt like I bonded with them, and I enjoyed the lectures, the discussions, the sharing. Then it was just over. In its wake was a gap in my life that was hard to fill.

The second was the Qualifying Exam. This was an open book test, where we had to write several essays and solve some statistical problems. I took a week over Golden Week to finish. I was writing and thinking at my computer the whole time. The closest I can compare this experience is a zen retreat. When you are in such a situation the schedule runs you, not the other way around. I’ve had my share of zen and believe me when you finish one of these retreats, you are done!

But you come out of that experience transformed. I think the intensity of the Temple program sharpens you up. You become like a tiger running in the jungle, shreading and ingesting journal articles with ease. Finding the strengths and weaknesses of a study, evaluating its methods and results. All those murky things about social science become plain to see.

Now the coursework is finished. It is time to stop being a student. I have to struggle with writing my proposal, working one on one with my advisors, and prepare my defense hopefully by next year, assuming life doesn’t get in the way. But it does and it will happen. It’s already happening to me now. But that is not going to stop me. No matter what….just keep going, tiger.
via Do Note http://ift.tt/2AjYFKV

References for my presentation at the Temple University Applied Linguistic Colloquium 2015

The presentation went well, learned a lot and for those who saw please have a look here, presentation posting on the way!

http://tesolpeter.renshuishere.com/references-for-my-presentation-at-the-temple-university-applied-linguistics-colloquium-2015/

Fourth Annual Asian Conference on Language Learning April 17-20 2014 in Osaka, references and graditude!

Hello all,

First I want to thank Steve Cornwell and all of the staff, guest speakers, and all the wonderful people I met at the Osaka ACLL/ACTC 2014! I look forward to next years event and I strongly recommend this conference in order to get a broader view of languge teaching practice and research across Asia!

Regarding my presentation,  if you would like references to the literature I mentioned please click here.

Also since there has been a lot of interest in what we do with our writing program… here is the pdf of my powerpoint. Enjoy!

In addition, there will be a video coming up soon on how to make an example-driven style of feedback for writing, so please stay tuned….

My students say the absolute minimum

This is great adivce to the language teacher! I certainly agree with everything here but I am a little weary of giving stickers unless it is given sparingly. My answer to the forth point is to tell jokes in class if you are the teacher, particulary jokes that involve both L1 and L2 words. It could help students remember certian vocabulary if it is presented in a pun. But don’t overdo it though. My colleauges can attest to this!

OUPELTGlobal

Zarina Subhan, an experienced teacher and teacher trainer, tackles the second of our Solutions Speaking Challenges: “My students say the absolute minimum”.

I find myself in the classroom in an unfamiliar position. It’s not the fact that I’ve given up teaching that makes this a new experience for me. It is the fact that I’m a student again. I’m learning Spanish and am sitting behind the desk, no longer the decision-maker who tells the learners what to do, but the student awaiting instructions and wondering if I understood them.

I’m rediscovering how uncertain, vulnerable and anxious it can feel to be a language student. Most of the reading, writing, listening, speaking and (most importantly) thinking in the target language (TL) happens in the classroom. I know I am there to improve my language; my motivation as an adult learner is high, yet I have to admit I could speak…

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How to get Copyright Free Images

An excellent blog that begins with the recent news about Getty Images allowing bloggers to embed their pictures without fear of litigation. This is cleverly used as a springboard to discuss the idea of the “fair use” of images, and the myths surrounding it. Also check out a list of sites which enable someone to find unrestricted or creative commons images. I appreciate this since I too use images not only for my work on the Internet, but also for teacher training. While we want to encourage language teachers to adopt images, it is important that they are aware of the issues surrounding the fair use of images. Thank you Teacher Phili, keep up the blogging!

Teacher Phili

Usain Bolt – Photo: Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images

Following the news that Getty Images have just taken the decision to allow images (1) on its site available for bloggers to use for free, I thought it would be timely to look at the issue of digital image copyright on the Internet and where you can find copyright free photos and images that you can use to illustrate your blog or other online material which can be seen by anyone.

It’s a massive change of direction from the company, which had previously developed a reputation for being litigious about unlicensed use of its photography, suing small organisations for infringement.  Getty has not been able to stop people using and redistributing its images without permission, so it is adopting a more pragmatic approach to the question of how to make money from its images.

Using Getty’s new embed feature, bloggers can…

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Ch..ch..ch..ch..changes!

It was time.  A time for a change…..of theme.  One thing that struck me was the fact that the previous WordPress theme  I used was not so kind to mobile devices,  at least when I looked at the mobile view my theme Ambiru had offered.

The downside is that my pictures are now grainy, so gotta get a new image up sometime. So stay tuned.

The moral of this story: be kind to the smartphone user, they are the future!

A History of Computerised Corpus Tools on TimeMapper by muranava

You must see this amazing survey of corpus tools. Its chronological,has maps and images of the devices!
http://t.co/Q3VEqOt8iV

— Peter Parise (@peterrenshu) January 26, 2014

Go here for more……

The History of Computerized Corpus Tools by muranava

Lextutor video by Tom Cobb!

A Lextutor video by Tom Cobb

For those who want a video tour of the site by the creator himself. Look no further. Enjoy and learn!

Presentation at JALT 2013 in Kobe!

Hello all,

Just wanted to add that coming up this month I and my colleauges of the English teacher training division for the Kanagawa Institute of Language and Culture Studies (神奈川県国際言語文化アカデミアの外国語にかかる教員研修事業.  will be giving a forum on our Advanced Leader Teacher program at this coming JALT conference at the Kobe Convention Center, Portopia, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan October 25th – 28th, 2013

The title of the presentation: A Voyage of Reflective Teaching

The Advanced program gathers 20 English teachers who teach in high schools in Kanagawa, supporting them in action research and professional development in order to create “leader teachers” who will be the hub of change and professional development in their schools.

This program has entered its third year and we will present the changes we have noticed in our participants and the process in promoting that change.

Our presentation will be on Monday October 28th, 10:10-11:40 in room 407 at the convention.

For more information:

The presentation abstract:http://jalt.org/2013/abstract.php?p=71

Jalt2013 information (in English and Japanese) http://jalt.org/conference

Our institute (in Japanese) :http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/cnt/f7807/

Our program (in Japanese) http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/cnt/f440038/

(in English) http://group14teachers.renshuishere.com/

We continue to use technology to reinforce 19th century teaching practice’

See on Scoop.it – Computer Aided Language Learning

why [has] technology, to date, had very little impact on improved learning outcomes? This could be because we continue to use technology to reinforce 19th century teaching practice to meet out-dated assessment models. Most of the world’s curriculum and assessment systems are based around fact recall rather than actually demonstrating that you have learned something and can deploy it within a problem-solving situation.

See on www.wise-qatar.org