Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
                     By Langston Hughes

Remarks:  What a friendly reminder!  I think  if we want to live our life to its fullest, we must do something.  Inevitably, it must be reaching for our dreams.  You know what the picture is in my mind now, a frozen chicken on the snow!

Max:  I’ll eat you up!

Can you imagine a son talking to his mom like this!

I really love this story.  It makes me laugh from the bottom of my heart.  The narration, the animation, the plot…all are perfectly matched! 

Let’s enter Max’s world of imagination.

The first discovery is the wonderfully rich resources available online for CALL.  They not only help add more colours to the diversification of our teaching and learning process but also lessen teachers’ burden and time in preparing teaching materials.  Here are some of my favourites:

• Amazing Movie Maker or Photo Story 3 for DST–I really love the idea of making digital stories as it is a powerful means to deliver messages and express feelings.  It is also an interesting task for students to do and it can help develop their different talents as well.
• User-friendly, useful tools for ELT–e.gs. (1) Audacity for speaking practice of all kinds like reading aloud and recording listening materials for exams and so on;  (2) Hot Potatoes for creating exercises of different kinds like matching and gap-filling.
• Interesting, educational websites for teaching and learning different language skills–e.gs. (1) NAXOS spoken word library which enables students’ listening skills and understanding of the literary works. (2) breakingnewsenglish.com which provides teachers with detailed lesson plans, up-to-date news articles and useful tasks with answers.

The second discovery is the possibility of my being an effective I.T. English teacher who can meet the needs of increasingly large numbers of “digital learners” in our Hong Kong classrooms.

The next one is I always thought that it’s ineffective and time-consuming to go to the MMLC for English lessons, especially with lower ability, misbehaved students.  I always found the programmes boring and I was also very afraid of dealing with the technical problems occurred anytime and that time would be wasted.  Now, I’ve realized that I haven’t fully-utilized and familiarized with those interesting, useful softwares and websites available online for arousing students’ interest.  These problems can actually be solved very easily!   

Moreover, I’m glad that I’ve been holding firm to my right belief or attitude in corporating I.T. in class, i.e.  CALL should be used as a means to an end but not an end in itself.  Though we teachers are more like facilitators nowadays, we are still the central figure in class who plays a vital role in influencing our students’ learning attitudes and monitoring about their learning progress with care and love and I.T. can never substitute us. 

I sincerely thank Paul for all the effort he’s made in class, especially for all the brand new stuff related to CALL that he’s introduced.  Of course, if I want to be an effective CALL teacher, I need to update myself with the CALL world and practise using the CALL materials more.  One last thing, I know this course is just a beginning in my CALL journey, yet a GOOD one:D

You can discover a colourful CALL world when you use your heart!

Nevertheless, what I am interested most in is his mentioning about “how ICT can help us in our teaching” especially on the “controlled activities” like grammar exercises.   Of course I would not agree more that softwares like Tense Buster can save us lots of time from marking boring routine work and free us the time for having more meaningful communication or creative activities with students. 

As I am doing a critical analysis on Tense Buster, he has actually given me lots of useful information about this software.  How great for Paul to arrange such useful talk to us and we can try the softwares for free now though for two weeks only!

Ideas for the topic–You are Special!

I’m always interested in topics like “self-growth” and I think it would be a good idea to create a digital story on this topic so that people around me, especially my students can be encouraged, inspired and enlightened.  Of course, I would be the first one to benefit from my own work. 

The process towards my final story script

I think the process of making my digital story is quite smooth and straightforward since I just tried to reflect my inner feelings for sharing with others.  Actually, my ideas are inspired by the story You are Special by Max Lucado and therefore everything is quite in context.  Instead of writing the whole script, I jotted down key ideas in point form.  Then, I organized them a bit for the introduction and the conclusion parts and recorded them in a rather spontaneous way and that’s it.  For the story, i.e. the middle part, I used both the script, with some adaptation made, and the pictures, actually it really took me some time for the best quality and effect since I used the digital camera intead of the scanner, from the story book.  What the most challenging part for me was to search for a piece of background music that can nicely help create the mood of the story and fit my narration.  Finally, everything was integrated well within just an hour or two and my first digital story was created successfully. 

Apart from this, I’m thinking if my story is written without any pictures or recording, the process may be totally different.  The major difference is I’ll definitely have to draft the story and revise it until it is a refined one for publishing or releasing instead of just using point form for further elaboration and making my work. 

My Complicated Psychological Journey VS the Technical Process

Since Photo Story 3 is a very user-friendly software, I just need to undergo the trial and error process within a short period of  time so as to familiarize myself with the different functions of it.  I can say the whole thing is not really very complicated if you are willing to try, but ”psychologically speaking”, it’s rather complicated as shown below:

Nervous --> excited--> frustrated + annoyed--> happy + excited + satisfied + tired 

I felt nervous in the beginning stage because Photo Story 3 is absolutely a novel invention to me.  I’m so afraid that I could not grasp its use.  Then, I felt excited to add my voice, pics and different effects and hear my own voice.  However, during the process, I felt frustrated as I sometimes failed to achieve what I wanted like the fluency in my speaking, the proper tone of voice for the story, a better effect of the pics, etc.  I also felt annoyed when I had tried many times but still could not figure out what the problems were, like for the proper integration of the pics, my voice and the background music or the way to properly export my file to a link.  Nevertheless, I was satisfied when I could view my first DST product successfully in the end, of course, though a bit tired as DST can be quite an energy-consuming activity, I felt happy and excited as well. 

DST = reflection + creativity

Well, I think this DST activity is both a reflective and creative activity to me because before making the story, I needed to brainstorm ideas about how I can relate myself with the characters in this story so as to make my whole work in context.  Through reading the story, I’ve actually reinforced my own self-worth just like what is told in the story.  I felt like I were the protagonist, Punchinello, in the story that we actually share the same experiences in life.  I also felt like Eli speaking to me in the story.  I understand my personal strengths and limitations more.  Besides, I’ve realized how “child-like” my voice is and maybe I’m ONLY suitable for telling children’s stories!  That’s why the whole thing is reflective to me. 

For the creativity part, I needed to design a thought-provking introduction and conclusion respectively so as to convey meanings to the audience.  I also needed to put myself into the shoes of different characters and learn to express how they feel by using proper but different tone of voice;  Adding different effects to the pics so as to make the story more eye-catching and grasping the skills in using the power of silence to reinforce the mood of the story are all part of the creative work.  Last but not least, since a good piece of background music does matter to catch and trigger the audience’s attention and emotions respectively, I had to try which piece of music is more suitable for the mood of the story.  As a whole, DST is a good way to develop our creativity. 

Pedagogical implications of DST on language teaching and learning

After acquiring the basic skills in DST, I’ve started to realize that language teaching and learning can be like a vast space which should not be bounded by the wall of the classroom.  Through the proper integration of CALL, like the making of digital stories, not just students’ linguistic abilities, but also their other abilities or intelligences such as aesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, etc may as well be enhanced or discovered simultaneously which eventually help direct students towards a new learning experience, i.e. learning English can be fun with the mixing of visual and audio media technology outside classroom. 

DST– a good platform for shy language learners 

DST is actually a good platform for all styles of language learners, to practise fluency in speaking, demonstrate creativity and have fun, share their feelings and thoughts with others and so on, ”passive, shy” learners in particular because it offers them strong sense of security without the need to worry about making mistakes or being laughed by others.  

DST– a powerful medium for sharing feelings and thoughts & source as teaching materials

As a teacher, DST is a powerful, perfect medium for us to share our thoughts and feelings with our students as the mingling of visual and audio work can easily arouse students’ interest and trigger them to think more about different topics related in their learning. 

Moreover, as more and more teachers learn DST and more and more digital stories are produced, these stories will become a very valuable collection of materials for teaching and learning that benefits both teachers and students in the field of education, just like what Teacher Tube (http://www.teachertube.com/) has been doing.

Thanks for reading my feelings and thoughts about making DST.  You are welcome to leave me a word.

This is one of my favourite poems, taken from this library, that I’d like to share with you:

Love’s Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle –
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea; –
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

                                                                  Percy Bysshe Shelley

Photo taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbaravalerie/3507048572/

Poem taken from:

http://hkpl.naxosspokenwordlibrary.com/mediaplayer/flash/fplayer.asp?br=64&tl=389080

Click here for my recording of this poem: http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~s0803018/lp.wav

The first story I made is called You are Special written by Max Lucado.  This story is especially good for those who come from shattered families with poor self-image.  If you or your students are longing for important others to assure your self-worth and success, don’t hesitate to read this book!  I hope you will like it!

Picture source: (Lucado, 1997, p.20)

Click here for my 1st DST http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~s0803018/urspecial.wmv

Reflections on my 1st DST

Well, when I listened to my first digtal story again, I’ve found that there is still a lot of room for improvement.  At least two areas I should pay particular attention to:

I should…

1.  practise reading the scripts until I am fluent enough for recording and

2.  check the correct pronunciation of words especially proper nouns that I am not sure of (sorry for the mispronunciation of the name Eli, it should be pronounced as /elai/).

I really love the idea of making digital stories.  Since I’m not good at expressing myself, DST has actually helped me to express my feelings and thoughts.  It’s a brand-new, wonderful experience to me.

Source of pictures & story script:  Lucado, M.  (1997).  You are special.  Illinois: Crossway Books.  

Reflections

I think DST can play a vital role in helping ESL learners learn English as there are numerous potential benefits as listed below:

DST helps

1. enhance Ss’ higher order thinking and creativity which is the ultimate level in Bloom’s revised taxonomy. (See the diagram on the right)
2. enable Ss to freely express their feelings and thoughts
3. faciliate autonomous learning as Ss have to learn how to solve different problems like:

• how to create an interesting storyboard with the proper use/match of pictures and scripts;
• how to add background music so as to build the mood in the story for the audience;
• how to add different effects to the pictures so as to make the story more attractive to watch;
• how to upload the file to a platform if they want to share their work with others and so on

             before producing their own masterpiece.

      4.   build confidence in speaking, narration skills in particular, as they can have more practice outside classroom to improve their oral fluency,  accuracy, intonation, etc.

      5.   facilitate collaborative learning and communication skills if Ss are asked to produce stories in groups.

      6.   enable constructive learning if they are asked to contribute stories under a particular theme. 

      7.   create the atmosphere of a learning community inside the classroom as Ss can learn a lot from the individual/collaborative work of one another.

In short, DST is worth-promoting in ELT.

My artifact today:  Lego Boy Story Board

Cross Reference for Bloom’s revised Taxonomy:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/blooms_500.gif/30591305&imgrefurl=http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s%2Band%2BICT%2Btools%3Ff%3Dprint&usg=__pI5taESA5TRl9_GL2l8HSiMnLr0=&h=740&w=500&sz=51&hl=zh-TW&start=123&sig2=BbS2WO4OWhPbaO5AqT6fMg&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=NPv8xF1_eeztrM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbloom%2527s%2Btaxonomy%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:zh-hk:IE-Address%26rlz%3D1I7ADRA_zh-CN%26sa%3DN%26start%3D108%26um%3D1&ei=xugfS7K_B8-HkAXsv7XYCg

The Sick Lion

A Lion had come to the end of his days and lay sick unto death at the mouth of his cave, gasping for breath. The animals, his subjects, came round him and drew nearer as he grew more and more helpless. When they saw him on the point of death they thought to themselves: “Now is the time to pay off old grudges.” So the Boar came up and drove at him with his tusks; then a Bull gored him with his horns; still the Lion lay helpless before them: so the Ass, feeling quite safe from danger, came up, and turning his tail to the Lion kicked up his heels into his face. “This is a double death,” growled the Lion.

Only cowards insult dying majesty.

Click below for my audio story.

http://ihome.cuhk.edu.hk/~s0803018/sally.wav

Reflections–Audacity for the Speech Festival!

Besides making audio stories, I’ve found that Audacity can be used effectively to facilitate the training of my students for the Speech Festival.  Here are some of my ideas:

1.  I can simply record the poem (or invite the NET to do so) using Audacity and ask my students to listen to the audio file anytime they want at home. 

  Advantage:  Help save much time in the training for better use; 

2.  Students can also record their poem through this software as practice. 

  Advantage 1:   Reflect upon the strengths and weaknesses of their own recordings and thus raise their own awareness in different areas like fluency, accuracy, intonation, tone of voice, etc in presentaing a poem. 

  Advantage 2:  Learn from peer’s different ways of presenting the same poem and make comments to one another and   improvement. 

3.  Teachers can invite all the students who receive awards or prizes to record their poems and make a collection of   kind of “champion work” each year in the English Department website at the end of the Festival. 

  Advantage:  As the promotion of poetry appreciation and thus Language Arts in school. 

That’s all I can think of.  How about you?  Do you have any better ideas that you can share with me?  Don’t hesitate to leave me some words!  Thank you:)

Click here for the game: millionaire-interaction