During our last lesson in the Lab, Sarah talked to us about the PLE (Personal Learning Environment). Luckily for us, it's not a tool or another technological "engine" provided but the Net! No, it doesn't. As Sarah explained, it's simply an idea, a kind of project that a group of researchers developed to help students thinking about "new approaches to using technologies for learning".

According to these studies (Cross, 200) the majority of what we learn is "informal learning" (80%); it means that this process takes place outside institutional contexts in different periods and in different way of anyone's life. Every kind of learning (language learning as in our case, but there are other innumerable things to learns) takes place in different contexts and situations, and I think that it's completely wrong to limit our knowledge in a "formal learning".

Therefore, it's time for me to start thinking about the ways I used to learn languages up to now and organized my previous experiences in an orderly manner.
Therefore of my PLE (see the ink below) is divided in 5 categories with are, more or less, the 5 main contexts where I usually come in contact with languages in a "incidental way"(sorry or this expression; I'm not so sure if it's correct in this context!). There are:

Contacts;
Materials;
Experiences;
Self-production;
Personal curiosity.

Each of these groups has several "subgroups" and some of them are then repeated in other categories. This means that the PLE is not a static and close scheme of learning skills, but an "attempt" to link experiences and tools for learning together in a structured way.

Anyway, in my opinion, the most important "category" among these I select, is the one called "contacts". I think that, especially for foreign languages the best way to learn something is oral practice. Grammar rules are useful only at the beginning but only with a constant interaction with the foreign culture; the learner can test himself and improve his language abilities.

How to judge online sources???

Hi guys!!!
Luckily this week in our e-tivity we won’t learn how to use a new tool but we will have time to restore our poor minds and reflect on and discuss what criteria we use to evacuate the “almost limitless amount of information” we have come across on the Internet during our previous e-tivities. Usually when I need to research something; I prefer to use Internet because it’s easier and it “will give you absolutely everything”. But, on the other hand, I perfectly know that when you decide to work on Internet you must be aware that you have to make more efforts that with a simple research in the library.

First of all you have to select and “filter” information you really need from others that are simply “rubbish”. Then you have to pay attention to the authenticity of the materials and check if what you find out inside the blogsphere is true or not. So, at the beginning, the fir step you have to do is “the judgement of online sources” and after that you can take them as the main material for your works. I liked too much reading a definition, which I found in Internet, which compared the “evaluation sources” as a kind of DETECTIVE WORK!!!
What about me, I haven’t any strategies to filter information from the Net, but I tend to be more critical as possible in my readings. Most depends on what kind of information one is looking for. If I’m looking for facts, historical events or news reports, I think that some sites or sources need not to be checked because they are so popular and well-known that anyone could trust them – I’m referring to sites as the BBC or the CNN networks or the site of “Il Corriere della Sera”. I think that no one could doubt the validity of the materials that these sources presents (I mean, I’m speaking about the validity of the site and not whether the content is right or not; that’s another crucial point!).

On the other hand, if I’m looking for personal opinions about a specific topic, further researches or studies about an issue or simply out of curiosity, I tent to check the author and the publisher. The way in which information is presented is important as well; it should be accompanied with a list of further explanations or with an updated bibliography on that topic.

Anyway, in my opinion, the most important thing when someone search something online is to have a lot of patience and to read the more s possible about that particular topic; in this way one has the possibility to compare different opinions, noticing points in common or in contrast, so finally one can chose properly.

YouTube

I'm thinking about a way to describe our English course and the first image that flashes through my mind is a kind of jigsaw. Every week in the lab we have added a new piece to this jigsaw and during the last lesson we definitely completed the work with the final piece: YouTube!!!

I think that anyone, who has even the smallest experience of computer, has visited this site at least one time in his life. YouTube is the largest on line videos sharing tool and maybe the fastest-growing tool on Web 2.0. In my opinion YouTube is a distinct site from the others that you can fine in the Net, with the only difference that all the information you need are given by videos or images and not only in written form.

In YouTube you can really find whatever you want: videos that inform you on what's going on in the world, videos that you can use to learn something or even practice English (as in our case), and videos that you can watch just to have fun or to relax.

But, if on one hand this huge amount of material represents a great potential for YouTube's development, on the other hand it's its great limit too; because of when you open YouTube you're literally overwhelm of everything, what it is difficult and "danger" is to be able to filter and select what is useful to your purposes from what are simply "rubbish".

As regards our English purpose (if YouTube is really useful to improve English skill) I totally answer: YES, IT CAN!!!
First of all the majority of videos you find surfing the YouTube are in English and so you can "dive" into English language in an easy way. Then, I think that you can learn more if the information you need are accompanied by videos and images; they will remain better engraved in your memory if you learn them by having fun!!!

I decided to add a couple of videos to my blog to show you how opposite things one can find in YouTube:

The first one is just to relax, after this exhausting experience on the Net. It's a little scene, taken by the movie "Pride and Prejudice" that is the film that by far I love the most. It's the moment when Mr.Darcy proposes to Elizabeth Bennet for the second time and she finally accepts.
How a romantic scene!!!




The second it's one of the innumerable videos that I found searching for "Learning English". It's from MadridTeacher and this man gives us some good advices to improve each own English level.



Look at those videos... they are very interesting!!!
Bye bye guys!!!

WITH PODCAST YOU CAN !!!

This time it wasn't so difficult to understand what the new tool, introduced by Sarah during the Lab's lesson, is and how it is supposed to be used.
At last, "podcast" has joined our BloggingEnglish and it has already produced it positive effects.

But, what is a PODCAST??

It's a multimedia file (audio or video) distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds. These files can be downloaded onto computers and mobile devices, like mp3 players, so that we can listen to and watch the podcast whenever and wherever we want. I already knew what a podcast is before the lesson of last week, because my "hi-tech" friends shown me this wonderful tool sometime ago and try to explain how to use it as well. But, I want to be sincere... up to now I've never thought about the possibility to use podcast to improve my English skills, downloading English materials. And now, while I'm surfing the net, I'm discovering huge and incredible numbers of sites and podcasts to practice my listening skills. I want to share this material with us. Here below I describe 3 podcast that most have caught my attention:

1. The first is the BBC's podcast, I have already use it when I created my personal social bookmarking; however, I think that this site is multifunctional. In my opinion every English student should download in his mp3 player a "radio" in English to constantly be informed about what happens around the world. Its URL is http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/globalnews/;
2. Then I was curious about the fact that some Universities, like Stanford or Duke in the United States, as Sarah informed us, offer many lectures online in the form of podcast. So I try to visit one of their sites, and... Surprise, surprise... it's true!!! Entering in those sites, you can download courses, faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports and than play this material onto your iPod or pc. Think a minute about that... it's great!!! You have the possibility to follow in videoconference, lessons or other activities and to see how foreign universities work...oh, oh...stop a second... my head is spinning!!! The URL is http://itunes.stanford.edu/;
3. And finally I decide to find some useful podcasts to improve my English pronunciation. Many times I find myself in difficulties because I don't know how a word must be exactly pronounced. So, don't worry... now podcast can make your English study easier and quicker. One of those sites is http://howjsay.com/. (I've noticed that also Alberto, one of my peers chose it. Well-done, Alberto!!)
   

Social Bookmarking

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: is it really useful???

Dear guys,
Another lesson in the lab, another adventure inside the blogsphere, so now I can definitely say that this English course is a sort of "work in progress", which is serialized week by week. We have started three weeks ago with the surfing on the blogsphere, then we created our personal blogs, next week there was the discover of feed aggregators and this week we can add another word in our technical English dictionary: Social Bookmarking!!!
As feed aggregators, I've never heard about bookmarking before and so, when Sarah pronounced these words for the first time last Wednesday, I could hardly figure out what she was talking about.
But I must to be sincere; after her explanation too, ideas in my mind didn't become clearer! Maybe because she compared "bookmarking" with the most common Italian tool " Preferiti", and this is exactly the problem: I have never used it before and I didn't know its purpose, so you can clearly understand that at that moment my mind still continued to be blank.
After the same old problems with registration and confirmation, I started to manage this new tool and I have to admit that I was, and I'm still sceptical about its usefulness. I mean, I used to write down in pieces of paper the URLs of interesting websites I found on the web and for me this is the easier way "to build up a repository of information and websites"- as Sarah wrote in a post. Maybe I have to gain more experience with "bookmarking" and I'm still waiting to see its advantages in my English improvements, but up to now, "social bookmarking" remains a sort of "blackhole" in the universe of my mind.
Concerning my classmates' choices, I've notice that they are more or less related to English learning, as mine. The website we have selected more is the BBC's one, and it's used for various tags, such us sport, English listening, media, networks and so on. It's a multifunctional and updated site and we agree with the fact that it doesn't miss to our social bookmarking.
However, I've noticed that none of my classmates decided to add to their tags some online English Dictionaries. I believe that they are essential tools for every student.
Anyway, now I'm curious to know what will be our step inside the blogsphere and I hope I will be easier to manage and understand that the last one.

See you soon!!!!

And now I want to write a little reflection about the topic that we are going to discuss in class on Monday; the question is


Should Halloween be imported to and celebrated in Italy or not?

I think that this tradition is unuseful here in Italy for a various reasons:

1. It's something that doesn't belong to our Itanian tradition and so we ceLebrate IT without a specific reason;



2. It's only a waste of time and a matter of business;



3. I can't stand (as also Claudia in her blog wrote) Italian children going along the streets, shouting and knocking on the doors, without knowing what Halloween really is;

In my opinion this tradition should be celebrated in Italy only by those people that really know what it is and agree with its meaning. I admit that I don't know exactly where it was born, why and because, and so, why I have to celebate it without a specific reason?
So, briefly, I think that Halloween should not be imported in Italy and become part of our culture, because it's something that doesn't belong to us. Anyway, becuase of the increase of globalization, I believe that Halloween can co-exist together with our Latin culture, but it should be treated not as another occassion to waste money, but as something that belong to another culture and must be celebrated only by those who really believe in it.

Hello!!!

It's time to update my blog.
In the last lesson that we made in the lab I discovered another important tool inside the intricate and endless blogsphere. With the help of Sarah, I learnt how to use feeds and feeds aggregators. They are tools that inform blogger about every single "movement” that the other peers of the group do, without opening each time their blog. At the beginning of the lesson I was completely scared about this new aim to reach, I haven't listen about feeds aggregators' existence before, and so, it was a little bit difficult to follow the instructions of e-tivity 4. But when I started to use them I realized they are really useful and not so impossible to use as I thought. As usually, I had some difficulties in opening "bloglines" and register myself there, but after this obstacle I became more and more confidence with this tool and I start to use it properly. Even now, before writing this comment I "took a glance" at bloglines to read my peers' new comments; it was easy and It's took me less time instead of opening all their blogs and read their comments there.
So, finally, I can say that my impressions about this new experience are positive. I'm really satisfied with my improvements and I start to realize that the use of computer and technology in general is less complicated and terrible that I thought; all one needs is an open-minded disposition.

Hi guy!I
spent more or less an hour and an half to visit all the blogs that appeared on the screen when I select “fashion” as field, but finally, after a long search on the web, I came across a couple of blogs that I want to recommend to you:

1. the URL of the first blog is http://www.psfk.com/category/fashion

This is composed of posts sent by people from all over the world who share the same passion for fashion, trends and new ideas for future collections and cloth creations.In my opinion, this blog is well organized and simple to visit: besides the bloggers' posts, on the right side of the page there is a list of all topics that bloggers can speak about (for example Brands, Technology, Designers, T-shirt, New Collection, and so on). But what impressed me more are the wonderful photos and captivated advertisement that one can see opening the blog. I have always loved reading and watching all the advertisement along the streets or inside newspapers, but to have the possibility to have all them collected together is a wonderful experience for those, like me, that are fashion’s addicted. Obviously, people who write in this blog share their opinions about fashion, write about what they like and dislike and make comments on other opinions. I think that these kinds of blogs could be useful also for fashion’s brands and designers to know consumers’ tendencies and preferences. What about the language, it’s informal but sometimes comments contain some specific terms to describe products and cloth.

Then I changed the field and I chose a more “serious” one: Jane Austen

2. http://austentatious.blogspot.com/3. http://janitesonthejames.blogspot.com/

I love English literature, especially Jane Austen’s works! I think that books as “Pride and Prejudice”, “Sense and sensibility” or “Emma” are the perfect examples of how the love should be. The site that I want to recommend to you, caught my attention because it’s built in an old-fashion way. Colours, pictures and style, all put back the visitors into the 18 centuries life and romanticism. I think that the way in which this blog is created is very important because it catch the reader attention, make him comfortable and help him to enter in that past world. In the same way, also this third blog, always about Jane Austen, is interested and very romantic too. The white background of the first page and the picture of the swan remind a deep sweetness and harmony too.

As regarding the language used in the blogs, it‘s vary and closely linked to the topic they deal with. In all blogs the vocabulary and the register reach the aim pursued in the blog, so the language must be clear, simple, colloquial and informal, as it is in a usual conversation. Sometimes there are technical terms, but they are perfectly comprehensible for those who will visit them.

Hi guys, I'm Alessandra...

I spent a lot of time choosing the right image that could describe who I am, and finally, after an hard work, I selected this wonderful beach.

I love travelling all around the world, I'm exciting when I come in contact with new cultures and people from other countries. I think that one can learn a lot from the contact with other people. But, what I appreciate more is spending my holiday in a place as one in the picture. I think that it's the best way to relax, far from the everyday life, and reinvigorate oneself, before starting a new adventure or a new experience in another place. What is more this photo represents a part of me because of the vivid blue colour of the sky and the sea.

Also the presence of the waves helped me to choose this picture, because sometimes my life and also my mind become stormy, messy and chaotic as the water of this sea.

What about the websites that I usually visit, I suggest you to have a look at:

http://www.fuerteventura.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

http://www.lettere.unipd.ir/

The first website contains a lot of information about the Island of Fuerteventura, a wonderful place where I spent my holiday last summer. I totally "fall in love" with this place because its landscape is a kind of mixture of mountains, beaches, woods and volcanic stones.

The second one is the BBC's website and in my spare time I like visit it to be informed about what happens around the world.

The last one is a well-known website among all students of the University of Padua. Everytime, when I start work on my computer , the first thing I do is to open this site and check if there are new information about courses and timetable's changes.