Week 7

"…

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep."

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", Robert Frost

Familiar with these lines?

That’s exactly what I’m feeling right now: I still have a long way to go before being able to rest and sleep peacefully. Indeed I’m getting more and more excited, more and more restless with this project involving my students, Karim’s and Zeljko’s and our communication is getting more and more intense as we approach the project’s deadline.

If you check our class blogs (http://shiningasoure.blogspot.pt and http://1s1tetuan.blogspot.pt), you’ll see how busy our students have been posting and commenting. My students are very excited about being able to post themselves and not simply comment. This autonomy is something new to them and it’s doing wonders to their self-esteem. I am surprised myself (and definitely very pleased) with their enthusiasm and curiosity also towards their Moroccan peers – about their school, ages, clothing, headscarves and what it means/implies being a Muslim. Isn’t this real learning? Multiculturalism, diversity, tolerance all together! Their interest is such that Karim and his students will prepare an activity for us on Ramadan, Muslim traditions… I can hardly wait or disguise my excitement!

Though the weather has been hindering their photo taking, this blogging activity is also very encouraging and I’ve been supporting them all along by different means. In what concerns the project itself, by now, I already have some photos and when there are some more, I’ll see how to organise the material they provide. A bit slower than I was expecting, but still - that’s what it is possible. Even for the photos, my kids (as I affectionately call them) are so engaged and willing to do their best that they have asked parents for help who, in turn, have even asked the local representatives if they could provide older photos. Wow! So much buzz around the project. Delightful!

Well, I would go on and on, talking about this and haven’t even mentioned this week’s fantastic discussion topic on mobile technology. I believe I was the first teacher to allow the use of mobile phones in the English class and this completely took the students by surprise. They couldn’t believe their ears and looked around as if checking if they had listened correctly. Now it has become common place among my older groups but my kids, having heard that, have already asked to do the same ;) All started with a speaking activity: I asked them to take their cell phones and choose a picture they felt comfortable to share with others. In pairs or small groups they described the pic and the others would ask them more questions about it. It was real fun as they remembered why that particular photo was memorable and why they had taken it. Something personal and no time "wasted" to prepare it ;) Students love their mobile phones but I am no exception! I do whatever I can with it – from calls, texting, emails, audio recording, photo taking… all pics are automatically uploaded to my dropbox and at home I just have to organise the files in my laptop. Now you understand the need to create several accounts… to have more space to share and edit files ;)
So far, so good... but "miles to go before I sleep" and time for the project draft to have it ready for my fantastic colleagues and peer reviewers. How fortunate I am, don't you agree? (bet you all say the same ;))