I always surf the net to get material I might use in class. The difference I found now is that when I surf the net I know where to go and how to look for the information to get better results that might cover my students´ needs in less time possible. I get material that has been prepared by real English professinals. They have made it and it has worked well in their class and they just simply share their experience with others. I read "Developing listening skills with authentic material" and it gave me pretty good ideas in how to use realia and its importance for English learners. The curious thing I found is that when you use a listening lesson plan you apply pre-while and post-listening to the material you get. Here in our campus, we apply those steps (pre-while-and post) in reading. I did not use it with listening, but it works just fine, too. From this sites conversatin lesson plansatesl.about.com and communicative lesson plans at ESL-galaxy.com I just got a lesson plan for oral practice and one for listening practice. I also downloaded some board games which I found fun and interesting to use when you want to loose boredome in your class a little. What I would recommen for those who use this type of material is to check it real good to see that it covers the structures you are using in class and to time each activity. They are not time limited. I consider time very important in an English class. Of course time in a lesson plan is subject to any change. Time is important in my class since I just see myk students once a week for two hours. I have to get the best I can from them and from the material I use in a short period of time. Time is like gold in an English class.
Delicious has become and important tool in my life since I have my own library on line. I can even order it in alphabetical order and according to needs name the tags I have. The best of all is that I can share my library with others and they share theirs with me. I get very useful information that has been used by other English teachers and it has suit their needs just find. I consider this type of professionals, that share their knowledge with others genious, because a genious can not be selfish to improve the science matter he/she is working on. He/she must share it with others to see different responses in different settings. What is good to you might not be good to me.
Reading Victoria's and Azhar's reflection I have seen that they are quiet similar to mine, refering to delicious.com. It is true it is not hard to use. You just need to explore the page to get familiar with it. Victoria and Azhar seem to like it as much as I do.
I'd like to specially thank: Deborah, Azhar, Stephen, Izabella, Arjana, Camelia, Arbi, and Hanan for responding my SOS mail a few days ago. Thanks for being so kind.
