Kamal Shafie's Blog

Introducing Blendspace  Welcome back to my ICT in TESOL blog! I hope you enjoyed reading my previous entry on Screencast-O-Matic.  In this post, I would like to talk about a website that I think is very useful for interactive online resources for blended learning classroom – Blendspace! Blended learning  The tool that I will discuss in this post is useful for supporting “blended learning” so it is best that I first briefly talk about it before we look at Blendspace later in details. According to Gruba and Hinkelman (2012, as cited in Gruba et al. 2016, p.135), “blended approach” in ELT refers to the teaching and learning process that incorporates the use of modern technologies and media in a face-to-face situation. Thus, if a teacher uses an online platform such as Blendspace to share reading materials and notes for their students before they come to the actual class, it is considered as a blended course. Here is a YouTube video on ‘blended learning’ if y...

Screencast-O-Matic: It's fantastic! What is Screencast-O-Matic? Screencast-O-Matic is a digital tool that allows you to record, edit and share video online for free. With Screencast-O-Matic, you can choose to: §    record a video of yourself using your webcam,  §    record your own computer/phone screen just like in a screencast, §    or even do both simultaneously.  You can watch a video that I’ve made using Screencast-O-Matic in this blog below: ATTENTION: Please be kind and promise not to laugh okay? 😆 I was a bi t nervous whilst recording the video but I think it turned out quite well in the end. It was a fun and new learning experience for me!😊 How can language teachers use Screencast-O-Matic? A screenshot of Screencast-O-Matic homepage As a  language teacher, I think you can use Screencast-O-Matic for a lot of different purposes: §    Virtual classroom (online teaching and l...

Triptico: Where learning is fun! “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” “ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY”  is a famous proverb that warns us that continuous work without any rest or relaxation is harmful to one’s personal life and well-being. In the context of ELT teaching, the underlying significance of this expression reminds teachers that by having “all work and no play” during our lessons will consequently make our lessons boring to our learners, thus, making them bored and feeling unmotivated in their learning.  As teachers, I am sure we have asked ourselves questions such as “are my lessons too tedious and monotonous?” and “how can I make my lessons more interesting for my students?”. Thinking of new and creative ideas to make our lessons interesting for our learners is a very difficult challenge and can drive some teachers crazy. Well to all educators out there, worry not! If you are reading this then today is your lucky day. Introducing T...

 Welcome to my ICT in TESOL blog! My previous blog for the Warwick Skills Portfolio Award (2010) My personal story as a blogger I have always wanted to become a professional blogger. My first experience of blogging was during my undergraduate year for the Warwick Skills Portfolio Awards in 2010. In retrospect, the programme served as a good introductory course to the world of blogging for me. However, I realised that I was motivated to keep writing and updating my blog mostly because I wanted the award and once I have successfully completed the course, I also consequently stopped from writing in   Kamal’s Chronicle   any longer. My second realisation was that my previous blog was also very simple and perhaps rather ‘wordy’. Therefore, I hope that the ICT module that I am taking this year will help me gain some new knowledge on ICT in TESOL as well as helping me to grow and improve myself as a blogger. Some interesting blogs on ELT In my first sem...