Archive for the 'Listening' Category

Isabel Allende’s Listening Activity – 2nd2008

Isabel Allende’s story is about gains and losses. It’s about suffering, learning and recovering.
It’s time to reflect upon her story and relate it to the principles that guide you.
In the “Comment Box”, first, write about the listening strategies you used to understand this amazing Latin novelist’s anecdote. Then, tell us more about your own beliefs in your daily life.
  • What are your beliefs?
  • Why are they important?
  • Where do those principles come from? Family history? A lesson you learned?

Week 4 – How We Met Each Other

We watched Isabela’s love story:


Here’s your instructor’s story: How We Met Each Other
We were from different tribes. Rodrigo was the good boy, wearing fashionable clothes from well-known Brazilian brands. I was kind of hippie, not the one from the 70’s at all, but I wore “alternative” colorful clothes and I had long curly hair. Rodrigo was into Economics while I was a fan of the Anthropology and Sociology Department at UNB. He dated a Middle School colleague of mine whom I have to admit was not my closest friend. At that time, our lives couldn’t be so apart.
Time went by. Both of us passed a public entrance exam and started taking a four-month course, eight hours a day, with tests every single week. In order to pass, we had to start helping each other and a study group emerged from our need to go through those tough times. The group of students became close friends. We studied hard. However, as any young people, we had also much fun together after long hours of discussions and readings. We played tennis, ran, had parties, sang together. The boys played the guitar and I fell in love with Rodrigo. I couldn’t help myself. He was dedicated, intelligent, witty, talented…Everything I would expect from a man. He played the guitar and my heart pounded at 1,ooo miles/hour!
One day I promised it would be the decisive day! We went out together, just the two of us. It was a famous bar in Brasilia, Libanus. We talked about all the frivolities one could ever imagine, including the Aquarius Era! I drank two huge glasses of powerful “caipirinhas”. I was walking on air having Rodrigo by my side. I was embarrassed, but that was my only chance. Well, the night was perfect. Our first kiss was magic. I wanted the moment to last forever.
However, Rodrigo started acting strangely. When I talked to him about our situation, his reply was that he wanted to have fun in life and he didn’t want any serious relationship. My heart sank and I decided not to bother with someone who didn’t care about us. We kept hanging out with our friends, but I ignored Rodrigo. I wanted him to be part of the past. He started calling me to check how I was. Once I told him on the phone that he was a chicken, he didn’t have the courage to be happy, etc… We went to a party, Rodrigo told me he had a song to show me, he played the guitar and sang the most romantic song ever and we started dating. We’ve been together for 10 years, we got married two times – the civil ceremony was in 1997 and the religious one was in 2002 together with our youngest son’s baptism.
I feel the luckiest woman in the world to have met such a wonderful husband and father for my two kids! Life couldn’t be better. Carla
Your Turn!
  • How about you?
  • Tell us about how you met a special person in your life or You can share a love story of your parents, relatives, close friends…
  • When was it? Where were you (or the couple you’re talking about)? How did you feel (how did the couple feel about each other)? What happened? Are you still with this person (Is the couple still together)? How do you feel now about this person (What are your impressions about the couple’s life together)?
  • I’m anxiously waiting for your romantic stories!
    Read about some love stories at Casa Thomas Jefferson to get inspired

    Week 3 – Abu Dhabi

    Listen to Vance Stevens talking about Abu Dhabi.
    Here’s the Voicethread we used to leave comments and questions to Vance.


    In the comment area, you’ll see the group’s replies and Vances’ comments to us.
     
    icon for podpress  Abu Dhabi: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Earth Day 2008

    earthcastI’ve been listening to students, educators, people like us in edtechtalk. They had the wonderful idea to celebrate Earth Day with a 24 webcastathon, an amazing opportunity to share ideas, raise awareness on the importance of little measures that can impact the health of our Earth. Here’s a sample of what has been going on.
    You’ll listen to Ms. Adams’ students saying what they do to help our planet.
     
    icon for podpress  EarthCast08 [0:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Ning – Where Learning Happens

    I’ve been part of some networks at Ning for some time. I check it once in a while. There are just fantastic networks there in which learning happens in a blog post, a photo, a reference in a forum, a connection to someone in your area, an exchange of comments. However, I’ve never really considered the power it holds. Ning is a platform that aggregates many of the tools every educator dreamed of in the past to keep communication flowing among participants of a group. And I’m not mentioning only in terms of classroom. I mean educators as learners need to have their sharing space for professional development. So, Ning is empowering. An educator can be part of a variety of networks according to his professional and personal interests and might create a network to connect to his students, as well.In my case, I had been part of other communities, but then I dawned on me that I could create a network to keep the students of an online course I was teaching connected. It was their wish. So, as a surprise of end of term, Ning became the beginning of another stage of our interaction. Plus, I realized that it was an open learning space in which I could invite friends and even former students to be there as they shared their interest in language learning. Another great aspect was that Ning was visually appealing and had features of a social networking that my younger students just love, infinite possibilities to add photos, videos, music, whatever they feel like sharing.
    Well, not to mention the fact that I requested an ad-free space. I got a first prompt reply saying that my students were adults. I told them that I had also invited teens for the space, and another quick reply: the ads had been removed! How cool is it to have a learning space with collaborative features which are just an educator’s dream plus the attention and support that every human being wish for in any service?
    Thanks Ning Team! Part of my education and my learner’s success will certainly be due to your never-ending support to the educational community.
    Visit ListeningPlus and join us!
    Originally published at 

    Week 4 – Extra Listening Practice

    We’ve gone from teens to love stories this week.
    For extra practice, I’d like to suggest the following listenings. Listen to as many as you can and you’re interested in. Remember, you’ll always be able to get back to this blog and keep practicing. After your listening practice, access the “comment” area and free-write having in mind the following questions:
    What was the main point of the listening?
    What are the lessons you can take from it?
    How relevant was the listening to help you develop your skills?

    Isabel Allende’s Listening Activity

    Isabel Allende’s story is about gains and losses. It’s about suffering, learning and recovering.
    It’s time to reflect upon her story and relate it to the principles that guide you.
    In the “Comment Box”, first, write about the listening strategies you used to understand this amazing Latin novelist’s anecdote. Then, tell us more about your own beliefs in your daily life.
    • What are your beliefs?
    • Why are they important?
    • Where do those principles come from? Family history? A lesson you learned?


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