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
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?
Listening to something is not enough to enhance our abilities in the target language. You need to check what you understood from that listening and go beyond. There needs to be practice, interaction with others, use of the vocabulary and structure you’ve been exposed to in order to make sense out of the bits of information you received.
So, after accessing our online bookmarks at
http://del.icio.us/listeningplus/places and performing the listening task, share as much information as you think it would be interesting for your classmates and instructor to know about.
• Make sure you mention the following aspects of the listening task as you write your blog comment:
- What was the listening about?
- What was the link for it?
- Which listening strategy did you use to get the most out of it?
- Was it interesting? What did you learn that you didn`t know before?
- Is there anything you still want to investigate about this place?
• Finish your post with a question for the others to reply to you. This is a great strategy to keep the dialog flowing!
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?