Thinking Activity: lead writing and feature writing

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Welcome to my blog. This blog related to the  feature  writing  and lead writing. 

☆What is feature writing?

 The best rule in feature writing is to observe no rules, aside from those of basic journalistic style and structure. The best lead for the feature story is a natural extension of the story - nothing forced or contrived without consideration to the tone or subject of the story.

■Examples of feature  writing:

stories include news features, profiles, spot features, trend stories, and live-ins. Feature stories can be found in the main news section of a newspaper, especially if they profile a person or group currently in the news.

Unlike the traditional summary lead, feature leads can be several sentences long, and the writer may not immediately reveal the story’s main idea. The most common types used in feature articles are anecdotal leads and descriptive leads. An anecdotal lead unfolds slowly. It lures the reader in with a descriptive narrative that focuses on a specific minor aspect of the story that leads to the overall topic. The following is an example of an anecdotal lead:

Sharon Jackson was sitting at the table reading an old magazine when the phone rang. It was a reporter asking to set up an interview to discuss a social media controversy involving Jackson and another young woman.“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to several reporters about the incident and do not wish to make any further comments.”

☆ What is lead writing? 

A lead (also known as a lede) is the first paragraph or several paragraphs of a story, be it a blog entry or a long article. Its mission is to catch readers' attention and draw them in. ... It summarizes a story, and lets the reader know the essence of what it contains.

■Example of  lead writing:

Straight news lead. Just the facts, please, and even better if interesting details and context are packed in. ... 

Anecdotal lead. This type of lead uses an anecdote to illustrate what the story is about. 

=Scene-setting lead. 

=First-person lead. 

=Observational lead. 

=Zinger lead.

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Thinking Activity : what is web 2.0 ?

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Here on my blog.  This blog related to the  web  2.0 

☆ What is web 2.0  ?  : 

The concept behind Web 2.0 refers to rich web applications, web-oriented architecture, and social web. It refer to changes in the ways web pages are designed and used by the users, without any change in any technical specifications.

A Web 2.0 website allows users to interact and collaborate with each other through social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. This contrasts the first generation of Web 1.0-era websites where people were limited to viewing content in a passive manner. Examples of Web 2.0 features include social networking sites or social media sites (e.g., Facebook), blogs, wikis, folksonomies ("tagging" keywords on websites and links), video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube), image sharing sites (e.g., Flickr), hosted services, Web applications ("apps"), collaborative consumption platforms, and mashup applications.

Whether Web 2.0 is substantially different from prior Web technologies has been challenged by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who describes the term as jargon.

The term was invented by Darcy DiNucci in 1999 and later popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference in late 2004.

At the first conference in 2004, the term was defined by “the web as platform.” This, however, was augmented the following year with a still more nebulous expression incorporating the idea of democracy and user-driven content, especially as mediated by the Internet. In particular, many of the most vocal advocates of the Web 2.0 concept had an almost messianic view of harnessing social networking for business goals.So the major difference between web 1.0 and web 2.0 is that web 2.0 websites enable users to create, share, collaborate and communicate their work with others, without any need of any web design or publishing skills. These capabilities were not present in Web 1.o environment.

☆Advantages of Web 2.0:

◇Available at any time, any place.

◇Variety of media.

◇Ease of usage.

◇Learners can actively be involved in knowledge building.

◇Can create dynamic learning communities.

◇Everybody is the author and the editor, every edit that has been made can be tracked.

◇User-friendly.

◇ Updates in the wiki are immediate and it offers more sources for researchers.

It provides real-time discussion.

☆ web 2.0 tools which  can  be used  in teaching : 

I will go with Blog. Because  many of skills   we can development.We think a lot and then we write. Another many of we can used . For example  like; Facebook  and blogger. Web 2.0 examples include hosted services (Google Maps),Web applications ( Google Docs, Flickr), Video sharing sites (YouTube), wikis (MediaWiki), blogs (WordPress), social networking (Facebook), folksonomies (Delicious), Microblogging (Twitter), podcasting (Podcast Alley) & content hosting services and many more.

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Thinking Activity: History of CALL and MALL and also my experience of using mobile phone for learning and teaching.

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Welcome  to my  blog. This blog  related  to the History  of CALL  and MALL. And also about  my experience  of using  mobile  phone for learning  and teaching. 

☆ History of  CALL :

CALL's origins can be traced back to the 1960s. Up until the late 1970s CALL projects were confined mainly to universities, where computer programs were developed on large mainframe computers.Traditional CALL programs presented a stimulus to which the learner had to provide a response. In early CALL programs the stimulus was in the form of text presented on screen, and the only way in which the learner could respond was by entering an answer at the keyboard. Some programs were very imaginative in the way text was presented, making use of colour to highlight grammatical features (e.g. gender in French and case endings in German) and movement to illustrate points of syntax (e.g. position of adjectives in French and subordinate clause word order in German). Discrete error analysis and feedback were a common feature of traditional CALL, and the more sophisticated programs would attempt to analyse the learner's response, pinpoint errors, and branch to help and remedial activities. A typical example of this approach is the CLEF package for learners of French, which was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by a consortium of Canadian universities. A Windows version of CLEF has recently been released:

☆  About  my experience  of  using mobile phone for learning  and teaching:

Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. While early generations of mobile learning tended to propose activities that were carefully crafted by educators and technologists, learners increasingly motivates  by their personal learning needs, including those arising from greater mobility and frequent travel. At the same time, it is often argued that mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning - claims that have obvious relevance for language learning.A review of publications reporting mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) was undertaken to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support social contact and collaborative learning.In particular, we were interested in speaking and listening practice and in the possibilities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction in the context of online and distance learning. We reflect on how mobile language learning has developed to date and suggest directions for  future , for instance).Having defined mobile learning (m-learning) in the next section, this paper then offers an overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) research, describing and critiquing the approaches taken. We ask whether MALL can currently successfully support collaborative listening and speaking activities. Based on the findings of earlier studies, we suggest areas for further research.

☆What is mobile learning?

Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. Early generations of mobile learning projects tended to propose formally-designed activities, carefully crafted by educators and technologists, and using emerging technologies that were not yet widely accessible well understood. Current, widespread ownership of mobile and wireless devices means that learners are increasingly in a position to take the lead and engage in activities motivated by their personal needs and circumstances of use, including those arising from greater mobility and travel .

☆An Overview of Mobile Assisted Language: 

 Learning 275Although mobile phones were developed to allow oral interaction, MALL rarelyseems to make use of this affordance, at least in published research. Exceptions arefound in a study at Stanford University (Tomorrow’s Professor Listserv, 2002) and inthe learning and teaching of Irish as a Second Language (ISL), as reported by Clooney& Keogh (2007). In the Stanford research, native speakers of the target language (L2)coached learners via mobile phone. This approach was abandoned when scheduling difficulties intervened. A second activity requiring oral interaction was also tested atStanford University, where learners used their mobile phones to take part in automaticvoice-controlled grammar and vocabulary quizzes. Although these were accessible at any time and from any location (provided there was mobile phone network coverage),the activity was abandoned, primarily because of problems with voice recognition software. Although this study promoted oral production, like many other documentedMALL activities, it used the mobile device to deliver materials, albeit materials to which the learner could respond rather than receive passively.

☆  Kukulska-Hulme & Lesley Shield :participated, and the time available was restricted to one week (the length of a summer school) so the final, collaborative activities – creating blogs and wikis – did not happen.Despite these issues, analysis of the data obtained revealed several points worthy further investigation. Learners:•  needs time to learn how to use the new devices and software. When interviewed after taking part in the research, the majority were unaware the devices were multifunctional;• use devices in unpredictable ways. Although given advice about how they might use the devices, learners did not necessarily follow this. One of the activities at residential schools requires them to interview local residents using L2. Tutors suggested these interviews could be recorded to supplement any notes taken. Nostudent took this advice, preferring instead to record each other using L2 andar to take photographs of items, such as shop windows, that they considered representative of the target culture. Anecdotally, however, one Spanish tutor reported that students who had used the devices went on to make more oral contributions in class than those who had not;• do not use devices they consider intrusive. Mini-camcorders were used less often than voice recorders because learners considered the former “got in the way”.

. Mobile phones Naismith et al. (2004) refer to the fact that a web-based Japanese system for English language learning – Pocket Eijiro – receives more than 100,000 hits per day. Thissystem was designed for access via WAP-enabled mobile phones. Morita (2003) also draws attention to the popularity of this material and emphasises the necessity to redesign web-based material for mobile access. Web- and mobile-based learners may have different needs, he suggests:“A WBT [web-based training] system assumes that learners will prepare time to study in front of a computer, but a MBL [mobile-based learning] system ought to assume that learners will not prepare time to learn with MBL; instead the learning takes place in their spare-time such as during their waiting time." 

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Thinking Activity : David crystal 's view on English Language and ELT

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Here on my blog. This blog related to  David  crystal 's view  on English  language  and ELT. 

☆ Few Introduction  about  David Crystal: 

DAVID CRYSTAL is one of the world’s foremost authorities on language.He is author of the hugely successful Cambridge encyclopedia of language(1987; second edition 1997), Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (1995), Language death (2000), Language and the Internet

(2001) and Shakespeare’s words (2002, with Ben Crystal). An interna-tionally renowned writer, journal editor, lecturer and broadcaster, hereceived an OBE in 1995for his services to the study and teaching ofthe English language. His edited books include several editions of TheCambridge encyclopedia (1990–2000) and related publications, Wordson words (2000, with Hilary Crystal) and The new Penguin encyclopedia (2002).

☆ David crystal's  view  on  English language  and ELT  :  Click here this video

There are two main ways in which this can be done. Firstly, alanguage can be made the official language of a country, to be usedas a medium of communication in such domains as government,the law courts, the media, and the educational system. To get onin these societies, it is essential to master the official language asearly in life as possible.Click here this video

David Crystal's informative account of the rise of English as a global language explores the history, current status and potential of English as the international language of communication. This new edition of his classic work includes additional sections on the future of English as a world language, English on the Internet, and the possibility of an English “family” of languages. Footnotes, new tables, and a comprehensive bibliography reflect the expanded scope of the revised edition. An internationally renowned scholar in the field of language and linguistics, David Crystal received an Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his services to the English language. Click here this video

Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood. There is no point in paying to send a message if it breaks so many rules that it ceases to be intelligible. When messages are longer, containing more information, the amount of standard orthography increases. Many texters alter just the grammatical words (such as "you" and "be"). As older and more conservative language users have begun to text, an even more standardised style has appeared. Some texters refuse to depart at all from traditional orthography. And conventional spelling and punctuation is the norm when institutions send out information messages, as in this university text to students: "Weather Alert! No classes today due to snow storm", or in the texts which radio listeners are invited to send in to programmes. These institutional messages now form the majority of texts in cyberspace - and several organisations forbid the use of abbreviations, knowing that many readers will not understand them. Bad textiquette.

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Thinking Activity: Technology , education and ELT

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This  blog related to the  technology   and education.   Technology  is the very important  in education. 

☆ Summarize  thoughts expressed  by the speakers in to consideration  in context  of  technology  in education (in general) and ELT  ( in particular )

Answer: 

● Education, Technology and ELT

Technology has always been an important part of teaching and learning environment. It is an essential part of the teachers’ profession through which they can use it to facilitate learners’ learning. When we talk about technology in teaching and learning, the word ‘integration’ is used. With technology being part of our everyday lives, it is time to rethink the idea of integrating technology into the curriculum and aim to embed technology into teaching to support the learning process. That is to say, technology becomes an integral part of the learning experience and a significant issue for teachers, from the beginning of preparing learning experiences through to teaching and learning process.

Teachers should be convinced of the usefulness and advantages of technology in improving learners’ learning. This means that teachers need support and training for integrating technology into language teaching. The review revealed that when technology is used appropriately, it can bring about a lot of advantages to teachers and learners. It is a resource that can be used by learners because it helps them solve their learning problems and find methods to use what they have learnt in ways that are effective and meaningful. In addition, the review literature indicated that the use of technologies plays a key role in language learning based on their own pace, helps in self-understanding, does not stop interaction with the teacher, and creates high motivation in learners for the effective learning of language skills. Furthermore, the paper represented that learners should use technology to enhance their language skills because it has as a crucial role in developing learners’ creativity and provides them with interesting, enjoyable, and exciting alternatives to study the language. To sum up, the findings of this literature review showed that technology provides interaction between teachers and learners, provides comprehensible input and output, helps learners to develop thinking skills, makes learning and teaching becomes more student-centered, promotes learners’ autonomy and helps them feel more confident, and increases learners’ motivation to effectively learn a foreign language.

The use of technology has become an important part of the learning process in and out of the class.This study focuses on the role of using new technologies in learning English as a second/foreign language. It discussed different attitudes which support English language learners to increase their learning skills through using technologies. In this paper, the researcher defined the term technology 

and technology integration, explained the use of technology in language classroom, reviewed previous studies on using technologies in improving language learning skills, and stated certain recommendations for the better use of these technologies, which assist learners in improving their learning skills. The literature review indicated that the effective use of new technologies improves learners’ language learning skills.

Technology in English language teaching has therefore become indispensable, especially in the wake of unprecedented developments across numerous fields and disciplines. It is essential that the education sector keep apace of the global technological revolution by adopting modern technological means such as computerization, multi-media devices, mobile phones, audio/visual effects applications, and social media, to optimize English language instruction and equip teachers to connect with classroom language learners in a systematic and advanced way. The Internet provides easy, immediate, and virtually unlimited access to software, applications, and a host of ancillary platforms and materials which can expedite.In addition to practical educational experience, educational technology is based on theoretical knowledge from various disciplines such as communication, education, psychology, sociology, artificial intelligence, and computer science.If we see students who are learning in traditional method, then we can find that they are not able to catch things with one reading, but if the same thing is taught by showing them video then they can get it at one sight. With technology we can learn more things than with books only because technical tools can search worldwide example at the same time of our reading. Books were not able to do changes regarding the present time on the spot. These all things make technology useful in the education field.

Accordingly, there are several discrete aspects to describing the intellectual and technical development of educational technology:

Educational technology as the theory and practice of educational approaches to learning.Educational technology as technological tools and media, for instance massive online courses, that assist in the communication of knowledge, and its development and exchange. This is usually what people are referring to when they use the term "EdTech".

Educational technology for learning management systems (LMS), such as tools for student and curriculum management, and education management information systems (EMIS).

Educational technology as back-office management, such as training management systems for logistics and budget management, and Learning Record Store (LRS) for learning data storage and analysis.

Educational technology itself as an educational subject; such courses may be called "computer studies" or "information and communications technology (ICT)".

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Can technology replace teacher?

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 Here on my blog. This blog related to the technology replace teacher.

 ☆ Can technology replace teacher?

Answer:

Everyone has a different perception. But what I believe is that the answer to the above stated arguments is a big ‘No’. Technology cannot replace a teacher. Technology is merely an augmentation to a teacher. 

It can help the process of learning, but it certainly cannot replace the role of the teacher. Technology can make it easy to get educated by sitting at home but that education too is provided by a teacher. Even in online courses, we see that teachers are necessary to give lectures, whether in the form of videos, tutorials, Skype sessions, etc. Children still need to learn computers to operate those online sessions, which of course are taught by teachers. technology can certainly help teachers to reach out to more students reduce physical strain and save time for both of them, but there is no way technology can replace teachers at anytime.

 Technology Improves engagement of the students when it is integrated into lessons. It encourages collaboration amongst the students and the teacher. Students can also learn life skills through technology. It helps the teachers for better classroom transaction and support for both teaching and learning Wherein technology infuses classrooms with digital learning tools, such as computers tablets, hand held devices and learning materials, which builds 21st century skills. 

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