Şule's Learning Diary

Hi my dear friends! We have finally come to the end of this term. As an English Language Teaching (ELT) student, this semester has been transformative, thanks to the "Current Issues in Teaching" course. Coming from limited experience with technology, the course opened a new world of teaching techniques and material preparation to me. The "AR/VR Material" preparation assignment was a notable creating that greatly helped my career growth. While it was difficult at first, learning how to use the tools was quite helpful. It took time and work, but the benefits were enormous: I was able to teach much better and became more adept at incorporating technology. This course has improved my technical proficiency and encouraged creativity, which will help me be a more effective teacher. As I think back on the journey, I advise upcoming students to embrace the technology they will come across. It could take some effort to understand the tools, but the benefits are si...

Hi everyone, My classmates İrem Sıla Çimen , Murat Berkay Bozkurt and I developed an AI-focused material for high school preparatory classes, based on the "celebrities" unit in their books as a creative educational project. As the pre-task, students needed to communicate with ChatGPT in order to learn more about selected celebrities. ChatGPT was asked to create personalized profiles of the students' favorite celebrities for the target task. Ultimately, they were able to carry out imaginary interviews through a post-task on "Notion.so", which encouraged both creativity and AI exploration. This interactive approach demonstrated the potential of technology in educational facilities while also making learning about artificial intelligence entertaining. AI combined with the appeal of celebrities turned an ordinary lesson into an engaging journey for young minds. Pre-task: Target task: Post-task: Sign up first by clicking here. Then access the...

Me and my group friends İrem Sıla Çimen and Murat Berkay Bozkurt  prepared an AR/VR Material. Today I will talk about the AR/VR technology and the process of our material. Using AR/VR to explore Istanbul's rich history is an immersive experience that goes beyond standard education. Our content, created with Canva, explores popular attractions such as the Archaeological Museum, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Galata Tower, and Hagia Sophia. We enable readers to easily explore deeper into historical facts by integrating data matrices. This content was created through a creative integration of technology and design, guaranteeing a fun and instructive experience. Canva's accessible platform made creation easy, and AR/VR technologies brought history to life with an additional layer of involvement. Conventional approaches in language instruction are redefined by AR/VR technologies. The capacity to virtually experience historical places improves understanding and memory, providing a lively and ...

Hi everyone, today i'm gonna talk about flipped teaching videos. In today's dynamic educational landscape, the flipped classroom approach has gained prominence for its innovative teaching methodology. This model reverses traditional learning by introducing students to new content at home through engaging videos, allowing valuable classroom time for discussions and interactive activities. The advantages are manifold, promoting personalized learning as students can pace themselves, fostering deeper understanding through collaborative in-class experiences. However, the flipped classroom isn't without its challenges. Students may struggle with self-directed learning, and access to technology at home can create disparities. Educators also face the task of creating high-quality content, ensuring it is accessible to all. My partner Murat Berkay Bozkurt  and I used Canva, a flexible design platform, to create an instructional video about different movie genres. I was ab...

Welcome to my blog again, folks! Today my groupmate Çimen (you can reach her blog by clicking here ) and I prepared a corpus-based teaching material (a worksheet). When designing the worksheet that distinguishes between "lose" and "loose," the main goals were to improve students' comprehension of these frequently misunderstood terms and to emphasize how they should be used in both written and spoken communication. This content is intended for middle school through high school students as well as those studying English as a second language. Grammar and vocabulary are taught with the goal of improving learners' language precision by helping them distinguish between homophones. Students will learn to distinguish between "lose" (to suffer a loss) and "loose" (not securely or tightly kept in place) through a variety of activities, including definitions, fill-in-the-blanks, and context-based exercises. They will also be able to appl...

Hi guys! We have finally come to the end of the term and it's time to summarize my thoughts about my experiences since the beginning of the term. We have done many projects, used many tools and i have learned a lot. First of all (I always emphasize this) they have improved me a lot as someone who doesn't know technology well. I wasn't very good at editing videos, adjusting sound settings and designing. I think that i have learned what i need both as a student and as a teacher. Therefore, courses in which we do language-related digital works are absolutely necessary. At first i thought it would be very difficult and boring but my prejudices were broken. I found it useful and entertaining especially in podcasting and PSA works as my speaking improved. I thought that technology is inevitable in English language teaching before i took this course, but after i experienced it myself, i understood better. My thoughts have evolved rather than changed.  I have had the most fun while...