Lesson: Technology, Social Media_B class lyceum

It was interesting for  me, the teacher, to get students to reflect on the data analysis of surveys they have taken part in.  One was on the students' use of Messenger for the European Parliament School Programme (EPAS) and the other was a chart from our SELFIE school report on students' use of technology outside school.

  To be exact, I created a questionnaire on SurveyMonkey so as to see the impact of the use of Facebook Messenger  on two classes involved in the EPAS programme.  I find it interesting for me to start using Messenger after discussing with students ways to learn more about the EU Parliament and EU issues that affect them and all of us for that matter. 

  Some of the learning outcomes in the English language curriculum at B1+ B2 level is students to be able to interprete graphs, charts, draw conclusions and evaluate findings, make an argument and support it.  In light of this, the lesson was designed to serve this purpose.  

The following experiences and thoughts came out from this lesson:

-students provided reasons for claims they made

-they interpreted charts well using appropriate words and expressions for charts ( such expressions were taught in a previous lesson on unemployment in Cyprus and the EU, and they were brought up again)

-they evaluated the data and drew conclusions on them

-they discussed the use of Messenger for educational purposes

-the use of messenger (sharing material mainly in the form of videos and putting no restraints on students - it is up to them if they will watch them or not - overall, had a positive effect on student learning

-it was a motivation and challenge for students to post their comments on the European Youth Event website.  Some interesting and well-thought claims were made by the students

-f2fdiscussion in class extends to online via wiki discussion forums and other websites/blogs.  I must confess that there has been a good reason to increase  discussions for my classes; that is the results of the questionnaire entitled  Language awareness and Learning that was administered in our school in they year 2016-17.  Discussions was one of the top 3 activities that help students learn a language best. 

-it makes a lot of sense to get students watch videos for school work/programmes as indicated in the results of the questionnaire Language awareness and Learning.  Students prefer  to do  speaking, viewing and listening in class than reading and writing. (see Questionnaire results at:http://edleventslykeiokykkosb.wikispaces.com/Questionnaire

-I am glad that I have learned to be make instruction data driven

Overall, I think the lesson provided opportunities for students to develop 21st century skills. 

Informal interview via skype_1/2/2018

 

This lesson was an opportunity for the students to connect with a person living in another country, learn about life/studies/work in the UK which is an authentic, real life situation. It links to the thematic units of lifestyle, work, unemployment, education, culture. It has been students’ request to connect with people in other countries so this served as a motivation for students to learn.  What’s more, our school involvement in the “European Parliament Ambassador School Programme" (EPAS) inspired and urged me and my students to connect with people in other countries and learn about lifestyle and EU issues.

This lesson exemplified what I consider as one of the greatest uses of technology – that of connecting people from anywhere in the world.  In this case, skype was used for educational purposes where students applied their knowledge and skills to make an informal interview.

Specifically, the lesson offered students:

-a real audience

-an authentic task (real interview in real time)

-the experience of practising their listening and speaking skills in an interview

-developing cultural awareness by learning about culture in another country, the impact it has on people and comparing that culture with their own

-the chance to use social media (skype application) for educational purposes

I consider important to receive students’ feedback on lessons in general, especially when trying something new, for lesson evaluation and instruction planning.  This is why I got my students' feedback using voice recording. 

Lesson preparation: Frankly, the technical preparation for the skype session was little as it was limited to a laptop with a camera, speakers and internet access. That was what I had available for the day the skype session was arranged (1/2/2018), but we did it. Of course, this was adequate for the small group of students I had but for larger groups, a larger screen and headphones would be required. 


Overall, it was interesting to see my students' participating in the interview and being engaged throughout the lesson.  Interestingly, they adapted the questions when the interviewee gave information relating to questions they were planning to ask. They could retell the interviewee's answers and pinpointed key elements.  

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The draft of  questions the students' prepared were shared via messenger for quick access but also posted on the class wiki (only seen by users).

LIVE LINK_23 Feb 2018

Finding out that our school was the nominee for the 2nd live link of the EPAS programme, I realised that this would be an interesting challenge for the students.  Although only three students would attend the live link (Students interview politicians), I considered important that all students look into EU matters and select three to four EU issues they are interested to learn more about.  I am glad that I have linked the thematic units of the English class with correlating EU themes.

Preparation:The EPAS booklet modules have helped but I felt that more information was needed to prepare students for the interview.  Students in groups selected the topics of interest to them and apart from relevant links with information on their selected themes-migration, unemployment, environmental issues) - which were posted on their wiki, they did extra search on the internet. It was interesting to see students taking the lead, exhibiting a motive for learning more about crucial EU issues that affect their lives, all all Europeans for that matter.  The process of writing the questions on the set topic was very interesting as the questions demonstrated their knowledge on the topic  and questioning skill.
The use of technology, and specifically our wiki and connection via email and messenger  facilitated updates on the work and feedback from me.  Interestingly, the EU audio visual material from the EU parliament website I shared with them via our messenger group, has provided them with the latest information about directives and generally information on the issues understudy. I must admit that I had never used messenger before that but as I found out that students use it and they find it convenient, a student created the group in order to  share videos and other EU information.  Students have even watched online interviews of the politicians they would interview so that they can learn more about them and the position they hold in the set topics.  Messenger worked and I was impressed when students came to class and commented on some of the videos they watched.
  Speaking/questioning skills: Ss got the message :being good listeners (being very attentive to what the speaker says so that they can ask questions at specific points made and adjust questions accordingly).
I was impressed to see a student come up with questions on the latest  news.

The live link in action
I liked my role as a viewer and students as actors(in this case interviewers of an EU MP Mrs Eleni Theocharous and Cyprus MP, Mrs Eleni Mavrou.  I was glad to see my students relaxed.  They had their questions and hardly any notes with them.  The whole interview ran smoothly and at the end of the interview, the participants seemed happy with how it all went.  The chat after the interview  gave me and my students a feeling of accomplishment.

Take a Step Forward

Three more  A' classes have participated in the workshop Take a step forward.  They liked the different class setting and organisation which is very different from their conventional sitting arrangement in two's.  For a change, they sat in  a circle, followed by standing in line and taking steps forward and observing the position of others and lastly, debriefing.  They completed exit cards at the end of the session which I consider valuable feedback.  What follows is their exit card notes:

Three things I learned
There are people with financial problems.
Some people have ease.
To respect other people.
The salaries of my jobs
That some people look happy but not in reality
I feel good about my body and health
There are people that can't afford certain things
You can't know everything
Not all people are economically stable
They are in a better position than others
they can live a better life because their parents have a lot of money
Many people are not able to have basic things
to be tolerant, not racist, social with everyone
to respect others (4)
to have rights
about unemployed people
people of other religions
people of other countries
My place in the society
My rights
Some people are not objective (translated)
There are more people who cannot decide about their life (translated)
Foreigners do ot have rights
Rich people can do whatever they want
to be social (translated)
not racist (translated)
 levels of people(translated)
To know the rights other people have
All people have some rights
some people can do what they want  but some others can't
Respect all types of people (2)
The value of work/a job (3 translated
Many people live a difficult situation
the value of money
Many people are not able to have the basic needs
It's not a shame to be someone else
Some people have more difficulties that they seem to have
I won't talk about people without knowing what they've been through. 
Some people are lucky
I feel the  situation of others
I learned that all people have problems
I learned the meaning of life
People with a lot of money can do anothing
people who don;t have money can;t do anything
practised my listening
feelings
things
not everyone has all the comforts (translated)
I got into the role of another person whom I didn't know how he lives
I learned new words (2)
nationalities
took somebody else's role (2)
people's rights
To get into the role of someone else  (2)(translated)
I learned to think more open-minded
I learned about the rights of different people
I learned things, new words and understand about others
respect
I felt weak because I had to find a serious solution (translated)
the ones from lower social groups have less so they cannot fulfill what they want (translated)
problems that people have
empapthy (translated)
none
I learned new words
learned to see things from a different perspective
We must protect the people we loe (tranlsated)

What I want to learn more about
How the people without jobs feel
How much money I get
how my life will be in another situation
Some people feel depressed
poor people
How it is in other countries (translated)
people's rights
most people are not so lucky as others
Every single person has his own problem
Some people are victims of war
Nothing (2)
Rigths others have
to respect others
About other rights and about the difficulties that other people have
about  unemployed people
Because there were many like those examples
Nothing
Some people have good iving conditions but others don't
To learn the rights of other people
The rights of other people
how is life of some people who have financial problems and if they have the same rights like us
How to get money
How to get a better job
About the people and what they can do
Other people's lives
How to make more money
How to steal so that I have money
How my father felt as a refugee
how rich people spend their money
the lifestyle
the culture
the life of this style person
other people's problems
new cultures, religions
more about how is the life of someone
more rights than those people have
harsher situations  (translated)


A difficulty I had
emotional problem
I don't have (3)
To decide whether the statements refer to me
understanding others
for the problems, for the wars, for the refugees
Nothing (3)
To understand if I should take a step forward
To guess who the others are
To realise other people's right
I was a single young mother
Be in someone else's place and face their problem
I don't know the character of he person
thinking about the life of my role
I couldn't step forward about anything
Didn't understand some words
Needed translation of two words
I didn't know some words
To read some words
having a girl's role
none
The problem which referred to me (translated)