CONSONANT CLUSTERS

Good evening!

I hope that today you are able to follow instructions accurately. All you need to do is read all the instructions bellow.

1. Read all the instructions before you do anything.

2. Find 100 websites related to phonetics and phonology.

3. Create a summary of 200 words for each of the websites.

4. Find information about what are Consonant Clusters.

5. Create a post in your blog with the title Consonant Clusters.

6. Define what are consonant clusters in your post as number one.

7. Answer this question in a complete sentence in your post as number two: Which is the longest consonant cluster in English?

8. Make a list of 10 words that have difficult consonant clusters for pronunciation.

9. Post the 10 words, write its definition, write the letters that make the consonant cluster, and its recording (using vocaroo.com) so that they look like this:

1. throughout: all the way through. Consonant Cluster: thr




2. risk: a situation involving exposure to danger. Consonant Cluster: sk




Continue like this for the other words.

Make sure you number each word as the example.

(Ask your teacher for assistance to do this part, if your teacher is busy see if one of your classmates can help you)

10. At the end of your post write a reflection about what you learned in this class.

11. Only do the instructions starting from number 5.

12. Publish your post.


Thank you for following instructions properly. This websites may help you in finding words:

http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1spanish.html

http://edition.englishclub.com/esl-magazine/pronunciation-25-words/

http://edition.englishclub.com/esl-magazine/pronunciation-50-words/

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/ReferenceMaterials/glossaryofliteracyterms/WhatIsAConsonantCluster.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/clustersindex.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/clusters/blender/game.shtml

Creating a BLOG!!

Hello students.

Today we will create a tool that we will use for our future classes. We will create a blog. In the following videos you will learn about blogs. Before watching the videos be sure to follow these instructions:

1. Create a KWL chart like this one in a Word document and fill in the first column.

K What I know about Blogs…	W What I want to know about blogs…	L What I learnt about blogs…

2. Watch this video

3. And now fill in the second column by writing down in your own words what is a Blog in the same word document.

4. Watch this video:

5. Create your Blog. Make sure the Title of your blog is "(YOUR NAME) UPPER-INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH BLOG", and the url of your blog "(YOURNAME)UPPER-INTERMEDIATE" (all together).

6. Fill in the last Column of your chart.

7. Create your first post like this:

Title: My first post

Body: Copy/Paste the work you did in the Word document.

8. Identify the url of your blog (e.g. http://masterzea.blogspot.com/).

9. Go to http://masterzea.wikispaces.com/ click on EDIT, and in the chart write your code, name, and the url of your blog. Finally click on save.

Thanks for your work!

Bye bye!

Wɛlkəm!

Today we will Do our final work with the phonetic alphabet IPA. Just follow the instructions to do today's activity.

In a word document with the title: Pronunciation Exercises. Create a chart as follows:

Word	My IPA transcription	Correct IPA transcription	My pronunciation link

Now follow this instructions to fill the chart.

1. Select 5 of the following words and write them in the first column:

gorgeous, thoroughly, daughter, challenge, enhance, variety, influence, effect, whistle, throughout

2. Listen to their pronunciation by using this website. Practice your own pronunciation.

3. Try making the phonetic transcription according to what you heard. You can use the this website to make it. Copy your phonetic transcription in the second column.

4. Use the following website to verify the correct transcription and write it in the third column.

5. Now practice again the pronunciation of the words. Record them. Compare them with the exercise done in step 2. And when you are ready, go to step 6.

6. Record your pronunciation of the words in this website. Paste the link in the last column of your chart.

7. How was this exercise useful for you? Write your answer under the chart.

Thank you for your hard work. At the end of the exercise, please e-mail me your work to jorge.zea@ugc.edu.co Please write in the subject: (Your Name) Phonetics and Phonology

Sharing the project

The following is the presentation I have prepared in order to present the findings of the research project developed:

Online Video-making Tasks to Motivate Autonomy

View more presentations from Jorge Zea Gonzalez.

Concluding

After the long process, of this Action Research project, I have come up with the following conclusion,

Online video-making tasks increased fourth graders motivation for the following autonomous learning behaviors: Choosing different aspects of the learning process, cooperating with the learning process of peers, self-assessing the progress of learning, defining clear learning goals, and organizing the student’s own learning process. Along the side of the online video-making tasks the following motivational strategies were used: allowing learners real choices about their learning process, handing over functions to the learners for cooperative work, and the teacher adopting the role of a facilitator.

Animoto, Xtranormal and MashFace

MashFace

MashFace is an interesting tool that gives entertainment for students while learning. It is a website that enables the user to add video segments into a photograph. This means that the learners can add their voice and mouth to a picture of any character. In order to use this web program the user requires a web-cam and a microphone. Finally, it interacts with YouTube in order to share the mashes with people that not necessarily have an account in MashFace.

Xtranormal

Xtranormal is an online program allows making animated videos by typing a script and choosing character and scenario options. It is basically used for monologues or conversations. It guides in a clear way the manner that the user is supposed to create the movies. Also, it gives many options that allow learners to be creative; they can create characters and settings, change the position of the cameras, and change the voices. This program allows you to upload videos to YouTube. There is information from different blogs that have spoken about the utilities of this website in the classroom, such as Peachey (2008). He states that this site can offer many possibilities for students to exercise different activities of language use. The researcher has also used this website for small scale projects and has found that Xtranormal motivates students to do written tasks.

Animoto

Animoto is an online video-making site that allows learners to create picture and sound videos. The purpose of this program is to create presentations that mix pictures with sound. It can be used to create stories or presentations about different topics. This is a friendly using site and very secure, because it only allows the user to see its videos, however you can also share the videos you create with YouTube. One of the great aspects of Animoto is that it has a special site for animations. In this website: http://education.animoto.com/ there are examples on how teachers have been using this online program in and outside the classroom. Swiatek (2008) remarks the use of this site for children; he states that it is a great way for our “digital age” students to produce and share knowledge.

The ideas behind this project

The following constructs were the basis of this project:

Autonomy in the field of language learning

Wu (2008) states that teachers should cultivate a kind of learner that can continue a Life Long Learning process independently.

Brown (2007, p. 377) states that autonomy is the “individual effort and action through which learners initiate learning, strategic action, problem solving, and the generation of linguistic input”.

Autonomous learning behaviors

Different authors have drawn a set of behaviors that define an autonomous learner (Benson, 2001; Brown, 2007; Dörnyei, 2006; Harmer, 2007):

· An autonomous learner chooses different aspects of the learning process (materials, activities, topics, assignments, etc.).

· An autonomous learner cooperates with the learning process of peers.

· An autonomous learner self-assesses the progress of learning.

· An autonomous learner defines clear learning goals.

· An autonomous learner organizes his/her learning process.

From Dörnyei’s (2006) point of view there are certain strategies that the teacher can adopt to motivate autonomous learning behavior:

• Allow learners real choices about as many aspects of the learning process as possible.
• Hand over functions to the learners for cooperative work.
• Adopt the role of a facilitator.

Online video-making tasks

For the present study, I have decided to use online video-making tasks to motivate young learners for autonomous behavior. The reason for choosing this tool is because learners need opportunities to use technology as a part of their personal development. According to Beatty (2003) children are able to handle technology in ways that amaze their teachers; following Beatty’s view, teachers must allow technology to be a part of the classroom and use it as a way to motivate children towards autonomy.