WHAT ABOUT YOUR PERSONALTY
Do we have a Personality disorder ?
Personality disorders are conditions in which an individual differs significantly from an average person, in terms of how they think, perceive, feel or relate to others.
Changes in how a person feels and distorted beliefs about other people can lead to odd behaviour, which can be distressing and may upset others.
The main symptoms are:
• being overwhelmed by negative feelings such as distress, anxiety, worthlessness or anger
• avoiding other people and feeling empty and emotionally disconnected
• difficulty managing negative feelings without self-harming (for example, abusing drugs and alcohol or taking overdoses) or, in rare cases, threatening other people
• odd behaviour
• difficulty maintaining stable and close relationships, especially with partners, children and professional carers
• sometimes, periods of losing contact with reality
Symptoms typically get worse with stress.
People with personality disorders often have other mental health problems, especially depression and substance misuse.
When and why personality disorders occur
Personality disorders typically emerge in adolescence and continue into adulthood.
They may be mild, moderate or severe, and people may have periods of 'remission' where they function well.
Personality disorders may be associated with genetic and family factors. Experiences of distress or fear during childhood, such as neglect or abuse, are common.
Types of personality disorder
Several different types of personality disorder are recognised. They can be broadly grouped into one of three clusters - A, B or C - which are summarised below.
Cluster A personality disorders
A person with a cluster A personality disorder tends to have difficulty relating to others and usually shows patterns of behaviour most people would regard as odd and eccentric. Others may describe them as living in a fantasy world of their own.
An example is paranoid personality disorder, where the person is extremely distrustful and suspicious.
Cluster B personality disorders
A person with a cluster B personality disorder struggles to regulate their feelings and often swings between positive and negative views of others. This can lead to patterns of behaviour others describe as dramatic, unpredictable and disturbing.
An example is borderline personality disorder, where the person is emotionally unstable, has impulses to self-harm and intense and unstable relationships with others.
Cluster C personality disorders
A person with a cluster C personality disorder struggles with persistent and overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear. They may show patterns of behaviour most people would regard as antisocial and withdrawn.
An example is avoidant personality disorder, where the person appears painfully shy, socially inhibited, feels inadequate and is extremely sensitive to rejection. The person may want to be close to others, but lacks confidence to form a close relationship.
How many people are affected?
Personality disorders are common mental health problems.
In England, it is estimated around 1 in every 20 people has a personality disorder. However, many people have only mild conditions so only need help at times of stress (such as bereavement). Other people with more severe problems may need specialist help for longer periods.
Outlook
Most people recover from personality disorders over time. Sometimes a psychological or medical treatment is helpful, or simply some sort of support. This depends on the severity of the disorder and whether there are ongoing problems.
Some mild to moderate personality disorders improve with psychotherapy.
Different types of psychological therapies have been shown to help people with personality disorders. However, there is no single approach that suits everyone and treatment should be tailored to the individual. Not all talking therapies are effective and it is essential they are delivered by a trained therapist
Jumat, 30 November 2012
TRY TO MOTIVATE YOUR UNMOTIVATED STUDENTS
Here are the tips
1. Use visual behavior tracking charts. – That’s right, reward charts aren’t just for preschoolers anymore. I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo at the top of this post) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload. Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity. Of course, a chart alone won’t do the trick unless the student wants the reward he’s working toward, which leads me to my next point.
2. Allow students to earn a “work free” speech session. – What does the unmotivated student want most? To be left alone! I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session “off” from speech work and just “play” on a computer or iPad during speech. (What they don’t realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)
3. Challenge students to beat their own “record” for a certain task. – Let’s face it; drill work is awful. It’s hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun! For example, I’ll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect “r” words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I’ll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best “record.” (I got this speed challenge idea from the “Superspeed” Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students’ goals.) Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.
4. Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students. – If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing. This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says.
5. Make tasks more hands-on. – One of my third grade students recently said to me, “I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff.” This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!). Good thing I wised up!
6. Make tasks more physical. – Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as “Simon Says,” “Mother May I,” “Hot/Cold,” “Lego Creator,” “Charades,” or “Pictionary.” These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others’ perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more. I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don’t need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me–they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me! And then, boy, we can make some progress.
7. Catch the student cooperating. – Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked –ex: “Great job using “although” in a sentence!”) I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by “whispering” to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student’s demeanor out of an unmotivated funk. (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)
8. Treat a few students to a special lunch “party” with you as a reward/motivator. – Our time is limited as school SLPs. But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students. For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward. I’ve had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that). You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.
9. Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. – If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence. And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.
10. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. – Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating. You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won’t work even for ahuge reward. But persist. Give it two weeks. Then, if it’s still not working, you can chat with the student’s learning team and try to modify your plan.
So, the next time you’re in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child’s learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student.
T.J. Ragan, MA, CCC – SLP
TRY TO MOTIVATE YOUR UNMOTIVATE STUDENTS
Here are the tips
1. Use visual behavior tracking charts. – That’s right, reward charts aren’t just for preschoolers anymore. I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo at the top of this post) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload. Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity. Of course, a chart alone won’t do the trick unless the student wants the reward he’s working toward, which leads me to my next point.
2. Allow students to earn a “work free” speech session. – What does the unmotivated student want most? To be left alone! I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session “off” from speech work and just “play” on a computer or iPad during speech. (What they don’t realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)
3. Challenge students to beat their own “record” for a certain task. – Let’s face it; drill work is awful. It’s hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun! For example, I’ll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect “r” words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I’ll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best “record.” (I got this speed challenge idea from the “Superspeed” Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students’ goals.) Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.
4. Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students. – If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing. This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says.
5. Make tasks more hands-on. – One of my third grade students recently said to me, “I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff.” This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!). Good thing I wised up!
6. Make tasks more physical. – Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as “Simon Says,” “Mother May I,” “Hot/Cold,” “Lego Creator,” “Charades,” or “Pictionary.” These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others’ perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more. I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don’t need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me–they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me! And then, boy, we can make some progress.
7. Catch the student cooperating. – Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked –ex: “Great job using “although” in a sentence!”) I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by “whispering” to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student’s demeanor out of an unmotivated funk. (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)
8. Treat a few students to a special lunch “party” with you as a reward/motivator. – Our time is limited as school SLPs. But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students. For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward. I’ve had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that). You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.
9. Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. – If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence. And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.
10. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. – Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating. You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won’t work even for ahuge reward. But persist. Give it two weeks. Then, if it’s still not working, you can chat with the student’s learning team and try to modify your plan.
So, the next time you’re in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child’s learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student.
T.J. Ragan, MA, CCC – SLP
Here are the tips
1. Use visual behavior tracking charts. – That’s right, reward charts aren’t just for preschoolers anymore. I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo at the top of this post) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload. Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity. Of course, a chart alone won’t do the trick unless the student wants the reward he’s working toward, which leads me to my next point.
2. Allow students to earn a “work free” speech session. – What does the unmotivated student want most? To be left alone! I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session “off” from speech work and just “play” on a computer or iPad during speech. (What they don’t realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)
3. Challenge students to beat their own “record” for a certain task. – Let’s face it; drill work is awful. It’s hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun! For example, I’ll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect “r” words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I’ll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best “record.” (I got this speed challenge idea from the “Superspeed” Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students’ goals.) Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.
4. Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students. – If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing. This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says.
5. Make tasks more hands-on. – One of my third grade students recently said to me, “I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff.” This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!). Good thing I wised up!
6. Make tasks more physical. – Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as “Simon Says,” “Mother May I,” “Hot/Cold,” “Lego Creator,” “Charades,” or “Pictionary.” These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others’ perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more. I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don’t need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me–they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me! And then, boy, we can make some progress.
7. Catch the student cooperating. – Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked –ex: “Great job using “although” in a sentence!”) I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by “whispering” to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student’s demeanor out of an unmotivated funk. (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)
8. Treat a few students to a special lunch “party” with you as a reward/motivator. – Our time is limited as school SLPs. But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students. For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward. I’ve had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that). You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.
9. Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. – If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence. And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.
10. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. – Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating. You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won’t work even for ahuge reward. But persist. Give it two weeks. Then, if it’s still not working, you can chat with the student’s learning team and try to modify your plan.
So, the next time you’re in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child’s learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student.
T.J. Ragan, MA, CCC – SLP
TRY TO MOTIVATE YOUR UNMOTIVATE STUDENTS
Here are the tips
1. Use visual behavior tracking charts. – That’s right, reward charts aren’t just for preschoolers anymore. I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo at the top of this post) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload. Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity. Of course, a chart alone won’t do the trick unless the student wants the reward he’s working toward, which leads me to my next point.
2. Allow students to earn a “work free” speech session. – What does the unmotivated student want most? To be left alone! I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session “off” from speech work and just “play” on a computer or iPad during speech. (What they don’t realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)
3. Challenge students to beat their own “record” for a certain task. – Let’s face it; drill work is awful. It’s hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun! For example, I’ll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect “r” words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I’ll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best “record.” (I got this speed challenge idea from the “Superspeed” Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students’ goals.) Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.
4. Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students. – If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing. This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says.
5. Make tasks more hands-on. – One of my third grade students recently said to me, “I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff.” This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!). Good thing I wised up!
6. Make tasks more physical. – Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as “Simon Says,” “Mother May I,” “Hot/Cold,” “Lego Creator,” “Charades,” or “Pictionary.” These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others’ perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more. I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don’t need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me–they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me! And then, boy, we can make some progress.
7. Catch the student cooperating. – Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked –ex: “Great job using “although” in a sentence!”) I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by “whispering” to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student’s demeanor out of an unmotivated funk. (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)
8. Treat a few students to a special lunch “party” with you as a reward/motivator. – Our time is limited as school SLPs. But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students. For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward. I’ve had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that). You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.
9. Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. – If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence. And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.
10. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. – Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating. You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won’t work even for ahuge reward. But persist. Give it two weeks. Then, if it’s still not working, you can chat with the student’s learning team and try to modify your plan.
So, the next time you’re in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child’s learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student.
T.J. Ragan, MA, CCC – SLP
The benefits of ICT in Language Learning
First and foremost, ICT–and the Internet in particular–provides language learners with the opportunity to use the language that they are learning in meaningful ways in authentic contexts. The Internet provides an easy and fast access to the use of current and authentic materials in the language being studied, which is motivating for the language learner. Such authentic materials include, for instance, online newspapers, webcasts, podcasts, newsroom video clips or even video sharing websites such as, say, YouTube. Where language teachers earlier searched and carried authentic materials like maps and train timetables to a classroom, they can now ask learners to access such information online, thus helping them learn with current and real-time materials. Another motivating language learning opportunity using ICT is provided by chat rooms and virtual environments such as Second Life where the language learner can practice not only the written use of the language, but also practice speaking and pronunciation, without the fear of making mistakes.
A second important benefit derived from the use of ICT in a language classroom is based on the opportunities it affords for cooperation and collaboration with one’s peers. Language teachers all over the world are introducing myriads of ICT-enhanced language learning projects, including simulations, between their students and groups in other countries, thus widening the language learning perspective into that of learning about the cultural context of the language being used. Previously, students or classes would write letters or later even e-mails to each other. Today, using ICT they can ‘skype’ or chat online, where they can not only write to each other in real-time, but also see each other and speak to each other online. Students are thus able to write, read, speak, listen, and react to a conversation using ICT as part of the language learning process. They are motivated to communicate and collaborate with peers to produce common products, for instance, wikis. These beneficial ICT-enhanced language learning activities call for the teacher to organize and monitor them, although in a blended language learning class the overall role of the teacher has changed from the traditional authoritative role to that of a facilitator.
A third major benefit of the use of ICT in blended language learning classrooms is the opportunity that ICT-based tools give to language teachers that they can tutor their learners more effectively. With the help of ICT-based tools and the constantly growing number of available educational resources language teachers are able to give individual and personalized guidance to the learners. The use of several media–audio, video, authentic contexts, and real-world experiences help language learners with different learning styles to assimilate the content according to their needs. In a blended learning environment that uses ICT tools, it is easier for the language teacher/tutor to use different approaches with students and accommodate different learning styles and the different needs of fast, slow, or handicapped language learners. Institutions in all educational sectors have a very important role in supporting their language teaching staff and their language learners in the meaningful use of ICT in language teaching and learning. This guide aims to help institutions to do that. The other two ODLAC guides
First and foremost, ICT–and the Internet in particular–provides language learners with the opportunity to use the language that they are learning in meaningful ways in authentic contexts. The Internet provides an easy and fast access to the use of current and authentic materials in the language being studied, which is motivating for the language learner. Such authentic materials include, for instance, online newspapers, webcasts, podcasts, newsroom video clips or even video sharing websites such as, say, YouTube. Where language teachers earlier searched and carried authentic materials like maps and train timetables to a classroom, they can now ask learners to access such information online, thus helping them learn with current and real-time materials. Another motivating language learning opportunity using ICT is provided by chat rooms and virtual environments such as Second Life where the language learner can practice not only the written use of the language, but also practice speaking and pronunciation, without the fear of making mistakes.
A second important benefit derived from the use of ICT in a language classroom is based on the opportunities it affords for cooperation and collaboration with one’s peers. Language teachers all over the world are introducing myriads of ICT-enhanced language learning projects, including simulations, between their students and groups in other countries, thus widening the language learning perspective into that of learning about the cultural context of the language being used. Previously, students or classes would write letters or later even e-mails to each other. Today, using ICT they can ‘skype’ or chat online, where they can not only write to each other in real-time, but also see each other and speak to each other online. Students are thus able to write, read, speak, listen, and react to a conversation using ICT as part of the language learning process. They are motivated to communicate and collaborate with peers to produce common products, for instance, wikis. These beneficial ICT-enhanced language learning activities call for the teacher to organize and monitor them, although in a blended language learning class the overall role of the teacher has changed from the traditional authoritative role to that of a facilitator.
A third major benefit of the use of ICT in blended language learning classrooms is the opportunity that ICT-based tools give to language teachers that they can tutor their learners more effectively. With the help of ICT-based tools and the constantly growing number of available educational resources language teachers are able to give individual and personalized guidance to the learners. The use of several media–audio, video, authentic contexts, and real-world experiences help language learners with different learning styles to assimilate the content according to their needs. In a blended learning environment that uses ICT tools, it is easier for the language teacher/tutor to use different approaches with students and accommodate different learning styles and the different needs of fast, slow, or handicapped language learners. Institutions in all educational sectors have a very important role in supporting their language teaching staff and their language learners in the meaningful use of ICT in language teaching and learning. This guide aims to help institutions to do that. The other two ODLAC guides
Technology – a double-edged sword
ICT already influence the social and political life of all nations. However, their influence is not always for the better. The use of message-forming and transmitting technologies in some cases impedes justice and concentrates power by reducing reciprocity in communication. Emergence of huge media conglomerates is vivid evidence of this.
Even more impressive lessons, both warning and encouraging, can be drawn from the recent history of the fall of great totalitarian states. One might suggest that the fall of the Soviet communist empire had already begun when Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Not coincidentally, the change to a more liberal regime coincided with the proliferation of TV broadcasting and the introduction of home tape-recorders in the USSR. The impact of those types of ICT was equally significant but different in its directions and consequences. Television, owned by the state, became, and for the next forty odd years remained, another tool for vertical brainwashing and manipulation of public consciousness, exercised by the totalitarian regime.
The same historical period was marked by a rising tide of underground dissemination of the written word (and, if caught, severely punished). Forbidden manuscripts of prose, poetry, political philosophy, social critique, and reports on violations of human rights were duplicated on mechanical typewriters
that produced four carbon copies at a time. Photostat copying was too complicated and demanded special skills to be used widely. In the early 1970s, the old fashioned photostat copier was supplanted by the electrochemical Xerox copier, which was extremely fast and easy to operate, but kept under strict
police surveillance in governmental offices and inaccessible to private persons. Fax machines followed a decade later, giving additional impetus to the already visible process of decay and disintegration of the totalitarian stronghold. Toward the end of the 1980s, communication barriers (censorship, radio jamming, and all that) went tumbling down along with the Berlin Wall.
Future generations of historians may be tempted to interpret ICT as the main leverage for all these cataclysms. Needless to say, it would be an obvious exaggeration. History paves its way through time by much more complicated trajectories. In fact, Mikhail Gorbachev ascended to power and launched his
famous Perestroika (re-building) before such novelties as the Internet, and even phone-fax, had become common commodities in the USSR.
Nonetheless, it would not be too strong an exaggeration to say that the personal computer (with printer and modem to connect the Internet), neglected by short-sighted Soviet authorities, hammered the last nail into the coffin of communist ideological and political rule in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Similarly, we believe that the worldwide proliferation of ICT will help offset cultural imperialism, ideological totalitarianism, and information monopoly. The Internet and desktop publishing will play a crucial role in democratizing the dissemination and use of information. In addition, ICT create new options for the preservation and revival of indigenous cultural traditions and spiritual values.
Even a teacher with a class of students, can design a set of fonts for their native language, make a multilingual dictionary, record folk songs and dances, make pictures of handicrafts, and put everything together as an Internet page. We hope that linguistic barriers such as the historically and politically imposed dominanceof a few languages may be weakened by the worldwide availability of ICT and its thoughtful application for educational purposes.
Finally, ICT also change age and gender distribution and opportunities in the work place. Women and young people can learn to use ICT and work in ICT environments as well as men.
How ICT Can Create New, Open Learning Environments UNESCO, 2005 p16-17.
ICT already influence the social and political life of all nations. However, their influence is not always for the better. The use of message-forming and transmitting technologies in some cases impedes justice and concentrates power by reducing reciprocity in communication. Emergence of huge media conglomerates is vivid evidence of this.
Even more impressive lessons, both warning and encouraging, can be drawn from the recent history of the fall of great totalitarian states. One might suggest that the fall of the Soviet communist empire had already begun when Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Not coincidentally, the change to a more liberal regime coincided with the proliferation of TV broadcasting and the introduction of home tape-recorders in the USSR. The impact of those types of ICT was equally significant but different in its directions and consequences. Television, owned by the state, became, and for the next forty odd years remained, another tool for vertical brainwashing and manipulation of public consciousness, exercised by the totalitarian regime.
The same historical period was marked by a rising tide of underground dissemination of the written word (and, if caught, severely punished). Forbidden manuscripts of prose, poetry, political philosophy, social critique, and reports on violations of human rights were duplicated on mechanical typewriters
that produced four carbon copies at a time. Photostat copying was too complicated and demanded special skills to be used widely. In the early 1970s, the old fashioned photostat copier was supplanted by the electrochemical Xerox copier, which was extremely fast and easy to operate, but kept under strict
police surveillance in governmental offices and inaccessible to private persons. Fax machines followed a decade later, giving additional impetus to the already visible process of decay and disintegration of the totalitarian stronghold. Toward the end of the 1980s, communication barriers (censorship, radio jamming, and all that) went tumbling down along with the Berlin Wall.
Future generations of historians may be tempted to interpret ICT as the main leverage for all these cataclysms. Needless to say, it would be an obvious exaggeration. History paves its way through time by much more complicated trajectories. In fact, Mikhail Gorbachev ascended to power and launched his
famous Perestroika (re-building) before such novelties as the Internet, and even phone-fax, had become common commodities in the USSR.
Nonetheless, it would not be too strong an exaggeration to say that the personal computer (with printer and modem to connect the Internet), neglected by short-sighted Soviet authorities, hammered the last nail into the coffin of communist ideological and political rule in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Similarly, we believe that the worldwide proliferation of ICT will help offset cultural imperialism, ideological totalitarianism, and information monopoly. The Internet and desktop publishing will play a crucial role in democratizing the dissemination and use of information. In addition, ICT create new options for the preservation and revival of indigenous cultural traditions and spiritual values.
Even a teacher with a class of students, can design a set of fonts for their native language, make a multilingual dictionary, record folk songs and dances, make pictures of handicrafts, and put everything together as an Internet page. We hope that linguistic barriers such as the historically and politically imposed dominanceof a few languages may be weakened by the worldwide availability of ICT and its thoughtful application for educational purposes.
Finally, ICT also change age and gender distribution and opportunities in the work place. Women and young people can learn to use ICT and work in ICT environments as well as men.
How ICT Can Create New, Open Learning Environments UNESCO, 2005 p16-17.
ELVIS PRESLEY
When Elvis died on 16th August, 1977, radio and television programmes all over the world were interrupted to give the news of his death. President Carter was asked to declare a day of national mourning. Carter said: ‘ Elvis Presley changed the face of American popular culture …. He was unique and irreplaceable. ‘ Eighty thousand people attended his funeral. The street were jammed, and Elvis Presley film were shown on television, and his record were played on the radio all day. In the year after his death, 100 million Presley LPs were sold.
Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. His twin brother was died at birth. His parent were very poor and Elvis never had music lessons, but he was surrounded by music from an early age. His parents were very religious, and Elvis regularly sang at church services. In 1948,when he was thirteen, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He left school and got a job as a truck driver.
In the summer of 1953 Elvis paid $4 and record two songs for his mother’s birthday at Sam Phillips heard Record and asked him to record That’s All Right in July 1954. 20,000 copies were sold, mainly in and around Memphis. He made five more records for Sun and in July 1955 he met Colonel Tom Parker, who became his manager in November. Parker sold Elvis’ contract to RCA Records. Sun record got $35,000 and Elvis got $5,000.With the money he bought a pink Cardillac for his mother. On 10th January, 1956, Elvis recorded Heartbreak Hotel, and million copies were sold. In the next fourteen months he made another fourteen records, and they were all big hits. In 1936 he also made his film in Hollywood.
In march, 1958, Elvis had to join the army. He wanted to be an ordinary soldier. When his hair was cut thousands of women cried. He spent the next two years in Germany, where he met Priscilla Beaulieu, who became his wife eight years later on 1st May, 1967.In 1960 he left the army and went to Hollywood where he made several film during the next few years.
By 1968 many people had become tired of Elvis Presley. He hadn’t performed live since 1960. But he recorded a new LP From Elvis in Memphis and appeared in a special television programme. He became popular again, and went to Las Vegas, where he was paid $750,000 for four weeks. In 1972 his wife left him, and they were divorced in October, 1973. He died from a heart attack. He had been working too hard, and eating and drinking too much for several years. He left all his money to his only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. She became one of the richest people in the world when she was only nine years old.
When Elvis died on 16th August, 1977, radio and television programmes all over the world were interrupted to give the news of his death. President Carter was asked to declare a day of national mourning. Carter said: ‘ Elvis Presley changed the face of American popular culture …. He was unique and irreplaceable. ‘ Eighty thousand people attended his funeral. The street were jammed, and Elvis Presley film were shown on television, and his record were played on the radio all day. In the year after his death, 100 million Presley LPs were sold.
Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. His twin brother was died at birth. His parent were very poor and Elvis never had music lessons, but he was surrounded by music from an early age. His parents were very religious, and Elvis regularly sang at church services. In 1948,when he was thirteen, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He left school and got a job as a truck driver.
In the summer of 1953 Elvis paid $4 and record two songs for his mother’s birthday at Sam Phillips heard Record and asked him to record That’s All Right in July 1954. 20,000 copies were sold, mainly in and around Memphis. He made five more records for Sun and in July 1955 he met Colonel Tom Parker, who became his manager in November. Parker sold Elvis’ contract to RCA Records. Sun record got $35,000 and Elvis got $5,000.With the money he bought a pink Cardillac for his mother. On 10th January, 1956, Elvis recorded Heartbreak Hotel, and million copies were sold. In the next fourteen months he made another fourteen records, and they were all big hits. In 1936 he also made his film in Hollywood.
In march, 1958, Elvis had to join the army. He wanted to be an ordinary soldier. When his hair was cut thousands of women cried. He spent the next two years in Germany, where he met Priscilla Beaulieu, who became his wife eight years later on 1st May, 1967.In 1960 he left the army and went to Hollywood where he made several film during the next few years.
By 1968 many people had become tired of Elvis Presley. He hadn’t performed live since 1960. But he recorded a new LP From Elvis in Memphis and appeared in a special television programme. He became popular again, and went to Las Vegas, where he was paid $750,000 for four weeks. In 1972 his wife left him, and they were divorced in October, 1973. He died from a heart attack. He had been working too hard, and eating and drinking too much for several years. He left all his money to his only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. She became one of the richest people in the world when she was only nine years old.
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