Bilingual Learning

I had just read the blog from Bilingual Fun (Maestra Jen). She used to be a Spanish teacher, but now she chose to stay at home and takes care of her children. The article I read is the experience that she share how her daughter learn bilingually from her and school and how she taught her daughter to think and talk in both English and Spanish. It is quite excited when I looked at her blog. I always think that children have some amazing learning ability and I wish I can teach not only my children but also my students bilingually when they are young. In their childhood, learning should be naturally, purely and correctly. And that means if they can learn the words from the daily life, it will be very helpful and pressure less. Unless not like me, when I started to learn English, and I need to carry a heavy grammar book to school every day. In addition, Ms. Jen taught me that children reader should be familiar with their first language than to start with second. It surprised me actually because I used to think that children can learn and read the words for both languages at the same time, like the way they learn how to speak bilingually. It reminds me that if I am going to teach the children who speak bilingually, I need to notice this issue carefully. Otherwise, children may get confused easily. In the end of the article, Ms. Jen invited her daughter to read a book that contains both Spanish and English. I have to say that she has a really cute daughter and she did a great job! I am thankful that Ms. Jen can share her own experience with videos and let me learn a lot.

The link of the article: http://bilingualfun.blogspot.com/2010/10/adventures-in-teaching-our-kids-spanish.html
The link of the picture: http://blog.hattoss.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bilingualediu-225x300.jpg

Pay Attention (video)

I really like this video even though it just has words and background music. The facts surprised me when it showed up every time.  "Richness" is the word that impressed me the most. I thought about my childhood. At that time, we did not have that much technology engage in our learning. However, we can see that most of the families have more than one computer at home and even a kindergarten child has his/her own cell phone! I did not have my phone till I was a senior high student. That is the different. And that it is the challenge, too. Just like the video said, why not teachers try to use cell phones in their teaching. It is obvious that people rely on the cell phones and like to use them a lot now. Instead of forbidden using in the class, why not just try to make friends with students via this technology? Maybe in this way, students will become more creative and that is what their generation's spirit should be in this richness environment and society. I think this video is really useful for the new teachers who has already accept technology in their learning process. They can think more and provide more opportunities to their students with creativity.

Reflection on Chap. 1 of Brave New Digital Classroom

When people are talking about learning a  new language, good interaction with others will be the most concern to learn the language well. The reason is that language is the important bridge that make people have conversation. In this chapter, some researchers found out that people can have activities with media (machine) just like interact with real people. "The Internet is an ideal tool for allowing students to gain access to authentic L2 materials; it might be the next best alternative to actually going abroad. L2 students can virtually 'travel' to French-speaking Africa, Tokyo or the Peruvian In can ruins of Machu Picchu with just a click of mouse." It is quite impressed me with this example, but I think it might be true. Since the Internet is so worldwide and nearly everyone knows how to surf the Internet, this thought might become the life style we all face in the coming future. However, everything has advantage and disadvantage. I cannot stop to think after I finished this chapter. I am worried what if people rely on the Internet too much. Or what if people do not want to go out and talk with each other? Moreover, what if people text to each other instead of talking even they sit beside on the same chair? I know that knowing the different culture and language by the Internet is becoming convenient and  useful. However, the concern I wrote above is another issue that teachers need to judge and balance when they are using the technology in teaching.

Internet Safety

The list for your safety in the Internet world

1. Remain as anonymous as possible. These may include your private information, such as:

• full name
• home address
• phone number
• Social Security number
• passwords
• names of family members
• credit card numbers

2. Ignore all the messages that make you feel uncomfortable. Bullying does not only exist in the real world.

• the messages may from your friends or other people you know
• ignoring is better than responding
• if you feel ignoring doesn't help, feel free to contact me or the adults you trust

3. Get some virus protection software or be careful when downloading or opening unknown e-mails

• some hackers may access to your account and add you into their spam list
• you may get a lot of junk e-mails
• you may get the virus into your computer and it will broken

These are some simple ways to protect yourself and your computer.

And it was founded from: 

http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html#

If you want to know more, we can discuss in this CHAT ROOM.

blog 1

Dear students:

This is a website that I hope we can get in touch more after class!

In this blog, there are several things we can do:
You can type your feelings or opinions that you want to say. (Say it out loud!!!)
You can find some additional information or articles that related to our class. (Going Deeper!!!)
You can chat with other classmates or even me. (Grab a cup of coffee and cookies!!!)

Hope we can have a good time here! : )))))