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I think you're going to like this.

"Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning" Eugine S. Wilson

This has been a crazy week, plenty of exams and papers to check! That's why most of my assignments were done at night time. It has already become a habit of mine to look at new posts and comments. I was curious to find out what other people were doing, to see their reaction to everything that happened in our class. But let me start from the very beginning.


On Monday I got my assignment for this week. I started reading and was rather puzzled. Now, when I think back I can't say why. Either because there was so much info or because I got lost in it, I don't know. As always, I started with the most difficult task, at least it seemed to me to be difficult. That was writing the ABCD objectives. I must admit that I never liked writing objectives. We used to discuss objectives at our department, but somehow I was not interested in them. That's why now, when I saw the task I realized that it's high time to clarify things and  see what is what. To my astonishment, it was not difficult at all, I just had to read attentively and to follow the instructions. The posts made by class participants were of great help. They made me realize I was on the right way. So, I guess now I'll have to review the objectives in my curricula. Having done what seemed most problematic to me, I left the "class", as there were plenty of papers to check and give marks. 
That's why, I was really grateful to Jodi for reminding us what we'd done and what was to be done. 


The second task was to try all the search engines and to comment on the one we like. It took me some time to figure out that not all of them are suitable for my particular needs. But I was very insistent and tried most of them. I really like http://www.twordy.com/search.php. It seems rather simple but it directed me to many useful pages. I was able to find interesting facts for the Linguistic Club that we have at our department. So I made a selection of new words and untranslatable words and presented them at the club. My colleagues liked the site, too. Exalead is the other search engine that I find useful for linguistic purposes.

Our third task was to describe a group of students with whom we would "experiment". I described my third year students, as I know them pretty well (I teach them for three years already). But just recently I found out that they are going to their teaching practice after the session. So now I don't know what to do. Well, I'll have another group of third year students from IT faculty, but I don't know anything about them yet. The only thing that I know is that there are 15 students and their English is fluent. I have to ask Jodi and Sherie if I can change the class for the project. 


That's all about this busy week. Despite the shortage of time and some frustration I enjoyed working in group. It really was "group work" as I learned a lot from the other participants.


N.B. I like the quotation i gave in the title, it tells us how we should be: curious to try everything in this course and resolute, 'cause not everything can be achieved with ease.

Best wishes, Ludmila.

End of week I

During the first week of the course I've done a lot of thinking. It's not that I had much work, just I was placed in an unusual situation. It was not the situation when you know everything and feel rather good, like at classes, for instance. I was asked to do things that I learnt before, but was somehow unwilling to implement, because  ... I don't know, maybe because I was simply lazy. Being asked why I don't make my own blog, I always said I have nothing to say. I think that sharing my personal feelings and thoughts is somewhat indiscreet. 


When a child, I tried to keep a diary, so I carefully put down everything that was important for me, several days later I read the first entry and .... it seemed so stupid to me. As a result, I gave it up. 

Now, this course gives me the opportunity to start again, to write about things, which are interesting  at least to10-12 people. I'm really thankful for the chance to try new and unusual things. This adventure reminds me of the novel "Daddy long Legs" by Jean Webster. Juddy, the main character, was to write a weekly letter to her guardian about her success at college. As a result, she became a writer. I think, all of us will get our reward by the end of the course. 
By the way, I know that some of my students are following this blog and I have to make the grade.  I'll do my best. I'm looking forward to new tasks.

It's like keeping a diary, isn't it?

Week 1. My first steps

Hi, people!


I'm really delighted to take part in a distance learning course. It has some advantages over the face to face courses. I shall make myself clear. In face to face courses the instructor points to the learners and shows each step, closely watching what  the learners are doing and how. Such instructions are good, but my memory has a "wonderful" feature to forget half of the given instructions. While, as I've already seen, in distance courses, the learners are very independent and have the opportunity to explore the net on their own, following the given instructions.
It took me some time to create this blog, as all the instructions on the bog spot were in Russian and I had to find the settings and change the language several times. it's a bit puzzling and I'm anxious that I won't be able to cope with the tasks. Still I hope to have enough time and persistence to fulfil all the tasks.
Besides, when I told my family about the course, my eleven-year-old son was really happy, as I would be having some home tasks, too.
It seems to me I managed to create my first post!

 I feel like this puzzled grandpa now. Hope to get rid of this unpleasant feeling soon.