Be the judge of your sources!

Hi girls!
This time no technology but we’re here to talk about WEB information and the judgement on these on-line sources. I visited the three websites Sarah proposed us, they’re especially about online sources and not on “real” books, articles etc.
However in general, in judging the quality of a source, I think that it’s important to establish who the author of that text is: in this way we’re able to obtain more material of the same author and to see if there is material up to date, to know his bibliography, to know who he is, what he is specialized in, if he’s a professor, a journalist etc. It seems a silly thing but in reality this isn’t so easy. I remember that, when two years ago we had to prepare an essay with professor Whigham, we used online sources to wrote it but it was really hard to find an article or something interesting to our essay that had the name of its author.
Then, another thing to keep in mind, is that on the Internet there isn’t too much control so people often plagiarize texts. This is obviously not good because we can’t simply copy and paste ideas of other persons, it’s like to stole them… I think that if we find them interesting thoughts we have to re-elaborate them and to integrate with our opinions and with other materials, to deepen them and not simply to copy. Now websites that offers to buy and sell theses, or to give essays or works done for students etc. are really exploding. I think it’s important not to trust them, because we don’t know who the authors are and moreover, if one obtain a work done by someone else, there is surely no satisfaction and proud.
In judging online sources, one has to think which kind of information wants. Not to extend our discourse but only speaking about educational or institutional documents, I usually see if the website is reliable: for example, I think that if it’s the website of an University, or an institution it’s a reliable website, on the contrary I don’t trust it if it’s a chat or a personal page, or a blog. Even among blogs there are differences: blogs can work to connect a group of people who already know each member – like the one we’re using – or there are blogs in which the author doesn’t know who will read his writings, for example blogs written by politicians or by actors, like Beppe Grillo, or simply by people who is part of an online community. However, I think that blogs are not a reliable source because, even if we can know who the author is, in blogs facts or ideas thought by the author are presented and in some cases they could be not objective.
Then ,in judging an online source, Sarah in one of her lessons, told us about EDU documents: this is useful to see if the document is posted by an educational institution, so in this case the material is reliable.
Speaking about traditional sources, I think that things are really less complicated. In fact, when we read a book or a newspaper article we immediately know who the author is, who the publisher is, when what we’re reading is being printed etc. For this reason, I usually prefer this kind of source because it’s more reliable. However, online materials can be updated more easily and more rapidly, even everyday, and for this reason if we find a serious website we’re surely more up to date.
There are for and against in using online sources, in general I think we have to search what kind of information we want and then select and filter all the material the Internet give us, using appropriate criteria.
Bye!

YouTube: useful but...

Hi my peers!
We’re evolving in our learning of technology, so now we’re here to talk about YouTube!
I think it can be a useful tool for our English learning but this depends on the way we use it; I mean we have to filter all the videos that can be interesting and we can’t stop to the first we found because I think that something could also be unuseful, for example video in English but where it isn’t English native speakers who speak. I think it’s important the fact that we listen to native speakers to learn the right pronunciation and intonation of words.
Another thing I think it’s important to pay attention to is the content of videos, because we can learn more from certain types of video than others. For example, I think that certain videos are not interesting from the point of view of contents because they’re too personal or they’re about strange things etc.
Then I think that the structure and the length of the video are also important. As the structure is concerned, I found more helpful videos without subtitles because in this way we have to concentrate more on what we’re listening to. As regards the length, I think that it isn’t important watching to a long video to do practise in English, because if a video is too long I think I’ll get bored. I really liked the video Sarah proposed us, I found them concise on what they wanted to say and they let us think and discuss on the war in Irak and on stereotypes.
In general, I think that YouTube is helpful for our listening ability but we have to select the material we think it’s interesting.
Moreover, I like the fact that everyone could post a video of his/her interest, which is a peculiarity of web 2.0, but I also think that there should be a control over the videos posted because I think that some of them are really violent or deviating. For example the boy who two months ago provoked a massacre in his school, posted a video in YouTube saying his intention. I think it’s horrible and there should be an authority that watches over videos like that.
What do you think, girls?

Bye!

Podcasts

Hi girls!
I found three interesting websites that I want to suggest you:

http://www.englishpod.com/ This website is on business English. There are podcasts referred to different areas of speaking: diplomatic, inviting, presentation, relationship and modifier. All this podcasts are essentially based on the idea that the tone you use and the way you express yourself have an effect on your relation with your colleagues, your boss, and in general in the working world. In the diplomatic section for example, there are two speakers that show how downtoning is important: it allows to tell someone things in a way that he/she doesn’t offend. One basic difference between English and Italian is that there is a different intonation, so I think that this website could help us to reflect on the right use of the intonation according to the different situations.

http://www.eslpod.com/website/index.php This website contains podcasts referred to different situation: for example, daily life, entertainment, business… I think this division is useful because it allows you to focus on things of your interest and to learn different kind of words, related to the different speaking areas. Then another helpful thing in this site, is that for some podcasts is written the text so you can look for new words to see how they’re written.

http://www.npr.org/ This isn’t a website for learners but the one of a radio. There are several links containing podcasts and a dedicated section about news, interviews… I found this website interesting because in websites planned for learners I noticed that speakers tend to speak more slowly and clearly, instead in this website is different: the speaking is more rapid and not always so clear, there is the tendency to cut words. I think it’s important because we have to understand people in the way they talk and not in a way thought for learners. Moreover, the podcasts presented are connected with reality and everyday news so I think this can help us to use language in its real context.

In general, I found the use of podcasts helpful and interesting for our English learning. In this way we can become more aware of the use of the language we’re learning and of its different uses, according to the situation involved and to whom we’re speaking to. Listening to native speakers can also help us in practising intonation and fluency and to learn new words, using them in their precise context. Sometimes, I visit English websites or I use the decoder to watch English television, for example BBC daily news. It’s really useful watching foreign TV, because, apart from a learning point of view, it’s interesting listening to their news in order to know how news are presented and felt in different countries.

Bye!

Del.icio.us

Hi girls!!
Now here we are to talk about social bookmarks like del.icio.us. As the time before, when we started using feeds and feeds aggregator, I have to admit that I heard something about them only when our teacher Sarah introduced our English course. But we’re here to learn, and the last time in the lab we became a little bit confident with this technological tool, that is del.icio.us. In the lab I felt a little bit lost, but at the end I was able to create my list of bookmarks and my network. I think this is a useful way to share with my group of peer sites of our interest, that can help us during the course. In fact, we had to find websites that dealt with language learning and I found, among others, five interesting sites to improve my reading and listening skills. For example, in Voice of America’s website you have the possibility to listen to the radio! Funny and useful! Moreover, there are websites about mistakes in English and they suggest you strategies not to commit them, and there are websites that help you with grammar, verbs and English constructions. You also have the possibility to do online exercises and activities, so it’s like having an online teacher and grammar book! And the helpful things is that they give you immediately the solution to the exercises you made, so they’re really useful way to check when we want our abilities…and also our limits in English language.
As far as the bookmarks of my peers are concerned, I found them all interesting.
I liked the one suggested by Cristina, about common errors in English, because in the site there is a list of words – divided in alphabetical order – that can easily be used with wrong meanings. You just click on the word you want to check and it’s given a brief explanation of that word and of its usage.
Then I found really funny the site proposed by Monica. It’s about English slang and colloquialism. I haven’t ever thought that there was a dictionary of slang, but it exists! Just clicking on the letter, there is a list of words beginning with that letter. I clicked on “A” and the first word reported is “abdabs”… Do you know what it means? Terror… I think that this site is useful to get us closer to the real spoken use of English, and it’s interesting because, since slang change a lot in the passing of time, people can submit any slang for inclusion in the dictionary.
Also the site proposed by Elisa is helpful. It gives an explanation of English language, from where it derived, the English alphabet, the pronunciation… This last part is the most useful because I still have problems with pronunciation… I think it’s a common problem among us, since we’re Italian native speakers and we have our own accent, but I hope to improve my pronunciation, maybe taking a look from the links connected with this site.
I found useful the site proposed by Elena, about English punctuation. I found it helpful because the usage of punctuation in Italian and in English differs a lot and I still make little mistakes. In the site they explain the basic rules of using a period, comma, colon, semicolon, question mark and exclamation point.
Bye girls!

Halloween

Hi everybody!
I saw that Sarah put us within the groups that are against Halloween, and really I’m against it.

I think that it shouldn’t be celebrated in Italy, because it that doesn’t belong to our culture.
I read on Wikipedia that it’s a pre-christian celebration, now typically American and Canadian. Celts gave currency to Halloween in Europe, because at the end of summer they celebrated the new year. In this day, dead people could return to Earth: Celts didn’t fear them and they left food for those who visited living people. Celts did not fear demons but fairies and elves, that joked humans: from here we have the tradition of Treat or Trick. Then the ancient Romans and Christianity tried to absorb this pagan recurrence. At the beginning, All Saints was celebrated on 13th May, but then (in the year 1048) the date was changed by the Pope on 31st October. For this reason in Anglo-Saxon countries this festivity was called Hallowmas, and the eve All Hallows Eve, that changed in the modern name of Halloween. It is generally said that Irish people invented Halloween celebration in the United States, even if this recurrence is linked with the tradition of Anglo-Saxon countries.
So, it’s clear that Halloween doesn’t belong to Italian culture and, apart from that, I think it’s only a commercial business. Children go in every house, tempted by candies and sweets, disguised as witches, zombies, vampires, demons… I think that Halloween pretends to be a Carnival, but more frightful and macabre, and it’s only an occasion to spend an evening different from the usual.
And you, girls, what do you think?
Bye,
Vale

About feeds and feeds aggregator

Hi girls!
I have to admit that, before our experience in class, I’ve never heard about feeds and feeds aggregator and I’ve never entered a site like Bloglines. Now I can say you that I found them interesting and useful tools that help us to keep under control if there are any changes in web sites or blogs of our interest ( for example, one can see if there are new information posted). Instead of going in the blog of each person in our group, using the URL or the link, one can simply go on Bloglines to see any changes; I found it a good and quick solution to keep us up to date! In general I don’t visit many websites: I check my email or I go on the site of the University, if I’m searching for information I use Google, and that’s all…

So I think that for this kind of –let’s call it “domestic”- use having a feed aggregator isn’t so important, but I think that for our work in class or for people who often visit a big number of web sites, installing on computer -or subscribe to- an aggregator that signals if there are news on the websites or blogs is really useful.
What do you think? Are you agree?
Bye!
Vale