Illustrated Language

I am with my family in Orlando this weekend...we have a free hotel stay, and the girls wanted to visit the new Avatar exhibit in Animal Kingdom. While I loved the new rides, my mind was on the new material I have been reading and the discussion questions for this week. I went to Disney World when it first opened; my grandmother was a newspaper editor, and she had gotten press passes. We had a book of paper tickets and a paper map. Even though we were only about 2 hours from home, we did not know if anyone we knew was in Disney at the same time, and we had no idea of knowing how long the wait for each ride would be. When we split up to go on different rides, it took a long time to get back together in one spot. We had to wait in line for more tickets and additional access. Things are incredibly different now. My daughters posted pics of the entrance to Animal Kingdom on their Snapchat stories and got immediate answers from friends who were also in the park or in other Disney parks.

After reading and listening to the various materials in this module, I see that I was not and am not coming close to using the full capabilities of Web 2.0. My excuse is that I do not have time to learn them well enough to employ them in class, but that is a poor excuse. I am an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) instructor currently teaching three Continuing Education courses: Business English (high-level students, 2 hours a week), Evening ESOL (intermediate level students, 6 hours a week), and Saturday ESOL (high-intermediate level students, 4 hours a week). I consider myself to be somewhat tech-savvy in that, when I was the administrator and an instructor in our intensive program for university preparation (the past 6 years), I used tools such as electronic flashcards, online quizzes, online games, and discussion boards with my students. I integrated current, relevant media from various sites and podcasts into my classes rather than relying solely on what our books pro

Welcome to Illustrated Language! I look forward to blogging with my EME6414 classmates and instructors...and to sharing ideas about language instruction using the elements of art.