Welcome to week 6 :-)

From Daf and Teresa, 20 Feb

Dear friends,

We are starting Week 6, the last week of what has been a fantastic journey. How has it gone by so fast? Well, the wonderful empathy, warmth, openness, experience and knowledge sharing... has been so intense that it seems like we started last week.

Week 6: Blended learning. Wrap-up: Conclusions and evaluation. Graduating as a Webhead in Action

In Week 6 we will focus on "blended learning". Let's join Aiden Yeh, Buthaina Al-Othman and Rita Zeinstejer on Saturday 25, at Alado (We will announce the time) for a panel discussion on "blended learning": combining online activities and projects with face-to-face learning

Please add your name in the Database to tell us that you are attending this session.

The suggested readings for this week are related to our topic, and can be discussed in our forum at: http://pub41.bravenet.com/forum/3490181847 
 
Since this is the last week of our e-workshop, we would appreciate your reflections  on  your overall impressions of this 6-week workshop, what you've achieved, and what you plan to do with your newly-acquired know-how. Please, post your reflections to our BaW-06 wiki: http://baw-06.pbwiki.com/MyReflections  

During the week we will be announcing the graduation ceremony to take place at Tapped In on our regular Webheads in Action Sunday session (noon GMT). Don't miss it!!!

Kat will be creating the threads page for this week. Thanks for volunteering, Kat :-)

This is all for now.

Have a great week!

Daf & Teresa

Graduation                                                               UP

Closing Ceremony

From Daf, 21 Feb

Dear all,

The EVO sessions will have a grand finale at Worldbridges on Sunday from 18:00 to 19:30 GMT (after our graduation ceremony).

You are all cordially invited to attend :-)

http://www.worldbridges.com/

Come and share your experiences with EVO. Although we can fit only 5 people in the voice chat at one time, there is an active text chat going on also. (A listening help guide is available at this site.)

Participants may Skype in, but should join the text chat first and request that WorldBridges call them in. I use a cell phone and it works just fine, too.

This will be your first live session as newly-graduated Webheads ;-)

Hope to see you there!

(((hugs)))

Daf

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

Re: the BaW06 Graduation ceremony, we're planning on meeting at Tapped In at 12:00 GMT, as usual, and then move on to Worldbridges, if available and possible. We'll let you know asap.

Virtual drinks and food from your countries are welcome! If you send me the links to pages you may create, I will insert them in our Graduation page.

We will confirm these two events asap.

 EVO Survey

From Elizabeth Hanson-Smith, Feb 24

We hope you have enjoyed your 2006 EVO session. Please take a minute to recognize the valuable time your moderators and guest speakers have contributed by taking a short (5-10 min.) survey that will help us plan for next year.

Although you will receive a link in each session you registered for, PLEASE take the survey from the link in ONLY ONE SESSION you have attended--you will be asked questions about all of the sessions.

Thanks very much for joining EVO, and we hope to see you Sunday, February 26, at 18:00 GMT for our Closing Ceremonies, webcast live from WorldBridges http://www.worldbridges.com.

--Elizabeth Hanson-Smith
For the Coordination Team of EVO

Becoming a Webhead: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=541711816610

End of course feedback

From Daf,  21 Feb

What have you learned? Your feedback is crucial!

Dear BaWers,

Remember the diagnostic survey you completed in week 1?

Well, in order to help you reflect on what you have learned during these 6 weeks, I have compiled your answers on a Web page:

http://dafnegonzalez.com/baw-06/content/baw-06surveyresults.htm

Your feedback is very important for us in order to improve our next BaW sessions -yes, we already have people interested in BaW-07 ;-) -

Instead of creating a survey for your feedback, I have added a page to our BaW-06 wiki where you can post your reflections on this session:

http://baw-06.pbwiki.com/MyReflections

We are looking forward to reading your comments :-)

TIA,

From: daniele allard, 22 Feb

I will be happy to provide feedback for BaW 06 -- can you give us a deadline?  Must it be this week?

From: Daf, 22 Feb

You can provide your feedback when you are ready to do so. Some participants have already started writing their reflections on our BaW-06 wiki, take a look:

http://baw-06.pbwiki.com/MyReflections

Graduation Page

From: cristina costa, 21 Feb

I'll be in the Algarve, at my mum's place that evening. She is not a  cybernautic but I have just located a cybercafe in the neighborhood! I  am sure going to trr to attend this specail event!

I really enjoyed this workshop. Nothing else would be expected from  such an extraordinary, clever, enthusiatic, fun and friendly group.  You're the best and you have chnaged my life FOR THE BETTER since the  first day I joined you.
 
Thank you for making my life more pleasant and interesting.

What can I say? I love to be a Webheader and you are all to blame for it! :)
 

From: hala fawzi, 21 Feb

Dear New BaWers:

If I am not running out of time to submit a final project for an online course I am taking,I would have told you about how difficult to leave the workshop,not the people,that you have been part of for 6 weeks.The people will always be here for you to help,to chat with,to cry with and to laugh with and at ! Last year at baw2005,I raised up "shed of tears"discussion.It was "If you can't live  without baw,raise your hands.No hands were left behind,I think!
  
This time,though more of a lurker after week 2, I know I will shed tears at the graduation ceremony.Good luck and way to go in the  Long webheads path of success and contribution to ELT all over the world.

Welcome on board.

I love you.(tight hugs with white wings)

From: Paddy Greenleaf, 21 Feb

Dear BAWers

Almost happy graduation and congratulations. I'm afraid I won't be around next w/e for the grand closing ceremony, buit I wish you all luck and have a great time - I'm going to be back home in England at my baby nephew's christening on Sunday! (We have a few days holiday her in Portugal for carnaval!)

Shall definitely see you all around as this is a closing ceremony, but believe you me it is only really the beginning!... See you for ever on the yahoo group!

From: Vanya Katsarska, 23 Feb

Could somebody remind me please when and where the graduation ceremony is. What should we "bring"? Recipes?

From: nina_liakos, 24 Feb

I don't understand what is wanted in the way of recipes for Sunday. Actually recipes (links to web recipes? our own recipes?)? pictures of Whatever floats our boats?

From: Berta, 24 Feb

Here is a farewell message to you all as I cannot make it on Sunday
either, even if I am speechless after Vanya´s wonderful message and
Paddy and MT´s. You have said it all!!! You have read quite a number
of minds and summarized our ideas and feelings in an amazing way.
Kudos to you all.

http://ennz.springdoo.com//Public/Play/?id=FFC72611FF07268D

Con mucho cariño a través del tiempo y el espacio.
Cyberfriendly yours,

From: Isabel Teixeira, 25 Feb

The link  for the page I created for the graduation is http://isabel73.bravehost.com

From: Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni, 24 Feb
Dear friends

Unfortunately I won't be able to be with you on Sunday for your graduation. I recorded a short message for you on Springdoo.

Click on the link below (or copy the link and paste it into your Internet browser address), to listen to my message: http://enus.springdoo.com/public/play/?id=FFC7E517FBFBAFAF

Enjoy yourselves and have a toast with some sparkling Italian wine
http://www.berlucchi.it/pages/spumanti_7.php
or , if you prefer, some good red wine
http://www.sassicaia.com/gb/wine/winehistory.html#top

and some nice appetisers
http://www.berlucchi.it/pages/spumanti_7.php
http://www.cortonaweb.net/ricette/crostinineri.php
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/iff/news.asp?id=524

Please enjoy!

A big ((((((((((((((((Hug))))))))))))))))))))) to you all and a special one to Daf and Tere and my co.mods, Hala, Leanne, Cora, Barb, Chrissan, Sharon, Galdys and Cristina.

From: Janet O'Donovan, 25 Feb

here is a link to a podcast where I've uploaded some music for the partying at graduation!

http://jcbrava.podomatic.com/

The most recent podcast is Mozart and maybe too high-brow for our festivities, but the two others should be fun.

Besides that, I'll be bringing flan with a wicked balsamic vinegar sauce ;-))

From: Luísa, 26 Feb

Dear Bawers
I've just read, seen and listened to "our" Graduation Cerimony and I'm speechless. It's so nice and interesting! And what a great idea some of you had to show that you've really learnt new things: yes, there we could see webpages and blogs and  podcasts and audio messages and... and...and...all the rest you learnt these 6 weeks long! Congratulations to all the participants and my special thanks to all the co-moderators and the two GREAT LADIES responsible for this success, DAF and my dear friend TERESA.

From: christina ljunggren, 28 Feb

Dear all, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it for the graduation. My ups and downs were down, too much snow and darkness I think.

I'm now looking forward to mingling, talking and exchanging ideas as post-graduates.

Let's go for it!

 Blogging                                                                   UP

 Deleting contents

'

From: Susana Canelo, 21 Feb

I was playing with these new tools. I was trying to search my own blog. Technoraty can't find me if I'm not registered. Google blog search is OK, because it shows you links to the entrances, and those I had deleted don't let you see them. OK

BUT...Yahoo!blog search sends you to BLOGLINES and there you can see in a different Layout all the entrances. EVEN those I had deleted.!!!

The trouble is I uploaded a picture my daughter hates. She asked me to delet it and I did it.But if you enter by Yahoo !!! She's going to kill me...Buah.

Help me please.

From: liana devine, 22 Feb

I looked for your blog and all I see is the one you've included in our links, the "Del Valle - My hometown" blog.  I didn't see any potentially embarrassing photos...

Sorry you've hit a brick wall with this, but it seems that nothing is impossible in cyberspace, so I'm sure there must be a way to fix it. But I am not a blog expert.  Are there fellow BaWers out there who can help?

From: Janet O'Donovan, 22 Feb

I also had a panic with experimental blogs I couldn't manage to delete and Chrissan helped me via a YM chat a couple weeks ago. (Thanks again, Chrissan!) She calmly just chatted me through steps (I thought) I'd already taken. The solution was "simple":  I hadn't scrolled completely down the page in Change Settings so hadn't seen the option to Delete Blog.

Has someone helped you figure it out? Sometimes just walking through the steps you have already taken with someone else allows a brilliant idea to occur or a missed-step to be noticed.

Deep breath...

Wikis                                                                       UP

Marianela's Wiki

From:  Marianela, 22 Feb

I finally posted my first Wiki last night and everything seemed to work out very well. I put four pictures for you to enjoy, but after I went through my page again, I could only see two of the four pictures, and two "X" appeared instead. I don´t know what seems to be the problem. Probably the size of the photos? Anyhow, I'm glad I was able to create my wiki.

From: sharon holdner, 22 Feb

Can you send us the address of your Wiki so that we can enjoy it also?

From: Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni, 22 Feb

Marianela's wiki is at our baw06 wiki http://baw-06.pbwiki.com/MarianelaNajul.

From: sharon holdner, 22 Feb

Ah...ha...see what happens when I don't pay attention and surface after a few days hiatus ;-)

I thought that Marianela had created an independent Wiki aside from BaW- 06.

Thanks, MT.  I promise to pay attention to "what's happening now" from this point on.

From: liana devine, 20 Feb

I liked your baby wiki - just a newborn, really - but was shy about adding any contribution of my own.

Is there opportunity to make comments on the poetry posted?  Is that a separate page you could add, or am I thinking more like a blog?

From: James, 21 Feb

Leanne: you're probably right --> a blog might be more appropriate for sharing and commenting on poetry contributions. It was simply an inspiration to begin my first wiki page. I don't actually have a well-defined group of students at present (I'm only substitute teaching), so I had to imagine a group of participants. Blogs can certainly still be learner-centered, and putting some controls on editing is useful for "class" management, privacy, and security of original content. I think a blog also allows the moderator to preview posts before they go public. Can you do this with a wiki? I know you can track and view any additions/changes, but they are already public at that point.

As far as being able to comment, yes you can - that is one of the purposes of the wiki format, as I understand it. You simply edit the page.

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

I am pretty new to the world of wiki, but it is my understanding that it is a collaborative tool, and as such, all members' contributions are permissible.  By that I mean, there is no "moderator" as such (perhaps only the wiki's originator), and everyone who has a password to enter the wiki can add his/her two cents' worth, with no censoring, per se.  In a class setting, I would imagine you would allow all students to post, and yes, once posted would be public.

Can anyone else clarify this?

From: James, 24 Feb

James has left a few verses of farewell (but not goodbye) on his BaW-06 wiki addition. Check it out at
 http://baw-06.pbwiki.com/JamesBakker

Opinion                                                                    UP

Politicians continued... 

 

From: Gladys Baya, 22 Feb

Nina's Reflections

From: nina liakos, 23 Feb

After promising myself to steer clear of wikis for now, I just managed to get to the BaW06 wiki, sign in, post my reflections and save them, and get out unscathed. Whew! I don't really trust it though, so I will repost here:

It has been an incredible experience.  Before BaW, I was something of a technophobe, overwhelmed by the myriad possibilities and the rapidly changing technology.  Now, I feel less intimidated, more able to strike out and explore.  Making online friends has been fun, and as I become more familiar with the technology, I am beginning to think of ways to incorporate it into my teaching.  I hope to build on the foundation I have laid with your help and to share what I have learned with my colleagues at the University of Maryland and potentially, with members of our local TESOL affiliate, WATESOL.  I am excited about joining the Webheads and hope to stay connected for a long time to come!

This is the short version of my reflections (for the long version, see http://www.ninas1stblog.blogspot.com).

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

It's my second "You've made my day!" today. The first time today came from
Barb in a private message about my students' blog last year.

Nina, fantastic reflections about BaW! You made me go straight to your blog and read the full version. I love the way you write. It keeps us glued to the text. I'm very happy that there is a "before and after BaW" in your life. It's very meaningful for Daf and me, and our co-mods, who've done a superb job.

This is just the beginning. The best is yet to come: after BaW!!!

BTW, we will keep BaW open in spite of you joining WiA (Webheads in Action).

With the BaW word spreading around, can you imagine how many participants we may have in BaW07??!!  ;-)

From: Maria Teresa, 23 Feb

I enjoyed Nina's final reflections too. Of course, as soon as I finished reading her message I went straight to her blog to read the whole story. And I found out that it was a real webhead story. Nina was very skeptical at the beginning and she felt intimidated by technology - as I felt miself when I first started to mess about with online tools. I remember I was outright scared when I tried voice mail for the first time - then little by little she realised, as many others did before her, that it was not so scary after all. And she produced some really good stuff. I'm sure she will be able to do much more, now she has get started.

So way to go Nina and Kudos to you.
Thank you for your feedback

From: Cheryl Oakes, 23 Feb

I posted to your blog, but wanted to publicly say, your blog is excellent, I enjoyed all your reflections too.

From: Cora Chen, 23 Feb

Congratulations on your blog--it looks great! I left some comments there.

From: nina liakos, 24 Feb

Thanks to those of you who have said such nice things about my reflections on BaW06 (short and/or long versions).  It's really lovely to send one's thoughts out into cyberspace (kind of like launching a message in a bottle!) and finding that real people have read and responded to them.  One more wonderful BaW perk!  See you Saturday... and Sunday... and Sunday (again)... and later too!

Cheryl's reflections

From: Cheryl Oakes, 23 Feb

Hello, I began a blog way back at the beginning of Week 3 with reflections. Although I am not done with this reflection, may I never be done with this, you can see my Webhead Reflections for BAW 2006. Thanks to all for your help, support , challenges and great friendships I have entered into. I am forever grateful.

http://webheadcoakes.blogspot.com/

 
From: cristina costa, 24 Feb

Great job Cheryl. I have just bookmarked it!

Surveys                                                 UP

Erika's Survey

From: erika alves, 20 Feb

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=432551800463

This is my first survey with Survey Monkey. It was really simple to build, but I had some trouble finding out how to get the final link for my survey.

I am going to use this survey with the teachers who work at my branch (called the Lake Branch). Besides teaching English, I am a computer lab monitor and the data I will collect with this survey will help me plan our semester better. Our computer lab is called 'MALL" (Multimedia Access to Language Learning), so you are going to see this word many times in the survey. It is a very specific survey, but really useful for me. The questions I have included are the ones I ask them informally everyday, so I think they will enjoy anwering them online. It makes things look more professional, doesn't it?

From: sharon holdner, 20 Feb

You wrote: "It makes things look more professional, doesn't it?"
Yes, it does :-)

Can you tell us what e-group is?

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks for checking my survey. We encourage our colleagues here to have an e-group for each of their classes. I mean, an e-mail group, just like baw-06@yahoogroups.com, so that the teacher and students can share messages, doubts, ideas, suggested readings, extra materials.
 

From: sharon holdner, 20 Feb

You wrote: "We encourage our colleagues here to have an e-group for each of their classes."

Erika, do you have any feedback about e-group activity from the teachers.  I have found that students will post to our Yahoo groups if prompted to do so in an in-class activity or for homework.

This semester I have a few who will post voluntarily, but most require a nudge.  What's your secret?

From: Carla arena, 21 Feb

Of course, I'll have to copy your survey with no copyrgith infringement!!! It's exactly what we need to know!

Great job.

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Sure Carla. I didn't have time to show you before sending it to the group, but maybe you have some suggestion on the questions. I tried to keep it short (10 questions).

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

Great looking survey, Erika!  I hope you get some good results from it - the questions are straightforward and the presentation is very professional looking.

I won't embarrass myself by trying to take it (like I did with Isabel's movie survey).  The only Malls I go to are for shopping ;-)

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Oh Leanne! You are so funny! Thanks for your feedback!
 

From: christina ljunggren, 21 Feb

What a professional survey you have created here! I agree with Leanne, no way I'm going to answer it..... I don't even shop in Malls.... I took Isabel's survey though, more my cup o' tea so to speak!

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks for checking my survey! You are right - Isabel's survey is more fun! Only teachers at my school would identify with those questions...

Annie's Survey

From: annie wils, 21 Feb

Hi everyone! I've created a survey about Webheads and travel. It's my first survey ever so I'm a little weary about it and very open to feedback. Here is a Springdoo message announcing the survey:

http://enus.springdoo.com/public/play/?id=FC79DE28FC1AD706

And here is the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=352331783863

From: Janet O'Donovan, 21 Feb

I took your survey and thought it was very user-friendly.  The Springdoo announcement certainly added to that, too. Great idea, Daf! Creating surveys is something I have not yet experimented with at all.  I hope you learned a lot!

From: liana devine, 22 Feb

Excellent survey, Annie! I look forward to your results, and as you will see, I want to come and visit you in Venezuela!

I think it was an excellent suggestion from Dafne to announce your survey using Springdoo - you got to try out two new toys at the same time!

From: christina ljunggren, 22 Feb

Annie! What an interesting survey and lovely introduction! Make sure to let us know the result, please, I'm really looking forward to it!

From: Vanya Katsarska, 22 Feb

Annie, I enjoyed thinking about webheads and foreign countries. I hope later you will share the results with us.

From: María Claudia Bellusci, 24 Feb

I've just done your survey. Will I get a plane ticket to the country I said I wanted to visit for my participation?

From: annie wils, 27 Feb

First off I would like to express my regrets at not being able to attend the graduation. My dad was here in Venezuela visiting and I had to drop him off at the airport.

However, I'm excited to report the results of my survey. 68% of the participants reported that their BaW '06 experience had instilled in them a desire to travel more. And 0% reported no additional desire to travel (See question 4).

Thanks to all 28 of you for participating.

Results: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baw-06/message/3550

Isabel's Survey

Tasks                                                                        UP

Week 2 - Catch up

From: ju jugense, 20 Feb

WEEK 2
A. How do you start a conference and invite guests at Yahoo Messenger ?
You can start a conference by clicking MESSENGER afer YAHOO!BATE-PAPO then CRIAR UMA SALA or ENTRAR EM UMA SALA. To invite guests you click on CONTATOS and after CONVIDAR UMA PESSOA PARA USAR O MESSENGER (choose) or you can click directly on the persons name.

b. How do you save your chatlogs to your hard drive at YM?
In a chat room you click on BATE PAPO button and then choose SALVAR COMO…

c. How do you display your picture at YM?
Click on Messenger, then MINHA IMAGEM DE EXIBIÇÃO (ctrl+shift+k), choose if you want to share your picture when starting a conversation or not or if you want to show an avatar that you can create and save.

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 20 Feb

Your answers sound right, though I just can't get used to menus in Portuguese. In my 25 years of using computers, I've always had software in English.

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

Despite having computer software in English, your Portuguese is obviously better than mine ;-)

From: Isabel Teixeira, 21 Feb

Just have in mind that  to invite people to a conference you should click on the person´s id and  then right-click your mouse  again to get a menu.Finally click on  " mais acoes" and in" convidar par conferencia"

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

I'm Leanne, one of the co-moderators for Week 2 of BaW.  You're doing a great job of catching up, but remember, the site will still be in place after the "live" course closes, so don't feel you have to rush through everything.  And I'm sure you will find a few WebHeads and "former" co-moderators around cyberspace in the weeks ahead, so if you do have questions, just ask.  Someone is almost always online...that's the beauty of our global membership.

I see that Teresa has already commented on your answers, which is a good thing for me (a native English speaker from Canada).

Week 4

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

Hi Angeles, Nice chart, comparing Alado and Elluminate, that you've put in our files.  One thing I can think of regards booking the sites: both need to be requested in advance, LT (Elluminate) through Jonathan Finkelstein.

Since you would like others to contribute, might I suggest a collaborative wiki for this type of chart?

Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

From: Barbara Chap, 21 Feb

This is a very thoughtful comparison of Alado and Learning Times.  Very clear and well formatted.  It is definitely going in my permanent file.

A job well done!

Week 6

 

Erika and Carla's Presentation

From Carla arena, 19 Feb

tomorrow Erika and I will be brave enough to make a presentation in our in-service to our teachers at our computer lab. Paddy, Graham and Bee Dieu were kind enough to send us some exciting and encouraging recordings telling our colleagues why they should blog in the EFL classroom. We don't want to wait longer to spread the work. Otherwise, we may lose the opportunity. And new technologies come around every day. We are no experts, but we feel we can share some things we've learned with our friends and also learn from them. I've had a fantastic blogging experience last year when my class got connected to a group of college students in Arizona. I was as excited as my students and it was simply fantastic!
http://internationalexchange.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_internationalexchange_archi\ ve.html

As for our presentation, we created our own blog in edublogs especially for the occasion. http://ctjonline.edublogs.org  Feel free to take a look and comment. We decided to include the main points of our presentation there so that it is a reference for the ones interested in using blogging. We tried to include links with examples so that the teachers know what we are talking about. Well, tomorrow we will let you know how the adventure was! It started well... On Friday, we spent a long time including the posts and deciding for the content. Then yesterday when we decided to work more on it, we saw it was not saved!!! All blank spaces...We had to do all over again... Maybe somebody knows about it. We clicked on save and edit, but later on we didn't find our posts. Should we click only on "save" at the end?

At least we found that in time to rebuild it! Welcome to the cyber world.

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 20 Feb

Dear Carla and Erika,

What a wonderful way to present about blogs by creating a blog! Kudos to you on what must have been a fabulous presentation! Do let us know about your colleagues' reactions.

Next time, maybe you could also talk about my blog with beginner students just to show those who are starting to learn also like to blog even if with mistakes.  :-)
http://fwe2.motime.com/

From: erika alves, 20 Feb

We presented about Blogs today and it was really fun! Our colleagues loved to hear Paddy and Graham's messages and visit all the blogs. They wanted to read every post and all comments. Impossible, right? We only had one hour and thirty
minutes to present everything.

We divided our presentation in 5 parts: Why blogging? - Blogging as online journals - Blogging in the EFL classroom - Blogging for professional development - Audioblogs. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to show them audioblogs, and we didn't teach them how to build their blogs. The goal of our presentation was to tease them, make them curious and eager to start blogging on. Many of them are beginners when dealing with internet tools, but we tried to show them that building a blog was more about content and creativity than about computer skills.

We only started working with blogs last year. Thanks to BAW06 we were able to structure our presentation on blogs!

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 20 Feb

Kudos to you both on a successful presentation. Your enthusiasm shows, Erika

And I'm sure that you sparked curiosity in your colleagues. Voice is a thrilling element, isn't it?

The Web tool beginners in that group should start booking a seat for BaW07. ;-)

Thanks for the great feedback.

From: Carla arena, 21 Feb

Thanks for your support and interest. Just as Erika pointed out, today we had a wonderful morning, just getting set to our online graduation ceremony! The teachers got completely crazy with so many nice blogs we showed them and different possibilities to explore. There were 15 of them, but we plan to repeat the session in all our school branches and then present "Blog it - part II". Today was just the teaser.

Teresa, we will certainly include your blog as an example of blogging in the EFL classroom. It rocks with all those little ones so actively participating!

You, baWers, are all great people in a community that I feel I belong to.

From: Cora Chen, 21 Feb

Congratulations on your successful presentation! :)

From: María Claudia Bellusci, 21 Feb

No wonder your presentation must have sparked your audience's curiosity. Your enthusiasm shows in everything you do.

Congratulations friends!

From: hala fawzi, 21 Feb

Congratulations for a great and a successful presentation.Way to go! You will never presentingas long as you are among BaWers.

Kudous

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks for your kind message! Also, thank you for always reading our messages and giving us feedback!

From: Carla arena, 21 Feb

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement. Well, teachers were enthusiastic about blogging, but really anxious to understand how it worked and if they were able to set up their own. We need another session for them.

Take a look at their Impressions after the session:
http://ctjonline.edublogs.org/2006/02/16/your-impressions/

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

You have just opened Pandora's Box and all the good things will come out!  If these comments are the tip of the iceberg of praise heaped upon you for sharing just ONE of the cybertoys you've discovered in BaW, just WAIT until the word starts spreading.

I agree with Teresa (I think) who wrote that your colleagues had better reserve a spot for BaW 2007.

I applaud your initiative and enthusiasm in sharing what you have just learned yourselves.

From: Moira Hunter, 21 Feb

What can I say in addition?  Leanne has said it all :-)

The comments left are really wonderful and you deserve them - every time I 'sneak' a look at your blog, I'm in admiration - it's so rich!!

In fact, I've just noted down the theme you're using "Theme by NikyNik WP Styles" - it's really pleasing to the eye.
Congratulations!!!!

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks Leanne. I am sure we will have more colleagues joining BAW 2007.

From: cristina costa, 21 Feb

Great Job!

You are acting as a truly webheader - spreading the word about the  amazing technological world. As leanne uses to say "Sharing is Caring"!

Way to go! Those teachers were in great hands and I am sure that they  realized that and will take advantage of what they learned with you!

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks for your very kind words Cris!

From: christina ljunggren, 21 Feb

Dear Carla and Erica, such positive response from the participants! Be proud of yourselves, you bet we are!!!!

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

Thanks one more time Chrissan! We had many teachers looking for us after the presentation trying to get more and more information about blogs. We promised them to give them support and offer more specific training. I am sure they would be able to build a blog by themselves with user-friendly blog hosts such as Blogger, but they are afraid of starting it. And , of course, we are encouraging to take the BAW course next year.

From: Analía Dobboletta, 21 Feb

Kudos to you! I visited your Blog it, you've certainly done a daunting task. I'd have liked to be a fly on the wall to admire your audience's open-mouthed at such a fabulous presentation.

From: erika alves, 21 Feb

It was a really nice presentation, full of new information for our in-service teachers. We could spend hours talking about blogs!

From: Carla arena, 22 Feb

It's funny to see teachers' reaction! They are in awe, they keep talking to us about blogs, how much they need another workshop, and, at the same time, they feel it is so far away from them... Well, at least, one of the teachers who attended ours told me he had already created his own blog and started blogging with his group. For me, reaching the first one is a success!

Articles                                                                     UP

Le Monde d'Edouard Montpetit - Blogging en francais

From Jane,  21 Feb

Hi everyone (and apologies for cross-posting),

I'd like to share with you the latest edition of the staff newsletter at my college which featured my involvement in this year's EVOs, my "Bikes and Blogs" project from last year and "Prospect," the textbook I completed last fall. In the interview for the article I spoke about my involvement with TESOL and the Webheads, but specific mention of the webheads seems to have been edited out, apparently to ease comprehension.

You'll have to bone up on your French--it's in pdf format so it may take a minute to load (the article starts on p.1 and continues on p.4; the textbook is featured on p. 5)  The url was very long, so try this: http://tinyurl.com/g8jnu

From: cristina costa, 21 Feb

thanks Jane for the sharing. I'm going try to read it although my knowledge of French is really poor.

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

Kudos to you, Jane!

My French is so rusty, but it's great to see you get public recognition in any language!

From Moira, 21 Feb

I'm new myself to blogging, the blogosphere and its philosophy and have started my first in the BaW06 session.

I have been talking about it to my French university students (18 +) and have been surprised by their apparent 'ignorance' of what a blog is.  They are all heavily into to IM and forums, so I had 'assumed' that some were bloggers, but this was not the case.

It's also interesting to see that it is also referred to as a "carnet web".

From Jane,  21 Feb

Few of my colleagues (both anglophones and francophones) have clued into blogs either. Many are curious but a bit reluctant to embark on more interactive use of the web. As for the terminology, both "carnet Web" and "carnet Internet" seem to be preferred choices of l'Office de la langue française, but popular usage is leaning more toward "blogue". As for "podcasting" the official term is "baladodiffusion"--I wonder if that one will stick!

No school, no books, no teacher's dirty looks

From Cristina, 19 Feb

I've just received this email about this CNN article on "unschooling" .  I thought it might interest you. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/27/gutierrez.unschooing/index.html

It can give rise to an interesting discussion. I personally don't agree with this "teaching method" as I consider this does help in the socialization process, which also enhances learning.. Kids need to go to school, to be in touch with other kids and with different people.   they also need to get used to society's and their community's rules...

Well, what I want to say is that going to school and develpoing  skills  in a collective learning environment is important for the  children to  get the basic knowledge they need so that later they can  be on their  own. What do you think?

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

I have to say that in my limited view (remember, I'm not actually in the school system), I think home-schooling and virtual schooling is becoming more prevalent, as parents become dissatisfied with the school system, the lack of public funding to provide "extras" that may even include current textbooks, or to avoid exposing their children to drugs, bullying and violent behaviour that is unfortunately a part of our local school environment, and possibly throughout Canada.

That said, I think there is a time and place for home schooling, and even advantages to virtual schooling, but I agree that children need the interaction with peers and adults in the school setting, as well as the structure that regular classes provide.

This "unschooling" sounds like just so much fooling around!  Even the student quoted in the article can't pinpoint what she's been "learning"!

I'd be interested in what others in school systems worldwide think.

From: Moira Hunter, 21 Feb

Thanks first for the article.

I decided to use it as a kicking-off point for a new f2f course on oral fluency with first year university students (ranging from 17 -19 year olds), to break the ice and get them talking.

Of course, at the beginning, they all cheered out loud at the great idea of not coming to school, not getting up early and having to sit in a classroom ..... but as they then started to discuss the topic seriously, they were in total unanimity that coming to class to see the 'real teacher' was what they wanted and that they needed the peer exchange, both in and out of class.

They did, however, concede that whilst doing their internship or field trip, asynchronous and synchronous learning would be appreciated because  they felt totally 'cut off' from the school whilst doing these projects.

So, it seems, that the search for the right 'blend' is always the crux of the matter.

From: liana devine, 22 Feb

Great idea, discussing this with students themselves.  What an interesting conclusion they came around to.  Thanks for sharing this feedback.

(I guess this means there's still jobs out there for "us")

From: Gladys, 23 Feb

As a teacher, I'd have a LOT to say about why I don't support unschooling (while at the same time agree schools don't meet society's expectations and that needs to be worked out). As an educator, I question the idea that parents are formed enough to teach their kids: teaching is not just "laissez-faire"!. As a citizen, I wonder to what extent a society can afford such a thing - for instance, the kid in the article seems not to be doing anything in connection with maths at all! And how easy will it be for her to adjust to the routine of clerical work or something like that when the time comes, I wonder?

Now, as a MOTHER, one whose two little kids have just had a school break for nearly 3 months, ah... you don't want to hear all I have to say against unschooling! ;-)

Research on Memory

From: James, 21 Jan 2006

For all of you interested in theory and research-base practice, I suggest you read this late story in the LA Times at

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-acting20feb20,0,154172.story?tr ack=hpmostemailedlink

I came across this article on research which shows how essential meaning is to memory - in the context of theatrical acting. An interesting read to introduce or spark further reading in any of your teacher training courses...meaning-based learning - and our subsequent pedagogy - just got some more oomph (sp?) behind it.

Briefly, the "secret" to memorizing all those lines of text is to put everything in context - your self, emotions, way of thinking - and let the words flow. That's the starting point...then work on the details. The article includes interview with actors/actresses and some psychologists.

It certainly can inform classroom ELT practice, which many of us already utilize, such as learner-centered and generated activities, using authentic language and situations, and unscripted, negotiated speech ---> to elicit meaningful communication.

Enjoy!

From: Janet O'Donovan, 21 Feb

Dear James, and everyone,

having been gone for over a week, I'm diving in with messages from most recent, and your link was really great.  As a singer and performer, I can only agree with the findings of this study.  Learning an opera role is a little different, since phrases are repeated often and very unnaturally stretched out to fit the music, which is predominant, but the principles still do apply.  Are you familiar with Jerry Lucas' books on improving memory?  Tony Buzan has also written a fascinating book on the subject of memory-improvement.  When I was doing more teaching, sometimes I had students memorize short poems or limericks in order to focus their attention on the text.

From: liana devine, 22 Feb

What I got out of reading this link, as a woman prone to losing her short-term memory as a function of age ;-) is that I'd better pay attention as I live life, so I can remember what I've lived.

This can apply in so many areas... Thanks for the tip,

From: sharon holdner, 22 Feb

I guess that I should take up acting, huh?...or I could increase my intake of Omega oils ;-)

On a different note, I think that "meaning and making sense-of" is key to learning in our fast-paced, technology driven world.  There isn't enough time to learn some subject matter through rote.

Until recently, I was under the impression that the Social Sciences lent themselves best to "learning in context" with appropriate realia.  I now understand that research studies are now underway to  prove the efficacy of learning in context in mathematics and earth science.

Although the article had a focus on adults, there is an appropriateness in this approach for teaching children, as evidenced by the growth of "charter schools" in the USA today.

Thanks.  I enjoyed the article.  I hope that I'll be able to remember that I wrote this post....;-)

From: James, 22 Feb

Leanne said, "I'd better pay attention as I live life, so I can remember what I've lived."

Very aptly put, my friend.

James

Links                                           UP

List of Links

From: Dennis, 23 Feb
 
Members of this list and other related lists frequently recommend online tools, sites and programs. Is there a composite list somewhere where they are all gathered together?

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

I keep the WiA Index and I have a list of some online tools we use, but not completely updated. You can take a look here: http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/webheads/wia-index2.htm#Online

I know that Vance also has a list or lists, but maybe you could ask him through the Webheads list.

From: Cheryl Oakes, 23 Feb

Isn't there a del.icio.us posting in the archives?

From Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

Del.icio.us came to my mind at once, but I just couldn't find the link at the time. Here it is: http://del.icio.us/baw06

From: Cheryl Oakes, 23 Feb

I thought of it especially since I was prompted by Wes Fryer, of Moving at the Speed of Creativity, http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

In the past few weeks I have commented on his blog, and then boldly suggested he try bubbleshare.com for his photo presentation of his climb of Popo in Mexico. Well, after sharing springdoo he asked for the other great things we have been learning as Webheads. Since a lot of what I do as a technology integrator is sharing and teaching other teachers, isn't that what webheads are all about?, he asked if I could send him my del.icio.us account. I'll be happy to do that, but I thought that this prompt to all of us would enhance our del.icio.us account prior to our graduation.

All you do is go to the del.icio.us account and type in the login and password both baw06.

Thanks for updating this great resource. I added springdoo and bubbleshare.

From: Dennis, 24 Feb

We are so rich, we forget what is in our own storerooms. I asked about a list of tools. There is a marvellous one right here in a slightly odd place - the database section of this very list -  baw-06.

The Tinyurl is:

http://tinyurl.com/kg2o2

From: nina liakos, 24 Feb

Between the main webpage and the YG, there is enough information to keep me busy until BaW07!

Yahoo bookmarks

From:  Ángeles hernandez, 24 Feb

This is to tell you that I downloaded Yahoo tool bar and started using Mi Web/My Web as a book mark. It's great. I don't know if there is a limit to the number of folders you can create on it but so far it's so fast!
English version on :    http://myweb.search.yahoo.com/
Spanish version on:    http://espanol.search.yahoo.com/


From: María Claudia Bellusci, 25 Feb

I'm also using My Yahoo as my homepage. I've got everything there: links, calendar, weather forecast, reminders and even cartoons. I find it very useful.

Browsers                                                     UP

Firefox

From Sasa Sirk, 22 Feb

I was sooooo unhappy these last few weeks because half of the voice tools I wanted to explore crashed my internet explorer in a second (the only browser I have used so far) . I could not even touch for example podomatic, handybits, bubbleshare and some other stuff.

I was terrified of having to reinstall everything on my PC and then my husband suggested trying Mozilla Firefox - IT WORKS! I can hear your beautiful voices now and feel so happy about it. Btw has anyone else encountered such problems using Internet Explorer?

I'd also like to share with you some of my happiness and show you a short video - got it by e-mail yesterday and it made me laugh to tears - would it be ok to upload it to the files area?

From christina ljunggren, 22 Feb

Hi Sasa, I know EXACTLY how you feel! Last year, during BaW2005, my computer crashed too. I had the advice from a friend's son (computer nerd, par excellence) to try the Fiorefox, which I did and have  lived happily (almost)ever after!!!!!
Good luck to you!

ps As long as the video isn't enclosed as an attachment, it's ok to upload it. The Yahoo Groups don't allow attachments. You can also post the link in a message.

From Kat Urbaniak, 22 Feb

Firefox is lovely isn't it.

The geeky side of me would like to share the following :-)

The general consensus of online-type people (ok you can call us geeks) is that Firefox is a superior browser.

Why? Internet Explorer (IE) is not as safe Firefox.

Why? Because Firefox is open source and is constantly being proved in a way which IE isn't.  Also Firefox isn't integrated to your operating system which also makes it safer from viruses and hackers. Plus Firefox has better features, it's faster and it's easier to use (so the surveys say).

But there is always a downside. IE is still the most used browser and as such many websites built work best with Microsoft's IE simply because that is what is on most PCs as standard. That means some sites may not look quite right or may not be accessible at all via a browser other than IE. This is changing but is currently an occupational hazard of having Firefox.

I <3 Firefox.

From Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni, 22 Feb

I have Firefox, IE and even Netscape Navigator in my commuter. Of course my default browser is Firefox for all the reasons you mention and some additional ones. It open with a search engines, for instance so you don't need to go to one when you need to do some research. It allows setting up your favourite engine and a few additional ones in the same place just to mention a few. In any case in which Firefox doesn't work I can easily shift to IE. I have to say though that I keep Navigator just for the good web editor.

So hurray for open source

From sharon holdner, 22 Feb

I had Firefox installed for over a year until my last computer meltdown as which point I began uninstalling programs to see where the culprits lived.

IE kept wanting to take over FF.  I've been wondering if my settings were okay.

I am in agreement that it is indeed "lovely" and am considering downloading the latest version once again.


From Sasa Sirks, 22 Feb

Chris, Chrissan, MT, Kat, Sharon - having read your messages I feel even more happy about it. It had never crossed my mind to try another browser before experiencing all the IE crashes. You know, if it ain't broken... However when it is broken, it is so nice when simple solutions work. And Kat thanks for the geeky part.

From nina liakos, 23 Fen

I also have three browsers on my PC: Explorer (because it seems inescapable and certain applications seem to require it--but I have never liked it), Netscape 7.2 (which I switched to last year after my beloved Netscape 4.7 became impossible to use) and most recently, Firefox, which the Helpdesk personnel here at the U. of Maryland have been recommending for some time.  I finally installed Firefox last weekend after my friend Karen Taylor said (via Skype from Mexico!), "I'm trying to figure out how to ask you in a polite way why you are still using Netscape!"

So far, I like Firefox except for one thing.  When I download pictures from emails, instead of my being able to choose to save them in MyDocuments/My Pictures, they are automatically saved to the desktop.
 
Now I am having trouble transferring them from the desktop into My Documents.  Any suggestions?  I suppose I can just do it in Netscape but I don't like having to keep switching from browser to browser.

From Ajarn Paul, 23 Feb

I like Firefox too, use it all the time. You can change the the default download location in Tools, Options, Downloads.

From: Cheryl Oakes  23 Feb

I am a Firefox user as well. However, when I wanted to use a webpage editor, I downloaded Mozilla which has a composer in it, the old Netscape composer!
I ended up using Mozilla Composer on the last of Week 5 threads since my Dreamweaver made the end of the page invisible. What was that about?

Tools                                                                         UP

Recording in Skype

From Moira, 22 Feb

I've been looking for "easy ways" to record a conversation on Skype.  So I tried Audacity, but it only records one side of the conversation.  This then took me to various forums and I found various solutions ... but the discovery I made was Gizmo and the http://www.gizmoproject.com/ which has easy direct recording. It looks really interesting for a variety of reasons as you can read on the site.   I haven't tried it out yet but will try tomorrow.  Has anybody already used this?

From Cora Chen, 23 Feb

Thank you so much for the Gizmo link!  I have already bookmarked it.

Many thanks

From Luis, 21 Feb

Despite not being such an active member as I would have liked to be, I try to read and learn as much as I can, but most of the time my  everyday life doesn´t allow me to spend more time exploring the huge amount of tools showed by the group. A nyway I would like to do my one´s bit, this is Let´s powWow.
http://letspowwow.com/

This conference tool is very interesting for teaching, training and making presentations. One of the best options of this program is the possibility of showing the desktop presenter which is really useful to teach on line.

From cristina costa, 23 Feb

thank you SOOOOOOOOO much. I still haven't tried it but it seems very neat. I am, going to explore it better now!

From: erika alves, 23 Feb

Thanks for sharing Luis. I have bookmarked it and I will try it out.
  

From: Barbara Chap, 19 Feb

I wish I could credit the person who passed this link on to me.  The article is 50 Free Tools to Make Computing Easy published by http://www.techlearning.com

http://tinyurl.com/cb9jc

It comes from the site's "Educators eZine" which has a lot of other interesting articles for us.

Other Stuff                                                      UP

From: Jean Michel Chaupart, 22 Feb

(Sorry, for crossposting this message in BAW, Blogs and Podcasts)

FRANÇAIS
Un petit bonjour de Colombie pour les francophiles et francophones.

Suite aux activités offertes pendant 6 semaines par EVO2006-TESOL, et avec l'espoir d'offrir des activités similaires pour des professeurs de français – ou d'autres matières en espagnol – je suis à la recherche d'éventuels collaborateurs à distance – et en ligne – pour les inviter à participer à des activités synchrones sur Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Alado…pour faire part de vos expériences avec des blogues, wikis, podcasts…et pour, éventuellement, faciliter des échanges entre vos étudiants et les leurs.

Depuis que je suis – beaucoup plus comme observateur qu'acteur – les activités BAW et autres, j'ai repéré quelques francophones et hispanophones avec qui nous avons pu nous donner un coup de main mutuel à l'occasion d'activités ponctuelles : pour ne pas trop m'étendre, je n'en cite que trois Dafne (Vénézuéla), Barbara-Bee (Brésil), Rita (Argentine)

Vous croyez que nous pourrions collaborer ? (je suis à votre disposition en français, en espagnol et avec mon anglais (assez peu reconnaissable !...), envoyez-moi un message à mon adresse personnelle de façon à ne pas surcharger cette liste :

jchaupart@...

Merci d'avance et je reste attentif à d'éventuelles questions

ESPAÑOL
Un cordial saludo desde Colombia a los hispanoparlantes de los diferentes paises que están actualmente siguiendo las actividades ofrecidas durante 6 semanas por EVO2006-TESOL.

Siendo mi interés ayudar a los profesores de idiomas de Colombia, y otras categorías de docentes (trabajo como formador de formadores), estoy buscando profesores hisponaparlantes que quisieran compartir sus experiencias sobre el uso de los blogs, wikis, y otras herramientas sincrónicas y asincrónicas, y, de pronto, participar de actividades de intercambio entre sus estudiantes y estudiantes colombianos.

He venido participando en las actividades BAW desde tiempo atrás – este año 100% como mero observador -  y con la ayuda de personas como Dafne (Venezuela), Barbara-Bee (Brasil) y Rita (Argentina) para solo citar tres, hemos generado actividades en linea muy interesantes. Y de antemano me ofrezco para colaborarles en proyectos o proyectitos en español, francés, y hasta con mi inglés (que suena a todo menos a inglés!...)

¿Le interesaría darme una mano de vez en cuando? Escríbame un corto mensaje a mi dirección personal : jchaupart@...  para no saturar los espacios de esta lista.

Gracias de antemano y atento a eventuales preguntas o comentarios.

Jean Michel Chaupart
Bucaramanga-Colombia
a french/spanish speaker WEBHEAD

From: Alla Nazarenko, 23 Feb

Dear Colleagues!

Though I did not manage to participate actively in all the breathtaking events and activities I tried to follow the course of the seminar and even in this format found it to be extremely interesting, educative and useful.

I got so much from the correspondence among the participants. Each of you contributed something  to the work so brilliantly planned, organized and monitored by the moderators. I feel very grateful to them and to all of you.

We are having the Second International Conference on the Use of ICT in FLT on the 9-10 of June in Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia).

I would like to invite you all to participate - either personally F2F or virtually online (via videoconference or anything else) and will be very happy if some of you gets intertested in such venture. The information about the conference can be found on site http://distance.ffl.msu.ru or from me personally. The site is in Russian but the 1st Circular is in Russian and in English.

BTW, two years ago we had two presenters from the US via the Internet. I hope you will respond to my suggestion. Thank you.

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

Thank you for the nice words and the challenge. I would like to contribute something to the conference, maybe a webcast. I went to the link you sent, but found nothing in English. The only URL that had /eng/ in it was all in Russian. Could you send more info? TIA.

Collaboration request

Happy Graduation                                               UP

From: Vanya Katsarska, 23 Feb

Lessons I learned from the moderators, co-moderators, guest-presenters, participants and my experience in BAW06

Technology is just a tool to build bonds among people.

Blogs are what you want them to be.

Blogs are windows on people’s ideas.

Springdoo. Podcasting. Chat and learning. Surprises are waiting for us at every cybercorner.

Wiki means collaborative work, mutual responsibility and fun.

The virtual world can become almost real with voice and video messaging.

Never be afraid to try something new.

The webheads friendship is built during synchronous and asynchronous events, through the chaos of knowledge sharing, experience sharing, trial-and error, frustration and virtual hugs.

Collaboration and friendly interaction enhances learning.

Webheads are unique.

What makes a good moderator?
Is it wisdom? Knowledge? Experience? Hard work? Dedication? Patience? Heart? All of these at the same time. All of these applies to Daf and Teresa, Hala and Leanne, Maria Teresa and Cora, Christina and Barbara, Gladys, Sharon and Cristina. Dear moderators and co-moderators THANK you for all the knowledge you shared with us and your warm cyber affection!

To all BAW06 participants.

This is for those of you who explored how to create a webpage, survey, voice message, etc instead of relaxing quietly after an exhausting day. For those of you who dedicated their time to learning instead of to their naughty little kids, or adolescent children crisis, or grumbling husbands/wives. For those of you who plunged into the world of technology instead of into the world of night clubs, or travel adventures. For those of you who gaped in horror at their PC when it crashed and long hours of hard work were deleted. For those of you who stumbled through e-mail overload and sleep deprivation. For the young teachers and for the retired. For the experienced and for the inexperienced. For the active participants and for the lurkers. One thing is for sure. We all learned a lot from our moderators and co-moderators. We all had FUN.

BAW06 participants we did it!
I wish to all of us to establish a strong webpresence and to pass the newly acquired knowledge to other people.

Happy graduation!

From: Paddy Greenleaf, 23 Feb

Beautifully and all-inclusively put. Thank you truly.

From: Maria Teresa, 23 Feb

Well, it seems we have quite a few poets among BAW06 participants. Kudos to Vanya who was able to sum up the webhead spirit in a very nice way.

Dear Vanya it's when reading messages such as yours that we fully realise that what we do at baw is worthwhile, no matter how much time we spent in front of our computers or how much sleep we miss. Thank you for your wonderful contribution to baw06 success.

I'm sure you will be able to pass your newly acquired knwoledge to many other people.

From: Moira Hunter, 23 Feb

Thank you, Vanya, for saying it for us all in such a wonderful way :-)

And thank you, Moderators and Co-Moderators, for providing us with an unforgettable six weeks!!!

From: cristina costa, 23 Feb

Thank you all for making this a wonderful experience. Combining  learning and fun with friendship is what this group does best. It's  only been possible with the dedication and effort of each one of you.

You are just amazing!

 
From: James, 24 Feb

Vanya, I agree with Maria Teresa, you have creatively captured the essence of the Webhead experience. On somebody's blog I recently saw that collaboration was time-saving. I don't think that's usually true. However, the rewards from working together as a team, though possibly not apparent at first, are almost invariably more durable, sustainable, and worthwhile - in addition to the benefits of networking and community-building, personal and professional development, and self-discipline :-)

Kudos to you all on a great job done.

From: Cheryl Oakes, 23 Feb

Vanya, your words are too good! You described everything I felt, am feeling. This has been a unique experience, one I will not forget.

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 23 Feb

Wonderful, Vanya! Thank you for putting things so beautifully!

Yes, Maria Teresa, we do have have some great poets among us. I believe it's
the first time we've had such a creative group!

Vanya, your text-poem will be a BaW06 highlight.

From: cristina costa, 23 Feb

wow...I'm touched. I am getting somehow sentimental here....(I promise not to cry though)

I can easily relate to your words and let me say that like you I feel  blessed to have found this amazing group of people that give me strengh  to carry on and improve my teaching every single day. The knowledge we  share here along with all the practice empower me to go further and  make the difference in the classroom.

Without you none of this would be possible.
  
thank you for all being there! (((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))

From: erika alves, 23 Feb

This is one the most beautiful messages I've ever received! Thanks for being such a nice and helpful friend!

From: Analía Dobboletta, 24 Feb

Your message is truly unique! Definitions, insights, sentiments couldn't have been better put into words. Your every line is loaded with the force that binds us together; your presence felt throughout.

Thank you for such a 'surprise present'.

From: Barbara Chap, 24 Feb

What a nice graduation greeting.  Thank you so much for taking the time to put it together.

From: nina liakos, 24 Feb

I liked your graduation message so much that I have printed it out for my wall!

From: María Claudia Bellusci, 25 Feb

You have defined every term connected to this BaW experience so well, that I can't but agree with you on everything you say, especially regarding the way this collaborative environment helps to develop human bonds.

From: Silvana Carnicero, 25 Feb

I really agree on the comments you made on all this wonderful experience. From the readings to the moderators, everything has kept my motivation up during the whole session.

Thanks a lot for sharing this experience with me.

From: Cora Chen, 25 Feb

You are such a wonderful writer/poet! You expressed yourself in such a wonderful way!

I feel very lucky to be in such a special group with so many special people. I have learned a lot from all of you, and I feel very grateful.  Thank you all!

Huge hugs to all of you!

From: Vanya Katsarska, 25 Feb

I'd like to point out that my graduation speech is based on what I learned from YOU. I quoted my favourite thoughts of our moderators, co-moderators, presenters, or participants. For example "Technology is just a tool to build bonds among people" - Sharon in surveymonkey.com / username: vkatsarska@... / password: baw06  "Blogs are what you want them to be" by Bee in one of her materials I read during the course.

I feel somewhat uncomfortable now because I was lazy and I didn't check the source of all the thoughts I mention in "The lesson I learned". You see, I learned something from everybody in this wonderful and friendly group.

Thanks                                                            UP

... to Week 5 Co-Mods: Cristina, Gladys and Sharon

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 19 Feb

Dear Cristina, Gladys and Sharon,

It's hard to find different words to "thank you" for another fabulous week of co-moderation.

It was a very active week that started with Isabel's excellent presentation which inspired so many participants with great ideas and end-products. It was a very productive week masterly co-moderated by this fantastic trio that was always there, helping, coaching, giving the necessary advice and ideas, searching for answers, sending warm messages... What more can we ask for and
what more can I say?

Besides all this positive energy in BaW, it was also very positive for me with my successful Beja presentation, in part thanks to you and a great group of BaWers who were there for me and my audience. I'm very glad to have asked for the help of newbies rather than veteran Webheads, as is usual.

I have just uploaded two photos in our BaW06 YG Photos section in a folder titled Beja pres.

Thank you to this great trio and to all co-mods! You're true moderators and true Webheads! That's the best compliment I can give! Bless you all!

((( Warm hugs to all )))

From: Carla arena, 19 Feb

Dear Cyber Girls Cristina, Gladys and Sharon,

We are the ones who should thank you for the support. You were always there for us, giving feedback, looking for answers, having fun with us. That's why you are true Webheads!

From: cristina costa, 20 Feb

Thank you Crala for all your support and active participation. It was  much appreciated. there aren't enough words to describe what it feels  to be a co-mod in a webheads' sceneario. It's just GREAT! FANTASTIC.
 
I would also like to thank you for this opportunity and for being always there for us.Tere and Daf you're the very BEST.
  
It was an amazing experience that I'll never forget. I can now proudly  spread the word among my friends that I was a co-mod in the BaW06,  worked with two of the most fabulous co-mods, interacted with many  other wonderful people from all over the world, learned a lot, a lot  and had even more fun!
  
THnak you all for the amazing week!
beijinhos and (((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))

From: Barbara Chap, 20 Feb

Thank you for all the time and caring you have put into the replies for the fifth week.  I know you all are extremely busy and have lots going on in your lives, but from reading the posts (I could only lurk this week)it looked like BaW was the center of your lives.

And you always dazzle me with your technilogical know-how.  You are a wonderful resource for us all.

From: Moira Hunter, 21 Feb

I ,like Barb, have been more a lurker than anything this week :-(

But I've followed all the hectic activity and would like to say a huge thanks to the co-mods and everyone who has kept all this cyberspace so hectic, interesting, interactive and aboveall, 'warm and welcoming'!

More thanks

From: daniele allard, 21 Feb

To the mods + co-mods: thank you wholeheatedly for some fabulous work

To the BaW community: WOW ;-).

Daniele

From: Cora Chen, 21 Feb

Daniele,

Thank you very much for your compliments about our BAW!

It has been so nice to have a BAW-mate like you. Daf, Teresa and all of our
participants have certainly made our BAW a very special group that cannot be
found elsewhere.

From: liana devine, 21 Feb

Thanks for your thanks, Daniele.  It truly was a pleasure to work with such a wonderful group of participants, such dedicated co-mods and of course, our stellar fearless leaders, Dafne and Teresa.

From: Analía Dobboletta, 24 Feb

Dear All,

A warm hug that stretches around the world, and a loud Kudos to you all!
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Thank you))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Analía

P.S. Fond of definitions....

WHAT DOES 'THANK YOU' REALLY MEAN?

" Thank you" is one of those wonderful phrases people use to express a special gratitude.

But there's often a lot more to it than those two words can say.

When it comes from the heart, from deep inside the nicest feelings and the most special thoughts, "Thank you"means so much.
It means thank you for taking the time to show that you care. It means "you really made my day," and sometimes it means that you really make all the days so much better.
It means you make me feel so nice, and I wish I could do the same for you... just by letting you know how much you mean to me.

"Thank you" means you didn't have to... but I'm so grateful that you did.
"Thank you" means that you've done something special that I'll never forget.
                                                                                    
Chris Gallatin

From: sharon holdner, 25 Feb

Thanks for thank you, Analia.

From: Randa Effat, 24 Feb

Dear webheaders though I haven't been active lately, I would like to join you tomorrow and after for the Grand Finale.

I failed again to follow through, but hope you accept me in throughout the year. Want to let you all know how much I admire your work.

From: Vanya Katsarska, 25 Feb

Randa, it'll be great if we can communicate and coperate in the future. BTW, Egypt is the country I dream to go to.

From: christina ljunggren, 25 Feb

Hi Randa, of coursse you're in!! The good thing about BaW ( or at least one of the many good things!) is that you may 'come and go' as you like and choose the level of activity that suits you. BaWers will always be here and the material is always at our disposal! Good to have you with us Randa,

From: sharon holdner, 25 Feb
Dear Everyone,

You have created an active, inspiring, warm and supportive community of new webheads over the past six weeks.

I know that Daf and Tere are thrilled to see that the group has grown wings and become a self-sustaining COP with the support and meaningful exchanges of so many.

As we leave the events of the past six weeks, our pockets are brimming with the discovery of innovative tools, experiences and most importantly, a host of newly discovered friendships.

From: Sasa Sirk, 26 Feb

I just like to thank you all again, wish you a happy graduation and all the best. I have enjoyed being with you every single day of the last six week . These last few days I'm not very well and won't be able to attend our ceremony. I'm sure it will be something special, you all are so special! I too hope we'll stay in touch for a long time to come.

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 26 Feb

We had a wonderful today at our Garduation ceremony: three hours!!!

We missed all those who couldn't take part in the fun, including ou.

Hope you feel better soon and do stay with us. This community is like Port wine: the older it gets, the better it becomes!


From: Luis Fernandez, 26 Feb

Dear weabers:
I would like to say thanks to you all for these 6 fantastic weeks. Specially thanks to Teresa and Dafne who have overwhelming run this period of time. I feel a great satisfaction for having participated, and being member of this comunity.

Happy graduation!!!!!!!

From: Teresa Almeida d'Eca, 26 Feb

Dear Luis,

Thank you for being with us these 6 weeks and please continue a member of this wonderful community. Do not leave us. The fun has just begun: we are now in life after BaW06!   :-)

And please continue sharing your great photos.

From: Luis Fernandez, 27 Feb

Dear Teresa:
Be sure about that. I´ll be here to contribute as much as I can to the success of  this fantastic group. It has been a honour for me to keep in touch with you, Dafne, Cristina and the rest of members of Baw 06.

Muito obrigado. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.

From: Moira Hunter, 26 Feb

What a wonderful way to finish six weeks of bliss!!!

I, like many, will now have to spend time looking at all the treasures and building more of my own!

I now have to search for the graduation diploma for husbands, as mine nearly blew a gasket today, as I wouldn't leave my pc screen!  How could I? There was so much happening!!!

Hugs, kisses and more hugs and kisses to you all - it's been magic!!!  Thank you :-)))

 Kudos continued...

It seems stupid to add anything to the meaning of kudos after Analia's lovely poem, but this offers me the chance to point out a few features of Google some of you may not be  familiar with.

If you type a word followed by 'definition' you get a series of definitions for that word from the Internet. This can come in handy sometimes, can't it? Here ìs what I got for kudos from a Google search.

Kudos

•  is a singular Greek word meaning praise, but the same process may be happening to it. At present, kudo is an error, however. http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/English_plural

•  a vote for a favorite puzzle, as in 'She gave that flat kudos,' meaning that she included it on her list of favorites that she sent with her solutions. The verbal form is kudize, which is transitive: 'He kudized that flat.' Although the proper plural of kudos is simply 'kudos,' other joke plurals are sometimes seen (chiefly in GotS): kude, kudoi, kudea. http://www.puzzlers.org/guide1995/glossary.html

•  flattering comments http://www.blackraptor.net/m7fic/contents/terms.htm

•  praise: an expression of approval and commendation; "he always appreciated praise for his work" http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

•  Kudos (always singular, even though it looks like a plural): *"fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement; prestige" thus by logical extension is often used as a praising remark. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudos

In case you are interested in other Google features you may have a look at this link: http://www.nile-elt.com/captaintechnoarchives.html
:-) MT

From: James, 22 Feb

Agreed. Analia, may I add your short poem to my wiki? Or you may choose to
add it yourself with a personal comment!

Kudos to you.

From: Analía Dobboletta, 22 Feb

Following Leanne's suggestion, I took the licence to post it in the Visitors' gallery ;-)

From: James, 23 Feb

Thanks Analia for sharing.