A Final Review

Hello friends,

In my last (hopefully) semester of my university life I had the chance to take Instructional Technologies and Material Design Course from one of our great lecturers Gökçe Kurt who guided us through this journey to become a 21st century teacher.

During this semester, we have learned about a lot of new tools, websites and technological materials that can help us become a more efficient teacher whose lessons are affective and enjoyable. We learned about tools like Canva, Wikis and Blogs to make our lessons are up-to-date and interesting for 21st century kids who grew up with smart devices.

We not only learned about tools etc. but we also learned to find our own tools and create unique materials. When I go and look back at the things I have created for this course I feel proud of myself: the funny friendship video we created with my BBF Liz; and the poster I made about for a town in a video game give me such joy.

As teachers of tomorrow we have a big role in raising future generations and if we continue using archaic methods, which have been proven fruitless time after time, we will fail at it. In the age of technology, we should use technology for more things than social media. Technology gives us so many possibilities - not using it would a big mistake.

Talking about these stuff made me think of a song from an animation movie called "Lorax" that gives me such hope and I believe it’s never too late for a change. I believe in my country’s future generation and I believe as teachers we should take more responsibility for a better future.

The song I mentioned is below,



Until the next time!🐼

A RSS FeedReader Review

What is an RSS?

RSS is a type of web feed which allows users and applications to access updates to online content in a standardized, computer-readable format. RSS feeds can help you follow the latest content from your favorite blog or the latest episodes of podcasts. 

What is an RSSFeedReader?

An RSSFEEDREADER is software that helps you collect all the blogs etc. you follow together to make it easier for you to follow them.

Which one do you use?

I use a website called Feedly, which has free and paid options. the reason I love Feedly is their modern user interface, the website is easy and intuitive to use. Here is an example of the main page:

As you can see from the screenshot above I follow some ELT blogs to enhance my teaching, also our professor wants us to, my favorite one of these blogs is called ELT Planning which is a blog by an English teacher named Pete Clements who also has some books. I really enjoy the posts on his blog, they give me great ideas that I can use when I become a teacher myself. Here is snippet from his blog.

Until the next time!🐼

A Magazine Cover

Hello Friends,

This week for our Instructional Tech and Mat Design Course we were assigned to create a movie poster or a magazine cover. I chose to create a magazine cover simply because I thought it was more interesting. 

I created a magazine called "Brindleton Bay Times", as the name suggests this is a local magazine but not just any local magazine, it is for a fictional town in the video game "The Sims 4". I am a big fan of this game and particularly I love playing in this town. The town of Brindleton Bay is a coastal town where fishing is their main source of income, also they adore our furry friends, they even have a statue dedicated to cats and dogs :). 

When I start teaching, I'd love to give such assignment to my own students because I believe this is a nice way to get to be creative and also I had so much fun creating my magazine cover. To create my cover I used the website postermywall. Here is the cover I made:

Until the Next Time!🐼

A Friendship Story

Hello Friends,

This week we were assigned to do a digital story where we utilized technology to create a story. There were three options and with my BFF Liz we picked the friendship story. Since we are such good friends we wanted to tell everyone how our relationship evolved and how we became best friends.

While creating this video we picked some of our best moments to show you. Since we met we had both good and bad times together but no matter what happens we always stick together. We used Windows Movie Maker to create this video, it a bit old and not so up-to-date tool but for our purposes it did the job, we picked "Stand by me" as the background music because it is a song we both love very much and it is a song that captures our friendship really nicely. 

You can watch our video below. 

Until the next time!🐼

A Website Analysis

Hello Friends,

Today, I wanted to talk about a website called Ba Ba Dum. This website is a great tool for learners, whether young or old, of a foreign language to practice their vocabulary. Ba Ba Dum has 21 languages to choose from, and it is great for fresh beginners.

Who made it?

The website was created by Polish couple - Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński. They have a studio called Hipopotam Studio. The website also has many contributors from all over the world. It is also stated that it was crowdfunded and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.

How about the content of the site?

The website has a game format, it has 5 different games to help you learn vocabulary and for each language, they include 1500 words.

Who can use it?

The website is great for young learners as it is simple to use, fun, and includes colorful images. It can also be used by beginner level teens/adults.

How about their purpose?

The main purpose seems to be to help learners learn and practice vocabulary in their target language.

Can we trust the information on the website?

In my opinion yes! I have not seen any typos or pronunciation mistakes on the website, each language is voiced by native speakers.

How about the design?

I know the look of a website matters. The nicer the user interface, the more we enjoy it. In that aspect, the website is really satisfying: it has nicely designed images for the vocabulary it teaches and adds to the overall feeling of the website.

How can we use for teaching?

The website can be used as a supplementary tool for teaching. In my opinion, this website can be used with young learners and they will enjoy the format of it. Also, the website has a scoring system which will in encourage the students to practice.

Additional Notes: Additional Notes: There is no indication on when the website was last updated. Although, it seems to be up-to-date. I did see any links or segments that were broken making it really easy to use.

Until the next time!🐼

An Internet-Based Project

Hello Friends,

Today I want to talk about a project we had for our Instructional Technoılogies and Material Design class. For this class, we were asked to use the website called "Padlet" to create a research board. My teammates and I work together to create a padlet on the topic of "Freedom" and we have added some elements that we thought you would find interesting. You can find the padlet below:

Until the next time!🐼

A Recent Song Discovery

Hello Friends,

I have recently discovered a song called "Birthday Party" by AJR which is a band made out of three brothers. I really enjoyed both the melody and the lyrics of this song and I thought you may also enjoy it so I decided to share it with you.😊

I also believe using songs in English is a great tool in ELT since they are both very enjoyable and great pronunciation practice in my opinion.

You can listen to the song below.

Until the next time!🐼

A little Book Review

Hello friends,

I was asked to create a wiki page for my Instructional Technologies and Material Design class, for this assignment, I chose the book called "Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda" which is a book I really enjoyed reading and I think it is a book that can help many teenagers and young adults who are struggling with their own identity.

Hopefully, you will enjoy my review of the book, to read my review click here.

The cover of the "Simon vs. The Homo Sapien Agenda"

Until the next time!🐼

A Podcast: 60 Seconds To Change The World

Hello friends,

This is an example podcast which can be used in an ELT classroom as listening material, it was recorded by myself.

As this was the first time I'm recording a podcast I was a bit nervous but after a few tries I calmed down and felt much more confident.

In this episode of 60 Second to Change The World, I discussed the benefits of asking ourselves "How are you?" and how it can change the world to become a better place. 

I hope you will enjoy it!



Until the next time!🐼

Teaching – where technology comes in handy

Hello friends, 

I want to talk about the importance of technology in teaching in my post today. I wrote a short essay to express my thoughts on the matter, I hope you will enjoy it 😊

The impact of modern technology in the lives of our era is immense. Innovations in technology and their radical remodeling of human lives are two matters that have been going coherently throughout history. Essentially starting from the fundamentals and escalating to healthcare, government-related matters, and education; technology advancement only persists to extend its Venom diagram. Indubitably, there has always been a question: does technology impact our lives for better or worse?
Personally, I perceive technology advancement as a rather constructive part of our society. As an English teacher candidate with several experiences in teaching, I consider that I would not be able to portray matters that I want to interpret without the adoption of visualization of the subject. We can admit that students would grasp the idea easier with a warm-up, continuous brain-storming without knowing the topic, and, ultimately, connecting ideas to a general term.

The addition of multimedia elements of a topic in a PowerPoint presentation, a short movie about (with the elements of the matter being explained) streamed on a projector, a small game (i.e. Kahoot) could enhance not only the students’ understanding but also their involvement and attitude in class. Furthermore, in today’s Turkey at most of the schools Interactive Whiteboards are present, which are convenient for interpreting the material. In order to keep the students informed about their classes and the content: creating an online class calendar (Google Calendar etc.) accessible by everyone (students will be able to prepare for class); in case of immediate action or emergencies having a class-group (Google Classroom, Edmodo etc.) social media - represent means of off-class communication and idea sharing.

To conclude, being a teacher in the 21st century grants us to expand the integration of technology to our creativity’s frontiers. I can only say that I feel fortunate and content to allow myself the ability to exploit the above-mentioned means of teaching. From my viewpoint, technology’s place in education is essential.

Until the next time!🐼

Let's Talk CALL(Computer Assisted Language Learning)!

Hello friends,

Since the 20th Century, the computer became an important part of how we live and that's why it's only natural that language learning has been affected by advancements in Computer science.

Earlier examples of CALL were called "Teaching Machines", these machines were quite simple compared to what we have today. A student would enter an input mostly in the form of a word or a sentence and the machine would evaluate it, here is a video.

Since then the technology of CALL has advanced a lot more and it went through a lot of evolution. We had machines and software that check the pronunciation, aimed communication and these days the computer has become an indispensable part of our lives.

A Graphic Timeline of CALL

Until the next time!🐼

Let's Talk 21st Learning!

This is a word cloud I prepared to show some of the aspects of 21st-century learning.

Hello friends, 

I wanted to talk about 21st Century skills in this post, here it goes;

We live in a century like no other before, nothing in a typical human life is like how our ancestors lived and that is completely due to technology that we have today and what made that technology exist it education in my opinion.

In the century that we live in education has quite changed, the requirements and expected outcomes of education is than before, In the 21st century we talk about some skills called “4C” which is basically the foundation of our education systems. 

What is 4C?

The 4C is a set of skill determined by educators, politicians etc. to create the individuals of tomorrow. These skills are:

• Critical Thinking: It means making reasoned judgments that are logical and well-thought out.

• Communication: It means to convey ideas to achieve full potential.

• Collaboration: It means working together to achieve a common goal.

• Creativity: It means thinking outside of the box.

The skills above are determined to unlock the full potential of the individual in the 21st century, as the people of tomorrow, we need to equip ourselves with these skills in order to accomplish big things in the future. As teachers, it is our duty to make sure we equip our students with these skills.

Until the next time!🐼

A Brief Introduction

Hello Friends and Welcome!

I'm Recep, an aspiring English Teacher, I study at Marmara University, Istanbul. This is my last year and hopefully, I'll graduate this year. Since I was a little boy I was always extremely interested in English from the video games I played to books I read, all made me fall in love with English even more and by becoming a teacher I feel like I'm giving back to English for the amazing things it helped me have in life.

As this is the first post my newly created blog I'd like to talk about why do I have this blog.

The reason why I created this blog for a course that I take in my university but I have intentions to keep many years after I graduate.

Until the next time!🐼