I learned so much during the past 9 weeks! When I was starting this course, I was sure of my abilities as far as using technology in class is concerned. I was convinced that I did not have a lot to learn and maybe Robert noticed it when he read my needs before the beginning of the course. At the end, I have discovered that I had a lot to learn and indeed I learned a lot!

Week 1: Blogging. I knew quite a lot about blogging, but using a blog as a teaching tool was a discovery. I was not very regular on my own blogs but the course corrected this state of things.

Week 2: stating teaching/learning objectives. this is something that I am used to doing as a professional, but Idiscovered the Pennsylvania State University's way of stating objectives and I liked it very much.

Week 3: social bookmarking and teaching aural/oral skills. I am a member of facebook which is a social network but this course gave me the opportunity to discover that there could be social bookmarking and I am using delicious.com a lot since week 3. This week also provided me with the opportunity to discover useful websites for dealing with aural/oral skills. I am also very grateful to my coursemates who permitted me to discover very interesting websites.

Week 4: Planning a lesson to be taught with technology. Wonderful experience! It is true that I had already done that a couple of times, but reading about classmates' experiences and Robert's  comments provided me with more confidence on how to deal with these.

Week 5: Rubrics, alternative assessments and PBL. In my humble opinion, this was the turning point of this course. Before the beginning of this course, I did not look at rubrics as important evaluating tools in the process of language learning and with my adoption of the PBL as the basis of my teaching, rubrics have become unavoidable. Week 5 also made me understand how independant learning could be an advantage to a student, but also how it was important to frame it with a lot of guidance.

Week 6: Interactive powerpoint. As a logical continuation of what PBL entailed, using interactive powerpoint presentations in class has proven to be very efficient as my students were trained on how make up their own. I also read a lot of interesting new ideas about using technology to teach large classes.

Week 7: One-computer classroom. This appeared to be very enriching although this is something I have been used to for more than 8 eight years now. Each of our classrooms is equiped with a wall-mount large screen connected to a central unit. However, apart from the usual stuff that I handle on a daily basis thanks to this computer I discovered a number of other things which could be done with a computer in class.

Week 8: Using Exercisers. I used to know Hot Potatoes very well but this week made me discover other tools which proved to be very efficient in creating tests.

Week 9: Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences. One of the major problems that we have in our classes and that I have had the opportunity to discuss with others. I became familiar with the nine intelligences:

Verbal-Linguistic
Logical/Mathematical
Visual/Spatial
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Musical/Rhythmic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Naturalist
Existentialist                                                                                                                    

And I also read quite a lot about Howard Gardner.

A lot of things worked well. Class discussions were very instructive and learning about various nationalities' experiences was extremely interesting. Pair work with Natali on our project reports was also very fruitful and working on the project ended up being very challenging.

However, a number of of websites we were assigned to visit did not open. I also think that with our various occupations, one week for all the activities included could be too much. Which brings me to the conclusion that maybe the course could be extended to 15-20 weeks for instance.

To new participants, I will ask them to prepare themselves very well. They should be open-minded and ready to learn new things. Practically, they should be surfing the internet ready to read more than the reading assignments given to them. Above all they should make sure they have a goo room of time to do what they are supposed especcially all the reading that it involves.

End of week 9 and my project report is probably being scrutinized by the instructor Robert T. Elliott. I keep my fingers crossed for the result to be positive. Even at my age waiting for the grading of my work is stressful.

This week, we have discussed multiple intelligences in a language class. One of the overall remark that I can make is that learners are the same all over the world: it is difficult to find a homogeneous class. As Howard Gardner says ''we all have all the intelligences, but no two people are exactly alike''. This principle should govern our teaching methods and flexibility and eclecticism should govern our work.

As far as the project is concerned, I am very grateful to my partner Natali who read my work and made very useful and encouraging remarks. I hope I also helped her improve her work and that she did not take some of my remarks badly. I did not intend to hurt her in any way I just wanted to assist her in making her work look better.

I am now waiting for Robert's sanction and I can say in advance that his remarks too will be welcome as I am always looking forward to the amelioration of the way I do my job. The implementation of the project was not very easy and I could have done more if we had not faced the same difficulties relating to power failure last week and the week before last. But all in all, it was very exciting.

This is the end of week 8 of our training and I can really feel that we are moving towards the wrapping up of our training. Boy, How enriching has it been since the beginning! Whatever disciples of the classical way of teaching think, I am convinced that the future of teaching is on the internet. It might take a lot of time but it will happen.

Basically, in the next few years, teachers, especially those who work in urban areas, who are computer-illiterate will have very tough times. This because their students who are younger than them and more exposed to technology will be able to predict the content of their course and carry out research on the content of the class and come to the classroom well-prepared to give the teacher a lot of trouble with questions.

Even our teaching methods must be adapted to the pedagogic "new deal". It is true that for some time now, almost everywhere in the world, teaching is student-centered and the communicative approach has been mostly valued. These two notions must also adapt to the new developments in the technology surrounding teaching. Students, at least those who are good users of the internet, can build their own learning objectives and even look for resources which can be of value to them. Tools like "Hot Potatoes" and others of the like are available to them, which means that they can even set their own tests and try them with one another. I think teachers who have technology at their fingertips must go deeper into thinking about how to make learners more responsible in their learning by encouraging them to start thinking like teachers. This is another way of enhancing their autonomy in their learning process. The obvious question is: are we not moving towards a no-teacher society? The obvious answer is "NO". There will always be teachers around!

Either we like it or not, as I previously said, it may take the time that it needs, we are moving towards cyber-teaching because we will be teaching very talented cyber-students. The technology they use in their pastime must be fully integrated. I was part of a seminar organized by the US State Department on a new program called "The Trace Effects" in which the teaching of English takes the form of a video game. I have not yet had the opportunity to try it with my students, but I think it is a big step forward in combining what our students like doing in their free time and school. To learn more about "The Trace Effects" go to:

http://americanenglish.state.gov/trace-effects

I will start dealing with my course mate Natali's draft project today and I am hoping to send back my feedback latest tomorrow.

I am really grateful to the American Embassy for having given me the opportunity to be part of this course and I still feel so much indebted to Robert Elliott and all his colleagues for the pedagogic strength they have provided us with.