PLE

PLE is an acronym that stands for Personal Language Environment. It is the totality of the formal and informal tools we use to store information, rfelect on it and use it. Well, what's a PLE, then? It's not easy to define it, since it's not something you can touch, you can see...Our PLE is our personal learning world; it's something we create around ourselves and that change, increasing day by day. It’s a sort of space in which we find everything we need to develop our skills, according to our personal cognitive style. There're no right or bad choices, useful or unuseful tools; a PLE works just for the person who need it.

Honestly, I'm not sure that writing down my PLE (and even thinking to my PLE to awake to its strucuture) can help me very much, since I do anything special to study languages and my PLE is probably the same PLE of a lot of people. I rarely reflect on what I'm doing and ask myself the reason why I'm doing a specific thing to improve my knowledge...I simply do it!

However, this activity may have some intersting consequences...I believe we all can learn something by listening to other experiences; it's a way to enrich our PLE and to discuss about learning strategies...

Writing my PLE on paper and making in this way my learning world visible, hasn't been simple. There're things that are obvious for me and I do them without realizing I'm following the instructions of my PLE.

I like the idea of imaging my PLE like a map; a sort of map I use to find something, to achieve something...There are four main groups; GATHERING INFORMATION, CHECKING INFORMATION, PEOPLE and SPACES. I subdivided the "gathering information area" into two smaller groups: FORMAL LEARNING and INFORMAL LEARNING.

I found some difficulties in classing some entries, since some tools tend to be part of more than one group.

Just some months ago, my PLE was different; now new tools like del.icio.us and Bloglines enrich it, giving me other possibilities to improve my knowledge of English (and of anything I'm interested in).

A PLE is a changeable concept that's always grewing into something different; it reflects our approach to learning and given we all never stop to learn and discover something new, our PLE is destined to follow us...

Sources jungle

Looking for sources when I have to do a research is never something simple. When I was younger, I used to spend hours and hours glancing through the pages of the books in the library near my home. It was a bit inconvenient since I needed to dress and go out, but there was a undeniable advantage: I never had to worry about soundness, since the fact that the library had decided to buy a specific book, it meant it was enough for me to trust it.

Nowadays things are different. I rarely look for my sources in the library if I'm not doing a particularly important research. I generally try to find what I need in the Internet.

The first thing I do is typing one or some key words in a search engine and then I start skimming over the first proposals it gives me. It's definitely not an easy pass; there are often plenty of results. After that, I generally read or take a look at the passages under the URLS which contain the terms I'm looking for. If I think a website could be useful or interesting I click on its URL ( and if I recognize the website address as belonging to an important magazine, a reliable organization or if I know the author, yes, all these things would be further guarantees for me).

Most of the times, I understand what type of website I'm dealing with, just looking at its layout and at how information is presented. I chose the websites in which the presentation of the topic I'm interested in is particularly detailed and preferably enriched by some useful links. In this way I can always find more information if I need and obtain further material for possible connected examinations.
However, I admit I look for the date in which the site has been last updated in few occasions; if I like it, I generally pay attention just to the contents.

The main difference between looking for sources in a library and in the Internet is the fact that the Internet provides us an incredible quantity of material, more than any library, but this virtual world is also full of rubbish and useless things. As a consequence, our views become wider by surfing the Web, but we run risks we wouldn't find on the dusty shelves of a library, where the worst thing that can happen to us, is not to find what we need.

I think that all the suggestions given by the University of Essex, Purdue’s Online Writing Lab and San Diego State University are good even if they obviously tend to repeat the same things. I do recognize it's very easy to fall into temptation, accepting whatever I find, especially if I'm not doing a very important work and search returns don't satisfy me very much. I'm a bit lazy, it's true... :)

Looking to each other - Youtube

Our exploration through the secrets of the Web goes on...The latest creature we descried is...Youtube!

Fortunately, this time wasn't the first time I found myself in touch with this character of the endless moors of the Internet, so I wasn't panic-stricken as usual.

http://www.youtube.com/ is one of the sites I proposed in our first E-tivity and as I wrote in that context, I think it can be very useful since everybody in the world can share videos and watch what others have decided to show. In this way we all can can watch and re-watch something we're interested in or find something nice just for fun. In addition, we can improve our listening skills and our knowledge of other cultures by using this tool, so it can be useful for languages students like us! On the contrary, I've never heard talking about TeacherTube...I just visited it and it's fantastic!

Obviously, there's also the other side of the coin...In Youtube everybody can find a lot of interesting things, but we all risk to meet something vulgar, offensive or simply stupid. A friend of mine showed me a video in which a person explained how to create a virus for computers...(there's no need to comment, I think...). Unfortunately, some people don't use Youtube properly so, as I said in my first post " Youtube is an opportunity in proportion to the intelligence of its users"...(I don't know if I'm quoting in the right way, but there's no problem, in my opinion: I'm not going to report myself) :)



Here there're the videos I chose:


I'm not a doctor but I WANNA work in a place like this...

and this is me last year...ha ha, I'm joking, but I'm really following an ice skating course (maybe with a bit less elegance...)

Listening to other worlds

After my search in the Web (looking for something in the Web is very boring, in my opinion...- Sorry, but I needed to admit it-)I found three podcasts I like.

Choosing a speific podcast has been very far from being simple, since generally I found some interesting Web pages which contained a lot of useful podacasts.

Anyway, that's what I decided to share with you:

1) http://pinkgeek.net/weblog3/rss.xml

It's not a podcast; it's a page in which " The adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is subdivided in different parts. You can click to listen to the story. I think it's a wonderful way to spread culture.

Oh, I love Sherlock Holmes! He was one of my favorite character when I was younger...I think I red everything about him...

2) http://eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=467

It's an example of daily conversation. In this specifc case, the topic is car renting. The characters speak slow and there is also the transcript of the oral text, so everybody can follow the argument. It's a very useful tool for improving students' listening skills.

In this Web site you can find other conversation models to practise your ability.

3) http://www.voanews.com/english/customcf/podcastxml.cfm?id=3

Here global issues in science, technology and the environment are the main subject. It's useful to improve everybody's listening skills and in the meanwhile you can learn something about culture, society (especially American) since all the podcasts offered by this Web-site deal with real topics and problems of the present day.

What about the world of podcasts?

I'll probably seem to be banal, I know, but they're...USEFUL. Listening to them you can improve your ability and you can also can learn something. However, as for everything in the Internet, there's the other side of the coin...The Web is a huge tub where everybody in the world can put something...and something is just rubbish...so, pay attention!

Hi everybody!I'm sorry, but my computer has some problems, so I'm going to write my post on podcasts on Monday afternoon in the lab...I perfectly know you're hating me now... :(Sorry, sorry...See u!Albe

Del.icio.us

Ohh, the Web...what an amazing world!
We (or at least I) just discovered “del.icio.us”. It’s not a simple search engine; it’s a sort of search engine in “small format”. Thanks “del.icio.us” users aren’t destined to wander in the Internet looking for something; they will find just the websites other people have considered interesting.
I took a look at the websites chosen by my peers; there is something I really, really like.
I enjoyed Laura’s quotations website very much because I think that the use of quotations enriches a conversation and surely there are some that are very well-known and shared by a specific cultural and linguistic group. So, quotations may be a detail that brings a conversation to a higher level.
Alessandra proposes an online dictionary which also offers the right pronunciation of the words. It’s very useful, since it’s easy to use and if you have a doubt on pronunciation, you can solve it just with a click.
I liked Claudia Turolla’s special dictionary very much. It’s totally dedicated to slang expressions. Generally, nobody studies them at school, but they’re important, in my opinion, since native speakers always use them, especially young people.
However, a language has both formal and informal aspects. This is the reason why I also appreciated Claudia Trivellato’s suggetions about the drafting of commercial letters. The choice of appropriate words is fundamental to gain one’s ends and to be considered trustworthy.
Among Serena’s websites, I chose that which enables people to read American radios transcripts and listen to different audio files. It’s very interesting, because you can learn about American culture and society while you’re improving your listening skills. In this way you’ll probably have something to talk about besides your ability for understanding what native speakers say.
Thanks to “del.icio.us”, our searches in the Web are a bit easier now.

Halloween

The first time I heard about Halloween I was 8 and my English teacher described that strange custom in class. I was very fascinated by it and decided that from that moment I would celebrate Halloween. My friends and I used to prepare all things down to the smallest details, from the fancy dresses to our jack o'lanterns (or "jacks o'lantern"?). We all loved it, even if it wasn't so simple in those years, since nobody knew that usage and we were compelled to repeat the same string of explanations in front of each door. However, it was always a magic night and this is the reason why I still feel touched by the kids who come to me looking for some candies.

However, I believe that Halloween may be a great moment just for children. I don't hold with the general leaning towards the celebration of this day as it was part of our traditions. Watching a horror movie with some friends or doing something similar is enough, in my opinion. It isn't a crime, on the contrary, may be an acceptable compromise; a good idea to spend a nice night without exaggeration. You may say I'm too conservative, but I simply don't like this mixture of different traditions very much. Italian Halloween is the price of globalisation, but I strongly believe that variety in the world is a virtue, isn't it?

A world in a pocket (E-tivity 4)

I'll be honest; I wasn't acquainted with the existence of feed aggregators. Evidently, I'm very green, since I discover something new every single day in the inextricable (in my opinion) world of technology. When we started our lab-lesson on last Wednesday, my first thought was something like "My God! I'm going to lose myself in a virtual maze!". However, trying to overcome my innate distrust-panic towards computers and the obscure reality they serve, I drew a deep breath and started working and...surprise, surprise...I found out it can be very useful! This is true especially if you are intersted in a lot of things on the Web, so you can save time (at least if your curiosity doesn't spur you to start clicking around everywhere, whenever you are on the Internet, like yours truly). Thanks to feed aggregators, you can easily manage everything you are interested in; it's like a private door to the Web.

What I liked the most is the fact that Bloglines permits you to choose the websites and the blogs you consider interesting among a number of proposals, so you can control your whole "virtual personal world" at the same time. Then, you can organize your choices by creating some playlists in which you subdivide the different elements. In this way, your "space" will seem in order, the search of what you're looking for will be practical and you won't waste your time.

Opening Bloglines is like holding your little world in your hands and managing it!

E-tivity 3

We have written in the course blog for two weeks and this is the moment for our first impressions on this activity...
Well...maneging a blog may be a bit complicated or, at least, a bit stressful, since I tend to forget it is necessary to update it with new tasks and I'm generally scared of leaving a post with some unacceptable mistakes. This is the reason why I always read and re-read my messages trying to resolve the doubts that hover my mind whenever I write. However, it is surely useful, since I rarely write in English. I also like reading the posts of the other components of my group; I believe that this "peer collaboration" can teach many things. This blog activity also influences our language learning, especially as far as colloquial English is concerned, stressing sayings and a characteristic type of style. So, this activity pushes me to keep my skills up; unfortunately, my wits don't need so much time to go rusty and some little efforts are the right price for improving, in my opinion...
So, using the blog, we do an excellent writing exercise and we can improve our skills. However, there is also another aspect of this activity I've not mentioned yet and I'm afraid is unchangeable; the scare of writing something wrong, pushes me to avoid some stylistic and lexical choices I like but that may sound "unnatural", preferring other forms, that are less interesting, but safer.

This is a theatre stage. I chose this image for different reasons. I am in a theatre company and I love acting (or at least I try to do my best). Whenever we rehearse our scenes we invent a new world full of situations and people do not exist in our real life. That is what everybody sees when we put on a play. I think it is fantastic, but there is also another part in actors' work; a part audience never notices. It is probably the most important aspect of acting and it deals with taking pains over elocution and movements on the stage. It may seem to be simple, but I assure you that taking under control memory, elocution and movements while you are talking on a stage is very, very difficult.

A theatre stage is also similar to life; sometimes we all come on the scene and sometimes we all quit it to move to the backstage and wait for our turn...

These are two websites I frequently use:

http://novacompagniadelcorso.it/

It is the website of my theatre company. Here you can find the pictures of our performances and our backstage (at least those we do not censure...), the days in which we play and some information about each member. There is also a forum where we write to discuss about different aspects of our work, even if sometimes we quarrel...Yes, it may sound strange, but the life of a comapany is something sweet, but also bitter; different ideas, jealousy, and "love stories" on the stage often complicate our "artistic life", creating some little problems we hide with a smile when we bow at the end of a performance.

Unfortunately we are renovating the website right now. I hope you will be able to visit it soon.

http://www.youtube.it/

Most of you probably know it. It is a huge "video data-base" that everybody can use all over the world. Thanks to youtube, you can put your videos in the Internet, enabling the rest of the world to watch them. So, youtube may be a great opportunity to watch and re-watch something you care, such as interviews, sports competitions and documentaries. Moreover, using youtube, you can test your knowledge of foreign languages, since it is an excellent listening exercise.

Although youtube is useful, we can not forget the other side of the coin. Unfotunately, not everybody in the world uses it properly, so you can find vulgar or offensive videos.

Youtube is an opportunity in proportion to the intelligence of its users.