Anonymous sites on the Internet

Here are some useful sites that I learned about from my students

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.



One of my students pointed out that I have an awesome job because I get to meet people.... via Skype and gmail.....

 

Here's one way to reach out to a class in Brazil and invite students in the USA and France to connect with teenagers in Florianopolis ... write a long email message and send articles

I wrote this email to Jair because I forgot to turn on my Skype and connect with his class.   Here is my attempt to connect with the students....

=======

Hello Jair and hello to his many students.

I missed our SKYPE appointment and I plan to prepare for next Monday or whenever you have another chance to talk by skype.   PLEASE Professor Jair, try me again.  My lack of planning is best attacked by sending an email to my mobile phone   9546468246@vtext.com   and I will get a reminder such as  "Hey steve, skype in one hour" ...

I am very happy to talk by skype but I have little discipline to remember to set an alarm on my phone.

TWO ARTICLES about consumers.

I'm writing to you with two complicated articles... because I believe that Jair will carry you and help you find the joy in these articles.

How can we learn more?  By connecting our hearts and minds.   

How can we find something powerful and LIFE CHANGING to read?  by asking teachers to recommend something "real"

LITTKY's BOOK

I have asked a friend (and paid him) to translate Littky's book into Spanish.   I just paid someone to translate Littky's first chapter into Portuguese.  I'm attaching for your students the ENGLISH version of the book and the FIRST CHAPTER of the book

Students, please take time to flip through the book.  Look at the photos, look at the quotes.   I will send separately the WHOLE book, but here is the first chapter.   NOTE TO JAIR>... I hope you have a way to share this information with your students.

Here are the LINKS

PORTUGUESE chapter

https://sites.google.com/site/networkofeducators/dennis-littky-portuguese/chapter-1

ENGLISH chapter

This is a great author.   Look for him.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/

books/104438/chapters/The-Real-

Goals-of-Education.aspx 

Read the first chapter in English, (well, try it) and then read the article in Portuguese.  My student Victor Fernandes (his email is above) (who lives in Florida) has told me:

The teachers pretend to do their job

The students pretend to pay attention.

The author wants to change this situation.

That is a PERFECT description and summary of this chapter.

MORE ARTICLES

My student Victor has asked me to send him more articles to read.  I'm thinking about some TED talks (first in English and then also in PORTUGUESE).  I think it is a good method to PUSH ourselves to read an article in another language and try to GUESS the meanings, then go to our native language and get the real story.

In future emails, I will send the translations of TED talks for you to analyze in ENGLISH and in Portuguese

THE POWER OF PROJECTS

This was my comment on FastCompany's website

My student Victor has recently completed a training program about teeth.  He plans to create a book using CREATESPACE (actually, he will make a children's book with his cousins Leo and Luiza) to explain WHY we need to attack the monsters in our mouth.   This is a project and he will write in Portuguese and then try to translate into English.  Then I will check his English and then I put the information in Createspace and he will be AN AUTHOR.   I suggest that you each think about something that you are an EXPERT about and try to write a book in English (and Portuguese) ... this will be a way for me to learn some portuguese via translation method.

THIS IS A LONG LETTER to say "Welcome to the Email School of English"  ... we can do many things via Email and I invite Jair's students to contact me, to contact Esraa in Egypt, to write to Davit in Armenia and to write to Davi and Victor (they are cousins).

Here are the email addresses.  PLEASE WRITE TO THESE PEOPLE to practice your English

Jair Luiz Alves da Silva Filho , 

Jawaan Samuel , 

samueljawaan@yahoo.com, 

victor fernandes , 

EGYPT:  Esraa Abdalla , 

FRANCE Davi Barreiros <321contagious gmail.com="">, 

DAVIT in ARMENIA    Dav Dave

I have also included Will Sutherland in this list because he could perhaps welcome  students from Brazil in his sailing school (which is really a "life skills" school).

Davi Barreiros (yes, he has a Brazilian name) is at Will's school and Davi can tell you something about his progress at the school.

============ 

The goal is to PULL people into your world.  Pull people into your email box.   And send them questions to "wake us up."     My student Jawaan Samuels is the FIRST FLORIDA TEENAGER to write to Esraa in Egypt.

NOTE TO JAIR:  I hope you will share this long email with your class.  I will attach books for them to look at (ebooks) and they can reject or skip whatever they like.  I hope that Victor, Jawaan, Davi and other students will write to you, Jair, and offer to help your students with their English....  perhaps your students can offer a place for people to watch the WORLD CUP...?  a sofa, perhaps?    I imagine that some teenagers in Florida could fly to Florianopolis for a week and trade "English Lessons for the World Cup Experience in Brazil"  watching the world cup on TVs in Florianopolis.   what a fun idea.   I wish I could hop on a plane and experience the moment with you.

Please ask each of your students to write to me and I will try to match their interests with my info.   HERE is  my Orkut   http://www.orkut.com/Main#AlbumList?uid=10684280787565205593&fr=1

Here is my Facebook page..   look for students who were in my previous classes and you can write to them, such as https://www.facebook.com/thomas.qb.3?

Thomas Q

This is the beginning of the book that Victor
is writing for children

https://www.facebook.com/TheGuideontheSide

my facebook

I look forward to future SKYPE calls from Jair.   Please, students, remind Jair to text me and you can text my smartphone by sending an email to 9546468246@vtext.com

--

Steve McCrea
Consultant
Founder, Visual and Active Teacher Training
VisualAndActive.com    visualandactive@gmail.com
Mobile  954 646 8246

contact me at +1 954 646 8246. ... Get links to free materials available from TRANSFORMTeaching.ORG

www.BuildingInternationalBridges.org

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.   Margaret Mead

If people are coming to work excited, if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly, if they're concentrating doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings - then somewhere you have leaders. - Robert Townsend 

I'm too cheap to get the Windows 8 Phone, but I like the idea: "It's not about apps.... it's about PEOPLE." That's how I teach, so why not communicate in the same way?

Here's a message from one of my students:

You should buy a Windows Phone 8! E.g. Nokia Lumia 720. You would really love using it.

Why? First, it's NOT all about apps. It's all about people! All information from different accounts in a single place, the people hub. 

Easily share on Facebook. 

Perfect Skype integration.

Try it!

Visit the video

Lutz 

Von meinem Windows Phone gesendet

Von: Steve THE EBOOK MAN McCrea

Gesendet: ‎30.‎05.‎2013 18:57

Thank you, Lutz.

I will pass on comments to Lutz if you want to contact him.  He really knows Windows.  If you are committed to a PC, then you should know what Lutz has in his head.   And he enjoys sharing his insights.  (But he rightly protects his privacy...so send me a message and I'll pass on your questions to Lutz...)

World Time Zone helps teach empathy in students who might not remember what time it is in other countries

http://www.worldtimezone.com/

It's worth it for students to know about other time zones.  A map like this will help remind students that the universe does not rotate around them.

http://www.worldtimezone.com/

Magical photos when we created a class by Skype

When the web camera's cable is not correctly inserted, some ghostly images are created:

Their shirts are especially spooky:

There are aliens in Florianopolis, Brazil...


After the cable was removed and reinserted, then we saw these images.

The aliens went away...

Future meteorologists in Brazil.

The students participated in a "talk about this" exercise

Cool design from Marcelo's shirt

Send more information:   TLASteve@gmail.com

Their teacher:  Jaluif@yahoo.com.br
Why not connect with Jair and participate in the class?   English speaking volunteers are needed.

A potential project for students: The SKYPE (Phone) Booth

What if every school could be connected to a Skype booth "out there" (perhaps in a local museum)? What if outsiders could call into your school and look through the Skype connection to what's happening in the classroom?

In a school with LOTS of computers

Technology in the school: HIGH

The focus could be to create procedures where students assume the role of "ambassador to the world" for their classroom. Each student who wants to participate would have a start and end time during the day when calls to the assigned Skype account would be answered.

The focus is more on PROCEDURE than technology. The school's rules should include procedures to allow students to be listed as "school ambassador" and to give students permission to answer when someone from the outside rings in. It might be that there are several "school ambassador accounts," so that at least one of the accounts is active and open, ready for outsiders to call in. With every student's laptop or internet device "ON" for Skype, then each student can bring in a partner for a class discussion. UNCERTAIN: What impact would ten Skype calls have on a school's internet system?

A second project might be called "SET UP A SKYPE BOOTH IN A MUSUM." The students could approach a local museum and find out what equipment or expertise is needed to connect the museum to Skype booths in other museums or to connect local schools to the lobby of the museum.

Schools that have a lot of technology could look for a neighboring school that lacks technology. The High Tech school could offer to procure, install and train the low-tech school's students to maintain a Skype Booth -- and then students in both schools could call in and participate in class discussions.

In a school with FEW computers:

Technology in the school: LOW

The project could be to request or set up a Skype station IN the school. A location could be selected to make it easy for students to interact with the machine between classes or the booth could be mobile and placed in different classrooms to allow outsiders to participate in class discussions.

The focus is on both PROCEDURE and TECHNOLOGY. The school's rules should include procedures to allow the Skype booth to be answered when someone from the outside rings in, for the Skype booth to be "on" at set times (ready for a call) and for who takes care of the equipment. Part of the project will be finding the equipment to set up the Skype booth.

Skype Phone Booth

Excerpts from the announcement:

Instead of phone booths, will we see Skype booths all over public areas like airports and hospitals? Well, we are not quite there yet, but the Estonian Tallinn Airport just placed a futuristic-looking Skype station in their building.

This Skype station has a 22-inch touchscreen and a headset and you have to log in with your Skype account to use it. If you have Skype credits, you can use them, if you don’t Skype-to-Skype usage is still free. What if you forget to log out when you are done? That shouldn’t be a problem, since the Skype booth will automatically log you out as soon as you step away from it.

How to use SKYPE in the Classroom

By Steve McCrea Skype: SteveEnglishTeacher

Knowing how to use Skype is a skill that will grow in importance. This list of tips will help teachers use the program skillfully in the classroom.

1. Learn to use Skype by using it. Yes, you can take tutorials. Yes, you can get an account name and let your students do the talking to other students. But the way that opened the magic of “skype in the classroom” to me was using it regularly.

2. Leave the Skype bar “Available.” Who knows who will contact us when we leave the account “available for contact”?

3. I set my Skype account to “open” (not private) so that anyone who has a Skype account can find me.

4. Turn the volume UP. I've missed dozens of opportunities to connect with students and teachers because I forgot to turn up the volume. (One of the annoying parts of using Zamzar.com is the audio ads that come with a message that “your file is ready for downloading.” I usually want the computer to be quiet, so I turn down the volume when I use zamzar.com... but then I forget to turn it up again when I'm in the classroom.)

5. Allow Skype users to email your mobile phone with a short reminder: “Hey, are you there? We had an appointment for a skype talk at 9:30 am your time – Jair.” I don't know why I forget to turn up the volume. Jair in Florianopolis went through a a lot of effort to obtain permission to move his class into a classroom with a projection screen and intenret access – and then I forgot to bring my compuer to class. Another time I forgot to turn up the volume, so I didn't hear the “ping” reminder that tells the skype user that someone is trying to connect.

6. I include my email address in the “greeting” that appears on the message. This encourages people who can't reach me by Skype to ask their questions by email.

7. Sometimes it's better to make a call WITHOUT the video on. Leave the video OFF for better sound quality (at least it appears to be better quality when the video is off). In May 2008 the number of skype users at 10 am New york Time was about 54 million. In May 2009 the number of skype users was about 8 million, and a year later, the number was closer to 22 million.

8. Expect some connections to be broken or interrupted or lower quality.

9. Do you have a backup plan? Some people use Instant Messenger with Yahoo or Microsoft (MSN). It helps if you have a variety of ways to connect.

10. Learn how to send a file over Skype. Some countries don't have easy access to youtube videos. Skype users can send video files and help other students see educational parts of youtube.

11. Encourage your students who use SKYPE to type while they talk. It is a way of clarifying pronunciation and ensuring that information is clearly transferred. I was able to monitor a conversation by walking between pairs of students doing independent work in the classroom – and the pair that was on a skype call with my student Gongfu in China had the following interaction:

Example: The call started around 10 am in Florida, twelve hours behind Gongfu in Shandong province. Teachers can read the notes that I've added in italics. Students can learn how to make their communications clearer by typing key words or sentences. When talking to people who live in countries where it is difficult to use Facebook or Youtube, ask if it is okay to send a video over skype.

9:57:55 AM

gongfu: hi .are you there? are you in your class?

Steve: hi we are ready to talk

gongfu: okay

Steve: can i send you a file?

gongfu: ok

Steve posted file SANY0021.MP4 to members of this chat

I introduced Gongfu to my students Rashad and Andreas. They talked a bit and then started to type some of the words.

What time is it? (asked Andreas)

gongfu: 22.05PM

Steve: It is 10 a.m. here

What is your name?

gongfu: QIJIANLI

gongfu: Qi Jian li

gongfu: ch

Steve: How old are you?

Steve: Have you been to Paris before?

The student over in Florida wrote this sentence (which the teacher can follow up with a grammar review)

Steve: I was graduate in 2009

Andreas described himself as a construction worker and Gongfu had a problem with spelling “Builder”

gongfu: marking plan

gongfu: beuther?

Steve: builder

Steve: a man who makes buildings

Rashad asked, “What time is it?”

gongfu: 22.17pm

Then there was a discussion of songs

gongfu: apple

Steve: an apple

gongfu: big apple

gongfu: new york?

gongfu: song

gongfu: rock

gongfu: rock music

gongfu: hip pop?

gongfu: nirvana

gongfu: do you like his songs?

Steve: ac dc

Steve: yes i do

What is your skype address?

Steve: rashood919

The students started talking about pronunciation

gongfu: a e i o u long and short

gongfu: short oo long oo

gongfu: SHORT OO

gongfu: SHORT OO SOUND

gongfu: [SHORT OO]

gongfu: I find the sound short oo sound is qutie similar with the schwa sound

The teacher dropped in to add the following words that have the [oo] sound

Steve: foot book good about a in about

We wanted to continue the connection because the large video file was still being transferred (100 kb per minute, 64 MB, so it took 50 minutes)

gongfu: leave the window open

Steve: i will leave the window open

gongfu: thanks

gongfu: i enjoy your video very much.so nice. steve,i will go to bed.tomorrow i will write to you . and can you tell me your free time.

The skype call took about 40 minutes, plus the extra time to complete the transfer of the video. The students (Andreas and Rashad) spent this time creating questions for the student in China.

If you have suggestions and recommendations, please contact Steve at SteveEnglishTeacher on Skype or at FreeEnglishLessons@gmail.com.