March already...

Golly it's about time I put something on my blog - it's been a while. Mr Brain seems to have had more time lately to spend composing ... hence the kiwi desserts entry.

Work has been progressing well - it's good to see some of the teachers putting into practice what you suggest and being happy to see you when you visit them again. A big step is getting schools using their 'grunty' IT infrastructure - they run around with flash drives infecting computers with their viruses! instead of saving onto the network to print etc. They're not really into sharing!! I have shown teachers how to record their student's talking (practising their English), with one making use of Voicethread, simple digital stories are being made, Activboards are starting to be used and two or three have had a play around with simple webquests. I love these two drawings - simple but cute, very Arabic.

I have been occupied organising my workshop at an ICT conference held last weekend. There were a few of us from work who presented which was good. It was only the second time that this particular conference has been run - the first time they have had hands-on workshops. They were very successful as it gave the teachers a chance to 'learn by doing'. There were a number of teachers from the schools we work in who were able to come - a great opportunity for them to hear the message about 21st century learners.
The food was excellent. They supplied breakfast as well as a huge lunch - lunch seems to be the main meal of the day here. It was free for teachers to attend. The presenters were invited to a meal at the Ritz, which was also a treat, the night before the conference. The overseas presenters were staying there - lucky them.