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In my classes I mostly prefer course book materials for listening purposes but sometimes I look for related YouTube videos to show my students some real life examples about the topic we will be covering. It can be a movie teaser or some funny/interesting video covering the day's topic so that they get motivated and feel the need to participate in the upcoming activity. By doing this I am trying to show some realia and increase their awareness for the topic. However with today's sessions I learnt that the instructions and the way we conduct the activities is also very important for the learning process.

The activities that we learnt today expanded my horizon for enhancing my listening tasks. Because in our course books the listenings are not very well prepared but today I learnt that I can improve them with some minor changes and add Web 2.0 tools more to improve students' engagement. For example; text with lies. This activity can be useful with my classes to make students listen more actively because they will try to find a lie and call me a liar. That's something they would have fun. Or the class memory quiz to increase their focus in listening tasks. Most importantly "differentiation". I think this was the most important thing we learnt so far. It clears the path both for learners and teachers while creating and conducting in class activities. I also realized that I need to think carefully for each and every student in the class so that they don't feel neglected or out of context. The ideas we shared and feedbacks we got helped me get a different perspective for listening tasks.

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1- I think the most common problem related to teaching speaking is unwillingness of the students. This may be because of their fear for making mistakes and having difficulty in enhancing their confidence to speak or most probably not seeing a real outcome of the speaking tasks. As teachers we should be better models for the speaking and give suitable and profitable feedback after the tasks to enhance our students' confidence. By doing that we will see the improvement of their willingness.

2- Firstly from yesterday I would apply differentiation techniques to provide each and every student the opportunity to take part in the lesson procedure. And with ICQ I will try improve assignment instructions.
After these, in non-technological environments I think paperslides would be a creative way to engage students in speaking tasks.
I would give more emphasis to the peer evaluation and self evaluation to enhance their confidence. I also learnt that I should give importance to the students' feelings for conducting the activities. I should integrate the topics that might attract their attention.
Before starting the activity I will try to be a better model for students with the help of their classmates. While doing the task they should have some think time to feel prepared to speak.
Last but not least I will use the digitalization tools to enrich my lessons and provide students opportunities to share and learn through technology. For example I will be asking them to prepare some speaking assignments on Flipgrid.

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1- Carousel activity was new for me. Students get to listen actively and present other groups material in a limited time. It's a bit challenging for my students but for the upcoming years I would keep it in mind to include in my lesson procedures.Grouping and regrouping is also beneficial and interesting perspective for follow-up activities in class.

2- For PDC meetings I will definitely use Carousel activity with my colleagues. Line up discussion is also another useful activity for promoting English usage if they are hesitating. Monitoring techniques and feedback types were also of great help. I would keep those in my mind while planning and conducting the tasks.
With my students I will use Reading Race activity because they love being physically active and competition because of their age.
Jigsaw reading is also another activity its a bit challenging for them but I think they challenge to gain self confidence. I always thought reading activities were boring for the students but with the help of subskills knowledge I would try to make the tasks more inclusive.

Monitoring and feedback types are also going to take place in my lesson planning and conduction to make room for my students while getting further information about the process of tasks.

3- Monitoring and feedback are the most important features of a successfully conducted task. Today we've seen that while monitoring teacher/facilitator can either help the students or cause them lose their concentration. I categorized the examples as "annoying" "supportive" "too relax" and mind bothering". It depends on the context but I think some students need other types of monitoring to be pushed to complete the activity.
When it comes to feedback, A teacher/facilitator should give feedback after observing the learner through the tasks with the help of monitoring purposes. The feedback should also be in a way that students shouldn't feel uncomfortable so that they can see their mistakes and learn from them.

It was a tiring but very informative day.

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1- I think collaborative writing would be very useful in my local context because we have mixed ability classes. Therefore, in order to include all the learners in writing tasks I need to combine both flyers and weak learners in a writing task. In this way each and every student can have a role in task. Flyers wouldn't be bored while weak learners can freely participate with the help of the others. Digitalization is also a choice but not always because we don't always have proper internet access. Gallery walk correction is more than enough to make students give feedback without causing decrease in their motivation and self confidence.

2- I think my colleagues would be interested in digitalized different types of writing activities with real life outcomes and the sub skills that could  enhance their lesson procedures. Also different types of feedback and the effects of monitoring styles will be of use. I would like my colleagues to see that they can use technology to make their lessons more enjoyable for generation-z. They would be surprised to see how easy it is to include Web 2.0 tools in tasks. If they are eager they will be trying different types of feedbacks. Maybe they will change their monitoring style to create a better learning atmosphere for their learners.

3- My question about writing is;
What else can be done for flyers in writing tasks other than making them help weak learners?

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1- I think the warm up activity with finding alternative endings to the sentences for showing my colleagues that grammar activities can also be entertaining.I would be using the mini grammar lessons to show them the different types of grammar teaching and they will utilize the things they will see. Also the grammar practice activity types are the ones that could broaden their horizons about letting students take part in lesson procedures actively.

2- I think my colleagues would be very persistent about grammar translation method because it is time efficient and easier for them. But in PDC meetings I would like to show them the others are not tiring at all and more motivating for the learners. CCQs are also very useful for getting feedback for students as it comes to whether they understand the grammar points or not.

3- I think using real objects and visuals is the most effective part of vocabulary teaching because we need to address different senses of students to fully grasp the meaning and usage of the target vocabulary. Eliciting is also important but I don't think it will work with each and every context. But providing visuals or realia is going to be very effective in teaching vocabulary. As an exercise I think dolmush game will entertain all the learners with nearly none preparation for teacher.

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1- In my local context the most common problem related to assessment is thinking that exams are doing a perfect job. Teachers tend to believe that exams can assess everything with only using pen and paper. Maybe they are not aware of assessment types or maybe they don't want to spend time for other types of assessments. They may think that " I have a lot to do other than school" and don't give importance to providing feedback for their learners. Also unwillingness is the other important factor that is related to the wrong belief of "exams are enough". But I think with the help of PDC meetings my colleagues and I will experience the importance of formative assessment to enhance our ability to evaluate our learners progress both in short and long terms.

2- I think being a PDC for English teachers is my local context will be an opportunity for me to see different perspectives and experiences of my colleagues and a chance to regularly share/learn the results of our own teaching philosophies. Tools, activities and methods can be found through some little research but the real outcomes and application differences will be easily accessible through PDCs. I will try my best to collaborate and get feedback from colleagues to develop our community.

3- I am planning to benefit from the network through accessing different teachers' ideas and experiences or some unexpected results of this collaborative community practice. I think PDC is a very effective opportunity for us in theory. When I do PDCs I will see the results from the practice. I want my colleagues to feel belonging and get rid of the idea if you think they are the only ones experiencing some unwanted problems.

4- I don't know for sure but all the formative assessment tools look the same to me. Are there any other tools ? In my mind, formative assessment means self check tasks. Can you give me a formative assessment which is a little more teacher conducted?

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It was a wonderful experience for me to prepare and present a PDC session before going to the field. I have seen some other perspectives that can be implemented in my district sessions. The topic is not so overwhelming for us teachers we tried to make it as fun as it can be. My group mates were very attentive and hardworking. We tried to include different techniques or activities rather than using the first one that comes to mind. I have seen that prepared material is important. The more important thing is how you present it. At the beginning I was thinking very deep about the PDC planning but when we prepared our own ı figured that making it simple is also another effective way of conveying the message. By this I don't mean being lazy. What I mean is that we can address the issue with some easy to apply ideas. I hope everybody enjoyed the session. I am very curious about the feedbacks we will get from you.