TELE

TELE

It was such a buzz to race full throttle down the narrow streets, up the infinite winding staircases and through the lavishly decorated courtyards. But it had been a busy morning trying to get through the fifty odd door to door emergency electronic cigarette capsule deliveries. As I whizzed through the city, black lava stone walls covered in restless images stretched and blurred into spaghetti-shaped beams of light. There was no time to stop and look though, the orders had to be completed before dusk if there was going to be any possibility of a promotion one day. Half the time it didn't even feel like work, the competition gave the day urgency and purpose, unlike school. In fact, leaving school had been a good move in the end, although it hadn't exactly been a conscious choice, it just kind of happened. Mum knew that she couldn't make a fuss, and besides, she couldn't really afford to pay the fees anymore. After dad had suddenly passed away three years ago, a lot of things had changed, maybe it would have been different if she'd taken him back rather than finding yet another lover.

There they were again, those glossy emerald eyes framed by that lifeless marble mask... no one told me why...

'Come on focus, just a couple more drop offs'...

Anyway, since then school, friends, and life hadn't made much sense. Mum had got married again, obviously, and there was a new baby too. And there I was, the embarrassing leftovers from a failed marriage, out of sight, out of mind. But I didn't care, life was getting better now, I'd been lucky to get a job, and even earn enough credits to buy my own apartment, car and all the Obey baseball caps I could dream of, not bad for a sixteen-year-old.  I also had friends from all over the world, most of them were older than me, but they were far better than the idiots at school.  Tonight was the end of the month too! I'd worked my fastest month so far... so if I was in luck, I might finally get that offer I'd been hoping for.

'That's it, no need to look back.'

Things were great now and they could only get better. Maybe I'd get picked out by Amazon through the leader boards and my GPS track record.

 ...'just one more drop off'

It was getting hard to concentrate after ten hours of non-stop deliveries and I could feel a draining sensation as if my stomach was being strangled. I'd been trying my best to put it off but it was definitely time.

'Better order some food for when I get back.'

I made the order by tapping on my usual, hotdog and chips pizza bookmark from the menu on my wrist interface, I didn't even need to look anymore.

'Should be able to get this last drop done before it arrives'

I'd been trying to ignore the shivers that ran from the side of my face and trickled down the back of my neck. However, this and the dull ache creeping in behind my retinas was normal around this time of day and didn't bother me that much, just needed a couple of pain killers after my meal. Up popped the image of a smiling pizza on my GPS display, it would be about another ten minutes, just enough time. After I'd dropped the last capsule into the post tube of number 46, I parked up at the closest charging station and pressed pause. I let go of the sticky controller and took a deep breath.

link to source

Through the slits in the now permanently closed shutter, the spindly being was dimly lit by the beams of dust filled light that invaded the room. As the earth revolved around the sun the beams searched the confines of the dark putrid abode. They first uncovered the untouched books and stationary that the well-meaning but long gone uncle had naively bought. Then the beams waded through the soup of old Nike trainers, Obey caps, T-shirts, Lego bricks and pizza boxes that clung to every surface. As they slowly crawled up the wardrobe, the muted grime ridden reflection of a man holding a baby struggled in vane to attract the attention of the creature on the bed.

The only living breathing object in the room reluctantly removed the VR helmet with two quivering limbs and slowly swivelled round to immerse its filthy stinking toe-nails into the sea of sweat drenched clothes and plastic. "Mum!' it croaked without expecting an answer as it rose to its feet. The movement and newly disturbed stench caused it to retch and belch but there was nothing to bring up. Then under the buzzing and whirring sounds from beyond the potholed shutter, a faint raspy exhalation came from the teenager as it prepared itself for the long journey ahead. 

A squinted glance at the e-tattoo on his wrist indicated that the pizza would be here soon, after which he could take another pill and get back to to his virtually augmented reality life. Unlocking and opening his bedroom door, he was greeted by the glaring alien environment of his mother's new family. The smell of nappies, baby wipes and cleaning detergent flooded his nostrils and chiseled though his sinuses. He tried not to look at the nauseating cream-coloured curtains or the leopard skin sofa and instead focused on the front door. The headache was getting bad now, every drag of his feet seemed to cause his brain to shake and rattle in his skull. Then suddenly a shrilling high-pitched drill sound penetrated the corridor and his throbbing head. The pizza had arrived. 

'Nearly there', he murmured, 'nearly there...'

________

Through the stereo lenses you really felt like you were there, you rarely needed to physically go out and the city even looked better, especially after they'd photoshoped all the rubbish away and covered all the walls with Amazon commercials.

...There it was number 28, 3rd floor, one hotdog and chips pizza.

The only problem with the larger loads was waiting for the customer to open the door, you couldn't just drop it in the post tube. It was better than the last dodgy job though, administering that product had been a far more emotionally draining experience. The pay was worse now with Amazon but after that nasty episode three years back it was better to play it safe.

'Come on, open the bloody the door!'

________

He twisted the handle with both hands, then with all his weight tugged the door inwards. As usual he was greeted by the sights and sounds of a pizza carrying drone. He gazed into the two glossy lenses and wondered who it was this time, maybe it was one of his friends. For a moment he was reminded of something else but he managed to suppress the image. The pizza was lowered into his arms and the drone whizzed off down the staircase. Exhausted by the journey he just stood there for a moment and stared out through the stairway window. Mountains of black bags, glistened in shimmering orange as the setting sunlight squeezed through the smoggy air. Hovering above, drones of all shapes and sizes danced and hummed with the swarms of flies and mosquitos. There below amongst the waste a human form scavenged through the bags for something to eat.

Link to source

Just then his wrist lit up, each flash accompanied by an urgent beeping sound. A rush of adrenaline released itself into his bloodstream and with half a slice of pizza in his mouth he slammed the door behind him and clumsily shuffled back down the corridor. As he reached his room half the pizza had been gobbled down but there wasn't time to eat the rest. He flung the box into a pile of cuddly toys in the corner and half jumped, half fell back onto the bed and frantically pulled the VR headset on.

________

As the pizza delivery pilot flew through the air she marvelled at the spectacular city below. Everything was perfect, from the multicoloured palazzi down to the crystal clear waters that surrounded the volcano. The Technology Enhanced Living Environment or 'TELE' for short, had given everyone the opportunity to see the city through more positive eyes. After its construction, augmented drone tourism had really taken off, all the unpleasantness had simply been deleted. No one had expected drone usage to spread quite so quickly into other fields though. And when it did, the demand for pilots outgrew the supply, but luckily, the new generation of digital natives were more than up to the task.

Link to source

'Ah! that's better'

There I was again reflected in the wardrobe mirror, proudly standing there with my tanned muscular physique and red spiky hair. As I chewed the remaining salty hotdog morsel, I watched my avatar's unmoving but reassuring grin. The beeping signal had now transferred itself to the wall display in the lounge so I hovered over as quickly as I could to download the video message. Outside the apartment window, beyond the swimming pool, the pristine augmented environment filled me with pride for my beautiful city once more. This was my reality not that disgusting tramp infested dump I'd left behind. Why did they try to brainwash you with the idea that even the poorest could make it in all those films and fairy tales? It was just a set up for a futile dream for most of us out there. It didn't matter how hard you tried in the real world, only the privileged princes and princesses could pay their way through school. Here I didn't need school or parents, here, I could do anything and be anyone. When I got to the display I sank myself into my black leather sofa and hit download. Sweat gathered in my palms and my mouth went dry as I waited impatiently for the loading bar to make its slow progress from left to right.

Download complete

Dear Amazon employee,

Congratulations!

As you know, automated drone services have proved to be unreliable in recent years and Amazon is now expanding its human piloted delivery services to other sectors globally. After careful consideration of your GPS track record we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for a drone piloting job in a variety of exotic international war zones. You will be given the opportunity to develop and transfer your already efficient and accurate deployment skills through the delivery of a variety of exciting products. In accordance with current employment laws for your age group, you will receive an extremely competitive virtual compensation of 1,000,000 credits per month. This can obviously be used on all of our virtually augmented products and even on a limited selection of food and drink items delivered free of charge to your door. If you should choose to accept, please click 'proceed' at the bottom of the screen to upload your virtual signature.

Thank you for your time.

Amazon

Proceed

Blogs vs Wikis Week 3.1

Introduction
After using blogs to reflect on my studies over the last three months, I feel like it's time to reflect on the actual act of blogging itself. I have used the blog in a variety of ways; to summarise and consolidate knowledge from set texts, to discuss and express my opinions, to store useful hyper-links and videos, and to develop my transmedia skills. But why didn't I just write it all down in a Word document?

The affordances of blogs
First of all, the fact that a blog can be public means that it can potentially be read by anyone. Exposing your writing to the pubic might seem anxiety inducing at first, but it ultimately ensures that you take your work more seriously. This means that you are more likely to avoid plagiarism and create and present your own knowledge in an original and innovative way. In reality you might only get a couple of people reading your blog so although it's public you are kind of writing to yourself most of the time. This leads you to take on a more personal style in your writing, it's almost like thinking aloud for me.

Community 
In this part of the creative writing course we have been encouraged to comment on each other's posts. This is a new experience for me and I'm interested to see if any kind of discussion will develop in the comments of my blog and what effect this will have on my writing. Will our blog posts start to address issues brought up in the comments of another blog? Or will we start hyperlinking to other student's blog posts? I suppose what I'm really asking is can blogs facilitate and sustain a community of inquiry in the ways wikis can? Isn't a blog too introspective and personal in nature to for this purpose?

A framework for blogging
The key points highlighted in bold above link nicely to the four factors noted by Kerawalla, L. et al. (2009, pp.33-34) from research at the Open University into blogging for students studying in higher education. See the diagram below.

Kerawalla, L. et al. (2009, p.34)

Kerawalla, L. et al. also outline some key pedagogical factors educators need to consider when integrating technology into a learning experience. I will replace the umbrella term 'technology' with blogs for the purposes of this post; integration of blogs in design, communication of the pedagogical role of blogs to the students, guidance of use and blog etiquette, collaborative and social elements built into course design, facilitation of a learning community. (2009, p.40). I am thinking of using blogs for the first time with a B1.1 general English class starting this week so I want to make sure I have a plan first. The key considerations mentioned above will help me to structure this plan.


Blogs and PLEs
I have started experimenting with wikis and I am happy with the results so far but there is one thing that is bothering me about their use. A wiki if set up by the teacher can potentially have all the limitations of a VLE when it comes to life-long learning. What happens when the course finishes? For me, the most likely outcome will be that the learners abandon the space and all the content they have created, just like Moodle. Blogs, however, would remain in the hands of the blogger and dovetail into a PLE. It would therefore seem that blogs are better at facilitating ownership and identity creation than wikis could ever hope to be. That said you do need a central hub to initially bring all these blogs together while the learners get to know each other and the wiki could serve this transitory purpose.

Blog as part of a PLE

Blogs and Wikis
My plan for my new group of learners this week is to combine the affordances of these two web 2.0 tools. The wiki will serve as a highly flexible VLE to store links to the blogs amongst other things and the blogs will be used for weekly writing tasks or reflection. When these technologies are fully integrated into the course I will be in a perfect position to help my learners develop their creative writing skills via the blogosphere.



References
Kerawalla, L., Minocha, S., Kirkup, G., & Conole, G. (2009). An empirically grounded framework to guide blogging in higher education. Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 25(1), 31–42.

Images

Blog in a PLE

http://www.z3live.com/marketing/content-marketing/blogs/

Viewed 15/02/16

Second Language Teachers as Creative Writers Week 2.3

Second Language Teachers as Creative Writers

Alan Maley outlines the following benefits for teachers that partake in creative writing:

1. It provides a model for our learners. 
2. It develops our L1 resource. 
3. It makes us a more interesting person for our students. 
4. It makes us a better writing teacher. 

Malely, A. (2009).

I agree with most of the points above, but I would argue that there are many other equally effective ways to keep your L1 alive, i.e. talking to members of your L1 community via Skype, reading books, watching films etc. I also have to completely disagree with point 3, I have met lots of very interesting people who do not engage in creative writing or any creative activity for that matter. In fact, teachers who focus on their own creative writing might come across self-absorbed/obsessed which is not what we want in a student-centred language classroom. Maley, does admit that these conclusions are mainly 'anecdotal' and based on one survey from 2006, perhaps more objective research is needed here.

Who's got the time?

Another criticism would be that time is a very limited resource for teachers, we need to plan lessons, adapt materials, take part in observations, keep up to date with paper work, registers, test results, counsel our students, meet parents and of course, teach. With all these responsibilities, why should a teacher spend their time engaging in creative writing? Especially when there is a plentiful supply of authentic materials already online for learners to use as models.

One story for all your learners

That said, I do concede that students might be more interested in your story rather than a stranger's creation online. There is also the opportunity to personalise your stories to your students' interests or even include them as characters, so perhaps it is worth trying to overcome issues of time. This could be achieved by creating a specific blog for stories that can be used across a range of levels and contexts. The stories could be accompanied by differing levels of scaffolding or tasks for different groups. Just an idea.. no pressure.

References

Maley, A. (2009) Creative writing for language learners (and teachers), published in Teaching English 16 Dec, 2009 -15:41

Images

Alan Maley
http://tesolgreece.org/convention/keynote-speakers/
Viewed 15/2/16

Teacher time image
http://busyteacher.org/16320-teachers-dont-work-hard-enough-infographic.html
Viewed 15/2/16

Less is More Week 2.2

Less is More

Flash fiction

Experimenting with Flash fiction this week has made me reflect on the role restrictions or rules have to play in cultivating creativity. Our love story needed to be short and the characters 'Water and Plastic' were pre-defined before I even knew what the task was. These conditions actually reduced my anxiety in some way, perhaps this 'scaffolding' removed some of the responsibility or even created a kind of ludic quality to the activity. When learners 'play' with the language, they develop their self-esteem and consequently a tendency to take risks in the target language and this is seen as fundamental to language acquisition (Maley, A. 2009). 

Linguistic limitations

With lower level language learners, their linguistic limitations may lead to more creativity in writing tasks (James, G. 2006). But does this mean that more proficient speakers, with their vast array of lexical resources, need to be less creative than elementary learners in the TL (target language)? If this is the case, equipping lower level learners with creative skills is of utmost importance. 

But what exactly is creativity? 

Clarke, M.A., (2005 pp.2-4) defines creativity as "the ability to re-define, re-create and/or re-produce" and goes on to outline twelve conditions for its facilitation; Meaning, Questioning, Exploration, Experimentation, Adaptation, Open-mindedness, Insight, Fearlessness, Innovation, Abandonment and Enjoyment, Risk-taking and finally, Making and positive resolution of mistakes.

Clarke, M.A., (2005 p.4) key words for creativity in a word cloud. Created using Word clouds for kids http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm


Here are some other thoughts on the nature of creativity.

Flash fiction reflections

Perhaps I went through some of Clarke's conditions when I did the Flash fiction task this week... I first looked for a meaning or purpose behind my story, in this case linking it to the environment and my passion for science fiction. I then explored and experimented with the concepts of water and plastic and did some research into related topics and lexis. I soon found myself enjoying the challenge and truly immersed myself in the process. Finally, by publishing my story I took a risk, I most definitely made mistakes, and I overcame my initial fear of creative writing.


Can you teach creativity?

Whether or not creativity can be taught is a tough question. If we see creativity as a skill/ability with a set of sub-skills as Clarke suggests (Clarke, M.A., (2005 pp.2-4) it could definitely be developed by introducing the elements: meaning, questioning... into our course design, lessons and activities. In fact, perhaps it is more an issue of not stifling the innate creativity that we all have. Ken Robinson in his now famous talk on TED argues that this is often the reality of state schools in America where standardised education puts academic skills above more creative pursuits.

'And the second is academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence, because the universities designed the system in their image. If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly-talented, brilliant, creative people think they're not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can't afford to go on that way.' (Robinson, K. 2006)

In order to reverse this in language learning contexts, we firstly need to create an atmosphere of trust and collaboration among our students and between students and teachers so that students and teachers are not afraid to take risks. We also need to be creative ourselves in the way we adapt materials and conduct activities, thus constructively aligning our course to develop creative skills. If our classrooms or online environments are set up to facilitate agency, ownership and trust, learners will be encouraged to take risks, challenge authority, ask questions and create/re-create their own understandings. To sum up, all the elements suggested by Clarke as being essential for creativity are also, in my opinion, essential for language learning. Therefore, by developing creativity we are also developing the skills needed for successful language learning.

References

Clarke, M.A., 2005. Creativity in modern foreign languages teaching and learning. Subject Perspectives on Creativity, Higher Education Academy.

James, G. 2006 Writing Creatively in Another Language, TEFL.net.

Viewed 01/02/16: http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/creative-writing.htm

Maley, A. 2009 Creative Writing for Language Learners (and teachers), Published on TeachingEnglish.

Viewed 01/02/16: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creative-writing-language-learners-teachers

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-64_QUUjEv8

Viewed on 01/02/16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
Viewed on 15/03/15

Water and Plastic Week 2.1

Water and Plastic

Flash Fiction

After leaving its parental elements behind, Water wandered the far reaches of the universe before it fell for Rock and settled down into Earth's nocks and crannies. But as time went by, water became drained by Rock's rigid inflexibility and longed for more. So Water left Rock and went with the flow, trickling between the crevices of  Glass, Wood and even Aluminium! But the ripples soon subsided and Water longed for something more malleable, something with more plasticity! It was therefore polymer chemistry at first sight when water was first scooped off its river bed into multicoloured PVC paradise. Plastic might fragment but it would never biodegrade, they could lap the shores of islands, give birth to new ones and flow through the bodies of life itself until there was nothing but their union. 

Plastic was fresh, flexible and fictile, and while it had been fun at first, water was just too deep and entrenched in its ways. It was always plastic that had to mould itself around Water's ebbs and flows, Plastic was tired of bending this way and that for this dim heaving mass of blue sadness. It took a while for Water to see through Plastic's high density polyethylene personality, but it was too late when the truth finally soaked in. Plastic had been taking water for a ride all this time, travelling the globe and exploring the depths of the ocean but it had no intention of sticking it out. As soon as it could, Plastic left Water, Rock and Earth behind to suffocate in their own waste, and set off for the stars in silicon chips. Water tried to follow by evaporating into clouds but could only simmer and dissipate into nothingness as Plastic blasted off with Aluminium to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

References

Wave image: http://12160.info/page/-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-a-k-a-plastic-island-hopestudios?xg_source=shorten_status

Mars image: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/hedgehog-robots-hop-tumble-in-microgravity

Expectations and Reflection Continued week 1.2

Technology-Enhanced Creative Writing 

As I came across these questions after posting my video I thought I'd have a go at answering them, just in case I'd missed something.

What do you expect to gain from this module? Can you write three objectives?

a) Develop my creative writing skills

b) Gain a better understanding of the importance of creative writing for learners and teachers

c) Develop a passion for creative writing and transfer this to my students

2) Have you ever used creative writing in your teaching? Can you think of an example? What was your experience?

I have used creative writing with my learners but results have been unsatisfactory for me. By this I mean that not all students managed to complete the task or language production was simple and uninspiring. Some examples are the use of pictures as prompts to create stories, acrostics of students' names and a 'I have a dream speech. The speech worked well though and gave me the opportunity to find out what mattered to my students.

3) Have you ever used technology-enhanced creative writing activities in your teaching? Can you give us an example? What was your experience?

I have used google docs for collaborative writing with teenagers but language production was limited and I felt that pen and paper would have been more productive. let's say that my experience of creative writing with digital technology is limited.

4) What do you think are the benefits of using creative writing in foreign language teaching? In your opinion and experience, which levels benefit more from using creative writing? Why?

As I have already read the article by Alan Maley (Creative Writing for Language Learners (and Teachers, 2009), I am cheating here, but I will try to be faithful to my pre-Alan-Maley view.

It feels fairly obvious to me now that creative writing is beneficial for language learning and it surprises me how overlooked it is in EFL teacher training courses. It is usually associated with young learner classes and almost ignored with adults. EFL adult courses are obsessed with exams and preparing students for the real world and work in which creativity is undervalued. Also, writing is often relegated to homework in order to maximise time for speaking in class. However, I find that most students do not complete their writing for homework, perhaps it's because the tasks are too expository.

Technology-Enhanced Creative Writing Week 1.1

Technology-Enhanced Creative Writing

Intro

This is my first blog post for the creative writing module of the MA in DT4LT. In this post I will talk about my experience with creative writing and my expectations for this module.

If you're interested in seeing exactly how simple my lyrics actually are, visit my YouTube channel. my videos need a bit of work... :)

References

image: http://www.chboothlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Creative-Writing-Tips.jpg

Song: I'm so Tired in the morning, written and recorded by John Chalk