e-tivity 3

Developing your own blog

Now that you’ve explored the blogosphere and seen other people’s blogs, it’s time for you to work on your own blog. In her comments on blogs, Francesca (bloggingenglish2) said “it is like a work of art: it expresses your personality.” I think that just about sums it up. So this week it’s time for you to express your creativity and personality.

Have fun working on your blog!!

Sarah

Purpose: To start developing your own blog in order to start developing an opinion about what blogs are really about and to start reflecting on what you have learned so far.

Task: Log on to blogger and rather than clicking on our course blog, develop your own. (If you have difficulties doing this, please write a post to the blog and I’ll answer with a comment so that everyone can see.) You have the freedom to do whatever you want. Choose a style, change the colors, add some links and some images or pictures, etc. Please include: 1 - a welcome message, 2 – a post in which you critically reflect on your first two weeks of blogging and if and in what way you think it can influence your language learning (e.g. reading colloquial English). Then come back to our course blog and make a new post giving us the address of your personal blog.

Respond: Read the other students’ messages in our course blog and go visit at least one of the blogs they have developed. Then come back to our course blog and reply (using the “comment” button) to some the one(s) you visited giving your impressions of their blog.

Timeline: Friday, November 3 (task), Monday, November 6 (respond)

N.B. When blogging now, keep in mind the blogging etiquette you all came up with (go read the comments if you haven't already). We'll discuss it all in class next week!

Remember: No class on Monday, October 30!

e-tivity 2: weave

I see you all got a real taste of what the blogoshpere is about - both good and bad. For this week's feedback I've done what is called weave. Rather than summing up what you've said, I've chosen bits and pieces of what you said and put them together to represent what I think you all have gotten out of this activity. You’ve made some very interesting observations ;-) We'll talk about it more in class next week :-)

Sarah

Your impressions of the blogosphere…

I have to admitt that I had no idea before that blogs could be so numerous! Searching for 2 interesting blogs I discovered an infinite number of these and I realized that I had to be careful in my choice. (Giorgia)

You can find blogs about everything in the world (Marco)

This world of blogs makes me confused! I have some difficulties in finding the two blogs I prefer because there are many things I'm now learning about the exploration of the blogosphere. (Lara)

The search for the blogs had been more difficult than I thought because on the net there are really millions and millions of blogs but only some of them are really interesting. (Alice)

I have to confess that it surprise me a lot that there are so many blogs on the net … It takes me a lot of time to find those that really interest me. They are so various and numerous! (Svjetlana)

I've spent two hours searching for an interesting blog..they are so numerous!! (Annalisa)

Exploring the blogophere is extremely funny and interesting, you can find an indefinite number of blogs and the fact that it is an endless virtual world makes you get confused! (Francesca)

Genre in the blogoshpere

Blogs are in general very communicative, they contain short and simple sentences. (Lara)
Visiting numerous blogs I noticed that the style is very very concise and very informal (Giorgia)
the language used by bloggers is very informal and simple. (Barbara)
… blogs are written in a simple and concise way. (Lara)

…it is written using a very informal language, as it seems more the reporting of a spoken text than a true written text … the author uses short phrases and colloquial expressions like "licking my lips" and so on. He organized his text in a personal way with short paragraphs, short sentences and smiles (like this :-) ) (Marco)
As regards the kind of language used, I think it is generally a very informal language, something near to spoken english, between reading and talking. In fact, there could be a lot of colloquialisms, slang words or idiomatic expressions. Furthermore, I think that in some cases the blog language could be even vulgar. (Annalisa)

But I think it is not very informal like a blog should be. What I mean is that from the point of view of information is really good … but concerning the language, I consider it too formal and it seems quite you are reading a newspaper. (Alice)
…the text type is informative, the language used is very formal and the style is concise. (Francesca)

The title often catches your attention and clicking on it you enter the blog where there is often an introduction explaining a particular subject. (Giorgia)
Furthermore, some of them divided one paragraph from another using a space in order to facilitate the reading. (Barbara)
..the paragraph in this blog is written with a space between the body of the text and the final note, in order to make it easier to read (Marco)
At the beginning of the blog, the title catches the reader's attention, then each paragraph contains a particular subject or thought. (Lara)
In many cases I decided to visit some of them just because of their titles (questions or provocative sentences) which arose my curiosity or interest. (Francesca)

The use of images and coulors is very important to give the distinction of each argument and capture your eyes! (Lara)
I think that the use of images is very important. (Svjetlana)
... the most interesting aspect of these two blogs is the fact that they both exploits two different but complementary arts, that is writing and photography, in order to catch the user's attention. (Maria Chiara)

It seems that the two blogs were created according to the "minimax" strategy, that is, using the minimum number of words to achieve the maximum result. As a matter of fact, their communicative impact is quite strong. (Maria Chiara)

Far from being "boring", the blogs tempt you to comment on what you read and to take part in the discussion … invites you to join the blog and share thoughts and ideas by means of direct questions and exhortations (Maria Chiara)

... everyone who writes has great freedom of speech and has an opportunity to arrange the layout of their blogs in a very personal way. (Annalisa)

What you had to say about links

I have to admitt that one of the things that struck me is that blogs are full of links; this a good thing because if you are interested in a particular subject you find it at once! (Giorgia)
Very often in the blog you can find some links which drive you to a deepening about a particular subect you are interested in. (Barbara)
Moreover, many words contain links to other websites or blogs so just by clicking on them you can explore again a new world. I think blogging is an infinitive activity! (Lara)
Each of them contains many links to other blogs, to sites, to old posts, to the profile etc. Many of the blogs I've seen are quite difficult to read just because of too many links and because of their length. (Svjetlana)
…people seem to choose to create them according to their different interests and also when these links could mean something interesting to people who are reading that particular blog and want to go into some topics thoroughly. (Annalisa)

Hello! I'm Elisa!

Hello everyone!
My name is Elisa, I'm 23 and I live in Conselve, a small town in the countryside not far from Padua. I studied "Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne" here in Padua as my three-year course, and now I'm attending the second year of the Specialistica in class 42.

I'm sorry, I'm late...I've only joined you this week!

Have you seen the beautiful dawn on the mountains in the photo?
When I was a little girl my family used to spend their holidays on the mountains. We went to Recoaro Terme for many years, and my grandparents came, as well. Then, when my sisters and I grew up, my family began to go to South Tirol together with some friends of ours, in a beautiful valley called Valle Aurina: the mountains were much higher there!
When I was twelve, I started going camping with other boys and girls of my age in the summertime. It was wonderful to be away from home with my friends, to stay awake till late at night, to share the same room with my bestfriends...
We took long walks up and down the mountains; actually, it was hard, but nothing on earth is worth the satisfaction you feel when you reach the top and watch down, the world laying at your feet...You do get the impression of touching the sky with your fingertips!
And dawns and sunsets are special on the mountains, because there they have colours they don't have anywhere else...

Another passion of mine is reading, both prose and poetry. I love the XX century novel: some of my favourite writers are Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, Joseph Conrad and George Orwell.
However, there's something I adore reading more than anything else: that's fairy tales, ancient myths and legends, especially old Germanic and Northern European ones, and that's why my favourite book is The Lord of the Rings.
Somebody think that fairy tales are unuseful because they are distant from reality.On the contrary, I believe they represent human life and history, and this is is the reason why I like them so much.

Lately, I've been busy with the bibliographical research for my final dissertation, so I've spent a lot of time on the Internet searching books and periodicals, and I've discovered an online library which I think can be very useful to anybody starting to work on their dissertation: it is called LION, that is LIterature ONline. It searches different online bibliographies at the same time: for example, Annual Bibliography and MLA International Bibliography. It is possible to search it by subject and by keyword, and, of course, by author and title, as well, and it is updated monthly. All these things together make LION very reliable, in the sense that you are quite sure to find a lot of what has been written on the topic you are interested in. Moreover, it provides many articles in full-text!

I must say I have been quite unfortunate with my search, because only a few of the periodicals I need are here in Padua: actually, some of them are in Bologna, some in Milan, some in Turin, some in Florence, some in Rome, two or three of them are in Pisa, two in Naples, two in Salerno, two in Bari...When I discovered it I almost burst into tears! Then I calmed down and decided to search the online catalogues of some British and Irish university libraries, and I was so lucky to find almost all the periodicals and books I need at the University College of Dublin!!! So...I'll leave on 12th November for Dublin, and I'll be back a week later!
I give you the URL of UCD, the University College of Dublin, in case you should find yourselves in such a desperate situation as mine, but I have to warn you that two friends of mine searched their periodicals there, as well, but only found few...(however, don't be sorry for them: the truth is that they found A LOT of material in Bologna and Milan!)

I've already talked—sorry, written too much...as usual!

Kisses

Elisa

Exploring the blogosphere!!!!

Hi everybody!!

Exploring the blogophere is extremely funny and interesting, you can find an indefinite number of blogs and the fact that it is an endless virtual world makes you get confused! I spent many hours to visit some of them (I had no idea before that they could be so numerous!).

As regards the choice It has been really hard but I hope that you like them! The first blog deals with tourism, while the second talks about pets!

Alternative travel…I have chosen this blog for different reasons. First I love travelling so my primary concern was to find something interesting linked to this field. I found several blogs about tourism and travelling in general, but I was most interested in a particular kind of tourism: sustainable tourism. In my previous years at university I have studied sustainable tourism development and since then my interest and curiosity about this subject has increased more and more! This blog gives you many information about this alternative way of travelling strictly bound up with nature and local culture. Eco-travel is aimed to reduce environmental impacts of tourism, arise tourists’ awareness of sustainable travel, supporting local communities, and of course make tourists living an unique experience! Furthermore this blog is really interesting because there are many articles, pictures and links about eco-travel which can arise your curiosity. Don’t miss it! :-)

The second blog is: Dogs And Pets Provide Health Benefits. I was looking for some blogs about pets’ friends and I found this interesting blog about pets’ therapy. I love pets and I have red that many of you love them too, so I have chosen it because it is really interesting, in particular the question: “Did you know that owning a dog and pet ownership in general, can help a person in many ways?”. This question arose my curiosity and I hope yours too.

Recent research suggest that pets have positive effects on our life and health! In this blog you can explore this amazing discovery and you can also read some useful information and advices if you own a pet. Don’t forget to have a look at the other articles on this blog, I assure you that they contain useful information on pet care!! :-)

Exploring the blogosphere I could notice some characteristics about blogs in general and the language used. As regards the blogs that I have chosen the text type is informative, the language used is very formal and the style is concise. Moreover there are many links and articles about the subject matter. The titles of the articles catch readers’ attention and at the end of them you can post your comments. I have never explore the blogosphere before, you can share your interests and I think that the most interesting aspect is the fact that you can actively participate by posting your comments or asking if you have any curiosity about the matter. Once you enter in a blog you are involved in the interaction!

I also explore other types of blogs, they are written in a very informal and colloquial language, the layout is original and colourful and pictures are never missing. In some case the language is also very vulgar, and this is due to the fact that there aren’t any restrictions. I noticed that you can write whatever you want on a blog and perhaps arrange your favourite layout, it is like a work of art: it expresses your personality.
Blogs are in general very communicative, they contain short and simple sentences. In many cases I decided to visit some of them just because of their titles (questions or provocative sentences) which arose my curiosity or interest.
That’s really all for the moment…... :-) TAKE CARE!
Francesca

Annalisa's trip on blogosphere

Hi guys!..
I've spent two hours searching for an interesting blog..they are so numerous!!
At the end I'd like to give you these two URL:
Why I love blogging

History and customs of Halloween

First I think you are interested in finding out something more related to the blogosphere, or better you would know more about the reason why so many people all over the world have chosen to create their own blog or to write a comment on other blogs.
The first two lines of this blog have struck me..they seem to be taken from a sonnet by Shakespeare and I've found extremely intelligent and interesting the association between the obsolete word "thee" and a so modern way of communication like the blog.
If you go on reading you'll find that the 10 reasons given by Laurie about her unconditional love for blogging are very interesting not only because of the content( I think point 5 and 6 are very peculiar and funny) but also because they are very significant in order to understand more about how blogs are written ...later I'll explain this last aspect better...
Moreover, if you click on the link given by the blogger called BLOG you'll find a very vey good list of what the main features of a blog are!!
And don't forget to have a look at Laurie's first reason for loving the blog...it's very personal and almost unbelievable!! I don't want to give any anticipations..once you've read ..tell me your opinion!!!

The second blog I've chosen to suggest you is about Halloween.Since last Tuesday we have discussed about the ancient origin of this controversial celebration and nobody-included me- knew nothing about it, I become curious to know a little more...I think this blog is very intersting also because it tries to give you an explanation of different aspects concerning Halloween..
Whether you like this celebration or not, I think it is right and also appealing to inquire about something that, nowadays has gained ground also in our country..
Moreover this is an example of how blogs can supply some kind of information and not only be a pure diversion...Anyway, don't you think stories like these are extremely attractive?
PS. Have you seen Tim Burton's movies Nightmare before Christmas or the recent The Corpse Bride? They're so funny!!


After this little trip on blogosphere I have understood something more about the way a blog is written.First everyone who writes has great freedom of speech and has an opportunity to arrange the layout of their blogs in a very personal way.
As regards the kind of language used, I think it is generally a very informal language, something near to spoken english, between reading and talking. In fact, there could be a lot of colloquialisms, slang words or idiomatic expressions.
Furthermore, I think that in some cases the blog language could be even vulgar. I found many examples of this coarseness through the blogs I've read: whore, shit and fuck are used without any restrictions.
Moreover I 've noticed that another reason of difficulty lies in the fact that in blogs there could be some inferences.Concerning links, people seem to choose to create them according to their different interests and also when these links could mean something interesting to people who are reading that particular blog and want to go into some topics thoroughly.

That's all for the moment
Annalisa

Svjetlana explores the blogosphere!

Hi people!

Here we are again, doing a new e-tivity.

Well, first of all, I have to confess that it surprise me a lot that there are so many blogs on the net (And I've had a look only on those in English!). It takes me a lot of time to find those that really interest me. They are so various and numerous! I also become aware of the fact that it is very important the way in which one creates its own blog. In fact not all of them had captured my attention: some were boring or too long.

Here are those that in my opinion are quite interesting to have a look at:

My space:

This blog is fundamentally made up of photos and some information about its creator. I choose it because Halloween is coming, in fact only 5 days are missing. I have to admit that I am not a very big fan of this American party. Perhaps this is the reason why I've found this blog accidentally. But I think it is pretty nice, so this is why I’ve chosen it. I recommend it if you like dogs and if you want to see some of them in very funny positions and wearing funny clothes.

Make:

Have you ever tried to print your photo on leaves? Have you ever desired to create your own secret room, maybe behind your bookshelf? Do you want to learn to make sushi? You can find answers at these and many other intereseting questions on this blog. "Make" gives you instructions and photos in order to create, with your own hands, many different things, from funny halloween pumpkins to robots. Therefore, have fun!

Google blog:

All of us use Google for many different reasons, but I suppose none of us have ever used it to look at its official blog. On this blog you can find interesting informations about Google, but also news about thing that happens all around the world. And especially there are many links to other blogs.

General observations:

Visiting many blogs I've discovered that they are very various. But also that all of them have some aspects in common. First of all, they all have big and colorful headings in order to attract readers attention. The language and the style they use is informal. Each of them contains many links to other blogs, to sites, to old posts, to the profile etc. Many of the blogs I've seen are quite difficult to read just because of too many links and because of their length. I think that the use of images is very important. As we've pointed out last lesson, it is really hard to spend hours and hours on computer, so it is necessary to attract the readers attention and patience.

This is all for now.

Bye, bye.

Svjetlana

Alice's favourite blogs

Hi everyone!

The search for the blogs had been more difficult than I thought because on the net there are really millions and millions of blogs but only some of them are really interesting.


Look at this for example: if you want to know anything about New Zealand rugby it is very good. But I think it is not very informal like a blog should be. What I mean is that from the point of view of information is really good because you can find quite everything about New Zealand Rugby, but concerning the language, I consider it too formal and it seems quite you are reading a newspaper.


But I haven't given up my research because I wanted to find something more colloquial and particular and that's it: here there are also some links if you want to know EVERYTHING about entertainment and TV. The language here is more colloquial than in the other blog.

I have also found some other blogs talking about actors and rugby players (and I underline that I've said actors and players and not tv series or rugby...). So girls, if you want those links, just ask to me because I think is better not to put them directly here... you know the language they use is the typical language of friends talking together about a gorgeus guy... ^_^

See you soon

Alice

Marco comments two blogs

hello everybody,

I read two blogs written by someone who surely I will never meet in my life (using the computer may result so "cold" sometimes...) and in my opinion there are some things that are worth saying.

In a blog about halloween tales a girl (or at least I think the writer is a girl) asks about some advices about good Halloween tales to read. Although the blog is rather short, reading it I understood some more about how language is used in blogs and how blogs are written: in first place, the paragraph in this blog is written with a space between the body of the text and the final note, in order to make it easier to read; in second place, it is written using a very informal language, as it seems more the reporting of a spoken text than a true written text; in third place, the author uses short phrases and colloquial expressions like "licking my lips" and so on.

The second blog i read was about the first weeks in spain of a person called Allen: I read it just eight minutes before the writer had finished writing. He (Allen seems to me a name for a male) wrote about his mood, about what he was doing at the moment, about a friend of his using a direct and colloquial style and it seemed to me like as if he was talking to me rather than writing on a blog. He organized his text in a personal way with short paragraphs, short sentences and smiles (like this :-) ).

These are the two more interesting blogs in my opinion, but since I read many others, I can state that blogs can be organized in very different ways by different writers, that they can be more or less colloquial (and sometimes also a bit vulgar) and that you can find blogs about everything in the world. I enjoyed the possibility to put a comment under the blog I read, that could be great fun!!

This is all I have to say about blogs!!
Have a nice weekend!
Marco

Blogging..some interesting examples!!!

Hello everybody!

Here we are on blog and this time we have to explore this new world! I have to admitt that I had no idea before that blogs could be so numerous! Searching for 2 interesting blogs I discovered an infinite number of these and I realized that I had to be careful in my choice.

In my long search I found two blogs : the first deals with serious aspects and the second is about various things.

1. Why freedom isn't free.. This blog reflects on many important aspects of American life; I have to say that it caught my attention thanks to its title "Why freedom isn't free" and in fact visiting the blog I found a long introduction dealing with this subject...The context is American life but I think that it is interesting because, exploring this blog, you can read various opinions from all over the world. I think this is a positive aspect because, even though you don't agree with certain ideas, you can think of a specific problem from different points of view.. In my opinion it's a good way to bring into question your opinions.
2. Look at this This blog is completely different from the first..this is the kind of blog you can visit in you spare time! I visited it because it presented all the most famous music videos ever and I have to tell you that I really like watching music videos! And the best thing is that you click on them and you can watch them! This is what caught my attention but the blog is also characterized by other interesting things as for example some discussions on cartoons or the last TV series in the world.

Visiting numerous blogs I noticed that the style is very very concise and very informal; The title often catches your attention and clicking on it you enter the blog where there is often an introduction explaining a particular subject. Then on the right of this introduction there are many subjects in alphabetical order to help the reader in the search; These subjects are often represented by links..you click on it and you enter the new part of the blog..I have to admitt that one of the things that struck me is that blogs are full of links; this a good thing because if you are interested in a particular subject you find it at once!

I think that's all for the moment, concerning my reflections on blogs,

Have a nice week and see you soon on blog!

Bye

Giorgia

Day off

Remember, next Monday, October 30th, we don't have our F2F meeting. On Monday I will send you an e-tivity and, as usual, you will have a week to complete it.
See you in November.
Sarah

Blogging etiquette

Since none of you have blogged before, I think it might be a good idea to go over a little etiquette for blogging. Etiquette involves basic rules like 'always sign your name', 'always cite your sources', 'don't be offensive', etc. Take a look at these resources then please send a comment with what you consider the 5 most important rules for blogging. These are, obviously, just 3 resources. If you find any others that are better, please send us the urls!

one blog post on etiquette for the blogging nation
top 10 weblog ethics
a learner's impression of blogs

Sarah

e-tivity 2

Exploring the blogoshpere

According to wikipedia the blogoshpere is "...the collective term encompassing all weblogs or blogs as a community or social network. Many weblogs are densely interconnected; bloggers read others' blogs, link to them, reference them in their own writing, and post comments on each others' blogs. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture." Would you like to get to know this ‘culture’? or be part of it?

Have fun blogging!!
Sarah

Purpose: To search the Internet for blogs that interest you in order to become aware of how large and varied the blogosphere is. To start analyzing some of the characteristics of blogs as a genre.

Task: Search for blogs that might interest you by going to Technorati and searching for a word, e.g. “rugby”, in blog posts, in tags or in their blog directory (please choose blogs in English). Read some of the blogs. Choose at least two that interest you. Go to our course blog and write a post about the blogs you have found. Give us the urls and explain what you like about the blog and why you would recommend others visiting it.
Start considering how blogs are written and how links are used in blogs. What kind of language is used (formal, informal, vulgar, elegant)? How do bloggers make use of links in their posts? At the end of your post, write a few sentences about your initial observations of the styles used on the blogoshpere.

Respond: Read the other students’ messages and go visit at least one of the blogs they have suggested. Then come back to our course blog and reply (using the “comment” button) to the one(s) you visited giving your impressions.

Timeline: Thursday, October 26 (task), Monday, October 30 (respond).

(photo source)

e-tivity 1: summary

Nice introductions everyone! Unfortunately, not all of your pictures showed up (we’ll work on that in class) but you all gave descriptions of them so we can imagine them. It looks like, besides all being language students, you’ve got some things in common. First of all, nobody seems to love using a computer but I hope that during this course you’ll discover even more the potential for learning and exploring that the Web can offer J You all seem to like, reading, watching movies, going out with your friends, but rather than summarize your posts, let’s play a little game. I’ll write a little description of each of you and without going back to read the messages see if you can figure out who the description is about. To avoid the ‘he/she’ problem, I’ll use the pronoun ‘I’!

Svjetlana, Giorgia, Barbara, Marco, MariaChiara, Lara, Francesca, Annalisa, Alice

I love nature, huge spaces and animals.

I’m instinctive like animals and I love dogs, though I don’t have one.

I love animals, but shopping too!

I love a sport because it represents real collaboration.

I’m determined and outgoing and I love meeting foreign people.

I’m worried about what kind of job I’ll find after graduation.

I love the sea and music.

I love motorcycles, sports, football and going to the gym. (This is the easy one;-)

I love the sea because it is relaxing.

Sarah

Something about me...

Hi everyone!

My name’s Alice, I'm 25 and I live in Albignasego, a town near Padova.
Like most of the people in the world I like going out with my friends, listening to music, watching sports on TV and so on but I hope you can understand something more about me through this brief and a little strange description.
I’ve chosen this photo because it represents a part of me: it is a silver fern which is the symbol of New Zealand National rugby team. I love sports and in particular rugby because my father was a rugby player and I grew up in strict contact with this fantastic sport. I think this is the sport which best represents the idea of team spirit because in order to make points you have to collaborate with your playmates until you conquer all the field of the opposing team and, believe me, it is impossible to do it by yourself. This is why one of the links I’ve chosen is the official website of New Zealand rugby team whose players are also called "All Blacks" because their uniforms are entirely black. This is the best team in the world and although I'm Italian this is my favourite rugby team.

Besides rugby, one of my biggest passions are serials and movies so if you want to share this passion with me you can link this website about TV series. I dont' think there is a TV serial I have never seen and I don't like. Since most of them are American and we can see them in Italy only after some time has passed, I read all the spoilers I'm intrested in before I see the series...I know it is not right, but I'm so curious and impatient...

There would be lots and lots of things to tell you about me but...I'm a mysteriuos person and is not my nature to reveal my character at once, so if you want to know even more about me, just comment my blog and I will be glad to answer your questions!!!

Bye
Alice

hello everyone!

Hello everyone!! I'm Annalisa, I'm 25 years old and I live in Bassano del Grappa with my parents and my brother Marco, who is 13 years old. I got the degree in " Mediazione Linguistica e culturale" at the University of Padua and this is my second year of Specialistica in foreign languages. I'm studying German anf English and I'm quite satisfied with my choice, although sometimes I find German a little difficult to understand.
I think i'm a sociable and outgoing person, I like seeing my friends but I like doing thinghs on my own too, especially shopping- My boyfriend often says I'm a real shopaholic but he is too exaggerated!-. In my free time I absolutely love reading (at the moment I'm busy with The Perfume by Patrick Suskind) , listening to music (every kind apart from heavy metal and punk) and watching movies. In particular I can say I have a real adoration for everything related to the field of cinema. I think my passion began when my parents bought the tape-recorder-almost 18 years ago. Up to now I've collected almost 1ooo movies: the only genre I don't like is old western. So far my favourite movies are: Dead poets society, Before sunrise and the modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
I also love animals, especially cats and dogs of small size..unfortunately I live in a flat and my mother doesn't want pets.
What else?..I have to admit that sports are not among my favourite hobbies: I've always been too lazy to follow them seriously.
As regards the choice of the photo, I chose this picture first of all and most obviously because I love sunsets, landscapes, the sea and nature in general. Moreover this photo says something about my personality. First of all I'm a very romantic, sensitive, instinctive and sometimes too ingenuous person. Furthermore I think the many nuances of a sunset can reflect different aspects of my temper (sometimes I'm sweet, happy; others obstinate and naughty). Finally I love the atmosphere offered by a sunset: it is not only romantic but it brings also some kind of "positive melancholy", it is difficult to describe but I think you could understand..anyway something that makes me feel relaxed and peaceful.
As regards technology and computers I have to admit we don't have a good relationship. I try to avoid using it as far as possible..anyway I like surfing the web and these are the three sites I hit the most:
www.google.it , www.rockonthenet.com. and www.zeit.de
Google is my favourite search engine; here I can find whatever I need,.. rock on the net is the best to get all the news about the forthcoming cds...and on the site of "Die Zeit" I can be updated about the events all over the world and at the same time I try to improve my knowledge of German....
That's all for the moment....
Kisses

Nice to meet you!!!

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!! My name is Francesca, I am really glad to meet you in this forum!!
I am going to tell you something interesting about me and my habits!!I am 24 years old and I am from Tregnago: a little village near Romeo and Juliet's town Verona! This is my second year of Specialistica in Foreign Languages and Communication at the University of Padua (I took my degree in "Mediazione Linguistica" at the University of Verona). I choose this picture for different reasons. First because I really love the ocean, starfishes and colourful fishes in general, then because of the impression that it suggested me when I was looking for a picture which could represent some aspects of my character and temper, actually this picture suggests me the idea of infinity, freedom but also the idea of a quite and calm environment. Huge spaces without limits or barriers have always amazed me, this explains the fact that I am a very romantic person. I love nature and animals in general but sea life fascinates me really much!!!This picture also reminds me of my summer holiday with my family, actually we use to spend at least two weeks together in the South of Italy, precisely in Puglia, where I love snorckling with my brother and my father!!!Snorckling is a relly funny sport, you can explore what stays under sea water, and see a lot of fishes and sea creatures!

At the moment I live in Padua in an apartment with other 4 girls, they are studying at university too. This is not my first experience far from home, since I have been on Erasmus programme in Malta. It is a small and exciting island in the Mediterranean sea! It has been a wonderful experience, I met people from all over the world: from Europe but also from US and Japan. I am an outgoing, friendly and open-minded person and I like to be indipendent. For this reason I have always done temporary jobs during the weekend and in summer in order to earn some money (at the moment I work as a waitress in a restaurant near my village). I love living in Padua but I most admitt that sometimes in the caos of this big city I miss the quiet atmosphere of my village!! Tregnago is about 25 km far from Verona, it is a really nice place in the countryside. Even though it is a little village I really love it, it is a quiet place sourranded by hills and nature. In the weekend I go home in order to spend a little time with my family. I have one brother, he is younger than me and he loves bascketball (he plays bascketball since he was 9years old, now he is 17) and two sisters, they are older and married! When I go home in the weekend I love playing with my nieces and nephews, they are so nice and funny. I love children really much, they are spontaneous and funny! In my freetime I like going out with my boyfriend and friends. My favorite sports are swimming, aerobics, jogging, these sports suggest my personality: I am a very dynamic person. I was forgetting about my dog, I have an Hungarian shepherd, totally black and funny and I like walking and playing with him. Another thing that I like is listening to music, both to rock and soft music, my favorite groups are U2, Bon Jovi and REM, but I listen to classical music as well (especially when I study or I want to relax a little). Unfortunately I am not so good with technology and computer but I promise you that I'll do my best to improve my knowledges and keep on with this on line friendship!!!

SORRY......I was forgetting to tell you about my favorite web sites, they are www.bbc.co.uk and www.zeit.de. I visit very often these web sites because I like being updated with what is happening in the world, futhermore I think that they are very useful to practice my English and German. Another web site that I often visit is www.ryanair.com in order to check low costs flights and cheap offers. I love travelling, meeting new people and visiting new places.

That's all for the moment..........take care!!!!

Francesca

something more about marco

Hi, I'm marco and I'm going to tell you something more about me, as far as it is possible in a short piece of writing like this.
I am 23 years old, I come from a small town near Padua whose name is Cadoneghe and at the moment I'm studying languages at the university of Padua where I attend my fifth year there (and I hope to finish it quite soon!). I like motorcycles and sports, above all I like to play football or do a bit of body building in a gym near my house, where I also work in order to earn something (as you have probably understood I don't like too much to do commuting) every afternoon as a trainer for all the clients who are training there: so please don't think about me as a PERSONAL trainer!!
I like also reading and the last novel I read was "the little prince": a fairy tale dedicated more to adults than to children, in my opinion.
At last but not at least I like very much to enjoy my spare time (like every person in the world, I think) and stay with my friends: this is the reason why I chose the photo I hope you can see (because I'n not very sure it will appear); it was taken the day I was going to the carnival in Venice, where I had a lot of fun!
About my story with the internet I can tell that I use it basically to solve problems about university. The only different links I can list without stressing my imagination too much are the following:

googlehttp://www.google.it because this is the passepartout to go almost everywhere and find everything I may need...
messengerhttp://www.msn.com because I like to chat sometimes, at least when my Pc link with the internet decides to work properly and to allow me to do it!

Hi!!
Here we are in this new English course and this year we meet......on line!

My name is Giorgia and I'm 22 but in 15 days I will be 23..I was born on 31 October (someone will say "Halloween day") and for this reason I have chosen an image of this famous day; if you think that this image represents myself..you are wrong! I will explain the true reason why I put this photo in my first post. When I was young Halloween was not considered as a party (I think it was not taken into consideration at all) and so my birthday was simply on 31 October; during these last years Halloween has become a famous party in Italy too, and for this reason when someone asks me when I was born and I answer "31 October" everybody tells me: "Ah on Halloween day"!!..and I hate this answer!!The reason is that I think that this is an American party because there it has its own tradition but here, in Italy, it has not any meaning and it is only a way to have a party! In this fact, however, there's a positive aspect....everybody remembers my birthday!!

Well, I think that I can continue in my introduction; I live in Mestre, which is ten minutes far from Venice, and I have been living there with my parents and my sister since I was born.

I have been studying in Padua for 5 years as I attended the course in "Mediazione linguistica e culturale". I study English and French and for one year I studied Spanish as third language. This is my fifth year at university and I have to say that I am a little bit afraid of what I will do next year after finishing my thesis!..That will be a real problem: how can I find MY job!!?? During these years I have always done some temporary jobs to have some money for myself (I have often found these jobs in an interesting web site, www.infojobs.it, where you can write what you are looking for and the place where you live and it gives you all the results for your request). I keep on doing these jobs for this last year of university but then I will have to find a more important job..and that will be difficult..but for the moment it's better to think of this year and all the exams I will have to pass!!

As far as Internet is concerned I have to say that I'm not a real "a technological person"..and in the past I was a real disaster!! During these years at university, thanks to (or because of) all the exams and courses where the use of Internet was required, I have learnt quite enough to "surf the net" and at present I have not any problems..or better, I hope! I think that one of the best web sites of the net is Google because it often helps you to find what you are searching: you want to know all the timetables of the cinemas of your town?..click on Google; you want to book a place in a hotel for your holiday?..go to Google! Please, don't think I'm always surfing the net in my life..I assure you it's completely the contrary (In fact, if I have to look for the timetable of a cinema I prefer reading the little books that I can often find in the shops of my town!!); However, telling the truth I have to admitt that Google often helps people and in real time!

Well, I think that's all for now; In my introduction I have tried to make you understand a little my personality and if, according you, I have not been clear enough, I'm sure I will have other chances to manage in this undertaking!!

See you soon and have a nice week!!

Giorgia

Something about me: Svjetlana

Hi people!!!

Let me tell you something about me!!!

My name is Svjetlana. As you can understand just by reading my name I'm not Italian but Bosnian. I moved from Bosnia to Italy eleven years ago. At the beginning it was really hard and difficult to accept this big change in my life, but now I'm happy to live here especially because nowaday the political and economical situation in Bosnia is so uncertain. While here, in Italy, everybody, if he wants, has an opportunity.
I'm 23 years old and I'm studying languages, English, Spanish and Croatian, at the University of Padua.
I'm not living in Padua but ...

Yes, the city of Palladio! Vicenza: very nice, small, full or works of Art and friendly people. Unfortunately I'm still living with my parents. But I hope, in two or three years, to leave them and to go to live by my own or with some friends of mine.

What else can I tell you about me, except that I have spent years and years on books.

Well, I can't imagine my life without music. It is as important as the air we need to survive. Unfortunately I'm not a musician, even though I think that I have a nice voice. Perhaps in future I could become a big star!!! :-) What can I say, I just adore this form of expression. I don't like a particular group, singer or type of music. It all depends on periods of my life and especially on my mood. For example, now I am listening a lot of rock music, especially british-rock. Groups as Arctic Monkey, The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian make me go crazy. Their sound is really great!!!!

It is really difficult, quite impossible, to find an immage that represents the infinite and various aspects of our personality. The reason why I've chosen this immage is because I adore the sea and everything that concernes it: the beach, the sun, the water, sunsets...Everything is so romantic, calm, relaxing. But sometimes the sea can be melanconic, sad, unquiet...This is why it representes me very well. There is also a bird on this picture! This animal give me the idea of total freedom. Very often I imagine myself with wings flying away from people and problems of everyday life. Free from everything: problems, thoughts, stress, commitments, pressures...

And finally, let me tell you something about my relationship with the machine on which I'm now writing. I'm completely aware that we are living in the Internet Era but it is not so easy to understand and learn everything. Fortunately, during my 5 years of university adventure I have had different opportunities to improve my knowledge on what regards Internet and technology but I think that there are too many things that I have to learn. So I don't have many web sites to suggest, because usually I use Google for any kind of information and research and, obviously, the web site of the University of Padua.

That's all!!! By, by to everybody.

Course Syllabus

Blogging English 1 & 2

Group 1: Mondays 14.30-16.00

Group 2: Tuesdays 12:30 – 14.00 pm, Maldura Aula B
N.B. There is only 1 meeting per week so students are required to spend 3-6 hours doing work outside of class online.

In-class meetings:

16-17/10, 23-24/10, 6-7/11, 13-14/11, 20-21/11, 27-28/11, 4-5/12, 11-12/12, 18-19/12
We will not meet on Monday 30/10 as it will be a long weekend. Any changes to the calendar will be notified on the course blog.

Credits: 3

Teacher: Sarah Guth

Course Description

Students entering university today can be considered to be part of what Diana and Jim Oblinger call the ‘Net Generation’ in their recent EDUCAUSE book (2005). The authors speak of a generation of students who have grown up with technology and who may be more technosavvy than the very professors who are to teach them at university. The working world these students will face upon graduation also requires different skills than in the past. As Bruns & Humphreys (2005) state: “In a knowledge-based, networked economy, students leaving university need to have attained skills in collaborative and creative project-based work and to have developed crtical, reflective practices.” In Italy, the ‘Net Generation’ may be a good 10 years behind the one in the United States and other European countries which means students in this course may not officially be part of the ‘Net Generation’. Nonetheless, when you enter the workplace you may find yourself competing for jobs with peers in other countries who are and consequently have acquired skills that you have not.

‘Social software’ is a term used to speak about a new generation of web-based tools that facilitate human expression, communication, and collaboration. This course aims to use four different types of social software to help students develop their technological and collaboration skills while at the same time improving their English. The tools we will be using are weblogs (online journals), wikis (systems for collective authoring), distributed classification systems such as del.icio.us, and the use of RSS feeds to distribute information.

Audience

Students who choose to attend this course are expected to participate actively and, in the end, form part of a dynamic research community. This course is intended for students of the laurea specialistica who are able to express themselves well in English, able to autonomously take control over their own learning process as well as work in groups, and who are motivated and curious.

Course Objectives

1. Students will develop competency in the use of blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and web syndication (rss feeds).
2. Students will improve their communicative fluency in English and their reflective and critical thinking skills by publishing their thoughts, opinions and reactions on a course blog and on a personal blog.
3. Students will develop a wiki where they can begin to explore different written genres, e.g. encyclopedia entries, theses, writing an abstract, etc., as preparation for the module with Prof. Dalziel. In doing so students will learn to write collectively, assess each other’s work, and provide feedback. The focus here will be on accuracy and ability to collaborate.
4. Students will develop their practical research skills using online information networks as they look for, find and share online resources.

Required Books and Materials

All of our reading materials will by online resources made available by the instructor on the course blog or provided by the students themselves as a result of their online searches.

Course Environments

Course Blog: Here you will receive all communications regarding assignments (e-tivities), changes in the program, etc. This is also where you will carry out weekly e-tivities to develop your informal written communication skills as you learn to blog. There will be various types of assignments, from exploring the blogosphere to reading online resources and discussing them to recording your own voice and exchanging voice messages on the course blog.

Personal Blogs: All students will be required to develop and maintain a personal blog. The blog will be a place where you will keep a diary about your learning process.

Project Wiki: In the second part of the semester, the class as a whole will collectively undertake the design and construction of a wiki. Students will develop topics of their choice to explore writing various genres and to learn to write collectively. You will create pages, edit each other’s pages, and add images and useful links.

Distributed Research Database (and RSS feed): This database, maintained in del.icio.us, is where all the online research will be collected and shared. As you surf the web in search of resources for learning English and information about the topics we discuss in class and in the e-tivities, you will bookmark items using the tag bloggingenglish. Even if you decide an item is of little interest to you, you should bookmark it if you think it might be of interest to someone else in the class. The aggregated collection of items will be available to the whole class by subscribing to the RSS feed generated by del.icio.us. You will select specific items from this database for your individual analysis, which you will post on your individual blogs (as part of specific e-tivities).

Grading

This course is graded in continuous assessment, i.e. there will be no final exam but rather you will be graded on what you produce during the course.

1. Distributed Research (links posted to del.icio.us): 10%. Items can be useful online resources for your English language learning (grammar sites, sites with audio and video, etc.), journal and news articles related to our topics, opinion pieces, genre studies, etc. You will post resources that may be of interest to you or others in the course (‘sharing’ is the key word!).

2. Individual Analysis: 40%. You will not be graded on the accuracy of your grammar but rather on the contents (how much and how well you reflect on the topic of the e-tivity) of your posts to your individual blogs and to the course blog when that was requested as part of an e-tivity.

3. Final paper: 25%. At the end of the course you will be expected to write a final paper (max 5000 characters). You will choose the topic for your paper. You could write a final paper on the experience of using the social software, on social software itself, on one of the particular genres we have considered, etc. Your grade will be divided into 50% for linguistic accuracy (grammar, cohesion, syntax, vocabulary, etc.) and 50% for contents.

4. Comments to classmates' posts: 10%. The last part of each e-tivity involves responding to your colleagues. You will also be expected to periodically visit the personal blogs of your classmates and respond. I will consider both the number of comments (i.e. if you responded during each e-tivity) as well as the quality of your comments. Your comments to someone's blog post should provoke further reflection on the part of the blogger, not just show agreement.

5. Editing the Wiki: 15%. This is a collective grade, i.e. I will grade the final wiki contributions as a whole and give this grade to everyone in the class. As we will correct the language used on the wiki during class I will also take into consideration the linguistic accuracy of the contents in the final wiki.

How to start blogging

How to blog – First steps

To post a message in our course blog you must first have an account in blogger. Follow these simple steps.

1 - Go to www.blogger.com and create an account for a blog in blogger. Don’t worry about the details of your blog or creating a blog, what we’re interested in now is that you have an account, i.e. username and password, in blogger. Important: use the same e-mail address you gave Sarah when you signed up for the course.

2 – You will receive an invitation via e-mail from me to contribute to the course blog “Blogging English 1 / 2”.

3 – When you log on to blogger you should see a frame like this. Click on the course you have been invited to participate in or click on “crea post”.

4 – Then you will be in a window where you can create a new post. Write your e-tivity message there.

5 – Post the message and then go view it.

6 - Click on the comment message below the message you wish to respond to. Write your comment and post it.

e-tivity 1

Let’s get started!

Hello everyone. As you know there are many of you so we have to divide you into groups. We do this so that we can have a lower teacher-student ratio in the classroom. This means, however, that you are responsible for doing work outside of the classroom The activities we are going to do online are called “e-tivities” (Gilly Salmon, 2002). You will have one e-tivity each week. Do you know what a blog is? Do you already have one? These are questions we will be exploring in the next e-tivity. For now we just need to become familiar with our course blog. Please read the e-tivity instructions carefully.

Have fun!!
Sarah

Purpose: To become familiar with our course blog and introduce yourselves to each other.

Task: I've written a rather traditional welcome message below, but I'd like you to do something more original. First go to Flickr and look for an image that represents something about you. Write a post showing the image and describing what it says about you and why you chose it. Then think of at least two websites that you use often or think are good resources. Copy those addresses, put the hyperlink in your introduction post and explain why you chose those two websites and what they mean for you.

Respond: Read the other students’ introductions and reply (using the “comment” button) to them, explaining why they are similar to or different from you, because they have said something interesting, etc.

N.B. At this point we are not interested in accuracy, i.e. how correct your English is, but in fluency, i.e. communicating, so don’t worry too much about the form of your messages, just communicate! Also remember that a blog is online, available to everyone on the net, so try not to post information which is too personal, such as a telephone number.

Timeline: Thursday, October 19^th (task), Monday, October 23^rd (respond).

Welcome message from Sarah

Hi everyone! I'm Sarah and I'll be your guide on our journey through the blogoshpere in English.
To start this new experience we're all going to introduce ourselves, so let me start.

I'm American and have been teaching English to engineering students at the University of Padova since 1995 (how time flies!). You all will be my first experience at the University teaching non-scientific students so you may have to help me along at times.

As far as work is concerned I'm interested in how technology can be used to improve language learning and testing. I'm especially intrigued by anything open source or free or where there are virtual global communities of learners and hobbyists. If you're interested, here's are a few links to resources that talk about using new social software for educational purposes. What is a blog, Weblogs in Higher Education, Weblogg-ed.

In my free time, I play with my two boys, go swimming, study (don't think it'll end when you graduate) and like reading. I don't watch TV but I listen to the radio all the time, so if you make reference to TV programmes or stars I probably won't understand :-(

I can't wait to read about all of you!

Sarah