Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

The world's English mania - Jay Walker What is the difference between "a hearty welcome" and "a cordial reception"? In a brief, action-packed history of the English language, Kate Gardoqui explains why these semantically equal phrases evoke such different images.In her talk, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world's focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) TED Prize : For a wish that can inspire the world » Blog Archive » Congratulations Sugata Mitra, Winner of the First-Ever $1M TED Prize! February 26, 2013 After a series of experiments revealed that groups of children can learn almost anything by themselves, researcher Sugata Mitra began his pursuit to inspire children all over the world to get curious and work together. In 1999, Sugata and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering a slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera). Soon, they saw kids from the slum playing with the computer, learning English and searching through a wide variety of websites on science and other topics, and then teaching each other.

Eliciting Commonly, eliciting is used to ask learners to come up with vocabulary and language forms and rules, and to brainstorm a topic at the start of a skills lesson. The definition of the term in the Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, ‘Techniques or procedures which a teacher uses to get learners to actively produce speech or writing', suggests that there may be wider applications. Principles and advantages Eliciting is based on several premises:

Education innovator wins $1 million TED prize Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson (TED website) The winner of the first $1 million TED Prize for education innovation is (no, not Sal Khan) Sugata Mitra, for his plan this year to start the “School in the Cloud,” which is essentially a computer lab where children in Indian can learn in a student-driven environment. He has released a toolkit for parents and teachers who want to create what he calls self-organized learning environments, or SOLES, for kids ages 8-12, which you can find here. 11 Plus Papers. Download Free 11 Plus Practice Exams With Answers Free 11 + practice papers are useful to help parents see what standard of test their child might face when doing the 11 Plus exam. In this section, we have drawn together a number of free test paper resources which are available to download and we have also included some links to other sources of free Eleven Plus exam papers which you may find useful. Free 11+ Papers and Resources

Sugata Mitra: The Sole of a Student Winner Of the TED Prize 2013 In a special edition of TEDWeekends, TED and The Huffington Post are partnering to co-premiere a talk by this year's TED Prize winner. The TEDTalk by the winner is accompanied by an original blog post, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost and TED communities. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation! ELLLO Beginner #08 Sentence Patterns Todd: So Natalie, what is a typical day for you? For example, what is a typical morning? Natalie: Well, I wake up at about 7.00 a.m. Todd: Oh that's early. Natalie: Yes, I really am a morning person. Todd: I think you are a morning person. The Basics of Self-Directed Learning for Teachers What is self-directed learning all about ? There are a variety of definitions as to what SDL is all about and going through all of them I found that Knowles has been very articulate in the way he defined SDL. “In its broadest meaning, ’self-directed learning’ describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with our without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identify human and material resources for learning, choosing and implement appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes.” (Knowles, 1975, p. 18

Outstanding teaching CPD course with Mike Gershon ​Mike Gershon, popular classroom teacher and author provides practical insights to help make your teaching outstanding About this Outstanding teaching CPD course In this teacher training course Mike Gershon, popular classroom teacher and author, offers practical advice on techniques to help your teaching become outstanding. Mike will provide you with instructions through videos and analysis of real lessons, as well as through straightforward guides and downloadable teaching resources. He will also be joining in with the discussions between you and the other teachers on the course, answering questions, and giving help on the practical assignments he has set.

Evie Hantzopoulos: The Future of Learning: Lessons From a TED Prize Winner Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below. We often hear "our schools are broken." But are they in fact, obsolete?