Cristina+Costa


 * [[image:cris3.JPG width="125" height="140" align="center" caption="Cristina Costa"]] || [|Cristina Costa] is an EFL teacher, currently working at the University of Salford as a Learning Technologies development Officer. She’s a member of the [|webhead]s in Action, and an active member of many other communities and networks (including [|Connecting Online]. [|Blogging for Educators], and [|Learning with Computers]. She is also a co-founder of the open-community [|EVOLVE])

Her passion for learning has enabled her to truly connect and collaborate with people worldwide.[See some examples [|here]] You can find more about her [|here].

She loves to travel ( learn 1st hand about cultural differences, understanding the various backgrounds). In her spare time she practices Astanga and iyengar yoga. [|Books] are her other escape. Her blog: [|www.knowmansland.com/learningpath] ||

Abstract
The learning of a language is more effective in context and for a specific purpose. The learners' fluency is often also more efficiently augmented when placing students in real situations where communication and collaboration are regarded as key to the learning process. Bearing in mind that knowledge is more easily acquired, and that, most importantly, **//knowing//** (the process) is better developed in active situations, this presentation aims at briefly introducing an EFL classroom example where such approach has been applied. During the 20 minute session the presenter will describe how she engaged her class in a collaborative environment, encouraging students to take ownership of the project as creators and publishers, while using free web 2.0 tools to create a resourceful website in dedication to someone very important to the learners ...

//This presentation may be viewed online at http://www.slideshare.net/cristinacost/learners-as-creators-presentation //

Adventures in Podland
Encouraging adult EFL students to materialize their knowledge and try to produce some language in class is definitely a hard task. They are positive that they could never learn another language! What then can we do to convince them of the opposite? That has been, in fact, one of my quests in the last few years. I have noticed that podcasting helps students to grow more confident of their language skills. It is a good complement for teaching listening and speaking. And that is why I decided to experiment with podcasting into cyberspace. Link to article: My Adventures in Podland: http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/secet.asp?CID=1391&DID=7400 (TESOL members only).

Navigating into Virtual Waters: //**:** [|From Stem To Stern: A Collaborative Blog]//
What happens when you take 24 students, 2 teachers, 2 English classes, a computer and propel them into cyberspace? From Stem to Stern, a collaborative blog! Two teachers, Cristina Costa and her colleague Ramona Dietrich, were looking for English language writing alternatives and thought that blogging offered a fresh perspective (Presentation available [|here]; resources about this activity [|here]. For full article please contact me)