Some questions Helen Savvidou asked as part of her assignment and how I answered.

1. About the educational use of blogs and wikis by Christina Markoulaki
Can ! use of blogs and wik"
enhance motivation of
Greek interme#ate learners of Engl"h?
Questions by Helen Savvidou (postgraduate student on educational technology)
1) How would you define “motivation” taking into account the exam- oriented
context in Greece?
By consciously avoiding all educational jargon, I would define motivation as any inner
feeling harboured by any learner of any language causing them to continue trying despite
the difficulties met on the way. The way I see it, exams fall into the category of external
motivation, as their successful outcome is regarded to be a certificate or degree of some
sort, which is something tangible that the individual yearns to get hold of, the latter being
more of a high aiming candidate than a naturally curious learner. As initially stated, I firmly
believe that the sincere desire to learn stemming from within the people being present in
the lesson is what will eventually lead to the acquirement of solid knowledge rather than a
mere piece of paper.
2) Do you think that Greek learners are motivated to be engaged in the learning
process of English?
To avoid overgeneralizations, I would say that it all depends on the extent the factors
mentioned as an answer to Question 4 are met.
3) Is motivation important for the learning of English in the Greek learners?
Of course it is because learning a foreign language is not exactly what every young child
would set as a highest priority! It is up to the family and teachers to explain the significance
of attending such lessons wholeheartedly and enriching the already existing knowledge,
which will lead to future personal development and to higher chances of professional
success (now sounding totally realistic and a little externally motivated!).
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2. About the educational use of blogs and wikis by Christina Markoulaki
4) Which factors affect the level of motivation in the Greek learners?
The most important figure dictating the classroom procedure is the teacher (choosing not
to refer to the role of a studentʼs upbringing and family background in the present
interview). If teachers are innerly motivated, highly active and always ready to offer new
learning experiences, then they will undoubtedly attract the attention of the majority of the
students attending their lesson, causing them to participate and evolve, not only as
English-language learners, but also as human beings. That is what is true about all types
of classes, in Greece and everywhere on this planet.
5) Do you believe that in Greece, the teaching practices used by teachers do not
promote the collaboration between learners? Is the learner actively or passively
involved in the learning process?
I am inclined to believe that teachers of English in Greece strive to ameliorate their
teaching skills and provide a variety of classroom experiences to their students. More and
more state or private school teachers become aware of the importance of actively
involving all students in a lesson by integrating a certain type of intriguing technology or
employing team or pair grouping techniques. However, as I have already mentioned, it is
finally a matter of how intense the internal drive to share knowledge within a specific
teacher is.
6) Why did you choose to apply blogs and wikis in the classroom? What was the
driving force to do that?
A major challenge all teachers around the world need to face at some point is the
constant use of books or anything that comes in paper. Yes, all printed material is
extremely useful and informative, but has it not become too predictable these days?
Students invariably expect that photocopies will be handed to them, that they will play
some kind of board or card game at the end of the unit and that they will have to
submit their homework on a piece of paper. This will come as a surprising statement
from a fanatic book lover and proponent of using coursebooks in the classroom, but I
have finally realized that if we want to truly attract students’ interest, then we need to
think of unique ways to spice up the learning procedure.
Therefore, why not use the Internet along with all the paper games and
books? I am not the first one to say this, but it is really easy to use and find a
tremendous array of free activities that will make all learners look forward to the next
lesson. The online activities can fit the ones currently being done in class or be
entirely different, presenting topics to the learners that have never been dealt before.
Inspiration for such ventures can be found anywhere: please look at the links in the
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3. About the educational use of blogs and wikis by Christina Markoulaki
resources column of this presentation outline, which lead to wikipages where I have
listed inspiring teachers‘ blogs and numerous web resources for all levels. I also suggest
joining in the two most famous social networking sites in order to discover all kinds of
interesting links provided by other members.
The examples section includes two samples of the online work I have done with two
different groups so as to provide them with more information as well as enrich the
images in the young minds regarding the topics dealt in their coursebooks. For
instance, Geocaching was mentioned and discussed in class, but only when students
saw the actual site and got to know the procedure of participating in this global
treasure hunt, did they realize what Geocaching is all about.
The same thing happened after exploring sites that clearly illustrated the plight our
planet is in and the need to change our daily lifestyle to save our home. Some
environment games were also included, such as paying attention to how the player,
named Eco-Ego, and his actions affected his surroundings, thus ending the lesson on
a positive note and giving food for thought to the developing minds.
What is also of interest is the wiki my new adult ECPE group has been maintaining,
where they write their homework instead of handing it in on a piece of paper.
Gradually but steadily, they have shared word groups, book summaries and opinions
on different topics, enabling one to benefit from the knowledge of others.
(Extract from one of my guest posts on the ‘Teaching Village’)
http://www.teachingvillage.org/2010/12/19/meeting-challenges-in-the-efl-
classroom-part-2-read-aloud-activities-by-christina-markoulaki/
7) Were the Greek learners of any level familiar with the use of blogs and wikis? Eg.
they had already their own blogs or wikis, they had once read or contributed to
one of them or it was the first time they had heard of it.
They had absoluterly no idea about what blogging is all about or even what wikis look like.
Students of all ages were gradually introduced into the form and use of this kind of online
educational practice during my lessons in our privately owned school.
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4. About the educational use of blogs and wikis by Christina Markoulaki
8) Having used blogs and wikis in the classroom setting, did you notice a change in
the learnersʼ attitude towards English? After the use of technology did they have
the desire to participate and collaborate more in the lesson?
I certainly did notice a considerable difference when it came to their willingness to
participate, discuss, collaborate and learn how to handle all technology I decided to
employ during the lesson. All age groups simply look forward to the next visit to the
computer room of the school! The post an adult student has published on her own blog
describing how fortunate she feels to have been urged to enter the magic world of the
Internet proves my words! http://aliki-ka.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-best-classroom-
experience.html
9) Did they enjoy the collaboration process?
I am pretty confident they did, judging by the happy look on their faces, the relaxed
atmosphere and the friendships that were cultivated afterwards.
10) Did the learners embrace the use of this technology?
Yes, they did. All learners still blog or maintain their own wikis to practise the English
language (see a list of all student blogs here: http://eflinks.wikispaces.com/Our+students
%27+blogs) , while some of them have even taken the initiative to create their own blog in
Greek to expand their online action. What is more, my 11-year-old students are about to
happily exchange emails in English with French students of the same age. Those
interested to find out more about our school and its learning adventures are welcome to
visit the blog I personally maintain: markaki-students.blogspot.com.
A few words about me:
My name is Christina Markoulaki and I am a certified EFL
teacher in Greece, where I was also born. I am fortunate
enough to have been trusted with students of all ages and
levels within my 5 working years, their ages ranging from 4
to 44 years old! Using modern technology in the classroom
to create new learning experiences is what fascinates me.
All links concerning the school I work in can be found on this
colourful glog!
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