My FCE Class 2007

Dear Students,

Today is my first class with you. I am writing and posting this before I actually meet you. It is always a bit of an adventure to start a new course. So much to share and learn! I have been discovering new things every day since I started blogging. I am sure this year’s course will be an inspiring experience for you and me.

Next 18 March I will have been blogging for a year. I know most of you know what a blog is, but perhaps I am the first teacher who invites you to share a blog as part of a course. My 2006 FCE class had a chance to see it grow post by post, now I guess it might seem a bit overwhelming to the newcomer.

The Internet has too much information. Probably so does this weblog. I started writing this with some objectives in mind, which you may read on our very first post. As much as they still apply to my intentions today, I must confess I also keep writing posts because I learn so much in the process.

What is this blog? Well, I like to think that this blog is a window to the world. An extension of our classroom walls –should I say there are no more walls? Perhaps. We are regularly visited from the entire globe by teachers and students who also want a Cambridge certificate. That's our common objective. The English language is our common passion. Objectives mixed with passion underpin this blog all over.

When I find great teachers sharing their work online, I link to them. So you do not learn just from me. Then we also publish and share part of our class production so we can contribute to the community of students elsewhere looking for guidance. Another teacher or student drops by the fceblog, leaves us a comment or they start talking in their blogs about us. That’s when all of this gets really exciting!

This blog is not homework, but an invitation. There is no proper way of reading this. See the menu or help yourselves. Read it all or just a bit every other day. Either way is equally perfect. You decide. This blog is all about learning, developing autonomy to study and reflecting all along.

Exams and certificates are papers. Communication with the world is magic. Indeed to be writing here today and know all of you are out there reading... It’s magic!

Looking forward to meeting you on and offline,

Claudia

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Thank You

End of 2006 Academic Year

From: Your teacher blogger
To: All fcebloggers and especially to my FCE students
Subject: End of the 2006 FCE course, but not the blog!

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Dear All,

I would like to thank you very much for all your enthusiasm and support in all these months. We have certainly learnt a lot, although there are challenges ahead too. Finishing this year's course certainly leaves us with a sense of achievement. It is my hope that you have found this online experience fruitful and entertaining.

I am still amazed when I see the map of visitors and think of how far this blog has travelled. We have trespassed the frontiers of our classroom to carry our writings to the homes of other students who also share our learning objective. Our comments have probably helped them. At the same time, we have opened the windows of our classroom to let the world’s community of knowledge come in to aid us!

Vygotsky, a Russian cognitive scientist, taught us early in the XX century that learning happens when we connect with other people. Studying with online support is about expanding the Zone of Proximal Development in which learning can occur. It has been my aim to help you feel a bit of the passion for learning English in our interconnected XXI century world. I like to think that you will go on designing discovery paths for yourselves. True learning is that which never stops.

Wishing you every success in your exams,

Claudia

The FCE Blog Editor
http://fceblog.blogspot.com

Related Post: Our first post, March 2006