Saturday, January 10, 2026

Alexa, play Good Goodbye by Hwasa

Hi, its elif here for the last time to say goodbye. Well, even though i feel like ive been treading water with the teaching materials each week, with different theories with my lovely dear beloved friends. I reviewed all the assignments we've done this fall semester, sincerely. And the completed materials and lesson plans are not the only things i see, but actually the time spent behind each one, the canva links we shared with each other countless times, the conversations i had with my friends, the decisions we made, and the mistakes we corrected together. (I'm not crying, you're just teary-eyed). Anyway, it was a memorable experience to do all these tasks and make them permanent on the internet. 


To be honest, there was nothing easy about the course. We had to adjust and try to survive the week. Now, it’s time to be a teacher and make teaching materials, which is different from what we did in the ICT course. I can say that one of the strengths of this course is that it is unique compared to all the others, especially because of its schedule and the knowledge we gained from it. I’m not the type of person who can make decisions without thinking them over for at least 24 hours, so i can’t say for certain that any specific assignment was my favorite. However, I might choose the AI-enhanced CBLP material because i still feel like i am a learner. The reason why i chose the ELT department is that the joy of learning something new never ends. Oh, how i love being a teacher…

Here (glad not to add some material links or assure lesson plan) are some tips for anyone thinking of taking this course next year. First and foremost, make sure to jot down your notes and ask yourself "why?" for each step you take and every instruction you write. Remember, do not rush to be a teacher right away. Instead, take a moment to step into the shoes of your future students who will be experiencing the materials you and your friends have created. Lastly, relax, my dear,  i know assignments can sometimes be completed at the last minute, even just an hour before they are due, so take it easy. Good luck :) (puahahahahahahahaaha)

xoxo, elifabeth

Monday, December 29, 2025

With that the fall 2025 semester' assignments comes to an end goodbye... keep it one hundred on the land, the sea, the sky

The fall semester will end soon, and to be honest, I find myself feeling a mix of excitement and relief. One thing i'm truly glad about this assignment is that it is the last assignment of the semester! We split our group into two, but thankfully, my ever-supportive partner, Seçil, is still by my side. we had to revisit earlier drafts and rethought various aspects of our concept. Our project is based on example two about an AI-integrated teaching material to make image creation. So basically, the teacher provides a movie poster generated by AI, guides students to examine it and complete some related tasks. Afterward, we role-played them to become scriptwriters, writing their own movie scenarios. The next step is to transform those scenarios into a poster design by making them their own prompts to AI. The last part is to write about comparing the first poster given by the teacher and their own poster, then reflecting on their experiences of using the AI tool.

AI-integrated teaching material and ASSURE lesson plan ^^

thank you, love ya<333

final version of AI-integrated teaching material 

Monday, December 15, 2025

Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you ᯓ(virtually) ✈︎

  Hi… Do you have any new things? I have a never-ending list of tasks, but im not giving up (yet). So, the new assignment is to create AR/VR integrated teaching materials. As always, we planned the lesson by using the ASSURE model and designed the activity on Canva. This time, our main aim is to get students’ attention to explore New York City while practicing language skills and helping them to express their personal opinions. The whole lesson was planned around a virtual tour, which is supported by 360° YouTube videos, including two landmarks and a cultural festival. We also utilized Google Maps for the tour of the American Museum of Natural History.

By integrating augmented reality and virtual reality technology into ELT, it is okay to say that the teaching process has been enhanced effectively. This improvement is likely because of increased student motivation and an active learning process, which allows them to explore content (such as NYC) while enhancing their authenticity. Students’ engagement, along with the flow of the lesson, is boosted by using AR/VR tools. 


Let’s sum up the overall assignment, it was completed as we had planned, and i hope so. I believe it would have been beneficial to have these worksheets during my learning process, and I would also cut the postcard part for my memory box. Anyway, the entire task goes with some guided questions to a final writing postcard task while students explore real-life places (ofc virtually). Still, it is important to emphasize that while students may enhance their learning, the teacher must ensure a clear and carefully planned lesson plan if she/he wants to implement AR/VR tools in the class.

Our ASSURE Lesson Plan

Our AR/VR Integrated Teaching Material


Seçil's blog-Reyyan's blog-Furkan's blog


Here is the link to the final version

Thank you for ur time, take care <333

Monday, December 1, 2025

Flip the EFL moorssalc

I say good goodbye this November without a chrysanthemum, but at least we have a flipped classroom video, yayy! Okay, it is an example of blended learning, but what exactly is that? Have you ever heard about it? I guess not...

So basically, we reverse traditional learning to an innovative teaching method called it flipped classroom approach. Outside of the classroom, there is an instructional part, while interactive learning activities such as practice, discussion and group work take place in the classroom. About advantages, the content enables students to access anytime, anywhere, which personalizes the learning experience and allows students to learn at their own pace, pause or revisit any part, especially challenging parts. However, we cannot ignore the technological issues ofc. This approach is only possible where all students have access to the internet and need students’ self-regulation to enhance skills effectively.

Believe me, choosing the tool that we should use for creating a video is the hardest one. We looked up each site that our instructor mentioned, but somehow we couldn’t do that properly. So, it highlights the teacher's role to give specific time and attention to this, as well. Our team used Canva to create our video. The reasons we chose Canva are that it allows us to design engaging visuals and facilitates collaborative work to connect with one another anytime, anywhere.

Our aim was to introduce the countries written in the book, and we also wanted the students to learn about nationalities and their languages. We tried to make it engaging and acted as if they were on a world trip and included greetings from each country by adding our voices in the background (it was still fun, actually; one of my parts was Ireland, while I was searching for 'dia dhuit', I found out that it means God for you.) to help students develop their visual and aural skills. After introducing the part, we made two dialogue parts. We provided a complete example for the first one, and the other one was for students to complete the blank spaces. Lastly, we added the link to pre-class activity that we created on Wordwall.

Anyway, here is our work^^  

and THE lesson plan (both first and final version)

Reyyan's blogSeçil's blog-Furkan's blog ^^


Monday, November 17, 2025

Did someone drop an AI-enhanced CBLP here?

 Hi there! I just survived midterm week (thank goodness!). Anyway, the birds told me how curious you are about my first post for this semester. So basically, the task is about creating AI-enhanced corpus-based teaching material and a lesson plan based on the ASSURE model. I have to admit, I thought the ICT course was tough, but this one is even harder, though. Luckily, with my lovely friends Seçil and Reyyan, there is no assignment that we cannot tackle.

My reflection on our assignment, we created the worksheet in a step-by-step manner to make the learners aware of their knowledge and learning process about comparatives and superlatives. It took us more than I expected, yet this was worth the effort we put in. Planning meaningful student-centered activities and incorporating AI and the corpus website, especially choosing the appropriate corpus for the learners’ level, were quite challenging parts.

Using this material in a real classroom can be incredibly beneficial for utilizing AI and corpus tools, enhancing students’ knowledge of technologies in education and personalizing their learning experiences. However, some students may struggle to participate in the activities because of limited internet access or insufficient digital literacy skills for using the AI and corpus website. Therefore, it is important to make sure that every student has access to the internet and enough digital literacy skills to complete the tasks accurately and efficiently to maximize their capacity.

Here are the links to our lesson plan and the first draft of our worksheet.

First draft of comparatives vs superlatives worksheet

The ASSURE lesson plan

So, we received feedback from our instructor last week. It was really valuable for me and my team to understand our mistakes ^^ and make our worksheet better for future lesson activity. :* 

Here is the link to the final version of the worksheet

Monday, October 13, 2025

Spotted: Elifabeth is back

Hey everyone, it’s Elif here again!! I can’t believe it feels like just yesterday since our last goodbye, but it was literally 4 months ago. You all remember we met in the ICT course last semester. From now on our new course is Current Issues in Teaching. This semester might be the beginning of a brand new chapter for my journey as an ELT student, or should i say, pre-service teacher?

This blog will continue to be my little cozy place to reflect on my learning and make it count for my assignments. Umm, yes, ofc there will be new tasks ahead as we go along.

So, whether you’ve been here before or are a newcomer, stay tuned to see my works until next time.

Xoxo, elif

Saturday, June 14, 2025

A Farewell (づᴗ_ᴗ)づ♡ so sad so sad

Hey are you there? It is time to say goodbye, isn’t it? Now you are reading the 20th version of Elifabeth (that’s meee!). I've grown up so fast :’) As time flies, we find ourselves at the end of this course. I have to admit that my perspective on technology in English language teaching has evolved. Before taking this course, I only associated tech in ELT mostly with basic tools like YouTube, Spotify, or Word Docs. And now, it was more about the teaching of teaching language than the actual material aspect.  This ICT course enhanced my understanding, showing that technology is not just an add-on or an app. It can even reshape the way we learn and teach languages.

Out of all the tasks, my favorite was definitely chatting with the Little Prince. It felt like more than just an assignment through language activity, it was an heartfelt experience. Overall, I learned a lot about planning and how to use AI tools effectively to support the language learning teaching process.

For my last blog, I would like to conclude with a quote from Dr. Özge Orbay, taken from her TEDx Talk titled “Söylenmemiş Şeyler ve Yüzyıllık Meseleler”. She says:

"And remember, there's no need to rush to places where you're going. You can't truly arrive somewhere new without first staying long enough where you are."

xoxo,elif

Wisdom Beyond Stars: A Conversation with The Little Prince ˙✧˖°🦊 ༘ ⋆。˚

My last week of my second year as an ELT student ends with this final assignment😫. I had the  chance ( I would definitely say that) to have a conversation with The Little Prince, the main character of the book written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, thanks to Magic School’s Character Chatbot. I interviewed him generally talking about love, loss, friendship, and perceptions. The experience of this feels fantastic for my inner child as well.

The chat feels like it's real as the prince answered my questions in poetic sentences. I even recognized some quotes from the book. After completing the conversation, I wrote the report as a summary of the conversation, mentioning key points and insights. Then I used Magic School again but this time I utilized the Writing Feedback Tool to revise my report and give some ideas. It helped me especially to make my report readability better. And I corrected some of my mistakes and changed other sentences.

As a future language teacher, Magic School AI really has great potential in these AI tools. They can be used in language teaching in practice for speaking and writing skills. They are especially beneficial for learners who may feel anxious or shy to speak or write something. Moreover, AI tools also increase the imagination of learners by making it possible by allowing them to have a chat with whoever they choose. Without proper guidance, learners may misuse AI tools, which may lead to confusion to questioning, or exploring on their own. Therefore, it is important to integrate AI tools with caution, care and curiosity. Like what the fox from The Little Prince said, “You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.”

The written transcript of the conversation with The Little Prince 

(1st draft)

Report on a Conversation with The Little Prince

I had a mindful conversation with the story character whom I grew up reading about his journey to seek the answer to his questions. This report summarizes my conversations with The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. We talked about the nature of love, loss, friendship, responsibility, time and how grown-ups see the world.

Starting with the themes of friendship and taming, The Little Prince reflects his thoughts on what makes a true friendship. “A true friendship, you see, is like the careful ritual of taming. It requires patience, consistency and most importantly time.” He points out that bonds, or “ties”, which the fox is called and thinks that they invisible yet unique for making someone tame, are built through consuming time by making an investment of the heart.

About love and his rose, the prince said that “Love isn’t just about feeling butterflies… Love is in the daily rituals.”. He tends to his rose despite her thorns and flaws, which means that responsibility takes place when it comes to love. As the fox once said, “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed” to him, which he cannot forget these words.

When I asked the little prince about leaving his rose behind, he spoke softly, for farewell to his beloved rose. “Leaving my rose was like watching the sun set forty-four times in one day.” First, he thought to escape from her constant will, but distance plays and the prince meets with others, he realized that the time he had with his rose was precious. He mentioned that “The pain of separation became my teacher… I didn’t want to be like the geographer, knowing things only from a distance.”

So, watching the sunsets forty-four times symbolizes his emotion deeply. “When I watch a sunset… it reminds me that nothing-not even sorrow-stays exactly the same.”. He did not see time as we did, he saw the emotions behind it. “Each sunset is unique, just as each moment of sadness or joy has its own particular color.” For forty-four times, watching sunset is not just about numerical, yet sunsets became a healing process for him because each time he understood his feelings differently.

Moving to living on a tiny asteroid, B-612, I asked about solitude, and he said, “being alone isn’t quite the same as being lonely.” He thinks that solitude enables one to acknowledge to hear “thoughts that are usually drowned out by the noise of what grown-ups call ‘matters of consequences’”. Also, he emphasized the real solitude by saying that “True solitude teaches you not just about yourself but about your connections to others.”

About ‘matters of consequences', he recalls his memories with adults such as the businessman and the king. He talked about their trouble and said, “they forget how to see with their hearts.”. For protection of our inner child while growing up, he mentioned curiosity, friendship and so on. The prince said, “Growing older is inevitable… but losing one’s ability to wonder- that’s the choice.” and he fosters us to keep asking “why” and never avoid from “taming” and “building a bridge between who you were and who you’re becoming.”

Finally, I mentioned again that the fox told him, “One sees clearly only with the heart,” and the little prince said, “Some truths can only be felt.” Indeed, I truly felt it. Our conversation ended with the final question from The Little Prince: “Why do grown-ups build such tall walls around their hearts, only to spend their lives feeling lonely behind them?” Unfortunately, we may never know the answer…

Elif Tezer 101023077

Feedback on Character Conversation Analysis with The Little Prince

Areas of Strength:
• Your analysis demonstrates deep engagement with the philosophical themes of The Little Prince. I particularly appreciate how you explored complex ideas like the nature of time through quotes like "Each sunset is unique, just as each moment of sadness or joy has its own particular color."

• You effectively weave direct quotes throughout your analysis, creating a natural flow between the character's voice and your interpretation. For example, your discussion of friendship using the quote "A true friendship, you see, is like the careful ritual of taming" shows strong integration of textual evidence.

Areas for Growth:
• Consider developing more analytical depth in your transitions between themes. While you cover many important topics, some transitions feel abrupt. For instance, the shift from discussing sunsets to solitude could be more smoothly connected to show how these themes relate to each other.

• Your introduction could be more focused to establish the specific purpose and scope of your conversation. While you mention having a "mindful conversation," you could more clearly outline the key themes you'll explore to give readers a stronger roadmap.

General Feedback on Writing Mechanics:
• There are some minor grammatical issues to address. For example, in "About love and his rose, the prince said that 'Love isn't just about feeling butterflies…'" could be revised to "When discussing love and his rose, the prince explained that…"

• Watch for consistency in verb tense. You shift between past and present tense in some sections, such as "he spoke softly" versus "he thinks that solitude enables." Choose one tense and maintain it throughout your analysis.

• Consider breaking up longer paragraphs, particularly the one about sunsets and emotions, to improve readability and allow each important point to stand out more clearly.

(revised version)

Wisdom Beyond Stars: A Conversation with The Little Prince

I had a mindful conversation with the story character whom I grew up reading about his journey to seek the answer to his questions. This report summarizes my conversations with The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. We talked about the key themes of the nature of love, loss, friendship, responsibility, time and how grown-ups see the world.

Starting with the themes of friendship and taming, The Little Prince reflected his thoughts on what makes a true friendship. “A true friendship, you see, is like the careful ritual of taming. It requires patience, consistency and most importantly time.” He pointed out that bonds, or “ties”, which the fox is called and thought that they are invisible yet unique for making someone tame, are built through consuming time by making an investment of the heart.

About love and his rose, the prince explained that “Love isn’t just about feeling butterflies… Love is in the daily rituals.”. He tended to his rose despite her thorns and flaws, which means that responsibility takes place when it comes to love. As the fox once said, “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed” to him, which he cannot forget these words.

When I asked the little prince about leaving his rose behind, he spoke softly, for farewell to his beloved rose. “Leaving my rose was like watching the sun set forty-four times in one day.” First, he thought to escape from her constant will, but distance played and the prince met with others, he realized that the time he had with his rose was precious. He mentioned that “The pain of separation became my teacher… I didn’t want to be like the geographer, knowing things only from a distance.”

So, watching the sunsets forty-four times symbolizes his emotion deeply. “When I watch a sunset… it reminds me that nothing-not even sorrow-stays exactly the same.”. He did not see time as we did, he saw the emotions behind it. “Each sunset is unique, just as each moment of sadness or joy has its own particular color.” For forty-four times, watching sunset is not just about numerical, yet sunsets became a healing process for him because each time he understood his feelings differently.

Moving from the emotional healing to living on a tiny asteroid, B-612, I asked about solitude, and he said, “being alone isn’t quite the same as being lonely.” He thought that solitude enables one to acknowledge to hear “thoughts that are usually drowned out by the noise of what grown-ups call ‘matters of consequences’”. Also, he emphasized the real solitude by saying that “True solitude teaches you not just about yourself but about your connections to others.”

About ‘matters of consequences', he recalled his memories with adults such as the businessman and the king. He talked about their trouble and said, “they forget how to see with their hearts.”. For protection of our inner child while growing up, he mentioned curiosity, friendship and so on. The prince said, “Growing older is inevitable… but losing one’s ability to wonder- that’s the choice.” and he fostered us to keep asking “why” and never avoid from “taming” and “building a bridge between who you were and who you’re becoming.”

Finally, I mentioned again that the fox told him, “One sees clearly only with the heart,” and the little prince said, “Some truths can only be felt.” Indeed, I truly felt it. Our conversation ended with the final question from The Little Prince: “Why do grown-ups build such tall walls around their hearts, only to spend their lives feeling lonely behind them?” Unfortunately, we may never know the answer…

Elif Tezer 101023077

My Comments on Feedback and Changes I Highlighted

For my little grammar mistakes, I corrected some verbs according to tense and made a minor change in my introduction part. I changed my title as well, it became more specific. It said that some of my parts could be more focused and detailed, yet I had already gone over the 500-word limit. Lastly, I changed the first sentence of the sixth paragraph to make a smooth transition to the other theme. It was a great experience to have feedback from Magic School’s Writing Feedback Tool; it helped me to see my mistakes and review my report.

 

Sunday, May 25, 2025

The Review of Hatıran Yeter

 As for today’s mission (task), I’m not sure how many we’ve completed so far, but I think it’s about 4 or 5. Anyway, here I am again, and this is our first experience with Google Docs for an online collaborative writing task. My teammates are Seçil Sırlan and Reyyan Sıla Özgür. We need to write a film review. It sounds easy, right? All we have to do is watch the movie and write the review together. You might think it is straightforward, yet choosing the film has been the hardest part of this assignment. It literally took us a week to decide. And, ta-da! We’ve chosen "Hatıran Yeter" (2024).

Reflecting on the overall process, it was a rewarding experience with my peers thanks to Google Docs. The real-time collaboration feature allowed us to write and edit simultaneously, which makes it easy to see each other's contributions right away. We started by creating an outline, with each of us responsible for expanding on different sections, and I focused on the analysis part. That means even though I was crying while watching it, i took some notes factors affecting the scenes.

click here 💌 for Hatıran Yeter film review

I’ve attached a screenshot of our review page showcasing some of these comments.



Sunday, May 4, 2025

How to Make 3D Origami Swan 🦢

We were assigned a project, and after considering several options, we decided to focus on Project 2, which is centered on the theme "How To." In this project, we aimed to present a detailed and engaging tutorial on making an origami swan. 
We created the video in collaboration with my peer, Seçil Sırlan. Please click here to watch!

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Finding your Ikigai (生き甲斐)

I was assigned to create a 60-second podcast about my idea to make the world a better place to live in. I recently read "Ikigai and Other Japanese Words to Live By" by Mari Fujimoto, which helped me gain a mindful understanding of living a fulfilling life by having a purpose.. So, I thought it would be great if I chose something from it. I chose to introduce the word Ikigai, a Japanese term which means one’s “reason for being.” My main aim was to inspire listeners to make their living meaningfully with just one simple word, but having a deeper meaning, which emphasizes how discovering one’s Ikigai can lead to happiness and a positive contribution to society as well.

As for the process of task completion, it was a bit challenging for both finding the right words to script and managing time effectively. At first, I wasn’t too concerned for the time, but I take lots of records for making a minute timeframe. I would say it was quite a struggle, especially when I listened to my voice like over and over again, I noticed that I was speaking too quickly. However, at least I managed to complete it!!

I would definitely think of assigning a similar podcast task to my learners in my future teaching career, too. It is really such a creative way to encourage engagement and help learners to express their thoughts.

click here^^

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Netiquette 101

As an assignment of the ICT course, I was assigned to create an infographic on a topic related to ethical and legal issues in technology use.  I chose netiquette, which actually combines the concepts of "network" and "etiquette" to highlight our proper online behaviours. I think it is something everyone should be aware of about these rules. In today’s increasingly digital world, understanding netiquette is crucial for anyone who engages with online platforms. In the beginning, the idea of designing the infographic sounded exciting, however, as I got deeper into the process of making design infographic, it was more than that feeling. I revisited my course notes for additional research. I began by reading Shea's 10 Core Rules and the guidelines put forth by Hartney again. Then, I used Canva for design with a few design ideas in mind. As I browsed through the themes, I wondered how I could creatively present these netiquette rules using an acrostic format. This idea is appropriate for me to not only convey the information effectively but also to engage learners in a more memorable way.

In other words, I tried to explain the 10 main rules through the infographic by using the letters of netiquette engagingly. So here we are, I have adjusted to help learners to be remembered through visuals and keywords. It took so much time and effort to choose the right layout, colors, fonts, and icons, and make sure readable and concise for learners. My goal was to ensure the information was straightforward, making it easier for learners to remember and apply these essential rules.







Sunday, March 23, 2025

21st Century Learntech in ELT


In the ELT field, 21st century learning is actually a form of learning that we are all familiar with. This goes much further beyond traditional learning, with this approach changing our world as technology enters every aspect of our lives. In general, if we think of the student not only as an academic but also as a social part of society, it is an important part of the 21st-century learning skills 4C, namely communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity to be integrated with technology.

As future teachers, we should acknowledge that we may develop comprehensive skills throughout our educational journey that enable us to transfer knowledge to our students effectively. By integrating technology, we have the opportunity to improve language education. We can utilize interactive tools, online platforms and even multimedia content to make our students learn the language by making it more engaging and impactful instead of relying on traditional methods which focus solely on memorization.

To sum up everything I stated so far, 21st century learning is crucial for us, especially in our English language teaching classroom, and as for students, they can engage successfully in real life conversation, enhancing in language proficiency and cultural awareness. So, our role is to prepare students by guiding them into an increasingly changing interconnected world around them.

Hey there, NICE TO SEE YOU! a welcoming post


Hii It’s Elif here, and you’re reading my 19th version! I’m currently a student at Marmara University struggling- oh sorry studying in the English Language Teaching (ELT) department. I created this blog to share with all of you what we’ll do in the ICT course. As I share these assignments, you’ll not only read my work, but you’ll also see my thoughts, my ideas and even how I am a hardworking and punctual person. (at least let me think so oky?). So, to my future self, you better do a good job darlin. I know u will just do not panic. Let’s hope this is gonna be a blast. Fingers crossed!! 

xoxo,elif

             

Alexa, play Good Goodbye by Hwasa

Hi, its elif here for the last time to say goodbye. Well, even though i feel like ive been treading water with the teaching materials each w...