Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Q&A

Welcome! We hope you'll enjoy "Lively Exchanges". Below is some basic information about the blog to get you started.

Who is this blog for?
     This blog is for just about everyone!
     Are you a learner? Take advantage of the content and links in these posts to practice reading, listening, and critical thinking, as well as to help you nurture your speaking, writing, and vocabulary skills (in addition to impressing all your friends with how well-informed you are). Contribute to the learning community by commenting on the posts on this blog. Use the content here for self-study or for engaging in discussions with your study group.
     Are you a teacher or facilitator? Find topics that really catch your students' attention, and then let me do some of the heavy-lifting when it comes to finding ways to use the content in your classroom. Take a look at some of the suggested activities below, and contribute your knowledge and expertise to the learning community by submitting your own creative ways of using the blog content with your learners.

How can I get the most from the content on this blog?
     Great question! There's quite a lot you can do, whether you're an individual learner, a teacher or facilitator, or part of a study group.
     Posts that link to news articles will indicate the article's word count, as well as any other features or content that might be useful or interesting, such as downloadable audio or streaming videos. Warm-up questions are created so that they can be used prior to viewing the article itself, and follow-up questions are generally designed to be discussed with the content of the article in mind.
     Questions here can be used for writing activities (like stream of consciousness tasks, journal entries, or essays), group activities (like classroom debates or role plays), and general discussions. Articles themselves can be used for listening tasks and repeated reading exercises as well.
     Ideally, learners who regularly visit the site will discover even more ways of employing the content to suit their needs (and then they'll come back and share them with us, too!).

Who writes the posts?
     Merumeru is an instructor with a Master's degree in Adult Education from Indiana University (2015) and has spent over a decade working with adults, primarily English language learners. She has extensive experience in curriculum design and loves facilitating learning events that help adults live better lives and explore new things. Over 9 years of her career was spent in Tokyo, Japan, although she now resides in the lovely Pacific Northwest (of which she is a native!).

Have other questions? Contact me: livelyexchanges (at) gmail

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