Hi Everyone,

Without a doubt, of the technologies presented by my classmates in their blogs, www.italki.com is the one which has thus far impacted me the most. Italki was introduced to us by Kemal who is of course a language teacher. Italki is a site, based in Hong Kong and with a development centre in Shanghai, which introduces language learners from around the globe. You enter your native language and the language you are studying and Italki introduces you to those who are the inverse. You can send the person a message and exchange Skype contact info or phone numbers. Will Italki help me in my professional practice? Not really, but as I speak Mandarin it is kind of fun to meet people from different areas of China. I now communicate on a regular basis with an art teacher in Tianjin, a master’s student in computer science from Beijing and an office worker in Shanghai. If money is your objective, language teachers can also offer their services on Italki and list their fees. Teachers on italki are designed as "professional teachers" or "community tutors", the former having professional teaching experience or certifications. Both types of teachers are able to create a teacher profile, and set their own rates for payment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italki.com).

Another technology which I like, introduced to us in week four by Elena, is www.polleverywhere.com/. Actually I think Elena introduced us to Poll Anywhere which is also a similar application to poll everywhere. Regardless which application that you chose, both are audience participation sites. You can send your audience a question or series of questions and poll them on their mobile devices. I use five minute papers in class on a regular basis to invite comment or questions. This is a way to do the same thing electronically and gives the students something useful that they can do with their mobile phones. Poll everywhere is based in San Francisco, California and is designed as an audience response system for the classroom. It is used in over 100 countries.