Hi everyone out there!  

It's hard to believe that week 7 has gone, isn't it?  I think my work this week has been a bit out of focus, perhaps because it was my starting week at the Academy and my head was revolting with so many ideas to apply in class, some of them from this course, that I just couldn't concentrate enough on our tasks. 

My personal opinion about independent learners is that self-instruction is a matter of learning styles; some people like it and follow that path (that was my case, for example) and some others prefer to remain attached to a teacher or a textbook. I admit, though, that there might be a percentage of learners who can be influenced positively towards self-instruction by the teachers, and this is a splendid time to do so, with so many websites, videos, downloadable materials and blogs readily available to anyone with a simple internet connection. On this point, I added a very nice article written by a Lithuanian teacher to Donna's Padlet Wall. 

Talking about Padlet, I have created one of my own and started sharing it with my Academic students, first as a matter of pure willingness from the students, then perhaps as a graded activity. I'd like to say thank you to Alex for introducing us to the wonderful world of David Crystal. I've already downloaded several of his videos and expect to use them in some of my classes. Thanks Alex!

Well, I hope everybody has a nice week 8. We're starting partnerships this week and I'm really looking forward to it.

Cheers!