SAMI: The learning of music in early childhood education using mobile devices" is a non-funded project of the University of Oviedo which has been awarded by the Council of Education, Culture and Sports of the Principality of Asturias, Spain, under the modality "Innovation projects and educational research 2013
At a glance
Lesson objectives
SAMI is an interactive mobile App that introduces children to the world of music in a fun way without effort. SAMI is composed of mini-games designed to enhance the various skills involved in early childhood development. The games have levels to smoothly increase the challenge and allow children to reinforce what they have learned.
A "walk-through" of the lesson
The app consists of four games. Each game offers an activity that increases in difficulty, related to .
Technologies used
Sami used the iTEC Directory to gain visibility. The official presentation of Sami for primary schools in Asturias was promoted as one of the events in the iTEC Directory, making it possible for the Spanish and International teaching communities to follow the live streaming online.
Teacher feedback
Sami works the pitch, and this is it`s main difference from other musical learning apps. It has been a challege full of joy, because 5 yeard old´s kids, know the pitch was a really new skill to learn. And Sami was a good teacher to all of them.
Students feedback
We asked the kids to choose their favorite game. And the most choosen was the free composition, eventhough the like sami rewards very much
Key innovations identified
Success factors
Sami has age appropriate rewards that helps kids being aware of their learning progress. Sami let them to know whether the answer is correct or not, in a very soft way, and always providing another chance to get the reward.
Successful outcomes
From a teacher perspective, the most impressive outcome is seeing how easily children have discriminated the sounds of the musical octave. Even though we also love the way children create and share their musical compositions. For us these were the most rewarding pedagogical results of the whole process
Tips and advice to other teachers
This story relates the experience of Vaida Kaikariene, an English teacher engaged in the cycle 4 of iTEC pilots (March-June 2013). It gives an overview on what happenned in the classroom and on the impact of these activities as analysed by Vaida.
Vaida Kaikarienė is satisfied to participate in the iTEC project and using technologies in everyday teaching process. She thinks, that today improving technologies not only make teachers adapt to everchanging world, but also give more opportunities to work creatively, allow to create one's own teaching system, encourage appearance of new ideas and innovations.
Proposal : Working in groups and using ICT to gain knowledge about animal world, to develop learners' communication skills in reading, listening, writing and speaking and to create the story of a little seal.
The topic and goals of the project are closely related to the educational module „Animals”. So students were taught across the curriculum. The idea to tell about a little seal occurred spontaneously when we heard about a pup seal born in the Lithuanian Sea Museum this spring. All the class (26 students) were involved in the project. The learning process was organised in subgroups of 12 and 14 students. The teacher introduced marking criteria, gave instructions and recommendations. Using “Teamup” tool they were divided into teams under different names: Explorers, Discoverers, Animal Lovers, and Animal Keepers. Every group had their own tasks (see Popplet) : to understand and give simple information about animals, ask and answer questions, give interesting facts about seals, find out information and tell about Lithuanian sea museum (animals, attractions and professions), get to know about the endangered Baltic Sea animals. With the help of IT, working in libraries, consulting English and class teachers, Sea Museum employees, the students gathered information on their topic. The students cooperated, helped to learn each other. The teacher‘s role during the project was changing. He was an organizer, tutor, facilitator. The teacher and the students continuously communicated and cooperated in both classroom and interactive learning surrounding. A large part of the learning process took place outside school, the students went to the Sea Museum, cooperated with experts. Every team discussed their gathered material, systemised, summarised and, presented their works. The presentations were followed by comments, self-evaluation and reflexion. The teacher gave feedback and evaluated the works. The students were introduced with story creating tools (MS PowerPoint, Knovio, StoryJumper) in the IT classroom. Using technologies, the students created their stories about the seal, suggested its name. The students presented their works, gave comments, got feedback from the teacher and were evaluated. The best students‘works were presented on the website. The project was presented to the school community and Sea Museum staff.
iTEC technologies and other tools used
iTEC Widget Store, Teamup, Popplet, SlideTalk, StoryJumper, Knovio, Dropbox, SounCloud, Audio, Video, Youtube, MS PowerPoint, MS Windows Movie Maker, Linoit.com, Jimdo.com, Wallwisher, ThinkBinder, iTEC group in Facebook, iTEC community, Google gmail, Google docs, IWB ActiveInspe, computers, mobiles, digital cameras, etc
The implementation of the learning scenario enabled us to work consistently, purposefully and effectively. The role of a teacher was transforming during the project. Students‘ learning opportunities were maximised. Students were active and motivated. The main emphasis was on the students‘obtained experience. They were involved in the learning process, were responsible not only for their learning results, but also their knowledge. IT, innovative learning methods such as cooperating and collaborating, discussions, outdoor studying, problem solving, productive and creative tasks helped to reach the goals of the project.
During the project the students improved their IT skills, cooperation, critical thinking, creativity, communication, self-learning, problem solution skills, involvement and participation, as well as other learning results and communication skills in both English and Lithuanian languages because the project was integrated in the curriculum.
It is obvious, the project tasks and activities were rather difficult for all groups. Students had a challenge not only to create a story about the pup seal using technologies, but to get to know and explore the mysterious sea animal world as well. The students obtained new knowledge, learning results were perfect.
I as a teacher appreciate this experience as well. The project emphasised close cooperation between the teacher and students. It was a challenge to me to be more precise and accurate while preparing for the lessons, to manage time precisely, foresee difficulties and possible problems, to provide help for my students on time.
During the project students gained new experience:
Students liked the project very much.
Innovative teaching methods and technology based learning were used during the project. Technology transformed the role of the teacher and it allowed students become more independent in the classroom. Students developed XXI century skills. They were presented with modern untraditional learning surroundings and situations, in which they became active, creative and motivated participants. There is no doubt the learning process was engaging, exciting, effective, interesting and modern.
This project was one of the most interesting and successful in my practice. It was also unique. Innovative methods and technologies enabled to make students more independent and active in learning process. They spent more time studding in interactive surrounding. The relation of project aims and tasks with real life situations increased students‘motivation. The students gathered information from different sources willingly and actively, consulted not only their teachers, but also experts, researched and solved environmental and social problems (how to protect seal population, how man can help them, what profession are necessary at the Sea Museum etc). The tasks were made easier through the use of technology. The project revealed wide possibilities of using technology as well. Students liked communicating via e-mails, e-register, cooperating on Jimdo.com and Linoit.com platforms, applying new tools for story creating and project demonstrations.
The scenario "Tell a story" was implemented, new technological tools were mastered, information about animal world according given tasks was gathered, and a story about a little seal was created. Selected students presentations were published in the website, a video presenting a project was made. Applying SlideTalk tool teaching tool for English lessons „Seals in Lithuanian Sea Museum“was created. Students from other classes tried it doing listening tasks. This teaching tool and all the project material can be used by primary school, English and other teachers in their lessons related to the museum, endangered animals. This project as well as other similar works can be found in LeMill site.
I recommend using technology in everyday teaching process. There are many ways in which technology can be used in the classroom. Try to match technological tools to the learning activities. Don‘t be afraid to experiment, even make mistakes. Just use your creativity and you will find out how widely these tools can be applied while planning and working. Let new technologies become your innovative in education. Search, create, find, and deepen your experience.
Links
This story relates the experience of Gonzalo Garcia, a Maths teacher engaged in the cycle 4 of iTEC pilots (March-June 2013). It gives an overview on what happenned in the classroom and on the impact of these activities as analysed by Gonzalo.
Communication and context in Maths is a difficult topic to develop through the course program. Implementing the LS “Telling a Story”, the goals are to learn techniques to solve equations or logarithms or any other Math stuff and to discuss and explain the results obtained in a given problem to a given audience.
The teacher introduced the LS “Telling a Story” (1 session – “Dream” activity) through two selected videos from the Internet (one chapter of BBC “Horrible Histories” – “Terrible Tudors” and a Math rap published by Westerville South High School – “Getting’ Triggy Wit’ It”) to point out the importance of considering the three basic pillars of telling a story: the plot (what-to-tell), the audience target (who-to-tell-to) and the vehicle (how-to-tell). After that, students were grouped into teams of 5 (using TeamUp) and each student proposed a story, an audience and a vehicle. From the 50 proposals (25 each class) the students voted (using TeamUp voting feature) to select the 5 stories per class to be developed; those stories were distributed in a random way (1 session). The teams started defining the plot with a first script and transformed it into a storyboard, taking into account the selected audience and the vehicle (4 sessions – “Map” activity). Once the storyboard was written, they started with the “Making” activity: some teams recording the scenes to edit into a movie, others by starting with the animation process (5 sessions). The almost-final movies were presented (2 sessions - “Ask” activity) to the class in order to obtain feedback and to improve the results; at the same time, in an international collaboration with a Turkish school, we shared our products through a closed Facebook group and received more interesting feedback from another point of view. Finally, with the improvements done (2 sessions - “Re-make” activity ) the teams published their final movies in Youtube to share them with the community (1 session - “Show” activity).
TeamUp for team making and relfection; SMART widgets to select students randomly, to limit the time in certain activities, to encourage reflection with different points of view; blogs to maintain the information flow; dropbox to keep information and process updated, sharing folders with the teams in order to facilitate process monitorization and assessment; Microsoft Movie Maker, VideoPad, Adobe Premiere to edit some of the videos; Extreme Collaboration to share opinions and ideas with the students in the final reflection; Facebook closed group to collaborate with our international partner.
It's a totally different way to assess Maths, as the students are pacing a way through the learning process. The students perceive Math content as a tool and not as an end, and this new point of view makes them feel more comfortable with Maths, making its concepts more accessible to them. Anyway, the change of mind of considering Maths as an everyday life aspect is challenging for some students, but as soon as they start working in teams the challenge is met. Once the basic rules of Maths have been established, you can use this approach of telling a Math story as a way for the students to go in a deeper understanding of the concepts as they try to relate them with the facts of their real life. It’s surprising how the students are able to find aspects of daily life in which they can apply Math concepts, so it’s important to give them an open enough field to develop their ideas, encouraging creativity and originality.
The possibility of participating in the decision making process was a key fact. The minimum guidance through the process was beneficial as it encouraged autonomy, teamwork and creativity; but, on the other hand, it made it harder to face some of the challenges we found (e.g. how to build a storyboard, copyright issues, sharing with our international partners, etc). This way of learning requires more student work than the traditional one, but the stuff learnt is better learnt. This is a great way of learning, but there are topics more suitable for it than others (Maths are a challenge themselves, and trying to relate them to real life is a big one). We are used to be guided in a very close way, and when given more responsibility (= freedom of action) we find it difficult to face with some simple challenges; it was a really great way to make us aware of the importance of autonomy and self-managing of our learning.
Students share responsibilities with the teacher in all aspects of the process (from topic selection to the assessment process, through forming teams and giving feedback). Creativity was considered as an essential aspect of their work, giving the students almost total freedom to complete their tasks. Peer assessment was an important way to transfer students expertise acquired through the process as part of their learning experience.
Sharing responsibility with the students makes them feel the project as their own. The decision making process is an added value to encourage their autonomy; in addition, letting them engage in the assessment process (usually out of their hands) make them to be more compromised with the scheduled task. The use of on line storage, sharing, publishing and collaboration tools enhance the students sharing and feedback practices, making the assessment process more complete. International collaboration activities were definitive to get students engaged throughout the whole project, and gave them an additional goal to think of and try to make their best to complete their tasks.
Creativity was the most interesting feature we get: through creativity our students engaged in their projects. They have learnt that sharing experiences as part of the learning process is enriching both for the one who gives and for the one who receives; it was another step for them to engage the activities. When peer assessment came into scene, they were much more demanding than the teachers, but always with a positive feedback on their criticism.
Let students creativity flow: give them the opportunity to express themselves in their own way. Try to be as flexible as you can with "program fitness", as the important thing is that the students can learn through their own experience.
Videos or classroom activities
Vykdant projektą buvo sudarytos anketos lietuvių kalba, išverstos į anglų kalbą, atliktas tyrimas, apibendrinti jo duomenys. Remiantis apklausos duomenimis buvo sudarytas minčių žemėlapis bei sukurtas filmukas. Dirbdami panaudojome tiek mums žinomus įrankius, tiek naujus, dar neišbandytus (pvz., newspapertemplate, "Popplet", "Sony Vegas").
Bendra informacija / At a glance
Pamokos tikslai/uždaviniai / Lesson objectives
Pasakojimas apie mokymą ir mokymąsi / A "walk-through" of the lesson
Aptarėme pasirinktą scenarijų "Mūsų mokykla - mūsų aplinka". Susiplanavome savo veiklas: sudarėme darbo grupes, susiplanavome darbus bei pasiskirstėme juos. Viena mokinių grupė sudarė anketą lietuvių kalba, kita - išvertė ją į lietuvių kalbą. Trečioji mokinių grupė vykdė mokyklos mokinių apklausą. Apklausėme apie 100 progimnazijos mokinių. Dvi grupės mergaitės apibendrino apklausos duomenis bei paruošė pristatymą (skaidrių pateiktis). Remdamiesi mokyklos mokinių išreikštomis mintimis sudarėme minčių žemėlapį. Paskutinis projekto vykdymo etapas - filmuko kūrimas.
Naudotos projekto „iTEC“ technologijos ir kiti ištekliai/įrankiai / Technologies used
newspapertemplate (projekto veiklos etapų pristatymas), dokumentų ir tekstų kūrimo ir apdorojimo programa "Microsft Word", skaidrių pateikčių programinė įranga "Microsoft Power Point", minčių žemėlapio kūrimo įrankis "Popplet", paieškos sistema Google, skaitmeninis fotoaparatas, kamera, video kūrimo programa "Sony Vegas", internetinė svetainė YouTube.
Mokytojo komentarai / Teacher feedback
Nauja yra tai, kad dalyvavimas projekte suteikė galimybę išbandyti daugybę veiklų, įrankių kartu su mokiniais, o tam tikrais atvejais net ir pasimokyti iš jų. Nežinau, ar norėčiau taip mokyti visą laiką, bet mielai sudalyvaučiau kitame tokio pobūdžio projekte. Manau, kitą kartą sektųsi geriau.
Mokinių komentarai / Students feedback
Nauja yra tai, kad dalyvaujant projekte mes patys buvome atsakingi už veiklas, jų vykdymą. Mokytoja buvo mūsų patarėja. Šis projektas patikrino mūsų atsakomybę, ir, deja, ne visada atlikdavome darbus laiku ir nuvildavome mokytoją. Įdomiausia buvo pamatyti sukurtą filmuką, įvertinti jį.
Svarbiausios naujovės / Key innovations identified
Nauja yra tai, kad dalyvavimas projekte suteikė galimybę išbandyti daugybę veiklų, įrankių kartu su mokiniais, o tam tikrais atvejais net ir pasimokyti iš jų.
Sėkmės faktoriai, leidžiantys įgyvendinti užsibrėžtus uždavinius, arba geroji patirtis / Success factors
Konkretaus tikslo turėjimas, darbas grupėse, pasiskirstymas darbais, veikla buvo grindžiama aktyviu ir betarpišku mokinių dalyvavimu visuose etapuose, daug aktyvių praktinių darbų visiems mokiniams paskyrimas, IKT taikymas
Sėkmingi rezultatai / Successful outcomes
Įdomios, kūrybingos mokinių idėjos, o svarbiausia - darbų kūrimas bendradarbiaujant. Projektinė veikla suteikė galimybę geriau pažinti savo mokinius, mokytis bei išmokti pasitikėti jais bei jų galimybėmis.
Patarimai kitiems mokytojams / Tips and advice to other teachers
Šiame iTEC projekto etape buvo išbandyti nauji virtualūs įrankiai ir aplinkos, buvo sukurti produktai - mokyklos laikraštis ,,Atspindys", ketvirtos klasės laikraštis ,,Šaunusis 24-tukas" ir filmukas, kaip mokiniams sekėsi padaryti numatytus darbus. Darbai buvo publikuoti mokyklos svetainėjė, Ukmergės miesto naujienų portale ir svetainėje scribd.com
Sukurti virtualų mokykos laikraštį, išbandyti IT grįstą mokymosi veiklą ir naujus metodus, supažindinti su žurnalistikos pradmenimis, skatinti mokinių kūrybiškumą, ugdyti kultūringą bendravimą virtualioje erdvėje, ugdytis gebėjimą viešai pristatyti projektą.
Susitikimų su žurnalistais, laikraščių redaktoriais metu mokiniai aiškinosi žurnalisto darbo ypatumus. Rinko medžiagą mokyklos laikraščiams, rašė straipsnius, fotografavo. Savarankiškai dirbdami kompiuteriu ir naudodami virtualius įrankius sukūrė ir maketavo laikraštį ,,Atspindys" (išleisti 4 laikraščio numeriai). Bendradarbiaudami su ketvirtos klasės mokiniais sukūrė klasės laikraštį ,,Fantastiškasis 24-tukas'. Sukūrė filmuką, kaip sekėsi įgyvendinti scenarijų. Mokiniai parašė straipsnius apie projektą ir patalpino mokyklos svetainėje. Mokytoja stebėjo darbą, konsultavo.
Minčių žemėlapis - popplet.com, laikraščio publikavimas - scribd.com, filmuko kūrimas - VideoPad Video Editor, filmuko publikavimas - youtube.com, svetainės kūrimas - jimdo.com.
Virtualus mokyklos laikraštis bus kuriamas ir toliau. Planuojame išbandyti naujus virtualius maketavimo įrankius. Mokiniams patinka, kad jie gali suderinti savo pomėgius (domėjimąsi informacinėmis technologijomis) ir lietuvių kalbos žinių tobulinimą. Labai svarbus bendradarbiavimas tarp skirtingo amžiaus mokinių: vyresnieji kantriai moko jaunesnius, pataria jiems.
Mokiniams patinka, kai gali suderinti darbo su virtualia aplinka įgūdžius ir mokymąsi per įvairių dalykų pamokas. Labai svarbu, kad darbai yra publikuojami virtualioje erdvėje. Taip pat įdomu pamatyti, kaip dirba kiti projekto dalyviai.
Projektas suteikia galimybę susipažinti ir išbandyti naujus virtualius įrankius bei aplinkas.
Kartą per mėnesį leidžiamas mokyklos laikraštis ,,Atspindys", sukurtas ketvirtos klasės laikraštis ,,Šaunusis 24-tukas".
Mokiniai, naudodami išmaniuosius telefonus ir filmavimo kamerą, išmoko kurti filmukus ir daugiau sužinojo apie vandenį.
Mokiniai gilino žinias apie vandenį: atliko įvairius eksperimentus, tyrė vandens savybes, domėjosi, kaip vanduo pasiekia namus. Atliekama veiklą fiksavo įvairiais skaimeniniais įrenginiais: filmavimo kamera, išmaniaisiais telefonais, fotoaparatais.
Projekto tema pasirinkta atsižvelgiant į mokomuosius dalykus. Tariantis su mokiniais diskutuota, ką konkrečiai reikėtų sužinoti. Tuo tikslu buvo sukurtas bendras minčių - pasiūlymų žemėlapis, išskirti keli esminiai aspektai.Vėliau mokiniai team up įrankio pagalba susiskirstė grupėmis. Vaikai ieškojo informacijoa apie vandenį ir kūrė plakatus (glogster). Žinias pritaikė ir darbus planavo kurdami minčių žemėlapius (popplet). Tuo pat metu lankėsi įvairiose mokyklos erdvėse ir filmavo vandenį. Vėliau filmukus jungė, montavo su Movie maker programa. Pradžioje ketinome naudoti Magisto programą, bet iškilo sunkumų. Gerai pavyko sukurti tik filmukus iš nuotraukų. Vėliau savo sukurtus filmukus vaikai pristatė savo klasės draugams. Ateityje planuojama projekto sklaida ir kitoms klasėms. Vaikų atilikti darbai paskelbti svetainėje http://vanduo.jimdo.com/
Teamup, popplet, magisto, edu.glogster, jimdo
Mokiniai, dirbdami su IKT įrankiais, labiau susidomi ir įsitraukia į veiklą. Droviems vaikams lengviau sekasi susikaupti ir išreikšti savo mintis.
Mokiniams labai patiko mokytis naudojant IKT įrankius.
Mokiniai išmoko fiksuoti ir atrinkti svarbiausius momentus, montuoti filmukus Magisto ir Movie maker programomis.
Projekto metu mokiniai dirbo grupėmis, daug bendravo, dalijosi įspūdžiais ir tai juos vienijo.
Sukurtas projekto puslapis- mokymosi aplinka, kuriame patalpinti mokinių sukurti darbai.
Projekto scenarijus ,,Mūsų mokykla - mūsų aplinka", tema ,,Šiauliai Rasa Progymnasium and our Environment". Mokiniai buvo paskirstyti grupėmis:1. Naudojant skaidrių pateikčių programinę įrangą ,,Microsoft Power Point" sukurti pristatymai; 2. Sudaryta anketa lietuvių, anglų kalbomis; 3. Atlikta apklausa (100respondentų); 4. Išanalizuoti apklausos duomenys ir pateikti diagramose; 5. Sukurtas filmukas.
Pirmiausia aptarėme su 8a, b klasių mokiniais scenarijų ,,Mūsų mokykla-mūsų aplinka". Suplanavome veiklas, mokiniai pasiskirstė grupėmis. Pirmoji surinko medžiagą pasirinkta tema, naudodami IKT pristatė mokiniams. Antroji grupė sudarė klausimyną lietuvių kalba, trečioji grupė vertė į anglų kalbą, ketvirtoji vykdė apklausą (100 respondentų apklausta), penktoji grupė surinktus duomenis išanalizavo, kita grupė pateikė duomenis diagramose, juos pristatė mokiniams, kita grupė parengė reportažą. Paskutinis projekto vykdymo etapas - filmo kūrimas.
Dokumentų ir tekstų kūrimo ir apdorojimo programa ,,Microsoft Word", skaidrių pateikčių programinė įranga ,,Microsoft Power Point", paieškos sistema Google, skaitmeninis fotoaparatas, video kamera, video kūrimo programa ,,Sony Vegas", internetinė svetainė YouTube.
Projektas labai naudingas mokiniams, suteikė galimybę išbandyti naujas veiklas, pritaikyti gebėjimus įvairiose srityse. Mokiniams labai patiko, daug naujovių, aišku, daug ir darbo. Tokių projektų labai reikia mokykloje, gal norėtųsi vykdyti ilgesnį laiką.
Projektas mums buvo labai naudingas, įdomu buvo vykdyti apklausą, surinktus duomenis analizuoti. Išbandėme įvairias veiklas. Labai patiko pažiūrėti mūsų pačių sukurtą filmuką.
Ugdymo procese šiuo metu labai populiarus dalykas - IKT, sparčiai viskas keičiasi, pamokos nebegalime įsivaizduoti be IKT. Mokiniams patinka naujovės, jų pritaikymas, išbandymas.
Manau, kad kūrybiška veikla, darbas grupėse, IKT pritaikymas - tai pagrindiniai sėkmės faktoriai.
Projekto vykdymas suteikė galimybę geriau pažinti mokinius, jų gebėjimus, atsakomybę.
Booking a flight can be one of the most stressful parts about travel! Airfare is expensive and, with variation in prices, we often worry that if we buy right now, prices could drop and we’d be the person who paid the most money for the flight. “Maybe if I wait just a little longer, prices will drop,” we say to ourselves.
I used to spend hours upon hours searching for the right price. I’d search multiple websites, second-guess myself, and worry about what happens when the prices drop. I would hold off on buying, waiting for that perfect moment. It was like trying to time the market – it simply doesn’t work. 99 times out of 100, you lose out. On a recent trip from Austin, a one-way ticket on American Airlines was $206 USD. The next day it was $149 USD and a BETTER route. When I checked a few hours later, it was back to $206 USD.
You can’t predict prices. The best day to book is usually today.Last year, I went to visit the folks at Google Flights, and over lunch they told me about a study they did of thousands of flights. They found the average drop price is about $50 USD. That means if you wait, you’re most likely to save about $50 USD but might be stuck with a price that is hundreds higher. (This excludes sales and mistake fares.)
As someone who doesn’t go a day without searching for airfare to regions all over the world, I can tell you that you can’t second-guess yourself. If you’re comfortable with the price you paid, you need to accept it and move on, even if airfare drops.
In the past, I’ve explained how to finding a cheap flight – the theory and strategy to use when searching for a flight. Today, I want to show you how to put that into practice and walk you through how I book my tickets.
For this article, I’m going to look for a flight from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City or NYC to Hanoi in March for 8-10 days and I have used Vietnam visa on arrival service to get visa at airports.
Step 1First, I’ll look at deal websites like Holiday Pirates or The Flight Deal to see if there are any fare sales going on. Sometimes there are, most of the times there aren’t. After that, I start with the ITA Matrix, an amazing tool that allows for complex searching and that every flight junkie I know uses. While it only searches major airlines (no budget carriers here), it has a calendar option so you can see prices over the course of the month and provides a solid baseline on prices.Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City:NYC to Hanoi:The cheapest flight to Ho Chi Minh City is $507 USD on Vietnam Airlines for 10 days, though further research revealed a direct flight on Qantas for $524 USD. The cheapest flight to Hanoi was $698 USD via Singapore for 10 days (there are no direct flights).
Step 2Next, I go to Skyscanner and Momondo to compare prices and see if there are any budget carriers flying the route I need. Both of these search sites brought up a much cheaper flight on the budget airline Scoot. You’ll also notice Momondo brought up a cheaper SYD-SGN ticket on the same flight. That’s another reason to check multiple booking sites. You might find a cheaper price for the same flight elsewhere! With the NYC flights, both Skyscanner and Momondo returned the Vietnam Airline flight, though Momondo prices it cheaper at $657 USD.
Step 3Next, I visit Google Flights to search regional fares. For example, if I’m flying to Athens, I’ll see what flights to nearby airports might be cheaper. It may be cheaper to fly into Paris and take a budget airline to Athens. Though you’ll end up booking two different tickets on two different airlines, you can sometimes save hundreds of dollars. I booked a flight to Dublin and then flew Ryanair to Paris, saving me $200 USD instead of taking a direct flight.
On the Sydney-to-Ho Chi Minh route, there are not a lot of alternative airports to choose from, so the $340 USD on the budget airline Scoot is the cheapest option we would find. However, for NYC to Hanoi, we have plenty of options, since there are a lot of airports and budget carriers in Europe to choose from. (Pro tip: If you aren’t a junkie like me and know which budget airlines fly where, visit the airport’s website to get a list of airlines.)
Looking at Google Flights, the cheapest flight is $725 USD with two stops, worse than what Momondo returned! However, leaving and returning two days later (I’m flexible) brings up a $605 USD flight via Kiev:
That’s a big improvement. Next, I zoom out and look at the region. I see that leaving on the 6th there’s a $416 USD flight to Stockholm and then another $168 USD flight to Hanoi. Though this saves $21 USD, when you factor in immigration, checking into a new airline, possible delays, and your time, it’s not worth it. This doesn’t produce anything cheaper without extremely long layovers. I don’t believe saving $21 USD is worth an extra 20 hours in an airport. Though I have used this method to save money in the past, in this case, booking two separate flights isn’t worth it so I move on.
Step 4After looking at these three websites, I may look at Kayak or Orbitz just as a safeguard. It doesn’t take long to enter in a few dates and if the prices they return are similar to what I got before, I close out the browser and move on. Next, I’ll visit the airlines’ websites to see if there are any cheaper deals to be found. In order to encourage consumers to book directly with them, airlines often have cheaper prices listed on their website. For Scoot, the price wasn’t cheaper. With Ukraine International Airlines, the price came up a lot cheaper:You may wonder why I didn’t just go to the airline directly. Because the airlines don’t always have the cheapest flight. In this case they did but on the flight I just booked to Laos, Laos Airlines’ website was $50 USD more than what Momondo returned!
Step 5After booking the flight, I make a note to check back in 23 hours as you have 24 hours to cancel a flight without penalty, so right before that time is up, I’ll clear out my browser’s cookies and do a quick search to see if the price dropped (see my Austin example above). I’ll either rebook or keep my flight based on what I find.
After that, I don’t give a second thought to it, even if two weeks later there’s a sale or I see a cheaper price pop up somewhere. You can’t know the future or when a sale will come. You can only make your best decision with the information at hand at the very moment you’re booking.
Maybe you’ll spend 10 hours searching to find some obscure website that is $5 USD cheaper. Maybe your flight will become $200 USD cheaper the next day. Maybe there will be a sale. Maybe the price will go up! In the end, it is not worth worrying about. First, you’ll be frozen with potential buyer’s remorse if you worry about future prices. You’ll never buy a flight because you’ll always be wondering “what if?” and, in the end, you’ll wait too long — and probably pay more. Second, how much is your time worth? Maybe I could search more, but I’d rather use those extra hours to enjoy life, plan a trip, apply Vietnam visa, work on my blog, or relax at the beach. My time is more valuable than a slight drop in price will ever be.
If you’re spending more than an hour booking a flight, you’re spending too much time. This entire process from start to finish took me 40 minutes. After that, I went back to watching Narcos on Netflix. I never second-guess myself on flights. You’ll go crazy if you do. Spend 30-40 minutes finding and booking a cheap flight at a price you’re OK paying (Still too much money after all of this? Go somewhere else), and move on with your life.
Source: www.dulichso.com
Darbas projektų metodu – tai mokymasis atrandant, žinant, ko ieškoma. Kiekvienas projektas gali būti vis kitoks, nepanašus į buvusį. Tai, be abejo, praturtina mokymo procesą, skatina mokymosi motyvaciją, ugdo moksleivių kūrybingumą.
Integruotas tarpdalykinis projektas, kuris apjungia gimtąją, užsienio (anglų) kalbas, menus bei IT, skirtas 6-7 klasių mokiniams, kurio tikslas kuo įdomiau pristatyti savo gimtąjį miestą. Pagrindiniai projekto tikslai - tobulinti bendravimo ir bendradarbiavimo komandoje įgūdžius, IKT kompetencijų ugdymas, kūrybiškumo ugdymas, užsienio kalbos praktinis mokymasis
Projekto metu mokiniai rinko informaciją apie jų gimtąjame mieste esančias skulptūras, paminklus, smulkiąją architekturą, juos fotografavo, rinko jų GPS koordinates. Mokiniai kūrė pasakas, apsakymus, panaudodami nuotraukas bei pieštines iliustracijas apie skulptūras. Pamokų metu mokiniai kūrė Klaipėdos senamiesčio skulptūrų foto albumą su trumpais skulptūrų aprašymais bei GPS koordinatėmis lietuvių ir anglų kalbomis, kūrybinių darbų (pasakos bei iliustracijų) albumą lietuvių ir anglų kalbomis, sudarinėjo lankytinų vietų ir objektų interaktyvų žemėlapį su GPS koordinatėmis, kūrė interaktyvias užduotis.
Mokinių suskirstymui į grupes buvo naudojamas TeamUp įrankis. Taip pat šis įrankis buvo naudojamas projekto ataskaitoms. Bendravimui ir bendradarbiavimui buvo naudojamas socialinis tinklas Facebook bei virtuali mokymosi aplinka Edmodo, Google Drive. Skaitmeniniams produktams kurti buvo naudojami mobilieji įrenginiai, naudojamos programos Google Earth, Issuu, Calameo.
Pasirinkta projekto tema suteikė galimybę mokytis „gyvai“ ir praktiškai – mokiniai aktyviai įsitraukė į veiklą, noriai domėjosi, kaip įdomiau atlikti numatytas užduotis. Siekiant įgyvendinti projekto tikslus, veiklos buvo integruotos į mokomuosius dalykus. Pamokose kartu su mokiniais buvo aptariamos idėjos, ieškoma įdomios informacijos, piešiami projekto piešiniai. Tiek mokytojai, tiek mokiniai, dalyvaudami projekte, informacijai pristatyti naudojo įvairias IKT priemones. Internetiniai žemėlapiai, taip pat ir Google Earth, ypač buvo naudingi. Mokiniai skenavo savo piešinius, fotografavo, kūrė vaizdo siužetus. Dalyvavimas projekte tikrai praplėtė vaikų akiratį, leido mokytis ir pažinti priimtinu ir įdomiu būdu. Visi pamatė ir įsitikino, kad darbas projektinėje veikloje kelia motyvaciją, norą kuo daugiau sužinoti ir išbandyti, suteikia puikią galimybę tobulinti užsienio kalbą.
Viso projekto metu mokytojai ir mokiniai intensyviai bendradarbiavo, dalijosi idėjomis, susirašinėjo socialiniuose tinkluose, virtualioje mokymosi aplinkoje. Projekto veiklos sudomino ir įtraukė mokinius, smalsumu ir noru išmėginti naujus dalykus, tad išskirti pačius svarbiausius pasiektus rezultatus nėra paprasta. Kiekvienas dalykas savaip reikšmingas. IKT priemonės sudaro galimybę naudoti anglų kalbą itin realiose situacijose. Projekto veikloje noriai dalyvavo visi - entuziastingai dirbo šauni mokytojų ir mokinių komanda.
Visi įsitikino, kad darbas komandoje yra įdomus ir naudingas, suteikiantis galimybę labiau savimi pasitikėti, atskleisti kūrybines idėjas. Vienas iš svarbiausių uždavinių vykdant projekto veiklas yra motyvuoti mokinius, pritaikyti ugdymo turinį taip, kad kiekvienas mokinys pajustų sėkmę, matytų rezultatus, džiaugtųsi mokydamasis ir dirbdamas komandoje.
Projekto sėkmę lėmė tai, kad mokymasis puikiai derėjo su mokinių įprastais pomėgiais - interneto naudojimu ir bendravimu. Projektas buvo informatyvi, rezultatyvi ir, svarbiausia, mokinių mėgstama veikla. IKT priemonių taikymas veikloje suteikė puikias galimybes lyginti, analizuoti ir keistis idėjomis. Mokiniai labai džiaugėsi matydami, kad jų darbai yra publikuojami.
Dirbdami projekte, mokiniai tapo atviri idėjoms, gebėjimams dalytis gerąja patirtimi, pasijuto svarbūs ir turintys ką parodyti kitiems. Kūrybiškai organizuotos veiklos sudomino mokinius ir leido pasiekti numatytų tikslų.
