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I am a translator and interpreter for English, French and Spanish and an ESP/EFL teacher as well. I teach at the Social Communication School at the Central University of Venezuela. Currently, I am doing a master’s program in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, which has been helping me to improve and complete my expertise on the teaching of second languages. I have taught English and French for eleven years now and I have worked with students of all different ages, meeting their needs on areas such as speaking, reading, listening and writing. I also teach private sessions for professionals who need to learn or improve their language level. Nowadays, most of my students are doctors and engineers who want to develop their skills to keep updated with their fields. I also translate a variety of texts for individuals and companies which require the service.

Monday, October 26, 2009

5. Wikis

Wow!! Wikis! What an interesting topic. Let’s begin by saying what a Wiki is. Professor Evelyn Izquierdo (2009) defines a Wiki as “an interactive and dynamic website with pages that anyone can create, edit and contribute to”. That is, a website in which people can create a page, share information, or edit content easily just by having only a password. In more technical words, a wiki is a “software that provides some level of interactivity between individuals” (http://wiki.wetpaint.com/page/Wiki+History).
The first wiki was actually developed over 10 years ago by Ward Cunningham, a Smalltalk developer, who conceived it as a quick way to create and share ideas when working. Ward's Wiki is still working today. Its name comes from the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki which means quick.

Wikis is another of the Web 2.0 tools that have been recently used in ELT with educational uses. Wikis are frequently utilized not only by teachers worldwide to share teaching experiences, but also as a nice tool to give students participation. As well as blogging, wikis are powerful and fun tools to use out of the classroom. Students have the possibility to make themselves heard and perhaps participate in a larger community.
There are many sites that you can use to create your wiki, just by signing up for free. Some of them are Wikispaces, Wikidot, Pbworks, Zohowiki and Wetpaint.

References:
http://wiki.wetpaint.com/page/Wiki+History
http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiHistory
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