Some questions I have about using Web 2.0 tools in classrooms...

What models or theories of knowledge seem most coherent with Web 2.0 tools?

What theories about language acquisition/learning fit with the opportunities for learning afforded by Web 2.0 tools?

What kinds of knowledge will people need in the workplace in the 21st century?

How have Web 2.0 tools changed the way we access/use/build/share knowledge?

How can we most effectively use these tools in traditional classroom teaching in bricks and mortar buildings?

*** To whom does this all apply??? For people without ready access to computer technology (or the ability to use it)... has anything changed?

What percentage of people learning a second or foreign language will have access to Web 2.0 tools? Why or Why not?

How might these new tools change or reinforce what we know (or think we know) about language learning?

On reading:

Saying “Tla” to English-Only – How Aggressive Majority Language Policies Threaten Native Culture

http://multilingualmania.com/saying-“tla”-to-english-only-–-how-aggressive-majority-language-policies-threaten-native-culture/

I would like to hear from an advocate of "English-only" what they are afraid of? Why is language so intimately identified with culture that people in the USA feel threatened by people who speak additional languages to English? What is wrong with speaking two or more languages? How could that undermine the political establishment? Anyway, what does "English" culture mean in the USA? I suppose there is an unconscious awareness that " once a language disappears, it isn’t long until the culture to which it belongs begins to lose shape" - Chief Harry Wallace as cited in the article).

So why is that? Why is language such a powerful vehicle of culture that once it disappears the "culture" goes with it?

Why the name? Artemesia Gentileschi was a student of Caravaggio and the first female painter to become a member of the Academia di Arte del Disegno in Florence, Italy. She made a name for herself in a time when females were not considered capable of being accomplished painters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi

It is also a connection to Florence (where I used to live) and friends there, and here, who are painters in the realist style.

Well, that was easy! I thought it was about time to try out a blog. I have been a journal writer for many years and this seemed like a logical extension of that activity. I invite you to read and engage with the ideas. I look forward to learning both from my own writing and eventual interaction with other ideas that writing may provoke.