Exploring Larry Ferlazzo´s suggested sites for intermediate sts

This is the original article written by Larry Ferlazzo.

I found the AUDIO SLIDESHOW GALLERY a wonderful site to practise listening. It´s a different way of listening with the help of images. The slideshows summarize key news events. Thinking of Brazilian EFL Learners I would advise this activity to high-intermediate + advanced learners.

Audio Slideshow Gallery | Reuters via kwout

Next trial was an online Karaoke SINGSNAP.COM. I had so much fun. So, bear with my voice. I decided to sing "The Scientist" by Coldplay.

First, you run the setup wizard which is very straightforward, then, you select the song you´d like to sing and finally just gather up your courage and let your voice out. It takes some time while the site sends your recording.

Making sts sing and record their voices isn´t easy but if you teach a song to a group, find one or two who are more keen on singing and have them hold the microphone in class while the whole class sings with them, this way, I think it could be done. Yes, it´s great pronunciation practice and much fun.

The next site is great for reading + listening practice. These are simplified news stories with listenings or video plus a recording with the pronunciation of new words, a memory game with new words + definitions, and more exercises. REALLY GOOD!

Adult Learning Activities | California Distance Learning Project via kwout

The everyday life project is FANTASTIC. It´s great for listening and reading practice. By solving everyday problems, interacting with the lesson, and making your choices, you end up learning a lot. There are good lessons for people teaching topics such as FOOD, MONEY, COMPUTERS and WORK.

Free Online Learning at GCFLearnFree.org via kwout

SPEZIFY - a visual search tool

Spezify via kwout

I´ve found Spezify via a tweet and liked what I saw. Once you type a word in Spezify, it shows you the results of your search by bringing images from youtube, blogs, flickr, twitter, images and the web in general.

Language Learning Tools

I´ve just found this voicethread created by SecondLifeEnglish in Youtube and wanted to share with you. He talks about really useful tools he uses to learn languages. Plan to get some of the tools myself.

Ideas to inspire

From the wonderful "Ideas to Inspire" site , this is a presentation about 66 videos you can use in the classroom and suggested activities. Found it interesting and wanted to share here.



9 ideas to use the webcam in the classroom

New Presentation tool : PREZI

It´s AMAZING what you can do with http://prezi.com . As other presenters, I had always used powerpoint to prepare my presentations but I´ve always wanted more. I GUESS I´VE FOUND what I was looking for. Instead of preparing a linear presentation with a series of slides (and then have to go forward and backward) you can create a map + path for your presentation. You can zoom in and out as you like, add many sorts of files ( pictures, videos, texts) and add movement and surprise to your talk.

CHECK THIS OUT



I can´t recall how I found this amazing tool and am dying to try it out. After watching some tutorials I guess I´m ready to give it a go.

WATCH THIS

MY PRESENTATION: Web tools and projects

Carla Arena´s Potpurri of web tools

Carla has always been an inspiration to me. The more opportunities I have working with her, the more I see how much ground I still have to cover. I´d like to share her wonderful presentation at the Braz-tesol regional chapter which I still haven´t had the chance to really cover (each tool). Learn from the master (Carla) and enjoy.

A Potpourri Of Web Tools

View more Microsoft Word documents from carlaarena.

SHWUP - creating a photo album collaboratively

I´ve bookmarked Shwup recently and was waiting for a chance to try it out. There are many other sites which do the same but what is different about Shwup is that you can invite other people to contribute to the photo album with pictures they´ve taken and then you can create a photo album with all the photos taken, make a slideshow or movie, get a link and also post it at facebook , orkut or many other sites.

So. what´s SHWUP?



My Muvee



It´s a pity the quality of the photos have deteriorated in the little film. WHY?

Fun time: Savio show

This is a video which makes fun of the way English teaching videos used to be in the past, extremely unnatural and absurd. Had fun watching it.

Importing your Blog posts into facebook

I´d like to thank Sue Waters for this wonderful post and the idea of integrating your blog to your facebook account. I had never even thought it was possible. I know many of my facebook friends don´t know of my blog so this is a great opportunity to share what you´ve been writing with your friends.

Sue Waters has written a very clear tutorial on HOW TO DO IT so just click on the TEXT BOX below and you´ll be taken to her blog THE EDUBLOGGER

How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook | The Edublogger via kwout

Digital Kids

I found this video via Carla Arena´s tweet about an Edutopia video "Welcome to the Digital Generation".



The video below is about a boy who shows what role technology plays in his life. It really got me thinking. Do we really know how our sts have been dealing with technology? Do we give them the tools to go after new knowledge they´re interested in? Have we taking digital natives for granted by not offering them the tools?

Fun time: Pilobolus

I´ve already expressed here my love for dancing. I had dance classes for 8 years but life led me in different directions , however, dance still fascinates me. This week I fell in love with the work of a group which is touring Brazil at the moment. They make shapes with their bodies.

Watch and see how fabulous they are: Pilobolus

Video Activity: Reported Speech

This is a video activity created /adapted by a colleague of mine, Luciana Paula. The scene is from the film "Just like heaven". The restaurant scene starts at 2:42 (2 minutes 42 sec)The hand-out is below.



Ib Nef 6a Reported Speech Film Act

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Essays & Theses School Work video grammar

Disengaged students

A friend of mine (Luiz Pedro) once said to me: "We might know what we´re teaching but we never know what our students are learning". This sentence came to me while watching this funny video.

Disengaged Students from jarrod robinson on Vimeo.

SimplyBox - Capture, Organize and Share

This is a tool I´ve been using on a daily basis. It has helped me organize the stuff I find while surfing in a visual way (I´m extremely visual). It´s extremely easy to use and it´s very practical.

What you do is
1 open a free account at SimplyBox
2 use the SimplyBox (box and save) button to select anything you´d like to keep or have a look later.
3 after selecting the image you want to capture, you can drag it to one of the boxes you have created.

Interesting features

• you can integrate SimplyBox with your twitter account so that everytime you box something it´s sent to your twitter followers as a link.
• you can also share your box with other people, then many people can drag nice discoveries into the same box.

Something I miss in SimplyBox is being able to find other people´s boxes . For example: I know Nik Peachey and other teachers have simplyboxes. I wish I could send them requests to have access to their boxes. Can you imagine how much information I could come into?

I also use Diigo for bookmarking, but what I found in SimplyBox is the possibility of seeing images of what I have bookmarked. This way, I can recall what it is about without having to write a long description.

This is a great video which explains how it works

Playing with Loonapix

I just LOVE playing with photo editing tools.With Loonapix you can add effects to your pictures, add borders/ frames, trim the photo and also add your face to movie posters or to other characters.

But how can we use this in an educational context?

• well, first, you can use it to publish photos you´ve taken in the classroom for example.
• you can also have sts play with it and then describe the changes. Ex. He used to have short blond hair, now he has long black hair.
• You can use the images for teaching adjectives for describing people´s appearance.
• Any other ideas?