My Picks from YOUTUBE this week

Have a look at these great videos.

1.  All you need is love - a beautiful video of kids from India and Africa singing  the Beatles song.
2. Glogster in the classroom - high school students talk about their projects with Glogster.
3. For the birds - cute animation that could be used as a discussion starter about "Bullying".
4. Education is broken - great talk by Chris Lehmann
5. Reel Wisdom - a collection of quotes from famous films
6. Porcelain Revised Score - beautiful short movie about 2nd world war
7. What teachers make - great video about education
8. What's the role of teachers today? - Interview with Marc Prensky
9. Acceptance speech by Alfred Hitchcock - fantastic, a must-see
10. Language as a Window into Human Nature - RSA animation 

Oh, I used TUBESNACK to make the video playlist above. There are other video templates to choose from.

Cool Noticeboard - SCRUMBLR

Scrumblr is another "noticeboard " tool , like Wallwisher, Linoit and Stixy.

How is it different from the other similar sites?

1. It's incredibly simple, just click on the +, double click to edit and drag your note to the board.
2. Two people can edit the same note.
3. You can't write much on each note.
4. You write a note only. No photos, videos or links.
5. No embedding option.

HOW CAN WE USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Great site for leaving simple messages, e.g. birthday messages.
• Useful for brainstorming topics.
• You can post the beginning of the sentence and ask students to finish that using their imagination. Ex: If I were a millionaire ....
• You can ask all students to use the same structure to make a sentence. Ex: I'm looking forward to .....
• Build a story together asking students to add their notes linearly. (MY EXAMPLE BELOW)

This is my first trial, after learning about it via NIK PEACHEY 

Would you like to contribute to the story? 

Just click on the + button, double click on the note to edit and drag it to the board. 

Telefable - The eyebrow story

I've found this story via David Deubelbeiss' tweet this morning.
As he suggested, it's a great story you can use in class. CLICK on the image to read this cute story.

HOW TO USE IT IN CLASS?

• Use the first page to ask students to describe Sean in pairs. Then, ask some students to tell the group. I believe many students won't know the word EYEBROW. 
• Ask them "How would you describe his eyebrows?" then go to page 2
• You can have students read it silently while you pass the pages, ask different students to read it aloud or read it yourself.
• "One day it was very windy".  Stop and ask "what do you think happened? "
• "I have an idea " Ask students to talk together and think of what idea Sean had.
• Ask students what new words they've learned.

These are some structures from the story, you can work with. Ask if students can remember the original sentence, then get students to say different variations.

It was so (windy) that ...........

He (ran) as ...... as he could

Do you have any other ideas? David, any ideas?

MORE STORIES 

Using MINI SAGAS - 10 ideas

I've always liked the concept of MINI SAGAS. Expressing your ideas in a few words (50 words). This is a presentation I've created with some ideas I brainstormed with CULTURA EDTECH participants yesterday. I used EMPRESSR to create the slideshow.
http://www.empressr.com/View.aspx?token=Cb8TUDr1vks%3d




This is the slideshow which inspired me. A great presentation I found at slideshare.net where you can find several mini sagas + images.

Mini Sagas

View more presentations from georgiana.meleandra

SUPER EASY presentation tool - Zipcast

ZIPCAST is the easiest presentation tool I've seen so far. You don't need to learn about complicated controls, no download required, participants can join you with the click of a button. It takes no more than 60 seconds to set up a session!

Zipcast Activity Stream via kwout

This is a tutorial to show you how to create your first ZIPCAST

Zipcast Activity Stream via kwout

A Revision Quiz with ProProfs

After watching this fantastic TUTORIAL by Russell Stannard I decided to create my second quiz at PROPROFS. It's great you can add images and videos to your quiz and even embed it in a class blog for students.

I've used two kinds of questions: multiple choice and fill in the blank.

UIA Revision Written Test 1 » online testing software

This was my first trial: A quiz to test WORD FORMATION

Word Formation - UIA 2C » ProProfs Quizzes

Task Challenge # 3 - Students record themselves

This is the 3rd challenge proposed to my students this semester:

MY EXAMPLE:

Example "A happy day" recorded by anamariacult

The recordings made by students are being published HERE.

Check the post THE 10 TASKS CHALLENGE

Playing with fonts

A selection of sites you can play with fonts:

 FONT DE MUSIC - add music to your font






FONTSELF various fonts with embed codes

MYLIVESIGNATURE  create your handwritten signature for e-mails and blog posts.

 YOURFONTS











TEXTANIM  animate your text

 ICON SCRABBLE - use icons to make a text

SPELL WITH FLICKR Use Flickr images to create a text. (Contribution by Drew McAllister)

Create LISTENING DICTATIONS for your students

 I've already used LISTEN AND WRITE in class, however I only noticed I could make my own dictations very recently. These are my first trials. I recorded the audio with AUDACITY (mp3 file) , then uploaded the audio to the site, added the transcript, synched it with the audio (a bit tricky) and THAT'S IT!

These are two LISTENING DICTATIONS I've created, the first one I dedictated a text from the course book (Face2Face Upper) and the second are isolated sentences using verbs which require GERUND or INFITIVE.

So what is good for me? via kwout

Sentences GERUND or INFINITIVE via kwout

Wanna learn how to create your own?

Watch the TUTORIAL below or this one for HD

Traditional Games - adapted to EFL teaching

Sharing a hand-out I produced for a workshop I gave at UNITRI some time ago. The hand-out (in Portuguese) describes traditional games we might have played in our childhood that can be adapted for learning English.

Digitalizar0082

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Iphone apps for EFL learners

I was showing some apps I have in my iphone to a friend of mine today when she asked me what apps she could download to her iphone to help her revise English.

After checking out various posts, these are the ones I'd like to recommend so far:

VOCABAHEAD - A word a day

$0.99

LEVEL:  Advanced Learners

 VOCABAHEAD - SAT Vocabulary
There's a FREE version

Fun and intuitive way to learn hundreds of new words using humorous illustrations with audio. You have a list of words to learn from, with examples and drawings.

WORDGLIDE 

FREE

Watch words glide through your screen, some words may pause and show their definition, you can hear the word and add it to your favourites by tapping on +



Watch an overview

GENGO Language Audio Flashcards  (also in English)

$5.99

1. You learn the words/ sound with flashcards with images.
2. You test your knowledge by playing a game where you have to click on the image according to the word you hear.


I have this application in French and use it every day.
Really recommend it.

LEVEL: Beginner - Pre-Intermediate

LEARNING ENGLISH with the New York Times

$2.99

Improve your reading, listening and vocabulary.

 If you have already used Quizlet to make your own flashcards with words and definitions, you can use the following site to have access to your flashcard sets.

FREE
http://www.fcfree.com/