IATEFL scholarship - best present ever

“You’ve just been awarded a scholarship for IATEFL 2013.” 
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the email saying I would have the chance to attend the IATEFL conference in Liverpool for the first time.

As a Braztesol member, I’ve always tried to attend the national conventions in Brazil thinking of my professional development. However, going to an international conference such as IATEFL, had always been a far-fetched dream. 

While talking to dear friend Shelly Terrell about my dream of attending IATEFL and how hard it is for us Brazilian teachers to afford such a trip, she advised me to apply for one of the scholarships. There were different possible scholarships but one in special caught my eyes, the “Onestopenglish Creativity in the classroom” scholarship.

What I look forward to in Liverpool? Visit the city for the first time, meet several of my PLN friends , LEARN A LOT so that I can come back home full of ideas to share with other Brazilian teachers and of course, sing all the Beatles songs I love. 

Having fun with VOXER - walkie-talkie

You might already use this app or not. I only got invited to use it this week, thanks to Andressa Cardoso for that.

Now, if you can call someone and send text messages, why would you need a walkie-talkie application?

Well, sometimes you don't want to call someone and have a lengthy conversation, all you want is to do is send a message such as "Meet me in front of the cinema." If that is your purpose, I believe it could come really handy as recording yourself speaking is much faster than typing it.

Reading a review from PCMag.com  I discovered other interesting features such as sharing images and your location. You can even send a voice message to a group of people.
http://voxer.com/

I love the fact that it's FREE and available for iphones and androids alike.

How can we use the tool with students?  http://voxer.com/

• send a voice message to a group of students asking a question and they have to answer back.
• have students send voice messages to each other in English.
• using the teacher's VOXER in class, students can interview a teacher from another country by sending voice messages.

Any other ideas? I'd love to hear from you.

Developing the 4 Skills with WEBTOOLS

Next week, we celebrate teacher's day in Brazil, so as a gift to fellow teachers, I've decided to share for free the online version of the e-book I wrote in 2011.

As an EFL teacher, I've always explored Webtools with an eye to the possible activities the tools afford.

"Developing the 4 Skills with Webtools"  brings a selection of 45 webtools which can be used to practise the 4 skills. Of course, many of the tools allow students to develop language as a whole, however, by bringing the tools in categories ( reading, writing, listening and speaking) , my intention is to help teachers select a tool based on what they would like their students to do.

Open publication - Free publishing - More efl

The paperback version can still be purchased at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/developing-the-4-skills-with-webtools/15742649