LISTLY + THINGLINK

Do you like making lists? Well, it's a way to curate your content and share with other people.

This post is aimed to focus on two webtools which I've fallen in love with:
LISTLY and THINGLINK

LISTLY is a site used for making lists of websites and videos. It's said to be a social experience as you can collaborate with others in building lists, besides commenting and voting. The lists you create or contribute to are not only shareable but also embeddable, like the list I've added at the bottom of this post.
http://list.ly/#

THINGLINK  allows you to tag images linking it to other websites, sound files, videos or even texts.
http://www.thinglink.com/


My inspiration for this post came with a pinterest post which shared a list curated by Lisa Johnson entitled "Thinglink EDU examples" which I've embedded below.

Thinglink EDU Examples

View more lists from Lisa Johnson

As LISTLY is a collaborative tool, I believe it would be perfect for classroom usage where the whole class can contribute in collecting content about a specific topic.

How to find ALTERNATIVE tools

It's amazing how many tools cease to exist the moment you're planning to use them. :)

How can you find alternative tools? Use SIMILARSITESEARCH

SimilarSiteSearch.com - The Best Place To Find Similar Websites via kwout

Yesterday I was looking for an alternative to http://www.pageflakes.com/ 
and found another interesting tool for organizing feeds http://www.protopage.com/

GEMS of the week

Everyday while surfing the net (twitter, facebook, edmodo, blogs) I bookmark sites I find interesting (with diigo) and then when I have time to explore them I share them in LIFE FEAST.

These are the sites I've selected for this week's post:

• KIDS' FABLES- A site with fables written by children. The site is perfect for developing a project where students are invited to create their own fables. There's a page with guidelines which can help students create their own story. The site suggests a fable contest where the best fables are submitted to Kidsfables.com to be considered for publication. As an extension, you can record your students reading the fables (using AUDIOBOO) and publish them in a class blog.

TIME 10 QUESTIONS - another great inspiration for projects. This is a collection of videos where celebrities are asked 10 questions. You can ask students to predict the questions which will be asked and then watch the video for checking. You can also ask students to pretend they are going to interview someone famous, create the 10 questions and then roleplay the interview with a classmate pretending to be the celebrity. The interviews can be recorded with a digital camera and then published in youtube and/or a class blog. Students can even vote for the best interview.

• DIGITAL DIALECTS - The Digital Dialects website features free to use interactive game for learning languages (English, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese and many others.)

SMORIES -these are stories read by kids. The site can be used for listening and reading comprehension (as many of the stories are subtitled) or you can use this as an inspiration for a writing project where students create a story, record themselves reading it and submit the video to Smories.com.

EBOOK EXCHANGE- if you have a kindle or nook, this is a place where you can lend and borrow e-books. The fee you pay for borrowing or lending is sent to charity.

MESSAGEHOP- great tool for storytelling.

MY EXAMPLE

 FOLDING STORY - Start a story, fold the paper and pass. Sounds familiar? Well, you can do the same online. A group storytelling game.

10 sites I plan to use in 2011

I intend to use this site in class to practise or revise vocabulary learned in class . Great to be used in IWBs.
http://www.spellingcity.com/

 I'm going to synchronise my audioboo account with a posterous blog and use it to record my students in class, reading dialogues and stories they have created. I can use my iphone or a laptop for the recording and it's published in posterous automatically.
http://audioboo.fm/

 I'll be using screencasts to record feedback for my students (correcting their work) and to record grammar explanations for revision purposes. EXAMPLE
http://screenr.com

 
 I'd like to have my students create their own comic strips with the content learned that day.
http://writecomics.com/

With English Attack I intend to have my students learn new vocabulary and expressions from movie snippets.
I'll use the IWB or take students to the lab.
http://www.english-attack.com/beta-preview

 At the beginning or end of class, I'll have students listen and try to fill the gaps of songs on the IWB.
http://www.lyricstraining.com/

 I'll have the students add written texts and images for projects on this interactive wall.
http://www.stixy.com/

I'll create glogster posters to create study guides to help my students  study before tests. EXAMPLE
http://glogster.com 

 I'll be using Memorize Now to help my students memorize dialogues or expressions.
http://memorizenow.com/

 At the lab, students will be asked to create joint stories or dialogues using target structure or vocabulary and then send me the link.
http://typewith.me/

Gems of the week

These are some of the sites I came across this week via my PLN in twitter and facebook:

 Anithings is a brand new children's creativity tool. It enables animated stories to be created simply and quickly, allowing children's creativity to run wild.
http://www.anithings.com/ 

 Write a personal journal via e-mail.
http://ohlife.com/

Turn what people post on social media into compelling stories.
You collect the best photos, video, tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be embedded anywhere.
http://storify.com/

Take a note right away wherever you are, create reminders, arrange your pictures and movies as you like, share ideas with group members, use stickies to share files.
http://en.linoit.com/

Should I say ..... or .......?
Great for discovering the right collocation.
http://phras.in/

Cloze test creator - paste a text and then select what you want omitted. 
http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html

Type in a text and have it phonetically transcribed.
http://www.photransedit.com/Online/Text2Phonetics.aspx

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.

Most used tools

I haven´t written for so long that I felt the need to say why. First, let me share with you how my interaction with my computer works. Once I turn it on, these are the sites I visit/ use everyday.

First, I go to my orkut page and have a look if I have forgotten any birthday. I also have a look at the photos + videos people have published recently. Orkut is huge in Brazil and it´s a great way to keep social contact with my students, friends and family.


Secondly, I open my twirl and check twits. I see who is online by checking who has twitted recently and explore links people suggest.





Then I open Pownce in order to check what my colleagues (from the school I work at) have been producing and sharing. We use Pownce to share ppts, exercises, lesson plans, videos we plan to use in class. I also check what my students have been writing (my students have been interacting with students from Mexico) .

• I check my e-mails in yahoo by quickly browsing and selecting what is urgent to read and reply.

This is what I manage to do on a daily basis. At this time of the year, I´m so worn out and stressed thinking of the hundreds of things I still have to do that I end up not having much time to post here.

These are some of the projects I´m involved with recently / and my priorities:
- I have been trying to learn how to use the e-board which has been recently installed at school.
- I have to complete my online training for Cambridge examiners before the 20 Nov.
- I need to find time to give a hand at the planning of our session at the next EVO.
- My students have been interacting with Mexican students (Elena Delgado´s) so I have to keep an eye on that and keep it going.

Well, have to go now. Hope these weeks go by VERY FAST.

New tool - Guest book

I found this tool in Isabel's webpage and found it great! Please register your visit here.