Song APPS in the EFL classroom

I've been playing with some apps on my ipad and am plannig to try them out with my own students next week.

This week, they've learned how to talk about FUTURE POSSIBILITIES using WHEN, UNTIL, AS SOON AS, UNLESS and IF.

My plan is to ask each student to make a sentence using one of the words mentioned above using the First Conditional, then I intend to use my own Ipad to record them reading their sentences using SONGIFY. The app turns any sentence you read to a song. (for iphones or androids)

After making a songify song you can share the link via twitter, facebook or e-mail but it gives you no option of downloading it to your computer. Well, after asking for Dr. Google's help, I discovered in a great tutorial how to download the mp3 created by Songify. I'd need the mp3 audio to embed it in glogster posters or sending it to our class blog in posterous.

LISTENING ACTIVITY -With the recording done, I intend to play it to my students and see how many sentences they can write down.

Other similar apps are AUTORAP and TALKAPELLA

This is how it looks when someone clicks the shared link in facebook

This is the mp3 I've downloaded from songify.
http://khu.music.s3.amazonaws.com/songify_502a5db6d8bed.mp3
 And this is how it looks after being published   our activities blog.
http://room-of-ideas.posterous.com/testing-songify

I've learned how to download the MP3 from Songify from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DreHtfRuJdQ

I came accross this app by reading an amazing post from http://www.techchef4u.com/?p=2570 where Lisa Johnson shares Ms. Carnazzo's ilesson. She developed a project with her students and had them use Screenchomp, glogster and songify to produce content about the content they were studying.

PROJECT: Listening Dictation with Voki

This week I´m about to start a new project with my Upper Intermediate students.
The objective is to offer them further reading, writing , listening and speaking practice at home.

The idea is the following:
Each week, one student will be selected to make a 50-word text using recently learned language. The text will be corrected by the teacher and then that same student will record himself / herself reading the dictation for their classmates using a speaking avatar created at VOKI.

To present the project to students and to address the issue of rhythm and intonation to improve pronunciation and consequently understanding, I´ve created two different avatars with the same text. Students will listen to both in class and I´ll ask them which one they found  easier to understand and why.
Voki 1 and Voki 2
For Voki 1 I tried to read the text fast with very little pauses and little intonation.
For Voki 2 I tried to improve the reading.




The voki avatars will be shared weekly by students in our EDMODO group. Students then have to listen to the DICTATION , transcribe it and bring the text to me.

My EDTECH picks - August 2012

SCREENLEAP - an easy way to share your screen activity with anyone. No need for downloads or sign ups and best of all it's free.
http://www.screenleap.com/

PRESENTISTA - a way to create a presentation. Very similar to Prezi, but still in it's BETA version. They have very few transitions now but it's promising. Let's wait and keep an eye on what comes next. http://presentista.com/

SUPALOGO - a super easy way to create text logos.
http://supalogo.com/

POWTOON - another promising Presentation tool. You can create your presentation with super cool transitions, add characters, speech bubbles, images and sound effects. You can save your presentation online or download it to youtube. What I miss is the possibility to add links to the presentation. It's a bit more challenging to use then ppt or Prezi but it is surely a breath of fresh air when it comes to presentation tools.  AWESOME ! http://www.powtoon.com/

VISUALIZE - an iphone/ ipad app which allows you to create posters using text, images, cut out photos, stickers and then share it online. LOVED IT!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visualize-free/id456857776?mt=8

VIRTUAL WRITING TUTOR - paste your text and have it check the spelling and grammar.
http://virtualwritingtutor.com/index.php?action=proc

CULTURA EDTECH - online course for EFL/ ESL teachers

I started my technology path in 2006 attending different online courses  and then becoming a co-moderator at different EVO sessions. However,  while trying to spread the knowledge among teachers I work with, I noticed that for many teachers it's not easy to break the barrier of our own personal beliefs and start exploring the web with an eye on educational possibilities.

Bearing these difficulties in mind, I devised a 3-month online course which has the aim to help EFL teachers learn about different webtools and how to incorporate them to lessons. 

Each week, participants are expected to watch tutorials, read articles, try out the proposed WEBTOOL and reflect about their possible use in a lesson plan. I do my best to provide full support to teachers via e-mail, tutorials and skype calls. Teachers also have the chance to join an online community where they can be in contact with various like-minded professionals in order to share and build knowledge.

The course completes 4 years in August and we're very proud to announce the beginning of the course for GROUP 10. 

For more information about the course, please visit http://culturaedtech.wikispaces.com/ABOUT+THE+COURSE

Check what previous teachers have developed this year:

GROUP 9	BLOGS
Luiza Cardoso	http://lucardoso.posterous.com/
Roseli Serra	http://roseliserra.posterous.com/
Simone	http://simoneleles.posterous.com/
Zuleika	http://zuleikazaiden.posterous.com/
Edmilson	http://edmilsonchagas.posterous.com/
Ana Carolina Henrique	http://anacarolinahenrique.posterous.com/
Roberta Dayrell	http://betadayrell.posterous.com
Mirtes	http://mirtesmo.posterous.com/
Karla	http://karlalmeida.posterous.com/
Aurea Stela	http://aureastela.posterous.com/
Bethania	http://bethania.posterous.com/
Justin	http://juzzers.posterous.com/
Ana Paula	http://apaula.posterous.com/
Danúbia	http://danubiabull.posterous.com/

Creating AUDIO QR codes

I wish we had an app which would allow us to record voice , host it, and automatically generate a QR CODE.

Well, TOKKERS does that for a price :(. As an educator in Brazil, I'm always looking for webtools and apps which are FREE so that they can be used to promote learning.

All things considered, in order to make an audio qrcode, I end up having to use two different tools: one to record and host the audio and another to generate the code.

So first, I used my AUDIOBOO app to record myself reading a poem and then grabbed the audio URL.

Then, I used http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to generate the QR CODE and saved the image.

So, if you scan the code with you cell phone, you'll be able to listen to the poem.

QR Codes - the mystery solved

We see these little codes EVERYWHERE and many people still don't understand what they are for.

Meanwhile, several teachers have been sharing different qr code generators and interesting activities for the classroom.

But first things first, if you're one of the many who don't really know   how different they are from normal bar codes, FIRST, let's  understand them and then see how they can be used in our classes.



Let me tell you a secret , I was one of these people who didn't really see the beauty of QR codes until I came accross the following video http://www.commoncraft.com/video/qr-codes

Step 1: watch the explanatory video.
Step 2: download a scanner reader app to your cell phone or ipad.
      - apps for android
      - apps for iphone/ ipad
Step 3: Test your scanner app by pointing it to the qrcode on this post and you'll be taken to the video I mentioned.

Step 4: Let's learn how to generate these codes.
There are different generators you can use, the easiest might be a simple generator such as http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ but one I've found very useful is using URL Shorteners such as:   www.bit.ly  or http://www.tinyurl.com/

First of all, copy the URL of a page you would like to share, go to one of the sites mentioned above (tinyurl or bit.ly), paste it and click to shorten. You can customize the name of the link by clicking CUSTOMIZE. Copy the link provided by the site and paste it on a new tab, include /qr and press enter. Then you should have the qrcode of the shortened URL.



Oh, as you can see the QR Codes are black and white but if you want to add some color to it, try http://www.unitag.fr

And how can we use QR CODES in education?

You might enjoy reading these articles:

• Interesting ways to use QR codes in the classroom
• QR codes in the classroom

I've been collecting interesting ideas about QR CODES in my PINTEREST BOARD for some time and here are some of them:

• QR VOICE -  Type in your message (100 character max.) then create the QR code. When the code is scanned, a voice recording will read your typed message! I will be using this with my students!  http://qrvoice.net/?id=u8gLjf
• TOUCH A WORD + GET A DEFINITION - download a program which allows you to see definitions of any word you touch on your mobile.  http://www.snapanda.com/en
• MAKE QR CODES with your cell phone -  http://snapguide.com/guides/make-a-high-quality-qr-code-with-your-ios-device/
• ART GALLERY - students have created posters with audio stories attached by using Qr codes.  http://blogs.southfieldchristian.org/pixelsandpaintbrushes/2012/05/29/qr-code-art-gallery-superheros/
• SLIDESHARE PRESENTATION - several ideas on how to use qr codes with elementary students.  http://www.slideshare.net/gwynethjones/qr-codes-in-the-elementary-classroom?ref=http://daringlibrary.edublogs.org/
• TREASURE HUNT GENERATOR - add a series of questions and grab a code for  each one.  http://www.classtools.net/QR/
• EDUCATIONAL POSTERS -  http://www.rylice.com/teachertech/?p=370 Great idea!
• MULTIPLE CHOICE EXERCISE - students get immediate feedback to answers by scanning the code for the right answer.  http://pinterest.com/pin/213991419764501747/
• LANGUAGE LESSON -  http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/01/create-mobile-language-lesson-with-qr.html

Another way you can use QR CODES is ....

Let's imagine you are at a conference and don't have a business card to exchange. NO PROBLEM, with SnapMyInfo you can trade info by using your phone camera. http://snapmyinfo.com

QR code at a glance

An amazing comic tutorial from the Daring Librarian