Helping students develop speaking with Whatsapp

I normally teach teenagers and this semester I wanted to have students record  the mini dialogues they normally create in class. These recordings apart from being an opportunity for students to practise speaking and listening could help me observe their progress.

I've been focussing on CAN DO objectives, so close to the end of each class I ask pairs of students to create a mini dialogue using the topic of the lesson. In pairs, they write down a mini dialogue of about 6 turns. I have a quick look at the dialogues checking for mistakes related to the topic of the lesson and then students rehearse it. When they feel they are ready, they can make the recording using their own cell phones.

As we're using EDMODO to post homework, to do quizzes and share extra material, I imagined they could use their own cell phones to record their dialogues and then send it to our Edmodo group. When I suggested the recording for the first time, students were a bit surprised because they had never recorded themselves using English. One student then asked if they could share the recording via WHATSAPP, considering the fact that all of them have the app on their cell phones and it's possible to record within the app. I accepted the idea and one of the students volunteered to create a group for sharing the recordings.

After students upload the recordings, I usually ask them to listen to other dialogues created by their classmates. At home, I listen to all the recorded dialogues and take notes of mistakes related to the target language which  I share with the whole group in a following class without identifying anyone. I've been truly happy with the opportunity to see my students using their creativity to practise the language and to have "palpable" evidence of what my students seem to have learned or not.

This screenshot shows a conversation between a student and myself. I was happy to see they are enjoying listening to themselves and their classmates.













And this is a sample of a dialogue created by two of my students. Can you identify the target structure they were trying to use?

listen to ‘Mini Dialogue created by students’ on Audioboo

What about this one?

listen to ‘Dialogue 2’ on Audioboo

App Fun Day: exploring 3 cross-platform apps

Friday afternoon, we had one more APP FUN DAY at Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia.

We are still focussing on apps which work OFFLINE and are available for both IOS and android devices, such as:

- Songify 

- Instaquote 

- Buddypoke 

We had one hour to demonstrate the apps, try some possibilities, a hands-on activity and then pairs brainstormed other activities for their classrooms.

These are the activities we tried together:

Songify turns your recorded sentences into a songified version.

Challenges for using the SONGIFY:

- when recording you have to speak very close to the microphone.

- covers of devices can muffle the sound and spoil the recording.

- pronunciation has to be very clear to be understood.

Having said that, we tried recording sentences and isolated words.

With Instaquote you can create short texts with beautiful background and fonts. You can use default backgrounds or even your own photos.

First, I asked teachers to imagine ways of ending the sentence "Where there is love, .......", create an instaquote with their sentence, share with others and choose the best one.

Then, I asked them to try to guess the original quote, which was "Where there is love, there is life." by Mahatma Gandhi.

Buddypoke is a great app for children and young teens. It allows you to create customisable characters and create video recordings using your own voice.

For the background you can use default backgrounds provided by the app, grab pictures from your device or even use your camera.

After having played with the three apps, before saying goodbye each teacher was handed an EXIT TICKET where they contributed with more ideas to use the apps.

Their suggestions:

SONGIFY

- Each student records a short sentence about their last weekend and the partner tries to guess what it is.

- Record 5 to 10 words and use the app to present a different dictation.

- Students leave the room to record a sentence, then the sentence which is more easily understood gets a prize.

INSTAQUOTE

- Write definition to find out words. For example: Sentences using relative clauses (which, where) / It's a place where we buy food (they can use pictures in the background)

- Students can prepare a gap fill sentence (using comparatives for example) and their friends have to fill in the blanks. As a round up, they can practise speaking and can elect the best or more creative background.

BUDDYPOKE

- Two students create a short dialogue (with two characters) about the subject they are studying and present the recording to the class.

- Students can use it to give funny orders and their classmates have to obey. For ex: go to the front of the class and start dancing samba.

- A student records directions using Buddypoke. The other student listens to the Buddypoke and follows the directions with the help of a map.

Some examples:

SONGIFY

- A recording made by a student of mine where he reads two sentences in the First Conditional. 

Can you identify them?

listen to ‘First conditional sentences’ on Audioboo

This is a previous blog post where I explained the activity. http://lifefeast.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/songifying-first-conditional.html

INSTAQUOTE

- two instaquotes created as a test by Ana Cláudia.

BUDDYPOKE

- This is an example of what can be done by adding images from the web to the background. In this case, it's used to describe a bedroom.

Mobile Activity: going to with Tellagami

Language focus: describing appearance and going to.

Device: Cell phones or tablets (one per person)

App: Tellagami

Interaction: student - student, student - device

Time frame: 15 mins.

Connection: offline

Some weeks ago, I presented a workshop at Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia on OFFLINE MOBILE ACTIVITIES. We focussed on some apps which allow students to work offline once the app has already been downloaded to the device.

We had great fun and brainstormed several activities we could develop with the apps TELLAGAMI and SIMPLE MIND. Both apps are available for IOS and androids.

A few days later, a very creative colleague of mine, Ana Cláudia, tagged me on a facebook post where she shared pictures of her students using Tellagami in class.

Then, I asked her to describe the steps she had followed.

1. Students created their avatars using the app. They could customize the hair, eyes and clothes.
2. Students interacted showing their avatars to other students and asked and answered questions about their appearance.
3. Students recorded the avatar saying what they would be doing the following day. Ex: I'm going to play tennis tomorrow.
4. Students exchanged devices, listened to the avatar speaking and repeated what they heard.

Another variation for step 4 would be for students to listen and write the sentence they hear, then they could keep exchanging devices and write other sentences they hear.

Mobile Activity: Pair Dictation

Language focus: any grammar topic or vocabulary.

Device: Cell Phone (1 per person)

App: notetaking app which comes with any cell phone.

Interaction: student - student

Time frame: 15 mins.

Connection: offline

Instructions

1. Teacher asks students to individually write 3 sentences using a target structure, vocabulary or topic on their cell phones. While students create their sentences, teacher can move around the class checking if students need help.

2. In pairs, students have to dictate, letter by letter (without pauses) one of their sentences to their partner. They use their cell phones to write the sentences dictated to them. Students keep on alternating until they have dictated all their sentences.

3. Students show the sentences they have written down to their partner and check if they understood them right. Teacher can also help.

4. For debriefing, teacher can elicit some of the sentences created by students by writing them on the board.

Mobile Activity: Secret SMS

 

Is it possible to have students use their cell phones in class to learn languages even with no internet connection? Oh, yes, IT IS.

Yesterday afternoon, during a workshop I presented to Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia teachers, Ana Cláudia, a colleague of mine, shared a very creative activity she has tried with her students. I'll call it Secret SMS.

These are the steps we followed:

1. Ana Claúdia asked each teacher/student present for their cell phone numbers and wrote them on a whiteboard we had in class.

2. Then, she asked us to choose one of the numbers on the board to write a text message to. The message should include 2 things we did last weekend.

3. Once everyone had written the message, she gave an OK for us to send it.

4. The student who got more messages was the winner and got a candy.

5. She then explained that in class, she elicited the messages students got on their cells and wrote them on the board calling attention to verbs in the past.

VARIATION 1:

- As we don't know who sent us the message, students could then stand up, mingle and try to find the sender of the message by asking questions such as:

"Did you go to the cinema last weekend?"  "Did you eat out last weekend?""

VARIATION 2:

- Instead of writing the phone numbers on the board, the teacher could ask students to write their names and cell phone number on a slip of paper. Then, after collecting all slips with phone #s, the teacher would hand one number to each student, making sure no one got their own number. Each student would send a message to the cell phone number they got (this way all students would get a message). Again, as a follow-up, students could mingle to try to discover the sender of the message.

VARIATION 3:

- The teacher would write his cell phone number on the board and ask students to write a message (with their names) to send to the teacher using specific vocabulary, structure or topic. When teacher says OK, they all send the message. The first message the teacher receives is the winner.

Any other ideas?

E-course: Mobile Learning EFL

I was planning to propose an e-course for English teachers involving studies related to the use of mobile devices in the EFL classroom when I was contacted by a dear friend, Jennifer Verschoor.

Last year, Jennifer devised and monitored an online course on the same topic and we had been thinking about developing a project together.

Our collaboration in planning this online course has been quite interesting with once-a-week skype meetings, a google docs for our planning and little my little we've put together an online course for Brazilian and Argentine teachers.

This is the poster we've been using to invite participants:

If you're interested in joining us, the enrollment information can be found at the bottom of the online poster.

Mobile Activity: Introduce a family member

How can I use the many smartphones in the classroom for a simple and real communicative activity? This post describes a mobile activity I have already tried where basic learners use their own devices to introduce family members to their classmates.

Level: basic

Language Skill: speaking

Topic: members of the family

Device: students' own cell phones

Internet Connection: off

After having learned vocabulary related to family, ask if students have pictures of any family member on their cell phones. Let them browse their photos and tell them if they haven't got a phone that day or a photo, there's no problem.

Once students have selected a photo with one or more family members, model the exchange below with one of the students:

Student A shows the photo: This is my brother.

Student B asks: What's HIS name?

Student A: His name is Maurício.

Ask students to stand up and mingle while they show photos and ask questions. Students who don't have a photo to show, just go round asking questions.

I know this activity is VERY SIMPLE but believe me, I saw some smiles while they interacted with each other.

BYOD in Brazil - Apptivities for ELT

This is a blog post which follows a presentation given by me at the IMAGE CONFERENCE in Brasília today.

While thinking about the topic I had chosen to discuss, I decided to build my talk around an infographic with all the information I'd collected, along with links. 

- First, I used PIKTOCHART to create the embeddable infographic.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/442066-flow-2

- Then, to make it interactive, I added the resources to it using THINGLINK. So if you hover the mouse over the image, when clicking the little dots, you'll be taken to different resources.

I initially talked about different aspects we have to consider when adopting either a BYOD or a 1:1 approach. Then, I presented some apps and activities involving the use of IMAGES and VIDEOS.

For THE LINKS I shared during the talk, pass the mouse over the infographic and look for some "magic dots".

Forming questions with VINE

This week, my Basic 1 students were learning how to ask questions in English. Each group, decided on a question they thought was interesting to ask, wrote words on slips of paper and we recorded a VINE. Can you please help us by answering one or all the questions in the reply area?



I've also posted the videos separately so that people can choose what question to answer
http://ourprojectsci.weebly.com/blog.html

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed.

Android APPS for ELT

By SIDDARTHA

This week, in one of the EDMODO groups I'm a member of, a teacher asked suggestions of Android apps for English Language Teaching.

I know many people blog about IPHONE/ IPAD apps and it's not that simple to select good apps for a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach.

Here in Brazil, specially with well-off teenagers iphones are very popular. However, what about all these other devices our students carry in their bags, not to say on their hands all the time? Once schools invest in providing free wifi to students, there's a lot we can do with the devices that belong to them. 

As a teacher, I've decided to invest in an ipad and an android cell phone in order to be well acquainted with both systems. 

The best source of suggested Android apps, in my opinion, is Richard Byrne's blog http://www.android4schools.com/  .

Nevertheless, I've started a collaborative list of ANDROID APPS FOR ELT.

http://list.ly/l/6a4

Android apps for ELT

View more lists from Ana Menezes

Would you help me enrich this list?  TO CONTRIBUTE, just click ADD TO LIST and paste the URL from the android app you suggest.

Using cell phones for dictations

After attending Nicky Hockly's session at IATEFL, I wanted to try a type of dictation which she presented to teachers. Students use any notetaking app from their own cell phones to type sentences the teacher dictates. DETAIL: the teacher dictates the sentences letter by letter and students add the gaps between words as they see fit.

The objective of the lesson yesterday was for students to be able to talk about obligations and necessities using MUST/ MUSTN'T , SHOULD/ SHOULDN'T, HAVE TO / DON'T HAVE TO.

The course book we use is New English File Intermediate (unit 3A). The language topic of the lesson is CELL PHONES. 

I decided the mobile dictation would be a good warmer for this class. I created  4 sentences using the modals mentioned above.

This is the sequence we used:

1. I divided the students into groups of 3 students.

2. Students would use their cell phones for a dictation (if any student didn't have a cell phone, they would use pencil + notebook for the same activity).

3. I dictated the questions, letter by letter, without repeating it. At the end of each question, students could compare their sentences with the other members of their group.

4. After the dictation, I elicited the questions on the board.

5. Students used the same questions to develop a conversation with their group.

MY IMPRESSIONS: 

• I was surprised to see ALL my students had their cell phones with them.
• They were totally involved with the activity and fully concentrated.
• It was an excellent exercise for spelling and their perception for when a word would end and the next one would start.
• Asking them to check their sentences with the group seemed to be a good idea as they interacted with each other.