Flypaper.net X Powerpoint

Everyone is very familiar with Powerpoint by now and I wanted to try something different that could offer me other tools.

Well, Flypaper offers various models you can use, you can also dowload models from the community of users and also use the online space to host your presentations. It´s not so simple to use so I advise watching the tutorials first and I also found a bit complicated to understand how to publish the presentations.

I´ve used the opportunity to make a presentation for a conference I´m taking part in July in Fortaleza (Brazil). I´ve published my presentation in two formats: full screen (downloaded to my computer as a flash animation) and also published it to the flypaper community where you can get the embed code.

TO SEE THE PRESENTATION: click on the image and move to next slides clicking on the arrow to the right(on the keyboard)

Quizlet and Kwout

I´m going to use this post to talk about two sites I´ve come accross recently.

One is QUIZLET (a memorization tool)

As you can see below, it was created by this brilliant 15-year-old who intended to memorize a huge list of French words. This is how it works: after signing in for free, you create a list of words + translations or words + definitions (my favourite) and then the site automatically generates 5 activities which will help you memorize the intended vocabulary. Now tell me, is it brilliant or not? Click on the video tour (below) for a demonstration.

Flashcards, vocabulary memorization, and studying games | Quizlet via kwout

The other site I´d like to share is KWOUT

As they say, it´s a brilliant way to quote. When writing about an specific site, instead of hitting the printscreen button for a screenshot picture, you can use kwout which grabs the part of the image you want to show and also keeps all the hyperlinks. Very practical tool for bloggers. so this is how I got both images for this post.

kwout | A brilliant way to quote via kwout

EARTH DAY - 22nd April

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As 22nd April is "Earth Day", I have proposed to a group of students to publish a post about ENVIRONMENT. The students´ posts will be published during the month of April in their blogs at http://www.pageflakes.com/anamariacult . On this specific day, people all over the world will be writing, reading and discussing about environmental problems and solutions.

I´ve come across several videos and sites related to the topic and would like YOU to have a look at them.

VIDEOS

• Global Warming (narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Blue Man Group : Earth to America
  
• The story of stuff :Extraction, Consumption, Disposal
  
• Sorry Earth
• Consequences of Global Warming
• Water Planet (Leonardo DiCaprio)
  
• Walking over the earth
• Breathe in, breathe out
• Greenpeace video
• Our Planet Earth

GAMES + SITES

• My Abodo (how can little changes in your house can help the environment?)
• Planet Green Game
• Climate change
• Animals and habitat
  

The STORY of STUFF (Annie Leonard)

While exchanging tweets with Fabiana Bridi, she said she was watching this video and I decided to have a look at it. It´s so nice that I HAD to share it with you. I also heard through twitter that 22nd April is Earth Day. So , this is a video we should all watch and think about. The video takes a while to download but it´s worth watching. You can also play the chapters separately by clicking on the tabs at the top. The level of language is more appropriate to high-intermediate or advanced students. "The story of Stuff"

How can we use it with students?

• Well, watching the whole video is interesting but it would take too long and become a bit boring. I´d select a part to play (distribution) or show students differents parts each day. Teachers could have a pre-discussion about the topic first to see how much students know about it. Then, maybe make some comprehension questions to transform the video into a listening activity. There might be space for a post-watch discussion.
  
• Another alternative could be to ask different students to watch different parts of the story (Intro, Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, Disposal, Another way) and have them take notes while watching and then present to the whole class what they´ve seen.
  

The topic "Environmental issues" is of vital importance to us. Really Worth Watching!!!!
You can find all chapters in Youtube as well, just type "The story of stuff" in the search box.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

INTRODUCTION
EXTRACTION
PRODUCTION
DISTRIBUTION
CONSUMPTION
DISPOSAL
ANOTHER WAY

POWNCE experience - microblogging with Beginners

I´d like to share a project Camila Sousa and I have started with our Basic 1 students. As you all know, basic 1 students know nearly nothing and can hardly communicate in English. After a month of classes, we set up a Pownce account and helped each of our sts to do the same. It´s supposed to be a closed group where students communicate with their classmates and their teacher.

Each week, they´re supposed to follow a writing task after having received a model from their teacher. Our objective is to have sts start writing in English for real communication since the beginning of the course, starting off with very simple texts and hopefully by the end of the semester they´ll be writing more complex ones. We´ve discovered that students are more open to using internet for learning English when it is proposed at the beginning of the course, the enthusiasm is super. The picture above brings some example texts written by my sts during the first week of the Pownce experience.

Oh, the weekly tasks will cover structure and vocabulary students have learned that week.

What I´ve observed so far is that everyone is reading what all students are posting, they are learning from each other´s texts. They´ve been daring to use structure they haven´t seen in class yet and have been interacting not only with me (their teacher) but with each other.

Playing with Flip.com - SCRAPBOOKS

I can´t recall where I found this site but had a great time playing with it. First I made a flipbook to present FAMILY vocab to my basic 1 students.
http://www.flip.com/people/flipbooks/414962

Then I made a flipbook with a preset template in order to introduce myself. I guess this could be used in a first-day class or even ask sts to make one about themselves. It takes some time but you feel quite good after you´ve finished your presentation.
Have a look. Do you have any other ideas on how to use this tool with students?

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