web tools applied to teaching by Jen Fletcher

Applied to teaching

Created @ http://wordle.net

Webtools selected by

CONTENT INTRODUCTION

1. Edmodo 2. Tokbox 3. Lingt 4. Voicethread 5. Fotobabble 6. Wallwisher 7. Goanimate 8. Voxopop 9. Xtranormal 10.

Animoto

11.

Classtools

12.

Storybird

13.

BombayTv

14.

ESL Video

15.

English Central

16.

Photopeach

17.

Winkball

18.

Acapela

19.

Vocaroo

20.

Listen and Write

WEBTOOLS applied to teaching How can we use these new tools in the classroom?

This book is dedicated to teachers who wish to maximize their studentsÂ´ learning experience by using the new webtools available. Most tools described in this book are in English, however, teachers can use various languages in order to develop projects. Education and Technology

I believe the value of new Technologies in education is undeniable. Can you imagine our world without cell phones or computers? How can we resist to the development of technology? In an era of digitalnatives, technology has become part of our studentsÂ´ lives. Children deal with their cell phones, i-pods and laptops by instinct and they tend to learn by interacting and trying things out. I started my plunge into the web world in 2006 when I became a member of a Yahoo group for language teachers called Learning with Computers, which aims at exploring and experimenting web tools available in the net in order to maximize learning. At first, I barely used the net for receiving e-mails and searching, but as time went by I was surprised at the world of possibilities at our disposal.

I teach English as a Foreign Language and had the chance to try out in class several webtools as I encountered them. I started

developing projects with blogs: blogs to share extra material, class blogs where students participated by leaving comments or writing posts and finally student blogs where each student chose what to talk about and expressed themselves freely. http://www.blogtalks2008.blogspot.com/

However, the internet offers much more than creating blogs, it´s a world of communication resources which don´t cease to grow and are out there to be explored. They are tools, most of them free, which can be used by teachers in order to develop projects with students and finally open the doors of communication with the rest of the world.

Why use WEBTOOLS? • • • •

• • •

They are fun. Learning with pleasure is a strong ally to motivation. There is a wide variety of web tools available. Variety is important. All the tools described in this book are free. It´s possible to develop fantastic projects with no costs. By using the internet, projects reach a wider audience. Whatever work you develop is no longer restrained by classroom walls, the world becomes your audience. It´s possible to share projects developed by children with parents. Various skills can be practised: writing, speaking, reading and listening. The learning environment is not restricted to the classroom. The student can learn from home or anywhere he has internet access.

WEBTOOLS applied to teaching

1. EDMODO (http://edmodo.com)

DESCRIPTION Edmodo is a free site similar to twitter or facebook, created for educational purposes. With edmodo, itÂ´s possible to create groups of students where the teacher can monitor messages. Unlike facebook, in edmodo, you can send messages to a group of people or to individuals. Teachers have been using edmodo to communicate with their students, to assign homework, to share files of extra activities, revision sheets, links to sites, interesting videos and develop group discussions. ItÂ´s also possible to create groups of teachers of a certain school for discussion forums, to share files or a way to communicate with the whole staff.

Message box where you can post messages, assignments and share videos, files and photos.

A screenshot taken of a group of teachers from Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia where they share files and suggestions for the coming lessons.

HOW CAN TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? •

Use edmodo as a communication platform between teacher / students to assign homework, extras exercises and a space for clearing out doubts.

•

Develop discussion among students. The teacher proposes a theme in the message box (note) and students give their opinion by clicking REPLY.

•

Propose homework (Ex: essays) by clicking ASSIGNMENT. By clicking TURN IN , each student can turn in the homework which is then evaluated by the teacher and receives individual feedback.

•

Share specific sites where students should search for information.

•

Share a video with students and then develop a discussion thread in the REPLY area.

•

Students can write descriptive texts by attaching photos they have taken and publish in the edmodo group. This way, not only the teacher will read his text but the whole group will be able to read it and leave comments (moderated by the teacher). The benefit would be a wider audience for texts written by students, as a virtual noticeboard.

SKILLS: reading, writing, listening.

Learn more about edmodo at: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2008/12/edmodo-tutorial.html

2. TOKBOX (http://tokbox.com)

DESCRIPTION With Tokbox it´s possible to send video messages to your Tokbox contacts or even to any person who has an e-mail account. The person who receives the video doesn´t need to download any software as the video is hosted at the site. You can also create video cards on special occasions, have free video conferences with up to 20 people, including share files during the conversation. These video messages can be added to web pages by pasting the embed codes. This is an example of tokbox being used for an interview:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/03/students-interview-nativespeaker.html

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Send parents a video message where the teacher introduces himself and talks about the course.

• Send a video message to students about what they will be learning that term. • Send video explaining homework or a project. • Send a video dictation where the teacher dictates a text, the students watch and write what they understand and send it to the teacher for correction. • Students can record themselves reading a text and then send it to their teacher for pronunciation evaluation. • Students can record themselves reading poems/ texts they appreciate in the target language or even poems they have created themselves. The teacher can then publish their recorded poems and share them in a class blog. • The teacher can send a set of questions using a target structure he wishes to practise and ask students to record their answers by video replying. • Students can record questions and send them to their classmates creating a chain of video messages in the target language. • Organize a chat with a group of students where you can practise speaking the language. • Organize an interview (chat) with someone in another country. • In class, record students asking questions to interview someone from another country. The video message is sent to the interviewee by e-mail so that he can video reply.

SKILLS: speaking, listening, writing.

Learn more about TOKBOX at: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-i-like-tokbox.html

3. LINGT (http://lingtlanguage.com/)

DESCRIPTION Lingt allows teachers to create pages of online homework incorporating audio, video, text and images. Students do their homework individually, send the result to their teacher who can then evaluate it and send feedback to each student. With Lingt, itÂ´s possible to create homework where students can practise listening comprehension and pronunciation by recording their own voices. These are examples of homework created at Lingt: Reading and listening comprehension homework where the teacher reads a text and asks the students to record themselves reading the same text with the aim to practise pronunciation(English homework). http://lingtlanguage.com/takeassignment/123225207060058/

Spanish homework where JosĂŠ Picardo presents how students can introduce themselves in Spanish, asks students to repeat sentences to practise pronunciation, asks questions so that students can record their answers and finally provides questions for students to answer in writing. JosĂŠ Picardo teaches Spanish to students in England. http://lingtlanguage.com/takeassignment/106625164717865/

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create homework to practise listening comprehension, pronunciation and writing. • Create oral evaluations which can be done by students at home. • Incorporate audio and video to homework. • Train students for international exams providing personalised feedback. • Train dialogues with students where the teacher records the questions for the students to record their answers. • Create dictations where the teacher records a text for the student to listen and write it down. • Create homework where after watching a video, students should answer comprehension questions in writing. • After watching a video, the student can record his impressions using the target language.

SKILL: listening, speaking, writing and reading.

Learn more about LINGT at http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/09/lingt-online-classassignments.html or at http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1330

4. VOICETHREAD (http://voicethread.com/ )

DESCRIPTION Voicethread has been used a lot by teachers for its many possibilities. The site allows its users to make presentations using their own images, videos , texts and your audience can interact by leaving written comment or by recording themselves via microphone or webcam. The site is ideal for the creation of joint projects (with other groups or schools) as the students can record their comments from any computer with internet access. These are some examples of voicethreads created by teachers: In this voicethread, David Deubelbeiss presents basic English content and students are encouraged to record themselves repeating the activity. http://voicethread.com/#q.b9458.i66065

Here, teachers around the world introduce themselves. http://voicethread.com/#q.b1191.i13695 Dennis Oliver tells someone´s story. http://voicethread.com/#q.b241644.i1258734

In this presentation, my students from Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia, describe various aspects about Brazil for a Project created by Larry Ferlazzo “Sister Classes”. Students from other countries have watched our presentation and left written and recorded comments. http://voicethread.com/#u1749.b80778.i412358

Watch other presentations created by David Deubelbeiss with several ideas. http://voicethread.com/#u3968

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Ask students to select photos which mean something to them and record a narration for each one. By asking students to create their script beforehand, you can monitor accuracy in writing. In the classroom, students in pairs can practise reading their texts, improving

• • •

• • • • •

pronunciation, rhythm and stress before recording themselves on the voicethread. With a camera, students can take photos of their houses , neighbourhood, friends, relatives and describe them. Use two photos on your presentation and ask students to record themselves comparing them. The teacher can create a presentation for students at a basic level with personal questions for them to record themselves reading a text with their answers. In the following class, the teacher can use the recordings to practice listening comprehension. Add to the presentation photos of people talking and then ask students to create a dialogue for the characters which can be recorded. (students work in pairs). Ask students to create a virtual tour of a chosen place with images, videos and voice. Use a photo which could raise controversy and then ask students to record their opinion about the event. Ask students to create digital stories using scanned drawings they have made themselves. Use images from newspaper headlines to ask students to record their comments. Or even ask students to create their own presentations narrating something from the headlines.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, listening, reading.

Learn more about VOICETHREAD at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2007/09/interactivepresentations.html or at http://zarcoenglishtooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/voicethread.html (blog in Portuguese)

5. FOTOBABBLE (http://www.fotobabble.com/ )

DESCRIPTION With Fotobabble itÂ´s possible to add a narration to a photo or any image of your choice. First of all, you upload a photo or any image you have in your computer to the site and then you can record a narration about it using your microphone. Check an example of FOTOBABBLE bellow: Fotobabble created by me to wish Happy Easter to my students. http://www.fotobabble.com/m/Q1ZtL05BUF hmVTg9

After recording the narration, you can share your fotobabble via link or publishing it by embedding the code the site provides.

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Dictation: choose an image related to the text you´re going to record and share it with your students via e-mail or class blog. The students should listen to it in order to transcribe the text which should be handed in to the teacher the following class. • Ask students to create messages to send to parents via e-mail. Ex: mother´s day, father´s day, etc. • Ask students to record texts about various topics: - my best friend: photo and description of a friend. - my bedroom / the bedroom of my dreams: students record the description. - Exam preparation (Ex: Cambridge): ask students to choose a photo and describe it for one minute. - my pet: photo and recording. - my family - my favorite film - my hobby • Use the recordings for listening comprehension exercises or to evaluate your students´ pronunciation.

SKILLS: speaking, listening and writing if you ask students to write the text before recording it.

Read more about FOTOBABBLE at http://tefltecher.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/talkingphotographs/

6. WALLWISHER ( http://wallwisher.com )

DESCRIPTION Wallwisher allows you to create a virtual noticeboard in which other people can also leave “sticky notes” . These “sticky notes” can be texts, links to sites, texts with images and video links.

These are examples of Wallwishers (virtual noticeboards) created by teachers:

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/favouritefilms I created this board to use it in a lesson where students learn vocabulary related to films. Firstly I invited teacher and students from other countries to leave their film recommendations and finally my students could read various recommendations and write their own.

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/teachersweb20

Here Nik Peachey created a board for teachers to share interesting WEBTOOLS.

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Share with students links related to an specific topic for research. • Share links which could help your students get ready for exams. • Students write about a place they would like to visit one day and add a video or photo. • Students write about their favorite dish and add a photo. Afterwards, students check in the noticeboard which dish / kind of food was most mentioned. • Create a board with links which should be explored by students in order to answer a set of questions (such as webquest). • Suggest a theme for students to create their own noticeboards. • Create a board to debate a theme. Firstly, share a video which can generate discussion and then ask students to leave their opinions via “sticky notes”. • Students can create boards about their favorite bands, with links, photos, videos and texts.

SKILLS: writing, reading and listening.

Learn more about WALLWISHER at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2009/04/using-online-stickynoticeboards.html

7. GOANIMATE (http://goanimate.com/ )

DESCRIPTION Goanimate is a site where itÂ´s possible to create cartoons with motion, sounds, facial expressions and background sound effects. After creating the cartoon the site provides the embed code for online publishing. The cartoon can also be shared via facebook, twitter or e-mail.

Some examples:

Cartoon created to revise vocabulary about shops.

http://goanimate.com/movie/0NOghkrcc-Bg?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0y5BCFH1qsfM

Here, Alexandra uses goanimate to present the school to students. The video was embedded in the school blog.

http://goanimate.com/movie/0-KUAai5PIzU?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0y5BCFH1qsfM

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Create cartoons to present content. • Use cartoons to revise content. • Create dialogue and ask students to notice all words which were learned in the previous class. • Create the beginning of a dialogue and ask pairs of students to write the continuation of the dialogue in their notebooks. • Show a dialogue and then ask students to roleplay the story in front of the class. • Ask students to create a cartoon using target vocabulary or a chosen grammatical structure. • After reading a narrative, ask students to create a cartoon based on the story. • To celebrate special dates, ask students to create cartoons to be sent to parents.

SKILLS: reading and writing.

Read more about GOANIMATE at

http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/primeiraferramenta-que-gostava-de.html and http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=489

8. VOXOPOP (http://voxopop.com )

DESCRIPTION Voxopop is a site where you can create voice discussion groups. The user starts a discussion and grabs the link to invite students or other people to join the discussion thread by recording their comments. These are examples of discussion threads created by teachers: Bob Palmer created a discussion group to assign oral homework to his students. Every week, students have to record their opinions about different topics. http://www.voxopop.com/group/6c336bb9-465a-4a8b-b743-fafee84ee7bc

Mary Hillis, created a discussion group where people are invited to talk about their favorite sweet and how it represents about you , your life and culture. http://www.voxopop.com/topic/a19b67e7-9e47-4123-9d81-c0bb6a4732c6

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? All the webtools for oral practice can be maximized by asking students to write the script in advance. Texts can then be corrected by the teacher (or not), by students themselves or peer correction. • Create a discussion group of topics covered during the semester. Students then record their opinions on a weekly basis. • Develop a joint Project with other groups of students to discuss the same topics. • Invite teachers around the world to take part in a discussion group and then use the recordings as listening comprehension exercises.

SKILLS : speaking, listening comprehension and writing. Learn more about VOXOPOP at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrImS9-y57s

9. XTRANORMAL (http://www.xtranormal.com/ )

DESCRIPTION With Xtranormal you can create 3D animated films in which the characters move, and talk according to your script. It´s possible to publish your animations in Youtube. See some examples of films created by teachers:

Here Alexandra Francisco (a teacher in Portugal) created a film to advertise the school blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umEICvIEVxE Here José Picardo used the film at the beginning of class to present the topic of the lesson.. Film in Spanish.

http://vimeo.com/7376426

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS? • The teacher creates dialogues or interviews to present the content to students. • In class, all students as a group create a film with words and structure learned that day. • Pairs of students create dialogues using idiomatic expressions learned. The teacher corrects the texts in class. For homework, pairs should use their texts to create a film and send the link to the teacher who can publish it in a class blog. In the following classes, the teacher uses the different films created by students to revise previous content. • After studying about interviewing, students create dialogues in which they can show efficient ways of behaving during interviews. • Students create dialogues in which they are interviewed about their hobbies . The teacher can use the videos for comprehension activities in future lessons. SKILLS : writing, listening comprehension. Learn more about XTRANORMAL at: http://zarcoenglishtooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/xtranormal.html http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1381 http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/05/lesson-plan-withxtranormal.html

10. ANIMOTO (http://animoto.com )

DESCRIPTION Animoto lets you create films with photos, videos, music and texts in a few clicks. The created films are hosted at Animoto but can also be published in Youtube. 30-second films are free, however, it´s possible to request an educator´s account at http://animoto.com/education/signup

See some examples of films created by students and teachers: Here Alexandra Francisco with her students´ help creates a vídeo about Madeira Island, where they live. The photos were selected by students and the phrases were written by them.

http://zarcoenglish-studentsshowcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/whatmakes-madeira-unique.html

José Picardo´s students create videos in Spanish about topics discussed during the semester.

http://www.asisehace.net/blog/?p=234

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS? • The teacher can create videos with photos and words about future vocabulary to be covered in class. • Use the same presentation video for revision purposes. Show the vídeo and then ask students to write in their notebooks new words used in the video. • Make video only with images so that students can write the vocabulary in their notebooks. • Ask students to create videos about an specific theme, ex. Preserving the Planet, Valentine´s day. • Build a video with the class about the place where they live. Students select the photos and send them to the teacher via email. They can write sentences and also select the soundtrack. SKILLS: writing, listening comprehension, reading.

Learn more about ANIMOTO at: http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/02/animoto.html http://ideiasemblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/animoto-produo-devdeoclip.html

11. CLASSTOOLS (http://classtools.net/ )

DESCRIPTION With Classtools you can create games and online educational activities in flash and then publish them in your blog. See some games created by teachers: I used this game in class with a group of intermediate learners after having studied about vocabulary related to Money. In pairs, students had to define the word selected by the game.

http://classtools.net/widgets/fruit_machine_4/G1jS7.htm

This game was used in class by students of a basic level to revise verbs in the past. A student went to the board while all the other classmates shouted the verbs in the student should eliminate.

http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz/quiz42960.htm/

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Use the game Fruit Machine to randomly choose names of students who should answer specific questions. • Use the game Fruit Machine to train pronunciation of words chosen by the game, creating a different type of drill. • Use the game Typewriter to choose vocabulary which should be used in phrases by the students. • Use Wordshoot to revise verbs in the past, past participle, irregular plurals, feminine/masculine, any vocabulary which has two items (E.g.: Go, went). • Use Dustbin game to ask students to sort the vocabulary into different categories. • The Counter can be used to set a time limit for games or r a writing activity. • Use Post-it to create activities matching words to images, such as parts of the body, parts of a house, school objects, animals. • Use Lights out to hide an image (which represents the theme of the lesson) and at the beginning of class show parts of the images as you ask students what the lesson is going to be about. SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading.

Read more about CLASSTOOLS at http://zarcoenglishtooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/05/classtoolsnet.html

12. STORYBIRD (http://storybird.com/ )

DESCRIPTION Tool allows you to create virtual books using beautiful drawing by various illustrators.

Some examples of books created by students: This book was created by MaryÂ´s student . He wrote the book little by little throughout the semester.

http://storybird.com/books/a-sad-dog-by-tamir/ Another book about Friends.

http://storybird.com/books/friends-byashley-ray/

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Long-term project: during the school year, weekly or quarterly, take students to the lab so that they can create a story page by page using language learned recently. At the end of the Project, the e-books can be published in a virtual gallery (blog), read by all students and also shared with parents. • Joint Project: A chain story- the teacher starts the first Page of an e-book. Each week, a student is chosen to continue the story. The challenge is to try to use vocabulary learned that week. From time to time, the teacher can use an Interactive White Board to show the story as it is. • In class, students read mini sagas (stories with 50 words). The teacher proposes for students to create mini sagas and then transform them into mini e-books. • Use the IWB to show students various illustrations available in the site and ask them to describe some pictures in pairs. Inspired by the illustrations, students write poems which later can be turned into e-books. Each lesson, ask students to present their poems by reading their e-books in the IWB.

SKILLS: reading, writing.

Read more about STORYBIRD at: http://philly-teacher.blogspot.com/2009/12/storybird-inspiringyoung-writers.html

13. BOMBAY TV (http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?lang=br )

DESCRIPTION With BombayTV it´s possible to subtitle or dub Indian films.

An example:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/movie-br4ae687c4199510e2bbe7186dd326dac0.html This is a video created by me, using a scene where two characters speak. I used the written subtitles feature. It´s also possible to use the “text-to-speech” feature where the script is transformed into speech or even record your own voice to dub the scene. When you´ve finished, the video is sent to an e-mail of your choice , you´re provided with a link and can also grab the embed code for online publishing.

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS? • The teacher creates a subtitled video to contextualize the content of a lesson and shows it to the whole class using the IWB or a projector. • Show a scene to all students so that they can create a dialogue for the same scene. The teacher monitors the activity by helping students with vocabulary and correcting when necessary. Show the scene again for pairs of students to dub the scene. The class decides which is the best dialogue. • At the lab, ask students to create subtitles for a scene of their choice. As they finish, they send the link to their subtitled movie to the teacher for publishing (class blog). • In class, show a scene to students. With the whole class, create a dialogue for the scene. Pairs of students practice the dialogue. Select a pair to record the dialogue and add it to the scene. Show the dubbed scene to students and publish it in the class blog. • For homework, ask students to dub or subtitle a scene they´ve chosen. The script should contain vocabulary learned recently. When they´re done, students send the link to their teacher for publishing. The videos can be used in future classes for exercises.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading, listening comprehension.

Read more about BOMBAYTV at: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/01/bombaytv-creating-subtitles-to.html

Try out similar tools at: Be a soccer commentator - http://www.grapheine.com/futeboltv/ Write subtitles for TV Classics http://www.grapheine.com/classiktv/index.php?lang=uk

14. ESL VIDEO (http://www.eslvideo.com/ )

DESCRIPTION With ESLvideo you can create online multiple choice exercises with a video you´ve selected from Youtube. Your quiz is hosted at ESLvideo and can be published online by using the embed code. You can also explore a bank of activities created by other teachers organized by levels. Some examples:

http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_begin.php?id=2979&pagenum=2 On the same webpage the student can watch the video and answer questions created by the teacher. In this case, it´s a song activity.

http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_int2.php?id=2043 Here, Jennifer Aniston, the actress, is interviewed about her acting.

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Create multiple choice exercises for a chosen video. students to the lab to do the activity individually.

Take

• Do the above activity in class using the IWB. Ask different students to come to the board to select the correct answers. • Ask students to select a video clip from Youtube and create a multiple choice activity for their classmates. The link should be sent to the teacher via e-mail for publishing. Each week, the teacher can use a different activity created by students themselves.

SKILLS: listening comprehension, writing, reading.

15. ENGLISH CENTRAL (http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videos )

DESCRIPTION At English Central, you can hear an excerpt of a video with subtitles and then record yourself repeating the same text. The site evaluates your pronunciation and indicates where there´s need of improvement. Use the “practice mode” to train and the “quiz mode” to have your pronunciation evaluated.

An example:

President Obama talks about Al-Quaeda. After each utterance, there´s a pause so that you can record yourself. Finally, you receive your evaluation.

http://www.englishcentral.com/en/player/10687/president-obamatalks-about-al-qaeda-intelligence-

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS? • In class, select a video which is appropriate to your students´ level. Show the video and ask different students to try out recording their speeches. Show students how to observe where they should improve their pronunciation. • Take students to the lab so that they can record themselves and practise pronunciation. • Incite students to practise pronunciation at home on a regular basis.

SKILLS: listening comprehension, speaking, reading.

Read more about PHOTOPEACH at :

http://theedublogger.com/2010/01/14/spicing-up-your-posts-part-iphotopeach/

17. WINKBALL (http://winkball.com )

DESCRIPTION

Site where you can create video messages to send to friends, a video wall where other people can post their videos about a common topic, a video blog where you publish your ideas via video and a space where you can chat live with friends using your webcam. The videos published at Winkball can be recorded directly from your webcam or videos you have in your computer.

Some examples:

A video wall where various people record themselves talking about what they most like about Britain.

http://www.winkball.com/walls/Love_Britain/what_do_you_love2/

A Video blog created by an English living in Africa where he shares videos and talks about his adventures.

http://www.winkball.com/blogs/sidneykidney/East_African/

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create a video message with questions for students to answer it in writing in the comment area. • Create a video message talking about a controversial topic for students to leave their opinion in writing. • Record a place (Ex: a house, a person, parts of a city) with your camera, upload it to Winkball for students to watch it and use the comment space to leave written descriptions • Create a video wall about a controversial issue. Each student should then record themselves with the webcam giving their opinion. In future classes, the same recordings can be used for listening comprehension practice or language analysis.

• Create a video wall where everyone talks about the same subject (Ex: describing oneself, talking about one´s family, future plans, etc.) • Ask each student to create a video blog in which every week they make a recording talking about what they´ve learned, or each week they can make a video using vocabulary or structure learned that week. • Incite students to take part in a public video wall in which people from around the world leave their opinions. • Use public video walls for listening comprehension exercises since it´s possible to hear authentic language with different accents.

SKILLS: speaking, listening comprehension, writing and reading. Read more about WINKBALL at:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/12/winkball-more-than-sendingvideo.html

18. ACAPELA.TV (http://www.acapela.tv/ )

DESCRIPTION Site which allows the creation of text-to-speech videos and send them via e-mail. You type in a text (various languages are accepted) and the site generates a very interesting video. “Paul E Glott” translates words and phrases into several languages.

Examples:

Paul E Glott: You can type in a text, choose a language and as you click “please tell me”, Paul speaks the translated sentence.

Dictation: 5 questions which should be answered by students , in writing, and then sent to the teacher for correction. In this example the text is in English, however, several languages are accepted.

http://www.acapela.tv/good-old-times-99726488_c0e974246b5fa.html

Text (created by me ) where the kitten tells his sad story. Students should listen to the story and write all the verbs in the past.

http://www.acapela.tv/Snowy-99721528_c0e969130bdc8.html

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Add “Paul E Glott” to the sidebar of a class blog so that students can use it for translation. •

Make video messages to present content, creating a text with the topic structure.

• Ditctation: create a message using vocabulary and topic structures. Send it to students via e-mail. Students then watch the dictation, copy the text and send it to the teacher for correction.

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Chain: students create questions, sent it to a classmate who should answer it by recording another message. A copy should also be sent to the teacher so that he can monitor the task.

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Joint text: in class, the teacher starts and text with a phrase. Each student then goes to the keyboard and adds extra words to the text. As soon as the text is ready, generate the message-video and play it for students to hear the whole text.

SKILLS: writing, reading and listening comprehension.

19. VOCAROO (http://www.vocaroo.com/ )

DESCRIPTION Site to make recordings directly from the internet, with no need to download any special program. You simply use a microphone, a computer with internet access and Vocaroo. An example:

Click “Click to Record” , “Listen” to hear your recording. You can always record again if you are unhappy with the result. If it´s ok, send it via e-mail or grab the embed code for publishing.

Here, Alexandra Francisco, asks her students to record themselves reading a text from their course book. The students shared the link with the teacher who published the reading in the class blog.

http://zarcoenglish-studentsshowcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/vocaroo.html

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• After teaching a certain topic, divide students into pairs and ask them to create mini-dialogues (3 or 4 utterances) using the structure or vocabulary previously learned. After dialogues have been created, record each pair of students reading their dialogues and send it to your own e-mail (for further publishing) or publish them immediately in a class blog. In subsequent classes, the same dialogues can be used as revision. • The teacher can record short texts for listening comprehension exercises. • Record children singing a song which they have learned in class. Publish it in a blog and share it with parents. • Ask students to write an interview. Record pairs interviewing and publish in a blog. • Ask students to record themselves reading a text or dialogues from the course book (homework) and then send to their teacher via e-mail. This is a way to evaluate your students´ pronunciation one by one.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading, listening.

Read more about VOCAROO at: http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/vocaroo.html http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/08/adding-audio-files-to-your-blog.html

20. LISTEN AND WRITE (http://www.listen-and-write.com/ )

DESCRIPTION Site where we can listen to various texts and do dictations. ItÂ´s also possible to create your own dictation by recording yourself and submitting it. Several languages are accepted.. First, choose the level, then the text by its title and finally one of the 3 modes (Full mode, quick mode or the blank mode.)

An example:

Firstly, you listen to the whole text , then sentence by sentence finally you write the words in the text Box.

http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio/show/898

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS? • Take students to the lab to do a listening dictation selected by the teacher. • Take students to the lab to do listening dictations of their choice. • The teacher creates a dictation by recording a text or dialogue appropriate to the content worked in class. The dictation can be done as a whole class activity, by asking different students to type the text using the class keyboard, individually at the lab or at home for homework. • Students preparing for international exams, can benefit from periodically doing dictations.

SKILLS: listening and writing. Read more about LISTEN AND WRITE at: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/06/dictation-goes-web-20.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ana Maria Menezes is an EFL teacher and trains teachers to integrate technology with education. She was a pedagogical coordinator for 9 years and today is head of the edutech department of a Language Institute in Brazil (Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia). She´s been researching new Technologies in education and publishes her “discoveries” and “experiments” in her blog LIFE FEAST . In 2009, she designed an online course, to help teachers worldwide explore the new webtools available : the CULTURA EDTECH online course. The Cultura EDtech is a 3-month course offered to teachers three times a year.

Her blog: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com Her twitter: http://twitter.com/anamariacult Her e-portfolio: http://anamariacult.glogster.com/E-portfolio-anamariacult/ Her

online

http://culturaedtech.wikispaces.com/ABOUT+THE+COURSE

Webname: anamariacult

course:

Thank you notes:

I thank, from the bottom of my heart, all teachers who have kindly permitted the sharing of their work .

JosĂŠ Picardo Alexandra Francisco Nik Peachey David Deubelbeiss Dennis Oliver Ian James Sue Waters Bob Palmer Mary Hillis Mary Beth Hertz

I dedicate this book to my love who has always been by my side and to my loving children.