SlideShare is a website where you can search and view thousands and millions slides of presentations in various topics and contents from people all over the world.
Type your interests in the search bar, and you will see a list of slides that people have already post.
you can email the slide to you and your friend and you can get the HTML code as well to embed the slide in your blog; if you signed up an account, you can also download the slide and add it into your Favorite.
If you want to create your slideshow, you need to upgrade your account and it is not free.
Value:
People present their brilliant ideas and organize these ideas well in one slideshow. They are great teaching and learning materials.
Clear, simple and pointed with pictures(visual aids), making some complex concepts can be easily understood.
Teacher can inspire their ideas by others and also can make their own slides for students.
There are lots of topics related to the business. Good materials for ESP.
Usage:
For teacher:
some of them are good teaching materials; some of them can inspire their thinking. Anyway, for teachers, it is a good place for them to prepare their lesson materials and content of the class.
For students:
It is a good place for advanced students to self-teach or extend their study outside the classroom.
For classroom:
Good place for brainstorming. It is a place for sharing where can inspire students' thinking. Better for pre-task;
Reflection: Students can also make their own slides on the topic or knowledges which they learn in the class and present them to their classmates or embed them in the class blog.
Limitation:
If I search for 'fast food', most of the slides focus on the food industry and health. Thus on the one hand, we can discover the 'focus' of the public on the specific topic so that to improve our sensitivity towards the world; on the other hand however, for young learners, what they need to know is what is 'fast food' and what happen to 'fast food' which can not found in SlideShow. So maybe the website is not suitable for them.
Hot Potatoes is a free software whereby you can create your own quizzes in forms of
multiple-choice,
short-answer,
jumbled-sentence,
crossword,
matching/ordering
gap-filling.
You can save the quiz in your computer or put it in the internet. click the picture to the website and download the software in your computer
FIVE types of quizzes
JQUIZ: four models of you to choose: multiple choice questions; shot-answer questions, hybrid question and multi-select questions. Teachers can add feedback as well as a hint in JQUIZ.
JCLOZE: gap filling exercise with the hint
JMATCH: matching exercise
JMIX: jumble words/ letters in a sentence/word.
JCROSS: for creating the crosswords games
My Matching Quiz
Step 1: choose JMatch
Step2: Add a title and put the content in the box respectively on the right and left.
Step3: Go to file---create the webpage and choose a format to be saved.
Standard format
Drag/drop format
you need an account to save the quiz online, but it is very easy.
you can also edit your quiz, insert picture, link, HTML table and add a reading text into the quiz, then create a zip package or just save it in computer or online as you like.
Using Vocaroo, you can easily record your voice and send it to people via mail.
What you need are a microphone, a internet-connected computer and an email account. There is no time limit for the recording and you can re-record it if you don't like it. You can also post your recording in the internet by embedding HTML code.
For students: improve their speaking skills by podcasting their recording. Activities can be mini-presentation, answering a specific questions or self-reflection; self-reflection on the pronunciation.
For teachers: giving spoken feedback to students; spoken instruction about the homework or the assignment.
chances for everyone to speak: students can podcast their ideas in the internet about a same topic, teacher will randomly play the recordings in the class and collect students' ideas. It can motivate everyone in the classroom to speak out.
This is a website that can visualize your text. paste or type into the box and it will automatically show you the frequency of word that used in the your text, according to the size of the word. (if one word is bigger than the other, it is used more frequent used than the one).Moreover, the button of 'from rare to common' and 'from common to rare' will show you the frequency of word that used in English, not only limit in your text.
The website also connect these words with the visual resources and examples where you can find the thesaurus relationships connected to the word. CLICK the word, and it will show you the visual thesaurus and the place of the word that is used in your text. Let me give you an example:
paste the text above in the box and you will see:
it is the 'from common to rare' model. As we can see in the box, 'word' is the most frequently used in the text and also it is more commonly used than other words in the daily life.
Also, you can see the visual thesaurus, the word in the sentences of the text, and the position of it.
on your left hand, there is a search bar for you to find a picture that relate to the word.
The word 'Thesaurus'
Value
Focus on the vocabulary and relate the vocabulary to the text context
visual aid(picture) for vocabulary learning
Help to understand the main ideas of a text according to the frequency of the word
Teach vocabulary according to the frequency of the word in English and level of the students.
Usage: reading and vocabulary learning
Reading skills of prediction and grasping the 'gist' : guess the main ideas before reading the text according to the 'wordsift'. it can be used as a warming-up activity for the reading task
Learning vocabulary from the text: this tool help teachers to pick up the word in the text. Students can learn the word not only base on the traditional dictionary but also on the text context. Teacher can also 'wordsift' more authentic article so that to find the usage of the word in 'real-life' world.
Teacher can search the 'word' picture which will be used in the per-task to arouse students' interests to learn.
Limitation:
For upper-intermediate or advanced learner, some words are not necessary.
Without explanation, students may misunderstand the vocabulary. After all, it is not a dictionary.
There are some real gems in Ozge's latest blog for Valentines Day. However, some of them are not only useful for you to express your love to your lover, but also offer you, as an English teacher, an opportunity to change your traditional teaching way in the English language classroom.
1. The first one is BooKr, in which you make your own photobook; you choose a title for it and you search images based on tags (from flickr) and you drag and drop them in the book pages. You can add as many pages as you want and you can write a description or title underneath them. Then, you can publish the book for the rest of the users to see, you can send it to your email and embed it to your blog.
Here is my photobook:
In the language classroom, we could have students create their own books and write about them developing the feeling of learners' involvment and at the same time offering an opportunity to practice their writing and speaking skills (could work in pairs or small groups). Also, teachers can use this, creating their own book and giving to the students to work with. Also, teachers can upload pictures of the classroom on flickr and have students make their books using them, writing about their reflections at the very end of the course.
Also, there are others' comments on BooKr: (classroom discussion)
Bookr is a site for creating your own photobook. Starting with searching pics from flickr's enormous database you can upload them to your photobook(everyone's photos could be uploaded in Flickr). Add the title and the author's name and then add subtitle description. Some of its features include blog sharing. It could be used as an excellent tool for short and simple projects for younger learners. An interesting project could be a creation of a photoalbum of their favourite pet or their family or their favourite job. A presenattion could follow so all the social and language skills are practiced.
Bookr is a tool that you can use to create your photobooks using flickr images. Once you drag on the images you like, you can add some texts, or comments. You can also adjust the position of the image (up and down), and you delete the images if you are not happy with it. After you finish the photobook, you can embed it into your blog or your website.
Students can create their own photobooks about their hometowns or any place they went to and introduce them to their classmates.
it is convient for students/teachers to make presentations. There are plenty of resources that students can refer to when they try to find their pictures. It is easy to find pictures that you want and drag it into your photobook.
BooKr: This is a tool that allows us to create our own photobooks by combining pictures with texts. There is a large data base for pictures. For instance, you can choose your topic and include it on the cover of your book. In addition, you can describle the photos or even create a whole story. The site can arise student's interest and ccreativity.
2: the second one is Bubble Joy This site gives you the opportunity to create your own video greeting card. It's free and easy, you record yourself using your webcam and you can add a message and send the link to the one you want via your email account. Very easy and straight forward. Just one minute available for recording, pretty short.
In an ELT class: you can broaden the field of greeting to whatever you want, it could be a means of sharing information between students or recording oneself talking about a topic for a minute and sending it to the teacher as homework on speaking (practising speaking under time limits - for exams for example).
Classroom discussion:
A site to create your own greeting card. Requires a webcam and imagination. Record yourself speaking up to 60 sec(short for a speech enough for a wish!!). Ideal for using it with younger learners to practice their speaking skills. Self recording is beneficial for both the learner and the teacher. In the end you can add a background and sent the link via e-mail or tweet the link.
It is the website that help you make the short time vedio and produce the web link that you can send to your freinds through email.
As for the ELT classroom activities, it can motivate the students at young age to practice their speeking for real life use. The teacher can design a task to ask the students to make a wishing vedio. The students need to decide what to say with their pairs( practice listening, speaking and communicative skills ).Then they make the vedio together. By doing this, ss are motivated to practice.
3. the last one is Acapela TV It is a funny website where you can just choose a character (mainly an animation one) you like and type a short text.After that, the cartoon will repeat what you've just said in a humorous and funny way!
There is a variety of languages to choose from as well as different accents like American and British ones;
Students can use this as dairies to practice their speaking skills.
Here are some interesting video websites people recommended at Sync In:
Vimeo: 'An amazing alternative to Youtube which provides you high-quality videos with perfect image and sound. You have a variety of searching options for nearly every subject. There is also a tutorial section (called Video school )where you can find instructions of how to create and film your own video either for educational or non-educational purposes. For educational purposes, students can be assigned a task of making a film and at the end of the process, a prize like Oscar can be given .'
'This website is an amazing website that provides a varity of authentic materials, the latest news, and up-to-date information from different parts of the world. You can use it to know what's happening in your country. It has many categories, such as Entertainment, Sports,and Technology. You can download daily podcast. Some of the videos have subtitles, They also provide transcripts. The teachers can use the transcripts to explain something important for students to learn. Students can use it to know the latest news about their favourite celebrities.'
'The Week in Rap is a weekly summary of news headlines in the form of a short rap video. It provides lyrics, so students can read, listen and watch the video at the same time. You can suscribe to the Week in Rap. You can share the video with others. You can leave comments which are good for writing. You can also embed the episode in your blog or in your website.'
'http://freevideolectures.com/ provides a content for English learners. While they are wathcing the lectures of a certain area, they get to know the vocabulary including some terminology related to the subject. A site with video lectures in various subjects.A useful site to find materials for CLIL and EAP teaching contexts. Good collection of video courses.
http://www.kidsknowit.com/interactive-educational-movies/index.php is a site for children to learn about the world while learning English at the same time. Differnt topics such as food chain, and all kinds of fish, are provided and vivid colorful piactures and slow audio explanations will attract the kids to learn.'
' 1Academic Earth is a birllian website. It offers online courses from the world top scholars. Learners can choose the video according to their interest. They can download the transcripts, blackboard lecture notes, mp3 and video. Also, they can get the information of the course, the course book and some recommended readings.
2 Englishcentral : a great website to practice speaking. It provides authentic videos with subtitles. Learners can record their own sounds and compare to the original one and get feedback. By comparing, they can concentrate on the weak pronunciation and see the expert help video and make more practice. '
In my our group, we have chosen
schooltube :a site that allows students to view and share their videos with others in their own channel (choose who you want to network with). Students can take control of their learning by creating or watching videos.
ted: the site that gives teachers the opportunity to learn from the experts on different fields and get updated information on what is going on in the world of technology, entertainment, business, science, design etc.
4 groups in the class has chosen spelling city and their comments on 'how it works' has been put below:
Spellingcity - help students to memorize vocabulary (spelling, pronunciation, meaning) with fun. Different kinds of games offer the opportunities for students to learn the vocabulary in different context repeatedly, which help them to master both the form and the meaning of those new words. Writing activities are brilliant. Students can make their own context with the new words based on their previous knowledge. Furthermore, if they signed the website, they can sent their works to their teachers directly and then get their feedback.
Spelling City is a website that helps learners practice their vacabulary in different ways, which make learning process more enjoyable. There are four main categories for learners to choose from: Tests, Vocabulary, Writing, and Spelling. And you can also practice your handwring in this website. In each category, you can test yourself by playing games, and if you are not sure about the answer, you can click on 'Teach Me' button.
Take 'Which Word' (sub-category of Vocabulary) for example. You can click on the right answer, and then click on 'Next' button. If you do not answer it correctly, it will ask you to try it again.
Spelling City requires to enter a word list so you could be able to use them in several activities starting from simple spelling exercises to more sophisticated activities such as crosswords and match ups. Interesting feature: The fact that word are used in context(you can listen the sentences and the individual spelling of eeach and every word you enter). One drawback might be tfor some activities you need to go premium.
Some of our ideas: (Maria and Jenny)
A website to practice spelling skills, vocabulary and writing.
You cantake tests and play games, you work with your own list or find other ready-to-use lists (Teacher's resources).
If you become a Premium member you have access to specific vocabulary and activities and games for premium members only, you can keep a record of your performance and you can work with small groups assignments.
If you choose to take the spelling test, you enter your words and then you have to type them correctly.
The Teach Me option goes through your word, letter by letter.You can listen to the words and have a sentence in which they are used. After you write the words in the test, you receive feedback on how you did.
If you choose the vocabulary test, you have a definition and a number of words to choose from.
However, this might need to be carefully considered based on the students' level. And if you choose to play a game, there is a list with different games for spelling, vocabulary, writing and other topics.
You can use this website in the classroom or at home.It's free, unless you want to become a premium member.
It is an online visual dictionary that supply lots of videos that different people(some public figure and celebrity) explaining the words mean to them. Basically we will have the definition and usage of the word if we search it in the 'search bar'.
Besides, if some people have uploaded his or her video to explain the word, it will show on the left hand.
Value: learning vocabulary in CONTEXT Looking up the vocabularies in he traditional dictionary is a very boring experience and students always still feel confused when facing to a long and complicated explanation. Also, even they can remember the meaning of the word, they still can not use into practical because they have remembered the word without the context. Wordia provides a new way to study word. People in the video will explain the word by his or her own 'context' which will help the students to understand the word in depth. Moreover, if students watch the different videos on the same word, they will understand the meaning of it in various context. Thus, I think Wordia offer the learners and students teaching and studying the vocabulary not only in definition as traditional way bu more in 'CONTEXT'.
Additionally, it is a very interesting way to study the 'meaning' and students will never feel boring when remember the word. They will unconsciously remember it when watching the video.
Focus on the 'process' learning.
Usage task: for studying vocabulary (practice listening & speaking skills) 1. teacher tell students the word that they need to learn today, but without any explanation 2. divide the whole class into several groups; different group will watch different video but they all explain the target word. 3. group discussion: members in the same group discuss their understand on the video, the meaning of the word to the recorder. 4. each group will present the meaning of the word in the video they have watched in the class blog and embed the video. Then they will also present their understanding to the whole class (each group needs a presenter). 5. teacher will make a conclusion and comment. (it is very important because sometime students may misunderstand the word) 6. mix the students together and redivide the whole class into several groups. students will present the word meaning to themselves in the group. 7. After class, teacher ask students to podcast their the word meaning to themselves as a video in the class blog, sharing their ideas with each other.
Limitation:
The definition is the individual'a perspective and some of them are not reliable.
Limit amount of the videos that have been uploaded by people
