Edmodo

Hi readers, 

New day, new tool. Today I would like to share a new teaching site which is edmodo.com. This site is almost similar to a social networking site, Facebook. 

WHAT is edmodo.com?

Edmodo.com is a site which demonstrates virtual classroom for teachers and students which focuses on teaching and learning processes.It is accessible for the particular teacher and students in or outside the class. This site allows users to post something on the 'wall' such as discussion questions or asking for opinions; and the post could be commented or responded by other group members. 

HOW to use with students?

1. The teacher should sign up as 'teacher' and create a group for the respective students
2. Students should also sign up as 'student'
3. After creating the group, the teacher will receive a code that should be given to the students in order to become the members of the group
4. A virtual learning classroom is now ready for discussions, debate and etc.
5. Students would also receive a parent code which allows parents to monitor their children learning progress.
6. There is also tutorial videos on how to use Edmodo available below. Check it out!

 

Edmodo encourage virtual learning environment between teachers and students. It could be a useful teaching site as: 

• Teachers could use this site to make any announcement/ give homework for the students
• Students are free to ask questions if there is any doubt on any topics
• Any of the group members could refer back to the discussions for revision purposes
• Edmodo could be the platform for virtual interactions between teacher and students as it is accessible 24/7 with internet connection

ADVANTAGES

• It is FREE
• It is accessible anytime, anywhere by the group members
• Promotes authenticity and creates meaningful interactions during the discussion
• Any of the group members could refer back to their discussion
• Ideal for discussions/brainstorming activities
• Teacher could use Edmodo to assess students progress/ involvement in discussion
• Encourage parents could also access and monitor the children's learning progress

DISADVANTAGES

• Internet connection is essential 24/7
• Not all students involve in discussion. Some students might just depend on their friends' answer. 
• Students might get distracted with other websites when using Edmodo.

clicknlearn.net

Hi readers, 

New day, new tool. Today I would like to introduce a new teaching site that might help you in simplifying your ways in teaching vocabulary to students. It is called clicknlearn.net.

WHAT is clicknlearn.net?

clicknlearn.net is an interactive website which help users to teach and learn languages in fun and full of excitement ways. This tool is suitable for language teachers (English, Spanish and French), and additionally, it is also suitable for all levels of students. This is because it provides guidance, and exercises which include different levels of language competency for beginner, intermediate and advance students. 

HOW to use it with students?

Firstly, go to clicknlearn.net and select the language.

Next, go to the Menu, and select the activities according to the level of the student, name of the unit, lexical content, grammatical content or functions, text types, and the cultural preferences. In most of the units, students will be exposed to activities which activates their schemata before doing the actual exercises. 

There are also tutorial videos in youtube.com which explain how clicknlearn.net works. One of them is this video :

Apart from that, you could also watch  russellstannard-teachertrainingvideos.com as guide to use this website.

ADVANTAGES

• It is FREE.
• Contains more than one languages i.e. English, Spanish and French
• User-friendly
• Varies teaching methodology.
• Language teachers could be creative and explore more on vocabulary teaching.
• Different ways in integrating teaching with technology.
• Provides feedback for students.
• Students could explore more vocabulary from different level of proficiency.
• Encourage autonomous learning.

DISADVANTAGES

• Internet connection is essential 24/7
• Sound effects might distract users
• Some exercises are too easy for beginners and some activities require learners to have good background knowledge on the topic. 
• Texts are overload
• The activities and exercises are irreversible. Users are unable to go back to previous activities/ exercises in the unit. 
• Some students might deviate while doing the exercises that they are supposed to do. They might want to try new things, and end up doing something beyond their level. 

Vocaroo

Hi readers,

New day, new tool. Today I would like to introduce a quick and easy site to record your voice online which is Vocaroo.com. 

This is an example of recorded voice from Vocaroo.

Audio recording software >>

WHAT is Vocaroo?

Vocaroo is a very straightforward tool where you only need a microphone in order to do the recording and within a few clicks, your recording is ready! Simple isn't it?

HOW to use it with students?

• Go to www.vocaroo.com and click to record.
• Once the recording is done, students could listen back to their recording.
• If they are satisfied with the recording, the could save the recording or embedded in their blogs, or emailed it to their teacher. 
• teacher could use this tool to give oral feedback for students' homework.

ADVANTAGES

• User friendly, within a few clicks, the recording is done.
• The recording/podcast from Vocaroo could be embedded in blogs, downloaded as MP3, emailed to friends or teachers and even shared in social networks such as Fcebook.
• It is FREE.
• Language teachers could use this tool to develop students' speaking skills or to assess their pronunciation in class.
• Teachers could also record their teaching for the students if they are unable to attend class.

DISADVANTAGES

• Internet connection are essential 24/7
• Too simple

Creating stories with Storybird

Hi readers, 

New day, new tool. Today I would like to introduce a new exciting teaching site called Storybird.com.

WHAT is Storybird?

Storybird is a tool which allow users to create stories using their imagination. It provides interesting themes  with colourful and fascinating pictures for users to use for their stories. Teachers could use this tool with beginner to intermediate learners in language class as it might attract them in creating short stories in their own ways. Additionally, this tool also allow students to work in pairs in creating stories. Hence, this would them further in language learning as working in pairs might create information/opinion gap which then lead to language acquisition.

HOW to use Storybird with students?

Firstly, students should sign up and create their account using their email addresses. This would be easier for them to collaborate with their partners later on.

To start a story, students could read few examples of stories that have been created by others to get inspired. Here, they might be exposed to different layouts and themes, thus generate ideas for their stories later on. 

Students could choose their favourite themes such as love, teacher, village or princess for their stories. In addition, teacher could also specify the theme so that the students are more focused in creating their stories. 

When the learners have decided or has been instructed to write on a specific theme, they could begin their stories. This could be done by dragging suitable pictures and crafting suitable story line for the intended story.

In addition, learners could invite their friends or a partner to collaborate with them during the process of creating the story. This allows them to share opinions and generate more ideas in creating exciting and interesting stories. Besides, they are also free to write as many pages as they want. When it is done, they could publish the story (where the story is public and could be read by anyone) or save it and share the story via email. 

ADVANTAGES

• This website is FREE and could be use anytime with any purpose
• Enhance students' creativity and cognitive skills
• One of the ways to encourage students to write
• Develops sense of ownership and motivate students to be more confident in language learning
• New teaching methods for teachers in teaching WRITING
• Incorporate Multiple Intelligence in learning  which cater students need. Different students learn differently.Thus, students with visual intelligent might gain benefit from this method of learning. 
• Promotes collaborative learning. This tool allows students to work with one or more students, hence, it develops 2 in 1 learning in which students write and communicate in meaningful context.
• Since students are free in creating the stories, this tools promotes autonomous learning in language classrooms.

DISADVANTAGES

• Internet connection is essential 24/7
• Some students might feel reluctant to start

Using Bubblr

Hi readers,

New day, new tools. Today I would like to introduce a new interesting teaching site called Bubblr.com.

WHAT is Bubblr?

Bubblr is a tool that allows users to create comic strips using photos from Flickr.com. It is very useful for teachers to teach the students through presentations or to ask the students to make a presentation based on the given topic.

Here is an example of it.

HOW to use Bubblr with students?

• Teachers could create various Task Based Language Teaching and Learning activities using this tool. For instance, students are divided into five groups and the teacher introduces a topic, Places to Visit in Malaysia. Then, the students are required to do research based on their respective subtopic and present their findings using Bubblr.

ADVANTAGES

• Develop the sense of ownership or personalisation by giving freedom to students to create their own presentation by choosing their preferred pictures and descriptions. 
• Develop students' creativity.
• Encourage learner autonomy.
• Helps teachers in teaching methodology- develop creativity to avoid the same old-school ways of teaching.

DISADVANTAGES

• Internet connection is essential 24/7
• The work could not be edited once it is published.
• There are too many pictures in Flickr, thus it is hard to decide on suitable pictures for the presentation.
• Could not add music and animation. 

Dvolver

Hi readers, 

Today I would like to introduce an interesting teaching site called Dvolver.com.

WHAT is Dvolver?

Dvolver is a tool that allows users to create animation based on their own dialogues and preferred characters. It is very useful for teachers to grab students' attention in learning language as students are free to make their own animation and create dialogue. Dvolver is suitable for secondary school learners with low and intermediate levels of English proficiency. 

This is one of the examples of using Dvolver:

HOW to use Dvolver with students?

1. Select the background for the movie.

2. Next, select a plot for the movie. 

3. Then, choose the characters for the movie.

4. Create dialogues for the characters based on the story line.

5. Choose the suitable background music for the movie. Students could also create the movie without the music background. 

6. Then, select the design for the movie title. In this section, students are free to create title of their movie and write their names as the director of the movie.

7. Once the movie has been created, students could email their works to teacher.

There are also tutorial video(s) on how to use Dvolver available on youtube.com. Check this out:

ADVANTAGES

• Develops teachers' creativity in language teaching.
• Enhance students' creativity in making their own movie and creating dialogues.
• Participation in class could be increased through interesting teaching tools like Dvolver.
• Promotes autonomous learning.
• Students could learn to use language based on different contexts.
• This website is FREE.

DISADVANTAGES

• The background, characters, and the music background available in the web are limited.
• Students might use inappropriate language in creating dialogues, thus it is difficult to achieve the objectives of language teaching and learning.
• Some students, especially low level students, might have difficulties in finding suitable vocabulary and creating their own dialogues.
• Schools with no or limited internet connection might have problems in using this tool.