MKE BELIEFS COMIX

It is a tool that allows you to write and tell stories by building comic strips.
There are 15 characters with different moods to choose from and you can make them talk and/or think.

Here’s a wonderful example of how this tool can be used. This comic strip was created by Leigh, a teacher of English in Mexico City.
http://metamexico.ning.com/profiles/blogs/revenge-of-the-20th-century


Here’s another comic created by Julia Paramonov, who teaches ESL at the University of Akron, USA. She thinks comic strips can help students understand cultural differences.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZYLPn3fDuyvye2nL4cmWsHSeOROsw4kuhRhUvDBoqmhOLCe2spZ_JhWYRncKuKnYbNw9QyyXCDHlYIi5TpqTEjcGHHNgOz7HdpuzK59kBycpxs2DL_JTeCstXQLudUP0_gLBboA6tKFY/s1600-h/polite.gif
Go to her blog and read her post of February 12th for more information.
http://langteachandlearn.blogspot.com/

To get more information about Make Beliefs Comix and start using it go to
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
Click on ‘story ideas’ for ideas on how to use this tool.

If you need help watch this tutorial created by Analía Doboletta for the 2009 Enhancing Lessons session.
http://www.slideshare.net/AnaliaD/make-beliefs-comix-tutorial-presentation

DVOLVER

DVOLVER is another easy to use tool for creating and sending online movies.

See a movie created by Anisoara, a teacher from Romania. It is a good example of how this tool can be used to practise different structures, the present perfect in this case. This is a link to her blog, go to her post for February 10th.
http://englishthroughadvertising.blogspot.com/

We could ask our students to make animated stories with DVOLVER using recently learned vocabulary, structures or functional language.

Making a movie is very easy. First you have to sign up.
http://www.dvolver.com/live/mm.html

Then you have to select a background and sky, a plot, the characters and write the characters’ lines. Choose the music and voila: the film is ready. Of course you have to give it a name.

Now click on this link and give it a try.
http://www.dvolver.com/live/moviemaker.html

ZIMMER TWINS

ZIMMER TWINS allows students to create and share animated stories.
I reckon children will love creating stories with these characters: twins who have some kind of psychic powers and their adopted cat called 13.
Apart from the motivational factor, I think ZIMMER TWINS can help teachers practise story-telling skills with their students. See the lesson plan I have designed for this purpose.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcggp33f_2gz2pd6dz&hl=en

Besides, ZIMMER TWINS will help children memorize and/or learn vocabulary (feelings, action verbs, etc) and internalize the basic structure of a sentence in the present tense (substitution of sentence parts in the creating stage).

First watch this animated movie to get a feel.
http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/653200

Now watch this tutorial that shows how to make an animated story.
http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/howto

Here you can find some more information about the site.
http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/welcome

http://www.zimmertwins.com/help

Now give it a try. (You have to master the tool before using it with your students.) Remember you can either create an ending for one of the starters or make a movie from scratch.
http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/starters

ANIMOTO

With Animoto, you can make videos from your pbotos. You just have to upload your photos, choose the music (supplied by Animoto) that seems appropriate to your pictures and then Animoto does the job of combination and synchronization for you.

Watch this 60 second animoto video to learn more.
http://animoto.com/?welcome=new-user#learn-more

Now watch this video by a drama teacher. It’s called ‘The play comes together’ As you will see, we could use this tool to showcase our students’ work. .
http://animoto.com/play/x9IUtOQmSx81uMb8qKDpQA?autostart=false
He had to upgrade to include more than 15 photos but you can make 30-second shorts for free. Depending on the music you choose, you could include between 12 and 15 photos. Full-length videos cost $ 3 each.

Rita Zeinsteger for example asked her students to produce a video with Rosario highlights and then write a passage explaining why they have chosen the photos and the music. This was followed by a class discussion on video making, purpose videos serve in our society, popularity of You Tube videos, etc. .
Here’s the link to the video made by one of her students. (Students embedded their productions to the class blog)
http://ritamz.ning.com/video/1985596:Video:752

Now try it for yourself.
http://animoto.com/


ONE TRUE MEDIA is a similar tool. You can mix your photos and videos with the site’s effects to create quite original videos. It is a little more complex but it allows you to upload more pictures for free. Besides you can choose different backgrounds, transition, etc.
Try it and you will see the final video is awesome, as the site claims.
Just follow the instructions.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/

SLIDESHARE

SlideShare is an excellent tool to share and find presentations.

For example, if you have a Powerpoint presentation, you can upload it to Slideshare and then to your blog. And as you can add audio to the presentations, it ‘s ideal to extend the walls of the classroom

It could also be used to help students develop academic presentations in their fields of study (in an ESP course, for example).

As I haven’t made a presentation myself, I haven’t been able to try this tool, but I am including it here because I can see its potential benefits in EFL.

For more information go to http://www.slideshare.net/

NETIQUETTE

Netiquette is a neologism formed from the words ‘internet’ and ‘etiquette’ and it refers to the conventions for online communication as regards politeness and safety.

The following link is to a page with very useful information. If we are going to make our students use web 2.0 tools, we should be aware of netiquette and be prepared to discuss it with our students.
http://www3.delta.edu/coop/netiquetterules.html

The following is a quiz we could give our students to start discussing this topic of netiquette.
http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/funStuff/netiquette/netiquette.html

STUDY STACK

I think motivating students to study vocabulary is one of the many challenges we face nowadays. They just don’t enjoy sitting at home to memorise it, they don’t know how, they don’t follow our advice, they may not even see the point of doing so. Actually, one of the problems is that we think our students should study vocabulary the way we did, not realizing that they live in a completely different world from the one we lived in when we ourselves were students and that their learning styles and needs have changed. I think we have to reconsider who our learners are. That’s why I got really interested in this tool when one of the participants in the Enhancing Lessons session made us all aware of it (Thanks Margaret)
Robert Squires, a teacher from Montana, USA, has been using Study Stack with his students for some time. What follows is just an example of what he has used it for:

’I had students pre-teach themselves the vocabulary in a Unit on Art and Culture by identifying words that they did not know. They looked the words up in a dictionary and then created their own flashcards. They then embedded the flashcards in their blogs We did this on a Friday and viewed the flashcards on the blogs on Monday when we started the unit. It was a nice way to see what words the other students needed to learn as well. Some of the key words of the unit were quickly identified as well.
Here is an example:
http://narumihorikawa.blogspot.com/
The student was between the beginner and low-intermediate level.’

Well, but what is Study Stack? It is a site to help students learn facts, study for tests or review information in a variety of subject areas. It can help our students learn, memorize, review and/or practise vocabulary in a fun way.

Now have a look at this example to practise the different parts of a verb:
http://www.studystack.com/studystack-118122

The interesting thing is that either you or your students can enter the descriptions for the vocabulary items. Then the software generates different ways in which to practise the vocabulary in order to memorize it (eg. flashcards, hangman, scrabble, crossword, matching, etc)
This is an example
http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-119709

Of course we can use the stacks already created, but in my opinion the strength of this tool lies in the fact that we or our students can create the stacks, thus personalizing learning and helping our students become independent learners.

So now the instructions for building a stack:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2258071_make-digital-flashcards-study-stack.html

A SWEET RELIEF

Just playing with Bubbleshare. Hope you don't find it too corny. (Click on the photo and view it from Bubbleshare so that you can see the captions)

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

BUBBLESHARE

BUBBLESHARE is a tool that allows you to upload your photos, create albums and share them in an easy and entertaining way.
It’s very simple to use. You can add clipart and text to the photos, you can display them using different backgrounds, you can add a title to the album and the photos and you can leave comments.
Although the feature ‘add audio/video caption’ is offered, it doesn’t work, which is a pity because I could think of many more potential applications of this software in EFL if audio was available.

Of course the visual presentations (albums or slideshows) created with Bubbleshare could be used as a springboard for writing down the story shown or predicting the ending (ideas contributed by Leigh Thelmadatter, a teacher based in Mexico DF), writing about 'A special place in my country' (idea contributed by Margaret Redus, a teacher from Texas, USA).

The following lesson plans are some other examples of how BUBBLESHARE can be used in EFL.
Wishes and regrets
Personal guided tour of my city

The following link is to a blog by María Victoria Saumell, a teacher from Argentina, who used Bubbleshare as part of a fables project after her students had read the story The Lion and the Mouse. Go to the post of February 6th, 2009.

Educational Technology in ELT

Now if you want to create an album go to

http://www.bubbleshare.com/

and read the information here.

http://www.bubbleshare.com/help/

VOICETHREAD

Voicethread is an online media album that can hold images, documents and videos and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and to share them with anyone they wish.
It is an excellent tool to practise the speaking skill, but of course it is also good for listening (depending on the activity we design),writing and reading.

The following are links to different voicethreads created by teachers around the world. I just want you to get an idea of how this tool can be used in the classroom. I am sure you will become enthusiastic and then, learning how to use it will become easier. (In fact, it is easy.)

Below’s the link to a thread created by Mary DiMónaco, a teacher in our city, for her students aged 9 and 10. Let me quote Mary: ‘The purpose of using a voicethread was for the kids to tell their teacher what they wanted to be - and to show their parents what they had learnt in class. I can tell you that they enjoyed the whole process (looking for a pic, practising their lines, recording themselves and listening to each other ) …’
http://voicethread.com/share/223648/

In the following thread, entitled ‘What is your lifestyle like?’, most students made text comments, but students could be encouraged to record their voices.
http://voicethread.com/#q+lifestyle.b178254.i947649

Earth Day Everyday
http://voicethread.com/#q+lifestyle.b113341.i593832

The following is just meant to show how Voicethread can be used to give presentations.
http://voicethread.com/#q+lifestyle.b95585.i485794



Now to learn how to use Voicethread follow these links.

http://voicethread.com/about/

http://www.wikieducator.org/Using_Voicethread_for_practising_speaking_skills

Last but not least, the following pages are just excellent. They show how Voicethread can be used in education.

http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/Best+Practices (NB: How to develop lessons, Encouraging appropriate comments and Tips)

http://digitallyspeaking.pbwiki.com/Voicethread (NB: Planning a Voicethread, Commenting Tips for Voicetheaders, and Assessing Voicethread participation)

CHINSWING

Chinswing is a global message board where anyone can add voice messages to ongoing topical discussions.


It is a tool that can be used in many different ways to practise both listening and speaking skills with students of all levels. Of course, if we want our students to become active listeners, we should make it clear in the rubric that they will have to continue/respond or react to the previous posts.


One of the advantages of CS is that students can record their messsage again and again (before they click on save to upload it) if they are not satisfided.
Their message can be as long as they want, so it is up to the teacher to set a time limit for recordings (either maximun or minimun).


In the case of more advanced students, we could make them participate on authentic threads. The interesting thing is that discussions are categorised, so students could choose a discussion on a topic of their liking. One of the benefits of making students join ongoing discussions is that they will be exposed to many different accents.
Here’s a link to a thread on one of the parts of TOEFL speaking test, which exemplifies how this tool could be used to practise the individual long turn in Cambridge exams (the mini presentations in the BEC suite, for example).
http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=4f896910-fa90-4467-9843-bb557b45a8af


Here’s a link to another thread. It’s a good example of how to integrate the book with CS. Listen to the teacher’s rubric.
http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=b464200a-0c9c-4b98-8795-a44e3f4c0406

Actually, we can start threads on many different topics to further practise what is being taught in the coursebook (e.g you can ask students to describe their house, a room in their house, their hometown if you are teaching there is/are and prepositions of place).

Here’s a link to a thread I have created. We know children love listening to stories and inventing stories. After teaching and practising the past tense, the teacher could start a story in CS.
http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=98d19b90-7b8c-4ca8-b2de-e21f18fa6540
Of course, we could introduce this activity by creating an oral chain story in class. Besides, the teacher could post again if necessary (e.g if kids have lost track of the story).

And here’s another link to a thread for intermediate students.
http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=4f3206a8-9290-4757-8c3e-8ffb48092a10


Last but not least, Chingswing is very, very simple to use. Click on the link below, read the instructions, sign up and join an online discussion or start your own.
http://www.chinswing.com/pages/firststeps.aspx

BLOGS

So what’s a weblog (or blog for short)?
It's an online journal. It is sequential and the posts are arranged in reverse chronological order, which means the most recent posting appears at the top of the page and the older ones disappear off the front page and go into the archives.
Blogs are very user-friendly. People with little computer knowledge can open, update and maintain a blog.

Why use blogs?
Blogs have great potential for enhancing our classes. They can help students improve not only their reading and writing skills but also listening and speaking (since they can integrate other tools). As readers may be allowed to comment on the posts, blogs lend themselves perfectly for online discussions or debates.
Besides, as blogs are sequential, they can really complement the timeline of a school term and we teachers and the students themselves can track all the process and the progress made.
Moreover, blogs could be used to develop a ‘digital portfolio’, either class or individual portfolios, which could be visited by parents at any time of the year. Some schools have blogs for parents as well.

How to start working with blogs?
It is always a good idea to start by reading other teachers’ blogs, to see how they organize information, what kind of activities they design for their students, how often they blog, how the rubrics are delivered.

How are blogs used by teachers?
There are many different approaches. These are some I have come across:
- Some teachers have a class blog where he/she is the only one who posts and students leave comments. See this wonderful blog of a Brazilian teacher called Kelly (actually this is the blog she uses to communicate with her several groups of students) . Have a look at the different activities she has designed for her students, and their responses. She has had a truly enthusiastic response from her students.
http://kellycilc.wordpress.com/author/kellissima/
- Some others have class blogs where the students are invited to make postings, not just comments. See the blog Rita Zeinstejer (a teacher at Cultural Inglesa, Rosario) had with her CAE class last year. Rita encourages her students to go global and interact with students from other countries, a very enriching experience.
http://ritamz.ning.com/profiles/blog/list
- And some teachers have a class blog where they post the rubrics for the activities and the links to the students’ blogs. Each student has a blog where they do the work set by the teacher. Of course the students and the teacher visit each others’ blogs and leave comments. See this blog opened by Robert Squires, an ESL teacher from Montana, USA., for one of his pre-intermediate classes.
http://integratedskills-robert.blogspot.com/
and an example posting
http://muhammadunbelievable.blogspot.com/

As you can see, blogs can be used with students of different ages and levels. Besides, Robert’s blog is a very good example of how to integrate the coursebook with the blog. After dealing with a unit on description of works of art, he set an assignment where students had to write a paragraph about a work of art of their choice using the new vocab and structures. It is expected that they will be more motivated and therefore more careful with the quality of their work since they will be read and commented upon not only by their teacher but also their peers.

How should we correct our students' writing?
The discussion as to whether to correct or not students’ writing on blogs (as well as when or how) is inconclusive at this stage but there are some points most teachers agree on:
- blogs offer students a place where to practise writing without the pressure of grades
- if mistakes impair communication, the teacher (or a peer) should come up with the appropriate question to make the student explain/paraphrase what he means
- a very useful strategy is selecting common errors made by the students and addressing them in class
All in all, we should remember the aim is communication rather than accuracy.

Getting down to business
Well now, if you have reached the end of this long post, the only thing left is to start blogging. Click on the link below (actually copy and paste it in your browser, it doesn't work from here) and then open your own blog. Take the tour, watch the tutorial and start playing with this new tool to see how it works. Remember, just holler if there’s sth you can’t do.
https://blogger.com/start
This is another link to a document with very clear simple explanations.
http://www.d.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/blogs/blogger.html

Tutorials

How did you like the Medieval Helpdesk video?

Well, I just meant it to be an introduction to this post. As you know, we will be looking at a series of web 2.0 tools and their applications in EFL teaching.

But first we will have to learn how to use them. I can guarantee that most of them (if not all) are very user-friendly. Besides they all have tutorials that show how to use the tool in question and pages with FAQ where your query may have already been answered.

If after consulting these sources, there's still something you can't get to do, remember there will always be somebody who can help you out: the school technician, a colleague who has already used that tool, our younger colleagues who are already digital natives, our sons and daughters ...

Just as an example of what a tutorial is like click on this link and learn how to make an animated story with Zimmer twins. You'll see how easy it is. (we'll have a look at Zimmer Twins and its possible applications later on)

A comic relief

I'm sure this video will help you relax (after the reading and/or listening load in my previous post).
It shows 'helpdesk support' back in Medieval Times. I very much wonder if I sound like Brother Ansgar when I ask questions about how to use these new tools (remember I'm a digital immigrant).
It's hilarious. Just enjoy it!

Why Use Web 2.0 Tools?

Because our students have changed and we have to think of ways of engaging them.

I mentioned in my previous post that we are digital immigrants as opposed to our learners, who are digital natives. As Marc Prensky points out:
- Digital natives think and process information fundamentally differently from the generation of digital immigrants.
- It is wrong for us teachers to assume that we can use the same methods that were successful with previous generations to teach digital natives.
- Therefore both content and methodology need to be reconsidered.
Here's the link to the whole article by Marc Prensky. (By the way, I felt really identified with Prensky's description of the 'accent' that we digital immigrants cannot get rid of)

The second part of this article is also worth reading. Prensky addresses the issue of learners' attention spam, the need for reflection and critical thinking, and advocates game-based learning.

For those of you who are more auditory, here's the link to Michael Wesch's presentation, a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State University, discussing Web 2.0 in terms of social impact. He makes similar points to Prensky, and what he says has deep implications for educators. (It's about an hour long but it's great for listening practice as well).

Web 2.0 Tools

What does Web 2.0 refer to?
To put it simply, the main features of the second generation of web tools are:
- their interactivity (students cannot only read or listen to content online but also produce their own written and oral texts, publish them, comment on and edit other people's work, i.e. interact with others)
-how easy they are to use (we don't need to be software experts to be able to use them, great relief for us teachers who are digital immigrants)

Why don't you watch this video that introduces some web 2.0 tools and how they are already being used? The presenter also talks about Second Life, a web 3.0 tool I am not going to include in this blog for the time being.

Scenario

'You are a 'blind optimist' who believes that by using blogs in your lessons you might afford new learning opportunities for students and perhaps encourage your colleagues to become interested in using Web 2.0 tools. You would like to present 'A Vision for Incorporating Blogging into Lessons' at the first staff meeting of the year. Explain your plan for incorporating blogging. (What do you have in mind and how you will accomplish it?).'

This scenario closely resembles what will most probably happen at one of the schools I work at. It might not be at the very first staff meeting of the year but it will be before the beginning of classes and I will 'advertise' not only blogging but several other web 2.0 tools as well. However, there's one important difference. I'm not a 'blind optimist', just an optimist. I'm sure we will start using some of these tools this year.

Why am I sure? Because I hope I will be able to show my colleagues that we will be using technology with a purpose and not just for its own sake. If I succeed in doing this, they will adopt some of these tools.

Robert stated it so clearly in one of the introductory readings: ' it is vital that the use of Web 2.0 tools should be based on sound pedagogical practices that are designed to help the students meet the intended learning objectives. In general terms, we can say that if technology does not assist learning, it is not worth using.'

Well, now my plan (as I've already said, for incorporating not only blogging but some other web 2.0 tools as well): I'll invite my fellow teachers to visit my blog, this blog, where I will keep a record of the different tools , their possible applications, reflections, videos, links to other blogs, etc. I'm sure this will set the ball rolling.