Online teaching tools to make your lessons interesting

Aculov RodicaThe second degree teacher from Lyceum` ”Mihai Eminescu”Cimisliaaculov.rodica@gmail.com

NOTHING GREAT WAS ACHIEVED WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM.

When thinking about an English lesson it is useful to keep the following three elements in mind

Engage Study Activate

Engaged……

If students are engaged, if they’re genuinely interested and involved in what’s going on. This means getting the students interested in the subject, in the class and in what they are doing

Engaging students is important for the learning process. Engaged students learn better and are likely to cause fewer discipline problems

The STUDY……

The Study element of a lesson could be a focus on any aspect of

the language, such as grammar or vocabulary and pronunciation. A Study

stage does not have to be new language input. It could also cover revision and extension of previously taught material.

Active Stage…..

Simply telling students about the language is not usually enough to help them to learn it. In order for students to be able to develop their use of English, they need to be given the chance to produce it. In an Activate stage the students are given tasks, normally writing and or speaking activities which require students to use not only the language they are studying that day, but also other language that they have learnt.

Old and new ……………

For many years, the blackboard was the only teaching aid many teachers had. In today’s technological world, computers can help to present ideas in different ways

Today’s Teens grew up with a mouse in their hands

The benefits of Computers

The advantage of using software is that the students are focussed on the task and using the technology ratherthan thinking about English. They need to use English to complete the task, but as they are not consciously thinking about it, their use is more natural and communicative. Computers are another source of variety and interest in the classroom.The computer is also an excellent tool for the teacher for the preparation of work sheets and exercises as well as a sourceof material.

"EFL Blogging School for Moldovan Teachers"

Helpful tools

http://www.wordle.net/create http://www.tagxedo.com/

What is Wordle?

Wordle is a website that uses the keywords from a text of your choice to generate a “word cloud”. Children use the word cloud to predict the content of a text and to write it.

Preparation

Before the lesson ,choose the reading text that will be the focus of the lesson. Then go to www.wordle.net and create your word cloud using words from the text.Choose the most important words from each paragraph and copy them into the Wordle generator. The more times you copy a word, the bigger it will appear on the word cloud.

Procedure

Divide the children into groups of four and give each group a copy of the word cloud. Explain that the children will reconstruct the text using the words from the word cloud. The biggest words are the most important ones and may be used more than once.

The children work together to reconstruct the text, writing their own version using the word from the word cloud.

Procedure

A representative from each group reads out the group’s text.

Hand out a copy of the original text and ask the children to decide which group’s version was the closest to the original.

Alternatives

If the text has a number of paragraphs ,you can help the children by colour – coding the words. Words of the same colour belong in the same paragraph.

Revision: to revise a text the children have studied recently, paste the text into Wordle and generate a word cloud. Show the children the word cloud and ask them if they can remember what the text was about,the meaning of the words and how they were used in the text. You can build up a bank of word clouds over the semester and bring them out at random to get the children to recall the texts and the key vocabulary.

Alternatives

Prediction: to help the children predict the content of a reading or listening text and active their background knowledge (which helps their reading/listening) , you can create a word cloud from the text and ask them to predict the content. You can use the cloud to pre-teach any new vocabulary before the children read or listen to the text.

Alternatives

Reconstruction: to help the children reconstruct a dialogue they have listened to or have been studying, you can create a word cloud, colouring the words in different colours for each speaker. The children have to reconstruct the dialogue.

Writing poems: The children write their own poems using the words.

Character Traits Analysis

Write 5 most identifiable and important character traits for any character in text.

Talk about favorite colours other ideas-fav.animals, feelings, regular verbs .

Copy and Paste ……………..

Students’ essay into Wordle – compare the result and discuss what has/hasn’t been included in the essay .

If students are preparing for a holiday. They could Wordle wedding vows, family stories, favorite love songs of their parents or grandparents to create a very personal gift that’s suitable for framing.

(and it’s Free….)

How to teach ……….

Discover another similar tool – Tagxedo - a word cloud webtool with style! It provides

a good deal of customization for users. For example, if teachers or students want to create a word cloud in an apple shape, then Tagxedo is the right tool for the job. For younger students, Wordle is much more straightforward to use; however, older students will love the customization Tagxedo provides which includes colors, shapes, fonts, and themes. 

       

Decorate with TagxedoExpand your VocabularyAdvertise a ProductBreak the Ice (At the beginning of the school year, ask each student to make a Tagedo)Make a CoverMake a beautiful Sentences or QuotesTeach Students about cultures of the world.

How to use Padlet in the Classroom

Padlet is a free, online "virtual wall" tool where users can express thoughts on topics of their choice. It's like a piece of paper, but on the Web.

Young people can highlight favorite quotes, ask questions, discuss characters and more.  

Why Padlet?....

Padlet can help teachers summarize a large amount of information and present it in a visually pleasing way. Educators can put in text, photos, graphs and other learning tools and share the image with students before a big test or discussion.

http://ru.padlet.com/bmth17_14/8xg38ck66e80/wish/42644682

My room…

http://ru.padlet.com/wall/kxrfci4bqad6 http://ru.padlet.com/wall/bkbmee3v7pti http://ru.padlet.com/bmth17_14/

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Educators can post a particular topic or issue, and students can post their opinions on the subject. This is a great building block for teaching students how to write opinion pieces or persuasive essays. 

Word of the day .They have to make sentences with this word and post it on wallpaper.

For feedback to post what they have learnt how lessons can be improved.

To suggest solutions to a problem To make presentation of the vocabulary with

pictures To create a collection of statements.

To mentor someone to offer to do pro bono work on a projects where their skills are needed.

I can motivate my students very well using a picture or a good film with good ideas

In my blog I connect the pupils with real world and show the language in actions.

Visual aids and online tools make your instructions meaningful for students

There are some situations when these tools can be useful:

To encourage conversation among the students on given topic

To introduce a subject for debate or discussion. To improve writing skills To introduce new vocabulary To show cultural aspect of the country. To explain grammar. To motivate them to create and share what they

have learned

“To be a teacher ,is to make this new world, look and sound and feel so tempting that students want to take the leap ,want to leave behind their tired old ways of doing things”

(Daniel Coffeen)