суббота, 14 мая 2011 г.

Online dictionary

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

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Cambridge University Press publishes a range of dictionaries for learners of English all around the world. You can search our dictionaries using the search box at the top of the page.

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Don’t forget to visit our New Words, which keeps you up to date with those words and meanings that are just starting to be used in English. There’s also About Words, our fascinating blog about how the English language behaves. You can give your opinion on new expressions or blog posts by voting or leaving comments, so get involved!

четверг, 12 мая 2011 г.

Communities


Communities


Below are a few of the online groups that you could consider joining:
  • WebHeads (http://www.webheads.info/): A group of English language teachers who are interested in using technology in their classes. A mailing list is available athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/. Free to join.
  • Classroom 2.0 (http://www.classroom20.com/): An online community that looks at using new technologies in the classroom. Not focused on English teaching.
  • IATEFL Learning Technologies Special Interest Group (LTSIG) (http://ltsig.org.uk/): A special interest group which is part of the wider International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL - http://www.iatefl.org/). Membership (which is not free) includes access to peer-reviewed journals, newsletters and a mailing list.
  • The British Council's TeachingEnglish - Talk (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk) section also has lots of discussions, blogs, forum posts and polls on the use of technology in the classroom.
Being part of a group enables you to ask questions, see what others are doing and find out about new tools and teaching ideas. There are a number of ways a group can form online - through mailing lists using email to using social networking sites such as Facebook.
As with any community, it is the people who are in it which make or break it. Some communities only have a handful of people but are active and ideas are shared freely. other communities have many members but they are stagnant.

Lessons' ideas- blue group

1.TeacherTube - http://teachertube.com/ 
Go to the Science channel within TeacherTube at http://www.teachertube.com/channel_detail.php?chid=59. Find a video that describes a process or experiment of some kind. Ask your students to watch the video and make notes about the process. They should then illustrate the process with drawings and then describe what is happening in each drawing.
TeacherTube - http://teachertube.com/ science channel - Clouds experiment (http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=228001&title=iScience___Clouds___Experiment) This video is interesting and I suppose it’s suitable for my learners (7th or 8thclass). Speaker Jeremy is a nice person, his speech is clear and understandable. At first he asks a question: is this fact or fool? To my mind it could intrigue my students and they would listen with interest. A speaker makes clouds experiment inside the bottle using only a bicycle pump. During this video students make notes about the process and then illustrate the process with drawings and after that describe what is happening in each drawing. No doubt my students would like not only to draw and tell about an experiment but also to try in reality. I giveScore 3 for this video.
TeacherTube - http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=227215&title=Milk_Rainbow___Cool_Science_Experiment.I like this video very much,you don't have to listen,but you have to read and watch carefully.I think it is appropriate for my older students (6th class).There are 2 girls that shows this "Milk rainbow" experiment.To do this experiment you need-liquid soap,food coloring,Q Tips,a dish with milk.There are written instructions what and how to do.I think that would be exciting for my students no just to watch,but to try to do it themselves.They should then illustrate the process with drawings and then describe what is happening in each drawing.I like the music during the video.I give Score 3.
2.BubbleJoy - http://www.bubblejoy.com/intro.php 
This site is particularly suitable for students learning greetings related to particular times of year (Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s day etc.). After your students have studied some greetings, they can go to: http://www.bubblejoy.com/begin.php and select a suitable video greeting card. They can then record their message and send it to someone in the class or to their parents. (The students will need a webcam to do this).
BubbleJoy - http://www.bubblejoy.com/intro.php Unfortunately I didn’t find video greeting cards and couldn’t record message myself. First of all a person must sign in, creating username, password and entering his email to get free account. I am sure that not all my students have emails, webcams and it’s too complicated that’s why I think it’s not appropriate for my students . However the idea is good. (I can't give score to this video source because I couldn't do it myself. thoughtful
ExpoTV - http://www.expotv.com/ 
Give your students a shopping list of 2 – 3 products that they need to buy and specify a budget. Ask them to go to http://www.expotv.com/and try to find the best products for the money they have. They should watch the reviews of each product they buy and make notes of its best features.
ExpoTV - http://www.expotv.com/ I like the idea of evaluating and buying the products using webpage. There are really a lot of different products categories such as computers, electronics, food, sport equipments, clothes etc. Every student can find products which they like the best. They watch short videos of customers and make notes about products features. They can compare their answers (what products they chose and why) and then convince classmates to buy their products. In such way they develop listening and speaking skills. I give Score 3.
ExpoTV - http://www.expotv.com/
It is very useful idea,when we have topic shopping at school.It's very popular in ourdays to use website in order to buy many things.And they are cheaper than in the shop.There are many different categories to choose the products and there is a possibility to compare the prices.Children try to find the best products for the money they have and to make notes of their best features.I give Score 3.
Summary
Summary of ”TeacherTube - science channelThis site can be used for educational purposes to develop students` listening, reading and speaking skills. Both participants agreed that it is appropriate to pre-intermediate and intermediate learners. Videos with 2 experiments were examined. Inga studied video "Milk rainbow" experiment and according to her it’s a great way how to teach students to describe and make experiments using given instructions. My chosen video “Clouds experiment was also interesting where speaker Jeremy had a clear and understandable speech that’s why it is suitable for learners. To sum up teachers will be able to use this site and especially these 2 experiments to teach about things or experiments which can be described and also tried by students.
Summary of “ExpoTV”. This website responds to pre-intermediate, intermediate learners. Teachers can use it teaching about shopping and different goods. Both participants are sure that it is a very useful idea of evaluating and buying the products using webpage. It‘s a modern way how everyone can get cheaper things and students could take an interest in researching and comparing the best features, prices and convincing classmates to buy their products. In such way they develop listening and speaking skills.

Lessons' ideas- red group

1.Big Think - http://bigthink.com/ Go to the ‘topics’ part of the site at: http://bigthink.com/topics select a topic and a video. Ask your students to watch the video, make a summary of the main points and then list some of their own opinions on the topic. When they come to class they can then debate the topic in groups.
Big Thinkhttp://bigthink.com/topics  I have chosen a topic "Art&Culture" and a video "How wine can help your career?" I think this video is suitable for students from forms 11-12. This video is interesting but it is not easy. Students are interested in a career and sport. The title of the video is confused. What I mean is that the word "wine" is provocative because there are (it is not a secret) some students who use alcohol drinks. In my mind, a teacher has to be attentive in selection of a video .(Score3) Next stage is to make a summary and list some of students' opinion on the topic. For my students it could be a problem because they start using mother tongue not English during their discussion. They also have to watch and listen to the video several times in order to understand the content because I.Krush (chess champion) talks very fast.(Score 2) Last stage is a discussion on a topic in the classroom. Mostly, strong students might speak and weaker students do not speak at all or use mother tongue.(Score2).
2. Dotsub - http://dotsub.com/ 
Go to the ‘latest’ section of Dotsub at: http://dotsub.com/view/latest/ find a video that hasn’t been transcribed. Ask your students to listen to the video and transcribe it in English or translate it into their own language. They can then register and add their translation / transcription to the site, or wait for the video to be transcribed and compare to their own version.

Dotsub - http://dotsub.com/view/latest There I have found a video -documentary "Be a man". I think this task is suitable for my students. They can listen to the text of the video and translate it into Latvian.(Score 3)However, to do this task they have to understand  humor  of other nationalities , they have to know idioms. There might be misunderstanding of some jokes or phrases. Another difficulty is grammar structures students have to use. Students can compare their translations in small groups. But written text must be grammatically correct.(Score3) So a teacher has to check students' work before publishing their translation. I think this task is absolutely new for my students so they could be motivated in doing this activity.
3. Langolab - http://langolab.com/ 
Go to http://langolab.com and find a suitable video for your students to watch. Ask them to watch it and make notes of any new vocabulary words. They can get definitions of words by clicking on the words in the transcript. 

As to the http://langolab.com/, it can be used to practice pupils speaking skills with someone who speaks the language they're trying to learn, and who is trying to learn their language, unfortunately, I could not open and log in the lab, so I cannot evaluate how it works, but the idea is worth trying.

Lessons' ideas-yellow group

1.Monkey See - http://www.monkeysee.com/
Ask your students to go to the magic tricks section of the site at: http://www.monkeysee.com/video/subcategory/6?subcategory=86 They should watch a video and learn how to do a magic trick. Then come to class and show and teach other students how to do the trick (in English if they can)

Monkey See at http://www.monkeysee.com/video/subcategory/6?subcategory=86 episode "Dissolving coins". Well, to my mind this task can be appropriate to pre-intermediate students as they could be interested in showing various tricks to their peers or even to young learners but in that case there could arise problem concerning understanding the language and presenting the trick in English. Speaking about pre-intermediate students there also could be some problems relating to lack of practise of showing the chosen trick, as it was said in tutorial, students should practise some time in front of the mirror, in order the trick looked naturally. What refers to my students, I'm not sure that they will take an active part in such type of exercise, so my score to it is 2.

Monkey See - http://www.monkeysee.com/- episode “Linking Paperclip”. As for me, I find this task interesting but inappropriate for my students, because the instructions there are not clear, the information is not so important. So, it can be used just for fun. This trick may be interesting for pre-intermediate level students, teens.

2.Tokbox - http://www.tokbox.com/ 
Try to find an English speaker who is able to give a short talk to your students. Ask them to prepare a short interview and some questions for the speaker. Set up your computer with http://www.tokbox.com in class and make a conference call to the speaker. Get your speaker to do their talk and answer your students’ questions. (To do this both you and your speaker will need to register for a free Tokbox account. You will also need a webcam).
Tokbox at http://www.tokbox.com To my mind, the tool itself is very useful and the only thing which you need to organise a conference is to register fo a free Tokbox account. I suppose it won't take too much time to register, but speaking about my teaching environment, some problems can appear exactly in computer lab, as one more essential device is needed for making a conference, it's a webcam. Unfortunately, but computers in my school are not equipped with webcams. Of course, it's possible to ask students to bring their own webcams for the lesson, but some of them may forget to do it and, as a result, the lesson will be failed. So my score to it is 2.
Tokbox - http://www.tokbox.com/ I agree with Natasha that the problems may be connected with registration and technical equipment. Though the idea is brilliant, I’d like to try it next year, because it’s impossible at the moment, and I need some preparations.
Wordia - http://www.wordia.com/ 
Go to the site http://wordia.com and find some suitable video entries about words. Ask your students to watch them and make notes about what information is included about each word. (Wordia definitions often include short stories or anecdotes too). Then start a word of the day project with your students. Each day get one or two students to prepare information and a short story related to word, then record their story with a video camera or webcam. Keep the videos and review them regularly to help students remember their vocabulary.


Wordia at http://www.wordia.com I suppose, this website is appropriate for intermediate to upper-intermediate students and I am really fascinated by the presentation of words here. I find it very useful because nowadays we teach our students how to define words using some other useful words or phrases and this site can be a good example of showing how to do it in appropriate way. I am practically sure that this site will be in the list of my favourites and I will try to use it in my teaching practise. The score to it is 4.
Wordia - http://www.wordia.com/ I admire this offered wonderful idea to use in my class with pre-intermediate or intermediate students. Students dislike learning the words by heart, they find it boring, and sometimes ignore, so such activity can motivate them and bring new fresh ideas into the learning process. I am going to try it in the near future. Thank you for the idea!
Summary
To sum up the information about this site, I'd like to mention that we both, together with my colleague Zhanna, agreed that materials presented on site Monkey See could be appropriate to pre-intermediate / intermediate students in order to practice listening skills, but some instructions there are not very understandable and weak students may have problems with understanding the language. What concerns strong students, they could try some of activities shown on the site and could even present some of them to the rest of the class, but it could be time consuming as some activities need serious preparation. It's up to teachers whether to use this site or not, it depends on the aim of the teacher, may be it could be used as a source of some extra materials when the syllabus allows to do something different.
Our impressions after having visited this site were admiration and fascination. We suppose that this exact site should be seen and even used by teachers of English, because it gives definitions of words in useful and appropriate manner, what could motivate our sudents and bring some fresh ideas into the learning process. We suggest that learners won't have serious problems with understanding presenters there, and even weak students will be able to get the main idea. We advice our coleagues to add this site to the list of their favourites, it's worth doing!

Mobile learning


Mobile learning

Mobile devices are often phones, but can also include mp3 players, PDAs (personal digital assistant) and notebook computers - anything that is habitually carried around.
The latest phones on the market can often combine all the above technologies - with the functionality of a mobile phone, camera, music player plus the ability to connect to the internet.
Larger screens, and increasingly touch screens (screens that respond to touch so fewer buttons are needed), make using mobiles for viewing content an option that was not available a few years ago.n many parts of the world technology has struggled to take hold. It is very hard to use technology in the classroom if there are no computers, or even no electricity. 
However, even in areas that do not have internet connections or access to computers, mobile phones are often very common. Many parts of the world are finding they are skipping technologies - missing out traditional telephones and computers and going straight to mobile.
Mobile technology can offer a quick and cheap way to skip the complex and expensive process of building physical telephone networks.
The possibilities for learning in general and language learning in particular are huge. Imagine your students being able to do grammar exercises on their phone on the way home from school. Or getting background information from the internet via their phone while on an organised school trip.
Below is a list of useful resources. You can also check out the mobile learning resources produced by the British Council at

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/mobile-learning

Overview
Research
mLearning in the classroom
Resources
Communities of practice
Blogs

Virtual worlds


Virtual worlds

Imagine being able to take your class on a trip to meet another set of learners from another country.
Imagine getting your students talking to the foreign students, finding out about their lives and cultures. Finding the similarities and differences between their lives.
Imagine joining with these students to carry out a language task together, working together to solve the clues to a mystery.
This kind of trip is impossible for most schools. The costs of travelling to and staying in another country is far too high and organising an event like this far too complex.
However, it is becoming increasingly easier to do just this kind of collaboration and exploration through the internet in a virtual world.
Virtual worlds are three-dimensional worlds where users interact with objects and other users using a graphical representation of themselves called an avatar (see the picture). 
There is usually a large community of other users who also use the virtual world.
Virtual worlds have been developed as areas to play games or interact socially. One of the most famous virtual worlds for social interaction is called Second Life.
In Second Life users can build within the environment. 'Residents' can buy land or 'islands' and create realistic buildings and other objects. This has enabled users to make creative use of Second Life and build a large interactive world online. Of course, you don't need to build anything, most users just go into the world to meet other people.
To get an idea of what Second Life looks like watch this promotional video of the British Council's area in the teenager section of Second Life.
[If you cannot view YouTube for any reason, you can click on this link to open the video in a new window - note this will take a little while to download.]
Because the users of second life have control over their environment, the content of Second Life is as diverse as the World Wide Web, with all its wonderful content - and not so wonderful content.

To keep young users in a safe environment there is a separate section of Second Life for teenagers (known as the Teen Grid).
Virtual worlds can be very engaging for users and educators are interested in how they can be used in language teaching. Recently, users have been able to use headphones and microphones to communicate with speech within virtual worlds which opens up language learning possibilities.
That foreign school trip may not be as impossible as you thought.
Further reading:
If you are interested in using Second Life with your users, contact your local British Council office for information on how to take your students into the British Council area of the Second Life Teen Grid.