Present.me

https://present.me/

What is this?

With the help of Present.me, you can now do your away from lecture hall or classroom to your audience. You can have your presentation with PowerPoint, documents from Microsoft office, pdf, etc. Present.me not only allows you to record your voice, but also the image of the speaker. You will see the document on the left hand side while the speaker's image on the right hand side. 

How to use it?

1. Go to https://present.me/ and create a new account, try the new version. It is more economical in covering most of the necessary functions. The free version is adequate for presentation. 

2. Click the button "create" and choose what you want to record. You can choose from four of them: "Slides and Video", "Slides and Audio", "Slides" and "Video".

3. If you are going to make "Slides and Video" through Present.me, then you click "Slides and Video", press "Proceed" and "presentation file" on the next page, and start the presentation.

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. it is a great tool for students to practise speaking, students can repeat practising till they are satisfied; it is especially helpful to less confident students who are afraid to speak in classrooms.
2. students can also send the recording to teachers for feedback for improvement, the mistakes can be clearly noticed as everything is recorded
3. this presentation can be done outside classroom, it saves more time because teachers may not always free to listen to the whole presentation in school, more classroom time can be allocated for other academic purposes
4. it is a very effective tool, teachers can give feedback when students send them the video recordings

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

1. teachers can ask students to design a presentation about a specific topic, students then give their presentation after class, it saves more classroom time; the nonverbal language and confidence of speakers are clearly shown for fair assessment
2. project presentation can be done in Present.me, teachers can assess the groups from the recordings outside classroom time; teachers can train students for a particular speaking competition in this way
3. with this great tool, students can have lecturing at home; distant learning teaching is possible for teachers to explain ideas which are complex

Limitations

1. your equipment: computer and Internet need to be very advance and fast enough to support the video. 
2. it is quite time-consuming to a certain extent: it took me XX minutes to wait for the upload of video.
3. the amount for uploading videos is only 10 each month, the time limit is 60 minutes per video
4. once you are not satisfied with your video recording, you have to start the whole recording again and it takes even more time for students to finish that
5. there is quite a lot of work for teachers to give feedback through Present.me.

Wallwisher

http://padlet.com/

What is this?

Wallwisher is a free online web tool, everyone can create an electronic wall. The messages are shown in post-it notes on the wall, in the form of texts, images, videos, maps, slideshows, documents, etc.
It was originally used for designing gift cards for birthday or some special events. It surely can serve as an educational purpose also. It is easy to make a wall by yourself. You can set privacy once you have created it.

How to use it?

1. Register and create an account, you can log in with your gmail account. You can then start creating your wall. 

2. Click "Build a wall' in order to start, you can modify your wall from adding title, description to changing background and privacy. 

3. When you have set up everything, you can start decorating your wall. When you double click the wall, this allows you to post a message and write whatever you want. Below is a collaborative example done by  my coursemates and me about what to eat and do in Madrid, Spain.

The tutorial on how to use Wallshier by Russell in his teachers' training website is definitely worth taking a look:

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/wall/index.html

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. Wallwisher is genuinely attractive and multimodal in catching readers' attention 
2. it provides students the chance of discussing and compromising ideas on a specific task within limited amount of words
3. it provides students to practise speaking in disucussion
4. it demonstrates clearly the work done by students with Wallwisher
5. it is good for students to make feedback on each other's wall

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

1. it is a great tool for group activities, teachers can divide the class into several groups; each group, each student is responsible for different tasks.
2. students need to report what they have found and report to the whole class their wall
3. it will be a good idea for brainstorming acitivies for warm-up section before the class
4. the wall is a collaborative work done by students, they are more familiar with it
5. if it applies to vocabulary activity, it will leave deep impression to students

Limitations

1. a computer is a must in completing this task, for a class of more than 40 students, it is better for to share computers among pairs or groups
2. the word limitation (maximum 160 characters) limits students to practise writing
3. it takes longer time for students to come to a conclusion and the wall content is crowded when everyone has the right to edit or delete information on the wall
4. there is a potential problem for cyber bullying

Wordle

                                      (http://www.wordle.net/delete?index=6404464&d=EOBC)

What is this?
This is a tool for people to create graphics from text which they upload. 
You can freely create your own graphics. When you enter the article or content of words, the more frequent words are larger in size.

How to use it?
Find the text which you like to use, select and copy

1. The way to use it is just SIMPLE:
2. Select a text and copy it.
3. Go to www.wordle.net and click 'Create'. Put the text into the blank box which says 'Paste in a bunch of text'.
4. Press 'Go'.

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. You can include common words which can be a good discussion point about the reason for the bigger words.
2. The 'Show word counts' window gives words in alphabetical orders or in sequence order. Thus, you know the times of the occurrence of a word in a text.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

1. It can be used to pre-teach some crucial vocabulary from the text.
2. For exmample, teachers can show students the graphics and ask them 'what is the text about?', 'what words do you not know?', 'can you tell me some of the meanings?' or
3. It can be used for reflecting students' own writing on a specific topic. We can ask students to bring out themes or key words from the graphics shown, this can stir up further discussion of that topic.

Limitations

1. The graphics you create is unique and will not be the same the next time. So, you should print-screen or use Sreen Capture software to record your favourite graphics as soon as possible.
2. There is no sound of Wordle.

Vocaroo

Vocaroo Online Voice Recorder

http://vocaroo.com/

What is this?

Vocaroo is an online voice recorder for producing your own voice recordings. By opening your computer connected to Vocaroo and a microphone, it allows you to record, listen, upload or email the recording to anyone. You can also embed the voice recording into any sites for free. 

How to use it?

1. The recording starts when you press 'Click to record' button. 

2. You can also try 'Click to Stop', 'Retry/Listen', 'Stop/Pause' for listening the recording.

3. Clicking the 'Click here to save' button allows you to embed or email the recording. 
Below is my own example of using this tool:

Voice Recorder >>

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. Installation of this easy-access audio recording tool is extremely easy
2. This tool is incredibly easy to use, teachers can use it anywhere when computers and microphones are ready. 
3. Moreover, it lowers students' anxiety to speak in front of the class using this tool, students can practise speaking in front of computers in a more relaxing atmosphere. They can practise speaking and giving presentations using Vocaroo. Once again, the downloadable function makes it easier to transfer the recorded voice through email, you can choose to send your recording out by embedding it on the websites or files. 
4. Get this one started to encourage your students to speak!

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

1. Teachers can record and proounce the chapters in the recording and send it to students for practice.
2. Students can record their pronounciation reading vocabulary or chapters and obeserve the progession.
3. Regarding the downloadable or embedded function, students can do peer evaluation based on the work they did, like commenting on others' story-telling work or reading-article work.
4. Teachers can use the recording to give feedback to students, it creates a more interactive platform for students to attain feedback from teachers.

Limitations

1. You cannot edit the recording, if anything is wrong, users have to retake the recording again, this in turn wastes time. 
2. If you need the recording, it is better to download that and save it in your own computer, because the duration of keeping this recording is not stated. It stands a high chance that it will be gone in few months.

Breaking news English

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Keep you abreast of the current affairs!- Breaking News English

What is this?
This is a website full of learning English materials, you can find a variety of English lessons which is based on current news. To begin with, seelct one from the recent news articles, you will discover a large amount of teaching resources in the next site about 'print', 'listen', 'read', 'grammar', 'spell' and 'words'.

Let me show you the steps.
1. First, select the news articles by clinking the heading

                      

2. There is a variety of activities you can choose from, click on one of the acitivities below

3. You can simply choose 'Sentence Jumble' from the activities

4. In the example of Sentence Jumbo, students need to listen to the recording and then match the sentences together. Then, students have to choose a sentence from (A), (B), or (C) each time and make a grammatically correct sentence which is as the same as the original text.

5. Students need to type in the sentences which are shown in the blank and click Check to see if it is correct

Teachers can allow students to take notes during listening. To make the most of it, students are asked to group in pairs or three of them in a group to give out ideas. Students learn how to have better ideas of flow in generating language, and communication skills in collaborating ideas. Students need to discuss the text, exchange their opinions and competition create tension to see which team is the fastest in completing the game.

In this way, situation genre is linked, it is important as we learn things in genre. If we come across one word, we will suddenly remember others, since it triggers our schemta.

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. encourages autonomous learning
2. triggers our schemata

Limitations

1. it takes long time for teachers to select materials
2. teachers needs to be selective, more time will be consumed in choosing materials
3. too many things in the website, it makes ones difficult read
4. the content of the articles is for intermediate level or above, teachers need to be careful in   choosing the right materials for students

A real teaching example of this website

1. girls and women recession: idea of flow generating the language
2. sentence jumbo: everyone in pairs give out ideas/ 3 of them in a group to give ideas  
3. vocabulary builder: students listen first and then give them out, teachers can allow students to take notes

Jing

http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

What is this?

Jing is an incredible tool allowing you to record your voice and your screen simultaneously! Actually, you can record everything happening in front of the screen. You are able to get 2GB storage by registration. You are then free to record anything on your screen and share that with others.

How to use it?

1. Go to http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html and download Jing, you have to register using the Google email or email address. It takes a while for the download. 

2. After the download, click "capture" and then drag the area you want to capture, you can choose functions like Image, Video and so on. 

3. Click "Capture a Video" and start to record.

4. When you finish, click "Share via screencast.com" (which is on the left-hand corner, it is quite small) to upload the video and you will receive a link of your video from Jing.

The following is my own example of using Jing:

http://screencast.com/t/i0VRnOXW8t

Below is a very excellent tutorial video given by Russell in his teachers' training video website on how to use Jing:                http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/Jing/index.html 

You can also view the official tutorial video given by Jing for complete understanding.

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. clearer, more precise: teachers can show the instructions or correction of the assignment to students 
2. formative and summative 
3. showing the emotion of teachers: the voice of teachers is recorded, this highly increases and reflects the authenticity of speakers, making the conversation more interactive 
4. multimodality: with the image of screen, the voice of speaker, the writing from typing all contribute to the idea of multimodality 
5. impact: the impact on the one who receives the video is impressive when multimodal elements are involved 
6. more elaboration: we often give more details in speaking than writing, since voice is recorded, the explanation of a particular point of view and some details of a piece of assignment can be discussed in great details by teachers 
7. more engagement of teachers, more interactive: it is like teachers are talking to students directly, students are more engaged in gaining feedback from teachers 
8. stylish (explanation usually comes along when in speaking) 

How might you use it in a language teaching context? 

1. in essay marking: teachers can give feedback using Jing, showing the mistakes students have and they explain the mistakes orally 
2. in talking about Timeline: students can give their presentation to teachers even they are away from teachers after school, students may talk about their best friends or pets or family as their presentation. After that, teachers can send their feedback about the presentation to students through Jing again. 
3. teaching activities can be carried out outside classroom: teachers can use this tool in distant teaching, having extra classes before public exams, giving writing assignment to students (which I have done as an example in Jing above) 

Limitations 

1. teachers need to be capable of controlling computer in order to be able to master the techniques from Jing 
2. it increases the workload of teachers when feedback takes place in Jing 
3. the maximum time of video is only five minutes, this may hinder 
4. the feedback giving by teachers or presentation by students

Dvolver

http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/make.html

What is this?

Dvolver is a 3-scene-cartoon online movie maker, you can design your own characters, setting, form of communication, background music and the content of conversation using this tool. Students can send the movies they made by sending the link to teachers and classmates through email after they have finished doing that.

How do you use it?

1. First of all, select the background and sky you like for your first scene
You can choose the climate and culture from the setting

2. Choose a plot for your scene

3. Select one or two character(s).

4. Type in the characters' lines

5. Select the background music



6. Select music title design



7. Preview and send the movie



8. Copy the code the white box and you have to make sure that it pastes into your blog in 'HTML' mode

DONE!

Dvolver is really user-friendly, it is free of charge and you do not even need to sign up for it. By simply clicking the link "Make a Movie", you start the first step of making your movie.


Choose characters you like, more than 30 different characters are provided, range from
there is a description of each character, some of them are normal-looking folks, some of them are celebrities lookalikes, some of them are animals, etc. 

Why is the content good for language learning?

1. students can create videos outside class, this video making tool is not restricted to time and space we can actually share the film with other people by email, or providing code to embed into your video of a blog post, Facebook page or Myspace page
2. it encourages creativity when students can create their own movies using their own ideas of story making
3. it introduces dialogues in a much more interesting way than rigid textbooks, it is a great tool in attracting young learners
4. it does not consume any space of your computer, as it is saved online

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

1. during the class, teachers introduce the movie using Dvolver, students learn the L2 dialogue from the movie
2. teachers can highlight some of the specific terms students encountered during the process, students can jot the difficult vocabulary down and practise writing and speaking when they go back home
3. teachers ask students to design their own movies based on the conversation they learn from class using Dvolver
4. students send their movies to their peers and give feedback to each other

Limitations

1. advanced learners may find it bored for the monotonous setting
2. conversation between characters is no longer than 3 sentences, more descriptive ideas cannot be written
3. it would be more interesting if speakers' voices can be recorded
4. teachers and students need to download the movies with internet service, the movie cannot be saved
5. the design of characters is not attractive or not familiar to students, at least not familiar to Hong Kong or Chinese students where I come from