Hello everyone! Today I am talking about mobile applications that can be used for English language teaching and learning. The 20st century learners are digital natives. They can easily access mobile devices and apps. Therefore, it is a good idea to think about how we can take advantage of these devices and apps to help our students enhance their English language learning. Mobile learning (learning using handheld devices) can take place in the classroom or outside the classroom, and it can promote learners' autonomy and collaboration. For example, in the classroom, learners can use mobile devices to work individually on a writing task, which can be later shared onto a common platform for classmates to give feedback. Outside the classroom, learners can continue a classroom task on their own pace individually or collaboratively. Besides, learners can take initiatives to use mobile devices and apps to practise the language in a self-directed approach.
My today's interest is the British Council's LearnEnglish apps. The Brithish Council provides you with fun and interesting mobile apps that can help your learners enjoy English learning experience. Let me discuss two of these apps.
1. LearnEnglish Grammar
~Image from LearnEnglish Grammar app~
As you can see in the above image, the app gives learners an option to practise English Grammar. There is a wide range of activities they can choose from depending on their level of English, from biginner to advanced level. They can also take a test to monitor their progress.
What is interesting is that most of the activities are interactive and are presented in varied modes (text, audio, video, image) to make learning more exciting.
Please, note that the app does not go into details to explain Grammar rules. However, this is not a big problem because you can access the details on the British Council website by following this link.
2. LeanEnglish videos
~Image from https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/apps/learnenglish-videos~
This is another mobile app from the British Council which can help learners practise English, especially the listening skill. The app is equipped with videos on various topics, which are uploaded regularly. It also displays a script which you can read as you listen to the video. However, learners also have an option to challenge themselves by listening and watching the videos without reading the script. What is more, you can download the videos and watch them offline, so this can help in case of limited bandwith.
It is interesting that learners are provided with some questions to answer after watching the videos to check their progress.
One thing I did not like with these two apps is that their free versions contain ads that pop up as you are using the apps. This may cause discomfort to the users.
In general, mobile learning is advantageous because it allows learning to take place anywhere, anytime. It also exposes learners to a variety of content, and arouses learners' motivation by providing them with interactive game-like activities. However, the use of mobile devices require careful guidance, especially with young learners because they may distract them. Again, in some contexts, mobile devices are prohibited in primary and secondary schools. This makes it difficult for learners to benefit from these new technologies.
I hope you enjoy to read my post. Please, leave a comment to let me know what you think about the British Council apps and mobile learning in general.
Blended learning (a combination of face-to-face and online learning) has been a popular mode of learning in the context of Covid 19, where physical interactions among people were discouraged to reduce the spread of the pandemic. Due to the lockdown that was imposed in most parts of the world, most schools opted to teach online. Even when the social contact restrictions were eased, schools have adopted blended learning to help teachers and learners get familiar with this mode of learning to be able to cope with similar crises in the future.
For blended learning to be effective, an number of ICT tools are needed especially for teachers to create online materials to engage their learners. Today, I am talking about H5P short for Html-5-Package, an interesting tool that can help you create interactive activities for your English language online classes.
Image from H5P.org
As shown in this image, you can create varied interactive activities including drag and drop, gap filling, matching, word puzzles, flash cards, multiple choice questions etc. You can also create presentations and interactive videos. You can have a look at samples of created activities here to have an idea of how the tool works.
To use H5P, you need to integrate it with a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Moodle, Edmodo etc. Please note that this is a commercial tool and can't be used for free. But you can create a 30-days free acount to experience how it works.
Here is an example of an interactive gap filling activity that I created with my H5P free account to help students practice jobs vocabulary.
This is how it looks like if a student attempts to answer the questions.
One of the drawbacks of H5P is that it might take some time for teachers to create activities. Again, the fact that it requires LMSs to use it might be a limitation for some teachers who don't have access to these platforms. Moreover, it might be expensinve for low resourced contexts because not everyone can afford to pay $57/month for the basic package.
Would you like to create your own interactive activities? Follow this link, create an account and explore the tool on your own pace.
Please don't forget to leave a comment to say what you think about H5P.
This week, I am talking about a tool that can help your English language learners improve their pronunciation to develop the language fluency. According to Ron (2015), oral fluency is defined as the ability to plan and produce spoken language and the extent to which this is automatic or controlled. Studies have shown that, pronunciation plays an imprtant role in achieving oral fluency. In other words, it is very important to be able to produce accurate speech sounds to be mutually intelligible. How can ICT support this?
There is a wide range of tools that can help your learners improve their pronunciation. One of these tools is YouGlish. This is an online youtube-based tool that helps its users to learn the pronunciation of words in different languages including English. The tool can be accessed from any device such as a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone.
Image from youglish.com
As in the above image, all you need to use YouGlish is to type the word or phrase for which you want learn the pronunciation, then click 'say it'. You will be given plenty of videos in which the word or phrase is used in authentic contexts. This tool has interesting features that make it user-friendly. For example, it provides users with a transcript that allows them to read the words and phrases as they are spoken. This feature can help learners understand how words are used in sentences. What is more, they can control the speed of the videos to listen to them at their pace. It is also interesting that YouGlish gives an option to choose the English accent you want to hear (e.g. Amrican, British, Australian etc.). This gives an the language users an opportunity to experience various varieties of English.
Teachers can use YouGlish to help learners get familiar with the words or phrases that are hard for them to pronounce. For example, EFL learners can easily confuse the pronunciation of 'dearth' and 'death', therefore playing videos in which these words are used in context can help learners get used to their pronunciation. To foster self-directed learning, teachers can also encourage learners to use YougGlish to practice the pronunciation of the words they encounter outside the class which seem unfamiliar to them.
One of the limitations of YouGlish is that if young learners use it independently, they may encounter inappropriate content because the platform may not necessarily filter the content available to the public.
I hope you enjoy to explore YouGlish. Please, leave a comment to say what you think about the tool.
Hello everyone! Last time I talked about technology and learner autonomy. My interest for this week is learners' collaboration, which also plays an important role in promoting autonomous learning. The sociocultural theory of learning by Vygotsky (1978) stresses the idea that learning is a social process. This means that social interaction plays an important role in cognitive development. By collaborating with peers, learners co-construct knowledge more easily.
What does ICT add to collaborative learning? My answer to this question is that you no longer need to be in the same place to be able to collaborate with others. There is a wide range of online tools that can help you share your ideas wherever you are and at a time convenient to you. Today, I would like to talk about one of these tools-Tricider
Tricider is a user-friendly online platform which can help teachers get students work collaboratively by sharing ideas about a particular topic. This tool is completely free, and is available here. You don't need to log in to use Tricider. When you open it, it will look like this.
All you need is to type the question you want your students to discuss, then click 'go'
Here you have your question created, and need to proceed by clicking the highlighted field to invite students to share their answers. You will have many options to invite your students by means of emails, social media, or by sharing a link generated by the platform.
The following is a video in which ESL teachers from the Teachers of English as a Second Language Association of Ontario talk about how the tool works and how to use it with English language learners. This video is also accissible on YouTube.
What is interesting with Tricider is that students can argue for and against the topic (Pros &Cons). They can also vote for the most favourite shared ideas.
After exploring this tool, I believe that it is a good anline tool that I can use to help my engineering students. When it comes to the use of technology, my students get excited because it is their area of study. Therefore, I can take advantage of this tool to help them develop their writing skills. This tool can also help me monitor my students' writing progress online and provide comments and advice for improvement.
What I think might be a drawback of this tool is that less confident learners may feel anxious to share their ideas online for the fear of being laughed at by their peers.
You can find an example of a tricision that I have created on this link
I hope You enjoy to read my post. Please, leave a comment to say what you think about tricider.
One of the best things you can do in your English classes is to encourage your learners to become autonomous learners. Learner autonomy is a process by which learners become responsible for their learning. In other words, they are able to set goals for learning and look for what they need to help themselves learn what they want to learn.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had tremendous development in the 21st century. This has had an influence on almost all aspects of human life including education. By means of ICT, learning can take place ubiquitously (anytime, anywhere). In other words, it breaks the boundaries and goes beyond the confines of the four walls of the classroom and scheduling. Learning can happen all around us, and everyone can be an initiator of learning without having to wait for a teacher to start the process. Learners are more inquisitive and this provides an opportunity for life-long learning.
There are various ICT tools that can help in learning English autonomously. Today, I would like to talk about one of them. That is, Simple English Videos.
Simple English Videos is an online English self-learning tool that is simple to use and easy to navigate.The materials are in form of videos that are made by Viki (British) and her husband, Jay (American). Vicki and Jay explore both British and American English to make authentic videos that can help people learn English in action accompanied with clear explanations. I have found the videos both instructional and entertaining because they are built on interesting converstations, stories, and comedy sketches. Therefore, you can introduce it to your students because it can motivate them to learn the language. The tool is accessible on the web by means of devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. You can access this platform here.
As you can see in the above screenshot, all you need is to click on the highlighted fields and access free learning materials (videos).
What is interesting with this tool is that you can choose materials that match your English level.
Additionally, you can choose an aspect of the language that interests you more.
Here is one example of videos from simpleenglishvideos.com. It is about the use of 'make' and 'do'. Enjoy watching the video.
One of the drawbacks of Simple English Videos is that this learning tool does not provide room for learners to do actictivities to check their progress.
Do you think this tool can be useful for learners in your context? Please, leave a comment to say what you think about it.
Hello everyone!
I hope you are all doing well. This week I want to introduce to you another
interesting ICT tool useful for English language teaching and learning. That is, ‘WebQuest’.
What is
a WebQuest?
A WebQuest
is an inquiry-oriented activity which learners work on by using web resources. In
other words, learners use information from the web to do a task given. However,
this does not mean that learners search for information from google or any other search engine. Instead, they
use web resources pre-selected and indicated by their teacher. In line with constructivist theory of learning, WebQuests allow learners to contribute greatly to their learning through collaboration and meaning negotiation. One of the
advantages of WebQuests is that they promote higher order thinking through
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
The main
elements of a WebQuest are as follows:
Introduction:
This provides background information about the topic. This should be presented
in a way that attracts students’ attention
Task: a
general description of the task. This should be achievable and interesting
Process: This
is a step-by-step explanation of procedures that learners need to go through to
complete a task
Evaluation: This
indicates what the teachers expect from learners, i.e. criteria for evaluation.
Conclusion: A
summary of what has been learned and encouragement for further learning.
In the following YouTube video, Bernie Dodge (the creator of the WebQuest) explains more about WebQuests.
Let us now look at a sample WebQuest that I have explored this week. The title of this WebQuest is "Learning English with Technology - which tools to use?".
The activity is introduced with a kind of challenge to students to put themselves in the place of somebody who has been employed as an English teacher and has been asked by the director to reseach on technology tools that could be used in English language classes. I believe that this way of introducing the activity will really engage students as they will strive to convince the director about their ability. Additionally, the task is introduced by means of a technology (voki), which I think is a kind of motivation for students to learn how technology can be applied in teaching. Doing this activity is very beneficial because students will at the same time explore WebQuests and learn about other technology tools for language learning.
The task is presented with clear guidelines: students are asked to work in groups to choose one of the language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) that interests them for which they are going to find a technology tool that can be used to develop that skill.The task is to be done collaboratevely as each student is to work with others with similar interests to develop criteria for choosing a technology tool , then come back to their original groups to evaluate together various tools. As this WebQuest is designed for undergraduate ELT students, I believe that they have prior knowledge of English language teaching.
In their groups, tudents are assigned roles that really match the area being investigated (online tools to develop language skills). Those include listening leader, speaking expert, reading researcher, and writing representative. Working in groups, students with similar roles are provided with enough web resources from which they can get information to support their own understanding in order to decide on three criteria to adopt an online tool to develop a language skill of their interest. Additionally, students are given many options of online tools from which, basing on the criteria they set together, they can choose one that can be used to develop language skills.
One of the merits of this activity is that it develops students critical thinking skills_reading different sources, synthesis of ideas to set up criteria to adopt an online tool, evaluating the tool, convincing the director about the tool, all these require higher order thinking. It is interesting and important that the teacher shares an evaluation rubric to let students know what is expected from them. This helps them to stay focused on the main points of their task.
A good conclusion is provided congratulating students on the great job and challenging them to reflect on what they learnt from the task.
Overall, this is an excellent WebQuest for ELT students/teachers to learn about how to incorporate technology in English language teaching and learning. I think similar activities can be very useful in different contexts. Even in some schools with no or limited internet connection, teachers can use webquests in assignments and projects whereby students can have internet access from parents, friends, or public internet spots.
One thing I don't understand in this webquest is why students were asked to choose only ONE tool to recommend to the director. Is it because there was not enough time to explore more tools? In my opinion, students should have analysed more than one tool to cater for most of language aspects. Maybe the author will tell us more about this.
It is good to note that the author has given permission to other people to use this WebQuest provided that the original authorship is credited_ many thanks to her! If you are interested in exploring this WebQuest further, you can go to this link
You can also find more WebQuests that are already created on Questgarden.com. Interestingly, you can also create your own WebQuest on the same website.
I hope you enjoy to explore WebQuests and look forward to receiving your feedback.
This week I
am introducing to you ‘WordWall’, an interesting and easy to use tool for English language teaching and learning.
Features
WordWall offers ready-made activity templates that can be used by teachers to create interactive or printable activities for their classes. The templates are are accessed on this website. Interestingly, you can edit the templates to adapt them to your learners’ needs and context. Indeed, you can switch them to different styles to make the activities more exciting. The activities can easily be shared via a link generated on the platform, and this helps students access them on their laptops, tablets or smartphones. This means that they can be used anywhere, anytime (in the classroom, on the move or at home). Thus, in some contexts where there is not internet at school, students can access the activities at home using their parents' laptops or smartphones.The teacher will be able to see the activities results immediately after they are completed.
Enhance your learners' motivation in ESL/EFL classes.
Wordwall comprises various
interactive game-like activities that can be used in the classroom to develop different
language skills. This online learning tool is of paramount importance because
it promotes learners’ autonomy. The fact that most activities are in form of
games, and can be completed within limited time, students work on them competitively. This promotes self-directed
learning and active participation in the lesson. Some of the activities can
also promote collaborative learning as students can work on them in pairs or groups.
Fostering
English language learning with WordWall
After being
introduced to WordWall in the course
of ICT in TESOL last week, I have explored the tool further and found out that
it can be used mainly to help learners practice speaking, have fun with grammar
and enhance their vocabulary. The following are sample activities you can use in your English classes. Note that the activities can be adapted to meet your leaners' needs.
Use ‘random
wheel’ for learners to answer a question asked randomly
Random
wheel allows you to create activities for learners to practice speaking by
answering questions on various topics (e.g. talking about themselves, their
families etc.). These questions are chosen randomly by spinning the wheel. Here is an example speaking activity that I have created for you. Enjoy the game!
With this activity, I believe students can have fun to answer questions that are randomly chosen.
Help your learners have fun with grammar
Wordwall provides you with a range of resources to practise grammar in a fun and engaging environment.The following is a multiple choice activity that can help learners practice the use of prepositions of place.
Enhance learners' vocabulary
Wordwall offers a wide range of fun activities to help your learners improve their vocabulary. The following is a drag and drop activity that aims at grouping adjectives with similar meanings.
Limitations
One of the limitations of Wordwall is that it allows a
limited number (five only) of activities a teacher can create with a free
account. This means that if you want to explore this technology unlimitedly, you
will have to purchase the standard or pro versions. If you are not ready to do this, you can
always come back and change the activities you created before and add new
content. However, you lose your previous activity as it is replaced by the new
one. Again, you can access, edit, and use activities that were created by other
teachers.
Another limitation is that slow learners may struggle with activities on this platform as most of them are to be done within a limited amount of time. However, teachers can adapt the activities to meet their students learning pace. Sudents can also enjoy to do these activities on their own pace at home.
For more information on how to use Wordwall, you can watch the following videos.
I hope you enjoy reading my post and will appreciate your feedback.
