Group items tagged

This video shows how to use Feed Marklet to create a button on your browser toolbar to add an RSS feed. Takes about 1 minute. You can use an RSS feed to keep track of student Webpages, and have them use it to keep track of each other's work. For instance, they might add all the pages they are making, or their blogs, and so be able to read them quickly when new content is added.

"City College of San Francisco ESL students explore the Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences with its 1.7 million native plants and exciting green technology which controls the building's temperature. Instructor: Cora Chen (visit Cora's ESL Page)" This is a nice example of how a day-trip can be combined into a media and reading-writing project for adult students.

"ANVILL (A National Virtual Language Lab) is a speech-based toolbox for language teachers. Like the language lab console of old, it's focused on the practice of oral/aural language, but at its core are very modern web-based audio and video tools from duber dot com and the University of Oregon: Voiceboards, LiveChat, and Quizzes and Surveys. Our newest tool, TCast, allows teachers to record and place audio or video files anywhere in a lesson--in 3 easy steps. Each of these tools really opens up the scope and sequence of lessons centered around spoken language tasks." Jeff Magoto has done a great presentation on how to use ANVILL, which is a wonderful, free, A/V tool available now internationally.

This is an amazing resource for teaching high school/adult ed. It is video-based and free--individual students can sign in, or a teacher can register a whole class and keep records of their activities. There is an excellent explanatory video for teachers also. Lots of listening/speaking/reading practice.

SimplyBox is a great way to add some Web 2.0 to your research. This would be esp. useful with group objects where students can then look at what each other group member has found. Use SimplyBox for Education, and get the free app (also has fee-based district or school-wide application that can be hosted and access controlled safely, and boxing from any application). The teacher could start the ball rolling, and have students join in, boxing their own sites and info. Esp. good for visual learners. This page has three good help videos: Overview, Sharing, and Twittering with SimplyBox. Fairly easy to use, once you get used to it.

It is a blog

Investigating Natural Disasters Using Web 2.0 Tools

Jeremy Harmer's Blog

Jeremy Harmer's Blog

How to use Twitter for your classroom. Another great video by Russell Stannard. that shows you all the ins and outs of this social networking device as it would be used for educational purposes.

A place for students to connect with each other and practice language--free! One of the finest uses of social networking I can imagine. This is a site similar to Babbel which I used to brush up my Spanish before it became for pay. Let's hope this stays free!

"We are a mobile & web platform that effortlessly allows you to record and upload audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear." Can record from computer or iPhone/iPod. Great mobile recording for podcasting. Very easy to use. You can log in with your Twitter account, record or upload a file, send to friends and post to Facebook at the same time. Your file shows up with your profile next to it. Use is fully described by Russell Stannard at http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/audioboo/index.html.

A huge collection of speeches by famous figures, both audio files and videos. Could be used for transcription exercises. As a member you can create a board and save your favorites to it for students to listen to. Free. Rec. by Russell Stannard.

This site is commercial, but it has lots of interesting ideas on ways the readers theater can help students with reading, listening, and speaking.

"Many people don't realize that The New York Times can be quite accessible for English Language Learners. Due to its focus on current events and news, using The Times to learn vocabulary and practice reading can be much more inviting and rewarding than a textbook. And NYTimes.com has some extra tools and features that are particularly useful for language learning. Here are 10 ideas for using The Times to teach and learn the English language." Includes lookup dictionary, multimedia archive, K/W/L Chart, short activities, culture experiences, lesson plans, this day in history, etc.

Audiobook is a mobile and web platform that lets you or your students create podcasts with computer or iPhone/Android. Stannard's video shows how to use it.

"Teachers who want to put web 2.0 technologies to work for them can find many different free options online. There are tools for creating online classrooms, social networks, student podcasts, web-based flashcards, elearning modules, and much more. Here are 10 free web 2.0 tools for teachers to try in the classroom this year." The first of these, Engrade, looks like it would be useful as an online assignment calendar, gradebook, IM, and progress report system.

Claims to have "All the words in the world pronounced by native speakers." If you ask for a word to be pronounced, another user will pronounce it for you. You are asked to help by recording your own native speaker pronunciation. Looks like an interesting use of social media.

Put in a Web address and lingro turns all the words into clickable links to a dictionary. You can hear the word read out. Further it remembers the words and lets you review and study them. So far 11 languages, including Dutch and Chinese. A fabulous tool for students--better than a dictionary. See Russell Stannard's training video at

"Digital stories-short and economical personal narrative pieces that use image, voice, sound effects, and music to convey meaning-can be a powerful form for creative and engaging student projects." Describes why digital stories make good collaborative projects, and how to do it, with examples and students' journal reflections.

This video is spoken very slowly, with subtitles, so it is quite useful for ESL/EFL students.