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In my district, we are always being asked to connect our language teaching to other disciplines. Using Smartphone to do so is smart. However, not all of my students have these devices. They can definitely share a device. I like how this article is geared toward adult learners who can't or don't have time to attend physical classes. The App allows them to access this knowledge anywhere anytime. Thanks Akiko.

I love the statement about the importance of Math Literacy--YES!!!!

"Five Two Zero So Much"

"This study explored affective factors in learning English as a foreign language in a 3D game-like virtual world, Quest Atlantis (QA). Through the use of communication tools (e.g., chat, bulletin board, telegrams, and email), 3D avatars, and 2D webpage navigation tools in virtual space, nonnative English speakers (NNES) co-solved online content-related problem quests with native English speakers (NES)."

Great resource by Macmillan education with lesson plans, tips, teaching media and much more on teaching ESL. 

There are many, many blogs dedicated to the use of the English language. Some are fairly comprehensive; others are tightly focused on one aspect of language usage that should be corrected, protected, or mocked. Here is a sampling of those blogs for your enjoyment.

Definitely for me.

A look at the videos from YouTube that this teachers uses. Five years ago YouTube officially launched?? Doesn't it seem like it's been around forever?

blog by a German EFL teacher with tips for integrating technology into English language learning

This is a great interpersonal activity, although I would imagine student reactions to it may vary. For instance, some students (like me) may find it stressful not to write things down. On the other hand, not writing things down takes the pressure off for being "perfect" and puts the attention on the spontaneous nature of the interpersonal mode.

Thanks for posting this! These seem like fun ways to meet learning targets with any type of video.

These are useful. Will try some ideas in my class in fall!

These look like some good tools and ideas to support the interpersonal mode of communication

And it's perfect timing!

I have not heard of any of the 9 programs chosen to review - so if they're free, I'll be checking these out "for improving reading and writing in the classroom." They were English Language Arts (ELA) teachers, but could have use for second/world language instruction as well.

A free study site for English as a Second Language (ESL) students with games, quizzes, puzzles, MP3 files with transcripts, listening practice, pronunciation practive, etc.

Although this article is about British language education and it's two years old, my interest was piqued when I read it: ""Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learnt. The best way is to tell students right away that they are responsible for their own learning process, and the teacher is just a guide who has to motivate them."" Made me think about relevancy and how Tech is only one part of that.

Really interesting. I wonder if we changed the setting to the U.S. if the same difficulties would apply. I never really thought about grammar being discarded simply because students don't know it well enough. While I've found that most students we teach don't understand their mother tongue, I still think that the shift to task-based work had as much to do with the lack of real communication skills. Just teaching them grammar and relying on them to go abroad to learn to speak wasn't doing it. That being said, I think the mixture of methods is best, and by mixture I mean the integration of many methods into accomplishing a task. And I agree that the meta-learning is key.

I remember getting a comment from a student once, many years ago, that she had learned more about English grammar in my Spanish class than anywhere else... (sigh)

How to use blogs in the classroom? Free-writing or with corrections?

Here is this link again.....ignore the other failed attempt.

An English teacher in Iowa talks about how she parlayed Twitter interactions into a class trip halfway around the world.

interesting article -just read it myself!

An article about using Twitter in an English class to train communicative and cultural competence at a Distant College in China.

Unfortunately, unless you are a subscriber to the journal, you can't access this article, but if anybody is interested just let me know!