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The annual list of the top 100 tools for learning - a good place to check out some new tools, if you're looking.  The analysis page is interesting, too - see what's moving up or down, in or out - http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/analysis-2013/

move fast! they are - or will be - offering ad-free Vokis to educators to start the new school year. Sign-up here if you're interested - they'll notify you when it's ready. Ooohhhh, just found out that "ad-free" means you have to pay a "small" fee - don't know how much it is yet. I'll report back.

More classes move to online environments; students need to evaluate learning styles.

This is really cool - not sure what I'd use it for in teaching - maps of a country?   link to a graphic on the web and you can zoom in and move around in it.

funny animated video about the move from analog to digital classrooms; points out that just having the equipment doesn't change the way people teach; you still need to think about new pedagogy

I appreciate the data around this-- Will be helpful with my student/ family communications about the 'how, why and when' of corrections.

"When it's student-paced, no one gets left in the dust and no one gets bored waiting for the class to move on. HyperDocs are purposefully designed digital lessons and can transform your class. The creators of HyperDocs - Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis - describe them as a transformative, interactive Google Doc replacing the worksheet method of delivering instruction, the ultimate change agent in the blended learning classroom. https://hyperdocs.co/about"

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)

Educators are now using the videoconferencing tool to connect foreign-language students to native speakers, hold virtual field trips and host conversations with scientists and other experts

I like the ideas offered on this site! I have never heard of web annotation before.

In the reading classes I teach in ESOL, we teach academic reading skills to non-native English speakers to get the students ready for college-level textbooks. These tools would be very useful for students if we ever have any digital texts we read for the class.

I had a hard time reading from the link! Once opened there were a ton of moving pop-ups that were very distracting. Did anyone else have that issue?

These are established Language Practice Hangouts for language. But, I thought this would be a great idea for an extension of speaking in class. It could be voluntary or mandatory. Would be neat, too, if kids who have moved on to upper levels moderated the Hangout from time to time.

This article talks about many aspects of communication especially the benefits of synchronous distance language learning

Thanks for sharing, Carmen-- I am also considering students who do not have Twitter, or parent concerns, and I wonder if small group work might be a solution- Using the twitter account of one student, another student or group of students help to compose responses, stay hidden from their online contributions.

Thanks for this suggestions, Carmen-- will use it!

Especially middle/high school parents/students may feel more comfortable using a platform provided by the district. I am also planning to use the discussion board in the district's platform. I can definitely use the tips in this article.

I agree with the idea about assigning specific tasks for listening activities. There is nothing more confusing than not knowing what to do when listening to an audio in another language. What do you think would be best, to watch the entire movie in the classroom, watch some parts of it or watch all of it each o the students in their houses?

I have struggled pedagogically about showing moves in class. I think that I need to thoughtfully incorporate them because the students enjoy them. I wonder if showing the whole movie, but in parts, depending on the movie, might be the way to go - I always feel that there is so much pressure to get through 'X' amount of curriculum. This has given me food for thought about how I could use them.

For when we're missing mingling closer than 6 feet. Not sure if this is for post-secondary only.

this looks fun! I like the way it says the sound fades as you move your avatar away...

Looks like fun way to interact and easy to use