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A more expressive vocabulary Students who have already been learning English for several years have a good grasp of grammar and cope fairly well with the reading that is part of the course. If they are serious students, learning English for a purpose, they will want to get on and pass their exams. What holds them back is the lack of an accurate and appropriate vocabulary in which to discuss topics from climate change to the Olympics, from the history of their town to their hopes for the future. These students need to distinguish better between words they already know, but where their understanding of the full range of meaning and use is incomplete. They need to activate words in their passive vocabulary to enrich their writing and speaking, and they need to master words that are completely new. There is a word, autonym, that means ‘a word that describes itself’: examples include short and polysyllabic. Long and monosyllabic are the opposite. So too, sometimes, is the word interesting, used (as it very frequently is) in learners’ writing: rather than passionate engagement with a topic, what it conveys instead is ineffable dullness: The documentary makes interesting viewing. We had an interesting discussion over lunch. A far greater level of interest is conveyed simply by substituting another word for interesting: The documentary makes compelling viewing. We had a stimulating discussion over lunch.

What's a simple way to start infusing your curriculum with technology? What's a good starting point? Do you have a fav collab project? Courtesy of my Twitter Network: Suggest they take a part of their curriculum that they know well.... & consider if it could be made more collaborative, interactive, or personal for the students... then the tech tools are a win...  Need a GREAT project? Use Glogster to create and publish a WOW multimedia poster on any academic topic!http://tinyurl.com/3m799m  I've been thinking a lot about NETS-making tech "transparent and routine."  For tech neophytes, it's got to be non-threatening. so I've used GoogleGroups and GoogleDocs for out-of-class discussion and collaboration. As a language teacher, epals.com has been invaluable with connecting my students to native speakers.  Also, wikis & google earth Every faculty member has del.icio.us account-didn't support browser bkmrks when gave new machines-made em use del.icall summer collaboration and planning was done on wiki or google docs-all tech supprt documentation on wiki-students/teachers add  Visit ISTE student profiles. Pick a unit to enhance w/them. See http://tinyurl.com/6eybas  We start many a noobie on sharing online bookmarks, understanding how to share and access others bookmarks and subscribe to them. Use technology to reach it?  Sometimes I think when they see how well the objective is reached, and how engaged the students are We use wikis & google tools a LOT for collab started as tchr driven switched 2 stud recommend gaggle too Blogs would be my top suggestion... very collaborative.. easy learning curve... lots of possibilities.  My teachers found the http://1001tales.wikispaces.com collaboration to be a powerful and easily integrated project. locating images for a timeline project? posting a question of the day on a class blog? recording and sharing language mp3s? I started last year with podcasting and posted their work on the web, just like students in my class do. This year I showed teachers how to post and use a ning. They LOVED it. I call it Facebook for teachers. Set up Google Apps for Ed acct. for older students. Demonstrate the powerful uses of apps. Learn to organize Start with wikispaces. Look for other examples. Keep it simple & collborative. Kids work in teams to build wiki. Maybe info one? I'd say using tools such as Voki and Voicethread have been a good start for me :o)  Tchers have 2 start by letting go of the idea that they are "integratin tech" change to using tool for effective instruct ,that said...phone in response casts to gcast, post assign 2 wiki let kids discuss, storytelling 4 slide...feel post coming on:) The easiest way for this writing teacher is to pick a topic, any topic, and podcast students another starting point is to use VoiceThread to accomplish that.or start blogging and ask them to share their poetry (quick, simple success) then post that online. Have them drop poems into PPT Poetry then put it online with VoiceThread and invite feedback from other teachers' students on the poems, serious or fun. Take them to Thinkfinity.org and let them use the story mapper or bubbl.us to map a poem, story, nonfiction text Do something simple that can be successful and allow person to see tech can support and make easier initially...find easy web sites that kids can do (my background is EC) that excite them. Find place so they communik8 (such as ask an expert) Online enviros such as nings or wikis offer the most flexibility for just about any kind of content; images, video, audio,text basic start would be w digital camera and bulletin bd then putting pics into projects, especially w a technophobe....take a look at what is happening and see what could be done w tech--morning messages, sign in on the computer, parent notes etc. I think that there is incredible power in planning learning with other teachers, and inviting student input :-) I think wikis are an easy way in for teachers. they understand the collaborative nature of them. So do kids I think blogging is a simple way to start for humanities teachers. It's writing for an audience. That makes sense to teacher