Mobile and social media for language learning and teaching - INSETT

Last Friday (October 23) we had an INSETT on this. There weren't that many people there but that didn't matter because the discussion was good. We talked about:

• how we learn and how gaining insights from this can help us understand better what works with our students
• how far we can expect students to take the lead in their own learning
• practical ideas for motivating students and encouraging them to be more autonomous

If you missed the INSETT you can see the prezi presentation we used to guide the discussion and a google doc that has loads of links that go with the topics we tried (not always successfully) to cover. Hope you find them useful!

Pronunciation Insett: web resources

Here are some of the web resources for teaching & learning pronciation referred to in the Pronunciaiton insett on December 10th. Please add in the comments section and I'll incorporate them into the post. Thanks.

Howjsay Simple. Write the word in the box and listen to it being said.

Ship or sheep

Iowa university phonetics detailed diagrams and videos of mouth.

Stress Monsters the most popular of English File's pronunciation pages

English Central good fun for learners. Students listen video clips and mimic what they hear. The programme allows for students to record themselves, for which they get a score! You have to sign up but it's very straightforward.

Accent Archive compare English-speakers from different places.

Insett: try something different this term!

The idea was to motivate teachers to try out one of three different aspects of teaching this coming term and during the summer courses: learner diaries, cuisenaire rods and vocabulary bags.

1. Learner diaries: click here to read Nik Peachey's analysis of how, when, why we can use them in class.


2. Cuisenaire rods: have a look here to find out how to use those strange little rectangular multi-coloured bits of wood.


3. Vocabulary bags are used by a number of teachers already, here is an extensive list of activities you can try out to motivate students further. Also click here for Ceri Jones' list of vocabulary games - games which she presented at the BC Bilbao teachers' conference last September.

Have a good time experimenting! And please post any sites you come across which relate to these 3 areas.

INSETT - Using ICT for pronunciation

A practical hands-on session giving you time to investigate:

• ELT pronunciation software
• interactive web resources for practising sound production, matching pairs, rhymes, limericks and games
• web-based publishing options, such as vokis and voicethread, for recording and assessing your students' progress
  
• using the MP3 recorder and producing podcasts with your classes
  

ELT pronunciation software
We have the Sky Pronunciation suite installed on Front Office computers which consists of:

• practising similar sounds - students can record themselves and compare their pronunciation with the original
• working on word and phrasal stress
  
  

Interactive web resources
Here you can find an extensive list of pronunciation web resources
Some favourites from the list:

• a phonetics site where students can see and hear how the different vowel and consonant sounds are produced (click on American English)
• mouseovermusic.com where students can move your mouse over the lyrics and hear a song
• shiporsheep.com where students can practise minimal pairs (similar words where just the vowel sound is different)
• stress monsters - a game where students can test their knowledge of which syllable is stressed in a word

For primary age kids:

• phonics practice
• word games practising consonant sounds and rhyming words
• words that sound the same, word patterns and counting syllables
• rhyming words
• practising the past tense of verbs
• learning to read and distinguish sounds

Web-based publishing options:

• instructions on creating and using vokis

• instructions on creating and using voicethreads
  

Producing podcasts

• instructions and examples
  

INSETT - Using ICT with young learners

EFL software installed in CALL Room, Room 8 and 6 for use with young learners

• Storybook Weaver - a creative tool enabling young learners to write and illustrate their own animated storybooks. Learners can choose from hundreds of images and scenery combination.
• Story World 1 and 2 - a collection of popular children’s stories brought to life with pictures and music. The program also includes simple games based on the stories. Learners can also record their own versions of the featured stories.
• WordBird's Word Land - has a range of 20 topics (such as numbers, colours, school, family, farm animals, transport and ‘at the sea’). Each topic is divided into four activity screens

For more information on these programs plus teaching ideas go to http://bcnet.britishcouncil.org:8000/ee/thestaffroom/preparing_lesson/teaching_software/index.htm (this is a BC intranet page, so you'll need your login)

• English with the Finglies – for Primary 1 and 2 particularly. A story with interactive exercises that’s divided into 4 units. Includes a Teacher’s Guide with lesson plans, worksheets and flash cards.

Finding material and ideas about how to use it
Handbook4ICT (follow the instructions of how to sign in as a guest) has:

• ideas on how to use Storybook Weaver. Go to ICT Integration > Practical integration ideas
• a list of ELT software mapped to the CEF levels with tips on how to use them in class. Go to ICT Integration > Syllabus Integration then choose the level and skill that interest you

BC Links for ELT materials Use this to search by category, key words and level

BBC Schools although the material is not ELT, there’s much you can use.

Kids' sites where there’s a whole list of sites with their descriptions from which you can choose material to brighten up the topics you’re covering in the course book

Funbrain for a selection of interactive educational games

Creative publishing web resources

• Voki – students can create their own animated character and then give them a voice. Great for practising structures and pronunciation
• Voicethread – students choose photos and then can record themselves talking about them
• Bubbleshare – students put together a photo album and then add captions
• Zimmertwins – students produce an animated movie using the character and scene options that are provided.
  

Easy-to-follow instructions are provided on all the sites.
For teaching ideas and class instructions on using Voki and Voicethread, see an earlier post and for Bubbleshare see a later post on this blog.

Suggestions for whole class activities (Room 8 and 6)

• For very young primary learners, there are stories and activities on learning to read at the Starfall site.
• For primary-age young learners, choose a topic at LearnEnglish Kids – and select a song or a story. Follow it up with one of the worksheets that are provided and then do one or two of the games or activities related to it. Divide your class into teams and let them take it in turn to use the wireless mouse and keyboard
• For primary-age young learners, choose a story from BBC Schools
  
• For secondary-age young learners, choose a video from the BBC’s or the National Geographic’s youtube channels to practise comprehension skills
• Review and vote on the work that your students have completed using Storybook Weaver, Voki, Voicethread, Bubbleshare or Zimmertwins

Classroom management tips

• Make sure you have alternative material in case your run into technical problems
• An easy way of dealing with naughty students is to have some worksheets or Activity Book exercises handy so that you can take them off the computers and give them these to work from. Usually the threat is sufficient to bring them back in line.
• If you’ve chosen various activities from LearnEnglish Kids or another kids site, create a Word document with a list of the links to the activities, and save it in your folder on the T:drive. Show your students how to open the document at the beginning of the session and demonstrate some of the activities to the whole class with the data projector. Back on their work stations they work through your list of links, this way they won’t get so lost and distracted as they do when looking for links on a web page, and you can see what activities they have done by checking the colour of the links (the colour changes once they’ve been visited).
• Finish the session on the computers a few minutes before the class ends. Do not let students leave before they have closed program windows, hung up headphones and pushed their chairs under the tables. Please make sure you leave the CALL Room tidy and ready for the next class.

Dealing with technical problems:
The web site or program doesn’t function properly

• Most of the participatory web sites and programs (Storybook Weaver, Voki, Voicethread etc) require Flash Player. If they don’t work properly (you can’t see a video or animation or you can’t record sound), it means that Flash Player didn’t install correctly on start up. The solution is to re-start the work station. (Some of the CALL Room computers don’t respond to the re-start menu command. In this case, switch off the computer and then switch it on again.) You then have to give time for the updater to finish its installation process (5-10 minutes) before the work station becomes fully functional.

No sound when working with the data projector

• Make sure the Sound Manager (the box with slide controls on the teacher’s desk) is switched on. When you finish your session, please switch this off to get rid off the annoying buzz from the speakers. But don’t switch the speakers off, it’s a hassle to turn them on again.
• Make sure that the Sound Manager cable is connected to the sound socket on the CPU (marked with a headphone symbol on the computer box on the teacher’s desk). It may be that someone has connected a set of headphones (instead of the Sound Manager) into the socket.

No sound or you can’t record from one of the work stations

• Make sure the sound output hasn’t been muted by double clicking on the speaker symbol (bottom right hand corner of the screen) and unchecking the box.
• Check that the headphones are connected correctly with the input jack in the green socket (headphones) and the output jack (microphone) in the pink/blue socket.
• If neither of these solve the problem, replace the headphones with a new set from the cupboard by the door (key on hook under teacher’s desk). If it’s only a problem with recording sound i.e. that headphones still work, put the faulty set in the box provided. Otherwise, if you’re sure that neither the headphones or mike work, throw the set away.

(All these are covered with helpful screenshots of the relevant equipment in the red Help folder in the CALL Room.)

If you are unable to solve a technical problem or there are not enough headphones/ splitters for each work station (2 sets of headphones, one splitter per work station) or the CALL Room was in a mess when you arrived for your class, please fill in one of the forms provided.