Elllo English

What is it?
Hello hello elllo! This time around, I'd like to introduce a fabulous tool which is called Elllo English. It is one of the largest source for teaching and learning materials on the net. Now, how amazing is that? This tool allows the students to learn language naturally through listening to authentic materials. There are thousands and thousands of texts with interesting topics available on Elllo English. Those texts are divided into six main sections which are Views, Mixer, Games, Videos, Scenes and News. Additionally, there are two more sections under Mixer which are called Songs and Talking Points. In each section, there are a range of activities provided, with loads of additional stuff such as the transcription of the listening task, free MP3 files, multimedia, vocab tasks and language notes. The printable version of the activities are included as well. In addition, almost all texts are provided with audio explanations of vocabulary items. Besides that, the students could also benefited from video sharing, a feature that allows them to upload a video about their thoughts and opinions regarding certain text. Not only that, they could listen to other videos of people from all around the world sharing their opinions as well.

Suitable for:
I would say that Elllo English is suitable for secondary school and college/university students since the listening task might seem too complex for primary school students.

Activity Suggestions:
This tool is definitely could be used as a listening activity material. The teachers should choose the appropriate videos according to their students' levels. Additionally, the students could also be encouraged to use Elllo English outside school period so as to encourage towards greater learner autonomy.

The Link:
http://www.elllo.org/english/home.htm

The Snapshots:

Views

Mixers

Games

Videos

Scenes

News

Songs

Talking Points

Advantages:

1) Authenticity. This tool provides authentic materials of listening activities. The English language that are used in the videos are all real, and it is very important for students since they can learn how to use the language in their daily lives.

2) Pronunciation. Elllo English includes audio files for vocabulary pronunciation. This feature is so great because students can learn and practice the correct pronunciation of certain words. Moreover, the definition of the words are also provided, and thus will be useful for helping the students to thoroughly understand the texts.

3) Variety. Since this tool offers thousands of interesting topics, there will be a variety in language learning process. Thus, it will make the learning process more fun and enjoyable.


Disadvantages:

1) Server down. If there are too many users, the system will be overloaded and thus make the tool nonfunctional. It will surely distract the learning process.

2) Crowded layout. The layout is too packed and crowded. Sometimes, it is confusing as well since there are too many things sprawled on one page.

3) The videos cannot be downloaded. What a shame, because the videos are interesting.

Though there are some limitations of this tool, they are all not that worth concerning. So, teachers, go for it! Anyways, as usual, this is the help provided by Russell Stannard regarding Elllo English.

The Link:
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/elllo/index.html

Zimmer Twins + Vodpod

What is it?
Zimmer Twins is a movie maker tool that is very interesting to be used for language learning. It is quite similar to another tool that I have introduced before this - Dvolver. But, Zimmer Twins is way cooler than Dvolver (I think!). Using this tool, the students can create an amazing quality of cartoon animation (seriously!). Zimmer Twins provides several story starters which enables the students to create their own movie endings. Or, they can even creatively create their very own animated movies from scratch. It is easy to use and a video on how to make a movie is even provided by Zimmer Twins. With a little guide, I bet that the students will be able to use the tool successfully.

Suitable for:
In my opinion, this tool is suitable to be used for learners of all ages and levels. However, this tool might be too complicated for young learners (primary school students), so, I guess secondary school and college/university students would be much more benefited from it.

Activity Suggestions:
There are several ways of using Zimmer Twins in the classroom. For instance, the students can be asked to watch a starter video and finish the story however they would like. Ideally, the activities should be carried out by students in pairs so that communication between students can be maximised. Besides, the teachers can also ask them to create animation movies from scratch to encourage their creativity. Besides that, the teachers themselves can use Zimmer Twins to introduce new topics for language learning. After that, the students will have to apply whatever they have learned in a form of movies. How fun the teaching and learning process would be!

The link: http://www.zimmertwins.com/

Treasure Hunt | Zimmer Twins

- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Advantages:

1) It will give so much fun to the students. They will enjoy something light and easy like creating a movie. Therefore, they will engage in the activity until the end.

2) Increase creativity among the students. Zimmer Twins will allow the students to work and think creatively in order to create an animation movie.

3) Personalisation. Since there are loads of choices offered in Zimmer Twins, the students are free to choose whatever they think the best for their movies. It is very important as it allows the students to use language to express their own ideas, feelings, preferences and opinions comfortably.

Disadvantages:

1) Irreversible. Once the movie is saved, it could not be altered anymore. So, no changes can be made if there're some mistakes in the movie. Besides, the bubbles provided in Zimmer Twins have been restricted to certain amount of words only. Thus, the students could not write long sentences in the bubbles since it has word limits.

2) We cannot embed the video to the blog or other website directly. Instead, you have to use other tools that can give the embed link of your video, so that you can embed your Zimmer Twins movies in your blog. The tool that I used is Vodpod.

3) Subscription. In order to share the completed movies or view other movies, the users have to purchase a VIP membership, thus it would not be convenient for language learning if all students have to become the VIP members.

Although the disadvantages are quite a turn-off, especially regarding the subscription, I still believe that Zimmer Twins is a really great tool that can be a huge help for language learning. Since we can use tools like Vodpod, the teachers could embed the movies created by the students to the classroom's blog or teacher's blog. Therefore, the movies can be viewed by all, and the subscription thingy would not be a matter anymore. By the way, Vodpod is totally free, and you need to sign up and after that, it will give a 'tour' on how to use the tool. Cool. Anyway, here's the link:

http://vodpod.com

And, as usual, here is the help from Russell Stannard that you might need regarding Zimmer Twins. But, bear in mind that the Zimmer Twins does not work the same like it did in Russell's video anymore. It is totally free then, no VIP membership whatsoever.

The link: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/zimmer/index.html

Wordle

What is it?
Wordle is a briliant tool that can create beautiful word clouds from the text that we provide. It is really cool because in just one click, we will get a beautiful word clouds. It works on all texts, no matter how long the texts are. From the word clouds, we can distinguish between the most common words to the least common words used in the text, according to their sizes. Not only that, Wordle provides other functions as well which enables the users to change the font, layout and also the colour of the word cloud.

Suitable for:
This tool is suitable for learners of all ages and levels since it is very simple to use.

Activity Suggestions:
I would say that this tool would be very useful for the teachers to prepare a pre-reading activities. This is because, it will be a great help for the teachers to introduce a new text to the students as Wordle will help the students to generate their thinking to get the ideas regarding the text which will then build their comprehension towards the text.

The Link: http://www.wordle.net/

Advantages:

1) It's ABSOLUTELY free! No hassle, no sign-up required, just copy the text and paste it on Wordle and in just a click, it will be nicely done for you. Your job is only to get it printed and distributed to the students.

2) Vocabulary. The students will learn new vocabulary in an easier way since the words are clearly stated in the word clouds.

3) Communicative activity. Using wordle, the teachers can create a medium of communication for students in the language learning process. For instance, they could be asked to discuss and share their ideas to guess the real text for the word clouds. Thus, it will help them to increase their speaking skills.

Disadvantages:

1) You will have to have java player, or else it won't work, no matter what computers you are using.

2) If the text is too long, the words tend to jumble up in several sizes. So, it might cause the students to be confuse since there are loads of words in many sizes.

3) If big words are clear and easy to spot, small words sometimes are too small and hard to be identified and read.

So, teachers, please please please, try to use Wordle. I guarantee that the students will enjoy the lesson much more! And as usual, here is the link to Russell Stannard's video regarding Wordle. If you need more information and help, please help yourselves by clicking this link:

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/wordle/index.html

MyBrainshark

What is it?
MyBrainshark is a presentation-creation-tool that allows the users to create multimedia presentations, and we can add audio to it as well, to narrate the presentations. Moreover, we can publish our creations so that it can be shared with others and we can embed it too. There are several forms of documents that can be used in MyBrainshark which are the PowerPoint presentation, word document and also photo album.

Suitable for:
This tool is suitable for all learners in secondary schools since the application of the technology used is quite complicated for the learners of primary schools. Nevertheless, MyBrainshark can be used for learners of all levels of language proficiency.

Activity Suggestions:
This tool is very useful to sharpen the speaking skills among students as they have to narrate the details that they have put in the slides. The teachers can use MyBrainshark as a new medium of a classroom activity. For example, the students can be asked to prepare PowerPoint presentations about, for instance, current issues such as global warming, road safety, and the topic could also be a simpler one like their biodata. Then the students need to use MyBrainshark to add a narration to their slides, and then present it to the whole classroom. In addition, they can also be asked to do it as a homework and the products have to be emailed to the teacher. By doing so, it can help to increase the students' autonomy.

The Link:

http://my.brainshark.com/home.aspx

Available at: http://my.brainshark.com/About-Me-510208205

Advantages:

1) It is Free! This tool is totally free to use. You just need a computer to have the work done. Besides, it is easy to use, even for people with limited knowledge about technology.

2) Motivation. Using MyBrainshark could motivate the students to speak comfortably using the Target Language as they can practice and do the narration on their own without any interferences and pressures from others. This is because to insert a narration in MyBrainshark, it requires a quiet environment (e.g. their own houses) so that the clarity of the voice is maximised.

3) Sharpen the students' speaking skills. When the students are motivated to speak in the Target Language, this will surely help them to enhance their speaking skills.

Disadvantages:

1) Time consuming. The students who are not fluent may take double or triple times in narrating the work than the ones that are fluent. Thus, it would be quite hard for them to complete a task in the classroom since the time given is not sufficient for them.

2) Inauthentic speaking activity. This might happen if the students prepare the script beforehand. Thus, the narration would not be spontaneous and authentic, but it will turn out to be a prepared one.

3) Limited access. If it is hard for the students to use MyBrainshark at school, then it might be harder for them to do it as a homework, if, they do not have the computer and internet access at home. Usually, in this case, the students especially in rural areas will be at loss.

Nevertheless the fact that they are some disadvantages of this tool, I believe that these problems are only minor, and they can surely be solved. MyBrainshark is a great tool, and it would be a shame if the teachers do not introduce it to their students. Anyway, as usual, if you want more helps and details regarding this tool, feel free to click these links, which are taken from Russell Stannard's website:

Part 1: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/brain/index.html

Part 2: http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/brain2/index.html

Bookr and Bubblr

What is it?
Bookr is a tool to create and share your own photobook using Flickr images. This tool is very fun to use since the students can create their own piece of photobook depending on their own creativity. It is extremely easy to use since the pictures can be simply found from Flickr through the search engine provided in Bookr. Most importantly, this tool is not only about the photos alone, but the students are also required to write a description of each picture that they put in the Bookr.

Suitable for:
I would say that this tool would be a better option for lower secondary school students as you could not add a large amount of text to each page.

Activity Suggestion:
Nevertheless the fact that this tool offer a limited space for writing, Bookr can be used to substitute Microsoft Power Point Presentation, which would be great for students of all levels since it is could be helpful for them to practice their speaking skills.

Alternative:

Alternatively, you could use another cool tool that works just the same as Bookr. The only difference is that the final product will be in the form of comic strips rather than a photobook. It is called Bubblr.

The Link:

http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/

http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/

Advatages:

1) It is fun! And free too! What a perfect combination. Most importantly, we do not breach the copyright infringement of the photos since they come straight from the Flickr. Besides, no sign up required, and it is very simple to use. I believe that the students will enjoy learning the language using Bookr/Bubblr.

2) Develop creativity among students. When the students are given freedom, the tendency for them to work creatively is very high since there is no boundary set for them.

3) Develop the students' speaking skills. They could be asked to present their completed photobooks to the whole classroom. With that, the teachers could use Bookr/Bubblr to help the students to improve on their speaking skills.

Disadvantages:

1) Limited space for writing. These tool is not suitable to be used as a writing activity since it is impossible to write long sentences for each photo.

2) Distraction. Since there could be a lot of photos available, it could cause a distraction to the students. When this happens, using Bookr/Bubblr seems to be time consuming as the students would likely to take time choosing their preferred photos.

3) Irreversible. The final product of the photobooks/comic strips could not be altered after it is published. Thus, if there is a mistake in the photobooks/comic strips, it will remain there. Since it is impossible to make changes, the students have to make a new one, therefore this will be quite a waste of time.

Although there are some minor disadvantages of using Bookr/Bubblr in the language learning, I believe that it is still fun to use once in a while; and the teachers and the students could still be benefitted from these tools. So, if you want more information about these cool tools, do click this link that available on Russell Stannard's website:

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/newBubblr/index.html