Wordle: word cloud creator

What is Wordle?

Wordle is a very easy to use word cloud creator. It makes your text look funny and exciting. You can create word clouds with any type of text you might choose. The main feature of this tool is that the more frequent words in a text increase in size and the most common words are left out by default but it also gives you the chance to include them if you want to. You can also customise the colour, font, and lay out. Besides, it allows you to randomize with the same text and get new clouds with just one click. The word cloud you create, you can either print it out, save it as public gallery into a webpage or copy the code and paste into your blog, so you can have access to it afterwards 

You can find Wordle in the following link:

wordle.com

 How to use Wordle?

You can watch this video to learn how to use Wordle:

Why is Wordle relevant to language learning?

• It is an attractive tool to present new vocabulary to students, therefore it encourages motivation and engagement.

• Wordles can be used as warm ups, and activate previous knowledge.

• It favors the practice and development of the reading language skill.

• It can support not only linguistic skills but also the development of cognitive ones. For instance, students can identify some words, select and classify them, analyse or infere the meaning of them as well.

• Teachers can also ask their students to reflect on the content of the wordle and discuss with other peers about it. Therefore, it favors interaction among them.

• Wordle can also be used to teach grammar. 

How might you use Wordle in class/outside the class?

1.   Within the classroom

• Teachers can present a list of verbs or vocabulary in a more interesting way.

• They can also use a wordle as a hook for the class and enhance inference from students. For instance, teachers might start the class showing a wordle made it intentionally by adding the main words of the topic he/she is going to talk about during that class.

• Students can use it to find the biggest words in a text given either by the teacher or found by themselves. Then, the teacher can ask them to make a list of them and look up the meaning of the different words in a dictionary, and write some sentences using these words.

2.  Outside the classroom

• Teachers can ask their students to choose part of a description of a place, such as country, monument, or famous landscape, put the text in wordle, find the adjectives, nouns and their meaning that describe it, print it out and bring it to class. In class, students can be grouped and asked to describe the place they chose by using the most prominent adjectives and nouns found.

• Students can also include a wordle to start a presentation, and then lead the audience to some specific topic, such as the biography of a favorite singer.

• Teachers can ask some students to create a cloud with different doubts in form of questions for a future test, and they can discuss and clarify them in class. The discussion through this tool can be more meaningful and rewarding for the students. 

What limitations can you see with the use of Wordle? 

• When you save your wordle in the public gallery, it is difficult to find it again because there is not a search engine. You might have to look it up by yourself in different pages immediately or you may lose your wordle forever.

• It is hard to control the lay out, because it changes when you edit it.

• It is just a visual aid. It mainly favors this type of learning style.

• It does not provide the meaning of words.

• Words are not seen in context.

Wallwisher or Padlet: An incredible online board to create your 'wall' as you wish!

What is Wallwisher/Padlet?

Wallwisher or Padlet is a free online electronic board (wall) that you can create, share it with people and they can add sticky notes, comments, videos, links, any content you wish them to incorporate into the wall. It is a great interactive tool and promotes collaborative work.

You can find Wallwisher/Padlet in the following link:

wallwisher.com

How to use Wallwisher/Padlet?

You can watch this video to learn how to use Wallwisher/Padlet:

Why is Wallwisher/Padlet relevant to language learning?

• It promotes collaborative work in the classroom. Teachers can ask students to group themselves, discuss about a topic and add their comments to the wall. 

• It also enhances interaction among students in groups by favoring the practice of speaking to get to some agreements on what they would write or include on the wall.

• Students can develop their critical thinking by expressing their opinions.

• It can be used as a warm up to engage students' attention and they can start thinking in English.

• In the same vein, teachers can also use it to brainstorm and activate some previous ideas. Therefore, it favors constructivism view of learning a language, because teachers consider some previous students' knowledge.

• It contributes to interactive teaching and learning.

• Teachers have the possibility to use it in many different ways to promote the socio-cultural view of learning. This theory states that learners can acquire a language through the interaction with other 'more capable peers'.

• Teachers can also create a real need to communicate in the target language by contextualizing the topics to discuss.

• It is also safe for teachers and students. Teachers, can control what it is seen on the wall after they give their approval to students, so they can participate.

How might you use Jing in class/outside the class?

1. Within the classroom

• As I mentioned before, teachers can propose a topic, for instance, 'environmental issues in my country' and ask students to add some causes and consequences about this problem.

• Teachers might also ask students to describe some traditional food in their countries, add some pictures of it, recipes, or videos on how to prepare it.

• Teachers and students can summarise together the main topics for a particular test.

• Teachers may stick some pictures on the wall and ask students to create a storyboard with these pictures.

• Students can also give some advantages or disadvantages about any topic such as, having a pet, watching TV, playing video games, helping with the house chores, etc., any topic that may be relevant for them.

2.  Outside the classroom

• Students can add some reflections about their learning of a particular content.

• Students might also make a list of the different things they have to do during the week.

• Teachers can ask students to add some pieces of homework to the wall and then they can give them some feedback.

• Students can always use this tool to complete a variety of activities as homework. Some other examples are in the paragraph above or you can adapt them as you wish.

What limitations can you see with the use of Wallwisher/Padlet? 

• It is not appropriate for large classes, because the wall may look busy with too many comments on it and not all of them could be readable.

• The wall you created is not downloadable. 

• Students have to manage well their time because the internet connection may be slow at that moment and they may not be able to edit every post they made.

Here you can find an example of a wall that my colleagues and I created when our tutor Russell Stannard presented us this tool:

Elllo: The best website to find thousands of different listening activities.

What is Elllo?

Elllo is a website that provides free reading, listening and vocabulary activities made by native and non-native speakers of English. These audio or audiovisual recordings present real English with diverse accents, and also activities related to these recordings. Teachers can use this tool for different levels from pre-intermediate to advanced. It provides thousands of listening material which can be downloaded and saved into your computer. The recordings are also in the form of monologues, dialogues (between two or more people from various countries), games, videos or news.

You can find Elllo by following this link:

elllo.org

How to use Elllo? 

First, you will find a list with the latest and previous contributions to this site. You can either choose one of them and explore or you can also look for some specific features by selecting one from the list named as 'sort by' in the left side of the home page.

Second, it gives you the possibility to make your search even more accurate and easier by selecting any of the features displayed such as, topic, country, media and level in the right side of your screen.

Then, for example, if you want to raise awareness on  different accents of people from a certain country you would have all the listening recordings which have been done for speakers from that country, after, you can choose the topic and level of the listening you want to use.  

Third, the audiovisual recording (http://www.elllo.org/video/M101/M120English.htm)  that you have chosen will display as follows:

In the picture above you can see the video ready to be played and in the right side you have the possibility to see the 'transcript' of the audio or you can hide it if you want and also there is a 'video quiz' to answer after listening to the recording.

There are many ways you can use Elllo, you just need some time to explore it and find out what best suits your needs.

Why is Elllo relevant to language learning?

• Elllo gives teachers the possibility to use it in class and also they can encourage their students to use and practice their listening and reading skills. 

• Students can practice their reading comprehension sub-skill, too.

• Students can have access and benefit by the use of authentic materials. For instance, they can listen to how a language is actually spoken, with hesitations, pauses, repairs, etc. which may be difficult at first but they can be exposed to it, face these real challenges be aware of, and finally, cope with them.

• Students also get more engaged and motivated with the use of authentic materials. Mainly because these materials can link students with the world, beyond the classroom.

• It trains students' listening skill because they can be exposed to different accents of native and non-native speakers of English.

What limitations can you see with the use of Elllo?

• The website is selective. It is not designed for all learners' levels.

• Some of the recordings are not as authentic as others. It seems that some of them are adapted.

• It might be time consuming to look for what you really want. You have to take some time and investigate it.

Jing: The amazing screen capturer!

What is Jing?

Jing is free downloadable program which allows you to record the screen of your computer, basically, everything you do in your computer and your voice at the same time, it's incredible, isn't it?. It is space saving because it gives you a free account to save your videos, or if you want you can also save the file on your own computer, you can be selective and capture the specific part of the screen you want to show. Within the area of teaching, it gives the opportunity to use it in different ways, for instance, teachers can provide some feedback to their students, guide them how to find some information in websites, give them support on their homework, and also students can use it to record themselves talking.  

You can find and download Jing in the following link:

techsmith.com

How to use Jing?

You can watch this video to learn how to use Jing:

Why is Jing relevant to language learning?

 

• It is a tool that encourages students autonomy because the teacher can provide some feedback about an activity without giving them the correct answer. Teachers can point out or highlight some specific or precise mistakes and students can revise, understand and correct them by their own.  

• When learners get some feedback through the use of this tool they are also receiving input of the language as they can listen to the teacher talking, hence promoting auditive learners. 

• Jing also favors the visual learning style because when students who learn better by seeing check their feedback, they can remember better the mistakes they made and they are unlikely to make them again.

• Students can get highly motivated and engaged by receiving feedback in this unusual way. Moreover, when teachers give them some feedback about an activity by recording their voices they can also add more than just one positive reinforcement  such as, good or well done, because it is easier and quicker to say it than to write it in a piece of paper.

• Teachers can elaborate and explain better a complex content or linguistic point and give more information about it in less time by talking.

• It can be also used to record an explanation to guide students about how to use certain tools, such as Vocaroo or Dvolver to do some activities or homework at home.

• Jing can also help to build up confidence in pronunciation because students can use to record themselves talking about a topic in their own context, at their own time and if they are not pleased with the result they can record as many times as they want to until they feel secured about it and send it to the teacher.

 

 

How might you use Jing in class/outside the class?

 

1. Within the classroom 

• It is important to bear in mind that all speaking activities that students would be required to do using Jing have to be organised, prepared and practiced in the classroom with the help of the teacher, and then, students can develop them on their own.

• Teachers can record the guidance, for instance, on how to use Jing or how to search a certain content in a website in advance and save class time, which is always limited.

• It is also more attractive and interesting to present a content, topic, grammar rules, instructions or vocabulary by using technology rather than doing it in the traditional way.

• Teachers can use this tool to show students how to search for specific information in a certain website. For example, teachers can ask students to do a research project, but during the development process teachers can support them by showing them a recording about what they expect students to include, write, read, etc. to accomplish the activity successfully.

• Teachers can also ask students to write an essay about a particular topic and then ask them to send it to the teachers.

     2.  Outside the classroom

 

• Teachers can provide detailed feedback to students about any written activity in relation to vocabulary, grammar and assess them formatively about their progresses.

• Students might record themselves giving a description about a picture of a place they visited, or a famous person. 

• Students can also discuss or comment about a topic, for example, they can make an outline about the different points they want to talk about in a word document, and use Jing to record themselves.

• Jing not only records a static screen but also allows students to record videos, and give comments on them.

• It gives the opportunity to use it for distant teaching.

What limitations can you see with the use of Jing? 

 

• It might be time consuming to give every student a very detailed and personal feedback if the class is large.

• It may be difficult for teachers to deal with the students who can not complete the homework because they might not have access to computers easily, or face problems to download the program.

Here, there is an example on how you can use Jing to give feedback to your students:

http://screencast.com/t/HJxuhixqAaJ

Breaking News English: The perfect website to find lesson plans based on up-to-date news.

What is Breaking News English?

Breaking News English is a free website in which teachers can find different current pieces of news adapted for EFL/ESL teaching. It provides a wide variety of downloadable or ready-to-print PDF lesson plans with many activities based on themes (topics), and it states the level of difficulty of them. Every lesson plan is organised according to every stage of a lesson, for instance, warm ups, before, during and after listening or reading activities. This website also supplies an mp3 version and transcript of every news, both materials  facilitate the creation of diverse activities using just one recording. 

You can find Breaking News English in the following link:

breakingnewsenglish.com

 
How to use Breaking News English? How might you use it in class?

First, in the left side of the website you will find a list of different current affairs. Choose one of them by clicking in the title of the news.

Second, the text (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1301/130128-perfume_for_babies.html)  that you have chosen will display as follows:

As you can see, this text has 40 activities which you can choose and you are free to decide which of them you would like to use. The activities are classified in different columns, for listening, reading, grammar, spelling, and words (vocabulary). You can choose, for example, 'Read' and here choose the activity 'sentence jumble':

'Sentence jumble' is very useful activity for developing reading skills. It requires to reconstruct the text and make it coherent and cohesive at the same time. For example, students after listening to or reading the news, they are asked to construct the text again by making sense of the different sentences; they have to 'collocate information' encouraging the use of careful reading as a subskill because they may be combining information from different parts. Students also have to be aware of the use of grammar rules in English which would help them to develop the activity, for instance, after a subject a verb is required, or after an article 'a' a noun is the following word. This activity also fosters the awareness of orthography, because after a full stop the next word will always start with a capital letter.

It favors interactivity because the flow of the activity is easy and fast. For instance, after the students choose the first alternative, the next item will display authomatically.

 

What is the relevance of Breaking News English to language learning?

• Breaking News English provides an interesting and engaging way to incorporate the four skills integratively in the classroom.

• It is a useful website for teachers who do not have enough time to create their own lesson plans.

• Teachers can foster critical thinking by asking students to discuss  and give their opinions about current issues, and news articles.

• It promotes the communicative approach of learning because students can work the different activities in pairs collaboratively.

• Students can increase their vocabulary, because it gives the opportunity to recall words more easily due to the number of activities they can work on, with just one text.

What limitations can you see with the use of Breaking News English? 

• The website is not neat. There is too much information, and people can easily be distracted by different levels of communication.

• It also looks old fashion, and teachers may not feel attracted to use it because at first sight, it does not reflect the real usefulness of it.