Category Archives: Resources

The Voice:Blind Auditions. Revising Physical Descriptions

Funny Stuff, Games, Listening, Music, Speaking, Students' Corner, Vocabulary, , , ,

Whether you are a fan of this kind of programmes or not, nobody can deny this talent show has been a big success worldwide. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about The Voice is a singing competition that consists of a blind audition where four coaches (famous singers ) select the members of their teams, a battle phase and then the final, where the audience selects The Voice. It started in The Netherlands like two years ago and since then the format has been sold to many countries where it has also been a big success.

The idea for this activity came from the French teacher in my high school, Yolanda (see picture). Just by chance she commented  on how much fun their students had just had doing this activity and  right away I asked her to borrow her idea for my English class.

The instructions are fairly simple.

♥Students in pairs and with their backs to the whiteboard  listen to someone singing but they won’t be able to see them, that’s why it’s called Blind Auditions.
♥Working with a  partner, they decide what the person they are listening to looks like (see handout).
♥When the audition finishes and without turning their backs, they need to decide whether they want this person in their team to be THE VOICE. If they want them, they should raise their hand making the V gesture and saying I WANT YOU!
♥Now, they’ll have to compete against the other students who also want the singer. The singer will belong to the team who has the most accurate physical description of the singer.

I have selected these two videos you don’t like the game, at least enjoy the music!!

QR Codes in Education Part 1

Create your own stuff, freeware, Resources, Tutorial, ,

My intention when I started writing this article was to show how I was planning to integrate QR Codes in my classes but then I realized that there was much explaining to do before this article served its purpose. I am familiar with QR codes but I wondered if my readers were. For this reason, I have decided to split this post into two.Here you’ll find the theory , and in QRCodes Part 2 (coming shortly) you’ll see some of my ideas to introduce them in the classroom, or rather as homework ,as students in Spain aren’t allowed to bring their mobile devices to the school.

It was not that long ago when I saw for the first time a QR Code . I remember I was in Ikea and thought … what the heck is this? And then I thought … Do I really want to know? And then some time later…. But are they really here to stay?Now, it’s crystal clear to me that QR codes are here to stay and I am only beginning to test their potencial in education.

But what is a QR code ? QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a mobile phone)They are white and black barcode squares that can be easily generated and that allow you to encode text , urls, images and audio files among other things – lately they have become more sophisticated as you will see below. Now you can only begin to imagine the possibilities for education.

But how do we generate a QR code?

GENERATING A SIMPLE QR CODE

Nothing could be easier. If you google “QR code generator” you’ll find lots . The ones below are just some of them:
Kaywa QR Code ( it allows you to encode URLs, text (160 characters), phone numbers,sms.   

GO QR.Me  (same as above but it allows you to encode 300 characters)

CUSTOMISING YOUR QR CODE

Now, we all know about QR codes: they are black and white squares, containing encoded data. Boring, isn’t it? Why don’t we decorate and make our QR code more stylish ?

QRstuff is definitely my favourite

VisualLead lets you integrate a QR Code into an image , blending QR Codes with a design or image of your choice

Now , we have created our QR code. What’s next?

GETTING A QR Code Reader

Lots of modern phones can read QR codes but first you need to download a QR reader/scanner. For example , in my mobile I have installed AT&T Code Scanner but there are lots of them you can download for free. For iPhone, Scan is a good one, and for Android there’s QR Droid.

HOW TO SCAN A QR CODE

To scan the codes, all you need is a mobile device with a camera, and a QR code reader or scanner app to interpret the data in the code. Open your QR reader on your phone or ipod and center the QR code within the frame provided and let the magic begin!

Holding your breath for Part 2?

Vocaroo: Free Tool to Record and Share Audio

Audio, Create your own stuff, freeware, Resources,

I just love this useful tool to record audio. I love it for many reasons:

♥You don’t need to register and it is free

♥ It is very easy to use

♥You can record yourself or upload a recording

♥ It can be easily shared  or embedded in a blog. It also gives you an url that can be sent via email.

Listen to me saying hello

Audio recording and upload >>

Recordmp3: my favourite online recorder

Audio, Create your own stuff, Resources, Speaking, ,

I am running out of time. The term is coming to an end and I haven’t had many opportunities to listen to you. That’s why our next project is going to be giving an online speech using www.recordmp3.org, which is probably my favourite tool to record audio. Advantages of this simple tool:

1. you don’t need to register

2. You can save your recording

3. it gives  you an url (this is what you will have to send to me)

How to record yourselves

♥ Go to http://www.recordmp3.org/

♥ Allow the recorder access to your computer. See picture below

♥Click Record. Click Start Over if you have made mistakes

♥Save your recording on your computer (just in case)

♥Send me the url you get. Choose the Click to Copy option and send me an email with the url you have just copied.

Good luck!