Category Archives: Create your own stuff

Spelling Revision with Spelling City

Audio, Create your own stuff, Games, In the Computer Room, Vocabulary, , , ,

We are almost on holidays and students are beginning to feel the heavy burden of passing all their exams. It’s never too late to start studying, is it?

English spelling is difficult. There is no point in pretending otherwise but… nevertheless, students have to learn to spell so let’s choose a motivating activity to speed up their learning.
I plan to take my students to the computers room and use the excellent website Vocabulary and Spelling City.com.

Aim: to revise the spelling of words and practise their pronunciation.

Procedure:
♥Assign a computer to every student (or alternatively to every two students)
♥Tell them they are going to help their classmates revise the spelling of some of the words studied in this course. Decide on the numbers of words you want to revise and ask students to go to the website Vocabulary and Spelling City.com
♥Students type the words in the spaces provided and click on the button Spelling Test. .See pictures below.
♥Ask students to stand up and choose a different computer. Students click on Say It and Sentence to guess the hidden word and type it. Click Check me to see your score and then there is the possibility of clicking on the button Teach me where the word will be spelled.
♥You can ask them to repeat the procedure and revise new words. They will surely love it.

If you want to read a bit more about English Spelling, click here

You might also want to read:

Swayable: a picture survey

Create your own stuff, Writing skill, , ,

In my neverending quest to integrate technology in my classes I have stumbled upon this little tool , Swayable, which is mainly intended to create surveys with the added feature of allowing you to upload an image from your computer or use one from the web  which is, in my humble opinion, its best feature as it heightens its potential in the classroom.

I have been thinking it could be very useful when explaining comparatives or when asking students to write about the advantages or disadvantages of a certain issue.

Once published you can embed it in your blog and  the students can write in the form of comments (you have to click just below the picture where it says “Click to Sway) to your Swayable.

The first example is for students to practise the comparative and the second for them to practise writing about the advantages and disadvantages of, in this case, working and studying.
And then it follows a little tutorial to help you ceate your own Swayable






 

Embedr: a nice way to create playlists

Audio, Create your own stuff, freeware, Resources

Time flies , doesn’t it? It’s already May and the end of the course is getting closer. Students and teachers are beginning to feel the pressure of time running out when we still have so many things to teach or learn.

So, to give my students a break I intend to take them to the computer room to do some listening on the Royal Wedding but…. I don’t want them to just go to  youtube and search for clips at random. And this is where this little tool comes handy.

It is called Embedr and it allows you to create your own playlist of videos and then embed them in your website or blog. This way, you won’t have to worry about students getting the wrong videos.

Illustrating your stories: Storybird

Create your own stuff, Resources, Writing skill, , , ,

Has your teacher asked you to write a story ? or Have you asked your students to tell you a story? No matter whether you are a student or a teacher reading this, storybird is a very creative innovative tool which will turn writing tasks into a funny game.

How does it work?

♥Click on “Sign up” in the top right corner to register for an account and  you’ll be sent an email to confirm your registration.

♥Pick up artwork  and start writing your story.

♥The story can be printed out, shared  or read directly from the computer. It can of course be projected on a screen, which is  a  very nice to share what you’ve done.

And this is my storybird! I’m afraid I didn’t have much time to do it either  better or longer !

 

 

Write a comic with www.writecomics.com

Create your own stuff, Funny Stuff, In the Computer Room, Resources, Writing, , ,


It’s never been easier to write a comic. This fantastic site http://www.writecomics.com/ allows you to create your own comics in just a few minutes and you don’t even need to register.
It’s great to do with your own students in the computer room or, alternatively, set this task as homework. I can almost see my students’ faces lighting up when I tell them.

How to do it:

♥Choose a background by clicking on your choice

♥Choose the people or the animals. You can also add props and/or aliens

♥Then, the speech bubbles, as many as you need

♥Type the text

♥If you change your mind about something, double-click to delete it

♥Add as many scenes as you need

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The only thing I don’t like about this site is that you cannot save or embed your comic strip, but. you can copy the url or use a screen capture program to take a picture of it and then embed it into your blog.

Some ideas:
To practise tenses
To write role-plays
To make an interview