Tag Archives: writing

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






 

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 !

 

 

Ready-made lessons : lessonstream.org

General, Grammar, Resources, Speaking, Vocabulary, Writing skill, , , ,

I have to admit, it’s more like a confession though, that very often I post about some sites that, I am fairly certain, are not very useful  to my students. The reason behind these posts is that by having them published and organised into categories in my blog I make sure they are always handy and never lost to me.
Today’s post is not for you, dear learners(forgive my selfishness), but for us, English teachers.
This site lessonstream.org, is a great site for ready-made lessons. I’ve been following Jamie Keddie ‘s blog   http://www.jamiekeddie.com/ for  while and knew that he was planning to create a new site with new and old- edited material. And Wow! The site is just great and very creative. I love it!
So far there are 44 ready-made lesson you can browse by Language Level, Learner Type, Time, Main Activity ( Dictation: Running Dictation, Dictogloss, Picture Dictation, Speaking, Gap-filling, Collocations, writing…), Language Aims ( adjectives, tenses, passive…)Topic ( Money, school, jokes, love, food..) and Materials