sabato 15 aprile 2017
BDBCDWGSpring2017 and other free ebooks and resources online
If you follow EDweb webinars you may be familiar with www.bigdealbook.com.
They offer CPD online and a lot of resources for educators.Some are free and provide ideas and information to find tools or websites with lots of resources.
Here is the link to their last ebook- you just need to ask to download it:
BDBCDWGSpring2017
I found some interesting websites with free resources: they vary from projects to documents and games. A lot of free resources could be used in Italy too and they might be shared with teachers who are not teaching English but need to use English in CLIL.
Here are just some interesting ones: just check them and the other ones.
https://www.globalonenessproject.org/
https://www.facinghistory.org/reconstruction-era
http://www.radiodiaries.org/
http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians
https://myshakespeare.com/
https://economics-games.com/
https://www.knowitall.org/series/artopia
https://sciencebob.com/
Here is the ebook for their ebook for teachers of Languages: I will have to check it.
Thank you to the people who worked to make these ebooks. They will help a lot of teachers to create new content!!
Happy Easter 2017
Hoping we will continue living in peace and share the beauty of friendship among people and different cultures: HAPPY EASTER!
venerdì 14 aprile 2017
Digital Storytelling and Science
On 5th April I could see an interesting webinar - the speaker was Rebecca Morris who shared her materials and an interesting padlet with some samples of what she meant by choosing the title Digital Storytelling and Science. I was favorably impressed by her webinar!
http://www.rebeccajmorris.com/presentations.html
It seemed to me a great introduction to the topic DS as more and more we are asked to work with our learners and to think about new approaches in the way we work, think and make presentations.
I could see some samples of what she meant by using DS in a scientific context. The ideas and the tools may be familiar to many of us but what I was looking forward to seeing were examples of DS.
We can rely on a lot of free resources online and scientific subjects can be learned by using narration.
She used and shared some interesting web 2.0 tools:
This is her padlet with some more presentations. They are a great source for teachers who want to start using DS and are looking for ideas.I liked the idea of having a mix of images and great sources in terms of information. We might think about using the new tools in teaching English and CLIL as we could have learners engaged in working on specific topics while studying and making their own presentations.
http://www.rebeccajmorris.com/presentations.html
It seemed to me a great introduction to the topic DS as more and more we are asked to work with our learners and to think about new approaches in the way we work, think and make presentations.
I could see some samples of what she meant by using DS in a scientific context. The ideas and the tools may be familiar to many of us but what I was looking forward to seeing were examples of DS.
We can rely on a lot of free resources online and scientific subjects can be learned by using narration.
She used and shared some interesting web 2.0 tools:
This is her padlet with some more presentations. They are a great source for teachers who want to start using DS and are looking for ideas.I liked the idea of having a mix of images and great sources in terms of information. We might think about using the new tools in teaching English and CLIL as we could have learners engaged in working on specific topics while studying and making their own presentations.
Write&Improve Learning English online
Learning how to write in English and some useful tools online
It is not easy to teach students about the best ways for writing in English. Today we can rely on tools online that can support us while working on one of the most difficult skills to teach in English.
Currently, I am teaching students preparing for Cambridge exams in afternoon lessons: both B1 and B2 level exams focus on such a competence. They are required to write emails, short stories, essays and articles in English and most of the time I have no time to do this in the morning. Only in these special courses I focus on the technique and I realize that learning how to write well requires a lot of time and exercises based on what they will be asked to do in the papers!!
What is really hard for our learners is to master Vocabulary and how to organize their ideas while writing a text which can be meaningful and while they are writing they are following a framework which is English and not in Italian. One of the most common mistakes my students do is when they follow the Italian way of writing. It is a spontaneous way of writing which often lacks planning and organization and which is based on a different way of working while writing.
They often translate from Italian into English and they forget that the English language is much simpler in terms of organization of thoughts and ideas. I need to teach them that brainstorming is the key to starting writing better but it is hard for them to forget their Italian.
Some useful tools can help students develop as learners:
This website requires a teacher's account and it is a source for widening the students' language competence.
This tool online helps you learn about the best combinations: just check what I did when I chose the word " butter": interesting, isn't it?
Online dictionaries can provide support as students will focus on the meanings while checking the spelling or the words they are going to check.
Cambridge English has just started an interesting service online which is free and which can be used by learners who want to improve their writing skills. Here is the presentation online about this interesting service and which can provide feedback for the learners who have registered with it for free.
I think that all the students taking Cambridge certificates should try it!
I hope I will be able to teach better and I am willing to start using these tools in class with my intermediate level students.
Teaching English Grammar and ebooks
Teaching English Grammar: ebooks for Learners
Last year I could do a great EVO session about creating ebooks and the tutor in the course was Shelly Terrell Sanchez. In the course we did online we shared ideas about the best ways for writing an ebook and we learned about many publishing platforms which were free. I shared my first ebook about William Shakespeare, but before starting the course I had thought about the problem of grammar learning or rather learning how to empower learners by using the English grammar correctly while studying on their own.
I have not published any book about English grammar and exercises yet as it is a great effort for me now and honestly I would need more time to work on this ebook.
However, I have tried to design an ebook for my lower level learners who are " struggling learners". I chose the simple past and some listening and reading activities for the learners who will have to study on their own.
The result of my effort is this ebook where students are asked to revise and learn the simple past while they are asked to watch some videos about the main language structures. As the simple past tense requires a lot of reading and speaking I chose some books which are free online and which could be read by my students.
Here is the link to my ebook which has been embedded in this post.
I will try to develop more tasks for my students as I will write down some tasks and ideas for the summer work as I think that learning requires a lot of individual tasks. What I think is important for me and for them is that I would like my students to be more engaged and to become active learners who can work on their own and decide what and when to work. This implies that I will have to develop activities which are not only based on grammar exercises but which are meaningful to the learners. I have just thinking about this new ebook which I hope I will end by May before my students leave school.
https://issuu.com/tizianaangiolini/docs/the_simple_past_use_and_reading___i
Last year I could do a great EVO session about creating ebooks and the tutor in the course was Shelly Terrell Sanchez. In the course we did online we shared ideas about the best ways for writing an ebook and we learned about many publishing platforms which were free. I shared my first ebook about William Shakespeare, but before starting the course I had thought about the problem of grammar learning or rather learning how to empower learners by using the English grammar correctly while studying on their own.
I have not published any book about English grammar and exercises yet as it is a great effort for me now and honestly I would need more time to work on this ebook.
However, I have tried to design an ebook for my lower level learners who are " struggling learners". I chose the simple past and some listening and reading activities for the learners who will have to study on their own.
The result of my effort is this ebook where students are asked to revise and learn the simple past while they are asked to watch some videos about the main language structures. As the simple past tense requires a lot of reading and speaking I chose some books which are free online and which could be read by my students.
Here is the link to my ebook which has been embedded in this post.
I will try to develop more tasks for my students as I will write down some tasks and ideas for the summer work as I think that learning requires a lot of individual tasks. What I think is important for me and for them is that I would like my students to be more engaged and to become active learners who can work on their own and decide what and when to work. This implies that I will have to develop activities which are not only based on grammar exercises but which are meaningful to the learners. I have just thinking about this new ebook which I hope I will end by May before my students leave school.
https://issuu.com/tizianaangiolini/docs/the_simple_past_use_and_reading___i
domenica 9 aprile 2017
Mistakes in learning the English language
English language teaching and learning:the importance of mistakes
I found this interesting infographic about commons mistakes in language learning. There are many mistakes which can be found in our learners' writing. I think that this is a good way for working with them by making them become aware of what they might write and what they need to think of before writing so that they will write without making mistakes. I am usedto asking my students to correct sentences but creating infographics with some common mistakes can have a visual impact on their learning. They can remember much better and they can rely on some reference online or on something they have created. Similarly, we might work on their writings and ask them to recognise what type of mistakes they have made: grammar or spelling mistakes, for example. They could also make a short presentation where they reflect and think about the best strategies to improve their skills. Active learners will benefit from learning by making mistakes!
“We learn from failure, not from success!” from Dracula by Bram Stoker
I found this interesting infographic about commons mistakes in language learning. There are many mistakes which can be found in our learners' writing. I think that this is a good way for working with them by making them become aware of what they might write and what they need to think of before writing so that they will write without making mistakes. I am usedto asking my students to correct sentences but creating infographics with some common mistakes can have a visual impact on their learning. They can remember much better and they can rely on some reference online or on something they have created. Similarly, we might work on their writings and ask them to recognise what type of mistakes they have made: grammar or spelling mistakes, for example. They could also make a short presentation where they reflect and think about the best strategies to improve their skills. Active learners will benefit from learning by making mistakes!
“We learn from failure, not from success!” from Dracula by Bram Stoker
venerdì 7 aprile 2017
Interview with Rasha Halat : using Ted-Ed
Friday 7th April ( Day 5)
An interesting interview with Rasha Halat who presented one of the tools which I have seen online but never used with my students. I have used the lessons created by other teachers but I have never created mine.
I checked online and I could see that apart from using the Lesson Library you can also create your lessons, share them with your students once you have created them.
These are the simple steps you need to follow:
1- search a video
2- add questions: they can be open questions or closed questions with multiple choices. You can also add more resources
3- publish your lesson
4- share the link with your students
This tool is great as we can monitor the students and track their work.
As I have already said, it is a new tool as I have never created my lessons and I have just used what the library offered but I am going to start using it!
I will see if it can be an alternative to EdPuzzle- which I am familiar with.
All these tools can enhance the students' learning online while working on Listening and Viewing skills of our students. They offer great possibilities for creating videos with activities when teaching CLIL and they should be used by all teachers involved in the so called Flipped Classroom approach.
The aim of the tool was to make learning and teaching different from the past. They have been great as educators can now rely on a new source of ideas and maybe our students will learn better.
Thanks for letting us know about this tool or reminding us that we can use it and that it is free!!!
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