How can I make Study Guides more visually appealing?Many times I feel my students don't really know how to organize themselves to study. I often hear them say they only studied by reading the lessons in the book.These are different ways I've tried to help students get ready for their English exams:1. A Study Guide with links to resources shared in our EDMODO GROUP2. I've created a wordcloud with topics and used THINGLINK to add online resources.3. I've used the app VISUALIZE to create a visual poster and added links by using THINGLINK

Changing our way of teaching is not an easy task.How can we help teachers learn, discuss and try out new approaches in English Language Teaching? With this objective, we've started a  blended (part face2face + part online) methodology course at the school where I work when we'll be studying about 3 different approaches: PBL, the Flipped Classroom and Mobile Learning. The course started at the beginning of September. Each week, we have presential meetings as well as online readings and tasks to carry out.Following a PBL model, we started our course with a "driving question" :How can we use PBL in our classes at Cultura Inglesa? this question was later refined to "How can we create a project which could be used with our students?"Our final goal would be to think of a feasible project which could be implemented in our classes considering our reality.But, how could we reach the final goal? What would be our NEEDS TO KNOW?We needed to know more about characteristics of a PBL lesson, see some examples, talk to teachers using PBL.Our group came up with the following steps:- read different articles about PBL.- watch different videos about it.- interview a teacher who uses PBL for teaching English.- try to imagine our own projects.As a teacher to interview, I suggested a dear friend, Vicky Saumell, from Argentina, who has successfully implemented a Project-oriented approach at the school where she works.The interview happened assynchronously, first we brainstormed some questions at our EDMODO group, then I sent Vicky the screenshot of our thread and  hoped Vicky would have the time to record a  video-response for us. Here, I take the opportunity to thank Vicky again for kindly taking her time to share her experience with us. http://vickysaumell.blogspot.com.br/For those interested in examples of projects for ELT, check  one of Vicky's presentations on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/vickys16/saumell-meaningful-use-of-web-20-projects  It has been a great opportunity for me not only to study with a group of teachers who are my colleagues but also to try to be a more collaborative teacher.Our next module is about "The Flipped Classroom".

Weeks ago, I was contacted by Larry Ferlazzo about having our students collaborate somehow as his students have been studying about Brazil. We exchanged a few messages trying to decide how this collaboration would take place and this is the result. First, Larry's students recorded videos asking questions about Brazil.http://sacschoolblogs.org/larryferlazzo/2013/10/07/questions-for-our-sister-classes-in-brazil/Wow, there were many questions to be answered!I asked my students if they accepted to collaborate with them and assigned a video to each student. The student would watch the video at home, select 3 questions to answer and write a draft on a piece of paper. In class, I had a quick look at the texts, helped them with the pronunciation of some words while they practised reading their texts to their classmates. To make the recordings, I took a digital camera, my smartphone and an ipad to class, divided the students into 3 groups and asked them to record themselves. Although some of the video recordings have a lot of noise in the background, I believe they did a great job. They talked about  our typical food, carnival, our schools and much more.

This week, my Basic 1 students were learning how to ask questions in English. Each group, decided on a question they thought was interesting to ask, wrote words on slips of paper and we recorded a VINE. Can you please help us by answering one or all the questions in the reply area? I've also posted the videos separately so that people can choose what question to answerhttp://ourprojectsci.weebly.com/blog.htmlThank you to everyone who has already contributed.

This is a blog post which follows a presentation given by me at the IMAGE CONFERENCE in Brasília today.While thinking about the topic I had chosen to discuss, I decided to build my talk around an infographic with all the information I'd collected, along with links. - First, I used PIKTOCHART to create the embeddable infographic.https://magic.piktochart.com/output/442066-flow-2- Then, to make it interactive, I added the resources to it using THINGLINK. So if you hover the mouse over the image, when clicking the little dots, you'll be taken to different resources.I initially talked about different aspects we have to consider when adopting either a BYOD or a 1:1 approach. Then, I presented some apps and activities involving the use of IMAGES and VIDEOS.For THE LINKS I shared during the talk, pass the mouse over the infographic and look for some "magic dots".

Interested in flipping your class? If so, you'll probably need  some tools to make the videos you intend to share with your students.http://learni.st/users/anamariacult/boards/35935-tools-for-flipping-classes Same list in a different format: Tools for flipping your classView more lists from Ana Menezes

Looking for a simple idea to help your students revise VOCABULARY?This week, we had to revise for the final tests.I was trying to think about a simple activity for my Upper Intermediate students and I remembered something I'd tried with my Intermediate students in the past.What would I need?- For 8 students = 4 slips of paper (or as many slips of paper you feel are necessary).- Five words students need to revise written down on each slip of paper.In class, I organized the desks in a circle and had 4 pairs of students: 1a + 1b , 2a + 2b, 3a + 3b, 4a + 4b.1. I gave a slip of paper to each STUDENT A who had to describe the words on the slip of paper for STUDENT B to guess the word. I kept monitoring in case students needed help remembering what words meant. (Ex: 1a describes for 1b to guess)2. When I noticed most students had guessed the 5 words, I asked STUDENT A to pass the slip of paper to STUDENT B who now would have to describe the same words to the next student to their left. (Ex: 1b now describes for 2a to guess)3. The slips of paper kept on passing to each student, the student with the slip describing and  the other student listening and trying to guess the words.Why do I like this activity?- it's incredibly easy to organize.- you can revise any kind of vocabulary.- students are involved all the time.- students keep alternating partners as they talk to the people to their right and then to their left.

Some weeks ago I was invited to help some professors from UFU (Universidade Federal de Uberlândia) to start using the interactive whiteboards the department had bought. The board they had purchased was DUALBOARD which works with the INTERWRITE WORKSPACE software.Although I had never used this software, as I'm very well acquainted with the usage of another brand of interactive whiteboards (Promethean), I imagined after a few tutorials I would be able to learn how it worked.I found a few tutorials in English online at http://www.einstruction.com/workspace-video-tutorials but none in Portuguese for the teachers to watch whenever they needed it.So, here they are: a few video tutorials (in Portuguese) if you have Interwrite Workspace installed where you teach.

This afternoon, I learned about a website and app which allows us to upload a presentation either from our computer or from google drive and record our voice and image using our webcam. http://www.movenote.com/My first trial was with my ipad. The ipad app is FREE, however, you can only use photos you have on your device or a photo you take with the ipad to include to your presentation. Other than that, the app is very simple to use and  the quality of the recording seems to be really good.https://api.movenote.com/v/saNK4Xb_JdsMy second trial was with using the WEBSITE http://movenote.comI uploaded a presentation I had  on my computer and recorded myself as a test.The slides are inspired by the articlehttp://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2013/03/6-steps-to-a-flipped-classroom/How can we use the site and app with students?- with the app, students can tell their own stories based on a picture.- students can record a picture description.- with the website, the teacher can record flipped videos by using slides or pdf files.- students can record presentations of projects they develop.The MOVENOTE app is available for FREE for both IOS devices and ANDROIDS.One more app for the list BYOD apps for ELT

It's Christmas time, and it's time to celebrate life and friendships. I was tagged by Cristina Monteiro Silva for the "11 Random facts" Blog post challenge.Thanks, Cristina, for the tag and the opportunity for us to learn more about you in your blog post.So, how does it work?1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger(s).2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.4. List 11 bloggers.5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.#2 Sharing some random facts about me.  #3 These are the questions Cristina has asked me to answer:1. What was the best moment in your life?I've had many good moments in life but the more I live the more I think the best moment in my life is NOW.2. Do you expect much of people?I've been told I'm quite naive when it comes to trusting people. I always expect the best of everyone.3. How many true friends do you have?I have very few true friends but many people I truly love.4. What do you do when you need to have YOUR moment?I choose a book to read and sit by myself.5. What is the film of your life?"The color of paradise" could be one of the films of my life.6. When was the last time you slept 10h?I don't usually sleep a lot but last week I woke up at 10 in the morning so I guess I ended up sleeping for more than 10 hours, kkkkkkk.7. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?I drink a glass of water.8. Which historical character would you like to meet if you had that chance?I'd love to listen to the Dalai Lama.9. An embarrassing moment in your life was…When I greeted someone with a hug and then I noticed I had mistaken the person for someone else.Awkward!10. When did you last burst out laughing and couldn’t stop?I can't remember but I laugh A LOT. 11. City or countryside?City. I love living in the city, the noise, the movement, the people.#4 The list of eleven Bloggers I tag for the challenge:1. Roseli Serra2. Camila Sousa Sakai3. Andressa Cardoso4. Emma Heath5. Vicky Saumell6. Jennifer Verschoor7. Sílvia Heshiki8. Naiara Valente9. Daniela Pesconi-Arthur10. Susana Canelo11. David Kapuler#5 My questions for them:1. Where did you live as a child?2. What was your favorite toy?3. As a child, what did you want to be in the future?4. Tell us something you're afraid of.5. Tell us something you're good at.6. Tell us something you're bad at.7. Tell us about a place you'd love to visit one day and who with.8. What do you normally procrastinate?9. If you could a place to live, where would it be?10. What would you like to get for Christmas?11. What would you like to learn in 2014?