It's amazing how many tools cease to exist the moment you're planning to use them. :)How can you find alternative tools? Use SIMILARSITESEARCHSimilarSiteSearch.com - The Best Place To Find Similar Websites via kwoutYesterday I was looking for an alternative to http://www.pageflakes.com/ and found another interesting tool for organizing feeds http://www.protopage.com/

Sharing interesting sites I've come across this week.Click on a letter of the ALPHABET and watch the letters turn into an animal. Cute, great for teaching animal vocab.Watch video summaries of various famous books. EFL teachers can use the videos as a preview to reading or for listening comprehension.Learn idioms in English. Definitions and examples.Type a verb and see it conjugated in various verb tenses.Personalized meeting roomsUse any presentation: yours or someone else'sStreaming live videoGroup chatNo downloadsUnlimited meetings & participantsPrivate or Public

Last Thursday, I proposed challenge #2 which involved students creating a dialogue with vocabulary from the previous units (EDUCATION)Students were asked to use http://writecomics.com  and use a minimum of 5 new words.This is a sample created by one of the students.All the comic strips are being shared at our school wiki (for projects) and will be shared with parents. How will I give them feedback?Well, I've decided to write down some common mistakes and then talk to the class as a whole not mentioning names. Common mistakes noticed: some students don't know the right collocations for scholarship, lots of students forgot to use DID in questions in the past, and some of them invented some expressions using literal translation from Portuguese to English. All in all, I guess they did a good job.

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Sharing a hand-out I produced for a workshop I gave at UNITRI some time ago. The hand-out (in Portuguese) describes traditional games we might have played in our childhood that can be adapted for learning English.Digitalizar0082 PAGE 2PAGE 3

 I've already used LISTEN AND WRITE in class, however I only noticed I could make my own dictations very recently. These are my first trials. I recorded the audio with AUDACITY (mp3 file) , then uploaded the audio to the site, added the transcript, synched it with the audio (a bit tricky) and THAT'S IT!These are two LISTENING DICTATIONS I've created, the first one I dedictated a text from the course book (Face2Face Upper) and the second are isolated sentences using verbs which require GERUND or INFITIVE.So what is good for me? via kwoutSentences GERUND or INFINITIVE via kwoutWanna learn how to create your own? Watch the TUTORIAL below or this one for HD

A selection of sites you can play with fonts: FONT DE MUSIC - add music to your fontFONTSELF various fonts with embed codesMYLIVESIGNATURE  create your handwritten signature for e-mails and blog posts. YOURFONTSTEXTANIM  animate your text ICON SCRABBLE - use icons to make a textSPELL WITH FLICKR Use Flickr images to create a text. (Contribution by Drew McAllister)

This is the 3rd challenge proposed to my students this semester:MY EXAMPLE:Example "A happy day" recorded by anamariacultThe recordings made by students are being published HERE.Check the post THE 10 TASKS CHALLENGE

After watching this fantastic TUTORIAL by Russell Stannard I decided to create my second quiz at PROPROFS. It's great you can add images and videos to your quiz and even embed it in a class blog for students.I've used two kinds of questions: multiple choice and fill in the blank.UIA Revision Written Test 1 » online testing softwareThis was my first trial: A quiz to test WORD FORMATIONWord Formation - UIA 2C » ProProfs Quizzes

ZIPCAST is the easiest presentation tool I've seen so far. You don't need to learn about complicated controls, no download required, participants can join you with the click of a button. It takes no more than 60 seconds to set up a session!Zipcast Activity Stream via kwoutThis is a tutorial to show you how to create your first ZIPCASTZipcast Activity Stream via kwout

I've always liked the concept of MINI SAGAS. Expressing your ideas in a few words (50 words). This is a presentation I've created with some ideas I brainstormed with CULTURA EDTECH participants yesterday. I used EMPRESSR to create the slideshow.http://www.empressr.com/View.aspx?token=Cb8TUDr1vks%3d This is the slideshow which inspired me. A great presentation I found at slideshare.net where you can find several mini sagas + images.Mini Sagas View more presentations from georgiana.meleandra

I've found this story via David Deubelbeiss' tweet this morning.As he suggested, it's a great story you can use in class. CLICK on the image to read this cute story.HOW TO USE IT IN CLASS?Use the first page to ask students to describe Sean in pairs. Then, ask some students to tell the group. I believe many students won't know the word EYEBROW. Ask them "How would you describe his eyebrows?" then go to page 2You can have students read it silently while you pass the pages, ask different students to read it aloud or read it yourself."One day it was very windy".  Stop and ask "what do you think happened? ""I have an idea " Ask students to talk together and think of what idea Sean had.Ask students what new words they've learned.These are some structures from the story, you can work with. Ask if students can remember the original sentence, then get students to say different variations.It was so (windy) that ...........He (ran) as ...... as he couldDo you have any other ideas? David, any ideas?MORE STORIES 

Scrumblr is another "noticeboard " tool , like Wallwisher, Linoit and Stixy.How is it different from the other similar sites?It's incredibly simple, just click on the +, double click to edit and drag your note to the board.Two people can edit the same note.You can't write much on each note.You write a note only. No photos, videos or links.No embedding option.HOW CAN WE USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?Great site for leaving simple messages, e.g. birthday messages.Useful for brainstorming topics.You can post the beginning of the sentence and ask students to finish that using their imagination. Ex: If I were a millionaire ....You can ask all students to use the same structure to make a sentence. Ex: I'm looking forward to .....Build a story together asking students to add their notes linearly. (MY EXAMPLE BELOW)This is my first trial, after learning about it via NIK PEACHEY Would you like to contribute to the story? Just click on the + button, double click on the note to edit and drag it to the board. 

Have a look at these great videos. All you need is love - a beautiful video of kids from India and Africa singing  the Beatles song.Glogster in the classroom - high school students talk about their projects with Glogster.For the birds - cute animation that could be used as a discussion starter about "Bullying".Education is broken - great talk by Chris LehmannReel Wisdom - a collection of quotes from famous filmsPorcelain Revised Score - beautiful short movie about 2nd world warWhat teachers make - great video about educationWhat's the role of teachers today? - Interview with Marc PrenskyAcceptance speech by Alfred Hitchcock - fantastic, a must-seeLanguage as a Window into Human Nature - RSA animation To view this video player/playlist you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. TubeSnack is a flash video player that allows you to build and embed video playlists.Oh, I used TUBESNACK to make the video playlist above. There are other video templates to choose from.

One of the skills our students need to develop is expressing their opinions about different topics. Task #4 involves leaving a comment on a virtual board for the whole class. In fact, the same board is being used by 3 different groups of the same level of English.Students discussed the topic in class, and then were asked to leave a written comment. I've been sending to students the correction of their texts and next week they will be asked to edit their comments on the board according to the suggested corrections they have received via edmodo.This is a screenshot of the challenge message shared with students via edmodoThe tool used was STIXY. Click on the image below to see the Virtual Board.http://www.stixy.com/guest/111291You can find information about the 10 TASKS CHALLENGE here.

Learn how to create your animation with DOINKNow it's my turn, let's see what I can create. I've created an animation for a quote by Buddha.http://www.doink.com/clips/anamariacult/1481047/the-present-moment the Present Moment by anamariacult, made at DoInk.comWell, not very easy, I guess I need to play at this MUCH MORE. However, I believe students will find it much easier than I did.HOW CAN WE USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?students can tell a story .students can animate quotes like I did.students can animate mini sagas.students can create an animation talking about their passions.

The warmer activity I selected for my students today, was aimed at reinforcing structures which my students had problems with in their last written test: verbs accompanied by gerund or infinitive.I typed a stem sentence on LIVETYPING and elicited a possible ending for the sentence. Then, I invited different students to erase the rest of the sentence after the stem and write another variation.With one group, the beginning was MY FATHER MANAGED ... and with the other group I REGRET ...After different students typed their contributions, I clicked ENLIVEN and students could see all their sentences again. Then, I grabbed the embed code and shared it in our edmodo group. The video below shows how the two activities looked in edmodo.

Interesting Matching Game we can use in class (with IWB) or students can play it individually with PCs.BUBBABRAINI tried the games under the ELEMENTARY LEVEL and these are the sections I liked the most:EnglishPicturesTelling the timeAs the game times you, you can have different group of students repeat the activity and do it faster.http://www.bubbabrain.comA game for suffixes and their meanings.Match the pictures to the wordsMatch analogical clocks to digital times

Time to test ZOOBURST and wish everyone a great Easter. It's always time to be born again, to change attitudes, reflect about your choices, consider your priorities in life and above all share love with friends, family and those in need.Happy EasterOrkut Scraps and Graphics - GoodLightscraps.com

Picture Description is a skill our students need to develop for the Oral tests at our school and for the Cambridge exams. Challenge #5 asked students to choose an image and record a description for it. This way students have plenty of examples of what is required of them. These are some of the descriptions created by them at home. All their FOTOBABBLES have been published in the SCHOOL WIKI and shared with parents.

The aim of the lesson was to help students create dialogues where they would discuss a topic and agree/ disagree with each other. (Book used: Face2Face Upper Intermediate)The proposed taskI was amazed at the number of cell phones which could record audio in class. I'll definitely use them for recording more often. My students created the dialogues in class (in pairs / trios), I had a look at it for more serious mistakes and then they practised reading the dialogue, trying not to speak too fast and to sound as natural as possible. Students then used their cell phones to record their dialogue. Many of them had to record themselves 7 or 8 times before they were happy with the result.Isn't it wonderful? Which other way would students read the same dialogue 8 TIMES.These are some of their recordings:Topic: Friends give the best adviceListen!Topic: 20 is a good age to get marriedListen! All their recordings have been shared in the SCHOOL WIKI

This is the collection of links I shared in Twitter today.They are all Youtube related sites.Click on the image to see the JOGTHE WEB pagehttp://www.jogtheweb.com/run/xR4Bt3pPSkfz/Cool-things-to-do-with-YOUTUBE-videos#1

I love following Janet's Bianchini's blog "Civitaquana - Janet's Abruzzo's blog" http://civitaquana.blogspot.com/What I like about it? I love her creative ideas, love the way she uses comics and photo editing tools to make her images even more interesting, love the happy tone of her posts and am enchanted with how willing she is to exchange ideas, help and share.Well, you can imagine how happy I was when she accepted my invitation to present her session to us:  "Digital Storytelling in the Digital Era" . We had very few attendees (maybe because it was Sat. morning), nevertheless, we had a great time learning from her.This is the ppt she used during her talk:Storytelling in the Digital Era View more presentations from Janet Bianchini I loved her idea of using different webtools to narrate the same story.You can listen to her session HERE. Click VIEW RECORDING.As we waited for more attendees to join us, my suggestion is to let the recording upload a bit and then watch it as of 18 mins after the beginning of the recording.

Last Thursday night, I had the pleasure to participate with other Brazilian EFL teachers in a discussion about "MOTIVATION". #BReltChat is a initiative by Bruno Andrade, inspired by the #ELTchat discussions which happen in twitter with teachers worldwide.#BReltChat via kwoutApart from moderating discussions which take place every Thursday 9:30 PM (Brasília time), a group of teachers have been publishing a summary of what has been discussed in the #BReltChat BLOG and have interviewed several well known teachers about the topics discussed.The BlogSome interviewsInterview about Dogme with Scott Thornbury from Henrick Oprea on Vimeo.