Is it time to revise for examinations?How can we make study guides more visually appealing?These are some examples of app smashed VISUAL STUDY GUIDES I've prepared for my students:1. Popplet + Quizlet + Educanon + Google Docs + Grammar video Class + Thinglink2. Vizualize + Educreations + Edmodo + Imagechef + Quizlet + Thinglink3. Word Collage + Quizlet + Audioboo + Thinglink4. Comics Head + Quizlet + Thinglink  5. Strip Generator + Quizlet + Slideshare + Lino.it + Classtools.net  6. PicCollage + quizlet + Google Drive

I've recently posted about Visual Study Guides which I've been making for my students. Instead of only telling them the pages of the course book they have to study, I organize materials which we have used during our classes, such as video grammar lessons, online exercises, ppts and word files, into a visual poster with links to the resources which should be revised.A few times, I created such Study Guides embedding the resources to a Glogster poster , more recently I've been using Thinglink for the same purpose.But, HOW CAN YOU CREATE YOUR OWN APP SMASHED STUDY GUIDE?  https://tackk.com/eanvuvTry scrolling down the image above to see the rest of the Instruction Poster.Hope you find these tips useful,

This afternoon, I got home feeling stressed with my heart beating fast and a restless mind. "I need to unwind", I thought. I remembered a website Ozge Karaoglu mentioned in one of her posts, "Do nothing for 2 minutes" and decided to try it out. After a few minutes relaxing, I didn't want to go back to real life.This post was my exploration and trial with relaxing sites which can help you unwind.Ready to feel REAL GOOD?Now, I invite you to try these 3 sites one by one.DO NOTHING FOR 2 MINUTESThe site invites you to do nothing for two minutes. Observe the still image on the screen and try not to use your mouse or keyboard for ONLY 2 MINUTES. Close your eyes and listen to the waves. It's not impossible, observe the countdown and feel how much you can relax in a mere two minutes. If you cheat and use your keyboard or mouse, you'll see the word FAIL come up and you get another chance to start. http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/CALM.COMThis one hypnotized me. The background video is very soothing and changes when another background music plays. The icons on the left can only be seen if you hover the mouse next to the left side of the screen, therefore the relaxing image occupies the whole screen. You can do nothing and just listen and observe the scenery or select one of the options from the left icons. The first option is a guided  meditation for 2, 5, 10, 15 or 20 mins. You can listen to a voice which guides you into relaxing your body and mind. The second option is a timer which you select to meditate on your own. This site is MY SECOND FAVOURITE. Even if you still need to work, you can keep the window open and listen to the sounds while you surf the web. There is also an IOS app available. http://www.calm.com/THE QUIET PLACEThe simple message on the gray background might not impress you much, but don't be fooled. This is MY FAVOURITE ONE. Once you press the spacebar to start, the site maximizes itself covering all the other tabs you might have open on your screen. While listening to background music, read the sentences slowly and let them embark you on a quiet adventure.I've tried out 3 of their quiet adventures:http://thequietplaceproject.com/thequietplacehttp://thequietplaceproject.com/90secondshttp://thequietplaceproject.com/thethoughtsroom/ (this is perfect for those days when your head is full of disturbing thoughts).What do these sites have to do with Education?They can help us, educators, relax, calm our hearts and find our harmony to keep on doing what we love: educate.I imagine we could also use the second and third sites with our students in class too. With Calm.com, I believe the guided 2 min meditation could help teenagers calm down a little and also practice their listening skills. With "the quiet place", if you have an IWB, the first two adventures I suggested would be appropriate to start a class where you can discuss about the stressful lives we've been leading and what people can do to relax. 

In case you missed RSCON5, an incredible Online Conference for Educators worldwide, and the many interesting sessions presented, this is my tiny contribution to this great event.It's amazing how many people got together during 3 days in July to dedicate some of their time to professional development. Apart from congratulating the different presenters who shared their knowledge with us, I'd like to express my admiration to the organizing committee who put everything together.For my presentation, I decided to talk about Text Genres and its digital possibilities.Although many of the course books some of us use in class suggest writing activities such as formal and informal letters, descriptions, narratives and e-mails, other text genres should receive our attention too. I believe the internet has redefined the way we communicate with others and the kind of texts we write. When we travel we no longer send postcards home but we share our photos a comments instantly via Instagram. When we need to send urgent messages, we don't even think of telegrams anymore, we use text messages. Technology has introduced us to different types of text writing and with them other challenges too, such as the use of abbreviations and the limit of characters as in Twitter.This is a screenshot of the session  I presented at RSCON5. If you click on the image, you'll be taken to the recordings. You can watch the whole session at the Collaborate Platform, listen to the audio or watch the video recording. http://goo.gl/iUShpPAll the resources mentioned throughout the talk can be found at the livebinders below: RSCON5 Text genres links

I normally teach teenagers and this semester I wanted to have students record  the mini dialogues they normally create in class. These recordings apart from being an opportunity for students to practise speaking and listening could help me observe their progress.I've been focussing on CAN DO objectives, so close to the end of each class I ask pairs of students to create a mini dialogue using the topic of the lesson. In pairs, they write down a mini dialogue of about 6 turns. I have a quick look at the dialogues checking for mistakes related to the topic of the lesson and then students rehearse it. When they feel they are ready, they can make the recording using their own cell phones.As we're using EDMODO to post homework, to do quizzes and share extra material, I imagined they could use their own cell phones to record their dialogues and then send it to our Edmodo group. When I suggested the recording for the first time, students were a bit surprised because they had never recorded themselves using English. One student then asked if they could share the recording via WHATSAPP, considering the fact that all of them have the app on their cell phones and it's possible to record within the app. I accepted the idea and one of the students volunteered to create a group for sharing the recordings.After students upload the recordings, I usually ask them to listen to other dialogues created by their classmates. At home, I listen to all the recorded dialogues and take notes of mistakes related to the target language which  I share with the whole group in a following class without identifying anyone. I've been truly happy with the opportunity to see my students using their creativity to practise the language and to have "palpable" evidence of what my students seem to have learned or not.This screenshot shows a conversation between a student and myself. I was happy to see they are enjoying listening to themselves and their classmates.And this is a sample of a dialogue created by two of my students. Can you identify the target structure they were trying to use?listen to ‘Mini Dialogue created by students’ on Audioboo What about this one? listen to ‘Dialogue 2’ on Audioboo

The objective of this post is to share a writing project I've been developing with EFL teenage students this semester. At the end of each unit, the course book we've been using suggests a writing task for a portfolio.I've always been bothered by the way teenagers generally handle their written assignments at the school where I work. It usually goes as following:Students write a text on a piece of paper which is given to the teacher for correction.Teachers correct the mistakes by underlining, crossing out and sometimes providing a better word for a sentence. The pieces of paper are handed back to students with a mark.Upon receiving their text back, students check their marks and quickly check what the teacher has corrected.I frequently asked myself: What do students do with this piece of paper? Do students understand why they made the mistakes the teacher marked? How much do they learn from the feedback?Considering the scenario shared above, I decided to propose a change to my students. First, I elicited from them what usually happens when they have to write texts for homework. And then I presented the idea of a Writing Digital Portfolio to be developed by each student throughout the semester.The idea was to implement the following changes for the writings at the end of each unit. First, students would write a draft on a piece of paper and bring to class. During one of the class activities when students are busy writing, I would check all the drafts, underline mistakes and leave hints about what is wrong with what I underlined. I would focus on underlining mistakes which I believe my students would be able to identify themselves if pointed in the right direction. Second, students would edit the text marked by the teacher, try to identify and correct the mistakes and publish the final version on a public portfolio. As a tool, I suggested TUMBLR as students could easily publish texts and images either from their cell phones or their laptops. Finally, I would evaluate the final version.My aim was to try a simple version of process writing, invite students to reflect about their writings, to collect each student's writing on a single page and have something tangible of what is produced by students during the semester.We've been working together for 2 months and a half now and students are about to publish their third writing. The texts are fairly short (about 100 words), but they have been of great help to me as evidence of what my students have learned and what they haven't learned yet.Screenshot of a Protopage with the Portfolio being developed by students.In order to see the portfolios, you can click on the image above, and then click on the names of the students. Or you can click on the links of some portfolios I bring below:HELENA: http://helenacampoli.tumblr.com/RAISSA: http://ayeitsraissa.tumblr.com/ THIAGO: http://thiagofcm.tumblr.com/

When you are surfing the web and you come across a really cool website, but it's not the right time to explore it, WHAT DO YOU DO?To view this quiz you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. Use PollSnack online survey software to create quick & simple surveys. This post has the objective to share a super simple way of organizing these links you wish to explore SOME DAY ...POCKET is a Google Chrome extension and an app which can be downloaded to your smartphone. It allows you to save any link you want to view later and automatically syncs to your other devices.How does it work? You download the extension to your Google Chrome browser and you will be asked if you want it to be synched to your other devices. The icon will appear at the top of your browser, then, every time you want to bookmark something to read later, click on the icon and the following box will appear, asking you to add tags to the saved page.Later that week, when you find the time to go over your selections, go to the POCKET site http://getpocket.com/ to see what to explore. I've added POCKET to my bookmarks bar to make it easier for me to have access to these links.If you're surfing the web using your cell phone, once you've got the POCKET APP  installed, every time you find an interesting website to view later, click SHARE and select ADD TO POCKET. As simple as that! So, imagine yourself waiting for a doctor appointment with nothing to do, it would be a perfect time to check out those websites you never find the time to try out. Click the POCKET icon on your cell phone and the websites will appear for you.Why did I like this extension? Well, it's simple and I like the visual way the websites are organized. I also think having it on my Bookmarks Bar will help me remember I have interesting things saved in "my pocket" to explore.

Have you noticed how much our desktop and browsers can say about our internet surfing habits? Whenever someone shares their screen with me, I love paying attention to websites people save to their browser bar and the little extensions they use the most.Today, I'd like to share a few of the Google Chrome extensions which save a lot of my time. But before describing these extensions, I bring a definition found at http://howtogeek.comWHAT ARE EXTENSIONS?"Browser extensions extend your web browser with additional features, modify web pages, and integrate your browser with the other services you use."In simpler words, I'd say extensions are little icons you download to your browser which allow you to do different things without leaving the page where you are (like shortcuts).As you can see below, this is what my Google Chrome page looks like right now:And these are my favourite extensions:SHORTENING LINKS: http://goo.gl/GdopGi This URL Shortener is very practical. Instead of copying long URLs, when you are surfing a page you want to share, click on the icon and the extension shortens and copies it to the clipboard. All you have to do is paste it on a document. You can also create a QR code of the same URL using the extension. It's great for creating short links of presentations and websites you wish to share.   2. BOOKMARKING: http://goo.gl/W7oXEa Having this Pinterest button to my browser makes bookmarking extremely easy. Whenever I want to add an interesting website to one of my Pinterest boards, I click on the icon, choose the board and save it.  3. EDITING IMAGES: http://goo.gl/fa8wPg Imagine you're exploring a website (even Google images) and would like to edit an image you've found. There's no need to save the image and then go to a photo editor. Right from the website, click the PicMonkey extension and it pulls all the images into a box for you. Then, you select the image you'd like to edit and the PicMonkey editor opens it for you. 4. PRINTING WEBPAGES:  http://goo.gl/m2ZOD5 Have you ever tried to print a webpage and wasted a lot of paper because of strange formatting? Print Friendly turns any webpage into a "friendly" PDF format which can be printed or emailed. It also offers you the option to delete all images and print only the text.5. ORGANIZING TABS: http://goo.gl/PXk5Rs When you're working on the web, do you often find yourself with too many tabs open? OneTab has made my computer work much more organized. If I'm working on an article or a blog post and have very important links opened, as I don't want to risk losing them if my computer shuts down unexpectedly I click the OneTab icon to save my session. Another practical usage is to organize into one single URL several links you would like to share after a presentation, for example. A friend of mine has been using OneTab to organize her computer sessions. For instance: she has saved groups of links she usually needs when she's doing an online course or when working at her school. Then, when she opens her computer to study for her course, instead of opening each individual tab, she clicks on a OneTab she has saved, selects RESTORE ALL and has all the resources she needs. I have also used it to share a group of links of resources (by clicking SHARE AS WEB PAGE) which could help my students study for a test. Apart from aggregating several links into one URL, the extension generates a QR code which can be given to students in order to have access to the links.6. ANNOTATING SCREENSHOTS: http://goo.gl/5MmePP With several online possibilities of taking screenshots, this is by and far my favourite because of how simple and practical it is. If you need to make image tutorials, take a screenshot to add to a blog post or even blur students faces on a photo, click the icon and select the kind of annotations you want to make. Finally, save it and use the image.7. CREATING A READ LATER POCKET: http://goo.gl/tj2DYr Whether I'm using my laptop or my cell phone, everything I find online which I believe is worth a further exploration goes to my "read later pocket" with one single click. First, I save and tag the website and later, when I have time I go to their website to explore the links. I know there are several great apps and extensions similar to Pocket for bookmarking, however, I advise you to give the mobile app a try, it's SUPER!This is what I have in my pocket right now.8. FOCUSSING ON TASKS: http://goo.gl/RRRJHJ Keeping our focus while using the computer is a challenge lived by many of us. I often turn on my computer in order to do something and I end up wasting precious time going from one site to another without accomplishing my initial intention. Do you relate to that? Well, if so, install this extension today. It works like this: every time you open a new tab, Dayboard comes up asking you to write down the 5 most important things you need to do today. The focussing help is that if you go astray and open a new tab, your list will appear to you again and again. Then, as soon as you get that done, you can tick it. The sense of achievement is priceless and you finally get things done.9. MANAGING YOUR TIME: http://goo.gl/1in7iC This extension is an eye-opener to all of us who spend many hours online. It tracks where you spend most of your time. If your minutes are wasting away and you'd like to know where, this is a good extension to have.This is what my stats says about today:10. ZOOMING IMAGES: http://goo.gl/XDBdy9 You will probably laugh, but my 40ish eyes thank this extension everyday. With the simple hovering of my mouse over an image it becomes enlarged and I don't even need to click to enlarge it. It's great when you're searching for specific images.And you, do you have favourite extensions which are real time-savers?

I'm starting 2015 with the project of my dreams!If you read Life Feast and know a bit about my work, you might also know I've been involved with teacher development in the virtual environment since 2009. I started moderating my own online course "Cultura Edtech" to share a bit of what I had been exploring on the web with fellow teachers and to feel less lonely during a difficult time in my life when I had to stay home (You can read about this story in my M.A. thesis - text in Portuguese). The virtual world was my bridge to being in contact with other people.Since then, I've never left the online world and the online world has never left me. At that time, in 2009, little research had been developed about digital technologies in education and online learning. Most of us, teachers who ventured teaching online, were following our instincts and trying out different ways of teaching and learning. After many years moderating courses, I felt the need to go back to university and develop a research in this area which fascinates me so much. A question that puzzled me was: Why do so many people see the online environment as a cold place and I feel the complete opposite?For me, learning is a fascinating experience which can be more pleasurable when we are in contact with other people. Connectme Education is the result of these years of experience and a wish to reach teachers I haven't reached yet. Our aim is to organize online courses, in Portuguese or in English, for the continuous development of professionals involved with education. We want it to be a space where teachers can feel at home and comfortable to learn with each other. Each month, one-month or two-month courses will be proposed to small groups of teachers. I can't wait to start!I have great joy to invite you to come and visit us at our brand new website created with great care. I'd also like to thank my dear friends and colleagues who have joined me on this project: Roseli Serra, Márcia Lima, Jennifer Verschoor , Cecília Morais and Camila Borges for her professional help with the website and social media.We hope you enjoy it!Our first online course is going to be about FLIPPED LEARNING. How about joining us?Our contact info: CONNECTME EDUCATION linkedintwitterfacebook

People frequently criticize the online environment of being cold. They say that during online courses they feel lonely and demotivated to learn.And why is that?Studies about Social Presence might help us understand about an important aspect in online courses.What is Social Presence?According to Menezes (2014), Social Presence is how people perceive their own presence and the presence of others in a virtual interaction and the willingness to build an interpersonal relationship in order to learn collaboratively.To me, Social Presence depends a lot on how participants choose to take part in an online course. Of course, it also depends on the opportunities of interaction provided during the course.Let's compare two students:Student A studies alone. He uses books and the internet to build knowledge.Student B is taking a course with other students. Besides learning via the material suggested by his teacher, he likes exchanging ideas and discussing about what he's been learning with his classmates.In the virtual world we can have a similar situation. We can choose to act like Student A, focussing on developing tasks on our own or we can behave like Student B making use of the opportunity to work with the group exchanging ideas and making connections.We should bear in mind three kinds of course content we can learn from:- The content proposed by the teacher.- The content suggested by participants.- The content built by participants during the course.When we study alone during an online course, we might be missing the opportunity to learn more with one another.Here are few tips on how to develop your presence during online courses:REFERENCE:MENEZES, A. M. C. A vivência da presença social: histórias de um curso online para professores de Inglês. (2014) M.A. Thesis. 186 p. Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. http://goo.gl/kNyAckSUGGESTED READINGS:REVISTA TECNOLOGIA EDUCACIONALISSN 0102-5503 - Ano LI - 200Janeiro / Março - 2013Revista da Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia Educacional v. 31 http://www.academia.edu/3764280/Revista_abt_2013_artigo_p_62 GARRISON, D. (2006)Online Collaboration Principles. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 25-34. Disponível em <http://tinyurl.com/6r9bjwz >, acesso em 16/04/12.GUNAWARDENA, C. N. (1995)Social presence theory and implications for interaction and collaborative learning in computer conferences. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, p. 147-166.

This is my last post in 2014, therefore, I wanted it to be special.I've always enjoyed having a look at people's desktops, their wallpaper and their most used apps and programs. And why is that? Have you noticed how much our desktop can say about ourselves, what we value and what we are into? I thought of fulfilling this curiosity by inviting several educators I follow to share their desktop with us.I also asked them to answer some questions:1. Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?2. How do you organize your desktop?The screenshots shared below are in the order they were sent to me.CARLA ARENA http://carlaarena.comWhy did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?I am not the kind who changes computer wallpapers all the time. I tend to stick with them  for a long time. One thing that is essential for me is that the image has some flat, basic colors so that the folders stand out on the screen. This image has a very special meaning to me as it was one of my greatest gifts and achievements of the year, becoming a Google Certified Teacher in the first Google Teacher Academy ever done in South America. I love the colors and it always brings back cheerful moments with a wonderful group of educators. How do you organize your desktop?I try to keep my desktop totally clean. Sometimes, there are some screenshots around, but I always transfer them to a screenshots folder. DIMITRIS PRIMALIS  http://differentefl.blogspot.com.br/Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?The photo is from Aegina, an island off the coastline of Athens. It is the place I’ve spent all my Greek summers since I was born. I always associate it with beautiful memories and it is a heaven of inspiration and positive energy. How do you organize your desktop?At first glance, my desktop seems chaotic. I‘ve got all sorts of files and folders that I’m currently working on. You can find interactive books, documents, photos, drafts of blogposts- the list is endless. Surprisingly, I can find them easily and I can add ideas in texts or presentations when I have a short break. I’m sure that an IT expert would slit his wrists but to me it makes perfect sense.SHELLY TERRELL http://teacherrebootcamp.com/As you can see, instead of sharing her laptop screen, Shelly chose to send us her iphone screenshot. You will understand the reason by reading her answers below. Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?That's a picture of Rosco when we lived in Germany and I'd get to walk him 2 hours a day in this beautiful forest by my house. He's my little buddy and we've been through so much. He's gotten me through living in 2 different countries, deaths of family and 2 really great friends, being married then divorced and now publishing a book. That's what my wallpaper means. Everyday, I work on my desktop with presentations and blog posts and I research and do social media with my iPhone by my side or listen to podcasts, so I often work with both simultaneously to be able to do all the things I do.ROSELI SERRA   http://roseliserra.blogspot.com.brWhy did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? This photo is in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in Pernambuco. It was taken by my husband. It has a special meaning to me because it's a place we go every summer. It's very high and has a wonderful view from there. The sunset is amazing. In this area there's a very small catholic church and we love listening to the bells from there when sitting and looking at the sea. There's also a lighthouse that reminds me of my childhood when my dad first took me to visit this place.How do you organize your desktop? The organization of my desktop has mostly to do with icons I access most as well as some folders we are working with. I have backups of these folders, of course and when the whole job is done , I remove these folders form the desktop not to have it too crowded with images. Also I love the tool bar at the bottom which is very hands on.KIERAN DONAGHY   http://film-english.com/Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? I chose this photo as it's of my daughter, Rosa and Aina who are the most important people in my life. The photo was taken last Christmas and every time I look at the photo it reminds me how lucky I am to have two such beautiful and kind children.How do you organize your desktop? I have direct access links to the most common tools I use such as a video editor and downloader tool, and also to the projects I'm working on at the moment so I've links to the folder where I keep my lesson plans for my website Film English, a direct link to the manuscript for the book I'm currently finishing Film in Action which will be published next April, and a direct access link to the manuscript of another book I'm writing which is called How to Write Activities for Video and Film. I also have a direct access to Spotify as I always listen to music when I'm working.VINÍCIUS LEMOS @viniciuslemos http://mthatlearning.blogspot.com.br/Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? I chose that wallpaper because I absolutely love sunsets. This image means a lot to me because I took it myself on a very special trip to the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia How do you organize your desktop? My desktop never looks neat. I need to learn how to organize it! GRAHAM STANLEY   http://blog-efl.blogspot.com Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? The wallpaper is a set of revolving sunset images...just something nice to look from time to time.How do you organize your desktop? My desktop is clean and functional as this is my desktop at work - the clocks show the time in the places where we have remote teaching going on from (Uruguay, Argentina, Philippines, UK)ARJANA BLAZIC http://twitter.com/abfromzWhy did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? Right now I have a photo of Dubrovnik, a city in southern Croatia on my desktop. This photo was taken by my husband during our last year's holiday. I have it on my desktop because it reminds me of the wonderful time we spent there. Another reason is that this photo makes me less homesick while I'm in the US on a ten-month fellowship. How do you organize your desktop? I like my desktop to be neat and tidy. The documents that I put there are usually those that I need to work on, so this is some kind of a reminder for me. I keep all the tools that I use most frequently on the dock. Sometimes the dock is a bit cluttered as I tend to work on a number of different documents at the same time.NIK PEACHEY   https://twitter.com/nikpeacheyWhy did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you? I love this tree. It was in the village where I used to live and it looked different every day. I used it to replace picture of my wife and daughter. I had to change it to something less personal as i was using my laptop to present at conferences.How do you organize your desktop? My desk top is a random mess of quickly created images, half written articles and whatever else. No sense of organisation, but I know what's there and where it is.ANA MARIA MENEZES   yes, that's me :)Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?The image I have on my desktop was created by Jenny Highsmith from Maiedae, home of the artists who helped me with my blog template. I fell in love with this free image and its message which daily reminds me to design for myself the kind of life I love. How do you organize your desktop?I like my desktop clean, but whenever I'm taking lots of screenshots it becomes clustered with images which I delete later on. Whatever I often use can be easily reached at the bottom dock.I'd like to thank all the teachers who contributed to this post and kindly shared something so intimate as their own personal screens with us.I wish everyone a FANTASTIC 2015. May all of us be able to design a life we love!

I have the great pleasure to have Aysegul Kaban write a guest post about some activities she has tried with her own students. I love reading about real life examples of classroom activities, what about you?There are many online tools for generating QR codes which you can then use in the classroom. All of these different types of information can be stored in a code: A short piece of text, Website address, Email address, URL… Why not try some of these examples? Most Smartphones will have a barcode scanner as an app which will read QR codes. I love integrating technology to my classes and I teach English as a foreign language to young adults in İstanbul, Turkey. This lesson plan was created to revise Past Simple, Present Perfect Simple, and Present Perfect Continuous.I asked questions about QR codes: E.g. Have you ever seen this? Have you ever used QR code? If yes, where and when did you use it? How do we use QR codes? After getting the answers, I talked about the activity and showed some QR codes and asked the students to solve the mystery of the QR codes on the board.Although most students had seen QR codes, none of the students were sure about QR codes. Only one of them had a QR code reader on his smartphone. I asked the students to download the free QR code reader. They enjoyed when they first scanned the QR code and asked some other codes to scan.After doing the first trial, I asked the students to scan the code on the board and do the exercise with their partners. They did the first activity. After 4 minutes, I gave the correct information to the students. Some pairs answered all questions correctly and they felt happy because they realized they knew some information about their teacher’s personal life.Now that the Students had seen an example, I divided the class into groups of 3 (or 4) and gave each group a self-prepared handout about basic rules of simple past, present perfect and present perfect continuous. I told the students that this was supposed to be a group contest. The winning group of the contest received a surprise at the end. I said I would record the score on the board.I gave students a handout lacking of example sentences and told students to fill in the gaps. Students started a treasure hunt in the class and when they found they wrote it on the handout. While Students were doing the activity, I observed the groups. I checked answers by asking each group and recorded the score.You can use QR Codes for many other purposes. Here are some tips for you!1. You are the best forget the rest badges! Everybody loves awards. Why don’t we give QR code awards to our students when they achieve something great? Award prizes by having students scan a code leading to an animation or badge. When they accomplish a test on Present Perfect continuous, they can get a special code that takes them to a badge for Present Perfect Continuous Guru!2. Discovery StationsYou are going to cover a new reading but you want to try something different. Breaking the routine is always good for us and our students. You can put codes in different areas of the class that will take students to different online activities, videos or content. You can use it as a warmup activity or reading activity.3. Answer Fortuneteller Have students check their answers by scanning the QR code after completing a test or assignment. As a teacher, you can visually confirm when students are checking their work and can also check in to see how they are doing. Creating QR codes for difficult topics and attaching them to students’ homework. If they get stuck, they can scan the code and watch a video of you working through the problem step-by-step.4. Provide Extension AssignmentsA great way to provide optional activities for students who want to improve is to simply put the code on the class assignment and let them follow it to the extension activity or question. It won't take up much space, and might facilitate a little excitement about the extension assignment. You can give URL of a beautiful song with present perfect continuous tense as a warming activity as a homework.5. Compile ResearchDiscovering new things is always exciting and by QR codes we give a chance to discover. You can ask students to make a research about their favorite star and have students create codes linking to start discovered during research. These could be posted in class wikis on a specific topic, or on a wall in the classroom. It helps give them ownership of the research process and literally creates "walls that talk."Bio:Aysegul Liman Kaban works as an English Instructor at Bahçeşehir University. She has finished her BA in TEFL and MA in Interpersonal Communication at Marmara University with distinction. She has been recognized by various entities, such as the ELT BLOGATHON Awards, The German National Agency Teacher Trainer Scholarship, and IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial Scholarship 2013 as an innovative, technology integrated project creator. She has been giving talks and workshops at international and national conferences, especially focusing on Mobile Learning, Google Apps, E-portpholio, digital learning apps. She is also Newsletter Editor of IATEFL TEASIG. She shares regularly on eslaction.wordpress.com and on Twitter (@Aysegul_Kaban).

This post has the objective to share a tool I've learned about today: POINT.http://www.getpoint.co/Point is a Google Chrome Plugin which allows you to quickly share links to websites and videos with other people. And how does it work? You install the plugin to your Google browser, then every time you want to share a link with someone, press the key @ on your keyboard and a small box pops up prompting you to choose the person or email to share it with.Check the video below with a demonstration.What I liked about it is the possibility to work collaboratively. By sending the link to someone, whether they are online or not, we can use the chat box which pops up to develop a conversation and reflect together. You can highlight the parts of the text you find relevant and discuss about it as I did with a colleague, Juliana Gense, tonight (we are reading in English but discussing in Portuguese).You can share and discuss about articles and blog posts:You can share and discuss about Youtube videos:And even share and discuss about pdf files which have been embedded to https://www.scribd.com/Another amazing feature is the possibility to share the whole chat with someone else via email. And how to do that? After finishing a chat, you click the key @ again and type the email. This would be perfect for sharing a chat with the teacher. The screenshot below is an example of what the chat thread would look like after being sent by email.How can we use Point with students?Brainstorming uses with Juliana, we imagined some possibilities:Have a whole group of students discuss about an article synchronously or asynchronously.Divide EFL students in trios and have them get together synchronously to discuss about texts or explore new vocabulary in a text. Then, when they finish the task, the can send the whole chat to the teacher.Invite students to discuss about a video they watch together.Invite undergraduates or post graduates to analyze academic papers and discuss about the parts they find relevant, then email the chat to their professor or tutor .

The more I use Whatsapp in class, the more I realize how rich this tool is.Last week, I tried a very simple activity with my Basic Students who had just learned how to express themselves in the Past.Have you ever played Chinese Whisper with your students? It is an activity where Student A whispers a message to Student B who then tries to whisper the same message to Student C, so on and so forth. Or another one where the first student says "Last weekend, I went to the shopping centre", then the next student repeats the first sentence and adds one more sentence? We adapted these activities using the recording feature of Whatsapp.These are the steps we followed:1. I recorded the first sentence saying "Last weekend, I went to the cinema."2. Then, I asked students to make their recordings for homework. Before they made their recordings, they would have to listen to the last recording, repeat all the sentences and add one more.It was amazing how fast they started making their recordings as they knew the later they did it, the longer their sentence would be.listen to ‘Chinese Whisper with Whatsapp’ on audioBoom 3. In the following class, I asked all the students to get their cell phones ( the ones who didn't have a device, sat with someone who had one) and listen to the last recording, which was the longest one, in order to write it down. It was great to see how involved they were listening to the sentences, repeating them, until they were able to write everything down. Similarly to Chinese Whisper, the last student to record the sentences ended up getting a few words wrong as he misunderstood what the previous student had said. As a result, students had to go back and listen to previous recordings to see where the mistake started. We heard quite a few laughs.4. After most students had written all the sentences down, I asked them to dictate the sentences to me as I wrote them on the board. I used the opportunity to correct mistakes and practice the right pronunciation of words and verbs in the past.ANALYZING THE ACTIVITY:In the initial phase of the activity, students had to create their own sentences with verbs in the past. As more sentences were used, they had to think of different verbs and their collocations to make new sentences. They needed to take special care pronouncing the sentences clearly so that their classmates would understand their sentence and continue the game. The longer the sentence became, it was necessary for them to write the words down in order to make the recording. Step 3 was a great way to practice listening and writing again. In a way, it was a dictation created by students themselves. During the feedback moment, I tried to focus on the right forms of the verbs they had chosen and their collocations.

One of the Google tools I use the most on my cell phone is GOOGLE KEEP. Funny enough, it's one of the least known Google apps. The objective of this post is to share some of the ways I use Google Keep in my personal life and how we can use it with students.Google Keep is an app (for androids and IOS) and website which can be accessed from your cell phone or any laptop, once you log into your google account.With GOOGLE KEEP you can create different kinds of notes: a text, a list, record your voice or take a photo. These notes can be shared with others so that they can collaborate with you. You can also add a note as a reminder which will pop up when you need it (based on time or location). Imagine getting to the supermaket and your shopping list popping up, or getting to the library and the names of the books you need to borrow come up on the screen.IN LIFE, I use it to keep myself organized:I take photos of flight reservation info for quick access when I travel. I believe it's much faster to find it instead of storing the photo on an email or  among so many other photos in my phone gallery.I make shopping lists and  lists of chores I need to get done on a daily basis.I register some WIFI passwords (from my mom's house, from ours, from my sister-in-law's). It's very useful when we change devices or for guests. It has been a lifesaver.I register addresses I will need soon (hotel addresses).In other words, instead of using the notetaking app, I use Google Keep for any note I need to keep.What I haven't used yet:Record my ideas with my voice which is then transcribed automatically. It's great for those moments when you have an awesome idea for an article.Share a list with other people while planning an event and see when things are ticked and done.My notes are usually white, but as we can add colors to them, they might be easier to find if we adopt a color system.Used reminders based on location. How can we use it with students?Students can use it to store photos they take of boards in class and use tags to organize them according to subjects.Students can make lists of homework they need to get done and create reminders.They can brainstorm topics for class sharing a list with classmates.When doing group work and deciding who is doing what, they can make a list which is shared and everyone can see when each item is ticked and things are done.Students can create study notes about any subject so that they can revise quickly before a test.For more reading on GOOGLE KEEP and its features:http://ditchthattextbook.com/2015/04/02/meet-google-keep-and-6-ways-it-can-help-schools/http://flippedclassroomtutorials.blogspot.com.br/2015/03/using-google-keep-to-take-notes.htmlhttps://insidetheclassroomoutsidethebox.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/google-keep-for-educators-and-students/http://blog.appsevents.com/2014/08/using-google-keep-in-classroom.htmlhttp://iserotope.com/students-google-keep-evernote/http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/05/making-most-of-google-keep.html#.Vczc651Vikphttp://goo.gl/cgVD4YIn Portuguese:http://www.tecmundo.com.br/google/38027-google-keep-saiba-como-usa-lo.htmhttps://www.google.com.br/keep/ 

I have the pleasure to introduce a guest post by a very talented Brazilian teacherpreneur, Mau Buchler. I met Maurício during my talk at the Braztesol Technology Seminar last July and was amazed to learn about his website and English course material "TRIPPPIN" (yes, with 3 ps). He has brilliantly put together three things nearly everyone loves: travelling, culture and games.I take the opportunity to voice my admiration to his creativity and initiative."I remember the first English class I ever taught. I had no experience and no training whatsoever, but my employers saw no reason why I shouldn’t start immediately.It was a private class for one of the directors of Banco Santos. I was 18 years old at the time, and I remember being ushered into the man’s impossibly huge office. He sat behind an enormous desk, and the morning sun was shining through the wall-to-wall window behind him. He looked like some kind of corporate sun-god, who gazed down at me and asked in disbelief:"YOU are my new teacher?"I managed to utter a brief: "Yes."He snorted: "Well kid… have a seat then."I sat down and asked him what he was doing. He started explaining and I started correcting his grammar, which he quite enjoyed.He went on about investment funds, stocks, bonds, assets and liabilities. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I asked questions. All I did was ask questions, listen to him explain and correct his mistakes. It was fun, he was happy, and we had several good classes together, but this technique couldn’t last forever.Conversation classes are great, but sometimes people aren’t in a talkative mood (and some people just aren’t the talkative type). Plus, if you don’t follow or create a learning structure, progress may not be as expected, so after a while I decided to start using the textbook and CD that had been supplied to me, and forced upon him.He hated it. He hated the texts, the audio prompts, the exercises. Everything. He said they were out of touch with reality, fake and therefore: useless.I agreed, and looked for other books, but found none that could live up to our standards of "reality" because… well, the world is constantly changing, and reality changes with it. It’s difficult for books to keep up. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of books. Once they’re printed, they’re done. They can’t be easily updated.As I couldn’t find what I wanted, I started creating specific material for my student. Now, keep in mind that this was 1991 and the internet wasn’t really working yet, so specific material was hard to find. Basically, I worked with texts from magazines, and movie clips.And by then, I already had several other students of different ages, levels and backgrounds, so making specific material for each of them was becoming a full-time job. I started thinking: "How can I supply personal, relevant material to EVERYONE? EVERYONE is a lot of people, but if you’re going to make material, why not make it for everyone in the world that wants to learn English? What’s the unifying thread? What does everyone like?Then it hit me: Travel and fun. Who doesn’t like travelling and having fun? I won’t bore you by detailing the years of research and work that followed, but it’s enough to say that after 2 decades of building prototypes and teaching English around the world, I developed http://www.tripppin.com/Tripppin is an English course material in the shape of a game and a TV series that covers the world. It extends the school/teachers’ influence beyond the classroom. You can use it as main course material or as a supplement. You can use it in classrooms, online classes and computer labs. Students can use it independently, wherever they are, on their tablets, computers and smartphones. https://youtu.be/XeU4nP4mDqs Tripping was made by an English teacher for English teachers and schools. Next time, I’ll show you how to use it in class, step by step, but I do believe that the best way for teachers to get familiarized with it is to use it as a student.That’s why we’re giving away VIP memberships to teachers. All you have to do isLeave a comment below, so we know who you are. Sign up free at www.tripppin.comGo Tripppin!" In a few weeks, Mau Buchler will be writing a follow up post explaining how he uses the website with his own students. So, keep an eye on LIFE FEAST to learn more.  Have you gone Tripppin yet? I have. :)

Here comes the 5th part of the A-Z Web tools, the letter:E EduGlogster is a tool to create online visual posters that are called glogs. You can add text, images, music and video to your interactive glog. EyeJot is a tool to send video emails. You don’t need to download any software. You only get into your account, record and upload your video and send it. EdiStorm is an interactive wall where you can brainstorm using sticky notes collaboratively. You can move your notes and you can play with colors. You can create solo or collaborative brainstorms. Empressr lets you create your slideshows with photos, music, videos and audios to share it privately or publicly. EditGrid is an online spreadsheet. You can share spreadsheet to other users, multiple users can edit at the same time, you can also embed charts and tables. EarthTunnel is a creative picture sharing site. You’re in a dark tunnel with pictures around you and you use your keyboard to move in the tunnel. EasyTestMaker is an online test generator to help you create tests. You can create multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, short answer and true and false questions all on the same test. You can also insert instructions and divide your test into multiple sections. EverNote is a note taking and organizational tool. You can type a text, snap a photo, take a screenshot, add titles, tags and organize your notes and reach theme wherever you are. You can share your notes with others or keep them private. Edmodo is a secure social networking tool for students, teachers and parents. You can post classroom materials, share links, videos,access to homework, grades and school notices. You can also keep digital content like videos pictures, presentations. EasyBib is an automatic bibliography composer. It helps you to format your sources quickly and accurately. EditGrid is an online word spreadsheet with majority of Excel features. You can share spreadsheet with others and multiple users can edit at the same time. You can embed the tables and charts to your blog or your website. Exploratree is a free web resource where you can access a library of ready-made interactive thinking guides, print them, edit them or make your own. Emailler is an application that helps you protect your email address from spambots when making your email address public. EasygoingSurvey allows you to crate your own survey with very simple steps. ExamBuilder is a tool to create an online test in a Web browser, and then publish it in one click. P.S. any more tools? Just leave me a comment with your name, I’ll mention it, thanx. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.

Here comes the faves of the new week: MailFreezer is a site where you can freeze an email up to 100 years and send it any time you want in 100 years of time. EditMe is a site to create collaborative websites. You can add, edit and delete pages, share documents and images collaboratively. PasswordMeter helps you to assess the strength of password strings and see if your password is strong enough not to be hacked or not. Planetaki is a tool that lets you read all your favorite websites in a single page. You can keep them public or private. SendShots lets you film yourself and share it with others. You just choose a background and start recording yourself via your webcam. Cantanding is a karaoke site where you can watch, listen and read the lyrics of the songs. Wordis is a site which gives words to you to complete the rest and share your vision with other people. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.

This year’s Istek conference was another great success, a rich experience and a momentous event as it was last year. There were great speakers and outstanding sessions, the organization was top notch and conference topics proved to be very interesting and inspiring. Also, I had the pleasure and honour to be one of the keynote presenters this year. It was also great to meet my PLN again and meet some of them face to face for the first time. But this isn’t the reason why I write this post today. I am writing this, because what is more amazing and outstanding than this conference is Burcu Akyol, the ELT star! She is absolutely beautiful and adorable inside and out. Can anybody be more modest and generous than her? She is always welcoming, smiling and bringing sunshine to everyone’s faces.She is patient and very kind. The respect she gives each person is outstanding. She has an infectious and inspiring soul with a special gift as a person and as an educator in seeing the potential in others and using her potential for making a positive difference in our world and she has a great vision! I would like to thank her for hosting such a great event again, which has opened me up to make connections with others. Special thanks again to her for being a true friend, for sharing her heart, profession, and congrats to her for building up a great kingdom of ELT!! I am fortunate to follow the way she has lit up for us!! Also, my compliments and cheers for her excellent team for making this event happen, and thanks to my PLN who has been a great inspiration to me from the beginning of my journey! And if you have missed this great opportunity this year, don’t miss it again!! And follow Burcu’s digital steps here and here.

Here is a new part of A-Z tools. This week’s letter is F. FontDeMusic lets you add sound and movement to the words. You write your text, select font, choose color and add movement to your words by moving your mouse up and down. FontSelf is a tool to create fonts from your handwriting. You just draw your alphabet, upload it to fontself, review and save your fonts.It’s online, it’s instant and available only to you. Fotobabble is a tool to create talking photos. You upload your picture and record your voice using your microphone and publish it. FillanyPDF is a site to upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. FolfingStory is a group collaborative storytelling tool. You can create your own story or edit other stories and share them with the world. FlipText is a tool that lets you write upside down. FlickrSlider is a tool where you can easily embed Flickr slideshows to your blog or website. File2 is a tool to turn any file into a public website. FlockDraw is a web based drawing tool. You can collaborate with others to draw pictures using this tool. Flashmeeting is a tool to meet people from anywhere around the world. You book a meeting time and assign a password. You share it with other that you want to collaborate. Forestle is a green internet search engine that you can save 0.1 m² of rain forest free with your each search. FluidSurveys is  a tool to create online surveys and polls. Fix8 allows you to customize your on-screen virtual appearance in real time using avatar technology. In short, it’s a web cam technology that lets you animate yourself. FluxTime is a tool to create animations, edit and play with them. Forums lets you create forums to build your own community. You can share posts, documents, different type of media, tasks and take notes. FormatPixel lets you create your online books, newsletters, magazines and portfolios. You can layout text, add your own images and interactivity and customize their appearance. FaceYourManga is a tool to create your avatar through your image and share it with others. Fodey lets you generate animated pictures such as a newspaper clip, a talking squirrel, talking cats, ninja text or a talking flower. Furly is a tool to shorten multiple urls into one. FuteBolTV is a tool  to select scenes from football matches and edit subtitles for them. You can share it with others via mail or place it on your blog or your website. FileDropper lets you to upload your file and share it with others on a link. Fav7 is tool to create a short page which can hold up to seven urls and you only have one link to share. P.S. any more tools? Just leave me a comment with your name, I’ll mention it, thanx. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.

Here are thew new faves: Fotolia is the largest image bank of free and affordable royalty free photos and illustrations for any medium, web or print. You can use an image , vector or a video without any restrictions on the time or number of uses, or the number of prints. You can find photos based on a concept, emotion or theme. You can find people doing interesting things and simple single objects that are ready to use and fotolia is the source where most of my images come from! Notopipe is a site that allows you to edit text files in a collaborative environment from wherever you are. Multiple users can easily edit on the same document simultaneously and changes can easily be seen by each user. PicFont lets you add text, comment on a picture,  a canvas or on a shape. MyFakeWall is a site where you can create fake Facebook profiles and share it with others on Facebook. WhisperBot lets you create simple and secure notes between you and your friends. You create your note and send it to your friend. S/he will get a link with your mail.

Here comes the next letter: G EduGlogster is a tool to create online visual posters that are called glogs. You can add text, images, music and video to your interactive glog. GoAnimate is a tool where you can ceate your own cartoons/animations using a variety of tools. GeoGreeting lets you create greeting cards using letters on google maps. GeekChart lets you show where you share stuff online as a web widget. Gickr isa tool to create animated pictures online. Glypho is a great way to write and read novels. You can find many great ideas for novels or you can write your own to inspire others. Grabbabeast is an interactive website where you can build your own beast using a variety of body parts. Grapholite is a tool for designing professional-looking flowcharts, organizational charts, mind maps, venn charts etc. that can be used online and offline, in and out of browser. Google Search Stories is a tool to create digital storytelling using google search.  You choose a video based on your search terms, add some music, then click create. GraffitiCreator allows you to create your graffiti and share it online. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations? said Alice… With the coming of the 21st century, technology has added a new twist to our traditional storytelling. Beyond the scope of pen and pencil, we can now easily tell and share our stories digitally with mobile phones, flip cameras, recording our voice or using free web tools. There is no doubt that today’s students are more motivated and interested in using digital storytelling just like any other multimedia. It offers us, educators, a new and a very 21st century way to captivate students’ attention, facilitate learning, reach shy students and increase collaboration and community in a classroom. It’s a great way to give voice to ourselves and our students in an out of the classroom walls. Audio Tools: LittleBirdTales is a tool that lets you capture your voice; create an online book using artwork, pictures and words. You can scan your pictures, upload them from your computer or you can draw your pictures on LittleBirdTales’ art pad. When you finish uploading your pictures, you write your text and record your voice for  each one. When you finish, you can share it with others via email or get an embed code to place it on your blog/website. This tool is ad-free, user friendly and a great tool  to create digital stories with young learners. It will certainly foster the creativity of our students. LittleBirdTales is a tool that lets you capture your voice; create an online book using artwork, pictures and words. You can scan your pictures, upload them from your computer or you can draw your pictures on LittleBirdTales’ art pad. When you finish uploading your pictures, you write your text and record your voice for  each one. When you finish, you can share it with others via email or get an embed code to place it on your blog/website. This tool is ad-free, user friendly and a great tool  to create digital stories with young learners. It will certainly foster the creativity of our students.Children can illustrate their favourite stories and share them with others. Vocaroo is a tool that lets you record your voice immediately and get a link for it. You don’t need to download any software or get an account  for  this tool. It’s the easiest tool for recording voice. Children can tell/retell a story by  recording their voices and sharing it with others. Voxopop is a web-based audio tool. You can consider this tool as a message board that uses voice instead of text. You create a talk group and share it with others and let them record their voices on the same timeline.  Children can create a chain story by recording their voices on the same timeline. Voicethread is a site to create collaborative and multimedia slides that you can navigate and leave comments for. Each slide can hold images, videos or documents such as PDF, Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents that can be commented by the people you choose to share your Voicethread.  Children can create a collaborative story by adding their own pictures or drawings and recording their voices. Voki is a tool to create speaking avatars with your own voice. You choose your  avatar; you customize it by changing the hair, clothing, bling and the colour of the hair, eyes and skin. When you finish, you give your avatar a voice by recording your voice by phone or using a microphone. You can also upload an audio file or you  can  use text-to-speech feature to convert your text into speech choosing the gender and the accent. When you finish, you can get a link or the embed code to publish it on your blog or your website. Children can tell their stories by recording their voices or they can retell a traditional story with a different ending. BubbleJoy is a tool to create and customize video greeting sites. You don’t need to download anything or get an account. All you need is a camera. You choose your message card and record yourself using your web cam and send it others via mail.Children can record themselves while telling/retelling a story that goes with the frame that they are using. Fotobabble is  a tool to record your voice for pictures. You upload your picture, record your voice using your  microphone and publish it online. You can get a link or an embed code to place it on your blog/website.  Children can record their voices telling a short story or a poem about a picture or they can listen a fotobabble story and talk/write about their favourite part. Jing is a tool to take a picture or make a video of what you see on your computer screen and share it online instantly via mail, web or by saving it on your desktop. Children can record their voices for the presentations that they have prepared or they can get a picture, talk about it and create a story for this picture. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.

"Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." Animation tools are great for imaginative narrative expression and creating a learner-centered environment for collaborative and cross-curricular learning. There are many free animation tools to tell your stories in a fun and an interesting way. Like other tools, they are great sources to engage our students into their own learning, encourage problem solving/technology skills and facilitate learning. ZimmerTwins is a tool to make great and fun animated stories. You can start making your animation from scratch or you can create your own, using one of the story starters. You choose the characters, settings, transitions, actions and emotions by using drag-and-drop feature. Then, you only write the text in bubbles. You don’t need any drawing skills to make animations with Zimmertwins. You can get a link, send it to others or you can place it on your blog/website ZimmerTwins is a tool to make great and fun animated stories. You can start making your animation from scratch or you can create your own, using one of the story starters. You choose the characters, settings, transitions, actions and emotions by using drag-and-drop feature. Then, you only write the text in bubbles. Teachers can create the animation and children write the dialogues. When they finish, they can act it out in the class while they are watching the video or children can write an ending or a beginning of the story after they watch. DVolver is a tool to create your mini animations by pointing and clicking. You can choose the setting, characters, music at  the background and how the chosen characters interact in your animation. You write what you want your characters to say and it shows up in bubbles in your animation.  Children can watch a video and write an ending for it or they can summarize a story. GoAnimate is a tool to create your animations. You choose your theme and characters or you can even create your own animated characters by changing the size and  the  color of their body parts and clothes. Characters can do different actions such as walking, dancing, and talking. You can use text to speech application to make your characters talk or simply record your own voice using your microphone. Children can redesign a scene from the story or they can create their own animations using the new language that they have learnt. Xtranormal is a text-to-movie tool that lets you create your movie using your own words and text-to-speech application. You choose your characters, settings, background, voice and music. You then write your text into the appropriate boxes and create your dialogue. You can also play with the  camera angles and sounds in the scripts. Children can create their own films on different topics and share them with others or children can create their animated book reports. DomoAnimate is another tool to create animations. You can animate the characters, change the background, movement, sound effects and  emotions; you can add speech bubbles, interactive elements and music  to your animation as well. You can resize things, delete, and move or change their places. Children can create their animated books that talk or they can write their own screenplays and turn them into animation. This blog or the author are not responsible for any inappropriate images/text/ads of the external links. Please double check before you use it with your students.