Glogster

This site is a really nice idea if you want to start your learners blogging but a blog is a bit intimidating! With this tool you can really easily create a page with pictures, text, music, videos etc. It's quick and easy,lots of fun and free!

Here's my example - I had to put it in as a pic, but there is music, too, if you follow this link you can get the full experience!!

You just go to the site, register (it's very quick) and you're ready to go! Nice to find other Glogs that you like, too...
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Nik's Daily English Activities

This blog is absolutely brilliant!  Nik Peachey has so many great ideas for using the internet, and this is a list of dozens of websites for learners to use outside the class.  It's also a great one for you as a teacher as many of these ideas can be adapted to use in class. 

Here's an example - A city love story  using a short film (9 minutes) from You Tube about Beirut.  I used this is class - opening with a discussion of places you have been that have surprised you (because they've been better or worse than expected) and then discussed people's impressions of Beirut.
I then showed them the first minute (showing what a beautiful city it is) and asked for impressions.



They then watched the next 6 minutes and noted the things that the girl and the boy like.  It's not in English, but there is really nice language in the subtitles (he likes the elasticity of cheese, for example!).  We did watch  the end of the film, but my main focus was then on the learners writing what they like about their cities or towns.  It was really inspiring!
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Animoto

This is a really nice site for creating videos of pictures or video content that you can upload from your own computer or from the internet (or from samples on the site).  You get to choose a soundtrack for it and different backgrounds and the result looks something like this:



Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.  When you've made your video, you can save it, facebook, tweet or embed it, and it's very easy to use.  You do have to register to use it, and the free version only allows you to make 30 second long videos - if you want to make longer ones, you have to sign up and pay.  Still, 30 seconds is still enough to make something worthwhile for a language class.

There are lots of potential applications for this. The video I made depicts a trip to Egypt; you could ask your learners to watch the first time to see where I went, and then a second time, ticking off vocabulary on a list of things they saw (eg sail, pyramid, camel, seagull - including some likely things that weren't there -hotel, shops, bus). Then ask them to describe the trip as if they went, or to prepare a tour operator's persuasive sales pitch for the trip.  The possibilities for this to be a catalyst for lots of language work are limited only by your imagination.  You could also include pictures of your learners or of places that are familiar to them.

My only criticism of the site is that, although it's free, they do keep asking you if you want to upgrade and this can be a lttle annoying......

Language Plants

This is a link to a blog called Language Garden, by David Warr, which has a whole collection of 'word plants' in it.  They're hard to explain, so the easiest thing is to show you a one!  Have a look at this one - how could it fail to brighten up your class?

There are lots of others, some very thought provoking, using lots of different kinds of texts.  This one is one that stirs me.....

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemöller,
a German anti-Nazi theologian

I think that they are a really nice way to introduce a text for further work on vocabulary or structure, or for further productive work on  the same topic.  What's particularly nice for lower level adult or teenage learners is that a lot of the texts are quite profound or thought provoking, but quite accessible due to the repetitious nature of the texts.  The visual aspect may also help to add motivation, and comprehension.

Limitations?  I guess you might have to be a bit sensitive to your learners in terms of some of the content (the one above, for example, might be upsetting to some), but apart from that I think they're great for a five minute filler, or for basing a whole lesson around.  Let the garden grow!

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Lyrics Training

This is a really great site.  It has songs in a range of European languages - English, Itaian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portugese and German, and you can choose from easy, medium or hard songs and also make the task easier or harder for yourself by choosing how much of the song you want blanked out.  You then play the video, listen to the song and fill in the gaps. What is particularly nice about this site is that it's very easy to take at your own pace.  If you miss a gap the song stops and you just press the backspace button to listen to that line again, or if you can't get it, press the tab key to get the answer.  You can register for free with the site and then it will record all of your scores, but you can use the site without registering, too.

I think it's a great site for all ages and all abilities, really, as there is a wide range of songs and this kind of material is often very motivating for people, especially if they know and like the songs anyway.  Probably more for homework, rather than in class.
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