Review of an Article

Apps

Just in a rush to today.
Are you interested in producing different multimedia tools for your calss or personal use?

This post is to introduce you to a home for several types of softwares called dvdvideosoft.com
Just type the link in your browser and you will find the site.

Under the page you will find different tools that can help you creat, convert and produce different multimedia documents. let me share you what I did.

I wanted to upload MP3 running music on my mobile phone. Because my mobile phone can only take that format. The other problem was that I was able to find an appropriate music from you tube. My real search for a tool emerged then. I wanted a tool to concert the you tube videos I got to MP3 format.

The 'FREESTUDIO' helped me to convert the you tube videos into mp3 format and I uploaded it on my phone. I am using the music when I jog.

However, I am thinking about the further possible potential of the tool to help me for my calss. The operation is very simple and short.

when you open the FREESTUDIO' you will see the following page

You can copy and paste the you tube video link into the given space at the center of the box marked 'copy a you tube video link and paste it here'.

you can chose the types of mp3 you want from the cursor given in the dialogue box marked 'Quality'. Finally you can run the conversion by clicking the 'edit' button. Within a sort period of time you will find your mp3 document.
Important features
1. squised size
2. different options of mp3 documents
3. instantly downloadable to any apps

Give it a try and lets talk about it more
good luck

April, 2012

My interview on IATEFL conference, 2012

My interview on IATEFL Conference,

PP Project Presentation

Nasa Science Cast. In interesting source of listening text

Once we move from consumers of ICT products to contributors to it due to web 2.0, the amount of materials up on web is increasing from time to time. In the mean time, the developments in technology are increasing rapidly to enable us sharing between and among ourselves.

The development  in the area of producing audio and video materials is now amazing due to podcasting and vodcasting.  It is now possible to share large number of files fast. It is also possible to transfer those files from one source to another.

Podcast is the focus of this post. Many things has been said about podast.This is just to pause a question in the minds of my readres about how can we use such large and varied sources to facilitate teaching learning.

Podcast records avilable free online are interesting sources of educationl materials for teaching  English language. The link below is what I  have come across recently. I will come to comment on the possible ways to use this and other sources. For now I would like to invite you to have alook at the link and think what we can do together.

Mesmerising February Evenings

See you soon

A good resource for beginner learners

It is obvious that language teaching and learning is becoming a hot issue in the education systems of different countries. Now I am being convinced that it is much more influential than I imagined. I have one interesting reason to come to this conclusion. I am appreciating the values of language teaching ICT tools produced more than any time now in my study and reading at Warwick. This informs me the value that language teaching and learning is being given.  

In this post, I would like to introduce ‘language guide .Org ’ website. The first things that come to my mind are my children. My first child is already in kindergarten. She is struggling to identify letters. It always surprises me that she can easily identify a capital letter and a small letter if it is associated with the picture that he studied with at school. Therefore, I decided to help her study using practice books that have images and letters. Having come across with language. Org English, one more thing comes to my mind. This can help my child more than I can imagine synchronising all written, pictures and spoken forms.  

What is Language guide.org?

Language guide.org is a website that can help learners to improve their English language vocabulary skills. It is designed in a very simple way so that it can help learners acquire the basic skills. One can use the  link http://www.languageguide.org/ to find the page of the website.

Features

The most essential feature of language guide.org is that it has vocabulary in written, pictures and spoken forms synchronised. Such multimodal presentation helps learners to acquire what they have gone through faster.

How can teachers use?

Language Guide. Org is an ideal source of lesson for early grade language education. Parents can also use it at home to help their children. It is really a fun for children to learn from the website.

The following lesson is designed for children of age seven based on the input form language guide.org. I will use the PPP model of lesson production. This is just to demonstrate what we can do with the website. Therefore, the lesson plan may not be complete or copy of what we often do for our classes

Lesson Plan

Objective

At the end of this lesson the students will be able to

1.       Identify body parts above our neck.

2.       Pronounce the words properly

3.       Write the words in correct spelling

Introduction

In this part students are asked to identify their body parts especially the ones above their neck. Then they are asked to identify the body parts of a friend next to them.

N.B. Teacher need to be very careful on facilitating the second exercises if there is a students with some kind of disability.

Presentation

We can present the body parts above the neck in pictures. I suggest the use of students’ L1 at this stage

Head                                     chicks

Hair                                       chin

Ears                                        forehead

Nose                                     nostrils

Mouth                                  teeth

Eyes                                       eyebrow

Teacher can use the pictures widely at this level to help students associate the words with the pictures

Practice

We can use the resources form languageguide.org at this specific point. If the teachers are not native speaker of the language, the resource from Language Guide.org has significant contribution. The following link for Language Guide.org can help learners to practice the body parts in this lesson. Teachers can use both the American and British version to help students practice based on their judgement.

Teachers can also decide on the procedure and type of practices based on their real context. However, practice sessions need to be involving and accuracy focused.

http://www.languageguide.org/english-uk/vocabulary/face/

Production

At this stage teachers can make two choices. The first choice could be to get back to their original pictures and ask students to elicit each part. The second part could be to keep on using the resources on Languagegide.org.

However, teachers need to be very considerate to give enough amount of time at this stage. They also need to think about the variety of ways to make the production interesting and engaging.

Please give it a try and see what you can improve

Good luck.

Now I have one more choice to facilitate my trainings

In my job as a consultant at the Ethiopian Civil Service University, I conduct trainings. It is customary for me to ask participants of the trainings to brainstorm on issues. I often ask participants think about the issues by themselves and write whatever comes to their mind on a piece of coloured post-it-note papers and post it on the wall. Then I ask participants to move around and try to sort out similar ideas and put them in their categories. This is often a successful activity to encourage participants to contribute. It is mainly encourages when training participants have some sort of power relationship. I am often interested on the idea not who said it.

It is still possible to use this idea successfully even if there is no question of anonymity. Wallwisher is an ICT tool that reminded me all these things. Now I can do all those things using a computer program.

In this article I would like to share about what wallwisher is, how can we use it in our classroom and out of class activities and what are its limitations.

What is Wallwicher?

Wallwisher is an ICT tool that enable as to help us communicate and collaborate in doing some activities. One can come up with an issue to discuss or brainstorm and invite others to contribute even if they are far away. Therefore, individuals con contribute using wallwisher.

The picture above shows the page of wallwisher when you inter using google search or writing wallwisher in the URL of your browser. You need to register so as to enable you produce an account that enable you to save what you do. Once you have your password you can use your wall for your activities.

 

The actual wall you collaborate with others is as shown in the picture above. Participants can add written texts up to 160 characters, pictures and vireos. When one enters a document the facilitator of the discussion can click ok and help others share it right away. It is also possible for one to comment on what others written of posted. I have started a discussion on what are the causes of higher number of road accidents in Ethiopia. You can refer to the post in this blog how issues are posted up.

What purpose can it serve?

I found it as an exciting tool to conduct trainings that I used to facilitate. However, it is still possible to use for teaching inside and outside classroom. Classroom at higher education institutions can be facilitated. It is still possible to use it for online tutorial on distance and encouraging participations in virtual classes.

The two important pedagogical justifications behind using wallwisher are to encourage leaners participation and facilitate student cantered discussions. Using wallwisher, we can specifically encourage shy learners to contribute and develop confidence. In addition to this, teachers and trainers can see the perceptions of the learners or training participants and adjust their discussion and support based on that. Therefore, wallwisher is an important tool for teachers and students.

Teachers can also encourage students to use the tool while they are at home or with students in other schools

Writing exercises are possible based on ideas contributed form students in classrooms. We can share the points we discussed using wallwisher. Therefore, it creates a chance for other to learn from us.

 

What are its limitations?

Wallwisher has limited characters (160) to use give written messages. Therefore, this may limit the contributions of individuals. I believe that it is an important variety for our classes or training sessions.

Give it a try and see waht you can do more with it.