Tag Archives: efl20

Gems of EFL 2.0: Poetry in the Classroom

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Poetry is in my soul (read my own, if interested HERE) and I think if used correctly, it is a powerful activity in the EFL Classroom.

In that vein, find a plethora of resources on the Poetry In The Classroom page. Lots of ideas and printables (click the links at the top of the page), you can use immediately in your classroom. Your students will discover the English poet in themselves and when students use language in creative ways, they become very empowered and more confident, less fearful of the second language.

* Read my full blog post on this topic. Read about more gems of EFL Classroom in this series.

Gems of EFL 2.0 – Classroom Management

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Classroom management related questions are the top email item I get. I get them often from both new and experienced teachers alike. It is a skill that needs a teacher’s constant attention. The ground is always moving underneath us.

In response to this, I created a Classroom Management directory page. Loads of videos, quizzes and go to references to help all teachers. I’ve been updating it recently and hope it helps out some teachers in need.


Find other “gems” in this series.

EFL 2.0 Gems – Our Podcast Library

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I’m a major “junk” collector and when I first started using Huffduffer, just couldn’t resist collecting all the best education/teaching related podcasts on the web. And I think I’ve achieved that, bar none.

You’ll enjoy searching with handy tags and you’ll be sure to find some “gems”. My favorite podcast has to be this one Aldous Huxley – On Language – but I’m sure you’ll have your own.

Follow the whole “gems” series HERE. If you like podcasts, you might also enjoy our Linguistics series on EFL Classroom 2.0.

EFL 2.0 Gems: ELT and Tech

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ELT and Tech is a wiki I use to detail all the tutorials I’ve created + references for using technology to teach language.

I’m continually adding tutorials and updating the existing ones. Use the page links on the right, to navigate through the site. There are dozens of tutorials on things like how to embed videos to using specific websites/tools. Also, a some handy bookmarks of the best reference sites for using technology in the classroom.

I’ll be offering a nice 10 module, technology materials creation course in the new year on The School Of TEFL. Stay tuned. Teachers will be challenged to create 10 materials using existing technology, share their products and along the way, realize the power of these fantastic tools.

See all the other gems in the series HERE.

Gems of EFL 2.0: Our Teacher Toolbox

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The Teacher Toolbox is something I’m proud of. I’m a curator and enjoy finding “the best”, especially the best things to help teachers. On this page are certainly the “top” of the top – things every teacher can use and put to use in their class right away.

There are clocks for timing students. I love the Super Timer!
There are generators galore – I love the student name generator!
There are sensational selectors of all sorts. I love the dice, great for playing games.
There is so much. Forms, organizers, vocabulary tools, IWB tools, the list goes on ….. A real gem of a page.

Read more about our other gems in the series.

Gems of EFL 2.0: Our Classrooms

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On EFL Classroom 2.0, we call our groups – “Classrooms“. We have over 100 of them and recently, they’ve gained unbelievable functionality and really are almost full social networks in their own right.

All members can start a group. Make unlimited webpages for your group members. Make the group private (a school/teacher/class might want to do this) or public. You can email all group members with one click of a button (perfect for teachers!). Further, you get discussion forums, commenting area, unlimited file uploads (photos/videos), rss feeds and even more! Personalize the group too.

What’s even better is that you can make one generic id/pw for all your students. After setting up a group, they can visit with the same id/pw (we support multiple logins with the same id). So ontop of your group, students get access to all the amazing content on EnglishCentral.

Here are a few of my fav. groups.

1. Young Learners – so many helpful resources!
2. Karaoke in the Classroom. Many files not on the regular site.
3. Project Peace. Learn how to make a Project Peace video using the Peace Packs.
4. World Groups – join a group for your country in the world. If there isn’t already one, make one! We need members to help make these groups grow!
5. EnglishCentral Star Educators. – learn / share about using this powerful video learning platform.
6. Lessons in a Can. Hundreds of complete lessons with downloads, media, printables. Available to EFL Classroom 2.0 supporters.
7. Teacher Trainers. Lots of helpful advice/resources.
8. Global Issues. Ideas for teaching your students to think about their place in the world.
9. English For Fun and Friendship. This group has it all. A place of immense TLC.

Make your own group, it’s easy!
More in the EFL Classroom 2.0 gems series HERE.

Gems of EFL 2.0: Top Content

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There is so much on EFL Classroom 2.0, the biggest challenge is finding it! I’m trying my best to help teachers and learners in this discovery process and work hard at making the main page search, tag search, tag clouds work. Posts like this “gem” series help too.

However, they is even a better way to find out what’s great on the community – Top Content. It’s a page full of what members think is “hot”. I recommend using it and finding lots of great content. Also, click the red sidebar tab. There, you can find a whole list of pages that members are on at the moment. People like to be where other people are! (you can even see all the data for the site there; visits, page views etc…. no secrets here).

The best way YOU can help others find great stuff? Just tweet, facebook, like it! Others will have a better chance of visiting it and knowing about it. You can now even comment right to facebook on all our pages.

EFL 2.0 gems: Karaoke dialogues

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I am very proud of this very underused resource- our karaoke dialogue page. You get a full ebook of all the blank dialogues + Karaoke or video files of the full dialogue or with parts missing where the student can reply with their own voice. It’s a stellar activity and try it below or go directly to the Karaoke Dialogue page. This post , “The Blank Dialogue Refreshed” explains how I developed this approach.

The “gems” series will continue all month. Here are the previous posts.

EFL 2.0 gems: Name The Language

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This “game” is based upon my first successful game “Who Is Speaking” which used the speech accent archive.

In it, you listen to the 1st Article of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man spoken in a foreign language. Then you guess and see how you did. It’s quite the challenge! There are different versions based on length.

Give it a try or challenge your students.

Read all the “gems of EFL Classroom 2.0″ series, highlighted all this month.

Gems of EFL Classroom 2.0: Kid’s Karaoke

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Beyond TEFL certificate training, I first got into giving serious workshops through and about “Karaoke in the classroom”. I find karaoke a great tool for not just improving reading skills but also getting students some controlled speaking practice.

In that vein, find lots of karaoke on EFL Classroom 2.0. However, today I’d like to highlight our Kid’s Karaoke. A sterling set of kids songs. See them in video but also download the karaoke player and play the files from your desktop, class computer. Slow the tempo, change words, make a cloze, it’s easy! Enjoy these great kids songs….

Read all the “gems of EFL Classroom 2.0″ series, highlighted all this month.

Language “Starters”

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One of the major skill sets of a great language teacher is the ability to “prompt” students so they will generate language. It isn’t easy and with time a teacher becomes better at replying, prompting, leaving unfinished their utterances so that students are put into a position of “having to communicate”. It is a skill that even gets more refined as the teacher adapts and scaffolds at just the right level/language. Teachers also get better at moving things along – the big challenge of pacing.

EFL Classroom 2.0 has so many online language generators that help teachers out in this regard. Generators and prompts keep the pace level high and keep students so engaged. I’ve used them and 30 minutes will go by in the wink of an eye. No boredom with them at all. I’ve put together many that can with a click of a mouse, start students talking. Also, in ppt and paper/flashcard form. Here’s a list – try them with student and I’m sure you’ll see they work like a charm. The teacher just keeps circulating as students take turns in groups, answering the prompt.

Tell Us About | Finish It Off | Writing Prompts | First Word War | State Your Opinion

Get more gems all month as we highlight them here.

June 27, 2007 12:44 am – my first EFL Classroom 2.0 post

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[ I'm highlighting the "gems" of EFL Classroom 2.0 this month.  So, thought it appropriate to post up the first of over 1,500 blog posts in that time.  The start. ]

Educational Bliss

I really truly, madly deeply, believe in the power of education. Not as a way to knowledge but wisdom — as a way of forming a proper relationship between yourself and that “outside”. Tat tvam asi” , the brahman might say, “That art thou”.

Not to wax philosophically but I do think that as educators we should always carry this higher purpose within us and let it coat all the practicalities of teaching. I endeavour to do that and try, each day, to touch something infinite.

So I hope in the coming weeks, months, years , to turn here and “shut off the machine” and write what my mind meanders. About education and the larger purpose of things. Also about the small things. I don’t know who wrote the book but I read it in teacher’s college and was enlightened, “The Reflective Teacher”. Let this space be my mirror.

I also want to speak here about the role of technology. So much change but so much potential! Lots I hope to experiment with, try, tweak, throw away in my language teaching future.

I’ve come a long way from my steelworking days! Keep tuning in and turning off your own machine!

DD

TED TALKS – “Mind seasoning”

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Right from the start, I was a TED addict. Sterling talks on a wide variety of topics. Great “mind seasoning”. I’ve written many times about TED talks but took it a step further, creating a handy TED “Random” video player with HD videos. Just refresh the page and get a random “taste” of TED. Or just scroll through the videos (most recent at the top). All of them at your fingertips.

Make sure to nominate an educator for TED – nominations close Dec. 5th.

I’ll be highlighting all the hidden gems of EFL Classroom 2.0, all this month!

What The Wordle

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Teaching vocabulary can sometimes be trying. Mostly because it involves a lot of “new” stuff for students and a lot of slogging through, a lot of hard work on the part of the learner.

What The Wordle helps! They are a series of presentations, games really, that I made to “liven up” vocabulary learning. Click on a presentation, preview and then play with your students. Can they get the answer? You can also get the ppts for most HERE. Try this example, One of these things is not like the other.

Try it, I’m sure you’ll like it! Lots more “gems” from EFL Classroom 2.0 being highlighted here all this month!

Youtube 4 Teachers

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Video Rulz! However for teachers, youtube can be problematic in the classroom. Too many distractions, too many ads. The students are busy looking at all the other stuff and not focusing on the main video.

I’ve made a player that helps immensely. Drawing on youtube’s API, you even get higher quality and more reliably streamed video than the site proper. I just got frustrated using many of the “safe” options out there. Many sites went under (like Clean Tube), some just added their own advertising and spam (Teacher Tube).

So enjoy the player for “safe” use in your classroom. Enjoy all the hidden gems of EFL Classroom, I’ll be showing off this month.

Also see this tutorial on Keepvid and downloading youtube videos for use in the classroom.

Text Messaging Game (Big Screen)

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I’m really proud of some of the creative games I’ve made. One that I really think is stellar is “Transl8it”.

I’ve recently updated it and get it through a now available “Big Screen” version. It is simple as pie to play and students love it. Maybe even get them to make their own games by visiting http://www.transl8it.com and putting in their own text which students can then decode.

[I'll be highlighting EFL Classroom "hidden gems" for the next month. Keep coming back for more!]

What’s Next?

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The whole month of December, I’ll be highlighting here content/ideas/material that I feel is in need of some “daylight”. There is so much of value and it just needs members to open a window so others can see it/find it.

I’ve previously blogged about the “power of prediction” for language teaching and prompting student language production. Very much along the lines of guessing games. Here’s another stellar way – What’s Next?

They are videos that show a scene. The teacher pauses the video and asks the students to say what will happen next. This can either be by offering some possible outcomes (A, B, C, D) or asking students to use their own thoughts (write down some “gambits” for prompting student language – “I think….. is / age going to ….” | “… is are possibly going to …” | “… might ……” etc ).

It’s easy to do and what’s better, teachers have already done a lot of the leg work. Find many already on EFL Classroom 2.0.

Stay tuned daily, all December for updates like this one – that’s what’s next!


Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0