ELLLO ENGLISH

WHAT IS ELLLO ENGLISH

Elllo English is a great website for listening practice which contain more than 1000 listening activities.You can find interviews, mixer, video response, listening games, songs, vocabulary and many more.While you listen you have the option to show or hide the text. The text version also offers audio explanations of difficult words and phrases. Elllo’s mp3 recordings are unique in that they offer English accents of people from all over the world, including America, Canada, Britain, Australia, and countries where English is not a first language. Conversation topics, such as housing, relationships, and jobs are modern and practical in daily life. Besides, you can download all the audio on the site except the song on the music pages.

AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - Thirteen and above (I assume that this is a listening website for secondary school learners since this website uses quite long audio recording/visual recording/text)
# Level of learners -  All level of learners 

HOW TO USE ELLLO ENGLISH

# Simply go to the Elllo English website. HERE is the link.

Elllo English webpage

# Then you can choose any activity that you want to do based on your preference.
#  For full tutorial in using Elllo English, you may refer to Russell Stannard video. Please click HERE

SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITES

1.  Listening activity - Teacher could use the audio or video recording in this website as a listening activity for the whole class. Teacher can print out the material (comprehension question or quizzes) and use the audio or video recording in this website as a listening activity.
2. Teacher could suggest this website to the students so that they could do the activities  during their free time outside the classroom. This would promote independence and autonomous learning since the students do the exercise on their own. In addition, the students could use the activities for self-assessment/self-evaluation in which they can evaluate how good their speaking skill are.
3.  Another thing which teacher could do is get students or a computer and internet and then asks students to go to Elllo English website and do any activity that they prefer. In this situation, teacher just monitor the students as to make sure that all of them do it. This would lead to personalisation since they can choose any activity which they prefer. 

*This website could accommodate the students' multiple ways of learning. This is due to the reasons that this website offers various activities which includes a lot visuals etc.*
*This website is also a good website to enhance the students listening skill as it provides a lot of audio listening that the students can choose.*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT ELLLO ENGLISH

1. Students can listen to a variety of lesson in English
2. Authentic materials - this website provide the conversation/language that people use in their daily lives
3. It can accommodate different learning style - It has audio, video, text as well visual in which students can choose which they prefer
4. Can promote autonomous learning - students can do it outside the classroom without the teacher's guidance. 
5. This website shows different culture or multicultural society. For example, African American and Japanese culture.
6. The teacher can vary their lesson and use this website as a source to teach in the classroom - teacher can download the material such as mp3 files and text
7. Personalisation - Students are given variety of choices (the topic) based on their interest/preferences
8. This website could be the opportunity for the students to practise variety of skills such as speaking (including communication and pronunciation), listening and vocabulary.
9. The activities (such as comprehension activities and games) provides the purpose for listening
10. This website extract the language for context in which students can learn through context/situation
11. Provide variety of level. Thus, all level of students can engage in the activity. 
12. Students can gauge their level - they can use this website to evaluate their progress (self assessment) 
13. Learners can learn other stuff as well such as history and Science. 

PROBLEMS WITH ELLLO ENGLISH

1. Problem with control - when you want to go back to the main page, you need to click the back button
2. Organisation of the website - this website does not shows any categories to distinguish all the topics
3. This website has the link to twitter. This could be a distraction for the students as they may focus more on twitter rather than on this website. 

PODCAST - AUDIOBOO

WHAT IS AUDIOBOO

Audioboo is a website in which allow users to make recording and podcast and post and share it with others. The recording will link to Audioboo website itself, facebook, twitter, youtube as well as itunes. Users can add image and location of where they record their 'boo'. Recently, users can download the Audioboo application for smartphone; Iphone, Android and Nokia. So, if students have smartphone, they can just record and send it using their phone! This is amazing!

AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS

# Age of learners - thirteen and above. It is not really suitable for primary school learners as this tool is more into speaking and it involves less visual. This would make younger learners not interested in using this tool

# Level of learners - All levels including beginner, intermediate or advanced.

HOW TO USE AUDIOBOO
# Go to the Audioboo Webpage

# Get yourself an account  - just need to fill in e-mail address, user name and password
# Check your email to verify your Audioboo account
# Click 'make a recording/upload file
# For full tutorial on how to use Audioboo, you may click HERE


EXAMPLE OF PODCAST MADE USING AUDIOBOO
This is an example of 'boo' that I've made. It is about 'How to find happiness'.

SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITES

In my opinion, this tool is suitable for 'connected classroom'. In other words, this tool connects what the students to in the classroom with the homework given by the teacher. Few examples of how this tool could be used for teaching are:

1.  The teacher could teach about future tense. The teacher talks about her future plan such as she will get married, she will further her studies etc. Then, the teacher elicit the structure of future tense from the students. After that, the students work in pair and talk about their future plans with their partner. As the homework, the students need to record themselves speaking using Audioboo. They need to talk about their future plans.
2.  Another possible activity is in pairs, the students prepare an interview. The interview could be about what the teacher had taught in the classroom, for example, about future plans. This activity could lead to collaboration between to students and it provides information gap. Thus, at the same time, it provides the reasons for the students to speak.
3.  The teacher could also asks the students to record themselves telling a story. For example, the teacher can asks the students to write a story. They can choose to write any story that they like. Then, as the homework, they need to record themselves telling the story that they wrote in the class. This activity is like killing two birds with one stone - students can practise their writing and after that, they can practise their speaking.

HOW DOES IT RELATES WITH LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. Audioboo provides real audience for the learners. This is because this as the students record themselves speaking using this tool, their recording could be viewed by the people all around the world. 
2. Audioboo also reflect Krashen's idea about comprehensible input ( i+1 theory) where students need to be taught with input which is slightly higher than their current knowledge. In this situation, the teacher already give some input in the classroom and the students need to some extra activity as their homework. The extra activity is considered as the input which is higher that their current knowledge.
3. Using this tool could also motivate the students to speak. Some of the students might feel shy to speak in front the classroom. However, with this tool, they can practise their speaking even at home and the teacher still can access and give feedback about their speaking.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT AUDIOBOO

1. It is FREE - you just need to register.
2. It has few good features such as 'follow people' and 'link to other platform'
3. Students get the chance to communicate with the real world - they can receive feedback/comments from others as well as comments on others' podcast
4. Can embed it to your blog or website
5. The website is clearly organised. Thus, it is user friendly

PROBLEMS WITH AUDIOBOO

1. Only 3 minutes recording for free plan -  if you want it longer, you have to pay
2. The link to Twitter and Facebook could be a distraction for the students
3. Need internet connection and microphone in order to do the recording. 
4. The recording is viewed globally (through twitter, itunes and youtube). Therefore, there is no privacy for the users. 

CLICK n LEARN

WHAT IS CLICK N LEARN
This is an interactive website in which the students can practise grammar exercises, vocabulary exercises and play educational games. The exercises and games are devised based on different age of students and different level of difficulty.


AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - Twelve and above (the units are arranged based on different age)
# Level of learners  - All level of difficulties (students may choose based on their level - easy, medium and difficult)


HOW TO USE CLICK N LEARN
Go to Click n Learn Website and you will be directed to this page:

Then, click 'enter site' and you need to choose language ---> click menu ----> and you may choose the exercises based on your level.

*For full tutorial in using this website, you may refer here: Click n Learn Tutorial

EXAMPLE OF CLICK N LEARN
The topic that I have chosen is about 'Travel' which is taken from Eso 2 easy level. There are around twelve activities available. Few example of activities are:
# Activity 1 - Reading a text and answering question (filling the blanks)
# Activity 2 - filling the blanks for correct preposition (have visual aid - a picture of map)
#Activity 3 - Learning the name of transportation - students click on the picture and they can listen to an audio, saying the transport name)
# Activity 4 - complete the sentences by filling the blanks verb and noun (the transport name). This activity relates to activity 3
# Activity 5 - Choosing correct option for parts in transportation.

Good things about this exercise
# Can skip the activity if you don't like it (but only on certain activity)
# Students can check their mark every time they do the exercise
# Good balance between visual and language
# Certain activity has 'help' button

Downside of this exercise
# more like memorising a fact
# No example is given on how to do the exercises
# Can't go back to the previous activity - if there is activity which require to memorise the previous fact, this would be a problem.
# the control is not consistent - sometimes you need to click to go to the next activity, sometimes, it is automatically done
# Too much of exercises which could lead to boredom for the users

*Users need to remember that other activities are differ from this activity. Thus, the good points and its downside could be different. 

SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITIES 

1. This website could be used to teach grammar points to the students. If the school does not have internet connection, the teacher may just print out the exercises
2.  The teacher could also teach vocabulary items to the students.
3. The teacher could also simply suggest this website to the students so that they can do some extra exercises outside the classroom.

*This website could accommodate the students multiple ways of learning. Some students prefer to learn using visual, oral or even with words. However, I think this website is not really suitable for those who prefer aural type of learning since this website does not offer oral recording in the activity.*

*This website also a good website for autonomous learning. This is because there are a lot activities that students can do at home. They can choose any activities based on their level and preferences. As the students can check the marks for each activity, therefore, they could use it for their self-assessment on how good they are.*  

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CLICK N LEARN

1. It is FREE
2. It is interactive and fun for the students 
3. A lot of visual
4. There is printable version for the exercises 
5. Students can check their marks
6. There is guide for both teacher and students
7. This tool offers 'index of unit and contents' in which the topic, content and cultural references are being listed for each unit. 

PROBLEMS WITH CLICK N LEARN

1.  Too many funky sounds but there is not audio
2. The site is in Spanish, so, there is problem in terms of understanding some words. 
3. Some of the exercises have too many written text. Thus, there is no balance between visual and written language. 
4. Too many exercises under each unit -  this could lead to boredom for the students. 

ZIMMER TWINS

WHAT IS ZIMMER TWINS
It is a tool in which users can create cartoon animation through the animation clip provided. The students could start their movies from scratch or use the movie starters provided and just create the ending for it.  There are three characters available; the twins (Edgar and Eva) and a black cat named 13. In the making the animation, the users could choose from different talk bubble, close up and star.

AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - Thirteen to seventeen (older students might find this boring since this tool is just making a short and simple animation)
# Level of learners - All level of students ( I assume that even low level learner can use this since it requires the students to include just a simple and short sentences in making the movie)


HOW TO USE ZIMMER TWINS

# Go to Zimmer Twins website, click HERE and then click 'make a movie'. 

# Click pick your starter OR if you don't want to choose starter, simply click on 'make movie from scratch'

# Then you can start choosing your movie strip based on your preference.
# You can make some editing and changing in you animation (the changes and editor button could be found in the pink hilighted below)

# You need to sign up in order to save/publish your movie. You also can send your movie to others
# Full tutorial on how to use Zimmer Twins, click HERE

EXAMPLE OF ZIMMER TWINS
# This is a link of a movie that I have made: Edgar and his cat


SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITIES

1. Teacher can use it to teach grammar points. For example, teacher teach about present tense in the classroom. Teacher would few example of present tense sentences. Then, as for the practise for the students, in pairs, they need to use Zimmer Twins to make a movie and at the same time, they need to include sentences which contain form of present tense.
2. Another example of activity could be used for making comparison between present tense and past tense. For example, the teacher taught both about past tense and present tense. Then the teacher divide the students in two groups; one group need to use Zimmer Twin and make a movie in which the sentence contain present tense form and the other group need to make a movie with the sentence contain past tense form. They need to do it in pairs. Then, once they finish with their movie, they need to work in groups of four. The pairs who make movie using present tense form will combine with the pairs whom make movie using past tense form. In the groups of four, each pairs will explain about their movie and the use of tense form in the movie. This type of activity will involves information gap and collaboration among the students.

*This tool is very powerful for the students who likes to learn using visual because the cartoon animation in Zimmer Twin could be an attraction for the students.* 

*I would prefer the students to work in pairs when they do the activity because I believe that this would lead to collaborative learning and scaffolding. To ensure that it works, I will pair up the weak students with the strong students. When they work in pairs, the strong students can help the weak students.* 

*Using Zimmer Twins can help the students improve their speaking and writing skills. This is because, when they use this tool, they need to write sentences and as it involves working in pairs and group, they would need to speak in order to express their ideas, combine their ideas or even give some comments*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT ZIMMER TWIN

1. It is FREE
2. Students build their English input while doing their video
3. Can send your movies to others
4. Allow personalisation - students can choose how they want to make their movie by choosing any scene that they want
5. Enhance the students' creativity

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

1. No audio speech. Simply bubbles with words.
2. Can't embed your movie
3. Once students have published their animation, they can't edit it anymore. 
4. There is possibility for some students to use inappropriate language in their animation (Teacher and parents need to monitor it) 

PIM PAM PUM PHRASR

WHAT IS PHRASR
It is a tool which allows people to illustrates phrases with images. The images comes from Flickr. In other words, users can choose any images which they think suitable for each of words in a phrase.

AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - thirteen to fifteen years old (older learners might not interested as it requires only simple sentences)
# Level of learners - low and intermediate (advanced students might find this tool a bit boring)

HOW TO USE PHRASR
# The website link is: Phrasr Website
# Type your sentence(s) in the box provided and click 'Start'

# The image and your sentence(s) will appear on the screen

# If you are not happy with the images, you may change it - there are a lot of option available

# Once you finish choosing the images and satisfied with it, you may type the title and your name and click 'Publish' .. Finish!
# You may play it again, view it in the archive, recyle it or sent it to your friend
# For video tutorial on how to create a picture using Phrasr, you may click on this link: Phrasr Tutorial


EXAMPLE OF PHRASR
This a a link of my presentation using Phrasr: My Bag [Phrasr Presentation]


SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITIES
Few suggestion of activities are:

1. Students can use this tool to introduce themselves. This activity is valid during the first or second lesson in the class. The teacher may asks the students to use 'Pharasr' and make up a story about themselves. They may include about their name, their family, their favourite food and drink, their favourite colour etc. Then, they need to e-mail their work to their teacher. If there is enough time in the class, teacher may ask volunteers for the students to present their work in front of others.
2. This tool could also be used by the teacher to introduce idioms or grammatical structure. For example, in advance, the teacher herself make a presentation using 'Pharasr' and show it to the students in the class. Then, the teacher may elicit the grammatical structure/idioms from the students - I assume that this activity is for pre-teaching activity.
3. This tool is also useful for the students to get some ideas about their writing. For example, the teacher may asks the students to one of the most important items in their life. It could be a bag, a ring or a dress. Then, using this tool, the students need to make up few sentences with some pictures, explaining the items that they have chosen. Then, they need to present their work to their friends (in pairs). Then, as the homework, they need to write an essay about the most important items in their life.

*This tool combine the use of images with sentences. Therefore, this tool is highly recommended for visual and linguistic learners since they can maximise their visual and linguistic and learning styles.*

*Using this tool also allows for personalisation. This is because students can choose any images that they like and prefer. This personalisation could be a motivation for students to learn. In addition the personalisation would also allow the students to create something which relates to them. By doing this, they can collaborate their schemata in their first language with their second language.*

*This tool also suitable to encourage students to speak. This point is applicable when the students need to work in pairs and explain about their work that they have done.*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT PHRASR

1. It is FREE
2. You do not break the copyright of taking images from internet
3. May e-mail your presentation to you friends, teachers etc
4. Allow for personalisation for the students - students can freely choose images. 

PROBLEMS WITH PHRASR

1. The images is from flickr. If the owner delete the image, you won't be able to see it in your presentation.
2. Some pictures are not appropriate to be viewed by the young learners
3. Time consuming in looking for appropriate and suitable pictures. Based on my experience, sometimes, there is no suitable picture at all.
4. Basically you can't pause the slide while doing presentation. 

PERSONAL THOUGHT ON PHRASR

# Personally, I would not recommend teachers or students to use this website because I found that this website is not very useful and helpful. Most of the images are not appropriate and does not match with the sentence at all. So, it is such as waste of time looking for suitable images. It could de-motivate the students since they could not find suitable images for their sentence. 

WORDLE

WHAT IS WORDLE
It is a tool to generate 'words clouds' from a text. This tool could be used for analysing and visualising a text. The clouds will show the most frequent words in larger font size and the less frequent words in smaller size. 

AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - Eleven years old and above (at this age, students are expected to be able to analyse a text)
# Level of learners - All levels be it lower, intermediate or advanced


HOW TO USE WORDLE
# Go to the Wordle Website 

# Paste your text in the box provided and click 'Go' (You need to install Java Player to view your Wordle)
# Then, your paste text will appear in which the most common words will be in the biggest font size
# You may change its language, font, layout and colour
# You also can randomise the words based on your preference (a lot of choice are available)

# You can save your Wordle in the public gallery and in the future, if you wish to delete it, you may do so (but remember to save the URL provided!)

EXAMPLE OF WORDLE
Below is an example of the text cloud that I have made using Wordle. The text is a short story entitled 'Hansel and Gretel'.

Example 1: 

Example 2: 

SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITIES
Few suggestion of activities in using Wordle for language teaching:

1. Pre-reading activity to activate prior knowledge - Teacher can paste the reading text in Wordle and show it to the students. Then, teacher asks the students to guess what the text is about.
2. Elicit speaking - Teacher shows a word cloud and asks the students to give their own opinion about the text. Students may talk about: what the text is about, key points in the text etc. Another option could be that the students work in group and use Wordle for a basis of discussion. 
3. In writing essay - students write a draft of an essay then, they can paste their draft and analyse their writing. They can see what are the most words or phrases that they tend to use and it can also help to spot cliche.
4.  Could also be used to summarise big ideas of a chapter or passage of a text. For this activity, the teacher could ask the students to work in pairs and use Wordle to summarise the text. Then, some students need to present their summary.  

*Some of the activities provided would develop collaborative learning since they need to work in group and discuss some of the ideas. In addition, this would enhance the students' speaking skill*

*Using Wordle is parallel with constructivism approach in which learners learn knowledge by constructing their own understanding of what they have learnt. This refers to Activity 1, 2 and 4.*

WHY USE WORDLE

1. It is FREE!
2. Print version is available - so, you can print it
3. Could be used for both colour lovers or colour blinders (the Wordle available in black and white as well as coulourful)
4. Suitable for visual learners especially
5. It can enhance students to speak 
6. Creative way to present ideas or key points
7. Develop critical thinking skills - use Wordle to analyse main ideas, make predictions and to critique and revise essays. 

PROBLEM(S) WITH WORDLE

1. Wordle has a very short memory of the image that it creates - If you forgot to save your Wordle and you open a new image, the image of the old one will lose. 

VISUWORDS

WHAT IS VISUWORDS
VisuWords is an online web-based visual dictionary and thesaurus tool. This tool is used to look up for a word meaning and its associations with other words in visual interface. Different nodes colour and circle colours represents different meaning and there are guidelines presented.




AGE AND LEVEL OF LEARNERS
# Age of learners - thirteen and above since at this age, learners will use more dictionary and thesaurus
# Level of learners - All levels (low, intermediate and advanced) since this tool is very easy and comprehensible to use. 




HOW TO USE VISUWORDS
Go to this website: VisuWords Website. You will be directed to this page:

Then, enter your chosen word or combination of words (common expression) in the search box and and the words with nodes and circle will appear. You may use the key at the left edge of the screen to interpret what different colours stand for. You can also view the definition for any of the terms on the web by moving the mouse over the word. In addition, you can drag the nodes and rearrange the image to concentrate on the parts that you are interested with.




EXAMPLE OF VISUWORDS
Below is a caption of VisuWords that I use when I search for the word 'play'

SUGGESTION OF ACTIVITIES
Few examples of activities for using this tool for teaching:

1. In pre-reading activity - Teacher provide few vocabulary items taken from the reading text. In pairs, teacher asks the students to guess the meaning. Then, using VisuWords, they need to check whether their guessing are correct or not. At the same time, they need to provide an example of sentence for each of the vocabulary item. 
2. A very simple way of using VisuWords in pre-reading activity is by the teacher herself shows to the students the meaning of vocabulary using this tool. 
3. Students can use this tool when they are writing an essay. For example, teacher asks the students to write and essay in the class. Then, when they want to search for a word meaning or synonym, they could use VisuWords instead of dictionary. They can also use this tool even outside the classroom. 
4. Studants can also use VisuWords in learning vocabulary. For example, for each lesson, teacher provides newspaper for the students and they can choose any article that they like. Then, they can spend around 15 minutes to read the article. When they come across any unfamiliar words, they can use VisuWords to search the meaning/synonym. 

*Using VisuWords could be a platform towards autonomous learning. This is because in some of the activities which I have provided, the students themselves need to need to search for the meaning of the vocabulary instead of asking teacher and the teacher provide the answer*

*VisuWords also beneficial for communicative learning. For example, in activity 1, learners work in pairs and they need to discuss the meaning of the words. This shows that they need to engage in communication.*

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT VISUWORDS

1. Its Free - no membership required
2. Attractive because it is colourful
3. Two in one - could be used as both dictionary and thesaurus
4. Save time - do not have to look up in the dictionary/thesaurus book

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS 

1. Has link to twitter - could be distraction for users. 
2. The colour code is complicated to understand
3. The colour blinders might have problem in identifying the colour code