Sweet Macaron with a taste of Bubblr!

A better version is available at: http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/?id=32902

Hello everyone, now that I have my reading week, I have more time to update my blogs. Today, I would like to introduce you to one of the websites that is amazing and easy to use. I remember the first time I tried it in Russell's ICT class, I instantly falling in love with this website. For a person who love photography and English, the mixture of both give a fresh injection to teaching and learning in English. So now, let's dive into Bubblr.

What is Bubblr?

Bubblr is a website for people to create comic-strips by using a photostream, taken direct from Flickr and then make a sequence of pictures where you can add dialogue boxes ( as in bubble shapes). Later, all pictures are saved in the archive. Besides, there are variety of pictures to choose from where you can just key in any words in a tag field (e.g macaron, cakes) and enter 'search'. Students can start from there to build a story using the images that appear based on their selection.

By using Pimpampum Bubblr, a teacher can have his/her students to work and their own before presenting it to the whole class. The key idea to this is to have students to speak in front of the class by presenting their picture stories to others. In addition, students can choose any topic that they like for examples footballs, foods, and animals. This may create personalisation to students as they are able to express their creativity freely.

Here are some of the snapshots taken from:

http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/

The advantages:

1. The most important thing for teachers and students is the website is free. It is accessible for all and can be made as part as classroom activity or as a homework for students.
2. Promotes creativity among students. Bubblr has many varieties of pictures to choose from. This will create personalisation among students. It is very important to let students do topics that they love so that students may engage with the activities better.
3. An opportunity to develop communicative skills. Teachers can use it for presentation and have students to present their chosen topics.
4. There is no need to be worried about taking pictures from Flickr because it is a photostream that works as a platform to share pictures legally.
5. The bubble boxes help students to describe their pictures. This may at least give some language input in the teaching and learning session.

The limitations:

1. The aim of the lesson may be diverted as some students might search for inappropriate pictures.
2. It may attract more attention to people with visual learning style. However, it depends a lot on how the teacher is going to carry out the lesson. Therefore, engaging multiple learning styles in one lesson will be more useful for students.
3. It is time consuming. It is better to give it as a homework.
4. Again, it might be problematic for students who do not have any access to the internet.

To sum up, as I said earlier, the website is worth to use. It is a fun way to teach your students about English and technologies. Sometimes we need to try new things and not to rely too much on Power point presentation. I hope you have found something interesting here that can be used to deliver your teaching. It is a hard work for teachers to teach students nowadays since their lives involve so much with technologies. Therefore, we need to be able to make use of the tools available online so that we can keep up with 21st century's students.

Till then, cheers!

LYRICS TRAINING

BONJORNO!

It's weekend now but I just can't wait to share with you another yet awesome website

that Russell has been taught us last weeks. The website is called "Lyric Training". It works for everyone who wish to learn

English or any other foreign language in a fun way. The approach is very useful for students to

sharpen their listening skills through music and song lyrics.There are word games to play

ranging from different levels of difficulties such as: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.

Here is the snapshot from the website.

Level:

1. Beginner,intermediate and expert level of English.

Age:

1. 10 to 17 years old.

How:

1. Preferably to be done individually as students can be more focused when theyare listening to the songs.
2. All you have to do is choosing a YouTube hosted music video and select the level that suits you most. When the video starts to play, the lyrics will also appear with several words missing.
3. Learners are required to fill in the empty space for the lyric.
4. Below is the example showed to illustrate what it means by filling in the missing words.

Footnote:

Students do not need to worry about getting lost with the lyrics as the video will stop playing until they come up with a suitable word and they can always restart, and get a hint from the video.

You can find out more from this website!

http://www.lyricstraining.com/

What I love the most about it:

• TOTALLY FREE!!! Isn't that fantastic! Students or administrator can have a wide access for free!
• Fun!
• It activates students' background knowledge as some of the songs are familiar to them.
• Help students to develop autonomous learning.
• Help to learn new vocabulary items.
• A fantastic way to sharpen your listening skills!
• Variety of songs to choose from.
• The most important thing is, it links together technology and learning English.

The DOWNside:

• It might be problematic to students who do are not proficient enough in English. This is because, the exercise given require not only writing (in this case, fill in the blanks), but also a good listening skills.
• In a way, students might become demotivated with the materials given.

Footnote again: Below is the video of how you can make your own song activity. Taken from:

http://www.screenr.com/qFE

That's all for now! Have a look at the website. I find it very interesting and yet engaging for all people regardless their age and level of English.

Happy Day to all!

How you can you improve your listening skill?

Hello again!

For this session, I am going to share with you a website that can be used to improve your listening skills and hear about the news. The website is regularly updated with current news which is excellent for teaching English to students as the source is up-to-date.

Level:

- Beginner and intermediate level of English.

- However the level might be greatly depending on text level which can be suited to students' current knowledge.

Age:

- 13 to 17 years old.

How:

- Pair work, individual.

- Homework

Note: The task is possible when learners have accessed to internet connection and computers.

Below are the snapshots from the website:

Picture 1: Activities Varies from Full Mode, Quick Mode and Blank Mode.

Picture 2: Example of Full Mode activity.

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Source:

http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio/show/2187

Advantages:

• A good way to practice listening skills.
• It is a fun way to learn English.
• What's more... it is absolutely FREE!
• The content and exercises support autonomous learning where students are able to do the activity on their own.
• It is very interactive as there are audio to listen to.
• Students will be able to enhance their vocabulary.
• Besides, it exposes students to direct evaluation as students can know how well they are doing immediately.
• Multiple skills: Listening,spelling and writing.

Disadvantages:

• Source. Where is it comes from? Some people might want to know the reliability of the source so that they know whether it is authentic or not.
• It is quite troublesome if learners do not have internet access.
• Distraction. The webpage has a easy access to the social network,Facebook. Students may choose to surf the net for pleasure rather than studying.
• The layout is quite simple and boring.
• Time-consuming. Students may get carried away with the activities. So it is perhaps more suitable if teachers can make it as a homework. It is indeed a good thing to make it as homework since it promotes autonomous learning.

p/s: lyric training! I will make a post on that :D