VOYCABULARY - really cool

I know I said I'd be back in Jan but can't help it! There are so many great tools out there why miss them!?

I'm very interested in how to help trainees and students increase their vocab and so this site is really useful.

Ok, this is another really cool tool. The site is called Voycabulary and basically what it does is that it allows you to hyper link all the words in a text to various sources i.e. dictionaries, thesauruses or thesauri, translations into different languages, etc. This could be a very good tool for students working at home, a quick way to see a whole text with links to meaning.

Breaking News English - excellent site but....

I came across this site thanks to Russell Stannard's EFL/ESL videos and I think it's a great tool. All the same, I can't help to wonder about the dangers of it. It can turn into an I-don't-need-to-prepare-my-lessons tool if not handled with care. Russell wisely advises that not all the activities can be used or that there may not be enough time to go through all of them. I would like to say that this site can provide variety to lessons and by making informed and pre-assessed decisions it can give a tired teacher a few new ideas and resources to work with and from.

Here's the link: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

On leave till 4 Jan 2010

I know I've been away for a while but for a good reason: I'm on leave till Jan 4! I'll be back in a couple of weeks with more resources!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Reading Rockets site

I'm very interested in teaching reading and so I'm always looking for sites with extra materials, theory and pieces of advice on how to approach the teaching of reading in the early years. I'm also a fan of phoics and so anything involving phonics also catches my attention.

This is a nice site with all of the above. Here's the link:

http://www.readingrockets.org/

English spelling games - try it out!

This is a very nice site from the Woodlands Junior School to get ideas from or to use with the whole class. Lots of spelling games and activities to use with the little ones (K1, K2) and lower primary. Give it a try. Here's the link:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html#5

Scholastic Printables - yes, please!

This is a cool site with lots of resources (printables) - not very green if you ask me, but with lots of materials - some are nicer than others but readily available so this could translate into time saving.

Here's the link:

http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/home/?OS_ID=OS6-Google-Printables-Printables-flash_cards-Broad

Clever island - lots of extra ideas and games ages 3-8

This is a nice site with lost of games and activities in different areas of leanring and not only on vocabulary. Nice games and content.

Click on the picture to follow the link to the site.

Puzzle maker - yay!

This is a free puzzle making tool which is simple to use and can help you add a little variety to the way you approach the teaching of vocabulary.

You can also make word searches, double puzzles, fallen phrases, math squares, mazes, letter tiles, cryptograms, number blocks and hidden messages.

Here's the link to the site:

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp

E-learning for kids!!!

My friend Michaela just told me about this site and it rocks. Lost of ideas for those teaching or working with kids. Check it out!!! And here's the link:

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/courses.html

Jooce anybody?

Well, I know my postings are not as frequent as before, but I'm still game and will keep my blog going. I've recently found Jooce ' your very own, private online desktop - with public file sharing capabilities. A highly-secure, online space to keep, view, listen to - and instantly share with friends; all your files, photos, music and video.'

And their website here: http://www.jooce.com/

Lingt classroom - super!!!!

I found this tool while checking my netvibes from
Jose' Picardo's Box of Tricks. It's a great tool to
make your students speak and set assignments, etc. I
don't know how feasible this would be in my context. Gotta try it out first!

Here's the link: http://lingtlanguage.com/

Xtimeline... yayyyy!!!

Hello!!

I just discovered this web tool which can be very useful to introduce simple time lines of famous events in the ESOL classroom. I'm sure my trainees will love it too!

Here's the link.

Coming soon...

Ok, it's been almost 2 weeks now since my last post and you may be thinking that is it. Well, I've been very busy but I haven't forgotten about my dear blog. I'll be coming back in a few days with new sources!!!

Words, words, words...

Ok, after 3 long weeks of absence I'm back! Great time in HK and now back to my life in SNG! I found this website and I think it's relevant not only to those in teaching languages, but also to anyone interested in widening their vocabulary range.

Savethewords!

Tweetdeck... yeehah

Twitter is great for microblogging, but Tweetdeck is even better to keep your Tweets uptodate. What to do when you're at work and cannot have Tweetdeck though? Well, wait until you get home and work on the pc there :-) Not fair, you miss out on things!!!

Howdini, get yourself a guru... what about Videojug?

OK, I like Howdini but can't help to wonder about Videojug. They're basically the same, aren't they? You can get videos on pretty much the same categories and both give you ideas and explanations about things you want to know. So, which one is the best one? I'll leave that for you to decide. I like Videojugs colors and attractive layout. I like Howdini too but find it less appealing to the eye!

Teaching Young Learners / Writing

Hmmm.... Approaching this skill in the young learner classroom is not easy and certainly and a well informed approach is important in fostering/encouraging YLs to write.

I've found some valuable resources that I'd like to list here for future reference...

http://www.teachers.tv/
http://www.wordle.net
http://www.kidsdomain.com
http://startwrite.com

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922

Some of these were contributed by Laura Beco on week 4 of our CertICT course and some come from the materials I created/put together. Others I found myself searching...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/menu.shtml
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/
http://www.planplanet.org/world/index.php
http://www.enchantedlearning.com
http://ishari.tv/flash.html
http://switchzoo.com/zoo.htm
http://www.cubeez.com/
http://www.cogcon.com/gamegoo/gooey.html
http://www.puzzlemaker.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/storycircle/
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm

Linkedin... professional network...

Linkedin... hmmm Mixed feelings here as I joined a few months ago and nothings happened really, so I'm giving it a try aagin here and this time I'm importing all my hotmail contacts so something may come up. I did noticed that one could earn money by teahcing through it. I've almost completed my profile and have been contacted by another teacher. We'll see... More to come!!

WordSift.... hmmm reminds me of Wordle

Right, this new resource pointed out by Vale, our tutor, is cool too. It reminded me of Wordle and in fact is similar but a little more academic list sort of tool. I still need to fiddle with it a little more before I can decided which one I like best.

http://www.wordsift.com/

E-portfolios

Well, lots to say here. I like the Cambridge ePortoflio for Ts a lot but still prefer to stick to my own blog as it gives me a sense of ownership, my baby sort of thing! I like the structure of the sample ones given to us for the task too, but I this can be mirrored in one's blog so no worries there.

I learnt that a blog can work as a wiki in the sense that an entry in my blog can have several postings under it in the form of comments which act a little like the links to new pages in the wikis. I alsmost started a wiki as my eportoflio, but realised that I've done quite a bit of work already in my blog and I really like it and enjoy coming back every now and then to add more and more resources.

Voxopop... hmmm similar to Yackpack, huh?

Ok, here we go again... it's hard trying to keep up with work and studies and this blog but here we go again... Voxopop ricks. I think it's very similar to Yackpack, but better in that the design is more appealing and I find it somehow easier to use.

Doodle.... yesssss

A little late for this addition to my blog as we've been using in on the course all the way though, but I just realised how handy it is. So, I'm adding it here to now to remind me of it and its usefulness. :)

My dream classroom

Here we go...

This is my ideal classroom... big windows that allow lots fo light, nice square tables that can be easily regrouped if desired, a table with pcs on the side so that you don't have to book the computer room!!!!, a nice IWB, a console with a DVD, VCR and wireless keyboard and mouse, a projector, and a cupboard to store dictionaries and other essentials!!!

Flash Card Flash!!!!

Here we go again! This one is directly from Vale! A great resource to help you find the flashcards you need! All you have to do is type in the type of flashcards you want and off you go to loads of links to a myriad of resources available.

At the bottom in blue lots of links to other flashcard making resources.

http://www.flashcardflash.com/

Rubystar... and write your rubricss in minutes

Rubystar makes it easy to crate your own rubrics for assessment. There is a tutorial available too and plenty of other resources and rubrics divided into categories.

I believe though that it is probably easier to start from scratch rather than to spend time looking for one that's already there as your criteria may change according to your specific task.

A must read article by Heidi Goodrich Andrade about the topic is here.

Free virtual storage

Ok, if you don't know where to store your files and have them always available on the internet for free this is your site. Remember you should always keep copies somewhere else so that this is not your only repository! After all, it's out there in the ether and things may go wrong.

If you want more features... you'll have to pay :-)

Here's the URL:

https://www.humyo.com/pages/en/free-online-file-storage

Byki and Quizlet

Ok, ok, I've been

a little inactive lately but work is piling up like ants on a bitten apple on a picnic day in the park!!!!!!!!!

Vale just shared these with us for Task 14.3 so here we go. I really like Quizlet because you don't have to downlaod any software as opposed to Byki. Having said this I find Byki more appealing to the eye so will see what I prefer later on.

UN School bus resources for Primary and Secondary

Our ICT co-ordinator shared with us here this resource and so I'm adding it here.

Here is what he has to say about it:

The UN Cyber-school Bus - http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/ This is mainly for primary and secondary, but it’s particularly useful for comparing countries (click on ‘country at a glance’) so could be used with lower level general adult classes. You can find out the low-down on any country in the world (UN style) and compare these countries on any particular statistic. Find out what the population density of Brazil is, and compare it with Singapore or get the news from each country via their newspaper websites. There are links to games and some serious UN-type (and GP-type!) topics such as disarmament or famine on the start page.

Super cool - The game crafter

I just saw this on a Twitter post from Vel and I loved it! Gosh how do you manage not to keep on line and do work at the same time!!! Argh....

I had to come back to my blog and post it here to get back to it later tonight when I get home. I love this blog/repository of sources!!!

Thanks Vale :)

http://www.thegamecrafter.com/

Storytelling with Children Show

Hello there,

I'm currently teaching a How to Teach English:Kindergaten course here at BC and while working on resources I found a very nice website which provides lots of video and audio input which comes in very handy. At this stage of the ICT course, wonderful ideas started coming up when I saw the resources available... embedding video and audio into PowerPoints and IWB flipcharts, etc.

Hope you enjoy it!

Lextutor - oh yes!!!!

This is a portal that contains links to a variety of vocabulary/text analysis tools. It’s really for highly motivated high level students, er…or teachers! You can check your grammar intuition against corpus data; compare the content of two texts to see how much is duplicated (good for plagiarism check!); ‘profile’ the vocabulary in a text (for overall frequency of the words used in it) or find some ‘readalong’ listenings with review capability.

Eyeplorer rocks!!!

It's been a while since my last post, but this come back makes it worth the wait!

Eyeplorer is a super cool and easy to use, or should I say to help you learn new things or expand on what you already know.

Well, you better see it yourself! Here's the link to an introductory video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJiSy7Bvsos

Devil's dictionary

Def. 1 Someone who's job is to 'work' in a school or a college.(Cambridge dictionary)

Def. 2a A Mormon ranking above a Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood (Merriam-Webster)

Def. 3 Someone whose job is to 'work', especially in a school.

NB Words in quotation marks are not the original word used in the definition.

This definition was not available in the Devil's Dictionary so here we go with my own...

Someone whose job is of primary importance in society, but has never been given the social status it deserves both in terms of pay and recognition.

OK, I'm back! E-learning stuff podcasts

I'm finally back in Singapore and at work and alsmot there with work and study! It's been reallty hectic! Ok, I just wanted to share a Podcast that I subscribed too and have found extremely usedful.

E-learning stuff - very interesting discussions for bus rides or while walking or travelling anywhere!

Bye for now and I hope you enjoy them!!

Robert

Is 'FOLLOW' the same as an RSS Feed?

I jus discovered that if one wants to follow this blog, all they have to do is click on FOLLOW a sshown in the picture. I know a very simple step, but I'm new to blogging and this I hadn't noticed. My question now is: Is this following the same as the RSS Feed? My first thoughts are that it is not as more than ever the RSS feed icon is clearly dentifiable and very orange so, I'd say it is not, in which case.... I still need help as to why and how do I add that feed to my blog!!!

I already went to settings and added the Subscribe+ gadget but it fails to appear on the homepage. What is it that I'm not doing? I'm really going crazy here as I've read and re-read all the instructions and watched the videos too many times! Help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody!!!!

Tech, Sites, RSS Feeds Update!!

Hey there!

Right, as you know I'd decided to use my blog as an-e-portoflio of all the work we've been doing so far on the course. Well, I started adding single posts for all the great tools we've been using lately. Needless to say, this takes a lot of time, so I decided to add all my favourite sites, new RSS feeds to relevant sites of my interest and experiment a little with the blog tools too so I gave it a face-lift already!!! Hope you like it!

Robert

My webpage in netvibes - is this a blog?

Well, after watching Nick Peachey's video yesetrday on pageflakes and blogs, I went on and created my webpage too.

I still fail to clearly understand what the difference between a blog and a webpage is - maybe they're both the same and just hosted by different platforms... I still have to figure this out. Anyways, I'm determined to make of this blog my personal portfolio so this is just one more thing I need to get to grips with. If any of you can help me out here, THANKS!

My favourite website ever!!!

Like you, I have visited so many sites lately that I've lost count. However, the one that has become my favourite without a shadow of a doubt is Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Videos! He really deserves the prize he got! Check it out!

Screen capture that rocks! JING

Here's a link to Techsmith's website and the video showing how it works!

It's free, it's easy and it allows you to capture screen shots and also video, plus you can annotate!!!

Super cool! And useful for teachers and trainers, huh? Any ideas on how to use it?

Experimenting with Voicethread

Here's a link to my first voicethread to which you were already invited. I'm just adding links to all the work we have been doing on the course, so that I can have it all in one page - my blog! This is cool! Blogging rocks!!! :-)

ICT Course Podcasts

I also created podcasts for the first 3 sessions of the ICT course I mentioned before and made them available on PoDomatic. The idea behind it was that of exposing them to the podcasts after having mentioned them briefly in oe of the sessions and having set some research homework before actually asking them to produce their own for sessions 4 and 5 either using Audacity or Podomatic. ON the first run of the course we didn't have enough tme to do this so I'm looking forward to doing it on the next one in a few weeks'e time.

My ICT Blog in 21classes for my ICT trainees

Hey,

Here's a link to the blog I created in 21classes (an edublog) to use hands-on with my trainees on the How to Use ICT in your Lessons course at BC Singapore.

There is not much going on now as the courses finished and I use it to give trainees first-hand experience of blogs, but there's enough evidence of what they did on the last course.

MY work and hobbies

I work at British Council Singapore and more specifically in the TDC or Teacher Development Centre. I'm a tutor on CELTA, Young Learner Extension to CELTA courses as well as on other TT courses we offer known as KiTi Courses (Know it, teach it) - Pronunciation, Grammar, ICT in your Lessons, Phonics and Early Reading Skills, IWB Training Workshops, Reading Skills Comprehension for, How to be an Effective Tutor and many others.

In my free time, I like to go running or swimming. I'm a member of a small gym at Traders Hotel here in Singapore which is across from my office :)

Who am I?

Hi there!

I'm 37 years old and I love learning new things and languages, eating pasta and running and swimming. I also love travelling. I speak fluent Spanish and Italian. I can also get by in French and Portuguese. I'd like to live in a German or French speaking country to learn/improve the language(s). This picture was taken last year in Mallorca, in Spain, where I lived for 2 years from June 06 to July 08 and until I relocated to Singapore with British Council. Needless to say, I also love good wine, especially, Chianti and Barolo!