Applied to teaching

Created @ http://wordle.net

Webtools selected

by
 CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

1. Edmodo
2. Tokbox
3. Lingt
4. Voicethread
5. Fotobabble
6. Wallwisher
7. Goanimate
8. Voxopop
9. Xtranormal
10. Animoto
11. Classtools
12. Storybird
13. BombayTv
14. ESL Video
15. English Central
16. Photopeach
17. Winkball
18. Acapela
19. Vocaroo
20. Listen and Write
 WEBTOOLS applied to teaching

How can we use these new tools in the classroom?

This book is dedicated to teachers who wish to maximize their

students´ learning experience by using the new webtools available.

Most tools described in this book are in English, however, teachers

can use various languages in order to develop projects.

Education and Technology

I believe the value of new Technologies in education is undeniable.

Can you imagine our world without cell phones or computers? How
can we resist to the development of technology? In an era of digital-
natives, technology has become part of our students´ lives. Children
deal with their cell phones, i-pods and laptops by instinct and they
tend to learn by interacting and trying things out.

I started my plunge into the web world in 2006 when I became a

member of a Yahoo group for language teachers called Learning with
Computers, which aims at exploring and experimenting web tools
available in the net in order to maximize learning. At first, I barely
used the net for receiving e-mails and searching, but as time went by
I was surprised at the world of possibilities at our disposal.

I teach English as a Foreign Language and had the chance to try out
in class several webtools as I encountered them. I started
developing projects with blogs: blogs to share extra material, class
blogs where students participated by leaving comments or writing
posts and finally student blogs where each student chose what to talk
about and expressed themselves freely.
http://www.blogtalks2008.blogspot.com/

However, the internet offers much more than creating blogs, it´s a
world of communication resources which don´t cease to grow and are
out there to be explored. They are tools, most of them free, which
can be used by teachers in order to develop projects with students
and finally open the doors of communication with the rest of the
world.

Why use WEBTOOLS?

• They are fun. Learning with pleasure is a strong ally to

motivation.
• There is a wide variety of web tools available. Variety is
important.
• All the tools described in this book are free. It´s possible to
develop fantastic projects with no costs.
• By using the internet, projects reach a wider audience.
Whatever work you develop is no longer restrained by
classroom walls, the world becomes your audience.
• It´s possible to share projects developed by children with
parents.
• Various skills can be practised: writing, speaking, reading and
listening.
• The learning environment is not restricted to the classroom.
The student can learn from home or anywhere he has internet
access.
 WEBTOOLS applied to teaching

1. EDMODO (http://edmodo.com)

DESCRIPTION

Edmodo is a free site similar to twitter or facebook, created for

educational purposes. With edmodo, it´s possible to create groups of
students where the teacher can monitor messages. Unlike facebook,
in edmodo, you can send messages to a group of people or to
individuals. Teachers have been using edmodo to communicate with
their students, to assign homework, to share files of extra activities,
revision sheets, links to sites, interesting videos and develop group
discussions. It´s also possible to create groups of teachers of a
certain school for discussion forums, to share files or a way to
communicate with the whole staff.
Message box where you can post messages, assignments and share videos,
files and photos.

A screenshot taken of a group of teachers from Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia

where they share files and suggestions for the coming lessons.

HOW CAN TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Use edmodo as a communication platform between teacher /

students to assign homework, extras exercises and a space for
clearing out doubts.

• Develop discussion among students. The teacher proposes a

theme in the message box (note) and students give their
opinion by clicking REPLY.
 • Propose homework (Ex: essays) by clicking ASSIGNMENT. By
clicking TURN IN , each student can turn in the homework
which is then evaluated by the teacher and receives individual
feedback.

• Share specific sites where students should search for

information.

• Share a video with students and then develop a discussion

thread in the REPLY area.

• Students can write descriptive texts by attaching photos they

have taken and publish in the edmodo group. This way, not
only the teacher will read his text but the whole group will be
able to read it and leave comments (moderated by the
teacher). The benefit would be a wider audience for texts
written by students, as a virtual noticeboard.

SKILLS: reading, writing, listening.

Learn more about edmodo at:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2008/12/edmodo-tutorial.html
 2. TOKBOX (http://tokbox.com)

DESCRIPTION

With Tokbox it´s possible to send video messages to your Tokbox

contacts or even to any person who has an e-mail account. The
person who receives the video doesn´t need to download any
software as the video is hosted at the site. You can also create video
cards on special occasions, have free video conferences with up to 20
people, including share files during the conversation. These video
messages can be added to web pages by pasting the embed codes.

This is an example of tokbox being used for an interview:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/03/students-interview-native-
speaker.html

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Send parents a video message where the teacher

introduces himself and talks about the course.
 • Send a video message to students about what they will be
learning that term.

• Send video explaining homework or a project.

• Send a video dictation where the teacher dictates a text,

the students watch and write what they understand and
send it to the teacher for correction.

• Students can record themselves reading a text and then

send it to their teacher for pronunciation evaluation.

• Students can record themselves reading poems/ texts

they appreciate in the target language or even poems
they have created themselves. The teacher can then
publish their recorded poems and share them in a class
blog.

• The teacher can send a set of questions using a target

structure he wishes to practise and ask students to record
their answers by video replying.

• Students can record questions and send them to their

classmates creating a chain of video messages in the
target language.

• Organize a chat with a group of students where you can

practise speaking the language.

• Organize an interview (chat) with someone in another

country.

• In class, record students asking questions to interview

someone from another country. The video message is
sent to the interviewee by e-mail so that he can video
reply.

SKILLS: speaking, listening, writing.

Learn more about TOKBOX at:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-i-like-tokbox.html
 3. LINGT (http://lingtlanguage.com/)

DESCRIPTION

Lingt allows teachers to create pages of online homework

incorporating audio, video, text and images. Students do their
homework individually, send the result to their teacher who can then
evaluate it and send feedback to each student. With Lingt, it´s
possible to create homework where students can practise listening
comprehension and pronunciation by recording their own voices.

These are examples of homework created at Lingt:

Reading and listening comprehension homework where the teacher

reads a text and asks the students to record themselves reading the
same text with the aim to practise pronunciation(English homework).

http://lingtlanguage.com/takeassignment/123225207060058/
Spanish homework where José Picardo presents how students can introduce
themselves in Spanish, asks students to repeat sentences to practise
pronunciation, asks questions so that students can record their answers and
finally provides questions for students to answer in writing. José Picardo
teaches Spanish to students in England.

http://lingtlanguage.com/takeassignment/106625164717865/
HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create homework to practise listening comprehension,

pronunciation and writing.

• Create oral evaluations which can be done by students at

home.

• Incorporate audio and video to homework.

• Train students for international exams providing

personalised feedback.

• Train dialogues with students where the teacher records

the questions for the students to record their answers.

• Create dictations where the teacher records a text for the

student to listen and write it down.

• Create homework where after watching a video, students

should answer comprehension questions in writing.

• After watching a video, the student can record his

impressions using the target language.

SKILL: listening, speaking, writing and reading.

Learn more about LINGT at

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/09/lingt-online-class-
assignments.html

or at

http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1330
 4. VOICETHREAD (http://voicethread.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

Voicethread has been used a lot by teachers for its many possibilities.
The site allows its users to make presentations using their own
images, videos , texts and your audience can interact by leaving
written comment or by recording themselves via microphone or
webcam. The site is ideal for the creation of joint projects (with other
groups or schools) as the students can record their comments from
any computer with internet access.

These are some examples of voicethreads created by teachers:

In this voicethread, David Deubelbeiss presents basic English content

and students are encouraged to record themselves repeating the
activity.
http://voicethread.com/#q.b9458.i66065
Here, teachers around the world introduce themselves.
http://voicethread.com/#q.b1191.i13695

Dennis Oliver tells someone´s story.

http://voicethread.com/#q.b241644.i1258734

In this presentation, my students from Cultura Inglesa Uberlândia,

describe various aspects about Brazil for a Project created by Larry
Ferlazzo “Sister Classes”. Students from other countries have
watched our presentation and left written and recorded comments.

http://voicethread.com/#u1749.b80778.i412358

Watch other presentations created by David Deubelbeiss with several

ideas. http://voicethread.com/#u3968

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Ask students to select photos which mean something to

them and record a narration for each one. By asking
students to create their script beforehand, you can
monitor accuracy in writing. In the classroom, students in
pairs can practise reading their texts, improving
 pronunciation, rhythm and stress before recording
themselves on the voicethread.
• With a camera, students can take photos of their houses ,
neighbourhood, friends, relatives and describe them.
• Use two photos on your presentation and ask students to
record themselves comparing them.
• The teacher can create a presentation for students at a
basic level with personal questions for them to record
themselves reading a text with their answers. In the
following class, the teacher can use the recordings to
practice listening comprehension.
• Add to the presentation photos of people talking and then
ask students to create a dialogue for the characters which
can be recorded. (students work in pairs).
• Ask students to create a virtual tour of a chosen place
with images, videos and voice.
• Use a photo which could raise controversy and then ask
students to record their opinion about the event.
• Ask students to create digital stories using scanned
drawings they have made themselves.
• Use images from newspaper headlines to ask students to
record their comments. Or even ask students to create
their own presentations narrating something from the
headlines.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, listening, reading.

Learn more about VOICETHREAD at

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2007/09/interactive-
presentations.html

or at

http://zarcoenglish-
tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/12/voicethread.html

(blog in Portuguese)
 5. FOTOBABBLE (http://www.fotobabble.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

With Fotobabble it´s possible to add a narration to a photo or any

image of your choice. First of all, you upload a photo or any image
you have in your computer to the site and then you can record a
narration about it using your microphone.

Check an example of FOTOBABBLE bellow:

Fotobabble created by me to
wish Happy Easter to my students.
http://www.fotobabble.com/m/Q1ZtL05BUF
hmVTg9
After recording the narration, you can share your fotobabble via link
or publishing it by embedding the code the site provides.

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Dictation: choose an image related to the text you´re going to

record and share it with your students via e-mail or class blog.
The students should listen to it in order to transcribe the text
which should be handed in to the teacher the following class.
• Ask students to create messages to send to parents via e-mail.
Ex: mother´s day, father´s day, etc.
• Ask students to record texts about various topics:

- my best friend: photo and description of a friend.

- my bedroom / the bedroom of my dreams: students record
the description.
- Exam preparation (Ex: Cambridge): ask students to choose a
photo and describe it for one minute.
- my pet: photo and recording.
- my family
- my favorite film
- my hobby
• Use the recordings for listening comprehension exercises or to
evaluate your students´ pronunciation.

SKILLS: speaking, listening and writing if you ask students to

write the text before recording it.

Read more about FOTOBABBLE at

http://tefltecher.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/talking-
photographs/
 6. WALLWISHER ( http://wallwisher.com )

DESCRIPTION

Wallwisher allows you to create a virtual noticeboard in which other

people can also leave “sticky notes” . These “sticky notes” can be
texts, links to sites, texts with images and video links.

These are examples of Wallwishers (virtual noticeboards) created by

teachers:

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/favouritefilms

I created this board to use it in a lesson where students learn

vocabulary related to films. Firstly I invited teacher and students
from other countries to leave their film recommendations and finally
my students could read various recommendations and write their
own.
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/teachersweb20

Here Nik Peachey created a board for teachers to share interesting

WEBTOOLS.

HOW CAN WE USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Share with students links related to an specific topic for

research.

• Share links which could help your students get ready for exams.

• Students write about a place they would like to visit one day
and add a video or photo.

• Students write about their favorite dish and add a photo.

Afterwards, students check in the noticeboard which dish / kind
of food was most mentioned.

• Create a board with links which should be explored by students

in order to answer a set of questions (such as webquest).

• Suggest a theme for students to create their own noticeboards.

• Create a board to debate a theme. Firstly, share a video which

can generate discussion and then ask students to leave their
opinions via “sticky notes”.

• Students can create boards about their favorite bands, with

links, photos, videos and texts.
SKILLS: writing, reading and listening.

Learn more about WALLWISHER at

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2009/04/using-online-sticky-
noticeboards.html
 7. GOANIMATE (http://goanimate.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

Goanimate is a site where it´s possible to create cartoons with

motion, sounds, facial expressions and background sound effects.
After creating the cartoon the site provides the embed code for
online publishing.

The cartoon can also be shared via facebook, twitter or e-mail.

Some examples:

Cartoon created to revise

vocabulary about shops.

http://goanimate.com/movie/0NOghkrcc-Bg?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0y5BCFH1qsfM

Here, Alexandra uses goanimate

to present the school to students.
The video was embedded in the
school blog.

http://goanimate.com/movie/0-KUAai5PIzU?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0y5BCFH1qsfM
 HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create cartoons to present content.

• Use cartoons to revise content.

• Create dialogue and ask students to notice all words which

were learned in the previous class.

• Create the beginning of a dialogue and ask pairs of students to

write the continuation of the dialogue in their notebooks.

• Show a dialogue and then ask students to roleplay the story in

front of the class.

• Ask students to create a cartoon using target vocabulary or a

chosen grammatical structure.

• After reading a narrative, ask students to create a cartoon

based on the story.

• To celebrate special dates, ask students to create cartoons to

be sent to parents.

SKILLS: reading and writing.

Read more about GOANIMATE at

http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/primeira-
ferramenta-que-gostava-de.html

and

http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=489
 8. VOXOPOP (http://voxopop.com )

DESCRIPTION

Voxopop is a site where you can create voice discussion groups. The
user starts a discussion and grabs the link to invite students or other
people to join the discussion thread by recording their comments.

These are examples of discussion threads created by teachers:

Bob Palmer created a discussion group to assign oral homework to his

students. Every week, students have to record their opinions about
different topics.

http://www.voxopop.com/group/6c336bb9-465a-4a8b-b743-fafee84ee7bc
Mary Hillis, created a discussion group where people are invited to
talk about their favorite sweet and how it represents about you , your
life and culture.

http://www.voxopop.com/topic/a19b67e7-9e47-4123-9d81-c0bb6a4732c6

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

All the webtools for oral practice can be maximized by asking

students to write the script in advance. Texts can then be corrected
by the teacher (or not), by students themselves or peer correction.

• Create a discussion group of topics covered during the

semester. Students then record their opinions on a weekly
basis.

• Develop a joint Project with other groups of students to discuss

the same topics.

• Invite teachers around the world to take part in a discussion

group and then use the recordings as listening comprehension
exercises.

SKILLS : speaking, listening comprehension and writing.

Learn more about VOXOPOP at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrImS9-y57s
 9. XTRANORMAL (http://www.xtranormal.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

With Xtranormal you can create 3D animated films in which the

characters move, and talk according to your script. It´s possible to
publish your animations in Youtube.

See some examples of films created by teachers:

Here Alexandra Francisco (a

teacher in Portugal)
created a film to advertise
the school blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umEICvIEVxE

Here José Picardo used the

film at the beginning of class
to present the topic of the
lesson.. Film in Spanish.

http://vimeo.com/7376426
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• The teacher creates dialogues or interviews to present the

content to students.

• In class, all students as a group create a film with words and

structure learned that day.

• Pairs of students create dialogues using idiomatic expressions

learned. The teacher corrects the texts in class. For homework,
pairs should use their texts to create a film and send the link
to the teacher who can publish it in a class blog. In the
following classes, the teacher uses the different films created
by students to revise previous content.

• After studying about interviewing, students create dialogues in

which they can show efficient ways of behaving during
interviews.

• Students create dialogues in which they are interviewed about

their hobbies . The teacher can use the videos for
comprehension activities in future lessons.

SKILLS : writing, listening comprehension.

Learn more about XTRANORMAL at:

http://zarcoenglish-
tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/xtranormal.html

http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1381

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/05/lesson-plan-with-
xtranormal.html
 10. ANIMOTO (http://animoto.com )

DESCRIPTION

Animoto lets you create films with photos, videos, music and texts in
a few clicks. The created films are hosted at Animoto but can also be
published in Youtube. 30-second films are free, however, it´s possible
to request an educator´s account at

http://animoto.com/education/signup

See some examples of films created by students and teachers:

Here Alexandra Francisco

with her students´ help
creates a vídeo about
Madeira Island, where they
live. The photos were
selected by students and
the phrases were written by
them.

http://zarcoenglish-studentsshowcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-
makes-madeira-unique.html
 José Picardo´s students
create videos in Spanish
about topics discussed
during the semester.

http://www.asisehace.net/blog/?p=234

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• The teacher can create videos with photos and words about
future vocabulary to be covered in class.

• Use the same presentation video for revision purposes. Show

the vídeo and then ask students to write in their notebooks new
words used in the video.

• Make video only with images so that students can write the
vocabulary in their notebooks.

• Ask students to create videos about an specific theme, ex.

Preserving the Planet, Valentine´s day.

• Build a video with the class about the place where they live.
Students select the photos and send them to the teacher via e-
mail. They can write sentences and also select the soundtrack.

SKILLS: writing, listening comprehension, reading.

Learn more about ANIMOTO at:

http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/02/animoto.html

http://ideiasemblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/animoto-produo-de-
vdeoclip.html
 11. CLASSTOOLS (http://classtools.net/ )

DESCRIPTION

With Classtools you can create games and online educational

activities in flash and then publish them in your blog.

See some games created by teachers:

I used this game in class

with a group of
intermediate learners after
having studied about
vocabulary related to
Money. In pairs, students
had to define the word
selected by the game.

http://classtools.net/widgets/fruit_machine_4/G1jS7.htm

This game was used in class

by students of a basic level
to revise verbs in the past. A
student went to the board
while all the other
classmates shouted the
verbs in the student should
eliminate.

http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz/quiz42960.htm/
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Use the game Fruit Machine to randomly choose names of

students who should answer specific questions.

• Use the game Fruit Machine to train pronunciation of words

chosen by the game, creating a different type of drill.

• Use the game Typewriter to choose vocabulary which should be

used in phrases by the students.

• Use Wordshoot to revise verbs in the past, past participle,

irregular plurals, feminine/masculine, any vocabulary which has
two items (E.g.: Go, went).

• Use Dustbin game to ask students to sort the vocabulary into

different categories.

• The Counter can be used to set a time limit for games or r a

writing activity.

• Use Post-it to create activities matching words to images, such

as parts of the body, parts of a house, school objects, animals.

• Use Lights out to hide an image (which represents the theme of

the lesson) and at the beginning of class show parts of the
images as you ask students what the lesson is going to be
about.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading.

Read more about CLASSTOOLS at

http://zarcoenglish-
tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/05/classtoolsnet.html
 12. STORYBIRD (http://storybird.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

Tool allows you to create virtual books using beautiful drawing by

various illustrators.

Some examples of books created by students:

This book was created by

Mary´s student . He wrote
the book little by little
throughout the semester.

http://storybird.com/books/a-sad-dog-by-tamir/

Another book about Friends.

http://storybird.com/books/friends-byashley-ray/
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Long-term project: during the school year, weekly or quarterly,

take students to the lab so that they can create a story page by
page using language learned recently. At the end of the Project,
the e-books can be published in a virtual gallery (blog), read
by all students and also shared with parents.

• Joint Project: A chain story- the teacher starts the first Page of
an e-book. Each week, a student is chosen to continue the
story. The challenge is to try to use vocabulary learned that
week. From time to time, the teacher can use an Interactive
White Board to show the story as it is.

• In class, students read mini sagas (stories with 50 words). The

teacher proposes for students to create mini sagas and then
transform them into mini e-books.

• Use the IWB to show students various illustrations available in

the site and ask them to describe some pictures in pairs.
Inspired by the illustrations, students write poems which later
can be turned into e-books. Each lesson, ask students to
present their poems by reading their e-books in the IWB.

SKILLS: reading, writing.

Read more about STORYBIRD at:

http://philly-teacher.blogspot.com/2009/12/storybird-inspiring-
young-writers.html
 13. BOMBAY TV
(http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?lang=br )

DESCRIPTION

With BombayTV it´s possible to subtitle or dub Indian films.

An example:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/movie-br-
4ae687c4199510e2bbe7186dd326dac0.html

This is a video created by me, using a scene where two characters

speak. I used the written subtitles feature. It´s also possible to use
the “text-to-speech” feature where the script is transformed into
speech or even record your own voice to dub the scene. When
you´ve finished, the video is sent to an e-mail of your choice , you´re
provided with a link and can also grab the embed code for online
publishing.
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• The teacher creates a subtitled video to contextualize the

content of a lesson and shows it to the whole class using the
IWB or a projector.

• Show a scene to all students so that they can create a dialogue

for the same scene. The teacher monitors the activity by
helping students with vocabulary and correcting when
necessary. Show the scene again for pairs of students to dub
the scene. The class decides which is the best dialogue.

• At the lab, ask students to create subtitles for a scene of their

choice. As they finish, they send the link to their subtitled
movie to the teacher for publishing (class blog).

• In class, show a scene to students. With the whole class, create

a dialogue for the scene. Pairs of students practice the
dialogue. Select a pair to record the dialogue and add it to the
scene. Show the dubbed scene to students and publish it in the
class blog.

• For homework, ask students to dub or subtitle a scene they´ve

chosen. The script should contain vocabulary learned recently.
When they´re done, students send the link to their teacher for
publishing. The videos can be used in future classes for
exercises.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading, listening comprehension.

Read more about BOMBAYTV at:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2010/01/bombaytv-creating-subtitles-to.html

Try out similar tools at:

Be a soccer commentator - http://www.grapheine.com/futeboltv/

Write subtitles for TV Classics -

http://www.grapheine.com/classiktv/index.php?lang=uk
 14. ESL VIDEO (http://www.eslvideo.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

With ESLvideo you can create online multiple choice exercises with a
video you´ve selected from Youtube. Your quiz is hosted at ESLvideo
and can be published online by using the embed code. You can also
explore a bank of activities created by other teachers organized by
levels.

Some examples:

http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_begin.php?id=2979&pagenum=2

On the same webpage the student can watch the video and answer
questions created by the teacher. In this case, it´s a song activity.
http://www.eslvideo.com/quiz_int2.php?id=2043

Here, Jennifer Aniston, the actress, is interviewed about her acting.

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create multiple choice exercises for a chosen video. Take

students to the lab to do the activity individually.

• Do the above activity in class using the IWB. Ask different

students to come to the board to select the correct answers.

• Ask students to select a video clip from Youtube and create a

multiple choice activity for their classmates. The link should be
sent to the teacher via e-mail for publishing. Each week, the
teacher can use a different activity created by students
themselves.

SKILLS: listening comprehension, writing, reading.

15. ENGLISH CENTRAL (http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videos )

DESCRIPTION

At English Central, you can hear an excerpt of a video with subtitles

and then record yourself repeating the same text. The site evaluates
your pronunciation and indicates where there´s need of
improvement. Use the “practice mode” to train and the “quiz mode”
to have your pronunciation evaluated.

An example:

President Obama talks

about Al-Quaeda. After
each utterance, there´s
a pause so that you can
record yourself. Finally,
you receive your
evaluation.

http://www.englishcentral.com/en/player/10687/president-obama-
talks-about-al-qaeda-intelligence-
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• In class, select a video which is appropriate to your students´

level. Show the video and ask different students to try out
recording their speeches. Show students how to observe where
they should improve their pronunciation.

• Take students to the lab so that they can record themselves

and practise pronunciation.

• Incite students to practise pronunciation at home on a regular

basis.

SKILLS: listening comprehension, speaking, reading.

Read more about ENGLISH CENTRAL at:

http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/11/english-
central.html
 16. PHOTOPEACH ( http://photopeach.com )

DESCRIPTION

Site which allows the creation of slideshows with your photos,

captions and background music. Great site for digital storytelling. You
can also create multiple choice exercises (quizzes) with the slideshow
and publish it in a blog.

Some examples:

Quiz created by me to
revise the use of present
continuous in English and to
test collocations.

http://photopeach.com/album/ofriqq
 Quiz created by Sue Waters
about animals.

http://photopeach.com/album/rorcwt

Slideshow created by Mrs.

Lynch (Canada) to share
the result of a Project
developed by her students
after having researched
about “Owls”. The images
are drawings made by
student about their
discoveries.

http://teacher102.edublogs.org/2009/11/26/what-we-learned-about-
owls/

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create slides to present vocabulary. Use images and captions.

• Use the same slideshow to practise the pronunciation of words,

drilling.

• Create slideshows for digital storytelling with images and

phrases, contextualizing the content.
 • Create multiple choice exercises (quizzes) to use in the
classroom. While students watch the slideshow they write the
correct alternative on their notebooks. The teacher should
pause the slide before showing the correct answer.

• Create slideshow to share the result of projects developed in

class such as posters, drawings, photos.

• Ask students to create a slideshow to tell their own story, about

a memorable holiday, their family, their favorite toys, hobbies,
etc.

• Students can create a slideshow about a famous historical

character they have studied about.

SKILLS: writing, reading, speaking (drills).

Read more about PHOTOPEACH at :

http://theedublogger.com/2010/01/14/spicing-up-your-posts-part-i-
photopeach/
 17. WINKBALL (http://winkball.com )

DESCRIPTION

Site where you can create video messages to send to friends, a video
wall where other people can post their videos about a common topic,
a video blog where you publish your ideas via video and a space
where you can chat live with friends using your webcam. The videos
published at Winkball can be recorded directly from your webcam or
videos you have in your computer.

Some examples:

A video wall where various

people record themselves
talking about what they
most like about Britain.

http://www.winkball.com/walls/Love_Britain/what_do_you_love2/
 A Video blog created by an
English living in Africa where
he shares videos and talks
about his adventures.

http://www.winkball.com/blogs/sidneykidney/East_African/

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Create a video message with questions for students to answer it

in writing in the comment area.

• Create a video message talking about a controversial topic for

students to leave their opinion in writing.

• Record a place (Ex: a house, a person, parts of a city) with your

camera, upload it to Winkball for students to watch it and use
the comment space to leave written descriptions

• Create a video wall about a controversial issue. Each student

should then record themselves with the webcam giving their
opinion. In future classes, the same recordings can be used for
listening comprehension practice or language analysis.
 • Create a video wall where everyone talks about the same
subject (Ex: describing oneself, talking about one´s family,
future plans, etc.)

• Ask each student to create a video blog in which every week

they make a recording talking about what they´ve learned, or
each week they can make a video using vocabulary or structure
learned that week.

• Incite students to take part in a public video wall in which

people from around the world leave their opinions.

• Use public video walls for listening comprehension exercises

since it´s possible to hear authentic language with different
accents.

SKILLS: speaking, listening comprehension, writing and reading.

Read more about WINKBALL at:

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/12/winkball-more-than-sending-
video.html
 18. ACAPELA.TV (http://www.acapela.tv/ )

DESCRIPTION

Site which allows the creation of text-to-speech videos and send

them via e-mail. You type in a text (various languages are accepted)
and the site generates a very interesting video.

“Paul E Glott” translates words and phrases into several languages.

Examples:

Paul E Glott: You can type in

a text, choose a language
and as you click “please tell
me”, Paul speaks the
translated sentence.
 Dictation: 5 questions which
should be answered by
students , in writing, and
then sent to the teacher for
correction. In this example
the text is in English,
however, several languages
are accepted.

http://www.acapela.tv/good-old-times-99726488_c0e974246b5fa.html

Text (created by me )
where the kitten tells his sad
story. Students should listen
to the story and write all the
verbs in the past.

http://www.acapela.tv/Snowy-99721528_c0e969130bdc8.html

HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Add “Paul E Glott” to the sidebar of a class blog so that students

can use it for translation.

• Make video messages to present content, creating a text with

the topic structure.

• Ditctation: create a message using vocabulary and topic

structures. Send it to students via e-mail. Students then watch
the dictation, copy the text and send it to the teacher for
correction.
 • Chain: students create questions, sent it to a classmate who
should answer it by recording another message. A copy should
also be sent to the teacher so that he can monitor the task.

• Joint text: in class, the teacher starts and text with a phrase.
Each student then goes to the keyboard and adds extra words
to the text. As soon as the text is ready, generate the
message-video and play it for students to hear the whole text.

SKILLS: writing, reading and listening comprehension.

 19. VOCAROO (http://www.vocaroo.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

Site to make recordings directly from the internet, with no need to

download any special program. You simply use a microphone, a
computer with internet access and Vocaroo.

An example:

Click “Click to Record” ,

“Listen” to hear your
recording. You can always
record again if you are
unhappy with the result. If
it´s ok, send it via e-mail or
grab the embed code for
publishing.

Here, Alexandra Francisco,

asks her students to record
themselves reading a text
from their course book. The
students shared the link with
the teacher who published
the reading in the class
blog.

http://zarcoenglish-studentsshowcase.blogspot.com/2009/12/vocaroo.html
 HOW TO USE THE SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• After teaching a certain topic, divide students into pairs and ask
them to create mini-dialogues (3 or 4 utterances) using the
structure or vocabulary previously learned. After dialogues have
been created, record each pair of students reading their
dialogues and send it to your own e-mail (for further
publishing) or publish them immediately in a class blog. In
subsequent classes, the same dialogues can be used as
revision.

• The teacher can record short texts for listening comprehension

exercises.

• Record children singing a song which they have learned in

class. Publish it in a blog and share it with parents.

• Ask students to write an interview. Record pairs interviewing

and publish in a blog.

• Ask students to record themselves reading a text or dialogues

from the course book (homework) and then send to their
teacher via e-mail. This is a way to evaluate your students´
pronunciation one by one.

SKILLS: speaking, writing, reading, listening.

Read more about VOCAROO at:

http://zarcoenglish-tooloftheday.blogspot.com/2009/01/vocaroo.html

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2009/08/adding-audio-files-to-your-blog.html
 20. LISTEN AND WRITE (http://www.listen-and-write.com/ )

DESCRIPTION

Site where we can listen to various texts and do dictations. It´s also
possible to create your own dictation by recording yourself and
submitting it. Several languages are accepted..

First, choose the level,

then the text by its title
and finally one of the 3
modes (Full mode, quick
mode or the blank
mode.)
An example:

Firstly, you listen to the whole

text , then sentence by
sentence finally you write
the words in the text Box.

http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio/show/898

HOW TO USE THIS SITE WITH STUDENTS?

• Take students to the lab to do a listening dictation selected by

the teacher.

• Take students to the lab to do listening dictations of their

choice.

• The teacher creates a dictation by recording a text or dialogue

appropriate to the content worked in class. The dictation can be
done as a whole class activity, by asking different students to
type the text using the class keyboard, individually at the lab or
at home for homework.

• Students preparing for international exams, can benefit from

periodically doing dictations.

SKILLS: listening and writing.

Read more about LISTEN AND WRITE at:

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/06/dictation-goes-web-20.html
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ana Maria Menezes is an EFL teacher and trains

teachers to integrate technology with education.
She was a pedagogical coordinator for 9 years
and today is head of the edutech department of
a Language Institute in Brazil (Cultura Inglesa
Uberlândia).

She´s been researching new Technologies in

education and publishes her “discoveries” and
“experiments” in her blog LIFE FEAST .

In 2009, she designed an online course, to help

teachers worldwide explore the new webtools
available : the CULTURA EDTECH online course.

The Cultura EDtech is a 3-month course offered to

teachers three times a year.

Her blog: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com

Her twitter: http://twitter.com/anamariacult

Her e-portfolio: http://anamariacult.glogster.com/E-portfolio-anamariacult/

Her online course:

http://culturaedtech.wikispaces.com/ABOUT+THE+COURSE

Webname: anamariacult
Thank you notes:

I thank, from the bottom of my heart, all teachers who have kindly
permitted the sharing of their work .

José Picardo

Alexandra Francisco

Nik Peachey

David Deubelbeiss

Dennis Oliver

Ian James

Sue Waters

Bob Palmer

Mary Hillis

Mary Beth Hertz

I dedicate this book to my love who has always

been by my side and to my loving children.