Present Continuous Online Board Game

Hi everyone, today I'm sharing an online board game to practice and review the present continuous. Your experience will be better if you maximize the game to full screen.

Instructions:

• Group students (up to four teams).
• Click on the dice on the top-right corner.
• Drag the game pieces to the correct cell.
• Students say an affirmative sentence using the subjects and verbs in parentheses.
• The first team that gets to the cell #25 is the winner.

I hope you like it.

EduTech: Integrating Social Networks Into Education

Hi bloggers, today you will find in this post some information about the integration of social networks into modern education.

To begin with, we need to know what social networks are. Well, these networks belong to the group of webs 2.0. Such group is characterized by the following features: their users can share information, they allow collaborative work, they are user-centered, and most of them are free. All these features require an internet connection in order to be executed. Some other examples of webs 2.0 are wikis, blogs, web applications, and many more.

By having this in mind, we can define social networks as online communities of internet users that are meant to socialize and get in touch with people with similar interests. In the 21st century, social networks vary from one to one, but they all share the following elements: they provide the users with chat-rooms, file and photo sharing components, and e-mail accounts. Some of them offer the opportunity of contacting people who fit with a certain interest or profile. Moreover, they all are refreshing their repertoire in order to provide the user with a better experience.

Now, we should ask us, what are the perks of integrating social networks?

-Learning experience-
First of all, the learning experience that we give to our students is invaluable. I wish I had the opportunity of learning within an online community where  I can learn not only from my teachers but from users with a similar interest. By asking our students to join to a virtual community where they can learn even more things than in the school, we are going to encourage them to develop several fundamental skill for their academic furture.

-Cultural expansion-
Undoubtedly, by being part of a social network we are exposed to many different cultural aspects. As English teachers, we can take advantage of that very easily because English and American culture are everywhere in a social network. Nevertheless, we should be wary of what we are exposing our students to.

-Collaborative work-
Social networks can really pave the way in our purse of having students working together. By their flexible nature, social networks concede the opportunity of working in an asynchronous way. This is to say, students learn at their own pace and time, and with the people they want to work with. We can take advantage of it by assigning them some tasks where they should interact with native speakers of English and report from their experience.

-Professional development-
Social networks not only benefit our students but us as well. Nowadays, schools are asking for teachers who have knowledge of their area and for the ones who can deal with modern technologies. This is why we should update our methodology and try to include at least a blog where we provide students with English instruction. I am sure this will be of great help in a short term period.

-Dynamics-
 Finally, we have the dynamics in a social network. As mentioned above, these virtual communities allow asynchronous learning and collaborative work. In this way, the role of the teacher changes completely because even students can act as the teacher. For instance, once the teacher has delivered an assignment, a student may have a question that can be answered by another one. This is to say, feedback is not only given by the teacher but from the learners themselves.

Of course there are a great deal of benefits that social networks offer to us, but in my opinion these are the most remarkable ones. I hope you can find this useful and start considering the integration of social networks into your lessons.

EduTech: 5 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learners (Regarding Technology)

Hello visitors, in this post you will find my thoughts about the 21st century learners.

Nowadays, most of students have access to technological devices that, in our time, we did not have. Somehow, these gadgets actually affect their performance in their academic life. Let us see five of the features that make them distinct from us.

1- Fearless of making mistakes-
Thanks to video games, children know that they can try something over and over again without feeling ashamed of that. This is an invaluable development for us as teachers. Now, we do not spend time in asking students to try it one more time because they instantly feel compelled to do it. Thus, it will be very usual for us to see them participating voluntarily.

2- Multitasking-
Undoubtedly, this has become a new skill for 21st century learners. These days they are able to do their homework, chat with friends, watch a movie, send a text message, and many other things at the same time. As teachers we perceive this in our classrooms, and we often feel insecure because they are not paying attention to us. In fact, they are paying attention to other things as well. One way of availing this characteristic is involving them in tasks which demand the use of their five senses. You will see that the results are outstanding.

3- Creative-
Once I heard someone saying 'schools kill imagination' and it rang a bell in my head. How many times we ask our students expecting one and only one possible answer? We need to keep in mind that their brains are wired differently than ours. If we were taught in a linear way, they do not have to go through the same track. Encourage them to think outside the box, foster their creativity in your lessons by bringing incomplete stories or logic games. In this manner, they will exploit their most powerful resource, imagination.

4- Collaborative-
It is not uncommon for us to come across with students who are reluctant to work with their classmates. However, once again, thanks to video games, working in groups is not a big deal anymore. By using a Task-Based Learning approach in our lessons, we will be having them pursuing the same goal, as they do in video games. This will benefit both students and the learning environment.

5- Self-Directed-
Although autonomous learners have always existed, this is becoming more popular among 21st century learners. This is because technology forces them, somehow, to create their own strategies in order to achieve a desired result. As a consequence, in their academic life they also decide which learning strategy suits best the situation, and then, they execute it. This is why, we should let them learn in their way, not in ours. An excellent tip I can give is to include different learning styles in your class, so they can learn the same thing but in a personalized manner.

EduTech: Triptico Desktop Resources

Hi visitors, today in this post you will find information about a fantastic resource we can take advantage of in our classes.

I have been using Triptico for a while and I do not know why I had not talked about it. In my teaching practices I really use it a lot because of its benefits. For instance, for introducing vocabulary, you can select the resource called Word Magnets. Once you have selected the resource, you can load the vocabulary target and make thousands of activities, e.g. matching exercises or you can implement an activity where students have to put the word in the correct place.

Furthermore, it also has a resource called Timer, that you can use it for setting the amount of time that students have for accomplishing a task. Another resource called Flip Selector that you can use for calling on a student for performing a task.

As mentioned before, you can do tons of activities with this resource. It is a matter of using our imagination, by doing so, we are going to have more engaging lessons and our students will love them.

Triptico has a free version and a paid one ($80 a year). So, there are no excuses for not using it in the classroom.

Here is a video if you are interested in using Triptico in your classes.

EduTech: Flashcards Apps

Hello bloggers, in this post you will find a very brief review of three apps that really help your students to learn vocabulary sets or any important information of a lesson. For what it is worth, I have used the three of them with great results.

-AnkiDriod-
This app allows you create your own set of flashcards and export it to the net. Also, you have the chance of downloading sets of a wide variety of topics. In this app you can set the amount of flashcards per study session and you can look at your progress in the statistics option. It is available for both mobile devices as well as computers. It is free.

-StudyDroid-
This app has similar features as the previous one. You can create your flashcards and it offers you tons of vocabulary sets that you can download from its website. It is also available for mobile devices (one app is free, the other is a paid version) and you can study or modify your sets in the web page.

-Flashcards To Go-
For me, the best app for studying sets of vocabulary. It lets you create your own study plan, how many words per period, how much time, and it has a very effective method for reviewing and studying them called 'The Leitner System' which it is a simple implementation of spaced repetition, where cards are reviewed at increasing intervals. It is available for mobile devices and for PC's. The only drawback is that for the new Android devices is still in progress. It is a free app although it has  a paid version as well.


Now that you know the main characteristics of these apps, you can let your students know that they can take advantage of them in their learning process. One way to use them is to create a set of cards we want them to review, and then, ask them to download it to their devices.

EduTech: EduTecher

Hi everyone, today I will write about a web 2.0 that shares some features with Edshelf. Its name is EduTecher.

EduTecher is a website that constantly adds useful links that can be used in education. It gives a brief explanation of them and how to use them in your lessons. As in Edshelf, they are arranged into categories depending on their subject or grade.

Moreover, you can create an account and bookmark your favorite websites. What is more, they have a mobile app for apple or android products (free). With this app you can share your experience with the links provided or with a new one you want to share.

To conclude, I think that we should give it a shot and actually include the links that are there in our classes. We do not need to check each one of them in order to find what we need since they are already grouped.

EduTech: Teaching Digital Natives

Hi visitors, today I am going to talk about the digital natives (the ones who were born within the technological revolution) and the way they expect us to teach them. I have to say that most of the teachers in our days are digital immigrants (people who were born with few technological devices, but they are able to use the current ones).

Since they are merged in educational systems that are outdated and dishearten their creativity, they feel that what the teachers show to them is not important and boring. This situation is illustrated when they prefer to play with their cell phones or talk with their peers. They are not interested at all in your class, so how can we teach these digital natives?

First of all, we need to know their characteristics. They are multi-tasking, this means, they can do many things at the same time. Also, process the information faster than us because they are ‘wired’ differently. Moreover, they like to use graphic information (charts, pictures, videos, etc.). Likewise, they can find the answers for their doubts immediately thanks to the internet. Finally, a very particular aspect of digital natives is that they like to be evaluated in a private way. This is to say, the feedback can be given by email or messages to their accounts.

By having that said I want to share with you the do’s while teaching digital natives.

1) Adapt your teaching style

Yes, it may sound weird and complicated but you have to do it. Otherwise, your students will not feel they are learning in their style but in yours, which may discourage them. You do not have to change completely your style, just a few arrangements so you can include their technological skills.

2) Let them invent

Be a teacher who promotes creativity and imagination. They will feel more engaged in your lessons because you will allow the use of their creative process. The results will be successful due to the fact that they are going to personalize the learning activity.

3) RAR

This acronym stands for ‘Relevant Appropriate and Related’. These three should be the features of your lesson. Relevant because you want the students to pay attention to it. Appropriate because you should stick to the level of your class as well as the cultural background and upbringing. Finally, related because if your topic is not related to your lesson, it will be pointless using it in your class.

4) Do not over think your lessons

We as teachers spend a lot of time planning our lessons because we want it to be almost perfect. However, we realized that our students are not as enthusiastic as we are. This is why we should keep our lessons simple. Do not try to fill your lesson plan with activities you know they will not like. Instead, you can ask them once in a while what they want to do about the topic you are teaching. Listen to all of them, and as always, you have the final choice.

5) Provide opportunities to learn

In my previous post I wrote about this. In a nutshell, your school and you should meet certain requirements in order to ‘produce’ competent learners. Your organization, planning, final objectives, and even your feedback play an essential role in their language development.

This is my point of view when it comes to teaching digital natives, I hope you find it useful and if you have something to say, feel free to express yourself.

EduTech: Edshelf

Hi bloggers, today I am going to write about a web 2.0 that simplifies the work of teachers who are into educational technology, its name is Edshelf.

This website is a directory of tons of academic and technological tools in a wide range of categories as well as subjects. For instance, in our field of language learning and teaching, we have tools such as Livemocha, Dictionary.com, Flashcards, Reading Trainer, and so forth.

As teachers, we can take advantage of it by recommending them to our students and by integrating them into our classes. In my experience, I recommended to my students a website called StudyBlue. This site gives them the chance of creating their own flashcards sets. Another good point is that it has an app for Smartphones and they can synchronize their content or even share it with other people.

I strongly recommend Edshelf because it facilitates the searching of technological tools for education and has them organized in categories, which is a great help for us. Moreover, there we can find tools not only for language teaching but for different academic purposes. Now, there are no excuses for saying 'I don't know how to use technology in my classroom'; Edshlef  gives us the opportunity for looking for the correct tools, websites, and apps for each aspect in our teaching life. Create an account (it is FREE) and start finding your technological help for your classes.