Getting started with Symbaloo: Applications for english teachers.

LOGBOOK

WEEK: Monday 23rd September, 2013 to Sunday 29th September 2013.

DATE: Tuesday, 24th of September, 2013

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I have started getting familiar with Symbaloo and I got highly surprised by the possibilities the platform offers to teachers. Not only can you make a web mix of your own, but also search for other web mixes people have created for a specific purpose (e.g. reading activities for third grade pupils), being able to add them as wished so as to find them easily if needed. You can also create a link to your own activity proposals, being creative and going an step further into this whole world of possibilities.

This is my personal Symbaloo so far:

When thinking about creating my personal learning environment, the first issue that came up was related to the following question: ¿Which websites or resources I use more often as a learner? Having a direct link to all these resources would help me to create my own PLE, so I decided to start by including these in the first place, as it can be seen in the top right corner of the snapshot. As you won’t temporarily have access to my own Symbaloo, I will explain all of these resources, in case you want to include them in your own, or just use them for some of your lessons as a teacher.

WORD REFERENCE: http://www.wordreference.com/

For me, using this online dictionary is the quickest and most efficient way of finding the meaning of words I don’t know.

CAMPUS VIRTUAL: https://campusvirtual2.ub.edu/course/view.php?id=1635

Campus virtual is a platform which allows us students to keep connected to the faculty, having access to the tasks we have to perform and resources we can use to accomplish them. We can also participate in forum discussions so as to keep on practicing the language.

PHRASAL VERBS: http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/

“Phrasal verbs” is an online data base containing all phrasal verbs in English and their meaning. It is very useful for us teachers to consult for some verbs whose meanings we don’t know, becoming especially useful for secondary or high school students whose English level requires of phrasal verb recognizing.

FACEBOOK and GOOGLE DRIVE:  www.facebook.com there is no need to explain this…is there? In Facebook you can create work groups and keep in contact, which can be useful to work in small working groups. Pupils who had come off age can use Facebook for this purpose. An alternative to this is Google Drive, https://drive.google.com/ which can be used by all students and allows them to work simultaneously and in real time on the same document.

IDIOMS ONLINE DICTIONARY: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+rolling+in+it the fifth Symbaloo gadget which shows a picture of a cat and mice stands for the idiom of “a cat and a mice game” and it is a direct link to an idiomatic expression dictionary. Secondary school students and even Primary students can benefit from this resource by learning idiomatic sentences and their meaning, avoiding the common linguistic interferences which appear when trying to translate these expressions literally from Spanish/Catalan into English.

ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS ONLINE DICTIONARY: http://prowritingaid.com/collocations-dictionary This is a really useful tool. It’s similar to the idiomatic dictionary, only that here, you write a verb and then the usual adjectives, adjectives or prepositions to be written next to this verb are shown. It is an easy way of self-teaching when studying Advanced level. It is especially useful for teachers, as a consulting source, but it can be also useful for secondary school students.

WINDOWS LIVE HOTMAIL: www.hotmail.com this is my personal E-mail address, it doesn’t matter if you’re a teacher or a student, I advise you to keep yours somewhere in your PLE all the same.

SWEET HOME 3D: http://www.sweethome3d.com/es/index.jsp when I decided to include this program, I wasn’t sure about its application to my own future as a teacher. However, using it for the customization of my new bedroom gave me an idea: if this interior design software can be used for home interior design, why not use it for creating your own classroom design? As a teacher, you could make your own proposal on space distribution, or even colors. If the classroom environment and equipment is a proper one, pupils will be more motivated into learning English. It is like creating a print-rich classroom in some way or changing the space distribution according to their everyday needs. It’s freeware so you don’t have to worry about copyright anyway.

BLOGGER:  http://www.blogger.com Blogger is the perfect platform for pupils to communicate with the world, and weekly update its contents. Students can create a blog, -as I have done myself- about an interest focus or about their experiences in the English class, as a way of compiling a register of their learning. They can post images on the different work they make and about their own experiences in class. This will provide them of a tool for becoming aware of their own progress, being more easily able to do the self-assessment at the end of the course. Creating a blog about their experiences in everyday life will make the writing task meaningful, and pupils will get familiar with English writing.

DROPBOX: http://www.dropbox.com On the bottom right corner of the picture, we can appreciate the “drop box” gadget. Drop box is an application which allows the user to upload files into an internet cloud or bank, which can be accessed through other platforms. It can be useful for kids when they had to make a power point presentation, as they will have no need to use pen drives or to bring them into class. In combination with Blogger, this platform allows children to keep their own works in their weekly forum, from where it can be easily seen and downloaded by their partners, teacher, parents and friends.

This is where “resources I use more often as a learner” ends. Next day, I will comment on resources more specifically student centered. I hope you like my posts. Feel free to subscribe so you won’t be missing any update! See you!