Getting started with Symbaloo: applications for english teachers (IV)

LOGBOOK

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

DATE: Thursday, 25th of September, 2013

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Now I am going to describe three new blocks which I have recently included in my symbaloo, each one of them belonging to a different website or resource, having its own uses and functions.

LEGO BIONICLE ONLINE GAME (1): http://www.templar.com/games/mnog/Player.html Video games, if properly chosen, are proven to have beneficial effects on children’s learning, although I know this resource will not go free of polemical. Templar.com is a website which compiles the original “Mata Nui Online Game 1”, from the “LEGO Bionicle” series.

The application is an interactive visual novel, which compiles the adventures of a chronicler who travels around the Mata-Nui Island, from the beach where you start to the Ice Land Mountains and villages, through the fire castle and the burned forest, through deserts and mines, into the underground villages, mines and caves, wind jungle-like lands and water lily lands into the deepness of the Island, where the sleeping spirit of Mata-Nui rests, waiting to be awaken.

Within the game, you will be helping the villagers with different tasks at the same time you will discover the secrets of the Island and fight the evil Rahi (some kind of monsters). The game is print-rich, but at the same time it is interactive, as you can choose what to say or do. These dialogues, although quite complex, can provide children with tons of correct English input.

The game is suitable for 8 year old kids or older, as it has an anime-like appearance and some mild-violence scenes, which are, combined with the complexity of the language texts, the main drawbacks for using this game as a learning tool for children.

However, anime or interactive visual novel video game lovers can get the most of this game, so I would play this game with the children in the computer room for a classroom hour, giving them some strategies on how they can guess what the texts say or which tool can they use to look for the meaning of words they do not know. Finally, they could write down the website address to play the game at home –only if they like it- so as to combine learning with fun.

JOHNNIE’S STORY PAGE: http://jstorypage.com/JSPNewreaders.html

I really love this one! This website is perfect for reading in English! The website includes tons of stories and tales for children to read. In an audio-book fashion, the books include a reader children can listen to at the same time they read, in order to practice listening and pronunciation skills, images to complement the text stories and the texts themselves.

I would absolutely use these tales in my English classroom, both to awaken pupils’ interest and encourage them to read and listen to stories in the language. The website has different levels you can choose, so you don’t have to worry about texts being too complicated for a specific class.

BITESIZE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/firstlevel/literacy_and_english/

This website includes several interactive readings to work with, specifically meant to develop reader’s literacy with no teacher support need, in a self-teaching way. The teacher can still help, but activities are brilliantly well-polished. The bad news is that, being a Scottish website, some exercises can be difficult because of pronunciation differences from British or American English. The resources are also limited. Still, these are good quality ones to work with.