LOGBOOK
WEEK: Monday 23rd September, 2013 to Sunday 29th
September 2013.
DATE: Thursday, 25th of September,
2013
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In yesterday's
entry I had the opportunity to share with all of you the tools I usually used
as an English student in order to setup my own PLE (personal learning environment)
Within these tools, we could see Word reference online dictionary, as well as
an idiomatic dictionary, a phrasal verb dictionary and en English collocations
database. I also described my most used tools such as Campus Virtual, Facebook,
my personal E-mail, Google drive, Blogger and Dropbox, and even an interior
designer program. Finally, I focused on explaining how some videos on shortcuts
or cartoons could help children develop their literacy skills in class, listing
many of them, such as: Validation, Funny Bones, Wallace and Gromit and Disney
films such as The Sword in the Stone.
Today,
we are going to have a look at many other applications regarding tools for
English teachers and students I have added into my Symbaloo account.
MATERIALS
TO WORK WITH IN CLASS:
Sometimes,
teachers look for activities to complement text books, or just to work on a
theme based Unit Planning. Sometimes they look for ideas regarding the
confection of class material, arts and crafts, or class dispositions, and
sometimes they look for interactive video games or computer programs, which
might attract pupils’ interest at the same time these tools help them with
their learning.
ABC TEACH: http://www.abcteach.com/ This website has a
huge variety of printable theme-based activities. I think it can be or real
utility for teachers, especially when they are starting developing their job or
don’t have the time required to prepare a theme based unit planning. In this
case, they can visit the website, introduce the topic and find related
materials, from which they can choose the most suitable ones to be printed and
worked through the class. You can see the website on the bottom left corner of
my symbaloo, with: “Printable Ups and activities” as its block name.
ANGLÈS 365: http://www.angles365.com/ Right under ABC Teach block, we can find “angles
365” block, which is, in my opinion a very useful website for all teachers able
to access the internet through the computer room. They can bring pupils to the
classroom and make a Clil project, in which pupils can do “computing” subject
in English. I have had the opportunity to check how children love these
print-rich activities during part of my Practicum lessons, and I believe these
can be really useful for them.
JCLIC: http://clic.xtec.cat/es/jclic/index.htm Jclic is similar to Anglès 365, but with the
drawback you will need free disk space to be able to install the program on the
computer before being able to run the activities application. On the other
hand, it can be useful on situations in which, whereas computers might work,
internet access does not. On these situations, you will prefer using Jclic over
Anglès 365. Also, Jclic includes more activities that Anglès 365 which, if not
as creative and print-rich ones as Anglès 365, should be always taken into
consideration as an option.
CRAYOLA: http://www.crayola.com/ Above Jclic Block
stands Crayola one, named as “arts and crafts” for a simpler recognition.
Crayola is the official website for school material. You can add products to
kart to be used by the children in arts and crafts class, but for me, the most relevant
feature about it is its arts and crafts samples and tutorials. Children love
arts and crafts and you can learn from these tutorials and get some ideas to
include some of them to your lessons as didactic material. You could make a
clock for the children to understand hours in English, for example. By visiting
these websites, you will create a more print-rich classroom, and this will ease
pupils’ review on vocabulary or formulas, such as “what day is today” and so
on.
4TEACHERS
TOOLS: http://www.4teachers.org/tools/
“4teachers tools” is a simple website including some tools to be used by
teachers, as “Scramble words”. However, the one which called my attention in
the first place was “classroom designer”, something similar to “Sweet home 3d”
but easier to work with, less professional and more focused into classroom
design.
LEARNING PAGE: http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/ewe_preview.html
To the right,
next to “4teacher tools block” we can appreciate a different block called: “Clil
material”. Well, this is a useful website for teachers, as it gives them ideas
on how to create Clil Unit planning’s. Although the website is very useful, in
my opinion it lacks of music Clil unit planning resources. Yes, it has some,
but these are normally focused on music history. Another drawback is that you
will need to register to access most of these materials. However it’s still a
fantastic website and I would recommend it to all teachers up to create their
own Clil Unit Planning.
PRIMARY
RESOURCES: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/
If you keep on scrolling to your right
in my symbaloo, the next block you will see corresponds to Primary Resources
website. This website includes several Power point presentations and worksheets
to work on a specific topic. (Mostly grammar related topics). Visiting this
website can save you time, as you will not have the need to create all of your
power point presentations after having had a look at it.
KIDS WORK
SAMPLES: http://www.sandaigprimary.co.uk/class_displays.php
Right below Primary
Resources block, we can find one whose title is “kids work samples”. This is a
school website which displays all didactic material created by pupils within
the course, which can bring you plenty of ideas to work with when teaching.
TEACHING IDEAS:
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/storycubes.htm
Below kids
work samples and next to primary resources to the right, we can find a block
called: “Teaching ideas for board games”. This website gives ideas on school
material for teachers to buy. I would have a look at this website before choosing
the course material, as some proposed books might be worth taken into
consideration. The page has plenty of resources and sadly, for the majority of
them you will have to pay. Also, I would personally rely less in editorials and
more in personal experience when choosing reading books for children to read. I
usually see that Spanish school libraries include few-low-level English books
to read or do not include books in English at all. For me, It would be more
motivating to read Thomas Berezina’s “La penya dels tigres/the tiger crew/” in English
rather than books based on vocabulary which plot might bore the children.
Still, this is a personal choice, and it also relies on the English level the
children have. Despite these disadvantages, the website is still worth a visit,
and watching board games such as “story cubes” to be bought on shop might give
you, for example an idea to buy yourselves one of your own for free.
ACTIVITY
FINDER: http://www.teachitworld.com/
This website is a searcher which lets teachers choose the level, subject and
kind of activity for results to be shown on display. It provides of a useful
and quick way of finding activities to be done in class.
Well, that's all by now. See you in the next post with new information on teaching resources!
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