Games in Schools

16 03 2009

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A new network community has been created:

Games in Schools

This social NING platform is devoted to the dissemination of ideas related to the use of videogames in education. teachers can talk about their experiences and comment on others’

A good number of ELT teachers use videogames in their classrooms. You only need to register for free and sign in.

This might be the place for you!



Amy Walker: 21 accents

5 02 2009

Jolly good! Listen to this great actress playing up different English speakers with different accents. If you like phonetics, dialects, and English, you’ll love it. Why don’t you show it to your students and help them see how different can English sound?



Questionaut: ELT and other subjects

5 02 2009

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People from Amanita Design have produced a beautiful online videogame for the BBC educational website: Questionaut

Travel with a friendly voyager in pursuit of his friend’s windswept hat, and answer multiple questions from different fields in a dream-like world, flying with your balloon and winning oxygen by answering correctly. There’s fun and learning, and it’s in English! Worth a visit!

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Phonetics at its best

20 01 2009

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For those who think that phonetics is a way to learn how to pronounce properly, here’s Phonetics, a very good site which shows you how to articulate in order to pronounce in proper American English (Also German and Spanish) There’s sound, graphs and video… everything is very well described.



Some soul food for the holidays

23 12 2008

I’ve come across a piece of a poem by Walter Savage Landor:

“More people are good because they are happy than happy because they are good”

Sad, but true… think about it!

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Merry Christmas!



Interesting things for the Holidays

9 12 2008

After a while without posts, here’s one with interesting websites for your lessons. They are worth a look during the coming holidays: ESL and Clil have room here… enjoy!

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This website has a large list of online activities to foster reading and writing skills. Among the long list, I have chosen two applications:

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Character Trading Cards is an application based upon the popular trading cards students use. Here students can customize their own cards making up different characters with their specific features: Mood, weaknesses, strengths, problems, approach to life… Students fill the card with the information required in an easy step-by-step process.

These trading cards can be printed and used in order to create stories or role play situations. Writing, reading and speaking in a bunch!

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Fractured Fairy Tales helps students create brand new stories out of classical fairy tales which are fragmented and reused after changing some of its characteristic traits (part of the plot, characters, end of the story…) An easy interface with easy write and click instructions. Really catchy!

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Buid Your Wild Self

An extremely nice website for young students created by the New York Zoos and Aquarium Authority. Choose the animal parts you want to have in your own wild self, and create a new species in the animal world! Navigation is easy and the library has many different options … good fun!

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The parts you have chosen will help you make up the name of this strange creature. Learn about its habitat and how it reacts to the world around it… Your students will love it!

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Hector’s Home

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Good website with animations and road education! Hector’s Home gives students a very good time with some very spooky short films where Hector, the main character, moves about the city and learns the most important aspects of road education.

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You can watch the films and do the activities and games that appear as you move around.

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Teachers can enter a special area where very useful lesson plans are provided. They’re worth a look, believe me!

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A really catchy website, they learn road education as they practise their English.



Google Docs forms in your blog

26 11 2008

New feature from Google. Go into Google Docs

and create a form for your friends… or for your students… and why not a test? It is veeeeeery easy to create and to embed in your blog. Here’s an example:



Lingorilla

21 10 2008

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Watch the telly and learn languages! Lingorilla is a very interesting initiative where you can watch TV episodes to practise English , be part of language groups where you can talk and also keep your own folders with your favourite resources to learn English… or other languages! There are tests, quizzes and other very helpful resources. You only have to register and there you are!!

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Young Bond

15 10 2008

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Wow! If you like spies and mystery, here’s a good game to have your students glued to their chairs. Young Bond, an online game ot of the Young Bond books. Lots of clues, information and thrilling things to do inside!

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Just register, read and enjoy it! Children need their parents’ consent.



English for Little Children

15 10 2008

Nice and easy website for early learners. English for Little Children has a wide range of activities for the youngest ones. Lots of activities with colourful images and pictures. Very easy to navigate.

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