Author Archives: rgarcia5

About rgarcia5

ELT teacher, based in Molins de Rei (Barcelona).

Voki…great fun…and skills!

I’m sure you’ve already realized I’m right here, to your right. Well the truth is that I have less hair than my avatar, but it was this or bald, so I chose this one!

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Voki is a simple application which looks like a useless gadget for those who like to try every new thing that appears on the web. Well, it’s not. This little box where you can customize your appearance (usually to make you look more handsome) and record a message or even type it (the text to speech function is really good) is not only useful to change your welcoming message in your blog or in your website. Why not having your students create their own Voki avatar where they introduce themselves and describe their hobbies or daily routines? Create a blog for your class and let them publish their image.

Once you are registered, you must choose the appearance of your avatar. Person or animal, hair colour, eyes… you can also choose the background of the image.

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As you can see, the message to be published can be created either through a text to speech element key.jpg, recording it with your computer microphone key2.jpg, or uploading it from a local folder as an mp3 file key3.jpg.

If you decide to use the text to speech option, you can choose out of different languages, including English, Catalan or Spanish. Choose also male or female voice.

Once you are happy with your avatar, it’s time to save it and publish it.

How can you put it in a widget in your blog? Easy. Once you’ve saved it, you get the following interface:

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That will give you the code to copy in your blog:

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Open your blog for administration. Click on Gestiona;

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Save changes, publish and… that’s it! There’s your Voki presentation!

Livemocha

Are you familiar with Livemocha?

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This website offers different possibilities for language learners. Once students are registered, they can take up online language courses, chat and videoconference with other colleagues and get useful resources. It’s perfect for those who want to get extra activities, or for those who can only study at odd hours. There are also tutors who can give you assistance. The interface is really catchy and easy to understand. It is, as they say, a social way to learn a language.

Chat & Learn

Chatting is nutritious for students, we all know that, but it can be a bit dangerous fs the diet is based on messenger or other chat rooms with no control.

Here’s a couple of examples where chtating can consist on a very healthy diet:

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English Baby:

http://www.englishbaby.com/community/chat?gclid=CLSKtr2-2Y8CFQlIMAod3Wnd1w

Easy and intuitive…and free

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Paltalk: http://www.paltalk.com/

Very good interface. It requires the teacher’s monitoring in order to filter chatrooms. It allows video. This application  has been successfully used by our colleague Sergio Morales in the experience The Starry Night Club where teachers could exchange opinions, experiences and feelings. Thanks, Sergio!

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International Blogging Contest

Blogging is not a competition, but as it usually happens, they sometimes want to label things!

Edublogs, a good blogging website for educators, quite similar to Xtecblocs, has set up a contest for educational blogs, the Edublogs Awards. There are hundreds of educational blogs in the net. Spend some time if you will and vote for one of them. There are amazingly good blogs up there, with lots of things to learn from them. Up to you, friends.

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