A Quick Search Engine for ESL sites

Surfing the net I have found this useful tool and I would like to share it with you. With ESl Search for English as a second Language you will be able to find ESL related information in a fast and easy way. As it is powered by google it is very reliable. It is great because it only searches sites about learning and teaching English as a second language. Apart from that, it is extremely easy to use. Just as you use any other search engine: type your search word into the box and then click search. And there you’ve got plenty of results to start looking at. Hope you like it and find it useful!

How to Find New Interesting Websites!!!

It’s been a long time since my last post. I’m sorry but I’ve been extremely busy. Well, in fact,  I’m still busy but I’ve found a great resource online that I would like to share with you. If you are a fan of web 2.0 (just like me), and I’m sure you are. If you are always on the lookout for great new webpages, blogs, and so on and so forth. You will cherish In Suggest as much as I do.

In Suggest is an online tool that helps you find new websites based on your personal taste. You will just have to enter the addresses of your favourite websites, and you will instantly get recommendations for new ones. It is also possible to do the same with images from flickr and also with… your bookmarks in delicious (remember that I’m sabridv in delicious, if you would like to be part of my network)!!! It’s amazing. I’ve already tried it out and found lots of interesting sites related to esl, efl and tefl.

EXTRA BONUS: To make up for all the time I’ve been away from this blog, I will share with you another resource I’ve found using In Suggest. Esl pod tv is a great podcast for learners and teachers of English as a foreign or second language. There you will find short video clips and mp3 sound files which are available to download from the site as podcasts. The lessons are aimed at students with an intermediate to advanced level of English and are also supplemented by online interactive exercises. In addition there are PDF files of lesson plans based on the podcast materials that teachers can use in the classroom.

Hope you find it useful and don’t hesitate to share with us the wonderful resources and webpages you’ll find using In Suggest.

How to Share Files in Twitter!!!!

Don’t think that it is something complicated. In fact, sharing your pics, word documents, power point presentations and others with your Twitter friends is at one-click distance. It is extremely easy with this new application: Tweet Cube. “Tweetcube allows you to share files on Twitter. Blast out your images, videos, music and more with just a couple of clicks.” Apart from that, it is 100% FREE!!! The only drawback is that you can currently upload only 10 mb. However, you can upload as many files as you want. Take into account that the files will be deleted after 30 days. Hope you enjoy it. And remember, if you want to start following me, I’m sabridv at Twitter.

Creating Video Timelines in a Flash for your Lessons

Surfing the net I came across an excellent tool: TIME TUBE. If you enter a key word, the system creates a timeline for you with videos taken mainly from you tube. I haven’t used it yet in any of my classes, but I believe it has a great potential for the English classroom (and for most of other subjects too). You can use it for practising narrative tenses, dealing with history topics, current news and whatever you can imagine. I’m planning to use it for discussing with my students the economic situation in our country (Argentina). I’m sure that you will have plenty more ideas. Why not share them with us?

Let’s Celebrate Bono’s Birthday in the Classroom!

Today is Bono’s birthday, so let’s take this opportunity to bring a bit of music into the classroom. I have prepared some activities for the song Bono has dedicated to his father: “Sometimes you can’t Make it on your Own”. You will find activities for teaching vocabulary, listening comprehension and grammar (don’t have to vs. mustn’t). Download the file, play the video from You Tube and that’s it.

A great fun lesson to enjoy with your students. Don’t forget to tell us how it works and if you have any other idea : SHARE IT WITH US

PDF File: You_can\’t_make_it_on_your_own

Statistics about your Twitter!

If you are a Twitter addict or fan, you will most probably get surprised once you use this great and fun tool: Twitter Charts. You are asked to enter your Twitter ID (which must be publicly available) and then, the system generates lots of charts providing information about your tweets by month, day of the week and hour. It also specifies who you have been twitting with. A nice toy to play with and realise how much time we spend in front of the computer without realising it.

NOTE: Emapey has written a good post about this in his blog : Online Sapiens

How to Make Flashcards in a Flash

If you are a busy teacher, with no time in your hands… If your old flashcards are getting yellowish and you believe it’s time to renew them, but you are constantly putting it off…If you don’t want to spend too much time preparing them and at the same time you want to give them a high quality look… Here is the solution to all your problems: The Cambridge English Online Flashcard Maker.

It allows you to prepare flashcards using drawings from an image library, making your own drawings or just by inserting text. It also has a great feature: You can include the phonetic transcript of the word!

I’m sure there are other great tools out there in the web 2.0 world for creating flashcards: are you using any? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these tools? Can you share them with us? Looking forward to your comments.

Playing With Current News

Are you bored of dicussing current news with your students always in the same way? Finding a piece of news in a newspaper, True or False, questions, vocabulary work and personal reactions to the text seem to be the only way available. However, there is more to it than just that. Having a look at Larry Ferlazzo’s blog I have found another online jewel for teaching English. It is a game called Play the News, with which you will be able to have some fun with your students while working on the well-known “current affairs topic”.

Play the News is an interactive game based on current news. You are given some background information and you can watch some videos in order to get informed for the game. Then, you are asked to choose a role to voice your opinion on the subject. Finally, you are given the possibility of predicting what is going to happen in the real world. To be able to play you have to register for free.

I believe it will become a great tool in most of my Business Classes and in some General English classes too. What do you think about it? What are the possibilities that this game has to offer? As always, please if you use it, share your experience with us.

IATEFL Conference

The 42nd international IATEFL conference is about to start. If just like me, you haven’t got the opportunity of travelling to Exeter, don’t worry, you can get all the information about it by visiting the official website. There you will find lots of resources so that you can get information about what’s going on at the conference and at the same time, be able to participate and share ideas with colleagues. Among other things you will find:

• video and audio recordings of selected sessions
• live streamed plenaries and events
• moderated discussion forums
• chat sessions, interviews, reports, photo albums and a lot more!

I am currently moderating the Business English Forum so I’m really looking forward to seeing you all there.

Images in Twitter?

I have already told you that I have become a twitter-addict in a certain way. In this short week I have spent there…Is it a week already? It must be less than a week, but taking into account the amount of information I have received, it seems as if I have been in Twitter for a whole year.

I have just received a message in Twitter from a person I’m following (Courosa) sharing a great link: http://www.twitxr.com/ . This application allows you to share pictures in Twitter. You just have to sign in, enter your Twitter account name and your password. Then, you write a short message and upload a picture. The message with a link to the picture will be sent to all your Twitter followers.

I have just tried it out (I’m also sabridv in twitxr. I’m not that original) and it worked well. The only thing you have to take into account is that when you write the message, make sure you write less than 100 characters. If not, in the Twitter message the link to the picture would be broken, because there is not enough space (remember that Twitter allows you to write only 140 characters). Have I been clear enough?

I don’t know what we can use this tool for, but I like it. If you have any ideas, why not sharing it with us in the comment section? Looking forward to your answers.