Wordwall, Learning through Games!

During the process of peer teaching in term2, one of our group members used Wordwall to assist in teaching and I found it really interesting with lovely sound effect. So here's what I'd like to recommend this week - Wordwall!💞

The website link is here.👈

🔖Introduction

Wordwall is a platform for teachers to design new interactive activities. It can be used both in and out of the classroom. It focuses on using the form of games to help students review and recap the knowledge points they have already learned in an interactive way.

🔖How to use Wordwall? --- Please see the following video for details.

🔖Advantages

• Making learning enjoyable

As mentioned before, Wordwall helps students to consolidate their memory of what they have learnt. This is a subconscious processes.

In addition, Wordwall also shows students a ranking after completing the game according to on the length of time consumed and the percentage of correct answers. Therefore, students who are more competitive may play many times just to get a better ranking. This increases students' autonomy and motivation to learn.

The cute sound effect in the games could also make students feel relaxed.

• Easy to use and provide more options

There are 18 different templates available for teachers in Wordwall. Teachers can design activities and games on the basis of needs in the classroom.

Moreover, Wordwall is easy to use, as the slogan goes "The easy way to create your own teaching resources". There are only three steps to design an activity: Step 1, select a template; Step 2, add content to the template; Step 3, play on the screen.

• Powerful community

The Wordwall community is a great place to see various topics designed by teachers from different countries around the world. Any activity design that has open access to the public can be used directly or adapted.

🔖Limitations

• Cannot practice students' listening skills. 

Basically all the activity templates are based around reading skills, which is not too friendly for students at the novice level.

• Cannot be used to learn new things. 

The functions are more geared towards assisting students to review knowledge, otherwise teachers would have to seek help from other tools.

• Only 5 free games and activities can be designed per account.

If users want to dig more in Wordwall, they have to pay for it.

In conclusion, choosing Wordwall to design classroom activities can not only stimulate the interest of students, but also make the class more interactive, so as to improve students' classroom participation. Try it with me!😎

There is my example of Unjumble. If you have any interest, please click here.👻

YouGlish, Your Pronunciation Corpus

Fluency is the key word for this time. YouGlish, the tool I want to recommend, help people with their pronunciation. The link is here. 👍

🍎Introduction

As the slogan on the homepage of YouGlish's website says, it uses YouTube to help people improve their English pronunciation. However, the power of its function is not limited to pronunciation only. YouGlish can help people learn "how English is spoken by real people and in context". Ultimately, users could speak fluent and authentic English.

Here is a short video about how to use YouGlish, enjoy!👏

🍎Advantages

• Easy to use

Whenever you search for a word, you can see the related video that contains it. The tool will firstly provide a video that will be automatically stop at the time when the word appears. Once the play button is pressed, the first sentence the user hears is the one containing the keyword. If you don't like the first example sentence (maybe the accent of the person in the video) or if you want to hear more example sentences, you can press the button at the bottom of the video to go to the next video.

• Convenient to search for phrases and collocations

The correct usage of phrases and collocations is essential for fluent spoken English. For example, there are 542 entries for "take temperature" and only 58 entries for "test temperature", which means that the former one is more commonly used in daily life. 

     

• More Authentic

Whether you are looking up words or phrases in YouGlish, it will provide their using context, which helps people to become familiar with the specific usage of each word or phrase. 

🍏Limitations

• Distracting

Because YouGlish is based on YouTube, one of the world's largest video websites, the users, especially younger students, will easily get distracted by the ocean of videos resulting in ineffective learning.

• Difficult to in select useful information

Similar to the previous disadvantage, YouGlish provides users with so much information at once that it can be a challenge to filter the information that is most useful to them. It could be time-consuming to find out how to use a word in a specific area.

• Regional restrictions

It is a pity that YouGlish is not available in China mainland now.😢

Overall, YouGlish would be a rather good choice if you want to practice pronunciation and speaking skills as well.💕

H5P, Make Activity More Interactive!

The key word this time is INTERACTION. The website I want to share is H5P! The link is here.💖

🏃Introduction

Teaching or learning a foreign language is a constant exchange of information and teachers need to create a variety of opportunities for interaction in and out of the classroom. Thanks to the development of the Internet, even under the influence of COVID-19, teachers can still use various tools to interact with students through online teaching and H5P is one of the best.

H5P is an open source tool based on cloud network, which allows people to create HTML5 e-learning content and publish it to popular platforms such as WordPress, Moodle, Drupal and so on.

🏃How to use H5P?

This video explains it in detail! Enjoy!

🏃Advantages

• Easy to use 

There is no required technical skills while using. The tutorials associated with each activity design in H5P make it simple for many people to get started designing, greatly lowering the barrier to use.

• A wide range of interactive e-learning activities

H5P provides users with over 30 activity types to choose from. Everyone can find a design template that suits their classroom content and interaction mode, such as Flashcards (answer questions while looking at pictures) and Audio Recorder (which can be used to check students' pronunciation and practice their speaking skills).

• Is Mobile - friendly

H5P can be easily operated on mobile phones not just on computers.

• Allow collaboration

Encouraging students to collaborate in and out of the classroom stimulating their inspiration of learning. Meanwhile, H5P could promote interaction among students ( also the interaction between teacher and students).

• Instant feedback

In many activities, taking Flashcards as an example, students can get feedback immediately after answering the question (i.e. whether the answer is correct or not), without waiting for teacher's correction (which sometimes could be time-consuming). This, in a sense, improves the efficiency of teaching.

🏃Limitations

• The privacy setting of H5P determines that all activities designed by users are visible to the public. Maybe some people will think it is not acceptable.

• It is only free for one month! People need to pay for the service if wish to continue using H5P to design activities.

All in all, H5P is worth trying, so what are you waiting for?💪

There is the simple quiz about weather that I designed as an example, please click here if you have any interest 😎

Flipgrid, Enjoy Learning with Fun!

Last week, my group member and I really enjoyed using Flipgrid. It was interesting and inspired everyone's imagination and creativity. Therefore, I want to share this online platform with you.😁

The website link is here or you can search for "Flipgrid" in application store.

💫Introduction

is a social learning platform for preschool education to doctoral study. Flipgrid provides a new possibility for teachers and students to use short videos and graphics for learning and communication. 

Each teacher can set up their own online group and publish theme discussions. Students can share their views by making short videos and the video content can be seen by the whole class. In addition, teachers can choose to open the functions (like and comment) , which can not only ensure the quality of the discussion, stimulate learning enthusiasm, but also ensure the teacher's control over the group content.

💫Flipgrid with Speaking and Listening

Meaningful communication is the main focus of language learning. According to Krashen (1982), exposing learners to understandable input, providing a safe and low-pressure learning environment, and stimulating students' motivation and self-confidence will ultimately affect students' language learning.

In China, English education is more exam oriented, that is, it pays more attention to reading and writing ability, but think less of listening and speaking skills. As a result, many Chinese students may speak "mute English". And they tend to worry about their speaking and listening comprehension.

Flipfird, in a sense, can be a way of resolving this kind of problem by focus on speaking and listening through making short videos.

💫Advantages

· Provide a low-pressure learning environment.

Firstly, students can replay the video about instructions of task and watch videos of other classmates whenever they need, so as to grasp the requirements more clearly. Secondly, students can edit or re redo the video for an unlimited number of times before uploading. Thirdly, if students are to shy to show their face in the video, they could choose to use the function of Flipgrid to cover their face as been shown in the picture. All of these contribute to set up a pressure-free learning and teaching environment.

(I made this gif myself, sorry if it is a little silly :) )

· Enhance confidence and autonomy.

Instead of focusing on accuracy, making videos in Flipgrid pays more attention on the fluency of speaking.   Students need not to worry about whether the usage of each word is authentic (accurate) or not. The most important things are to express themselves smoothly and let the audience understand their meaning, which reduce students' burden and anxiety and enhance their self-confidence.

Moreover, Flipgrid sets high value on autonomy of students by offering them free space for self development and self creation. They can give full play to their imagination and practical ability to complete video tasks.

· Track the process of progress

Students can listen to their voice and rethink if what they say make sense or can be improved next time. In the long run, Flipgrid could record the performance of students in the semester or a certain period of time. Students can compare with themselves in the past or in the future, so as to have a deeper understanding of their own progress or advantages and disadvantages.

💫Limitations

· Lack of immediate feedback

Students can not receive any immediate feedback when making videos, which may disturb some students.

· Miss the focus of tasks

Because Flipgrid's functions are diverse, some students may get lost in these effects and only focus on the functional diversity rather than the task content itself.

💫Conclusion

Flipgrid, as an online social platform, allows students to practice speaking and listening abilities in a low pressure environment. In the meanwhile, they can track their progress and enhance confidence and autonomy. Flipgrid could have a positive influence of students' language learning and make them more active to engage in teaching activity.

A recommend video about how to use Flipgrid. Hope you would find it useful.💪

Padlet, simple and powerful!

Through struggling with the new online websites last week, "Padlet" is the best and easiest tool for online teamwork (at least for me😂)

The website is here

🔆Introduction

Padlet was originally a college student entrepreneurship project, called "whitewall". As the name suggests, it is to give people a white wall which people can doodle freely with their imagination.

🔆Features - SIMPLE and POWERFUL!

Padlet provides users with a digital "white wall" where people can create things for their preference. 

"Simple" means that it is easy to use. Even people who use the Padlet for the first time can learn to use it quickly. 

"Powerful" refers to that Padlet can provide users with seven different templates, and they can choose the appropriate template on the basis of their own needs.

For example, students can choose the "Timeline" to help students learn historical events in a certain period of time in chronological order.

🔆Collaborative Learning Function

Padlet can not only be used as a tool for individual knowledge management, but also support collaborative groups in interaction, creation, group evaluation and other activities.

1. Provide cooperation platform

A group can jointly own a padlet account and everyone can log in or the team leader create a web wall firstly, and then select "visitor can edit" in privacy settings to jointly edit the content in the specified web wall. Group members can upload the collected resources to the web wall around the same learning topic,  which help them share resources and broaden horizons at the same time.

2. Group members can communicate anonymously

When editing the content, group members can choose not to display the name of the editor, so that members can write freely and alleviate the anxiety caused by worrying about their superficial ideas. The focus will be shifted and shift the content itself. Besides, anonymous opinions are more friendly to passive and introverted group members.

3. Saving and sharing are convenient and fast

Every web wall in Padlet can be saved automatically after editing. Also, Padlet supports the export function, which can export the edited web wall into pictures, PDF and other formats. Alternatively, team members can choose to share the edited web wall in other web spaces and learn from the opinions and suggestions of other teams or students.

🔆Consideration

Group collaborative learning  is a learning method widely used in today's classroom and network learning. It can cultivate students' cooperative ability and stimulate students' creative thinking, but sometimes the learning effect is not high. 

• In group cooperation, teachers should pay attention to the division of groups and reasonably plan groups according to students' characteristics and learning contents.

• Pay attention to the role allocation of team members and mobilize the enthusiasm of each member.

• The focus is on the formulation of group cooperation evaluation rules and the selection of reasonable group evaluation and individual evaluation methods, so that each group and each member can get the due and reasonable evaluation.

In addition, the limitation of mobile digital devices: not all the schools prove that students can bring these to class.

Overall, padlet will become a good tool to promote group collaborative learning as long as it is used properly!😉

Take an English trip with Music🎵

 Lyricstrainning

- Enjoy learning English with music

👏 Today, I want to recommend a website which is called Lyricstraining. The link is here.

🎶Introduction

Lyrics training is a website that uses songs (lyrics) to learn languages. There are not only English songs, but also songs in many other languages to choose from. The learning method is to fill in the blanks in the lyrics while watching the song video. There are four difficulty levels to choose from (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert), and the difficulty is progressive. It's really an interesting tool.

🎶How to use it

The most convenient thing is that you can use it directly WITHOUT REGISTERING on the website.

There are two videos which introduce this website and show people how to use it. Two modes of this website are demonstrated. One is about the Write Mode and the other is about the Choice Mode.

🎶Analysis

Advantages

Motivation

• Related to personal interest. There are different genres in LyricsTraining which students can choose based on their own favorites. Interest is the best teacher!

• Turn learning into a challenging but interesting game. Language learning is not all about reading textbooks or mechanically exercises the knowledge taught by teachers in class. Students can choose the appropriate practice mode and difficulty level according to themselves. This process also adds entertainment elements into learning. Students will have more passion to insist on this practice.

Autonomy

• Suitable for home learners. When using this website, an electronic device can only have one player at a time. From this perspective, it is more suitable for students to study at home. Of course, in school, teachers can also use the break to let one or two volunteers (students) try to practice in front of the class.

• Be responsible for personal choices. As mentioned before, choosing to use which website, which level of difficulty and which mode of practice are students' independent choices. Teachers give students enough space for  self-development and they will take the initiative to complete with the sense of responsibility.

Authentic

• There are not only a lot of songs, but also a lot of movies and clips. A large number of available materials can guide students learn more about the native speakers' accents in the world. Accent is important because in listening comprehension tests. The most important thing is that they are authentic!

Disadvantages

Limited Computer or Internet Access

• A computer or tablet with Internet access is necessary for using this tool. Using these digital devices especially in some schools could be impossible. (Because many schools in China prohibit students from taking electronic equipment to school and they will not distribute tablets to every student).

Limitations: Pronunciation, Accent, and Speed of Speech

• These limitations could prevent students from listening correctly. Because each singer's pronunciation, accent and speaking speed are different, some exercises that are considered for beginners are not really suitable for learners who are totally green hands of English. The design of different level can not only depend on the proportion of missing words. It still need to think carefully.

🎶Conclusion 

In short, learning English with this website is like a game, accompanied by good music. It could be both interesting and challenging. So, the result could be polarizing: you gonna love this way of learning, or you will hate the song that you used to love so much. (Just like me, I do not want to hear the song that I practice here for so so so many times😭)

But if you don't try, you'll never know whether it's suitable for you or not!😋

WebQuest, an inspiring source

Theme parks

🌟The link for this webquest is http://questgarden.com/204/40/2/191123072006/index.htm

🎉Introduction

As we can see in this picture, it is about how to choose the best theme park in USA and introduce it to the class. The target group would be 9-12 year-old students.

🎉Analysis

    Instruction

• Clear and detailed. Good instructions of the task will help students to understand what they need to do during the process. Unclear instructions will force students to ask teachers again and again, which will affect classroom efficiency.

• Logical. Every step in the process is considered by the author and conforms to people's thinking logic. They are not written randomly and disorderly.

    Stimulate Motivation

• Interesting topic. For students between the ages of 9 and 12, “theme parks” is very attractive.

• Imaginary role play. Students can choose the point they are more interested in from ride, food, landscape and show/entertainment, and judge the advantages and disadvantages of the theme park from the perspective of a critic. New angles bring new discoveries.

    Collaboration and Team Work

• Encourage students to cooperate. They should first discuss the division of labor, and finally synthesize the information collected together and report the results in the name of a group. In fact, this process is to enhance students' communicative and cooperative competence.

    Autonomy

• The space to work individually. It doesn't just make students cooperate in groups all the time. After the division of labor, students can independently query useful relevant information according to the resources provided by the teacher, which exercise their skills of information inquiry.

• Feel free to express and share. Teachers do not excessively participate in the research process but give students full autonomy to complete the task from their own perspective. In this case, they will be more passionate to share with others (including the teacher).

All the materials (mainly from the theme parks websites)are authentic!

    Limitations

• Identify the number of theme parks that students need to investigate. The author writes in the introduction that there are 13 theme parks, but the subsequent video is about top 10 parks, and then the number of website links provided by the author are 8.
  
  
  

  

• Some links have expired and need to be updated.

• Maybe teachers can provide more informations or links that can see tourists' comments, which help students see the theme park from different angles.

🎉Conclusion

Overall, this webquest design takes into account the ability of reading, writing(need to write an article) and speaking. It not only exercises the students' skills to query information independently, but also enhances their both communicative and cooperative competence. It also allows students to expand their vocabulary about theme parks. 😊