appedELT

Sorry it’s been a few weeks since I posted – what with IATEFL then a holiday (see photos here - all done using an ipad, photos taken in ipad, imovie used to collate them and edit them into video and then uploaded directly to vimeo)  and a growing addiction to dragonvale on the ipad then there simply hasn’t been time .

IATEFL was as ever fun, the Learning technologies SIG was on mobile learning and included an interesting discussion on whether we should talk about mobile learning or mediating mobile use in education. I saved the tweets of the day, which you can find here.

In between everything else, I’ve read a few posts that are definitely worth mentioning. For starters there is the excellent prezi by Clint Stephens which shows off 60 apps for educators. While it is aimed at main stream education, there are definitely a few that ELT professionals can use.  

In a similar vein, the edtechteacher blog lists apps in a handy reference guide according to what you want to do and as such provides another good reference source when looking for suitable apps. 

With so many apps to choose from then knowing how to make the right choice is important and this is what this post from the learninginhand blog tries to address with an excellent post on how to evaluate apps.  You can try that out by the evaluating all the story telling apps that are listed in this blog post. 

So there you go a few things to keep you going, now I wonder if my sun dragon has hatched yet…..

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The draw something app has been keeping me amused all week and would be an excellent app for use as a vocabulary game with students.

Draw free (you can pay for an ads free version) brings the classroom time filler and fave whiteboard game of pictionary to the mlearning classroom.

Getting started is easy, you need to give yourself a user name or email and then choose someone to play against. You can play a game against a random player or if you have friends (or in the case of the classroom fellow students) you can invite them to play against you.

Once your game starts you have given the choice of three words to draw. Having different levels of difficulty, the words gain you varying amounts of coins. If none of the words appeal then you can use a 'bomb' to change your choices. But be warned once you run out of bombs you have to carry on regardless.

Having chosen, you then get a white screen on which to draw words - there are five colours you can use and a variable pen size. Once drawn it alerts the person you are playing. They see a video of you drawing the word and you are given the number of letters in the word and a selection of letters. Again you can use the 'bomb' for further help.

Guess the word correctly and win coins. Then the next player gets to draw and so it continues until the chain of guessing is broken and it's game over.

There is, of course, nothing to stop you simply writing the word on the screen but this somewhat spoils the game and I think adopting a no 'writing' rule ale pictionary makes the game more fun.

The words are not difficult in terms of students knowing them but they may have trouble drawing them. Of course it is a bit of disadvantage that you cannot use words that come up in lessons but as a way to either fill some time in the class, or simply to encourage students to engage in English outside of the classroom it is oath day to play and very much fun. In class you can play in teams to help overcome limited devises (or even on a data projector if you only have one). Setting a challenge of how many rounds can you build would add a competitive edge (22 and counting so far). Alternatively who can get the most coins is another way to add challenge (coins open up things such as additional colours).

It is very very addictive so be warned or if you fancy a game just search for my email :-)

[View the story "Sharing apps #ELTchat" on Storify]

 

 

“So many great apps out there, & I don't use any explicit language learning apps”

 

“Some of the best apps for language learning weren't made for language”

 

And so to another #eltchat summary. On 07.03.2012 possibly inspied the launch of the new ipad  the evening topic was  Share useful Apps and tips for using iPads in the ELT classroom.

 

There was a previous discussion on the topic earlier this year, which you can read here. 

Advantages of using an Ipad

 

There are two big advantages 1) Touch screen is very intuitive 2) Speed - very quick to access what you want. Buying a class set is also cheaper than some IWBs.  They are small, lightweight, easily handled by all ages, can do almost everything a laptop can. This makes them good for small group collaboration and puts learning into the students' hands. 

 

App mentioned during #eltchat: 

iTooch – an app for TOFEL prep

Apps that work with quizlet 

Fetch it – a vocab app for young learners 

Animoto – using photos to make videos with music and text 

Comic puppets -  an app to make comic strips, puppets etc, and here’s a video about it 

Twig –touch dictionary – a visual dictionary

Instagram – Social photo sharing

My Sketch – for drawing

Posterous – a blogging app, syts can blog and share by email (if you moderate it, there is less spam) 

Madpad – good for creating group storyboards

strip design

Peek (goes with evernote and you need an ipad cover) – good for vocabulary revision and self-testing 

Soundcloud – and a blog post about using it 

Talking hippo and Smacktalk - popular with kids & adults - animal photos rather than cartoons repeat your words back to you

Readers for the Ipad 

Puppet pals – make animated movies 

Get across – a free app for practicing phrasal verbs 

 

Apps for teachers:

Evernote – the multipurpose app that can be used for lesson planning, notes and so on. Skitch is an annotating photo app that goes with it. 

Dropbox – the app that allows you to access your own cloud in the classroom.

Showme, screenchomp, and educreations are all recordable whiteboard apps  

Pronunciation chart  - from the British Council 

It was also noted that an ipad can be good for ones own development I.e. twitter, read it later etc

 

QR codes

Give the learners questions, and they have to find answers from QRCodes. Kind of treasure hunt

Some advice on creating QR codes, and some more here 

QR code generator

A QR code Xmas treasure hunt 

 

Some other ideas:

1. iPad can be used with video  to create commercials, digital stories, act as a news reporter, music videos and so on.  In one project -students created videos to define words and upload ed hem to Posterous.

2. Every wk sts can get the #ELTPics theme & take pics as hmwk to support theme. Reinforces voc & learning outside classrm #eltchat

3. The weather apps are great for learning city names in English, Fahrenheit temps, and weather vocab.

4. Tip:  use web based apps that are also apps in case sharing devices! Ex. Edmodo, Posterous, Animoto, Voicethread, Fotobabble, Diigo

5. Use iPad and Evernote for student e-portfolios.  No more piles of paperwork.

6. Get sts take/find several images, import into iMovie app then upload with YouTube. Set a project, text2 images.

7. Get sts to do an App demo presentation in class.

8. My adult students use podcasts from financial newspaper apps

 

Further Reading:

Teacher reboot camp – 20+ apps for that Promote Student Centered Learning & Literacy

One Ipad is it worth it  - No

Apps for education – a facebook group

@theteacherjames app blog

@shaunwilden app blog

@ElindaGjondedaj teaching with apps blog

Will Ipad 3 change your language learning?

Effective Mobile Learning – 50 Tips ebook

@ELTexperiences lesson plan incorporating an app.

Ipad’s in the classroom

Create your own textbooks for your ipad 

 

Many teachers dont have ipads but you might consider that sts might have access so it's good to know ones to recommend to them.

 

And finally....go for generic apps that stimulate creativity rather than specific apps that only perform 1 task. 

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This week’s app has to be the ‘The fantastic flying books of Mister Morris “.  If you have been paying attention to the news then you might have heard of it. At the Oscars ceremony, the film won the oscar in the short animated film category.   If you have 15 minutes then go watch it on youtube.

The app (book) came out last year  and is widely regarded by many of one of the best apps yet to grace the Ipad.  It is currently on sale for £2.99 in the itunes store.

If you never use it with students, £2.99 is a snip for an absolutely gorgeous book. With sound, text, and animations it is an excellent example of a multimodal text and as such is a good way to introduce multimodal literacy to the EFL classroom. 

As you can see from the picture, a 'page' has a picture, text and in a gesture controlled animation. However through the menu system on the right you can also jump pages, turn on the audio and sound effects. You can even switch the text off so there is just a picture  or change the text into one of ten languages. All of these options allow for a number of lesson ideas so here are 7 ways you can use it.

1. Pictures only to guess the story - either by screen shooting just a few of the images or  by turrning off the text and audio get the students to work out the story. Then use the pictures to come up with the ideas (or even develop the whole story if the students like writing). Once they have done, they can read / listen to the story and compare.

2. Picture Description

A 'skill' needed for almost all oral exams is picture descption and the book has some wonderfully colourful pictures, perfect for developing spoken skills. 

3. Audio Only - students listen to the story and try to visualise what the pictures are for each page. As well as allowing for creatvity, this checks students comprehension of what they heard.

4. Book versus film - The students read the book on the ipad then watch the youtube clip and talk about any differences and / or how the film was adapted for the app.  Would they have done it the same way? 

5. Translation - since the book has 9 other languages (10 with English) for the written text, students can listen to the English and then compare the translation.

6. Recording the story. Though there are many arguments about the worthwhileness of students reading aloud, students could record themselves telling the story using the written text then compare their way of telling it to the audio.

7. Simply read, listen and enjoy the story making the most of it's features

 

 

There a couple of apps produced by Optimum drama presumably as a fun way to use photos that can be utilized for project work in the mlearning classroom.  They are InAWorld…Drama and InAWorld....Comedy. Both cost £1.49.

Both apps turn a chosen set of four photos into a spoof movie trailer. The app give you a set of sentence structures that you can choose from in order to create your dialogue for the trailer and sat at various points you choose a photo to accompany your work. 

It's very easy to use. Once you have chosen to create a trailer, the first step is to give it a title and choose the typeface. You then have to choose your opening line. As you can see from the photo below there is quite the choice, simply tap the one you want to use. 

Don't worry you can always go back and change it if you change your mind. Now opening in place you need to choose a photo to go with it. And so it continues until you complete your trailer.

After that simply choose your music and then review. It's a definite positive that there is a review screen that let's you see all the lines used and photos which allows you to change anyone thing if you want, rather than have to go back and start again. 

 

Once the review is complete you can watch the trailer. One slightly annoying thing is that in order to get the video to use on your own site you have to upload it to inaworldonline.com and this means making an account. However the whole process is easy and you could also share by facebook or twitter.

So given it provides all the language, how is this of use in the English classroom? Well clearly students could simply use it as part of a ‘film’ lesson.   However like many apps, perhaps it’s best use comes as part of a project.  Put the class into groups and ask each group to come up a trailer. You could set the genre or leave it up to the class. They then work together in English to decide their trailer – they’d need to decide on the photos to use and the story arc of their trailer.  When all groups have done then they share and decide on which fulfils the brief best.

Such a task brings in language work and allows students to consider how a piece of writing is constructed.  The students can use the sentences to analyse areas such as linkers and other discourse markers. In such cases the app acts as a stepping-stone to freer work, with the students using a recording  app to record their own trailer voices afterwards.

Four photos are needed so the students need to collaborate on taking four or finding four. If they are going to use the Internet to find photos then bear in mind copyright. I used pictures from #eltpics on flickr as these have been uploaded for teachers to use.

Pictures used are from eltpics and taken by @aClilToClimb, @ Raquel_EFL, @ pysproblem8, @ dan64pell

As ever there have been a lot of blog posts on m-learning over the last week. So just in case you missed them, here are five I’d recommend to you. I’ve chosen them as they cover a range of m-learning aspects. 

First up a couple of posts that give you some apps to get your teeth into: 

 

20 Great Apps for Primary Literacy.

The name says it all but don't feel limited by the Primary literacy bit, some of the apps mentioned in here work well in ELT, especially if you like to encourage story writing and telling. I had a number of these apps already including the wonderful toontastic which you can use to make cartoons. Definitely a list of apps worth checking out.

 

Apps for Learning Grammar Skills

Given our profession, this post is worth looking at to see what kind of apps are available for grammar. Again it is aimed at main stream education but the three apps can cross over and be of use if you teach YL.

 

Article three is not about apps themselves but how to organize them lifehacker.com suggests a way to organize apps by action rather than a category.

The final two choices are to do with teaching using m-devices.  On the emoderation station, the latest post gives five easy ways to get started towards a mobile classroom.  It outlines simple steps to use the functions of a phone with students, from talking about it through to creating treasure hunts. Finally, the literacy journal blog has an excellent article on using just one ipad in the classroom.  It shows some ways to use it and some apps that lead to collaboration.

 

Hope you find them as useful as I did to read.

Watching my young niece play with Photocomic made me realize what a good app this is for project work in or out of the classroom. Making comics, magazines and so on has long been a typical classroom project. I remember many years ago asking taking in a pile of old magazines and getting students to cut out pictures to make stories. An app such as Photocomic brings this activity up to date and unlike the magazine allows students to include their own photos. The app works on both the iPhone and Ipad, and costs £1.49 in the UK iTunes store. It a nut shell it allows the user to turn photos in to a comic strip. This can be anything from one picture to a maximum of 5 (admittedly 5 is a bit limiting). You get to choose what layout you want as you can see from the screenshot below.

Having done that the next step is to populate each ''box" with a photo. So at this point the student(s) need to come up with an idea of a story so they can decide the order of the pictures. Adding a picture is simply clicking on the plus (seen above in the middle of the screen) , this opens the photo folder and then you simply choose. Having got the pictures in place the next step is to add text. As it is a comic there is a lovely array of comic book 'words'. You simply click on tool bar and then the sound you want and drag it into place.

The same principle applies to the adding of text, with a simple click to add text. Once ready the finished strip can be saved and shared via email, twitter or email. The good thing about an app such as this is that if the students don't all have access to a pad or phone they can work together. A simple lesson idea would be to give the students a topic and a number of photos they have to include - and then get to work together in groups to produce a strip. The strips are then displayed around the room, collated to produce a student magazine or shared on a blog. In my opinion, an app like this excellent for class use as it is simply and makes use of the camera, app and the ability to share. There are quite a few different ones to look at once you get onto iTunes, so happy comic making.