web 2.0 tools – A Journey in TEFL

December 8, 2018December 9, 2018 Eva Buyuksimkesyan edtech, fun, fun activities, games, gamification, tools, tools for learning, web 2.0, web 2.0 tools

Baamboozle

Baamboozle is a tool that allows you to create games for your classes. The tool is very easy to use. It is free so just sign up and start creating your game for your class. You can also use the games existed on Baamboozle. Browse the library and choose the most suitable game to play. You can assign different point values for each question depending on the difficulty of the question. You can edit later. You can make your game public or private.
You can use the games to warm up, energize your classes. You can review or introduce a new topic. It can be used as an assessment tool. You can create games for vocabulary and grammar revision or reading comprehension.

What I liked most?
The players don’t choose from the options provided by the teacher. They must produce their own answers. Study mode permits the students to revise before the game.

Once you are ready to play you can divide your class into teams and then choose the game option and play.

July 16, 2015 Eva Buyuksimkesyan efl, esl, fun, fun activities, lesson ideas, padlet, Using photos in EFL, web 2.0 tools

Using Photos in EFL Classrooms, Part 2

Padlet Galleries

If you are working on a “theme” that you think can be photographed easily, you can ask your students take photos and add them to the Padlet wall you’ve created for that specific “theme” and ask students to write what made them to take the photo, how they felt about that photo. You may also ask them to describe the photo or write a few words to predict what will happen after the moment they took the photo. You can also ask them to write captions for the photos they have taken.

If you haven’t used Padlet before, you can check one of my previous posts here

And here is the Padlet wall I created for this post as an example.

Created with Padlet

January 27, 2015 Eva Buyuksimkesyan BETT_Show2015, Creaza, flipped classroom, mindmapping, web 2.0 tools

#Bett2015 Picks; #1 Creaza and Mindomo

One of the stands I loved visiting at Bett was the Norwegian Classroom. It was fun to see the tools I love using in class. Creaza was a tool I suggested my students to create projects. At Bett, visiting their stand I noticed that they have added new features, updated the tool and it is really very cool for teachers and students now. Creaza consists of four tools; Mindomo – Cartoonist – MovieEditor – AudioEditor. In addition, it is available in nine different languages.

Today I want to write about Mindomo– a very versatile mind mapping tool which can also be used to create presentations. You can signup Mindomo going to its website or just activating your Creaza account you can also have the right to create your mind maps. Mindomo is not just a simple mind mapping tool, it is a great tool for flipped classroom that a teacher can create courses and assign them to students. It’s wonderful for Project Based Learning where students can work on a subject and collaborate on the same map.

It is very easy to use. All you have to do is to activate your account, go to Mindomo, and start creating your mind map on the topic you have to work. To make your work more colorful and energetic, you can add videos and images, clicking on the icons on the left hand corner of your screen. Once you finish your mind map, you can export it as pdf, jpg or png. You can print it out if you want to use it as posters in your classroom walls. You can keep it private or public and share your work with the link or embed it to your blog if you choose to make it public.

September 10, 2014September 11, 2014 Eva Buyuksimkesyan efl, ELL, elt, esl, web 2.0 tools

Cool Sites and Tools for ESL & EFL Learners

If you are learning English in the 21^st century, you are lucky because you will have numerous alternatives to practise the things you’ve been learning.

There are thousands of great sites which will help you, but if you don’t have a place to store these cool sites, then you’ll lose track so I will suggest you to bookmark them.

I use scoop.it, diigo and pinterest for the sites I love. You can start a pinterest board for the listening, reading or writing sites, or start using scoop.it to curate links for learning vocabulary, practising reading, etc. You can follow other learners and learn from them as well.

Here you will find some cool tools for you to practise what you’ve been learning.

EngVid is a free site to learn English for free with video lessons. New Lessons are added regularly, covering grammar, vocabulary, TOEFL and more. Students who are willing to improve their English can visit the site at least once or twice a week.

5 Minute English is a site designed to give the learners short and easy explanations and exercises. The learners can have a quick look at grammar, reading, listening, vocabulary and idioms. They can also find answers to questions that can be confusing for other learners. This is under the Question and Answer section.

If you spend 5 minutes a day here regularly, you will benefit a lot.

News in Levels is another great site that can be recommended to enthusiastic ESL learners to study English.

There are short news articles for different levels. You can choose your level and read the news and listen to it. You then can try the other levels for the same article. The words in the original news have been changed and adapted to 3 levels. The vocabulary definitions are also given.

I just came across with ETTC, a site where you can try writing poems on your own. The site allows the users to write fun poems, guiding them to use certain vocabulary.

This is a great way to learn and recycle vocabulary.

Listening to songs is one of the greatest ways to study a foreign language. That’s why Lyrics Training is another site you can visit daily. You can listen to the songs and try to fill in the gaps according to your level. If you can’t catch up the words, the video stops and you have to listen to it again.

oneword.com is a great site which will allow the learners to write on a word given in 60 seconds. When you click on the link and access the site you will see how simple it is to use. Click on ‘GO’, you will see a word and will have 60 seconds to write about it. The words given are very simple and that way even the beginners can find something to write.

Esl.fis.edu is a site to provide resources that will help ESL learners improve their grammar, reading and vocabulary skills. The site contains activities and quizzes which will facilitate learning. You can choose an activity and start doing and you get immediate feedback.

August 25, 2014 Eva Buyuksimkesyan efl, motivation, posters, quotes, recite, SLTEP 2014, web 2.0 tools

Motivating Myself for the Next School Year

As you’ll remember, I attended #SLTEP, a train the trainer program run by Sabanci University in June and while getting prepared for the next term, I decided to change some of the motivating, inspiring quotes into posters. Once again, I’m so happy that I had the decision to attend this course. I’ll start the year with lots of food for thought.