Online teaching tools to make

your lessons interesting

Aculov Rodica
The second degree teacher
from Lyceum` Mihai
EminescuCimislia
aculov.rodica@gmail.com

NOTHING GREAT WAS ACHIEVED

WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM.
When

thinking about an English lesson

it is useful to keep the following three
elements in mind

Engage
Study
Activate

Engaged
If

students are engaged, if theyre genuinely

interested and involved in whats going on.
This means getting the students interested in
the subject, in the class and in what they are
doing
Engaging students is important for the learning
process. Engaged students learn better and
are likely to cause fewer discipline problems

The STUDY
The

Study element
of a lesson could be a focus on any aspect of
the language, such as grammar or
vocabulary and pronunciation. A Study
stage does not have to be new language
input. It could also cover revision and
extension of previously taught material.

Active Stage..
Simply

telling students about the language is

not usually enough to help them to learn it. In
order for students to be able to develop their
use of English, they need to be given the
chance to produce it. In an Activate stage the
students are given tasks, normally writing and
or speaking activities which require students to
use not only the language they are studying that
day, but also other language that they have
learnt.

Old and new

For

many years, the blackboard was the

only teaching aid many teachers had. In
todays technological world, computers
can help to present ideas in different
ways
Todays Teens grew up with a mouse in
their hands

The benefits of Computers

The advantage of using software is that the students are
focussed on the task and using the technology rather
than thinking about English. They need to use English to
complete the task, but as they are not consciously thinking
about it, their use is more natural and communicative.
Computers are another source of variety and interest in the
classroom.
The computer is also an excellent tool for the teacher for the
preparation of work sheets and exercises as well as a source
of material.

"EFL Blogging School for Moldovan

Teachers"

Helpful tools
http://www.wordle.net/create
http://www.tagxedo.com/

What is Wordle?
Wordle

is a website that uses the keywords

from a text of your choice to generate a
word cloud. Children use the word cloud to
predict the content of a text and to write it.

Preparation
Before

the lesson ,choose the reading text

that will be the focus of the lesson. Then go
to www.wordle.net and create your word
cloud using words from the text.Choose the
most important words from each paragraph
and copy them into the Wordle generator.
The more times you copy a word, the bigger
it will appear on the word cloud.

Procedure
Divide

the children into groups of four and

give each group a copy of the word cloud.
Explain that the children will reconstruct the
text using the words from the word cloud.
The biggest words are the most important
ones and may be used more than once.
The children work together to reconstruct the
text, writing their own version using the word
from the word cloud.

Procedure

A representative

from each group reads out

the groups text.

Hand out a copy of the original text and ask
the children to decide which groups version
was the closest to the original.

Alternatives

If the text has a number of paragraphs ,you can help

the children by colour coding the words. Words of
the same colour belong in the same paragraph.
Revision: to revise a text the children have studied
recently, paste the text into Wordle and generate a
word cloud. Show the children the word cloud and
ask them if they can remember what the text was
about,the meaning of the words and how they were
used in the text. You can build up a bank of word
clouds over the semester and bring them out at
random to get the children to recall the texts and the
key vocabulary.

Alternatives
Prediction:

to help the children predict the

content of a reading or listening text and
active their background knowledge (which
helps their reading/listening) , you can create
a word cloud from the text and ask them to
predict the content. You can use the cloud to
pre-teach any new vocabulary before the
children read or listen to the text.

Alternatives
Reconstruction:

to help the children

reconstruct a dialogue they have listened to
or have been studying, you can create a
word cloud, colouring the words in different
colours for each speaker. The children have
to reconstruct the dialogue.
Writing poems: The children write their own
poems using the words.

Character Traits Analysis

Write 5 most
identifiable and
important character
traits for any character
in text.
Talk about favorite
colours other ideasfav.animals, feelings,
regular verbs .

Copy and Paste ..

Students

essay into Wordle compare the

result and discuss what has/hasnt been
included in the essay .
If students are preparing for a holiday. They
could Wordle wedding vows, family stories,
favorite love songs of their parents or
grandparents to create a very personal gift
thats suitable for framing.
(and its Free.)

How to teach .
Discover another similar tool
Tagxedo - a word cloud webtool with style! It provides
a good deal of customization for users. For example,
if teachers or students want to create a word cloud in
an apple shape, then Tagxedo is the right tool for the
job. For younger students, Wordle is much more
straightforward to use; however, older students will
love the customization Tagxedo provides which
includes colors, shapes, fonts, and themes.

Decorate with Tagxedo

Expand your Vocabulary
Advertise a Product
Break the Ice (At the beginning of the
school year, ask each student to make a
Tagedo)
Make a Cover
Make a beautiful Sentences or Quotes
Teach Students about cultures of the
world.

How to use Padlet in the Classroom

Padlet

is a free, online "virtual wall" tool

where users can express thoughts on topics
of their choice. It's like a piece of paper, but
on the Web.
Young people can highlight favorite quotes,
ask questions, discuss characters and more.

Why Padlet?....
Padlet

can help teachers summarize a large

amount of information and present it in a
visually pleasing way. Educators can put in
text, photos, graphs and other learning tools
and share the image with students before a
big test or discussion.
http://ru.padlet.com/bmth17_14/8xg38ck66e8
0/wish/42644682

My room

http://ru.padlet.com/wall/kxrfci4bqad6
http://ru.padlet.com/wall/bkbmee3v7pti
http://ru.padlet.com/bmth17_14/m0fmuusa5p

v9

 Educators

can post a particular topic or

issue, and students can post their opinions
on the subject. This is a great building block
for teaching students how to write opinion
pieces or persuasive essays.
Word of the day .They have to make
sentences with this word and post it on
wallpaper.

 For

feedback to post what they have learnt

how lessons can be improved.
To suggest solutions to a problem
To make presentation of the vocabulary with
pictures
To create a collection of statements.

To mentor someone to offer to do pro bono work on

a projects where their skills are needed.
I can motivate my students very well using a
picture or a good film with good ideas
In my blog I connect the pupils with real world and
show the language in actions.
Visual aids and online tools make your instructions
meaningful for students

There are some situations when these

tools can be useful:

To encourage conversation among the students on

given topic
To introduce a subject for debate or discussion.
To improve writing skills
To introduce new vocabulary
To show cultural aspect of the country.
To explain grammar.
To motivate them to create and share what they
have learned

 To be

a teacher ,is to make this new world,

look and sound and feel so tempting that
students want to take the leap ,want to leave
behind their tired old ways of doing things
(Daniel Coffeen)