LEARN ENGLISH THROUGH GAMES

GOOD DAY, EVERYONE!

Who says you can't have fun while learning? Of course you can, with the advance of technology we are currently experiencing has made learning more fun and exciting. Now, you can learn English by playing games. Killing two birds with a stone, right? :) 

These are the websites which will make your study  on another level and you will experience a brand new thing. 

1) Games To Learn English (https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com) 

WHAT IS IT? 

The aim of this site is to provide a place for students to practice English in an engaging and fun way. A lot of other similar sites are more geared towards providing teachers with resources to help their students, but the intention of  this site is to be a resource that language learners can use independently.The main page for example only has a brief summary of each game and the games themselves are quite easy to figure out and interact with. However, it is necessary to have some text descriptions and longer text articles to that search engines can better index the site appropriately.

The games are aimed at a relatively low level of English with pretty much all the content being around elementary level. A lot of the vocabulary content would probably even be more like introductory or pre-elementary level. The reason for this is simply that it is a lot easier to make games that use simple content than it is to make ones that use difficult abstract concepts. Things like colors or food are easily to represent with an image whereas the something like “multiculturalism” would be much more difficult.

This site has been around since about 2010 with all the games initially being flash based. Recently though, I have started to replace all the flash content with javascript versions. Using javascript is actually more difficult and time consuming that flash, however, more and more people are using the web on phones and tablets that do not have flash enabled and so this is a necessary change. Last time I checked, something like half the visitors to this site were using an Android or iOS device. Using javascript is made easier by using the CreateJS framework which I highly recommend. This framework is basically a bunch of code resources that makes it easier to do things with javascript.

TYPES OF GAMES

Below are the example of games that students can play while learning English.

Download Desktop Games

You can download this site's content to use on your computer without internet connection. Or you can put these games on your students' computers in a classroom.

Click on the link or right click and select "save target as" or "save link as".

 Fast English - Learn English vocabulary items in a fun way

 Fast Phrases - Make sentences in English

 Fast Falling - Arrange phrases to match the images

 Hangman - Spell words against the man

 Bubbles English - Practice making English sentences

 Spelling Bee - Spell vocabulary items in a fun way

 Animal Mystery - Practice making questions in English

 Concentration - Match English words and pictures

 Describer English - Read descriptions and match the image

 Phrase Maker - Learn English phrases

 2) ESL Games Plus (https://www.eslgamesplus.com)

  

 WHAT IS IT?

ESL Games Plus features interactive board games which provide the ultimate fun English learning experience. Battle your way across the Pirate Waters whil practicing English grammar and vocabulary.Pirates are your nasty enemies.

EXAMPLE OF GAMES THEY HAVE 

QUIZZES

BENEFITS OF LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH GAMES

*Games have a great educational value and it can be used in the classroom to make learners use the language instead of just thinking about learning the correct forms. 

*Games encourage learners to interact, cooperate, to be creative and spontaneous in using the language in a meaningful way. 

*Learners want to take part in activities; to play games and are generally quite competitive. In order for them to take part they must be able to understand and communicate in the target language. 

*Games also encourage learners to keep interested in the work and a teacher can use them to create contexts in which the language is useful.

*Games are used as methods or techniques to involve students in learning. 

*Well-chosen and designed games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow learners to practise language skills. 

*The benefits of games range from cognitive aspect of language learning to more co-operative group dynamics and as a result games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging.

Important things to consider when using games in the classroom

• Choose suitable games (depending on the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings).
• The way students perceive a game depends on the actual design and implementation of the game.
• Give clear instructions, give clear rules and give clear time limits.
• Rather demonstrate than explain.
• There must be a clear purpose and achievable goals.
• Clear objectives and goals must match the difficulty level of the game and ability level of the students.
• Ensure that shy or quiet students are not alienated and have an opportunity to take part.
• Debriefing, or the evaluation of results/ events in the game, is crucial to the game’s success.
• It must still be fun, but still help the students to learn.

Software to assess students online

Good day, everyone! 

A software that teachers can use to assess students online is Edmodo. 

WHAT IS EDMODO?

Edmodo is an educational technology company offering a communication, collaboration, and coaching platform to K-12 schools and teachers. The Edmodo network enables teachers to share content, distribute quizzes, assignments, and manage communication with students, colleagues, and parents. Edmodo is very teacher-centric in their design and philosophy: students and parents can only join Edmodo if invited to do so by a teacher. Teachers and students spend large amounts of time on the platform, both in and out of the classroom. What is exciting about Emodo is that it also welcomes parents. 

Edmodo app

The all-new Edmodo app has been redesigned from the ground up to focus on how YOU communicate with your students, parents and fellow teachers.

ALL NEW FEATURES

- Teachers get a brand new home stream for sharing and discovering resources among your colleagues.
- All your classes organized into one space.
- Real-time Direct Messaging available for students and teachers!
- All-new Assignment Center that shows all your upcoming assignments and quizzes.

ENGAGE YOUR STUDENTS

With Edmodo, you can reach every student in your class. Students can login and participate from any phone, tablet or computer, and can check assignments from within the app. Facilitate discussion within a single class group or browse topics for resources related to your subject.

CONNECT WITH TEACHERS

Share and discover new lessons and resources across your school, district, or any of your teacher connections. Edmodo makes it easy for you to share anything on your phone with your connections. And the improved home stream means you can find dozens of educational resources for your classroom all at once.

EdTech Digest Award Winner – Best Product

For more information, visit www.edmodo.com.

HOW TO USE EDMODO FOR STUDENTS


1.Obtain a Code from your teacher.

2.Go to www.edmodo.com and click “I'm a Student.”

3.Fill out the registration form with the Code, a unique username, and password. An email address is not required to sign up for a Student Account.

4.Select the “Sign up” button to complete the sign up process. You will then see the Class/Group your teacher created in the left side panel.

BENEFITS OF EDMODO IN LEARNING AND TEACHING  1. Home - School Connections.  Students are able to access their Edmodo accounts from school and from home. This allows them to prepare for upcoming events, tasks or assignments when working through their homework. It also allows them to communicate with their teacher (directly) or ask questions of their peers (on the public wall) when working through tasks at home. 2. Parent Access.  When a child joins Edmodo they are given a parent code. This can be found on the bottom left hand side of the student page. The parent then needs to go to www.edmodo.com and click on the 'I'm a Parent' tab. This allows them to see what their child sees, as well as the grade book (I'll tell you about this soon).  3. Teacher PLN Opportunities.  Having a teacher account on Edmodo allows you to connect with other educators from all over the world. I often send notes to other educators, asking or sharing ideas with them. Through one of these connections I was able to get in touch with a school in the USA who also have a contemporary set up. We often share little snippets of our classrooms with each other.  4. Resources That Can Be Shared. I share a range of resources with my students on Edmodo. These include websites, embedded YouTube clips, flipped task links (EduCreations, etc), files, documents and images. This is fantastic as it means we are saving paper and I am showing students a solid range of resources without them needing to 'google' something.

e-Content Development Websites

Hello, friends. 
Today l'll be sharing with you about e-content. Fret not because this is not a complicated thing and sure will make your life easier.  

WHAT IS e-content

Electronic content (e-content) which is also known as digital content refers to the content or information delivered over network based electronic devices or that is made available using computer network such as internet. According to Oxford dictionary ‘e-content is the digital text and images designed to display on web pages’. 

According to Saxena Anurag(2011) ‘E-content is basically a package that satisfies the  conditions like minimization of  distance, cost effectiveness, user friendliness and adaptability to local conditions’.Well developed e-content can be delivered many times to different learners. Individual course components i.e. units, lessons and media elements such as graphics and animations can be re-used in different contexts.

I've provided some examples for you to check them out.


1. TES TEACH WITH BLENDSPACE

WHAT IS BLENDSPACE?

Blendspace is a tool that provides many possibilities and initially I used it as a method of curating resources and flipping my classroom. There are similar tools available, and regardless of which you choose, having one place to keep your resources is a really great idea. So how do you make the decision of which to rely on?

Blendspace is a way to avoid fumbling with flash drives, losing valuable class time opening emails and attachments.  All of the student projects can be added by their URL or uploaded into one lesson, given it a title, and in class, only one lesson has to be opened to display the student work for the class to enjoy.

  

HOW TO USE BLENDSPACE?

1.Explore Example TES Teach lessons in the Gallery

Before you design your own TES Teach lesson, take a stroll through the Gallery of popular TES Teach lessons created by our community of active teachers for some inspiration. You can find more TES Teach lessons typing any term into the search bar.

2.Create a TES Teach lesson

Once you’ve seen a few TES Teach lessons, create your own by first logging into TES Teach. Then click on “Lessons” on the top left of the site, and then “+ New Lesson.”

As you may have seen in the example TES Teach lessons, you can add content from a wide range of sources: your computer, cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, YouTube, Gooru, and more. TES Teach now also allows you to choose from TES resources, a treasure trove of free, original teaching materials created by educators around the world. To browse the different sources available to you, click on the icons listed in the vertical bar on the far right. To add any content to your TES Teach lesson, just drag and drop it into an empty tile.

You can quickly plan and organize your entire lesson by combining PDFs, other documents, videos, images, web pages, and more. It’s easy to rearrange, add, and delete tiles -- just drag and drop! You can also add your own text directly into the tiles (as opposed to uploading a document) and multiple choice assessments. Still not excited? Don’t worry -- we’re only getting started!

Are you aligning to the Common Core State Standards in your classroom and need to show your work? You can drag and drop them right into your TES Teach lesson objectives using the “Standards” button on the top left or the tag icon at the bottom of the vertical bar, so you can keep track of which standards you’re targeting.

Think about the logical progression of your lesson and arrange accordingly. When users “play” a TES Teach lesson, they navigate through the tiles from left to right. To help guide your students through a TES Teach lesson, you can give each tile a title and provide instructions. Want to make sure that your students have watched that great YouTube video in one of your tiles? Put a short quiz after it. Want to give some instructions about what your students should look for on a particular web site? Add text instructions in the tile before the website. For example, you could create a webquest where students sequentially browse various sites in pursuit of answers.

3.Share your Blendspace

Once you’re done creating a TES Teach lesson, you can share it with a link, adjust privacy settings, embed it in a blog, or share it with a class or multiple classes. You can track your students’ comments, quiz results, likes, and help requests by creating a “class” or multiple classes in TES Teach. You can create multiple classes and share as many TES Teach lessons as you’d like with each of them. To create a class, return to the homepage (tes.com/lessons) and click on “Classes” at the top. You can name your class and then invite your students to it with a unique link.

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2. EMAZE

emaze isn't like most presentation makers because while it lacks many of the common features similar software includes, it provides an entirely unique way to display the slides of a presentation.

Among many other features we'll go over below, emaze supports regular text editing capabilities and spelling errors are caught automatically as you type.

HOW TO USE EMAZE?

Step 1 – sign-up free on Emaze website

Emaze allows you to create unlimited presentations for free. Enter Emaze website and sign-up free by entering your Email and password

 Step 2- Choose a template type

There are 5 template types on Emaze website: Presentation, Mini site, E-card, Game, Visual story. You can check out here a detail explanation about each one of them.

 Step 3- Choose the right category

If you want to create a business presentation, choose business category, if you are a teacher and you want to create presentation for your students, choose education.

Step 4- Choose a template

After choosing a category, choose your favorite template. You can see a preview of the template before choosing it.

 Step 5- Add the right slides

When you are reaching the presentation editor, click on ‘Add’ for adding slides. Add only slides that fit to your presentation. You can add pre-made slides and empty slide as well.

 Step 6- Change the content

Change the content as you wish.

Step 7- name your presentation

More Information on emaze:

1. Dozens of slide templates are available

• 2. Local and internet (via a URL) images can be added to an emaze presentation, as well as shapes, audio, charts, Google Map locations, and videos (local and internet)
• 3. Several chart types are supported, like a line, column, table, and organization chart. They work by pasting data into the chart from the clipboard
• 4. emaze allows some rich text editing as well as 3D effects, opacity adjustments, and shadows to be applied to text
• 5. Custom HTML and JavaScript code can be added to the head and body of the presentation, and SEO information can be customized to target internet searches
• 6. Hyperlinks can be set up to not only link to a URL but also to another slide or object in the presentation
• 7. Scrolling between slides can be vertical or horizontal, and they can be unique for each slide transition 
• 8. Shared presentations can be modified to disallow downloading, printing, and/or duplication
• 9. emaze supports voice commands so you can start, stop, and move through a presentation with nothing but a microphone
• 
  

Benefits Of eLearning For Students

1. Online Learning Accommodates Everyone’s Needs

The online method of learning is best suited for everyone. This digital revolution has led to remarkable changes in how the content is accessed, consumed, discussed, and shared. Online educational courses can be taken up by office goers and housewives too, at the time that suits them

2. Lectures Can Be Taken Any Number Of Times

Unlike classroom teaching, with online learning you can access the content an unlimited number of times. This is especially required at the time of revision when preparing for an exam. In traditional form of learning, if you can not attend the lecture, then you have to prepare for that topic on your own; in eLearning, you can attend the lectures whenever you want with ease

3. Offers Access To Updated Content

A prime benefit of learning online is that it makes sure that you are in synchronization with modern learners. This enables the learner to access updated content whenever they want it.

4. Quick Delivery Of Lessons

eLearning is a way to provide quick delivery of lessons. As compared to traditional classroom teaching method, this mode has relatively quick delivery cycles. This indicates that the time required to learn is reduced to 25%-60% of what is required in traditional learning. 

I hope I've shared enough with you. Till next time, Goodbye.

INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM

HELLO!

We meet again! Today  we're going to learn about an interactive classroom.

WHAT IS AN INTERACTIVE LEARNING? 

Interactive learning is a hands-on approach to help students become more engaged and retain more material. With or without a form of technology, interactive learning helps students strengthen problem solving and critical thinking skills.

BENEFITS OF INTERACTIVE LEARNING FOR STUDENTS 

1. Classroom Collaboration

This allows the students to share information easily and also work together as an integral part of the learning process. They are provided with the opportunity to partake in lessons, while it is possible for a simple cam or laptop plus an Internet connection to link the learners with their teachers on the web while sitting in their own classroom.

2. Inspiring Freedom

Interactive learning has a major role to play in differentiation and they are extremely useful to classes of various abilities. Vodcasts, podcasts as well as access to YouTube video clips enable the students to visit the content once again in case they face any difficulty after some time.

3. Fun and Enjoyable

Using interactive technology can boost engagement and motivation within the classroom. It is possible to enhance motivation as well as engagement inside the classroom by implementing interactive learning. Apart from motivating learning by making use of interactive games which will foster an element of competition, it will also enable the teachers to gamify their lessons. 

SMART CLASSROOM 

Smart Classrooms are technology enhanced classrooms that foster opportunities for teaching and learning by integrating learning technology, such as computers, specialized software, audience response technology, assertive listening devices, networking, and audio/visual capabilities.

BENEFITS OF SMART CLASSROOM FOR BOTH STUDENTS AND TEACHERS 

Blending the Best of Both Worlds

Traditional learning and cutting-edge technology both have a place in schools. Get the best of both worlds by investing in blended learning. Blended learning combines online learning with in-person communication to create a smart classroom. Digital curriculum is blended with in-class topics to promote powerful learning. 

Wearables Provide Ease of Mind

For younger students on field trips, wearable technology helps teachers and chaperones make sure that the class stays together. Monitoring health and encouraging daily activity are also possible with smartwatches. Track heart rates during recess, physical education classes, and throughout the day. Parents and teachers can also use wearable technology to ensure that children get enough sleep.

School-Wide Communication

Install monitors in individual classrooms to provide a direct connection to the central office. These monitors can stream school messages that provide daily announcements, weather updates and emergency notifications. Both students and teachers will stay safe with timely notifications about severe weather or lockdown situations.

Personalize Learning With Data

One of the biggest advantages to a smart classroom is access to analytics. Information gathered in schools can be used to personalize learning and cater to an individual student’s needs and abilities. School districts, principals, teachers and parents can all use student analytics to create a better learning environment. During class, teachers use live analytics to track student progress. Students receive timely feedback from online tests that offer an immediate score.

Importance of smart classroom in teaching and learning

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• Allow faculty to impart education digitally instead using traditional method and tools for teaching
• Deliver lecture and illustrate through Powerpoint Presentation, Word Document and through media like Audio-Video screening, interactive images
• e-learning provides a more attractive environment which creates transparency between students and teacher. And also establish a strong connection with them
• All electronic tools of this solution Faster, easier and convenient to use and very low maintenance cost.

Smart classroom operation and its gadgets

Student Response System

Student response system is the best solution for learning and teaching. A teacher teaches a lesson and puts any question related to that lesson, students use their separate response system to respond. After closing, polls the teacher can analyze report instantly generated through its software. After that they can repoll on the same topic if required otherwise they move for further discussion. Using student response system teacher also can conduct the real-time class test or organize small quiz to create excitement in students.

Interactive Whiteboard

Replacing traditional blackboard with high technology touch-sensitive whiteboard and digital pen. A Teacher can project an image, document on the touch-sensitive whiteboard. He can conduct any lesson and illustrate on this board using his finger and digital pen as well. With a lot of features, interactive whiteboard adds a sense of excitement to each classrooms session.

Document Camera

It is also known as Visualisers or Visual Presenter. Flexible document camera uses to show any document on the large screen to a large number of audience. Document Camera magnifies any docs or objects and projects it on display. large zoom capacity and other inbuilt features it is very useful in the classroom in higher education

Digital Podium

It is a smart podium with fully touch or pen touch screen and smart controller. Digital Podium has numbers of the port so that can connect multiple displays at a time. You can also connect other electronic devices externally via HDMI or VGA ports. Basically, it is a single point combining whole in one. Teacher delivers the lecture without moving anywhere in the class. In a single press move on a different display and control everything. It removes the wire mesh and hence classroom looks well organized.

Ceiling Mounted Projector

A digital projector is connected to a computer and can project the still or moving object on a large screen. it is an optical device of two type, long through the projector and short through projecture. In a large classroom long through projector can be used for better performance.

This is video that I've found that can be watched for everyone to see what smart classroom is all about. Have fun watching!

SEE YOU AGAIN!