Monday, February 16, 2015

Bingo Card Generator

A fun way to practice target vocab
Personalize with your own title. Paste in a list of words (Separated by commas), decide if you want a free space, choose the size (5x5, 6x6, etc.) and generate the card. For ease of printing, copy the cards row by row and paste it into Word. You can then play with the size, margins, etc. in order to get the printout you want. (You can even insert a graphic if you like!) You can print multiple versions of cards using the same basic word set. (ie. 30 cards for a class set.)

Have fun!

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Using Wordle to Make Word Choice Posters

Instant word wall to build vocabulary
Genevieve Hawtree has a great suggestion on how to use "Advanced" Wordle to generate quick mini-posters to boost vocabulary development in the FSL or ELL classroom. (You'll either need to follow the column layout suggested on the Wordle advanced page, or simply paste a chunk of words into the Wordle "create" box, and duplicate the main word 3 or 4 times.) Pick "horizontal" in the layout options as this will make the text more readable.


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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Use Voice Dictation To Speak To Your Mac

Streamlined and simplified dictation


Chris Hoffman gives a quick run through of how to use the Dictation feature on Mac. You'll need to be running at least Mavericks (OS 10.9)  to take advantage of this. The article also gives a list of all the dictation commands you need to know.

"The Mac Voice Dictation feature is streamlined and simplified. It's easy to start using without a long training process and will feel familiar to people who've used voice dictation on smartphones and tablets. In fact, it's extremely similar to the voice dictation feature on Apple's iOS."

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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Greetings French flashcards | Quizlet

An easy way to review vocab
Consider using Quizlet to review vocab with your students. Projected, the flashcards can be used in a "game show" mode with teams trying to give the correct response. You can also put it in spelling, matching, testing or space race modes for more fun and practice.

Encourage students to create their own stacks (if they are over 13 years) or simply practice with ones you set up. (You can easily share a link via URL, class blog or QR code.) Cards will read themselves out loud in the language you select. Add pics from a preset bank or upgrade and use your own!

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Cartoon Maker websites?

Getting on the Graphic Novel Bandwagon
If you want to have your students create their own graphic novels, (or short stories for that matter) help them get familiar with the genre.

Tumblebooks has graphic novels that you could peruse. (We also have CDs at DRC with graphic novels (in French) that you can show without the words in the bubbles.) Flip through some comics to get a feel for layouts and techniques.

If you want to create from scratch, there are some options for this kind of activity.

Think about using Powerpoint templates for panels.
(This is a great how-to site with all kinds of suggestions!)

or look at these...

You can create free strips w/o a sign-in. If you want to save it, you need to sign-up.  (Limited style but appealing in a funny kind of way.)

Preset images, but lots of control and easy to use.

Works a lot like ComicLife and requires an account to use. Students can create panels, and then combine the panels into "books." (The prefab art is a little cliché, & the editor can be fussy to use.)

More Powerpoint

A site like Lunapic can be used to modify images and create the content - take screen shots and paste into a PPT panels template

A vid tutorial

Some Png images to use

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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Sitting too much? There's an app for that.

Stand Up! The Work Break Timer
While most teachers won't complain about sitting too much during the work day, there are times when we can find ourselves sitting for long stretches - at workshops, doing marking, evening emailing sessions, and even extended internet browsing. This app allows you to set a number of parameters: when to be alerted, where to be alerted, how long an interval etc.

More info?
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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Reading Bear - primary reading help

A painless introduction to phonics principles

"How does it work? In each presentation—playable either as a video or as an interactive slide show—we introduce one or a few related "phonics rules." Presentations are available in seven different versions. In the fullest version, we sound out a word slowly and quickly, then blend it slowly, and finally (after an optional prompt) blend it quickly.... The result is a thorough yet painless introduction to phonics principles, while at the same time teaching vocabulary."

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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Newspaper Map - News around the world

Access to world newspapers and their associated webages

"Newspaper Map is a comprehensive catalogue of all the prominent local and national newspapers of the world arranged on a Google Map. You can zoom-in to find all of the newspapers that are published from a particular geographic region and read them online." (labnol)

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Easel.ly: a template-based infographics creator

Create and share visual ideas online
"Easel.ly is a website that features thousands of free infographic templates and design objects which users can customize to create and share their visual ideas online. Using the site is as easy as dragging and dropping design elements, and users can either choose a template from our extensive library, or they can upload their own background image and start from scratch. Over 300,000 users have already registered with Easel.ly, and thousands of infographics are produced using the site every month."

(Thanks for the tip, Nancy!)
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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Perfect Captions - Images With Subtitles

Jazz up images for presentations


Use pictures from your camera roll to create "slides" with captions, thought-bubbles, labels and more using Perfect Captions.

  • Take photos within the app (and automatically save a copy to the Camera Roll)
  • Import existing pictures from your Camera Roll
  • Add captions on the go, or save your photos to edit them later
  • Export to Camera Roll
  • Add text boxes and call-outs in various forms
  • Customize everything: colors, shapes, fonts, sizes...
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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Art of Video Games Exhibition

Explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium
by Smithsonian American Art Museum

"The Art of Video Games" is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. The exhibition focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3. These exhibition videos touch on the themes of Beginnings, Inspiration, Narrative, Experience, and The Future feature excerpts from interviews with 20 influential figures in the gaming world.

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Gaming to enhance and transform educational experience

Game And Learn: An Introduction to Educational Gaming - 14 part series
(This audio podcast series with slides is viewed in iTunes)

"Videogames can provide learners with rich worlds and complex narratives that both enhance and transform their educational experience. Harnessing this potential calls for understanding the principles underlying successful games, and how to apply them in the classroom. This 14-part podcast series, created by Dr. Ruben  Puentedura as part of a joint research project between MLTI and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, will provide educators the knowledge needed to successfully use educational gaming in their classroom."

Dr. Ruben Puentedura is the creator of the SAMR model for selecting, using, and evaluating technology in education, as well as a researcher in educational gaming and digital storytelling.

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

10 Apps to Help Teach Your Kid a Foreign Language

"Il y a un appli pour ça!"
Included are apps for Mandarin, French, Spanish and German. (There is a cost associated with some of the titles.)

"Learning a new language isn't always easy, but with repeated practice and exposure through a variety of different methods — like these foreign language learning apps — parents can help foster bilingualism."

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Friday, December 19, 2014

TinyTap - Turn Moments Into Games

Make your own educational apps

Design your own games, play one created by other teachers, or get your students started as digital "makers".

"With TinyTap 2.0, teachers can make educational apps for older students, plus gain more traction in the international TinyTap community with a newly optimized marketplace. More navigable and user-friendly, the market offers thousands of games created daily by superstar educators, experts, and publishers worldwide."


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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

LunaPic | Free Online Photo Editor

Turn images into sketches or paintings
Do you want your students' BookCreator stories to look more like the real thing? Try converting the images to drawings or paintings to give ithemt more of a children's book feel. Use LunaPic, upload the image, apply the effect you want, copy/paste. Voilà

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