GeoTrio: another tool for your PLN

GeoTrio lets you create a virtual tour of just about anyplace on a map. You type in addresses or locations and easily create multiple “stops” that show the Google Street View snapshots of the area. You can also upload your own images.

But that’s not all.

What really makes GeoTrio stand out is the ability to easily make an audio recording for each stop on the map.

In many ways its similar to Tripline, which you can read about on The Best Sites Where Students Can Plan Virtual Trips (I’m adding GeoTrio to that list, too). Tripline is “slicker” and lets you grab images off the Web. However, it does not have the ability to provide audio narration.

via larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

Assignment for students:

Use this to plan a trip to someplace you've always wanted to visit or create a presentation to show your online friends about your home town or some place special to you.

Other: teaching, presentation, marketing, even site development tool

Posted via email from Meanderings

Review: Educating Emergent Bilinguals

 Not much about computers or writing but definitely about language learning.

reviewed by Lynn Zimmerman — January 04, 2011

Title: Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners. Search for book at Amazon.com
Author(s): Ofelia Garcia and Jo Anne Kleifgen
Publisher: Teachers College Press, New York
ISBN: 0807751138, Pages: 192, Year: 2010  

For Garcia and Kleifgen the question: What’s in a name? is more than an existential question. In their book, Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners, they assert that how the question is answered not only gives a different meaning to the experience of people who are labeled in various ways as learners of English, but also has profound implications for educational policies and practices that impact them. Rather than using the “deficit model” of naming which has been the norm in the education of non-English speaking learners, Garcia and Kleifgen suggest calling them “emergent bilinguals.” This critical act of “re-naming” shifts the focus to the knowledge that they have and to the possibilities of bilingualism instead of focusing on their lack of English and the narrow goal of learning English.

English Language (ESL) Learning Online

Hello study group members and visitors,

I'd like to be able to report and start discussing design updates, but it may have to wait a bit longer. I started another set of open online courses. Only Multiliteracies at EVO (TESOL workshop) is ESL related. The other two, Connectivism and Learning Analytics, are still about online education. So expect me to bring back materials and ideas. That's where yesterday's slide show about PLE's came from.

SlideShare presentations make good, short reading assignments. I'll look for some on ESL topics. While I'm busy with the courses, expect more "recycled" lessons like this one ~ in addition to what I pick up in the courses to share with you. Connectivism in action.

Comments and evaluations invited ~ maybe I should add a button for rating posts. Don't forget suggestions and ideas for study group redesign.

Vanessa

Resources for English as a Second Language

UsingEnglish.com provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums, articles, teacher handouts and printables, and find useful links and information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas.

English Reference

• English Idioms
• English Phrasal Verbs
• English Irregular Verbs
• Grammar Glossary

Tests & Quizzes

• English Quizzes
• Language Tests
• Reading Comprehension
• Language Polls

Articles

• English Usage Articles
• ESL Weblog
• The Editor's Blog
• Speaking Out

Teacher Resources

• Teacher Handouts & Printables
• PDF Lesson Plans & Worksheets
• TESOL Forum News
• Teacher Articles

Forums

• Ask a Teacher...
• Learning English
• Analysing Language
• Teacher Forum

Tools & Resources

• Text Analysis & Statistics
• Check a Word's Grammar and Usage
• Essay Samples
• Software Downloads

via usingenglish.com

Posted via email from Academentia

Cool websites to teach writing

Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

As a language teacher I really find it difficult to motivate my students to start writing in class. The Internet is a resource that complements the dynamics of my class. It is easy to access, up-to-date and immediate source of authentic materials. Since I started introducing technology and using a wiki with Middle school my classes have definitely changed. Please check below the cool sites we have been using this year.

• Writing Fun A MUST for teachers.  This website motivated my students to enhance their writing skills.

• The Writing Site Check this website with a great variety of tech integration ideas.

• iWrite Provides several examples for students to learn how to write effectively.

• Writing Fix Practice Prompt Recommendations.

• Writing Exemplars I make my students search for writing samples created by other students worldwide.

• Interactive Scoring Another website that provides writing samples to use with your students.

via jenverschoor.wordpress.com

In a self-paced study group, you are your own teachers, although (as a college writing teacher) teaching yourself writing still calls for 3rd party feedback. What is your strategy for getting feedback on your writing?

Posted via email from Academentia