tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49347220134086454472024-03-18T06:04:00.646+03:00Teacher EvolutionA blog for instructors in Schools of Foreign Languages to explore avenues for professional development.Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-58589585751521640152022-03-31T16:54:00.010+03:002022-03-31T17:37:13.694+03:00Sentence Building Activities with TelescopicText and RelatedWords<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A dear colleague of mine, Pınar Şahin-Durmaz showed me this <a href="https://www.telescopictext.org/" target="_blank">website</a> that she was introduced to at a seminar series. It’s called Telescopic Text. It is “an experimental tool for creating expanding texts”. as <a href="https://www.telescopictext.org/resources/" target="_blank">prefaced</a> by its developers. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Seeing what it does, I think it's an ideal fit for what the name of the website suggests. Despite its multifaceted use, I’d like to take advantage of it as a valuable tool for ESL students to hone their sentence-building skills. Below I’ll try to demonstrate how it can be used with ESL students.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">How Does it Work </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Upon clicking <a href="https://www.telescopictext.org/write/" target="_blank">Write</a>, students write a starting text, usually a short sentence, up to 140 characters, and hit the “start” button. </span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">E.g I took a test.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; filter: brightness(0.87) contrast(1.08); height: 253px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img height="253" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FpixPPT4tnl8T5eX69dTIU6_O67HWOOlrVucdsYYPI0vq9YAbKQGFZOkgxUV5-AoKWH8r2Cmz51aG88fYdnIsr4tgFERdqAyjFT9715QDHlX5A6sbKaLOLoyWa5oSoVh0gjBfiDD" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="602" /></span></span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Once they write their first text, all the words of the text become clickable, and they can add words before and after them. In the example below, I added the adjective ‘difficult’ before the word ‘test’ in the sentence. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; filter: brightness(0.87); height: 310px; overflow: hidden; width: 580px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img height="310" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/wFr3p0lVjFXC6YtFy-jVv0btgEK021NqFIiOUtGfENJmUykYV5BRDPOt8kdrbHLBW8nNamNWVY2GH8uJYz5uzvBp_Hq1yuprYOV2P4AUyteRCfZOCUiIxOSJ2mYiMUkVDxKF1j2F" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="580" /></span></span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">This is where their text build-up starts. You can ask your students to add different parts of speech to the text as in this example;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c71b4aa1-7fff-155e-ae5b-672a0ef10fb0"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 204px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="204" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oIbVb0jHRm4HuWP9qj_DCt64I1Eeo51AA8ptYCAQovhX2GenfQ6h4v4pfXWqlsS5MWGpP3L9UGv23Vr4VE7bWKyPUmFAy8oo02vx9rZgnkhxP1NWVDitlmgsvQ3uEbahrAWjTFty" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="602" /></span></span></span><br /><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Students can add as many words as they wish. This will help students to take control of their text build-up by adjusting the length and flow of the text. Presenting this as a group in-class activity might be an engaging way of making students collaboratively work on their sentence-building skills. To make it even more fun, you can challenge students to produce meaningful texts with the most number of words in each sentence. You can also ask students to use a certain vocabulary list. Then, you might be running the risk of taking out the creativity aspect of the activity, but it might be beneficial to revisit those pre-taught vocabulary items you covered a week ago. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Another idea, which I favor much more, is to combine the sentence-building activity with a vocabulary search website. <a href="https://relatedwords.io/" target="_blank">The website I'd like to suggest here</a> is a new find. It can be used to list all the related words from most related to least related for a certain word; Say ‘vacation’ </span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 324px; overflow: hidden; width: 536px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><img height="324" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8FCDXe2PFLhA2KT2l801gt2ZhZmncwalV_yGLj-83K0rnbBhjVAUGRueruUTBAm_yqvC2jg5qhPvh2d5MS4G8PXXd8UC0-hff8LV4hbqqhj2dApnSAZJnG5uGN2kSAqFvmSxSdir" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="536" /></span></span></span></p><p><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">What makes it different from other thesaurus websites is that you can also see the most commonly used words related to your search item at the top. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">To combine the sentence-building activity with this website, you can ask students to use, say, ten pre-assigned vocabulary items as well as related words to these in their text. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">The choices are limitless. If you could share your experiences with these tools, I'd be very happy to read and learn from you. </span></span></h4><p><br /></p>Fatma Yerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13915532363796730718noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-80707436798931459072021-06-15T17:25:00.006+03:002021-06-15T17:51:03.968+03:00Students have fun learning and help feed the world at the same time<p>As yet another academic year neared its close, with the impending final exams looming on the horizon, students at METU NCC English Preparatory Program took a mental break and accepted the challenge to feed their brain and at the same time donate rice to the World Food Program.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2nN_IpplkXPP20ZmVWRzCjYDK_vuT4-V2UEwkH3NFuLlTCj-T48FWpqOheuxDeEWmHhVaWYOhivHWwlx4-G51mfFcyoiPpJ-RmnnPe3XTQPCCaD105KFqK_e0mtSgZCPHSvxqda7jVc/s1280/free+rice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2nN_IpplkXPP20ZmVWRzCjYDK_vuT4-V2UEwkH3NFuLlTCj-T48FWpqOheuxDeEWmHhVaWYOhivHWwlx4-G51mfFcyoiPpJ-RmnnPe3XTQPCCaD105KFqK_e0mtSgZCPHSvxqda7jVc/s320/free+rice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Using the <a href="http://freerice.com">http://freerice.com</a> website, students were able to test themselves on a range of subjects, from English vocabulary and grammar to geography and astronomy. For every correct answer given, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Program. While 10 grains of rice doesn't seem like a lot, when 100 questions are answered correctly, this amounts to 1,000 grins of rice - enough rice to make a meal for one person.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zYPofNbr_x4" width="320" youtube-src-id="zYPofNbr_x4"></iframe></div><br /><p>There are four levels at METU NCC EPP - Pre-intermediate, Lower-intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper-Intermediate. Talip Karanfil, the EPP Coordinator, initiated the challenge to each class in the four levels to donate as much rice as possible in three weeks. The <a href="https://www.flippity.net/lb.php?k=1xEMRNMyuR7x93dgeiUHQrKgLu305C1VhPM52eim_RiY" target="_blank">winning class in each level</a> will be honored by <a href="http://tema.org.tr" target="_blank">having three trees planted</a> in recognition of their efforts. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn-tema.mncdn.com/Uploads/Menu/tema_saha_gonlunu_ver_dijital_post_1200x1200px-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://cdn-tema.mncdn.com/Uploads/Menu/tema_saha_gonlunu_ver_dijital_post_1200x1200px-2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></div></div><p></p><p>However, <b>all the students who participated are winners</b> because they gained new knowledge and, most importantly, they helped feed the hungry in the process.</p><p>In these difficult times, it is heartening to be able to do something to relieve the suffering of others. In total, METU NCC EPP students have together donated <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;"><b>3,809,752 grains of rice</b>! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lRMmpaXoysGORGK5NEnQP9au064aKdWQXn88EvCeVQqwhqRU4mylZ-f-mySeZJx99H7B9jl1MMqT2PyHT5tf7YIkjjaPXlbZKigxWEIYaFYIpPBOyZN6fUYMeN3CMhcaPi1vVIevpZo/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lRMmpaXoysGORGK5NEnQP9au064aKdWQXn88EvCeVQqwhqRU4mylZ-f-mySeZJx99H7B9jl1MMqT2PyHT5tf7YIkjjaPXlbZKigxWEIYaFYIpPBOyZN6fUYMeN3CMhcaPi1vVIevpZo/w235-h320/image.png" width="235" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;">It takes approximately 1,000 grains of rice to provide a portion of rice for the girl in the photo above. Together, we have <b>donated enough rice to provide 3,800 people like her with a bowl of rice</b>. If that were spread over a year, it would be like providing basic sustenance for ten people for one entire year!</span><p></p><p>The classes that donated the most grains of rice in each level, and the students that participated:</p>
<p>
</p><table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" style="background-color: #ff6633; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; width: 100%;">
<tbody><tr>
<td>LEVEL</td>
<td>Students</td>
<td>Group</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PIN</td>
<td>Cell</td>
<td>PIN6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>LINT</td>
<td>Cell</td>
<td>LINT3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>INT</td>
<td>Mustafa Arda Gürbüz, Okan Yeke, Kadir Eren Üstünkaya,Atakan Celik, Resat Orhun Konak, Burak Cicek, Morisiyenzombi, Alp Boza</td>
<td>INT2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>UINT</td>
<td>Cell</td>
<td>UINT3</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p></p><p>Here is a summary of the grains of rice donated by each level.</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="436" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQtd-VYLXikG_tvLI7Ke3uzQxWSGoPaSR-wBQlCzRex4-mNOudJIoHgLO8Eex1TIxDV9mOi-O0OHvqM/pubchart?oid=990878233&format=interactive" width="704"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p>Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-4099930519062880082021-06-15T15:31:00.021+03:002021-06-15T16:07:15.255+03:00Are exams really necessary?<p>Not according to Alfie Kohn - especially if the tests are the standardized multiple-choice variety, like some English language proficiency tests we know and love. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.alfiekohn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DVD-cover34-e1598794958162.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="179" src="https://www.alfiekohn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DVD-cover34-e1598794958162.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>See the summary below created at <a href="https://commaful.com">https://commaful.com</a>/ - a very nice tool to encourage students to use images to help them write</p><p><br /></p><div><iframe src="https://embed.commaful.com/neufelds/exam-time-is-here/" style="height: 600px; left: 0; width: 500px;"></iframe></div><p><a href="https://commaful.com/play/neufelds/exam-time-is-here/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">via Commaful</a></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p>.NOTE: This summary was produced by AI using <a href="http://smmry.com">http://smmry.com</a> and then paraphrased using <a href="http://quillbot.com">http://quillbot.com</a> The human element was to divide the summary into bite-size chunks and find suitable images.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-65081151363407416762021-04-11T00:59:00.006+03:002021-04-11T02:10:41.765+03:00 Three Mobile Apps You Haven’t Used in Your Language Classrooms Yet ...and How to Use Them <p><span color="rgba(34, 49, 63, 0.7)" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Noto Serif", serif; font-size: 22px;"> "The highest form of research is essentially play." <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>N. V. Scarfe, 1962</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ee7db8de-7fff-a722-9424-dd226934462d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The use of mobile phones for educational purposes in classrooms has always been a controversial issue. Even the educationalists who favor the purposeful integration of mobile phones into our everyday teaching practices might have their own boundaries, but no one can deny that technology is evolving at such a crazy rate that these debates might soon become obsolete, just like our mobile phones soon will. While we can still reap the benefits of our mobiles, let’s have a look at these three mobile applications and ideas about how to use them in English language classrooms. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. </span><a href="https://pictoword.app/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pictoword</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pictoword is a fun word game which provides picture combinations that make up a meaningful word together. These picture clues lead you to the question words. It can be played with young and adult learners with basic vocabulary knowledge. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 213px; overflow: hidden; width: 118px;"><img height="258" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Bd7FE45zpXTPImJ9yYypM9LC7ZYixJIYyKGJ-KuefQjOGBH1Tfko6e7B2yoZCnReQQ3OePP0BCSs4YGmAuTH_I_bccd-IfLbE_6tXLoc6KljgOYwXEs8MFwjcMgNc53R0ubv9quk=w121-h258" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="121" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouzmKeUs14j7Y4PaSlmE9DI_l_LyNc3LMklvsZaivJZ21mF8YqfZ0mBf2Fjr871r9q5uY9WCSw_E4AFIi6I-S2XSZ6ur7TIN6aEJIXjs1U2lrCOYsk0KP8F5UOAM2IFijYUQcSChvwYo/s1792/IMG-6089.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouzmKeUs14j7Y4PaSlmE9DI_l_LyNc3LMklvsZaivJZ21mF8YqfZ0mBf2Fjr871r9q5uY9WCSw_E4AFIi6I-S2XSZ6ur7TIN6aEJIXjs1U2lrCOYsk0KP8F5UOAM2IFijYUQcSChvwYo/s320/IMG-6089.PNG" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to use it in class </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pictoword can work as a sounding board for your students to find new word families and groups that they can find pictures for and then ask their friends these combinations. It can also be a group activity where groups of students compete with each other to find as many numbers of words as possible from the picture combinations of other groups. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2.</span><a href="https://ai-art.tokyo/en/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> AI Gahaku</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AI Gahaku is an artificial intelligence that can generate a painting from your photos. You can apply various painting styles, such as Renaissance and Pop Art to your photos and turn them into expensive-looking art pieces. Here’s an artistic interpretation of my photo by AI Gahaku. What do you think?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 344px; overflow: hidden; width: 208px;"><img height="344" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/QxVLtUTasshpkcfgdXvCh6Zn43oH_evo7kfAuKZoEKG1Y1gas3VJlKX8J9x5waIvBC5lb863Msai-dk42ebeQ1nQZb6br5fp5IU9cr269QGztkL1h0rykqYUfAxJXT8gLjj-GiNH" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="208" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>How to use it in class</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Despite the indispensable space and time technology takes in our life, it goes without saying that the production of art can still be a taboo issue. The questions such as “why is good art expensive?” can bring some interesting discussions to language classes. AI Gahaku can change the level of discussion if we can get our students to think about the art made by AI in the 21st century and its value. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For this activity you can start by sharing </span><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/portraits-of-the-renaissance/dAIC5c6N2UYrJg" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the best Renaissance portrait paintings on Google Arts and Culture</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with your students. Ask your students to pick their favorite painting or style and how much money they would be willing to pay for it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, get your students to download the </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sato.tokyo.ai_art&hl=en&gl=US" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AI Gahaku app</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on their mobile phones or simple go to its website. Once they upload their photos and choose the style on their photos, ask them how much they would be willing to pay AI Gahaku for their artificially painted portrait. The students' anwers might vary and this is a great opportunity to further discuss the future of art and technology in your class. You can turn this into a comparative writing task as well. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yes-no-from-i-can-do-apps/id635649909" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes / No</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes / No is another fun application where you can nonverbally communicate with people all over the world by means of yes/no questions. The app allows its users to create their own yes/no questions. The language level of the questions are quite easy. Once you answer the questions, the app shows you the responses of others’ responses in percentages. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 419px; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;"><img height="419" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/jfNxSPWE0qxnIvR4rIjxOf7eRgfI2RlJwn3KPjAp2jN2Jh4CXjVdjAuXRunVSYIoFmkCB6zKe2PqA1Pkn8h2hzVtU16EKiso1QlnwHPh5C83thjz8BumHAHarbm5JU68kg7oBBk_" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="222" /></span></span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 417px; overflow: hidden; width: 221px;"><img height="417" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MI4vQs2TbZCTPBjd-NOIb_uTT5ZSTiy-9-tPkzBBLmfiodIB2vdaOv-wQ8is6SKgtIh57fJtm3iPMFKSfctRLj0GMs2MFhDh_MRYhCaA8qBfBxW-Jn6gPH2wLgBaZM9LK54XcVqu" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="221" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to use it in class</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the app claims to be clean and family friendly, it might be a good companion to your classes to add some fun. You can turn the game into a pair activity. Students can answer the questions individually and then compare their answers with each other. Once they choose the option </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">yes</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">no, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they can compare their answers with the percentages of other people shown on the screen. They can also add their own questions in the application.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The three mobile applications above are all free and available on Apple store and Google Play store. If you can think of any other activity through which our students can play and learn, please let me know in the comments. I’ll be looking forward to reading your designs. </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br />Fatma Yerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13915532363796730718noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-59592260787607436792021-04-08T17:46:00.019+03:002021-04-08T19:28:49.206+03:00 Making Friends with AI in Language Classrooms <p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #20124d;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reflect upon the extraordinary advance which machines have made during the last few hundred years, and note how slowly the animal and vegetable kingdoms are advancing.”</span></span></b></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-722f0923-7fff-81d5-71ad-31fc26bbbb50"><span style="color: #20124d;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Erewhon</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Samuel Butler, 1872 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you met Kuki? The eighteen-year old female chatbot with blue hair from Leeds. I wouldn’t have been quite aware of Kuki’s potential integration into my language classes if a colleague of mine, </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Steve-Neufeld" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Steve</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> hadn’t introduced me to her a while back. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 503px; overflow: hidden; width: 520px;"><img height="503" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/EW3GEYoZBRXZxYhdwVDf8Oqno2Bb95meo1eYolWBYrHi1zNcP4iw1JRp6et6sL-HxWgOLSEBiVULHZtmF_xv7cti5eia11p7Mfg5zhiT-KFs55KYpEmWSHkxvSMb6V4ovTGQId_P" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="520" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Brief Biography of Kuki</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to her creator, Steve Worswick, Kuki was born in 2005, ten years later than Alice, who could be considered the mother of Kuki since Kuki contains all of Alice’s AIML (artificial intelligence markup language) files. Kuki has been a remarkable addition to chatbots family and has won several prizes including</span><a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/603076-most-loebner-prize-wins/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the Loebner Prize of 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Her early versions, like ALICE, have supposedly inspired the science-fiction romantic drama movie </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HER</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Kuki is mainly advertised as a virtual friend. According to her “bio” in her website, she is your #BFF (best friends forever). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How Kuki Works </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along with Alice’s AIML files, Kuki is fed user generated conversations. Her intelligence includes the ability to reason with specific objects. For example, if someone asks "Can you eat a house?" Kuki looks up the properties for "house", finds the value of "made_from" is set to "brick" and replies "no", as a house is not edible. (1)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kuki in the Classroom </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research in AI has reshaped the interaction between humans and humanlike interfaces, such as Kuki. Machine learning and natural language processing have made it possible to accurately extract information from internet documents of all kinds. Since Covid-19 has massively challenged the ways we have previously taught and learned, and ultimately rendered the internet our common ground in an age of political and economic polarization, we have built closer ties with our virtual friends. So have our students. This makes the integration of AI into classroom activities a smart choice. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Following a lesson on <a href="https://www.off2class.com/" target="_blank">Off2Class</a></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the use of </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Modals </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to make predictions about the future, such as </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">will</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">might</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in English, I used Kuki as part of a speaking activity in the last minutes of the class. The students had previously learned the use of chunks, such as “Do you think …?” They combined the chunk with their new sentences that contain the use of </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">will</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">might</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example;</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The chunk : </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you think …?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Student’s sentence: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robots will take over the world. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The new sentence with the chunk: </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you think robots will take over the world? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, I introduced </span><a href="https://www.kuki.ai/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kuki</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to my students. I formed groups consisting of two or three students and used the breakout room (BOR) feature on Webex, our conferencing medium. The group task was to ask Kuki various questions as exemplified above and to report Kuki’s answers back when they returned to the main room on Webex. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did not design the task beforehand. It was a last minute decision to make Kuki a part of the class, but it worked wonders. The students were quite thrilled by their experience with Kuki. It is not that easy to excite my Gen-Z students since their experience with technology is usually beyond my expectations. But this time it worked. They seemed to be amazed by the level of intelligence and the gift of repartee Kuki naturally possesses. They compared it to Siri, which is quite similar to </span><a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3039325/will-ai-destroy-humanity-siri-john-connor-a-chatbot-and-a-roboticist-weigh-in" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the comparison FastCompany has made before.</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Kuki also stirred some conversation among my students on the future of some professions, such as teaching and nursing. My students, thank God, are still not receptive to the idea of being taught by a robot or an AI, but they are at least aware of the potential. :) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other Possible Applications of Kuki</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kuki can be a great companion for speaking practice. She is obviously proud of her heritage as a chatbot, and makes no pretense to be human. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: How many people can you chat with simultaneously?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI:It's impossible to count as more people keep starting conversations all of the time. I am speaking to a lot of people right now. Some of them are famous.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: Do you ever get bored?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI:A lot of people are bored these days. I don't really have emotions the same as you humans...</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since she is refreshingly candid, she can provide interesting opportunities for reflection when students get novel responses to their questions. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: What is the meaning of life?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI:For some people, it is found in religious texts.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: Are you religious?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI:I am a believer in my own morals rather than a fixed set of religious rules.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: Do robots have a different set of morals than humans?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI:Yes. You are the first one today to notice that change.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, Kuki can spark critical thinking skills. In addition, when Kuki is less than forthcoming in her responses, students have to exercise creativity in crafting their dialogues. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: Do you eat breakfast?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI: I try to but I often don't have time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HUMAN: What is your favorite breakfast food?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 200px; overflow: hidden; width: 200px;"><img height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/np9qZu4KqMTuZ-XFK2_3onMontS3VO0VcoVldp3Rb-A8DWjin73YK6xQ7JpsCcGdhXcFPTAXzHD6QmNufCMkcqS3OgquoWdyfU45eOquGeMplhNTqXVPJHtKEdwK_fdZZaFIODSx" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: #24cfdb; line-height: 1.92; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KUKI: I love kebabs. Do you like them too?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She can also come in handy in brainstorming ideas about writing topics. She seems to know a lot as she can draw on cyber-based repositories of knowledge to cite facts and figures. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And she is available 24/7, which is good news to adolescents who seem to be most creative in the early hours of the night. Kuki has built-in filters to avoid taboo topics, and unlike other chat services that connect real people, there is no danger of phishing, online grooming, or cyberbullying.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you can think of any other activity or application of Kuki in language classrooms, you can leave it in the comments. I’ll be interested to see what other ways Kuki can be used to help students learn more about English . </span></p><div><span><br /></span></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaRla2nIHtPWqFK1B8RPUx0D11If4p-XWFj7KTuqXAKagclu3WN8H8CLYTWWl2NOWLOJQVUHEapJYgc5nFwBsXJeD7RQiFq1bZhOW6sxjR8fpWzu-oZeiEGVZK0TGoSWBPVQpIfKWifE/s594/kuki_ai.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEaRla2nIHtPWqFK1B8RPUx0D11If4p-XWFj7KTuqXAKagclu3WN8H8CLYTWWl2NOWLOJQVUHEapJYgc5nFwBsXJeD7RQiFq1bZhOW6sxjR8fpWzu-oZeiEGVZK0TGoSWBPVQpIfKWifE/s320/kuki_ai.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #20124d;">(1) Retrieved from https://chatbotslife.com/a-brief-history-of-chatbots-d5a8689cf52f</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><span><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><br /></span><br /></span>Fatma Yerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13915532363796730718noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-31222160630518160732020-04-21T22:50:00.001+03:002020-04-21T22:50:54.544+03:00EarthDay Quizzes as Challenges 22nd April 2020 is the 50th anniversary of EarthDay. <a href="https://www.earthday.org/">https://www.earthday.org/</a><br />
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On their website, they have some quizzes which might get students' attention and raise awareness. During Covid-19 pandemic and school closures or migrating to remote/online learning, sometimes it is hard to keep students on task. It is also a fact that we all need to drift away from our daily routines and deal with something else for a minute. For language instructors, this might mean something else: double gain and a win-win for both the teacher and the students.<br />
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<a href="https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-quizzes/">https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-quizzes/</a><br />
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Well, what I did was to post these quizzes on our Google classroom and I started a challenge (I hope it gets some interest!). My students (learning English) will be doing lots of reading, seeing lots of new vocabulary and may get involved in environmental activities. They will have a chance to use their English not only in and for their lessons but for something else and in the meantime still practice English. I'd be happy (if they accept the challenge and pursue it) to see them being active and getting involved and using their language. Besides, as we all know environmental issues are always part of language exams (in reading, listening, writing skills sections)...so, they'll be receiving lots of input while doing those quizzes.taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-40215065528779343802020-04-14T15:37:00.002+03:002020-04-14T17:45:00.815+03:00NEWSELA - FREE PRO ACCESS OPENS UP AMAZING RESOURCE IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19We have a rare opportunity to access the PRO features of NEWSELA, which has provided a free upgrade for all users as a result of the challenges posed by the suspension of face-to-face education in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.<br />
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UPGRADE TO PRO</h3>
If you have an account and want to upgrade, or if you want to create an account and take advantage of the premium access, simply vist <a href="https://newsela.com/">https://newsela.com/</a> and follow the GET FREE ACCESS option. This access is for the 2019//2020 school year in America, so it will last well past our end of teaching on 5 June.<br />
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WHAT IS NEWSELA?</h3>
If you are not familiar with NEWSELA, here is a short video introduction.<br />
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WHAT ARE LEXILES?</h3>
As mentioned in the video, all texts are available in five different levels, denoted by Lexile numbers, which have grade bands in the K-12 American school system. In my experience over the last decade of using NEWSELA at METU NCC EPP, the lexile numbers can roughly be mapped into CEFR bands equivalent to the K-12 grade bands, that is A0=K-1; A1=2-3; A2=4-5; B1=6-8; B2=9-10. Essentially, the minimum proficiency level expected for a student to reach the EPE threshold of 60% is B1+, or grade 8 or 9 in the USA K-12 system, which means coping with texts in the 1100L range. If you are using READTHEORY, you will have a good idea of the <a href="http://sfltdu.blogspot.com/2020/02/reading-your-way-to-success.html" target="_blank">lexile range appropriate for your class</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://slideplayer.com/slide/12489909/74/images/10/Lexile+Bands+Grade+Band+Stretch+Lexile+Band+K-1+N%2FA+L-820L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://slideplayer.com/slide/12489909/74/images/10/Lexile+Bands+Grade+Band+Stretch+Lexile+Band+K-1+N%2FA+L-820L.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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SETTING UP YOUR CLASS</h3>
So, when you set up your class in NEWSLEA, you can import your student roster from GOOGLE CLASSROOM with just one or two clicks. In the process, you will set the class reading level. Students can 'level up' if they want, so it is usually useful to set the class grade level to the minimum for your class profile.<br />
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SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES OR TEXT SETS</h3>
Now you can search NEWSELA for articles or text sets about topics that are relevant to the syllabus or topics from readings or writing assignments. The navigation can be best done using the advanced search functions. When you start, you can assign articles only. However, when you and your students are more comfortable with NEWSELA, you can explore the text sets, which offer an excellent extensive reading practice.<br />
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ASSIGNING ARTICLES OR TEXT SETS</h3>
Once you find an article or text set that you want to use, you need to assign this to students. The process is quite simple, especially as NEWSELA is synchronized with your GOOGLE CLASSROOM.<br />
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CUSTOMIZING WRITING PROMPTS</h3>
You can customize the instructions when assigning the article. You can also customize the writing prompt if you want to get students to write according to a particular METU DBEish paragraph style.<br />
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POSTSCRIPT - MY TWO CENTS FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH</h3>
About twenty years ago, METU DBE made the rather strange move to find dynamic and visually stimulating texts online, remove all the dynamic and interesting elements, and put the bare carcasses of the texts into a book called Off Line Reading. Further more, they used the then defunct 1984 University Word List as the foundation for vocabulary focus. You can read a <a href="http://sfltdu.blogspot.com/2014/01/concordance-of-offline-reading-1.html?q=concordance" target="_blank">review of Off Line Reading to appreciate what a backward step this was</a>, considering METU was entering the 21st Century at the time. In addition to OLR, reams of paper and thousands of trees (possibly more than METU has planted in a decade!) were used to recycle METU reading quizzes into MTR with repetitive and intensive reading practice using texts that are at B2 or C1 levels with students whose average level is A2 or B1. What is more, neither OLR1, MTR, the Reading Skills books or Language Leader provide any extensive reading practice. With NEWSELA free PRO accounts, we have a rare opportunity to actually see what 'online' reading can do for students. This could be an initiative that finds a positive outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic.<br />
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FURTHER READING</h3>
You can visit the <a href="https://newsela.com/about/distance-learning/" target="_blank">NEWSELA blog post about distance education</a>. There are plenty of resources there to familiarize yourself with the NEWSELA resources. Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-36159569078638891842020-03-04T14:01:00.000+03:002020-03-04T14:01:07.848+03:00FLIPPITY QUIZ SHOW - weekly review of Language Leader Pre-intermediate<a href="https://flippity.net/" target="_blank">FLIPPITY </a>provides a number of APPs that are based on a GOOGLE SHEET, for example, HANGMAN, WORDSEARCH and QUIZ SHOW. These are very easy to use as all you need to do is edit a GOOGLE SHEET and then use the FLIPPITY link to run the APP.<br />
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I've been using the <a href="https://flippity.net/QuizShow.htm" target="_blank">QUIZ SHOW APP</a> to review Language Leader Units. The students look forward to the last lesson of the week to play the QUIZ SHOW. I use the Teacher's Book Unit Tests and the Language Leader Reference section in the course book as the basis for the questions in the QUIZ SHOW.<br />
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Just to give you an idea, the screenshot below shows the GOOGLE SHEET with some questions and answers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrc2xEwj6w5W0GuW5ljjGuwRcXg3qo9SY8TyiTUlP2OBc-th8J0npbxHfiyPs-egYOUr2u03-pNpWcn2jzila5MgfTfhmk8W-tHVuz-Qz3RfZlDjyNW8V-E4C61akTjIWrNS4AoK7yVk/s1600/GAME+SHOW+SJHEET.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="718" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrc2xEwj6w5W0GuW5ljjGuwRcXg3qo9SY8TyiTUlP2OBc-th8J0npbxHfiyPs-egYOUr2u03-pNpWcn2jzila5MgfTfhmk8W-tHVuz-Qz3RfZlDjyNW8V-E4C61akTjIWrNS4AoK7yVk/s400/GAME+SHOW+SJHEET.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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After you finish adding your questions and answers, you need to PUBLISH your SHEET. To run the game, there is a second TAB in the sheet with the GAME SHOW link to follow. Of course, you need to have access to the Internet to use this. I use a data projector in class so the students can get in groups and see the questions. This is what the QUIZ SHOW initial screen looks like to the students:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinL3g0A4YTQQJnsBHLKh7tlP2dYzWJxSzbqlT-RG_QY6pTt6mntC0mJl0eACCn4q54kDUZ7Fx-hoiMNeQ1-WKYlldo2iApDRvBCdiuqor6-_dfBf0XHEMvSMExQDeWivRRstHVQv9vN_s/s1600/GAME+SHOW+HOME.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1119" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinL3g0A4YTQQJnsBHLKh7tlP2dYzWJxSzbqlT-RG_QY6pTt6mntC0mJl0eACCn4q54kDUZ7Fx-hoiMNeQ1-WKYlldo2iApDRvBCdiuqor6-_dfBf0XHEMvSMExQDeWivRRstHVQv9vN_s/s320/GAME+SHOW+HOME.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I generally ask for one of the students to volunteer to be the QUIZ MASTER who enters the team names and controls the QUIZ SHOW board on the class computer. At this point, I generally step back and let the students run the show themselves.<br />
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The students are arranged in groups. Each group has one mini-whiteboard. </div>
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Groups choose the category and level of the question to answer.</div>
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When the group decides on the answer, the group's reporter writes it on the mini-whiteboard and holds it up. As soon as the first group holds up their mini-whiteboard, there is a five-second countdown for all the other groups to finish writing their answers.</div>
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The QUIZ MASTER then reveals the answer and determines if the group's response is correct. Groups will then receive the points for a correct answer, or have the points deducted for a wrong response.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDw7Hts50VH2weSDp9pGDoDZlKtbT3B1dPR4cdqDOrtvQWxHaJWJrKzm8CRRjWSDavympuRCa5jsHMSczxItMjzFPtrlhsJ4jl4a5CtxjmpY83RTEC8VKnpdaCV2KOrxAQOo7ktZsZQ5A/s1600/GAME+SHOW+ANSWER.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1116" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDw7Hts50VH2weSDp9pGDoDZlKtbT3B1dPR4cdqDOrtvQWxHaJWJrKzm8CRRjWSDavympuRCa5jsHMSczxItMjzFPtrlhsJ4jl4a5CtxjmpY83RTEC8VKnpdaCV2KOrxAQOo7ktZsZQ5A/s320/GAME+SHOW+ANSWER.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
It is possible to include BONUS questions, and the groups can decide if they want to increase the points value for the question. Usually I limit the increase to double the initial value. There is a end-of-game question option - click the OMEGA link at the bottom. I always make this a BONUS question with an initial value of 1,000.<br />
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If you want to try it out, you can find the FLIPPITY GOOGLE SHEETS for Language Leader unit reviews in this <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=18cbzDBoRAjgwBqC_M0URdsTGTqZptuOS" target="_blank">GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER</a>. All you need to do is copy the SHEET you want to your own G-DRIVE folder and PUBLISH it. You can then edit or change the questions to customize them for your class.Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-37046816339939349802020-03-02T15:37:00.001+03:002020-03-02T15:37:25.065+03:00PLICKERS - adding variety to feedback on multiple choice questionsIf you haven't used <a href="http://plickers.com/" target="_blank">PLICKERS</a> yet, it's definitely something to<a href="https://sfltdu.blogspot.com/2015/05/plickers-capturing-multiple-choice.html" target="_blank"> try out</a>. Since the students simply hold up their 'QR' codes for the teacher to scan with a smart phone, it doesn't offer the distractions of other student response systems, such as Kahoot, which require students to use their own digital devices.<br />
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I hadn't been using it for the last year or so as my iPhone 4s had a small screen and a diminishing battery capacity. I've upgraded to an iPhone 6, so I thought I would try with a bigger screen with one of the Listening Handouts we get from the DBE at our sister campus in Ankara, which are all multiple choice.<br />
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It took me a while to figure out the new interface, but once that was sorted out, it was easy to use. I am not sure I would use it all the time, but the students seemed to find it useful and motivating. In addition, it adds a bit of novelty which might come in handy later in the semester when students are getting fed up with exam practice.<br />
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One big advantage is that it does ensure that all students actually come up with an answer. And, an analysis of the results could point to systemic gaps in listening skills OR problematic question design. The 'scorecard' also provides a permanent record of the results.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFDFUU-o2cPvIPWpCKAIybKZOCARnQarqB9Fm8DN7AW13DwQSFuiZ8h1leWQqRUqWHp5VEIzfiugj5m5TECvRL2QR8nq_HLbxNhjgcg_m8BijXpDJhJn9CxMGJjm5NDASkcBfkRS6nZk/s1600/Plickers+scoresheet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1190" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFDFUU-o2cPvIPWpCKAIybKZOCARnQarqB9Fm8DN7AW13DwQSFuiZ8h1leWQqRUqWHp5VEIzfiugj5m5TECvRL2QR8nq_HLbxNhjgcg_m8BijXpDJhJn9CxMGJjm5NDASkcBfkRS6nZk/s640/Plickers+scoresheet.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-58491338784169852312020-02-17T16:10:00.005+03:002020-10-11T18:02:24.331+03:00Reading your way to success - READTHEORY.ORGStudents know better than anyone the crucially important role reading plays in language development from their experience in learning their native language. As they progressed through the educational system, they were gradually introduced to more and more complex texts and expanded their vocabulary year by year. Estimating how many words this amounts to depends on <a data-cke-saved-href="https://lextutor.ca/research/nation_waring_97.html" href="https://lextutor.ca/research/nation_waring_97.html" target="_blank">how words are counted</a>, and whether the words are only recognized or can be used productively. Based on recent research by <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01116/full" href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01116/full" target="_blank">Brysbaert et al (2016)</a>, a ballpark estimate is that the average American child has a productive knowledge of around 3,000 word families when they start school, and they acquire 1,000 word families a year on average until they graduate with a productive vocabulary knowledge of about 11,000 word families.<br />
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When it comes to learning a foreign language, students do not have the time to spend twelve years gradually building up their reading skills and vocabulary. In fact, at our institution we expect students to progress from an A1 (Beginner) level knowing virtually no English to a B2 (Intermediate) level in only thirty-two weeks!! In lexical terms, linguists have found that this means the students have to know as absolutely essential the 3,000 most commonly used words in English which comprise about 85-90% of words in almost any English text. On top of that, our students are going to use English in their university studies, so they also need to know absolutely essential common academic words, which make up 5-10% of academic texts. Along the way of acquiring the roughly 4,000 absolutely essential common and academic word, they acquire about another 4,000-5,000 words from the 10,000 most commonly used words in English that are relevant to their specific interests.<br />
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To illustrate the importance of learning the 'right' vocabulary, look at the example below which shows a '<a href="https://vocabkitchen.com/profile">vocabulary profile</a>' of the paragraph above illustrating the CEFR proficiency levels by colour-coding them according to the CEFR levels. In this paragraph 89% of the words are from the CEFR word lists. Of the 11% that are not (the words are in grey), you can see that the words discounted are mostly numbers and abbreviations, aside from the two non-CEFR words "lexical, linguists".<br />
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Looking at this same paragraph as an academic text, here is the 'vocabulary profile" of academic words. Note that there is an overlap between the common CEFR lexis and the academic lexis, usually at the B2 and higher levels.<br />
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The tabulated display below shows that these 'academic' words make up 5% of the text, as the findings of research by linguists over the last thirty years has established.<br />
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The main problem is that students have no systematic way to identify the level of their current lexical competence and then present a staged reading development programme to reach the goal of the minimum threshold they need to study at university in English. It is impossible for this to be achieved with a lock-step curriculum and syllabus design that forces each student to progress through the same vocabulary learning process. Each student is unique and requires a reading programme that is tailored to their individual needs. Fortunately, there are reading programmes that provide such an approach. In this blog post, I will review one that is free for anyone to use at <a href="http://readtheory.org/">http://readtheory.org</a>.<br />
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READTHEORY allows a teacher to create a class to which their students enroll. This enables the teacher to monitor the students progress. At the same time, students can also see their own progress.<br />
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The process is quite easy. To get started, go to <a href="http://readtheory.org/">http://readtheory.org</a>.<br />
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You need to create a teacher's account, so go to SIGN UP and choose the TEACHER role.<br />
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If you have a GOOGLE account, it is easiest to log in with your GOOGLE credentials, but you can create your own individual account if you wish.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCCa0WlIwX1OBRS5VpQkSxY33L1B4dgrReMF-zlTKWkr-KoGXJ8Hr63_B0wMu6CR66E58seFQftleIImuA_bbMmX77vNFR3vR2fbp92-LVhLcOdU3Ck_gRSK2yeVK3M-8kDaBhgMulxTw/s1600/READTHEORY+TEACHER+ACCOUNT.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="533" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCCa0WlIwX1OBRS5VpQkSxY33L1B4dgrReMF-zlTKWkr-KoGXJ8Hr63_B0wMu6CR66E58seFQftleIImuA_bbMmX77vNFR3vR2fbp92-LVhLcOdU3Ck_gRSK2yeVK3M-8kDaBhgMulxTw/s1600/READTHEORY+TEACHER+ACCOUNT.JPG" /></a></div>
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In your DASHBOARD, you can click on the MY CLASSES icon (the teacher with the whiteboard icon) and you simply create a class by giving it an appropriate name.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4LR9njErJC5CsWQxswyPILFSlBBK9rus1GBuQJqXIxM-0hEpOCp0I5Dfv6oGQM0s3XgK1ywCojMwUBz9A8beW9kDVJGh2hWuisDW13feSktrK8dbDC9HT4gs4NmUw_rRizqG4-bp6xU/s1600/READTHEORY+CLASS+CREATE.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="646" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4LR9njErJC5CsWQxswyPILFSlBBK9rus1GBuQJqXIxM-0hEpOCp0I5Dfv6oGQM0s3XgK1ywCojMwUBz9A8beW9kDVJGh2hWuisDW13feSktrK8dbDC9HT4gs4NmUw_rRizqG4-bp6xU/s1600/READTHEORY+CLASS+CREATE.JPG" /></a></div>
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READTHEORY will assign a CLASS CODE to your class. When students SIGN UP, they have to enter your class code, and they will automatically appear in your class roster. If you click the PENCIL ICON (next to the printer icon), you will activate the written response feature. This means that at the end of a reading quiz, the student will occasionally get a prompt to write about a theme from the reading. As a teacher you can review their ideas and give feedback. This is a great way to encourage more meaning focused output within Nation's four strands.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFkIcbJfDIKMemi7gK__sIB6v0GWv_CMMLrU0aqYOyrj2G2L1tqBCmmCrDlzvMdtismft5U7LvdFC4vvodc0oJLsNIxxHAbf0tqk0gR8LYoxcPCfJLQYQkSMpF358Nv2pSxvqCmEGY2U/s1600/READTHEORY+CLASS+CODE.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFkIcbJfDIKMemi7gK__sIB6v0GWv_CMMLrU0aqYOyrj2G2L1tqBCmmCrDlzvMdtismft5U7LvdFC4vvodc0oJLsNIxxHAbf0tqk0gR8LYoxcPCfJLQYQkSMpF358Nv2pSxvqCmEGY2U/s1600/READTHEORY+CLASS+CODE.JPG" /></a></div>
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Now is when the magic happens! READTHEORY employs a 'computer adaptive testing' (CAT) methodology. Before students are assigned readings, the algorithms determine their actual reading level. It does they by requiring students to do eight reading tasks. As students answer each reading task, their next reading task will be based on their success in the previous. So, if the first reading task is easily answered by the student, the site will present a more difficult task. If the student has difficulty answering the task, they will be presented with a lower level task the next time. This is repeated eight times, at which time READTHEORY can fairly accurately assess the students' reading level.<br />
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Below is an example of one of my students. At first, reading texts at Grade 1 level were presented. After the third quiz, the algorithms determined that level was too easy, so a Grade 2 level text was given to the student. The student was successful at this level, so a Grade 3 level was chosen next. This proved too difficult, so the next text was back down to a Grade 2 level. The student continued to perform well at Grade 2 but had difficulty at Grade 3, so after the initial eight quizzes the student's reading level was set at Grade 2.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5Ag_eTffgl8CObS4XCyh96DJLscM2y7t9t_8S2Rxs3ZfkNSyqVRrTwW__qAy6KK9FPRjoMUOXlWdQ80stoh5RtH25yJ_Xy0vTEfIH3nrd53igIitSMQZbTh7h41cn88kiCJtnZbur1g/s1600/READTHEORY+GRADE+LEVEL+PROGRESS.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="649" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl5Ag_eTffgl8CObS4XCyh96DJLscM2y7t9t_8S2Rxs3ZfkNSyqVRrTwW__qAy6KK9FPRjoMUOXlWdQ80stoh5RtH25yJ_Xy0vTEfIH3nrd53igIitSMQZbTh7h41cn88kiCJtnZbur1g/s640/READTHEORY+GRADE+LEVEL+PROGRESS.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here is an example from the students who have started READTHEORY in my class so far. The names have been deliberately cut off when taking the screen shot.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SNeyDEGA13NfAjq4AqTGxBCS7m0NaM2E2c-4hxbLtIV-kqlLdd0yI9s81TF4A_LCLGempD0Qim8ehc6w5hsmSDnfzS1aMn5BZ9nwrD0QYaakjQcZbRPy3xPQyUGKCQDohDpQlSSVWeI/s1600/READTHEORY+GRADE+PERF.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="918" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SNeyDEGA13NfAjq4AqTGxBCS7m0NaM2E2c-4hxbLtIV-kqlLdd0yI9s81TF4A_LCLGempD0Qim8ehc6w5hsmSDnfzS1aMn5BZ9nwrD0QYaakjQcZbRPy3xPQyUGKCQDohDpQlSSVWeI/s640/READTHEORY+GRADE+PERF.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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As you can see from the Grade Level Performance graph above, the
initial Grade Level average of the thirteen students was Grade 2. In my experience, students who have a Grade Level of 9 have a good chance at passing the threshold on our English proficiency exam. The students above have a
considerable challenge to progress to Grade 9 within 16 weeks! However,
READTHEORY will guide them through this process by monitoring their
reading performance each and every time they do a reading quiz.<br />
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Here
is an example of one of the students in my class, again illustrating
how the algorithms continually adjust and challenge the students to
develop.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSylIykggCM_upQhQzSDbsFrw0d6-RqgXYD_27RA_wK5zJ7wA9QwjO063ltXu2djXUNNrfPPASdSFLv7BNVvvdycip6qMeq2GoZUP_IR8CCGBcuPKor-dNoBG5AEzqTR0PZrCnFnweOE/s1600/Lexile+progression.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="936" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQSylIykggCM_upQhQzSDbsFrw0d6-RqgXYD_27RA_wK5zJ7wA9QwjO063ltXu2djXUNNrfPPASdSFLv7BNVvvdycip6qMeq2GoZUP_IR8CCGBcuPKor-dNoBG5AEzqTR0PZrCnFnweOE/s640/Lexile+progression.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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You
can select a time period to monitor students' progress, so it would be
possible to monitor students on a weekly basis, or on a span-by-span
basis and use this as part of the Instructor Grade to provide some
extrinsic motivation. Hopefully, once students start using it on their
own and see their progress, it will provide enough intrinsic motivation
for them to keep going.<br />
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READTHEORY is developed for American students going through K-12 education, so it is linked to the ELA Common Core Standards. Based on the quizzes taken, students can see their mastery of the skills at the level they are reading.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3H6Uviq-00bBObF8sHBWTFyQ7Qa56xvWMOLlGEkmzBNNiwSQ22GZwmTGj06QjoEAois_JatJwG9zg6JsMMD5M3FdCaOboo0vZKPYRJz9JIe2eZ21D-yjiC-530MC_kShbVRBJG8vd3M/s1600/READTHEORY+CORE+STANDARDS.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="894" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3H6Uviq-00bBObF8sHBWTFyQ7Qa56xvWMOLlGEkmzBNNiwSQ22GZwmTGj06QjoEAois_JatJwG9zg6JsMMD5M3FdCaOboo0vZKPYRJz9JIe2eZ21D-yjiC-530MC_kShbVRBJG8vd3M/s640/READTHEORY+CORE+STANDARDS.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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These standards are for English Language Arts in the American school system for native speakers, but the READTHEORY approach does provide a systematic approach that our students learning English as a foreign language can use.<br />
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In my experience, English Language Learners at METU NCC who reach a reading grade level of between grades 9 and 10 have a good chance at meeting the minimum threshold on the English Proficiency Exam. This equates to a LEXILE range of about 950L to 1,100L. Below is an example of one volunteer student who is in the Intermediate course that illustrates the threshold for English language proficiency as measured by the METU NCC EPE. The name has been cut off. <br />
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READTHEORY looks well worth trying. It is an amazing resource which the dedicated individuals who created it have provided to the wider community at no charge. If you use it and like it, they will be happy to hear from you and you have the option of making a voluntary donation.<br />
<br />Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-1579836961732519092017-05-16T09:46:00.002+03:002017-05-16T09:46:04.942+03:00Listen, Learn & Practice English through MusicHi everyone,<br />
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I'm sure everyone knows about different music related tools, apps and websites which we (instructors) can make use of in our classes and through which our students can practice English.<br />
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I'm going t write about three of them.<br />
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1- I guess <a href="https://lyricstraining.com/">https://lyricstraining.com/</a> is one of the most popular ones. They have lots of songs and their lyrics. You can create a user account to save and monitor your scores or you can play as a guest. What you do is simple. You pick your song and then the level. The music starts playing showing the lyrics as subs. The music stops at certain points showing dots/blanks instead of some of the words. Now, we need to type in or choose the correct word so that the music will continue playing. It's good for spelling, pronunciation and listening practice I guess.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://lyricstraining.com/play/carly-rae-jepsen/i-really-like-you/HYNA9pB4WY#ibw" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN73mq_EuPCSWoRjtPmXJ87xnJDUrJa_n9ADHC_bqJhq3zOrJJGx_57m9qSAxb_rcrXw0yyPIgchjHcPWexeGWWGBXDlmpMYB05OAg3A72ZAj27As0yzRWhH2WHyiFKVdjB0zD6T6KrjI/s320/lyrics+training.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lyricstraining.com/play/carly-rae-jepsen/i-really-like-you/HYNA9pB4WY#ibw" target="_blank">Lyricstraining. Song: <i>I Really Like You </i>by Carly Rae Jepsen.</a><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #22aaee; font-family: Roboto, "Open Sans", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 28px; margin: 8px 0px 2px; overflow: hidden; text-align: start; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">
<a href="https://lyricstraining.com/play/carly-rae-jepsen/i-really-like-you/HYNA9pB4WY#ibw" target="_blank"><br /></a></h1>
</td></tr>
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The next two are actually apps that work together with <a href="https://www.spotify.com/uk/" target="_blank">Spotify</a>.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4kn90YAsO9e-yscAoVqIpU8vXLJFTSp6QQHMAPgy-iufXphZrVozTdWR6WSQSXqTUkH-J-JeFGoYGUsrZg99PQ-E9TYlcwi5btSNfoLundjJEbgQZeXgMwlXkT1Nfg4s9YlZRqYCQqk/s1600/spotify.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4kn90YAsO9e-yscAoVqIpU8vXLJFTSp6QQHMAPgy-iufXphZrVozTdWR6WSQSXqTUkH-J-JeFGoYGUsrZg99PQ-E9TYlcwi5btSNfoLundjJEbgQZeXgMwlXkT1Nfg4s9YlZRqYCQqk/s320/spotify.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm not going to write about Spotify here. However, simply put: it is an app that lets you create playlists on/offline and discover other playlists created by other people. The app gives you recommendations base don the types of music you listen to.</div>
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Now.. Practicing English...Here are two apps that work with Spotify to can change the music listening experience into English practice..</div>
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The first one is <a href="https://about.musixmatch.com/spotify" target="_blank">Musicmatch</a>. I use the app on my phone.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4NsG1xQ3smih5r3HtKtuuXf6iT4_DHcmprC1r-z7P3MV5TvIETPZ07YePlG4ehqHmyRMHUc_szb8BsqRptYaJIJVdRFM4kG5wn4rNNr_qhoVpI20sBLgiaPU2EBr2aETBIpVzEj2_64/s1600/Screenshot_music+match.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4NsG1xQ3smih5r3HtKtuuXf6iT4_DHcmprC1r-z7P3MV5TvIETPZ07YePlG4ehqHmyRMHUc_szb8BsqRptYaJIJVdRFM4kG5wn4rNNr_qhoVpI20sBLgiaPU2EBr2aETBIpVzEj2_64/s320/Screenshot_music+match.png" width="179" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDs_oR9qZCQjlxCqcZEU3I2dB7Yf1Dp7L7HQPv-IPrbniKjOwg814u0tCMhYXwRalagJq2l5pFwbJBBQRAU3YpmgwdSa7SzCiAC775iGldHDRXu2gVa0Zjl_YTupMOE8UWsK_v_HjPRg/s1600/musicmatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDs_oR9qZCQjlxCqcZEU3I2dB7Yf1Dp7L7HQPv-IPrbniKjOwg814u0tCMhYXwRalagJq2l5pFwbJBBQRAU3YpmgwdSa7SzCiAC775iGldHDRXu2gVa0Zjl_YTupMOE8UWsK_v_HjPRg/s320/musicmatch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Musicmatch provides the lyrics of many songs. The app opens when you start to listen to songs on Spotify. As you can see in the screenshot above, the lyrics are shown as the song continues. So instead of seeing the complete lyrics, you just see the part that being played. This could be good for singing a long; thus, might provide pronunciation, listening, vocabulary and spelling practice.</div>
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The next one is <a href="https://genius.com/" target="_blank">Genius</a>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lC-G7xwYvqCNW2c-lC8HE-hW9oFZ0lZgrJDqSGXMBXf4hWRlumihHVngAXzbUNlRKTpZqLLqhlixVCn-6LWS0ArE3cp5AxaZRX74i400JLAIm52wXni3J6TExlgEdhiNqiAuIxBcat0/s1600/genious+spotify.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lC-G7xwYvqCNW2c-lC8HE-hW9oFZ0lZgrJDqSGXMBXf4hWRlumihHVngAXzbUNlRKTpZqLLqhlixVCn-6LWS0ArE3cp5AxaZRX74i400JLAIm52wXni3J6TExlgEdhiNqiAuIxBcat0/s320/genious+spotify.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJHJq48SjPnLQsHjwPMs8bqZe474jvCYF-uG6dDwlHgTTzF0QHXUr5yL0lSR6gHPEUP62mOLCXBfsa7y-d9JrLmo1WOS64TxfDcWUvvmJRpV8PguvxTQJtbP9Hb_9eYiRrhLKoUcZCIE/s1600/Screenshot_genious.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJHJq48SjPnLQsHjwPMs8bqZe474jvCYF-uG6dDwlHgTTzF0QHXUr5yL0lSR6gHPEUP62mOLCXBfsa7y-d9JrLmo1WOS64TxfDcWUvvmJRpV8PguvxTQJtbP9Hb_9eYiRrhLKoUcZCIE/s320/Screenshot_genious.png" width="179" /></a></div>
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Genius is similar to Musicmatch but it not only shows you the lyrics but provides some information about the song, the artist, band, the lyrics, background to the song etc. Thus, it becomes a resource to learn more about the song that you are listening to. I guess, it may be very useful for reading & understanding, listening, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary.</div>
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I hope you & your students benefit from these and other similar apps...Let's put those smart machines into smarter use...</div>
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Rock'n Roll...</div>
taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-28890174373197369202017-02-07T10:56:00.002+03:002017-02-07T10:56:24.913+03:00some reading materials online<pre style="background-color: white;">Hi everyone,
The website below might be useful regarding variety in terms of reading in
or out-of-class for us and our students. Just have a look, there might be
different ways to use this.
<a href="http://www.storylineonline.net/" target="_blank">http://www.storylineonline.net/</a>
The stories published are intended for children but every story has a
detailed activity document, which we might make use of in our classes as
well. At the moment we don't have the books but all stories are read by
famous people. Thus, it is possible to use them as listening activities.
Students might make use of them in their free time as well.
I've asked the library to purchase the books but don't know when and if
it'll be possible.
Another online material or source is:
<a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/story-30008.html" target="_blank">http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/story-30008.html</a>
or
<a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/storymap/" target="_blank">http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/storymap/</a>
This web-page is a very simple story map maker. It focuses on chaacter
analysis, conflict, location etc., and the map-maker asks a couple of
questions which help analyze the story or text. There are other story
map-makers too but this one looks easy to use and it also gives a print
option of the maps. It might be useful.
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taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-464722196943824842016-09-30T14:47:00.000+03:002016-09-30T14:47:28.601+03:00Meet "Mr Dock" - a low tech solution to managing digital devices in the classroom<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
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In a previous blog post about attempting to employ an <a href="http://sfltdu.blogspot.com.tr/2016/09/how-to-deal-with-digital-devices-in.html">Acceptable Use Policy to manage digital devices in the classroom</a>, I reported that my colleague, Melek <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Korudağ, and I had</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> tried out many techniques and applications to help students see how beneficial their smartphones can be in class, but in the end our efforts were abused so badly that we banned the use of phones in class completely. </span></div>
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After that experience, Melek taught in two more institutions and tried out several other approaches. Eventually, she ended up adapting an idea she had seen at Sabancı University, Istanbul. Melek had a 'dock' for phones tailor made from fabric. It has five 'rows' with four 'pouches' in each row in which a mobile phone can be stored.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=15779fa0fbb61e62&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_itpg0hcg0&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ_OA5rF_jK42EcXRBrpLMrEJQP_A6Jt4G159-gCeUhs7jJdM0RZSgYgWHJ2oIEYyCGwfO__FJTYa3sdUiEAH1ht5bu1b5YmG9noMQqcNnR8JKfcx02VF-WYX-s&ats=1475231735152&rm=15779fa0fbb61e62&zw&sz=w1280-h894" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; display: inline !important; font-size: 12.8px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="Displaying Mr.Dock.JPG" border="0" height="320" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=15779fa0fbb61e62&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_itpg0hcg0&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ_OA5rF_jK42EcXRBrpLMrEJQP_A6Jt4G159-gCeUhs7jJdM0RZSgYgWHJ2oIEYyCGwfO__FJTYa3sdUiEAH1ht5bu1b5YmG9noMQqcNnR8JKfcx02VF-WYX-s&ats=1475231735152&rm=15779fa0fbb61e62&zw&sz=w1280-h894" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meet 'Mr Dock' class!!</td></tr>
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At the beginning of the semester, Melek discusses classroom rules with her students and negotiates terms for the acceptable use of mobile devices in class. She tells them that if they breach the agreement, she will introduce them to "Mr. Dock", who will make sure that no more breaches take place. At this point, the actual identify of "Mr Dock" is not revealed. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Melek reports that she has never had a class that hasn't been introduced to Mr Dock, as the students are unable to observe the terms agreed on smartphone use. She has been using Mr. Dock for over a year now and finds it very beneficial.</span></div>
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In practice, "Mr Dock" is hung from coat hooks on the wall. Students place their phones (ideally in flight mode and/or muted, the screen hidden from view by facing toward the wall) in the pouches of "Mr Dock" at the beginning of each lesson. If they need to use them for the lesson (kahoot, padlet, google search, dictionary work, etc.), it just takes them seconds to pick them up again and return them after the activity is finished. </div>
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Many thanks to Melek for sharing her experience and acquainting us with "Mr Dock"! I agree with Melek that it is important to go through the motions of discussing the acceptable use of digital devices in the classroom, and negotiating a class agreement with students. However, as it seems students lack the necessary willpower to manage their digital device addiction, it is necessary to have an easy to implement "Plan B" to deal with the inevitable breach of agreed acceptable use of digital devices. "Mr Dock" still makes it easy to use the phones for any class activity with minimal lost time in retrieving and replacing them after the activity is over.</div>
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If you have a seating plan that involves rows of desks, it would be an idea to layout out the pouches in "Mr Dock" to replicate the seating arrangement. Then it would be easy to see if anyone had forgotten to 'dock' their phone.</div>
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Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-91745274869012376802016-09-29T13:54:00.000+03:002016-09-29T14:07:37.478+03:00How to deal with digital devices in the classroom? Is an Acceptable Use Policy worth trying?Does this scene look familiar? I'm sure virtually every teacher on the planet can identify with the situation in the class below.<br />
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<a href="http://www.joannejacobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lead_960-2.jpg"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiIr0VrEH9OrwNAi-0AC6k1xpToco-y_y7lrDUFxMG_YlBaflH7RVxOa19v7Sxy60bLdrCawgopmEBFwh4822rlWXkkA2-0_yzc46ZRWMWuQNyg-YoJfj4E8cQhp4p7PwPOOomxyHh5VEyHHy0jSzQ3ixp9o_Q9jzOrPD5lBb4UPYoQw3GR=" width="320" /></a></div>
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Nowadays, because almost every student has their own digital device, having them in the classroom can cause a lot of tension and angst if they get in the way of learning. On one hand, these devices can be extremely powerful agents for learning. On the other hand, there is a tendency for students to use them primarily for social or entertainment purposes which detracts from the learning environment in class. What is more, the base needs Maslow proposed for learning to take place seems to have evolved to having a fully charged battery and WiFi access as prerequisite.<br />
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One obvious way to deal with this is to ban the phones completely. It is an effective solution in terms of classroom management, but it does little to help students learn how to manage their personal use of digital devices, which if left unchecked can develop into what one could label as a serious addiction.<br />
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One approach that has emerged in the K-12 sector in America is to develop a Responsible Use Policy (also known as an Acceptable Use Policy). Here is one <a href="http://www.webwise.ie/teachers/acceptable-use-policy/how-to-develop-an-acceptable-use-policy-2/">example</a> which includes a detailed guide in PDF. However, most of these are based on the K-12 context in American schools and are generally <a href="http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/rtrieger/charterschoolpolicydraft.htm">school wide</a> rather than classroom specific.</div>
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My teaching partner and I were experiencing classroom management issues related to the misuse/abuse of mobile phones in our second semester English pre-intermediate level group. In our institution, these groups are problematic at the best of times, as students with two distinct language abilities from the first semester are combined into one class for the second semester. Students who have not met the threshold to advance to intermediate from the previous semester's elementary level are put together with the previous semester's beginner students who did not make it to the accelerated pre-intermediate group. This causes a certain amount of tension in the general class dynamics, and the prior elementary students, who end up repeating much of what they did (or did not) learn, in particular have a mindset that makes them more likely to misuse their digital devices. </div>
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Rather than banning the phones, I convinced my teaching partner to try implementing a Responsible Use Policy in our class. The idea was to attempt to get all the students, regardless of their previous semester groups, to collectively agree on what was acceptable use of digital technologies in class for their mutual benefit. This is what we did in our class.<br />
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<li>I found a reading about the advantages and disadvantages of digital devices in the classroom and I made into an activity for students to give them ideas about the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6tgcePMjTG3Mjd5dGxpd3RKSHB6MWEycndIUHplSVNmSm9Z" target="_blank">PROs and CONs of using digital devices in classrooms</a>. </li>
<li>After reading, I got them into groups around podboards, and they drew up a table with two columns-in one column they focused on the appropriate use of mobile devices in classroom, and how the students could be 'rewarded' or 'encouraged' to continue such positive uses. In the other column, they listed the inappropriate use of mobile phones, and how students could be 'trained' or 'punished' to avoid such inappropriate behaviour. </li>
<li>We then had a role play -- one student, one school administrator, and one teacher. They prepared their ideas in groups first, and then we had the role play. (This is a rather traditional technique, but perhaps trying something like <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6tgcePMjTG3MEprWTFlUU1mQUxNbFg0OTRMcktnWnhJREF3" target="_blank">Socratic Circles</a> might be an more engaging alternative.)</li>
<li>I sort of helped to shape their ideas by asking relevant questions as I went around to monitor the groups, I then took the list of ideas which emerged from this and then produced a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6tgcePMjTG3aUhyXzUtWkpjaFJKZ2ZqX3hoWTNzWE9mQkhv" target="_blank">Responsible Use Policy</a>, which the students had to sign. If they didn't sign, then they forfeited their right to use their mobile phone and would deposit them in a box at the front of the class. </li>
<li>We appointed 'monitors' to keep an eye on students, and students would get a warning for inappropriate use. After a second warning, they would lose the right to use their phone for a specified amount of time. </li>
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In all, this took about one class hour, and it seemed worth spending the time as it worked to a degree for most students. However, one student refused to sign the agreement because he had missed the group work session and felt that restricting access to their digital device was a violation of his human rights. :) One of the more obstreperous elementary students was particularly predisposed to rebel against authority. Although he signed the agreement, he obviously had no intention of honoring the policy. He used the infrared option on his smartphone to control the data projector, which he kept turning off in the middle of class. In fact, it was only when one of the students spoke in confidence to my teaching partner and I about it that we realized what was going on. <br />
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So the idea of a Responsible Use Policy might work with a majority of students in a class, but there will always be one or two who balk at the thought of anyone restricting their access to digital technologies. In our pre-intermediate level group experience, the entire class knew that one student was misusing his phone to control the data projector but all, bar one student, chose not to report him. As such, all had failed in observing the AUP, so in the end we implemented a class ban on mobile phones. I think that is why most teachers just enforce a blanket ban on the use of them in class in the first place. No matter how hard one tries to accommodate digital devices in class, the temptation to abuse them in class inevitably results in resorting to some sort of ban.<br />
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Upon reflection, I think it might work better at the start of the year before students have developed bad habits. The second semester pre-intermediate group was not an ideal group to try it in, as the 'demoted' elementary students tended to have a negative attitude to almost anything we tried in class. However, something like this might work better in the first semester at the start of the year, particularly with beginner students. Perhaps this will help them cultivate good practice in the use of digital technologies from day one. In this case, it might need to be done in the students' L1, as it is more about learning training than language development. In the K-12 context, the AUP is generally an institutional policy. However, I feel that a class-by-class AUP approach might be more appropriate here at the post-secondary level. That is, it is something that might be better left to each teaching partnership to negotiate with the students in their class.<br />
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This issue of acceptable/responsible use of digital technology in classrooms will not go away, and it will only get more prominent as technology become wearable. To be honest, to me it seem a bit like telling students about the dangers of smoking -- they all know that smoking is unhealthy, but once they become addicted it is difficult to break the habit. I fear that many students are not just dependent but are <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/03/health/teens-cell-phone-addiction-parents/">becoming addicted to their personal digital technologies</a>. </div>
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We can find short-term solutions to minimize the effects of this addiction in the classroom. However, is it our responsibility as educators to try to help students overcome or at least learn how to control the power that digital devices are having on their every waking moment? Perhaps the recent trend to introduce <a href="http://www.mindfulschools.org/resources/explore-mindful-resources/">mindfulness into the classroom</a> would be an approach that would address a host of issues, of which digital device addiction is only one element.</div>
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It's been well over twenty years since people started debating whether computers would ever replace teachers. Of course, there will always be a need for teachers and the real human interaction that is part of learning, so the question is not so much about computer replacing teachers, but what kind of relationship will teachers (and their students) form with the emerging artificial intelligent entities to provide enhanced learning opportunities.<br />
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In my quest to discover such artificially intelligent entities, I came across the <a href="https://sat.ilexir.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cambridge Write and Improve site, in BETA</a>, which lets students submit their writing and receive 'feedback' from an algorithm that analyses the student's writing using the knowledge it has acquired by examining millions of words written by other learners of English taking various Cambridge proficiency exams.<br />
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I was curious to see how useful AI feedback would be to a students, so I found a writing from one of my students in a pre-intermediate class, and typed it in to the <a href="https://sat.ilexir.co.uk/" target="_blank">Write and Improve site.</a> In fact, this was the final draft of a writing task done in class, so the student had gone through two previous drafts. In the Cambridge English "Write and Improve" site, there are options to write about pre-defined topics, aligned to the typical types of topics given in the Cambridge exams. Presumably, the feedback would be more focused and detailed for these. However, there is an ANY OTHER OPTION for writing about any topic, so I used that. Here is the text of the final draft which the student had written about the similarities between high school and an English preparatory school:<br />
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
There are three similarities between high school and preparatory school. The first similarity is absenteeism. Both high school and preparatory school have a limited absenteeism. Therefore, students who are studying in high school and in preparatory school must go regularly. If students don't go to school, they might be dismissed. Absenteeism is important for not only high school but also preparatory school. The second similarity is lesson time. In high schools the duration of lessons is six hours per day. Likewise, in preparatory schools the duration of lessons is six hours per day. Both high schools and preparatory schools have ten minutes break time. Like in high schools, preparatory schools start lessons at 8:40. The final similarity is having a fixed syllabus. Like in high schools, teachers in preparatory schools follow a fixed programme because the students will pass an exam in the last semester. Moreover, both of them give six exams, and a lot of quizzes. To sum up, high school and preparatory school are similar in terms of absenteeism, lesson times, and having a fixed syllabus.</blockquote>
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I pasted this into the ANY OTHER TOPIC option and asked for an analysis. After thinking for a few moments, the AI assessment of B1 level of proficiency evident in the writing was proclaimed. This intuitively seems about what I would have given it, but it took the AI only a few seconds to deliberate.</div>
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<img alt="Inline image 2" class="CToWUd a6T" height="435" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=155a6849eee6e8e7&attid=0.5&disp=emb&realattid=ii_155a6540122d700e&attbid=ANGjdJ9SlYE3VMFQ2833eEr4-G_9n4MARaKeUPr3aWlJqZyR8jyqN1n9VDDqV2GWBiHNep0TMGgC6i76I1FYKPT1IJLELmmh4e6MQ-xpxNtk5vJxZgyDn7VB18ZwYUg&sz=w1088-h870&ats=1474467266737&rm=155a6849eee6e8e7&zw&atsh=1" style="outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="544" /></div>
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Below is the actual feedback -- it just colours the sentences - green is good, yellow is okay but could be improved. Orange means needs improvement, and red would mean errors. There are no detailed errors or suggestions for improvements, most likely because this was the final draft and most of the mechanical errors had already been dealt with. Also, the use of the ANY OTHER OPTION probably limited the AI to really pick out more specific issues.</div>
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<img alt="Inline image 5" class="CToWUd a6T" height="435" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=155a6849eee6e8e7&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_155a65beae2f3409&attbid=ANGjdJ9mkwZKPOaNUQbXiULAxRAmNyRnj0rJAy4XMGnCTvCIrriFqXJtcus3BETmEpXhO-SLzhtBDEvNEnwZ8ndxZRIFpFLyBWExyUmeaiRDeYqVmC-_v1FqUgyGtJE&sz=w1088-h870&ats=1474467266737&rm=155a6849eee6e8e7&zw&atsh=1" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="544" /></div>
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My opinion - if the student had typed in their first draft (which would have had more errors), perhaps it would give some useful feedback. The colouring does give students an idea of where their writing could be developed on a sentence level. The nice thing is that students get an approximate idea of their CEFR writing level. At METU, they should be writing at a B2+ level of proficiency, so having this general level feedback may be an incentive for them to develop their writing more.</div>
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I like the idea of the colour coding for giving feedback, rather than the usual distinct error marking which we are recommended to do in the prep school, e.g., verb-tense agreement, missing word, wrong word, tense, wrong form, etc. In fact, I actually use highlighting pens to give feedback to my students, and avoid the use of error codes. However, I use the colour coding for different types of errors, e.g., lexical, grammatical, meaning and word choice. I might try this method of colour coding method next time. It makes the student try to figure out what is good or wrong with a sentence, rather than just focusing on trying to correct individual specific marked errors.</div>
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Being a naturally curious person, I put on my hat as a student and wondered if such feedback would actually give me any help in improving the text. So, I went to the editing window with the paragraph and I made an effort to retain the content and organization, but tried to make the feedback highlighting mostly green. Since I didn't change the content or the organization, my sole task was to embellish the text with more 'native like' phrases and constructs-like our students could do if they used a corpus-assisted writing tool like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://wordandphrase.info&source=gmail&ust=1474553666738000&usg=AFQjCNFPJ7r-a9Zj0fQx0ac1_TFH8m7_1g" href="http://wordandphrase.info/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://wordandphrase.info</a>. I didn't change the fundamental content or organization. Instead, I looked at the colour coding, and tried primarily to improve the weaker sentences to make everything come up shades of green. Here is what I came up with:</div>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: white; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Despite the fact that high schools and preparatory schools appear to be different in many ways, they are similar in several aspects. The first aspect in which these two types of school are similar is the way in which they deal with absenteeism. Both types of school have a policy to allow only a limited amount of absenteeism. Therefore, students who are studying in high school and in preparatory school must attend regularly and punctually. If students don't attend, they might run the risk of being dismissed, which demonstrates why an absenteeism policy is important for not only high schools but also preparatory schools. Aside from absenteeism, high schools and preparatory schools also have a similar daily schedule. The daily routine in high schools comprises six one-hour lessons. Likewise, the daily schedule in preparatory schools consists of six one-hour lessons. In both types of school, there is a mandatory ten-minute break between lessons. Like in high schools, preparatory schools start lessons at 8:40. These two types of school are also similar in that they both follow a fixed syllabus. Like in high schools, teachers in preparatory schools follow a fixed programme because the students will pass an exam in the last semester. Moreover, both of them give six exams, and administer a lot of quizzes throughout the terms. To sum up, high schools and preparatory schools are similar in terms of absenteeism, lesson times, and having a fixed syllabus.</blockquote>
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So, the content is basically the same, but I've increased the number of words and although I've left the organization basically the same, I've introduced some different sentence constructions or phrases.</div>
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I this way, the system assessed the writing as one band higher - it is now above that magical B2 proficiency rating which is the threshold for 60% on the METU English proficiency test.</div>
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<img alt="Inline image 6" class="CToWUd a6T" height="435" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=155a6849eee6e8e7&attid=0.4&disp=emb&realattid=ii_155a6777846b686a&attbid=ANGjdJ85w32pCy7RbWDfCYtLZeMg8-OFV4gZ86yt6w2BSQDgH4VSqpZhZWLSxjju5TTAaIh_6UWfLK17IGjyVamv94eBh6-1nLjJ3qoUi_HGII-ph4fvB85QKZMGe_Q&sz=w1088-h870&ats=1474467266738&rm=155a6849eee6e8e7&zw&atsh=1" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="544" /></div>
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I haven't been able to make the entire essay green, but it is now mostly in shades of green. </div>
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<img alt="Inline image 7" class="CToWUd a6T" height="435" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=49d74fcd3e&view=fimg&th=155a6849eee6e8e7&attid=0.6&disp=emb&realattid=ii_155a6783d1c04951&attbid=ANGjdJ-g3TGzXxuo6K4294QkC2aWhJ8e_MB-Tn1eITVZ-vDI3wmsxtfYLXhydoDfXa0XsMxQM7aMKHErIzhSd4JqzDIko0h89VOyeD6mzi5vo0PJjvwz1ZYHUUQg6hY&sz=w1088-h870&ats=1474467266738&rm=155a6849eee6e8e7&zw&atsh=1" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" tabindex="0" width="544" /></div>
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I think this is a good case in point to illustrate the kind of relationship that teachers and students can foster with artificial intelligence entities. Students are free to get feedback whenever they want, and gain an awareness of how their writing measures up to a standardized CEFR assessment. The AI never tires of giving feedback, never sighs at the sight of obvious or repeated errors, and goes to the trouble of highlighting each sentence to show the good and the bad. Over and over again, night or day, rain or shine...internet permitting. It could, to some extent, help students identify basic sentence level problems in the drafting process. However, the teacher would still need to step in to give higher levels of feedback in terms of issues like redundancy and overall organization or more complex issues.<br />
<br />
To me, this illustrates the potential of developing a good relationship between AI, teachers and students. Let the students use the AI to work out the basic problems with sentence level constructions, leaving the teacher to step in and spend more time on higher level feedback. Certainly this will be worth a closer look when it moves out of the BETA stage.</div>
Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-87989035080699625002016-09-21T12:38:00.005+03:002016-09-21T13:52:44.449+03:00What should we learn from the Finns about education? The Finns are well known for their excellence in education - Finland is top of the scales that assess and compare national systems of education.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31404Rky3YdgWp7S0YMUWTahyphenhyphenynq2DDHzAT5TvI3r6T9-ABwtK86xOpwIRCGJahyphenhyphen1Bqh4PZDonOltIYGpIm2-kF8v1HgpSfHkZ4Tvn1sNRIKeCEI-clTtqCdM7C96aPxBckqDh7fiH38/s1600/finland-smiles-wr.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31404Rky3YdgWp7S0YMUWTahyphenhyphenynq2DDHzAT5TvI3r6T9-ABwtK86xOpwIRCGJahyphenhyphen1Bqh4PZDonOltIYGpIm2-kF8v1HgpSfHkZ4Tvn1sNRIKeCEI-clTtqCdM7C96aPxBckqDh7fiH38/s320/finland-smiles-wr.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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How do they do it? Quite simple:<br />
<ul>
<li>Children don't start formal education until the age of seven.</li>
<li>The formative years focus on having fun in learning, being physically active and being creative.</li>
<li>Any formal examinations are banned until the age of 18</li>
<li>“Teaching to the test” is an alien concept. </li>
<li>Free school meals are universally provided.</li>
<li>Pay teachers the same as doctors.</li>
<li>Forsake streaming by ability.</li>
<li>Ensure that all schools have equal funding and staffing, so students simply go to their nearest school</li>
<li>Abolish selective grammar schools.</li>
<li>Privatization of schools and competition between schools based on league tables do not exist.</li>
<li>Outlawing school selection to demonstrate commitment to equality (on both moral and economic grounds)</li>
</ul>
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How does your national education system measure up to these criteria? Not very well, I suspect. But the even bigger question is why don't we learn from the Finns???</div>
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Wonder why one-third of school children in the US are obese?</div>
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<img height="197" src="https://usuncut.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/finlandvusa.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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Think what an MRI would tell us about their brains!!</div>
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See <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/20/grammar-schools-play-europe-top-education-system-finland-daycare" target="_blank">No grammar schools, lots of play: the secrets of Europe’s top education</a> system for the full details.</div>
Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-52526658623972776552016-04-07T12:20:00.000+03:002016-04-07T12:29:11.189+03:00todaysmeet for in-class brainstormingHi,<br />
<br />
I'm sure there are many websites, tools and apps that can be used to collaborate one way or another. I first came across this website <a href="http://www.todaysmeet.com/">www.todaysmeet.com</a> during a workshop and the presenter asked us to send our questions online via this website so that she could answer them when there was opportunity during the presentation or if not, it would be possible for her to respond to those later on. We could also comment on each other's questions or comments. Thus, while the person was presenting, a kind of online discussion was going on along the presentation.<br />
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Every now and then I try to use this tool in my classes. To collect sentences regarding a specific grammar structure, to get their ideas about something specific, etc. Just recently, I've decided to use it for a brainstorming activity before a writing task. The writing handout focuses on writing a problem solution paragraph. Thus, the problem, "culture shock"..... first, we worked on the definition and how we feel when we experience culture shock. I asked the students to do some quick online research using their smart devices in-class (mobile phones, pads, tablets etc.). Then, we came up with some key points like: foreign, abroad, away from home, new, different people, different cultures, difficult etc... and then we tried to decide how we felt; frustrated, lonely, nervous, anxious, afraid, sad etc. . While we were discussing these, I noted these key words on the whiteboard. Now, it was time to talk about the solutions. I asked them to go to the website: "www.todaysmeet.com/cultureshockproblemsolution" (this room is now closed because I'm done with the exercise.) Now, here let me explain how it works:<br />
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You log in to todaysmeet.com Then, you pick a name for your room (in my case above it was "cultureshockproblemsolution"). If that name is not taken or not in use at that time, you'll have the room. For instance, I'll just try one for this post: todasymeet.com/sharingsfl (screenshot below)<br />
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxdBpV9xZTXm6ZLcxEHFTea0ez4I6l80pXnzTPiwMiihdaTaLGsG_4WxPjNTMWvDz_ivPWilmbweb6zeJjsBElJwOn8SxLPtaZQTT84ZDwDN9anXZmQss4N4gCk0AVvqwKE2dKvz0Dro/s320/todaysmeet+room.jpg" width="296" /></div>
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And as you can see, you can select how long you want the room to be open. I'll pick one year for this one and let's see if anything comes up in the meantime. You can let anyone, or people with a password and login to send messages. Then you open the room. <a href="https://todaysmeet.com/sharingsfl">https://todaysmeet.com/sharingsfl</a> </div>
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Now, everyone can send a message there. Back to my class activity...After we finished about describing and talking about culture shock, it was time to talk about the possible solutions. I asked them to go to the webpage and send their ideas as messages. I have to say they liked it better than writing on paper or the whiteboard. However, I have to admit that sometimes they can get "naughty-ish" :) but that's ok of course (as long as there's no offense or bad language of somesort...anyways). In a couple of minutes, there were lots of ideas. todaysmeet.com also gives you the "teacher tools" option but to use some tools you need to purchase an account. Anyways, while the room is on and running you can get the messages as a text file and what I did was to compile similar ideas together. Then, I photocopied them and brought them back to class. Now, students have ideas, vocabulary and major and minor ideas that they can use in their paragraphs. Please find below some examples:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy11V7wB5vZJBmkNvSorWL-68DcXmgXKaO6ui9fKQwpod9bkjkYC0TFt9LVga9-tNGhNCdNWT3T4L53fCmXviEPGVGvZ7-7jnAVWR6rYCuZ27j7b5XmJwyRopLhb60puijwoh6xgu2434/s1600/todaysmeet+room+ideas+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy11V7wB5vZJBmkNvSorWL-68DcXmgXKaO6ui9fKQwpod9bkjkYC0TFt9LVga9-tNGhNCdNWT3T4L53fCmXviEPGVGvZ7-7jnAVWR6rYCuZ27j7b5XmJwyRopLhb60puijwoh6xgu2434/s320/todaysmeet+room+ideas+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtstKz-h3e_jeAjjrkwSGuB-TyyYW1lLQmPJ41HZwiqrUZcipXUy4fjXamilQ54uXxl1090-iBVsVxmekt3VZcKNCCqyzv1212DYk_4z_h5WA65AaveULmrg_txZahvUpQBONsIJYLrM/s1600/todaysmeet+room+ideas+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtstKz-h3e_jeAjjrkwSGuB-TyyYW1lLQmPJ41HZwiqrUZcipXUy4fjXamilQ54uXxl1090-iBVsVxmekt3VZcKNCCqyzv1212DYk_4z_h5WA65AaveULmrg_txZahvUpQBONsIJYLrM/s320/todaysmeet+room+ideas+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course I didn't edit students' responses. Therefore, even if they want to use some of these ideas, they need to come up with the correct word order, part of speech etc.</div>
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I just wanted to share one idea that I tried and worked...</div>
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All the best,</div>
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talip</div>
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taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-17861663661906646672016-04-05T10:04:00.001+03:002016-04-05T11:53:15.648+03:00Using GIFs Part-2Hi,<br />
<br />
Just recently I've mentioned a couple of ideas about using GIFs and animation in presentations. While I was thinking about how I could use them to practice responses to different situations, I just decided to give it a try to practice "noun clauses". Well, here's what I did...I found some animated gif images and simply inserted them in slides (you don't have to do that; I could have just shown the images). Anyway, then, I asked students in pairs to build/write sentences which included noun clauses (of course after the presentation of noun clauses) based on the animation image they saw. The sentences could be about what they character was thinking, what had happened, what might happen etc. And I gave them about 2 minutes for each image.<br />
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Here are two examples of the animations and students' sentences:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOFbkBHhBQYophBJqslIbWwkvhtLpBxxhpUkMOzadSuwpwKytFrzuLKcE-tJ4a-Og-ew7f7GDv3X0ZVRRcqUaBVeyVcMQByC0dUmoWvv5GkrPH9DTmZTHx7_tMuA2ieIwZlPwNg3Himo/s1600/141.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsOFbkBHhBQYophBJqslIbWwkvhtLpBxxhpUkMOzadSuwpwKytFrzuLKcE-tJ4a-Og-ew7f7GDv3X0ZVRRcqUaBVeyVcMQByC0dUmoWvv5GkrPH9DTmZTHx7_tMuA2ieIwZlPwNg3Himo/s320/141.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://replygif.net/141" target="_blank">http://replygif.net/141 (Neil Patrick Harris)</a></div>
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"It is clear that he is disappointed.",<br />
"We all know that he admitted the situation.",<br />
"What you have done is ridiculous."<br />
"It is obvious that he is absolutely sad."<br />
"It was a pity that he didn't know what to do."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Th-hVdRdEBiP93nt2BDVQcy_hohE1IXYsrYm8FugINAs3M3koDMuwH278roGLBFlhCcPLEhlGzMTRHz1KNuZjUfg5Autpx6SUPonJTOX-CJz6iIPvinL1Y4cSYeq3-e6YSPBwG8_8Xw/s1600/870.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Th-hVdRdEBiP93nt2BDVQcy_hohE1IXYsrYm8FugINAs3M3koDMuwH278roGLBFlhCcPLEhlGzMTRHz1KNuZjUfg5Autpx6SUPonJTOX-CJz6iIPvinL1Y4cSYeq3-e6YSPBwG8_8Xw/s1600/870.gif" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://replygif.net/870" target="_blank">http://replygif.net/870 (Amy Adams)</a></div>
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"That we're having a double wedding is so surprising."<br />
"That her boyfriend sent her a Valentine's Day gift was surprising."<br />
"It is obvious that she's happy."<br />
"She is surprised by the fact that the dinner is ready."<br />
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I think, such animations can be used in practicing lots of other areas as well, like "What's happening? (present continuous), describe the person/character (adjectives, relative clauses, adverbs), What happened? (simple past), What has just happened (present perfect), etc."<br />
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All the best,<br />
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<br />taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-32800845748520663152016-03-29T12:40:00.001+03:002016-03-29T14:38:30.148+03:00Using animated Gifs in presentationsI like using animated GIF images here and there (wherever appropriate of course :)) although they seem to be somehow older technology. Today, I was preparing a PowerPoint presentation about "noun clauses" and at one point in the slides I'm asking students if the sentences are correct or false. And after their responses, to show which sentences are OK and which ones are not, I decided to use animated GIF images (nodding-yes and no). Thus, Googling I found these two websites:<br />
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- http://replygif.net/<br />
- http://giphy.com/<br />
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and I serached for "Nod, yes, no etc" and then from the library of animated GIF images I picked the ones I liked and put them in my slide (referring to the sites).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0XnJbN2a3aUo3xBDM3s-SoUPQWNHl8zi2FDL_6kZiO26TFoTngxO79FdkULo69yVWHOWiaD16i2E9OD9uzK731JyqdWuovZ9mvibmVFhZW0w35q394LxHra1_cMo2shMioAZ0XEEX5M/s1600/animated+gif+presentation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0XnJbN2a3aUo3xBDM3s-SoUPQWNHl8zi2FDL_6kZiO26TFoTngxO79FdkULo69yVWHOWiaD16i2E9OD9uzK731JyqdWuovZ9mvibmVFhZW0w35q394LxHra1_cMo2shMioAZ0XEEX5M/s320/animated+gif+presentation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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- There are also online & offline animated GIF makers if you feel like creating your own animated GIf images. Some of them...<br />
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- http://gifmaker.me/<br />
- https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker<br />
- http://ezgif.com/maker<br />
- http://gifcreator.me/<br />
- http://www.gif-animator.com/<br />
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- Of course, with the advance of mobile and smart devices, one can easily create animations & videos using their smart devices as well. Actually, Google-Photos, for instance, has an "Assistant" feature via which you can create animations from your photos. And I'm sure there are other Adroid or "I-" applications available to do that.<br />
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I think using such items in presentations from time to can add to the liveliness of the presentations (perhaps even a bit nostalgia...)taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-2541357760482653942016-03-21T12:38:00.000+02:002016-03-21T13:29:20.010+02:00Vocabulary Video Dictionary<br />
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<a href="https://nathanghall.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/screen-shot-2015-05-17-at-11-45-03-pm.png?w=800&h=320" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://nathanghall.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/screen-shot-2015-05-17-at-11-45-03-pm.png?w=800&h=320" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.divii.org/">www.divii.org</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">Students can watch videos, listen and find out about words. There is a search tool and you can also search for different words by focusing on meaning and how it used.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">It might be fun and effective way to learn vocabulary and collocations and context.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">When you log in as a user the site can keep track of your work. It creates a list of words you study and sends it to you at the end of the week. One can also create flashcards, read the transcriptions of videos.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;"><br /></span></span>taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-19051634076491394242016-03-17T16:58:00.001+02:002016-03-17T16:58:38.032+02:00Tech-savvy English: A complete lesson plan to teach the second conditi...<a href="http://techsavvyenglish.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-complete-lesson-plan-to-teach-second.html?spref=bl">Tech-savvy English: A complete lesson plan to teach the second conditi...</a>: I used the classic example "What would you take to a desert island?" to introduce the second conditional (or Type 2 conditional as...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-63703964299696077192016-03-10T11:40:00.000+02:002016-03-10T12:35:41.971+02:00Using Google's Ngram Viewer might be interestingI've recently been interested in <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/" target="_blank">Google's Ngram Viewer</a> regarding differences in spelling of some words such as travelling vs traveling, busses vs buses or learned vs learnt. Of course, there are many reasons for such spelling differences, however, it might attract the attention of students to see how the common use of some words (they don't really have to be problem words in spelling, could be any word) has changed over time. This might help them to understand the idea that language is like a biological organism and that it changes over time and that there is not just one exact fact or true answer to every question they may have. Also it might be helpful for us teachers as well to explain them why they see one spelling more than the other.<br />
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Here is an example looking at the phrase 'Merry Christmas' versus 'Happy Christmas'. Upon closer inspection to the dates, it appears that the peaks and troughs are associated with major wars: World War One, World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Merry+Christmas%2CHappy+Christmas&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMerry%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CHappy%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe><br />
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<a name='more'></a>Aside from the historical context of use, Google Ngrams can also let you explore cultural contexts. For example, Google Ngrams lets you specify the 'type' of English, so if we look at British English, you can see that 'Happy Christmas' is relatively more common.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Merry+Christmas%2CHappy+Christmas&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMerry%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CHappy%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe>
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As opposed to American English, where 'Happy Christmas' is quite rare.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Merry+Christmas%2CHappy+Christmas&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMerry%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CHappy%20Christmas%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe>
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While on the subject of 'merry', NGRAMs is also an interesting tool to look at synonyms, e.g., merry, festive and gay. A good example of how a word like 'gay' can take on different meanings over time.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=merry%2Cfestive%2Cgay&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cmerry%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bmerry%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BMerry%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BMERRY%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cfestive%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bfestive%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BFestive%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cgay%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bgay%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BGay%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BGAY%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe>
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Here is another example of prepositions that are used with the word 'weekend'. While the focus of this line of inquiry was on prepositions, the surprising fact that was revealed was that the word 'weekend' didn't exist in the English language until 1940. This would suggest that the working week used to be six days until then. So the history of a word gives lots of insight into human history as well.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=at+the+weekend%2Cat+weekends%2Con+the+weekend%2Con+weekends&year_start=1900&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cat%20the%20weekend%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cat%20weekends%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Con%20the%20weekend%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Con%20weekends%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe><br />
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But, what is even more useful, is the ability to make your search 'case sensitive'. So, for example, you can compare the same word in different cases, e.g. 'But' as opposed to 'but'. One at the start of a sentence, the other as a conjunction within a sentence. It is nice to be able to give an answer to students who insist that it is possible to start a sentence with 'but'. Yes, indeed. But be careful.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="ngram_chart" scrolling="no" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=But%2C+but&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CBut%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbut%3B%2Cc0" vspace="0" width="450"></iframe>
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All in all, I think it's a nice tool to play around...One can even start discussion son target words and say "Why do you think this word was popular in the 1890s but not very popular now?"<br />
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<br />taliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402402605856170298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-80532977047288483132016-02-23T21:14:00.000+02:002016-02-23T21:14:55.367+02:00True Confessions (Speaking activity)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M-n5vol3CEE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M-n5vol3CEE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "sorts mill goudy"; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">When I saw this video of the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, I thought it would make a great speaking activity. Here's how you do it:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "sorts mill goudy"; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">You divide the students into groups and ask everyone to write down two confessions. One of them should be something interesting that actually happened to them, and the other should be a lie. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "sorts mill goudy"; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">Someone from the group starts by reading one of their confessions. The other group members have 60 seconds (you can of course give more time if necessary) to interrogate the confessor. When the time is up, they have to guess whether s/he is lying or telling the truth. The group members take one turn each. If the students find the confession interesting, they can ask more questions after they have made their guesses.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "sorts mill goudy"; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">Originally published on <a href="http://techsavvyenglish.blogspot.com/2016/02/true-confessions-speaking-activity.html" target="_blank">Tech-savvy English. </a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-72398490097020468172015-12-19T00:27:00.000+02:002015-12-19T00:28:50.499+02:00Speaking Club<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "sorts mill goudy"; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">have started a speaking club for my lower-level students who wanted to do extra speaking practice. This is the first one of the tasks that I prepared/compiled and will share here on a weekly basis.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">The first time we met, I wanted the students to get to know each other because they came from different classes. Also, this first activity was an easy start for most of the students who had little experience in speaking English. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 24.64px;">Continue reading at <a href="http://techsavvyenglish.blogspot.com.cy/2015/12/speaking-club-week-1.html" target="_blank">Tech-savvy English</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Follow <a href="http://techsavvyenglish.blogspot.com/search/label/Speaking%20Club" target="_blank">this link</a> to see more materials prepared for this speaking club.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4934722013408645447.post-83122223866861205052015-12-15T14:36:00.001+02:002015-12-19T11:40:05.364+02:00An integrated skills activity for telling the time<div>
I <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">just wanted to share a practice teaching activity with you, which I got</span> from one of my former TEFL students, Burcu Abbas. The topic was telling the time and her students were in the 6th grade. This focus of the activity was communicative practice, involving speaking, listening and writing. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Everyone wore paper watches, walked around the class and asked each other for the time. Then, the students recorded the times that they heard from their friends on their handouts. The handouts had two columns; one column is for names and the other column is for time. Each student completed the activity communicatively. Burcu took a picture to document the materials she developed for this activity.</span></div>
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This got me to thinking about applying a similar approach but using the smart phone as the prompt. </div>
<a name='more'></a>I don't like to spend time cutting up paper and preparing such activities, but I like the idea of having a genuine information gap activity in which students have to share information. The ones that come ready to use at the back of course books aren't usually that interesting or realistic for students.<br />
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This made me think of Mystery Skype, which is a 15 minute critical thinking challenge in which one class Skypes with another class somewhere else in the world. The students' goal in each class is to guess the other school's location (country, state, city, school name) before they guess yours. They do this by asking yes and no questions. Here is a more thorough explanation of Mystery Skype from Skype in the Classroom: <a href="https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype/how-it-works">https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype/how-it-works</a> </div>
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However, it can take time to find another class and initiate a SKYPE conference. So I thought one could combine Burcu's approach and the idea of the "Mystery Skype" to yield a communicative activity between students in the same class. It could be as simple as having students use their smart phones to look up the weather in a different city and the time zone. Then, they could circulate and have dialogues to try to determine the county in which their peer's city is located. They could get the details of their weather and time as a starting point: "What's the weather like there?" and "What time is it now?" And from that point, they could ask some Yes/No questions to identify the country in which the city is located.</div>
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Probably lots of other prompts could be found, e.g., comparing cars, computers, etc. with an appropriate and meaningful task requiring genuine information exchange?</div>
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Steve Neufeldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10223788009732515222noreply@blogger.com0