TED—ideas worth spreading

TED—ideas worth spreading

Last Saturday, I attended TEDx Warwick2013. It's fantastic! Actually,I usually watch some videos on its website before, but it's really great to see it live!

Today I want to introduce this website for language  teaching and learning. Let me give a brief introduction to TEDx first. TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." This program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. It is the third year that our university holds this event. And If you want to know more information about TEDx Warwick, please click  here. Also, there are all of talks and presentations in previous TEDx events of Warwick.

• What is TED?

TED is a non-profit organization, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Remarkable people give their talks and share ideas on this conference .

• Why TED is relevant to language learning and teaching? What is the advantages?

Similar to Youtube, TED.com is also a video sharing website, and it is totally free to the world. All of these presentations are subtitled in English, the texts of these talks are offered as well. The most merit, I think, is its authenticity. Real people, real situations, and interesting topics, all these things are helpful for audiences to improve their listening skills. On the other hand, these authentic materials and topics are definitely great for discussion and learner-learner interaction.  In addition, since all the talks are provided with advanced ideas and meaningful thoughts, audiences have great opportunities to think deeply. In this case, it's really beneficial for critical thinking as well as generating ideas in their writing. Moreover, students are likely to learn language through video or film, so maybe these vivid talks and presentations can motivate students in some respects. It can engage the learners and get them talking, debating, creating and so on. The last thing need to be mentioned is that the materials in TED website, generally speaking, may be more suitable for advanced learners , or at least for the intermediate level due to the presenters' speaking speed and difficult words etc. 

• Some suggestions of using TED in language learning and teaching.

If you are a teacher, you can use TED like these:

1. Using TED to improve Ss listening and speaking skills. At beginning of the class, make a brainstorm regarding a certain topic. Let Ss generate ideas. Then, teacher can play the inspiring video and ask Ss to take notes down in shorthand. After watch the video two or three times,teacher can group the Ss and let them discuss what they have got from the talk. Also, they need to rebuild the speech together and share their achievements, giving a presentation in front of the class later on.
2. Using TED to improve Ss reading and writing skills. First,teachers can use these videos to stimulate ideas for story writing and film design or something. Second, teachers can select an extract from the script and use this authentic material to either develop Ss' abilities of reading comprehension or teach new vocabulary and grammar.Third, teachers can ask Ss to write a story after they watch the video and generate ideas.

If you are a student, you can use TED for intensive listening like these:

Thousands of talks are available for you here, you can just choose one topic you are interested in and begin your English learning journey. You can also choose subtitle not only English but also your mother tongue when you watching the videos. There are more than 50 languages for you to choose.

Two ways of browsing the content as following:

 

You can watch a speech without subtitle at the first time.Maybe you cannot catch up all the words or sentences at this time. So, watch again with English subtitle to help your understanding. At this second time, you can read the script and repeat several times. Also, you need to look up the new words and try to figure them out. Last time, you can watch the video with L1 to fully understand the content.

• Limitations

1. This website is not suitable for all levels. For example, the intensive listening I mentioned above maybe more useful for English major students in colleges or up-intermediate learners who want to develop their listening ability.
2. It is not an easy work for teachers to find a suitable talk considering both the learners' competence and the speeches' length.

Voki------creat your avatar

Voki (http://voki.com) is an audio tool for recording voice and create your own avatar. The voice message can be embedded in website, e.g. blog,like my home page. It is a great tool for students to practice English speaking skill.

Why is this particular tool relevant to language learning?

• All you need to do is provide a microphone, the in-beded one also works 
• Easy to use. No need to download a special software to use it. 
• Motivate students by creating fantastic avatars and embedding their voices. 
• It offers various languages for learners, for instance, Spanish, French,etc. 
• Reduce anxiety. Shy students could be more willing to talk than face-to-face situation. 
• It is also a tool that promotes 'connected classroom' because students can be asked to practice the language in and then outside the classroom.

Some suggested activities

• Embedding voice into your avatar. This kind of technology-assisted way can arouse learners’ interest in practicing speaking and motivate them largely. 
• Teacher can creat their own voki classroom. lesson plan is provided at the home page. 
• Learners can also share their as ‘audio diary’ with others, It is a more creative and interesting way of interaction compared with traditional writing work.

Limitations

• Simple function. It only can be used as practicing speaking skill. 
• Not suitable for all level students.this tool is more beneficial for younger learners to stimulate interests. 
• Students may spent more time on editing their avatars.

MyBrainshark— a good tool for presentation making

What is it?       

MyBrainshark is a brilliant tool that
users can combine different forms of documents (e.g. voice recording, picture, video, powerpoint, podcast) into one integrated form of exhibition.

Some Advantages/Why is it relevant to language teaching and learning?

• The greatest advantage of MyBrainshark, I think,is that it can have audio, video and written documents synchronised.
• This tool can be used to promote distance learning and learning autonomy since they can do it at home or anywhere else if there is network connections.
• It is interesting and motivating for students to give a oral presentation by combining students' own life, for example, their photos or creative pictures, with their oral expression.
• It provides a good opportunity for teachers to make a mini-lecture! 
• It's helpful for students to practice their speaking and presentation skills.
• The recordings encourage students to pay more attention to the accuracy because everyone wants to show a perfect talk to the public.
• Your talk can be embedded, if you like, into another site, like a blog, as I show on my second page"Echo's talk", to share your information with others.

Some approaches to facilitate teaching/learning

• As individual work, teachers can let student make a oral presentation of his/her life,commenting on his/her photos.Or,give personal opinion of an event.
• As group work, students can make a combined presentation together  which also improve their collaborative working skills.
• There are a number of talks already being uploaded on this website, so it can also be used for listening activities to promote learners' listening skills as well.
• Use this tool to add others' voice in order to give a oral feedback.we can send our uploaded written documents to other people to ask their feedback, such as students sent their homework or presentation to their tutor or teachers send their handout to other fellow teachers.
• Teachers can use this tool to make a mini-lecture, thus students can replay several times until they are fully understand.
• Use this tool to make a product. In terms of "Presentation, Practice, Production" teaching model, after giving instructions at class, teachers can ask students to complete a task as the "production" stage at home by using this tool. It not only saves time but also connects inside and outside class!

Limitation

It can only record for 15 minutes. Maybe it's not enough for teachers to give a mini-lecture while it's quite a long time for students to talk.

Why not post our wishes on the wall?

What is it?

As indicated by its name, Wallwisher allows users to build a colorful 'wall' of a given topic and let others post on it. Like an open forum, it is an exciting website for sharing ideas and comments. One attractive feature is that you can design their walls or ‘stick notes’ in an arbitrary order. Not only the text, you can also draw website links, images and even videos on your wall!!

How might it be used in English language teaching?

1. A warm up activity. After giving student a general idea, teacher can make      students guess what the lesson is and then ask them post their ideas on the wall as a warm up activity.

2. To complete a task. At speaking class, teacher can give students a topic, such as, introduce a historical place or a superstar. In order to complete this task, they need to build a wall, posting whatever they like, for example, pictures, videos and website links etc. Assign students in different groups and let them discuss. At the end of the class, teacher can design a presentation stage, making students show their achievements.

3. To collect feedback. If teacher wants to get some feedback, he/she can use this website. In terms of students, they can choose whether leave their names or not. Since it allows anonymous posts, students can make comments and give suggestions without any pressure.

4. Interaction between teacher and student. The students can ask any questions or share whatever they think useful related to a certain lecture on this particular wall and the teacher can answer them by posting a new sticky. Also, some relative videos or websites can be posted as supplementary materials or for further learning. 

5. Long distance learning. Teacher can put the language point as the topic of a wall, and add some videos, pictures or website links that related to this language point. Students can use this wall and learn this language point at home or review after class.

6. For teacher to prepare next lesson. By using Wallwisher to get ideas, interests, teacher could better prepare for next class. In this case, teacher is closer to their students and may be easier to get to know students’ needs.

Benefits

1.It is a great tool for students to express their thoughts and share ideas.

2.It is excellent when Wallwisher is used for a task or project work.

3.It promotes promote learner autonomy and reflective thinking.

4.It is good for students whose learning type is visual one, since the post is colorful and the background is so attractive.

5.Great tool for long distance teaching and learning. Wallwisher provides a connected classrooms, making e-collaboration and e-learning more easily. Learners can collaborate, communicate and connect with their peers and teachers when they are in or outside the classroom.

Limitations

1.The wall cannot be downloaded.

2.Wallwisher has limited characters (only 160) to use give written messages.

3.It may be hard to read when there are many comments on the wall.

4.Users may waste lots of time on organizing the layout in order to get a clear visual effect. 

QuestGarden

Try to have a experience http://questgarden.com/

What is it?

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. (Bernie Dodge 1995). It encourages group work and gets students involves in real-life tasks.There are many free webquest templates on the QuestGarden website.  

QuestGarden members can download WebQuests created by other teachers and use them to meet their specific needs, or they can design one by themselves using an on-line template.

• Click here to get to know more about what is a webquest.

How to make your own webquest ?

• Click here to follow step by step, there is also a flow-process chart in it illustrating how to design.
• Click here if you have not enough time to design. Some steps will help you to choose or adapt.

How can this website foster language learning?

It is quite suitable for teachers who want to create their own materials.

Jing

              

Try to download Jing by free.

• What is it ?

Jing is a very useful screen-capture tool produced by TechSmith. It enables other people to  view what you record on your computer screen as well as hear your voice of explaining at the same time. Another  important feature of it is user can easily store and share the recording.Of course, all of these are free.

• How to use it?

Following video will show you how to use it step by step.

• Why is it good for language learning?

1. In the language learning process, Jing can be regarded as a superb tool for teachers to give feedback. They can mark students' homework online and highlight the mistakes or errors, and then explain in detail. and give and record  the oral feedback. 

2. Compared with traditional written feedback, it is more clarified by using Jing to record an oral feedback since amount of suggestions will be given during recording. 

3. As for lower-level learners, this type of feedback provides them a plenty of time to digest and understand their confusing or difficult problems. 

• How to use it to foster language learning?

1. As for giving feedback, teachers can  point out the part they want to make a comment, either by explaining more details, or by giving examples. Then students can go back to listen the comments and watch the video again and again until they understand.

2. It can also used by students. For example, describe a picture using target language structures or phrases as a follow-up activity after speaking class or draw an outline and demonstrate their thoughts to the teacher before a writing work.

• Limitations

1. It is impossible to give such an oral feedback to each students,especially in a large size class like China. Taking a record one by one is a time-consuming work. 

2.If it's a free version, there is only a 5-minute length for one Jing recording. 

Breaking News English

• What is it?

Based on the current news event, Breaking news English is a teaching material website which is produced by Sean Baville. A variety of completed and well designed exercises and activities are provided, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar skills.

• Why is the content good for language learning?

1.Less preparing, more educating. The materials are designed into different types of tasks, such as warm-up activities, while-reading/writing exercises and after reading  or listening activities.It is very convenient and time-saving for teachers to choose the parts they want and print off as handouts or download the listening file(MP3). Both of them are free.

2.The news and information is up-to-date and quite relevant to people's life, so students will find it meaningful and stimulating to learn.

3.There are a wide varieties of high quality quizzes designed in line with the materials, with which the teacher could use to strengthen  students' language knowledge.

4.There are also some collaborative activities,which can create a more interactive learning atmosphere. During these sort of tasks, students may feel relaxed and be willing to engaged.

• How might you use it in a teaching context?

1.Select a chunk of activities related to a certain topic or lesson to do warm-up activities and brainstorm with the learners.

2.Select a relevant activities to expand students vocabulary,such as matching games. Also,it can be used as an interesting testing program.

3.Put the students into pairs or groups to do some reading comprehension together.For example, the quiz activity.

• Limitations

1. This is a fixed genre which can lead to a narrow range of vocabulary learning.

2. As to the audio clips, they are almost recorded by the same person reading at the same speed. Thus, students may rely on this accent.

3. Less considerations taken into students' personalities. If a student dislikes news as teaching material, he/she may feel boring.