I have just recently discovered this website which is filled with stories, both classic fairytales and tongue twisters. When you click on a story you can both read it and listen to it.
It is easy to navigate on the site. The stories are divided in;
Original stories
Fairytales
Classic
Educational
Junior
In these main categories you find sub categories where you find a number of stories, for example H C Andersen, The Brothers Grimm, Greek Myths and 1001 nights.
If you have younger children in your class you can choose to listen to a nursery rhyme or a story that the children are familiar with. You can also show pictures from a book while you listen to make it easier to follow the story. This bring me to a disadvantage in this site, there are no pictures to print out to help the children to understand the story. Of course you can draw your own or you can search for a book where you have pictures from the story.
If you have older children in your class you can ask them to write a comic strip about the story they have listened to or you can use it as a listening activity where you listen and then answer some questions. You can also let half of the class listen to a story and then ask them to
retell the story to someone who haven’t heard it.
To use this in your class you just need a computer with speakers. If you don’t have access to this you can print out the story and read it yourself. This can be a better way with young children although the story on the website is read in a slow rate.
So go to The Storynory to find out how you can use this website!
Frida Karlsson
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
DLTK kids a free ICT resource
The website http://www.dltk-kids.com/ is very usefull in many ways when you want to learn or teach english. This site was started by a mum called Leanne for 17 years ago.
It features a variety of fun, printable children's crafts, coloring pages, projects for holidays and educational themes. The pupils can easily use the site on their own. All you need is internet and a printer if you want to print something out. When you first enter the home page you can choose from the 25 newest activities or the 10 currently most popular.
I usually go to the newest. Then if you look on the left side you can choose between different topics e.g Halloween or autumn. If you chooses such a page, you can then choose from a lot of things to do. Last time when i choose autumn I found lots of great poems. I read them to my students and we talked about various autumn word and what autumn was for them. We wrote many autum words on the board and the students started to write their own poems. When they were satisfied I printed out autumn writing paper so they could write their poems nicely.
We ended with choosing by different games and worksheets such as crosswords and puzzels which was about the fall.
You can also look at different matching recipes. Some of the students tried the recipes at home.
I think this is a usefull website and it is easy to find what you want if you are looking for something to work with in a particular subject.
Try using this page. I do it and will continue to do so. / / Ida Eriksson
It features a variety of fun, printable children's crafts, coloring pages, projects for holidays and educational themes. The pupils can easily use the site on their own. All you need is internet and a printer if you want to print something out. When you first enter the home page you can choose from the 25 newest activities or the 10 currently most popular.
I usually go to the newest. Then if you look on the left side you can choose between different topics e.g Halloween or autumn. If you chooses such a page, you can then choose from a lot of things to do. Last time when i choose autumn I found lots of great poems. I read them to my students and we talked about various autumn word and what autumn was for them. We wrote many autum words on the board and the students started to write their own poems. When they were satisfied I printed out autumn writing paper so they could write their poems nicely.
We ended with choosing by different games and worksheets such as crosswords and puzzels which was about the fall.
You can also look at different matching recipes. Some of the students tried the recipes at home.
I think this is a usefull website and it is easy to find what you want if you are looking for something to work with in a particular subject.
Try using this page. I do it and will continue to do so. / / Ida Eriksson
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab as an ICT resource
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
I teach in grade three, but when I have conducted the National tests in English I always feel that the listening comprehensions is an exercise that the students aren't that familiar with. The exercises in our books are short and not at all composed in the same way as in the national tests. There are also a problem with a wide spread in level between the students in a class, so while some of the students have problems others finds the exercise to easy.
So, I have often looked for exercises for listening comprehension. When I found this site I browsed through it for a long time and tried listening quizzes in different levels of difficulty. The fun part was that after a listening comprehension there were grammatical practise too, or there could be a scrambled sentence.
There are questions to every exercise but the authors main objective isn't to test listening, but to help students how to learn to improve their listening.
I think this site is made for self learners and not very young ones either, but I think you can use it from 5:Th grade. There are great possibilities to individualise on this page and maybe this will be something I will use for those students who needs a bigger challenge in their listening comprehension.
For me as a teacher there is a site that describes how Randall suggests I can work with the different parts, and also there are handouts so you can give the students papers to fill in if we choose to do the practise together. In the self study guide both students and teachers can see the exercises divided into the different topics they're made in. For example; Introduction, Family Life and Relationships, Food and dining out and People.
To Use this site you need to have computers, if you want the students to listen and do the exercises themselves. When you introduce the site it's good to have a projector to show the site and give the students a walk through. A problem with the site is that there is a whole lot of commercial adds, so it's easy to get linked away. Be sure to show the students carefully where to go. When you give them tasks to do, be sure to give straight directions.
There are also worksheets on the handout pages were you can write which exercise you have done and the score. This site is in not a site that I would use every week, but maybe every other or third week to help students to learn how to improve their listening.
By Britt-Inger Robertsson
I teach in grade three, but when I have conducted the National tests in English I always feel that the listening comprehensions is an exercise that the students aren't that familiar with. The exercises in our books are short and not at all composed in the same way as in the national tests. There are also a problem with a wide spread in level between the students in a class, so while some of the students have problems others finds the exercise to easy.
So, I have often looked for exercises for listening comprehension. When I found this site I browsed through it for a long time and tried listening quizzes in different levels of difficulty. The fun part was that after a listening comprehension there were grammatical practise too, or there could be a scrambled sentence.
There are questions to every exercise but the authors main objective isn't to test listening, but to help students how to learn to improve their listening.
I think this site is made for self learners and not very young ones either, but I think you can use it from 5:Th grade. There are great possibilities to individualise on this page and maybe this will be something I will use for those students who needs a bigger challenge in their listening comprehension.
For me as a teacher there is a site that describes how Randall suggests I can work with the different parts, and also there are handouts so you can give the students papers to fill in if we choose to do the practise together. In the self study guide both students and teachers can see the exercises divided into the different topics they're made in. For example; Introduction, Family Life and Relationships, Food and dining out and People.
To Use this site you need to have computers, if you want the students to listen and do the exercises themselves. When you introduce the site it's good to have a projector to show the site and give the students a walk through. A problem with the site is that there is a whole lot of commercial adds, so it's easy to get linked away. Be sure to show the students carefully where to go. When you give them tasks to do, be sure to give straight directions.
There are also worksheets on the handout pages were you can write which exercise you have done and the score. This site is in not a site that I would use every week, but maybe every other or third week to help students to learn how to improve their listening.
By Britt-Inger Robertsson
Using Kids English Zone as a ICT resorce
Using Kids English Zone as an ICT resource.
I teach a second grade class and I have just started to teach them English . I want them to get interested and have fun during this lesson. Sometime I show the program Kids English Zone. You find it at mediacentrum (www.sli.se)and you can easily stream it home. It is good to have a projector .You need to be a member. There are around 26 different programs with different themes. There are programs with themes like colours, clothes, numbers, family, fruits, body and more. Easy things the students know about.
A program is 13 minutes. The program repeat things from the other programs so I recommend to watch them in order. Age from 6-9 .
The program always starts with Hello My name is…Whats your name? They encourage the students to answer the questions in the classroom. They repeat a lot.
A program has at least one song . They want the students to sing along. The program has different easy dialogues with children. “Who is this? This my mother…
At the end of the program two men has comic dialogue about the theme. The children really likes it! They repeat something from the last program before its end.
Why is this good for learning English?
Its free. The children have to listen and they encourage them to talk. You have to concentrate and you are watching something. Its fun and they repeat a lot. The children will recognize things. They don’t have to listen to the teacher! They sing songs. You learn to pronounce words. You can say things and no one listens. You use ICT and not a book! A program is only 13 minutes and hopefully the can concentrate that.
Before or after a program I work with the theme they had talked about on the program. We can talk in pairs asking each other for example “What is this?” It’s a mouth. Or we can count the numbers in choir or paint pictures repeating the colours.
My children like this program a lot! Try it you too! Good Luck!
Susanne Eklund
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Starfall- an ICT resourse for young children
http://www.starfall.com/
In September 2002 the Starfall.com opened as a free public service to teach young children to read. The method is based on that the children learn to read through phonetics transcription, which means that all the tasks focus on letter sounds. Most of the exercises show each sound at
a time and this could be a bit boring for the pupils, but you can find a lot of fun exercises on this website too. For example you can find different word games, memory, stories and short movies. The website is very appealing with many colourful and fun animations. Starfall is made for children from kindergarten to second grade but I think that some of the exercises could be
used by Swedish children in third grade.
How it works
This website is very simple to use and it´s for free. You only need a computer and an Internet access. You need to download Internet Explorer or Flash Player and if you want to download something from the website you need Adobe Reader. The exercises are divided into four different steps, ABCs, Learn to read, It´s fun to read and I´m reading.
How it can be used
Very young children and children up to grade three in school can use this website. The pupils can practice on the alphabet, pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, reading- and listening comprehension, sing songs and much more. At the ABCs you can practice the alphabet, how it sounds and how the letter writes. At Learn to read you can practice on sounds, pronunciation and how to read sentences with help of phonetic. You do it by playing games, look at short films and read short books. At It´s fun to read you can find a lot of reading exercises. You can listen to the text and fill in missing words or you can listen to poetry. At I´m reading you can practice on making your own short play. You can read short books and if you want to hear how you pronounce a word you just click on it. As a teacher you can get inspiration from the website or even have the lessons based on it. If you have a projector in your classroom you can use many of the exercises together with the whole class. For example you can practice the alphabet, listen to a story or sing a song. If you have many computers in the classroom the pupils can work with the exercises in pairs and help each other.
Other considerations when using this resource
I think this website is a fun way to learn some English for young pupils. For older pupils it can be a little childish but some of the exercises, for example the short stories can be used in fourth grade. As Starfall is divided into different stages the pupils can work at their own level. Every time I look at Starfall website I find new interesting and fun exercises for young learners. If you haven´t try it yet, do it!
Helene Hofling
used by Swedish children in third grade.
How it works
This website is very simple to use and it´s for free. You only need a computer and an Internet access. You need to download Internet Explorer or Flash Player and if you want to download something from the website you need Adobe Reader. The exercises are divided into four different steps, ABCs, Learn to read, It´s fun to read and I´m reading.
How it can be used
Very young children and children up to grade three in school can use this website. The pupils can practice on the alphabet, pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, reading- and listening comprehension, sing songs and much more. At the ABCs you can practice the alphabet, how it sounds and how the letter writes. At Learn to read you can practice on sounds, pronunciation and how to read sentences with help of phonetic. You do it by playing games, look at short films and read short books. At It´s fun to read you can find a lot of reading exercises. You can listen to the text and fill in missing words or you can listen to poetry. At I´m reading you can practice on making your own short play. You can read short books and if you want to hear how you pronounce a word you just click on it. As a teacher you can get inspiration from the website or even have the lessons based on it. If you have a projector in your classroom you can use many of the exercises together with the whole class. For example you can practice the alphabet, listen to a story or sing a song. If you have many computers in the classroom the pupils can work with the exercises in pairs and help each other.
Other considerations when using this resource
I think this website is a fun way to learn some English for young pupils. For older pupils it can be a little childish but some of the exercises, for example the short stories can be used in fourth grade. As Starfall is divided into different stages the pupils can work at their own level. Every time I look at Starfall website I find new interesting and fun exercises for young learners. If you haven´t try it yet, do it!
Helene Hofling
BBC as a ICT resource
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Using the website of BBC as a resource in ICT learning-
Susanne Vanberg
This resource seems endless to me. You can easily use it on the projector with the whole class but also as an individual or as a pair comprehension. On the first page you will find eight different departments:
General & Business English
Grammar, Vocabulary & Pronunciation
Talking Sports
Quizzes
The Flatmates
Community
For Teachers
Specials
I will not go in to all af them any accurate, just briefly guide you through a few. Under General & Business English you will find the current news. There are six minute movies with an easily understood english which are fun for the children to look and listen to. This week there is a movie about fear because of Halloween. You get to listen to different persons telling you about their fears. Below the movie you can read a summary of the short movie with the fear words highlighted. You also get language tips, in this case you get a description of the word phobia, which is used in the movie, and a cultural tip related to the current film you just been watching. There is also a following up rehearsal for the kids, this time they are being encouraged to write about there own fears and submit it on the web.There are a few related links to similar pages where kids can read and listen to texts with similar subjects.
For more creative learning you can go to the Flatmates. This a cartoon that is a serial. You will find worksheets to copy with for instance background of the characters of the serie to start off with. You can show the image for a particular episode and hide the text to let your kids make up a storyline which they think will fit in. Then you play the episode with the text and afterwards you talk about what differences they found in the real story. You can also begin with giving the class the text of one episode, cut up line by line and let them figure out how the plot could be and then listen to the episode and let them check for themselves.
This is just a few of the many things you can use this website for. As a said in the beginning it feels endless. I don´t think it is suitable for young children but I will use it with my sixth graders and I believe it works for fifth graders as well.
The link is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
Blog post about Glosor.eu
Hello!
I want to write a little about a program that is free for everyone to use. www.glosor.eu
It´s a fun way to learn your vocabulary for the week. The first thing you must have is an acount on this website. Then you can create maps for different type of words that you want to train. The word that you are going to learn you write in to the computer. It´s funnier if you have a computer with a big screen.
Now when you start training the words of the week, you can train it in many different ways. You can of course do it as a regular hearing from swedish to english. But also as memory, match the words, traingame, mahjong, sort letters and some other things.
For me as a teacher it´s easy to put the pupils for example two and two and train together in or outside the classroom. It´s a good and funny way for thoose pupils who don´t work with their homework at home so much. Or the one who doesn´t has so good handwriting. You can also create groups so the pupils can practise at home with the words. It´s good to show them on a big screen in the classroom fist so they are sure how to use it. But this is most a progam for skills training so that you must consider. It can also be good that the students still write the words by hand. Other teachers can also share your words in the groups you´ve been creating.
I want to write a little about a program that is free for everyone to use. www.glosor.eu
It´s a fun way to learn your vocabulary for the week. The first thing you must have is an acount on this website. Then you can create maps for different type of words that you want to train. The word that you are going to learn you write in to the computer. It´s funnier if you have a computer with a big screen.
Now when you start training the words of the week, you can train it in many different ways. You can of course do it as a regular hearing from swedish to english. But also as memory, match the words, traingame, mahjong, sort letters and some other things.
For me as a teacher it´s easy to put the pupils for example two and two and train together in or outside the classroom. It´s a good and funny way for thoose pupils who don´t work with their homework at home so much. Or the one who doesn´t has so good handwriting. You can also create groups so the pupils can practise at home with the words. It´s good to show them on a big screen in the classroom fist so they are sure how to use it. But this is most a progam for skills training so that you must consider. It can also be good that the students still write the words by hand. Other teachers can also share your words in the groups you´ve been creating.
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