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Before reading the following article, watch this video. It will give you an overview of what TED-ED is.

As mentioned in the video, TED-Ed is a way for students all around the world to benefit from education from many teachers worldwide. There are two types of TED-Ed lessons. The first one represents collaborations between expert educators, screenwriters and animators. Each collaboration’s role is to allow people in different countries to benefit from the lesson given by the expert. The second one can be created by any visitor, and involves adding questions, discussion topics and other supplementary materials to any educational video on YouTube. Both types of TED-Ed lessons are used in classrooms and homes to introduce new topics to students in a new and exciting way. It includes a free service that lets teachers upload any YouTube video. Furthermore, teachers can also make the videos more relevant to their classes by adding customized questions and quizzes. Most TED talks include a speaker who is talking about innovations and inspirations. Unlike what some people say about TED-Ed, the videos are not a substitute for the teachers. In fact, TED-Ed videos are resources that teachers can use to motivate and inspire lessons that are already being taught.

How it works

On the TED-Ed website, you can search for TED videos on YouTube through the search bar. Once you find a talk you like, you can use the “Share” feature to add context to the video or define learning objectives for your students. In the “Think” section you can add multiple choice questions or pose open-ended questions for your students to think about. In the “Dig Deeper” section you can add links to articles, references, and the class blog. Using these tools, you can provide a deeper context for the talk, encourage students to engage rather than just watching passively, and spark deeper discussion both online and in the classroom. You can also look at other teachers’ lesson plans, or share your own and see it featured on the site. You can create custom URLs for your discussion so you can share it exclusively with your students. Also, you can use the site to see students’ progress to see which students need more help.

Ideas for ESL teachers

Here are four ways that English as a second language (ESL) teachers can use TED Talks for:

1. Use TEDTalks to start conversations

For example, if you are talking about Hamlet, you can show a TEDTalk related to Hamlet or Shakespeare’s plays or even drama plays in general. Students can after start a conversation in teams of four related to that TEDTalk. Knowing that they will have to talk about it after in team, TEDTalk is a good way to catch students’ attention.

2. Make Your Own TED-Ed Club 

You can fill out an application form and the organization will send you 13 suggested meeting topics. In these meetings, students will learn all about what makes a great TED Talk, and will work on practicing their oral, writing, and presenting skills. Students will not only gain confidence in expressing their own ideas, but they will also improve their writing, discussing, and storytelling skills. You can submit your best student speeches to be presented on TED-Ed, where your student might present his/her speech.

 3. Have students give subject-specific TED Talks

As an ESL teacher, you could propose ideas ahead of time, and assign them to students as a challenge to think about the topic, and write as many arguments as they can think of, which is great for building rhetoric and analysis skills, as it is specified on this website. Moreover, you can assign each student a character from a story they have read, and then have them give a TED Talk from that person’s perspective, like a monologue. It is a way for students to understand more the characters in the story.

 4. Create a TED Talks Unit

Creating TED Talks is a way to have students not only brainstorm ideas but also present them together in a convincing, clear, and original way. It allows students to practice their oral skills as well as keeping eye contact while talking in front of the class.

ESL student

Olivia Cucinotta, a student in high school, has written a text about TED Talks in her English class. Her opinion about TED Talks is that students can better grasp topics they might not fully understand at first glance, think critically about how they think about the world, and discuss other big ideas beside their own. To read more about what she had to say about TED Talks, go to this website.

ESL teachers

As mentioned by Stacey Roshan, a teacher in Potomac, TED-Ed videos are a way to access great lesson plans from teachers across the country. Here are many ideas for lessons in a class that teachers can chose from. They can choose a topic and have a discussion in class about being for or against that topic. It will help students form an opinion on important topics and they will practice their oral English skills.

My opinion

School is all about ideas and keeping the students busy and interested. TED-Ed helps teachers bring new ideas into conversations and debates. They can be used to bring diverse voices and questions into classroom discussions. It helps students be more confident about sharing their ideas and talking in front of a group. Its moto being “Ideas worth spreading,” TED-ED is made for classrooms because spreading ideas is what education is all about.

Eva Marcolin

What is Tellagami?

Tellagami is a way to be creative and share videos that are called Gamis. Whatever the device you have, you can download it on your apple device or android and have loads of fun. It is a very simple way to be original and artistic by telling a message through a video instead of saying it orally. For students, Tellagami is a new way to learn by creating. Tellagami also has a page on Facebook where people can go and learn new information about it. Here is the site. You can follow Tellagami on Twitter as well. There is also Tellagami Edu, which is a paid version of the Tellegami application that allows classrooms to use the app without in-app purchases.

Tellagami’s story

Tellagami’s started its business in San Francisco. Their workers’ roles are to combine photos, voice, character customization and personality on a mobile platform in order for the users to communicate in an innovative way. Tellagami’s team is formed of world class business executives, mobile engineers and designers who work in an exciting new way to create and share for our mobile generation. They have worked with many consumer brands such as Apple, Yahoo!, Disney, Universal and Nickelodeon.

All the options

Here are all the options that you can enjoy with Tellagami:

• Text-to-Speech

It allows you to convert text messages into voice messages for your character. Allows up to 450 characters of text (30 seconds).

• Character Customization

It allows you to dress your character with a choice of four tops, four bottoms, four pairs of shoes and five different hairstyles.

• Backgrounds

It includes many different background images like a classroom, a living room, an office, a park and many more. You can also upload your own image as a background.

• Voice Record

You can record a message of 90 seconds maximum for your character to say.

• Doodle

Using different writing font, you can write your own message on the image or draw a picture.

• Save to Device

Also, you can save your Gami video to your device by taping on the Share button, then on the Save button.

• Share Options

You can share your Gami on a social media by taping on the Share button, then choose one of the options between Twitter, Facebook, SMS or by E-mail.

How to make a Gami video

There are three simple steps to follow in order to create a Gami video. First, you need to create a scene by creating your character and choosing a background.

Second, you have to add dialogue by recording your voice or by typing a message for your character to speak.

Third, you save or share your Gami on Facebook, Twitter or send it via text or email.

Here is a YouTube video that shows the main features of Tellagami.

Tellagami for ESL teachers

The possibilities of activities for English as a second language (ESL) teachers to do in their classrooms are endless. For instance, teachers and students can use Tellagami to create book reports, oral presentations, tutorials, lessons, or many different assignments. Samantha Morra has written in this website that teachers can use Tellagami to introduce the classroom to students or parents with characters in different spots around the room, even on a bookshelf. Some other ideas to use Tellagami in an ESL classroom are to ask students to create a character who narrates a short story, have them introduce themselves at the beginning of the year so that students learn about each other, recite a poem that they have written, describe their favorite trip with a picture of their trip as a background, explain a grammar rule, introducing class rules and topic openers. All these activities could be done in English and it is a good way to practice their oral skills.

Tellagami for ESL students

Tellagami improves speaking and listening skills, as well as the writing process of students of any age. The fact that students can listen back to what they have typed and have time to correct their errors is beneficial for their listening and writing skills. Errors can be easily be corrected by returning to the typed screen. It is a great way for pupils to demonstrate and be proud of their learning.Tellagami is a new way to give students a voice.

My opinion

I believe that Tellagami is a good way for students to practice their English skills while being creative and having fun. Using such animation with students has a profound effect on how they participate in a project. They don’t have the impression of working, they take it as a game and this is the beauty of Tellegami. Moreover, students who are usually introverted tend to really contribute to their learning process and are less shy to express their opinion. It makes them feel safer and more willing to work. Whether we want students to share their ideas, demonstrate their learning, or tell their stories, giving students the opportunity to practice communication skills is important.

Eva Marcolin

Features

Kahoot! is an application that allows teachers to evaluate their students’ understanding through quizzes, discussions, and surveys. Teachers simply have to launch Kahoot!s on the screen at the front of the room, and students join through their personal devices. A Kahoot! is a question on a specific topic created by teachers, students, business-people and social users. Kahoot! is not only useful for students in elementary nor high school, but also for universities and businesses. Kahoot! gives the opportunity to students to ask questions to their teacher, while creating a social, fun and game-like environment. It encourages learner interactions and creates a classroom with a pedagogy based, which maximizes the learning time spent in the classroom and motivates learners to lead. Kahoot!’s proudest feature is that students can have access to it with any device, allowing learners to both respond and create their own interactive game. As opposed to what some people might think, learning while gaming has many benefits for students. It provides additional engagement, motivation and rewards through learners’ participation, with a game-based pedagogy which is proven by academic research. Kahoot! allows people to share, browse, favor or play with content created by educators and learners globally. According to this website, Kahoot! is number 2 on a list of apps to increase teacher-student interaction.

How it works

Kahoot!’s main aspect is to create and play Kahoot!s (quizzes, discussions, and surveys) using any device with a web browser, including a laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android, Chromebook, Windows Phone or PC and more. There are three steps to perform: create, launch, and play. Without needing an account, every student in the room quickly joins through their personal device, seeing their name appear at the front. They can play against each other, while answering questions in real time.

 Three types of Kahoot!

1. Quiz

This is the most common type of Kahoot!. There is no question limit on a Kahoot! quiz and it can have 2-4 multiple choice answers. Pictures can also be included in the quizzes. Players answers the questions on their personal device and the faster someone answers a correct question, the more points they have. The five best players have their names shown at the end on the screen. The results can be downloaded afterwards so that the teacher can know which students needs more practice and which ones are better.

2. Discussion

Discussions are designed to facilitate conversation between students. There are questions with no right or no wrong answers so students feel comfortable to say their opinion. Topics vary depending on the English level of the students and it can be very simple questions like: “what should we do today?” Once again, students answer the questions on their personal device. Because of the fact that there are no right and no wrong answers, there are no points given at the end. However, the students’ answers can be displayed on the board so that students can discuss about them.

3. Survey

There are no limits to the questions on a survey. Like quizzes, a survey can have 2-4 multiple choice questions, but there are no right or wrong answers. They are just like traditional surveys, the only difference is that the questions are asked in real-time and students answer on their personal devices. The results can be debated so that older students (high-school) practice their vocabulary skills and the results can be downloaded at the end.

Four steps

1. Create, manage, and share questions
2. Answer questions through a powerful classroom engagement tool
3. Educators challenge learners to ask their own questions
4. Learners become leaders by asking their questions back

ESL teachers

Kahoot! is very interesting for ESL teachers to use it in with their students. There are three main types of Kahoot!, which are mentioned above that are beneficial for students who learn English. Quizzes can be used by having students choose the correct irregular verb in a specific sentence. They can also be used to practice prepositions. For example, there can be a picture of a table and a water bottle on top of it. The sentence would be “The water bottle is ________ the table. The choices would vary between in, below, and on. Discussions can also help students develop new vocabulary words, or enrich the ones they already know. Moreover, the teacher can ask students to write an essay on one of the questions discussed in the survey and take a position. These are the main reasons why Kahoot! helps students assimilate better the English language. It is important that students’ learning is diversified and Kahoot! helps students and teachers have fun in ESL classes. With Kahoot!, ESL teachers get an overview of the knowledge levels of every student in the class and can adapt the level of their lessons accordingly. Here is a video of a teacher that explains why Kahoot! is beneficial for her students. At the end of the video, some students say their opinion about Kahoot! and all of them are very positive.

My opinion

I have never known such a fun and educational application for students of any level. I particularly like the idea of having the teacher create a quiz (especially for younger students) because it allows students to challenge each other. It also gives the opportunity for those who perform less high on essays to be motivated and to score high with Kahoot!. Furthermore, having the 5 best scores at the end stimulates them to think about the good answer and learn from their mistakes. Quizzes can be used to evaluate the knowledge of each student and the teacher can see who needs more help and provide that help afterwards. They can be used to track progress of individuals over time, and inspire students to ask questions by creating their own quizzes. Students’ learning is reinforced by thinking about potential wrong answers to questions, as well as the right ones. These are the reasons why I will probably use Kahoot! with my future students.

Eva Marcolin

Toondoo is a very good educational site for students, which allows them to create their own books, comics, and cartoon strips while practicing their second language. It has been created by Jambav, which is another fun site for kids that creates free online games of educational value for children of all abilities. Toondoo was created for those who do not have the talent to draw and for children to be creative. Before starting to create their comic strips, students must create an account on the website. After they have registered, they can start laying around with it to become familiar. Once they start creating their cartoons, they have to drag in or out the options for characters, backgrounds, objects, call outs, etc. Although it is mainly for students in elementary school, high school students can debate perspectives on a stated topic or write reflections and responses on a comic strip. By choosing from a great variety of characters, students develop their understanding of English vocabulary words, such as woman, old, hair, hat, etc.

Toondoo is a great way for students to develop their creativeness and share their work with the rest of the world. There is even a possibility to publish their comic strips in a blog or a website that they want. Through Toondoo, students can express their views, opinion, anxiety or anything else. Here are a few educational things that students can do with Toondoo according to this website:

• Create visual/graphic summaries of readings and authentic course experiences
• An alternative or option for journaling, diaries, blogs, etc. This can be used with older students.
• Timelines
• Initial format before writing (graphic organizer)
• Text/article/cartoon/event reviews, analyses & summaries
• Reflections & responses
• Conversations
• Interviews (Q&A)
• Family, event, historical pathways (trees)
• Upload images from their computer or from anywhere else on the web by using the ImagineR tool.

Toondoo’s main feature is to use it for education. ESL teachers can use Toondoo for educating their students about a concept, talking about a current, social, national or international event, or just for fun! Students have the opportunity to publish, share and discuss their comic strips with their group members in a secure and private environment! Furthermore, Toondoo is a great place for social networking. Students can send their toons to friends, comment on other toons and interact with other classmates via the toondoo forums. Of course, all their interactions have to be done in English, since it is all about learning a second language. Some of the topics that could be used for elementary classes are the weather, clothing items, Christmas or any other holiday, animals, etc. Some of the topics that could be used in high school are more serious issues, such as politics, science, and they can express their opinion through it. Moreover, here are other ways that ESL teachers can use Toondoo in their classes:

• Explain a topic or concept with toons.
• Make class assignments interactive with ToonDoo.
• Explain school processes and procedures with toons.
• Test learning of new concepts and skills.
• Get their students to think about what they have just learned by making them create stories about it.
• Make language learning fun.
• Get Pictures to speak LOUDER than words.

This website mentions several reasons for ESL teachers to use Toondoo in their classes, which I believe are crucial in the students’ learning of a new language. The main one is that illustrations are very beneficial for students’ learning because some issues can be harder to understand, such as political topics. With Toondoo, they can be easier to understand for students if they read it through illustrations. Images are used in order to motivate students and as a way to have their attention. With illustrations, they will be more interested in the topic and they will learn better than with having to read a long and boring text. Additionally, students can create their own representation of an idea. I believe that students understand a topic better when they explain it using their own words and illustrations. Also, they can practice their computer skills, which is another important reason why ESL teachers should use Toondoo in their classes.

Here is an example of a rubric to show how ESL teachers can evaluate their students with Toondoo. You will notice that there are many points for creativity, but there are also some points assigned to writing skills and completeness. The two following illustrations come from this website.

Below is an example of a student’s work for you to compare using the rubric above.

In this website, an ESL teacher talks about the use of Toondoo in ESL classes. Here is what she had to say about it: “Students can fill empty bobbles with the lyrics, which could be good enough in the context of ESL teaching. A handy guide to help teachers utilize ToonDoo to engage students is available and helps you in every step of the project, but also, to evaluate every student’s work.”

-Marianne Fortin

For those who are interested, here is an interesting video that shows how Toondoo works in more details.

Eva Marcolin

Google SketchUp is a software that is very easy to use and it is known for developing 3D plans. It was established initially by Last Software in 2000. They were developed by Google in 2006 and the first free version of Google SketchUp was released on 27 April, 2006. People can use it to open Google Earth, for instance, and see the Earth in 3D. Here is a video that explains how to get started with Google SketchUp for teachers.

One of the main reasons as to why this software is useful in education is that it is free for teachers to use. Also, students can download it and in only two minutes, they can use it at home. Students at any age can use this software, even younger ones. Google SketchUp is simple to use, as there are tutorials and reference resources to help people become familiar with every aspect of this software. It helps students develop their creativity and motivation. Of course, Google SketchUp provides collaboration between students and teachers that they have to do in English. If students have any questions about it, they can ask their teacher using the English language. As it is mentioned in this website, “The deep pedagogical, motivational, and cognitive benefits serve important academic and vocational needs of our students.”

As a future ESL teacher, I believe it is important to integrate technology in education, especially when using the software in the language that the students are learning. Although most of the benefits are for other fields than the learning of English, like geometry, design and architecture, students are being exposed to realities that they will be facing more and more, such as the use of technology. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are central to learning, but nowadays, problem solving, focused creativity and even design and central to students’ needs, according to this pdf. Moreover, it helps students think critically and interact with technology. Here is what an ESL teacher had to say about Google SketchUp: « We use Sketchup with children as young as 5years of age. The program needs very little introduction, children produce results very quickly and many make very rapid progress. We have found that SketchUp allows children who have difficulty expressing themselves in more conventional ways to produce work that far exceeds the expectations of their teachers. We’ve already had great results with children suffering from autism. SketchUp’s ability to draw in perspective view makes it very easy for young children to conceptualize their thoughts.”

Google SketchUp is perfect for project-based learning, which is becoming increasingly significant in today’s classrooms. I believe it is very important that 3D becomes part of classrooms because it develops the way students think, solves problems and prepares them to work with other subjects as well. As an ESL teacher has mentioned in this pdf, “Students show remarkable ability to navigate the software to make impressive models with Google Earth, while sharing ideas in English.”

In an ESL classroom, students can use Google SketchUp for several projects. For instance, they can do a plan of their bedroom and explain it doing an oral presentation. Also, they can use transition words to explain each room of their house. Moreover, for older students, they can explore the program and explain it using their own words to develop English vocabulary. Doing plans of their houses and then labelling the rooms can be another idea for younger students to learn the names of rooms like bathroom and living room. They can even create their dream house and present it to the class using English words. All these projects will have to be done in the target language for students to become more familiar with it. With Google SketchUp, they have the chance to practice competencies 1 and 3, so their oral as well as their writing skills. Here are many projects that students have done in their ESL classroom using Google SketchUp. This is why I believe that Google SketchUp is very useful for students to learn a second language.

Here is a video of two high schools that are currently using Google SketchUp in their classrooms. Although it is for a history class, it can easily be adapted for an ESL class.

Here is an interesting quote that I found in this website: “Good teachers start from scratch. Smart teachers steal!”

Eva Marcolin

One of the most important task as a teacher is evaluating our students. Being a teacher is quite easy nowadays because they have access to a great variety of websites that help them manage their classrooms. One of them that I have personally experienced as a student is called “Omnivox.” This website benefit both, the students and the teachers. It was mostly made for teachers to easier manage their classrooms, but as a student, I found it very useful as well.

Omnivox

Omnivox is the name of this website, which has two functions; Lea and Mio. According to this website, it was adopted by almost 100 Colleges and Universities. Education is constantly evolving, that is why Omnivox has new characteristics and new services that are related to teachers’ and students’ needs. Omnivox allows students and teachers to easily communicate with one another. It is in constant evolution, with improvements and new services added to the benefit of teachers and students. According to this website, a recent survey has proven that 97% of their users appreciate the services available. It is available in French, English and Spanish. Also, this website mentions that it is the services website most adopted by Colleges and Universities in Canada, used hundreds of millions of times each year.

Lea

Within Omnivox, there is Léa, which is a Teacher-Student communication environment that allows each teacher to easily transfer information to their students, and to interact with their classes. Teachers can put their students’ marks on Lea, their class’s average, etc. Also, teachers can post assignments, projects, homework, or any other things they do in their classes. Here are all the main things that Lea offers to teachers in order to allow them to manage their classrooms:

• Distribution of the Course outline
• Inclusion of the Booklist that indicates the textbooks students must purchase
• Distribution of Documents and files for each class, such as class and lecture notes
• Sharing of the Calendar of events, including important dates, submission of assignments, exam dates, etc.
• Posting of the teacher’s Availability for meeting with students
• Discussion forums which allow for the exchanging of knowledge and questions between teachers and students
• Recording and diffusion of information concerning students’ absences and late arrivals
• Assignments
  • Electronic submission of Assignments from students to their teacher
  • Electronic submission of Corrected Assignments from students to their teacher
• Recording and availability of Evaluation grades for students
• Sharing of Recommended web sites for the course by the teacher

This information was taken from this website.

According to this website, Cégep Beauce-Appalaches, Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Cégep de Sainte-Foy, Cégep de Sherbrooke, Collège Vanier, Champlain St-Lawrence, Collège Ahuntsic, Collège John-Abbott, Cégep Limoilou, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Université McGill are using Omnivox as a classroom management system.

Lea for teachers

Whether teachers give their students exams, pop quizzes, assignments, homework, etc., Lea will make their life easier. Every time they enter results of their students, Lea calculates the progress of the group and the individual students, and lets students know that new marks are available for consultation. Additionally, teachers can decide what information is available for their students to see; none, just the individual mark, the class average, or any individual or group comments they have to make. Léa can even put colors on the grades summary, so that teachers know which students have seen their marks and read the comments. That way, teachers know which students are on task and which are not. Some teaching tips about Lea are available on this website if you want to know exactly how it works. 

Mio

Mio is another part of Omnivox, and its main function is for teachers to communicate with students. Mio allows teachers and students to send messages for important information, meetings, etc. Teachers can send a message, whether it is to a student, a group of students or to the entire class. With Mio, there is no email address to remember, you just have to select a person from the class list. Teachers immediately see the identity of the student and of the class to which they belong to when they receive Mios. Whether a Mio is sent to one student or to the entire class, the teacher knows at all times who has read it and who did not yet.

My Opinion

I have used Omnivox when I was in Cegep and I found it very advantageous for students. I contacted my teachers whenever I had a question and they answered within 24 hours. Omnivox allows students to see the class’s average, which I believe is very important because you know right away whether you are in the class average or not. Another thing that I like about Omnivox is the fact that you know how much the other assignments weigh, so you can plan your study hours ahead of time. I believe it is important for students to be confident and not stress about upcoming exams or assignments. Omnivox helps students be organized and responsible for their work and grades.

ESL Teacher

From the point of view of an ESL teacher, Omnivox is very beneficial for students. Omnivox allows teachers to set the target language so that students read the information and ask questions in the TL. In an ESL classroom, students communicate on Omnivox in English and read assignments descriptions in English as well. Teachers can put articles on Lea for their students to read. All the communication is done in English and that is how students learn.

I have recently been to Cegep St-Lawrence, which is the Cegep I attended, to ask one of my ESL teachers about her opinion about Omnivox and this is what she had to say:

“Omnivox is the easiest management system that I have used in my entire career. First because students can communicate with each other about team projects, or upcoming exams. Second, I often have to meet students because they want me to correct their essays, so I think it is beneficial for them to set appointments with me through Mio. I am a very fast corrector, as soon as I am finished marking, my students know their grades, which can be a stress reliever for them. Sometimes, in class, I show a power point about things I want them to know for the final exam and I just put the whole power point on Lea, so that they do not lose time copying all the notes and they are very happy about it. That way, they are sure not to miss anything on the power point. I would not be able to do all the things I am doing without Omnivox.”

– Louise Gauthier

Eva Marcolin

TeacherTube is an educational tool for teachers to use and have new ideas for their classrooms. TeacherTube has officially launched in March 2007 and is an educational version of YouTube. According to TeacherTube’s founders, « We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. » It is free, users only have to have a username and a password to have access to the site. It is a great place for teachers to upload instructional videos. There’s no limit on size files or video length. TeacherTube is a site to share videos, create some, and learn from each other. According to this website, “It’s show and tell for teachers.” The main aspect of this site is that teachers can upload a video of their classroom about an activity that the students liked and post it on TeacherTube so that other teachers can view and do the same activity with their students. It gives many ideas for teachers. Users can comment on videos and can rate them from one to five apples, so that other users know whether it is a good video or not. Videos that include songs, visual aids, and math and science tend to be popular on the site, according to the founders. Though most school districts block access to sites such as YouTube, they don’t tend to block TeacherTube.

TeacherTube is not only useful for teachers, but also for students all around the world. Everyone can have access to this website. But what is the difference with YouTube? TeacherTube provides videos that are safe for the classroom environment. If teachers use YouTube, they have to scan out videos that are appropriate for the classroom to make sure that there is no controversial content. Furthermore, TeacherTube does not have any long and boring commercials before the videos. It is beneficial for students that are in any grade. There are even instructional videos for children in kindergarten up to higher educational grades. ESL teachers use this website quite often to find new ways to teach English.

Here are all the functions of that TeacherTube can do:

• upload, tag, and share videos worldwide.
• upload support files to attach educational activities, assessments, lesson plans, notes, and other file formats to your video.
• browse hundreds of videos uploaded by community members.
• find, join, and create video groups to connect with people who have similar interests.
• customize the experience by subscribing to member videos, saving favorites, and creating playlists.
• integrate TeacherTube videos on Web sites using video embeds or application programming interfaces.
• make videos public or private; users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with those they invite.

From the point of an ESl teacher, TeacherTube is a useful and educational site that helps students learn rapidly because of its great variety of videos. If students do not understand something that is in one video, they just have to find another one. It is a simple way to learn a new language because students can watch the videos at home and listen to the language they want to learn. That is why ESL teachers love to use TeacherTube.

I really like the idea of showing an instructional video to a class because it gives new ideas to the teacher and students. Moreover, I believe that students are always more interested when the teacher shows a video in class. They listen more carefully and learn more. Another aspect that I like about TeacherTube is that everything is educational. Thus, teachers can use it without having the fear of finding videos with poor language or disrespectful images of the videos that can be found on YouTube. I remember being in elementary school and seeing a television in the classroom. Everyone was happy to see a television in front of the class because it meant that we would do something different and we would not have to listen to the teacher during the whole class. Nowadays, televisions are no longer needed to have the attention of students because there are smart boards in almost every classroom, but the use of videos will always catch the attention of students. These are the reasons why I will use TeacherTube. After all, it will give me a little break from always having to talk!

Here is a link that explains you how to post a video on TeacherTube.

Children are now used to playing videogames, playing on the computer and looking at the television. They are now used to living in a world of technologies, and to learning new things through technologies. But is it that advantageous for students to use Smart Boards? When they come to school and are asked to listen to the teacher talking, it is not long before they lose track. That is why it is important to integrate technologies in classrooms, so that they are motivated to learn and prepared for the future world of technologies that awaits them. Smart Boards offer students and teachers a great variety of advantages. It was shown by many studies from this website that “school administrators believe that technology is a critical component of the educational experience for students.”

Smart Boards are a new technology that looks just like a big computer screen on the wall. Children are attracted to that kind of new technology, so they are more tempted to listen to the teacher. As shown in this website, Smart Boards give the opportunity for teachers to show videos on YouTube, have access to different educational software like­­­­ Smart Network that has a spell check, and go directly on the internet for newspaper articles, for instance. This makes the learning of all students more dynamic and allows students to have a better learning experience. Smart Boards gives the impression that students are just playing games, when they are actually doing a serious educational activity. Smart Boards are a time saver because they allow the teacher to save information like diagrams so that the teacher does not have to restart the whole diagram each class.

As it is mentioned by this website, more than 75% of classrooms in the United Kingdom are using this new technology. Another advantage that Smart Boards offers to students’ learning is that it allows them to be active in their own learning. That being said, they can move objects around and play the role of the teacher, as illustrated by the picture below. When I was in elementary school, I would have liked to learn with a Smart Board because I am the type of learner who likes to play while learning, not only listening to the teacher talk with no visuals. Moreover, students are sharing, modeling and demonstrating what they have learned, which is a way to actively learn. Smart Boards enable classrooms to be student-centered, which means that the focus of the class is mostly on the students so that they learn in a more effective way. Additionally, it has been proven by this website that Smart Boards benefit all students, even those with special needs. For example, in one elementary classroom, there was a student with autism and Smart Boards allowed him to be more collaborative and it made the communication process easier between other students.

The use of Smart Boards in classrooms accommodates students with different learning styles. Students who are more visual benefit from Smart Boards by having several visual aids projected on the board. Other who are more audio can listen to the teacher or have a discussion, and those who are more tactile can touch and mark things on the Smart Board. Furthermore, students with learning disabilities will learn just like the other students because they will be able to be creative in their own ways by using the drag function to modify and adapt text and sentences.

This link will bring you to a YouTube video that shows different tools that teachers can use while teaching a new language.As demonstrated in this video, Smart Boards are an effective educational tool for language learning. The video is mostly for foreign language learners, but it can work as well for second language learners.

Although Smart Boards are mainly beneficial for students, there are some issues concerning the costs. Smart Boards cost a lot of money, ranging from approximately 3000 to 5000$. Also, teachers have to be well trained concerning all the tools that Smart Boards offer. There can also be some technological problems arising anytime. There are more benefits than disadvantages, which is why all teachers should use this technological tool. Teachers argue that Smart Boards can provide students with greater access to information and that makes them able to create meaningful personalized learning experiences outside the traditional classroom. That is why I believe that Smart Boards are a helpful tool in education and they help students learn in a more effective way.

Technologies have become more powerful through the years and they are beneficial tools for teachers. One of these new technologies is called Google Docs.

As this website mentions, one of the main benefits for teachers to use Google Docs is that they can share and work with students any time they want. It is easy to share information to all students; just one click and the entire class receives the document. Students do not need to have a Gmail account to receive the information. Teachers can work on the document anywhere and there is no need for a USB key or fears of forgetting to save the document because every time you add something, it saves by itself. Also, teachers can collaborate with students on one documents and give them feedback. There is a maximum of 50 people editing a document as the image shows. Moreover, students have no excuse of forgetting their homework at home, or anything they might say as an excuse of not doing their homework.

Another aspect that differs Google Docs from any other applications is the fact that teachers can edit and give suggestions without correcting the actual text. For instance, once students have sent their document to their teachers, he or she can comment by highlighting the section or word he or she wishes to comment and clicking on the “comment” button. By writing a comment, it allows teachers to give feedback without directly changing the actual text. This allows students to receive feedback from their teacher and ameliorate their knowledge because they have to correct their mistakes themselves. This website supports the use of Google Docs in education.

Furthermore, Google Docs gives teachers the opportunity to know what changes their students have made to their document. This is very useful for teachers because they can see whether or not their students correct their mistakes and read the feedback that they have written. Teachers can see the evolution of their students’ writing as they give feedback. Not only this is beneficial for teachers, but also for students because they can see the development of their work and it can motivate them to continue. This website offers 50 more benefits for teachers to use Google Docs.

Google Docs is a way for students to work in groups easily, and for the teacher to answer questions directly. With Google Docs, teachers can be available anytime to answer questions that students might have concerning a project. Instead of waiting the following day to ask a question, Google Docs gives the opportunity for students to ask questions to their teachers. It is a way for teachers to be available even if they are not in class. If the teacher knows that one student in particular is struggling with his project, he can schedule an appointment with this student via Google Docs and the teacher will be able to help the student and show his or her mistakes directly on the text through comments.

Another reason why teachers should use Google Docs is because they can share documents with their students’ parents. Nowadays, there are students who do not show their work to their parents, so their parents do not know their grades until they see the report card. Google Docs allows teachers to send their students’ work via e-mail to their students’ parents so that they can see their children’s work without their children knowing, as the picture shows. It is easy, the teacher just puts in the email address where it is written and clicks on “send” and parents will receive the document.

Google Docs gives the opportunity to teachers to work with students who need more attention. Todd is an English teacher who has used Google Docs with a student who had difficulty responding to prompts in class. Here is what he had to say about Google Docs:

“I’ve used google docs when mentoring students. I worked with a student who was still struggling with responding to prompts in English class. I created a similar prompt to one he was going to have to do for homework, and remotely went about creating the response. He was able to see how I gathered information and structured the response. Then, he was able to try and I could see where he was spending his time.” This quote was taken from this website. 

In summary, Google Docs is very useful for teachers and it is very easy to use. Students have a better understanding of the knowledge that is being taught by their teacher.

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