Lake

Now time for my favourite session!!

A good  website where you can download videos, lyrics and worksheets is the following: www.tuneintoenglish.com

Extending a Sentence

An important part of developing good written English is the ability to construct longer and more detailed sentences. Learners often use very short sentences and struggle to make longer more detailed ones.

Click here to see an expanding sentence.  Click on any of the shaded words to expand!

http://www.telescopictext.com/

Students could then use a word processor to expand their own simple sentences.

Such as:

I went home.

I had a bath.

I went to the beach.

Here is a good fun site for creating short texts.  The best feature is the newspaper generator.   Just remember to keep the text short.

http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

If you want your students to create their own blogs I think you firstly have to create your own.    Right, set up a google mail account here and then open a blog by clicking this.

Once you have opened your blog why don’t you post your first diary entry about your stay in Oxford?!

Once this is completed start on your first wiki.      Do you remember?  Wikis are collaborative websites where students can post and edit their work.   Start by clicking here to go to the most simple wiki.  This site specialises in wikis for educational purposes.

Good luck

Content and language integrated learning is a way of organising language learning around topics and themes. It integrates language learning with subjects and provides students with exposure to varied and meaningful input with a focus on communication. As teachers we probably use CLIL as a language learning resource without realising it, but I’ll be doing a short introduction this morning.

One stop English has many activities and handouts for English Language Teachers. Click here for a link to the site. They have also recently created a CLIL site which incorporporates more content based learning into the language classroom. Click here to check it out. Unfortunately not all activities are free on these sites but you can get a general idea without parting with any cash! (Often sites charge you to download podcasts, these are sound files for listening activities with their own printable worksheets.)

We created this in the clasroom in a matter of minutes!  I love it!

I’ve been hunting around on-line today for grammar ideas for my Language Development session with the teachers on Wednesday and have found these.  Here are the best links so far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7595509.stm
20 examples of grammar misuse

Express check out sign
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2008/09/20-examples-of-grammar-misuse.html
You can post any questions here and find out the answers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/ask_about_english/

Free exercises which you can print and do with your classes or do on-line.
http://www.languageproject.co.uk/free_exercises/introduction.htm

If you are a visual learner this site looks useful.  Jane Straus is also a published author but her youtube videos look good and concise!  Watch over sixty, one-minute videos here.  These are very helpful for exam students.

I have enjoyed playing around with Bookr today.  It is so easy to use. The pictures are taken from a bank of photos on Flikr.  My only problem was making the photos move slowly across the bottom of the screen so I could see them properly.   My short book above would be perfect for present perfect practice!  Students could make up their own creations.    All the books could then be easily uploaded to a blog or a wiki and shared.   The only downside is that these books can’t be printed off but you can send them as email attachments. I love the way the pages turn. The way you drag the pages over with the mouse has a realistic feel about it!

The uses for Bookr are endless.  Let’s hope it remains free.  I’m now going to try and reactivate my creative side and become an Author!   Ha Ha!  Here goes with my wish list book!!

Here is a link to a great poem about Charles’ presents.   Click here

I have just found this blog written by a primary class in Britain. The students are age 7 and 8. They really want teachers and students from other countries to comment so if you could that would be great. It looks like an interesting blog!

http://www.class4d.edublogs.org

This blog is by an English language teacher in Barcelona. She uses her blog for her students age 12- 17. Again if you like it please leave a comment for the students.

http://petras2.edublogs.org/

Bye.

This link will take you to the edublogs blog.   Blogs especially for teachers!   Here you will find lots of advice about how to use blogs in the classroom.

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/06/17/share-your-blogging-experience-and-tips-for-educators-new-to-blogging/

You can create instant ‘clickable’ links to different websites simply by highlighting the word/s you want to use as your link and then pressing the symbol which looks like a chain.   You then have to copy the address into the http:// line and then just press enter. You can copy the links directly from the address panel and then just paste them.  Ctrl C is copy and Ctrl V is paste.

For instance if you click here.  You will click through to the olstyninoxford blog.

Try linking to a favourite site of yours on your blog!