I highly believe that speaking and writing skills are
important. At the end of the day, these are the skills our students will use to
communicate.
A lot of interesting tools were presented (I will
definitely use some of them in the future!) I will present a few.
1. Eduplace spelling game
This site provides a fun, colorful flash game that helps
the students learn about spelling. You can choose your level, and try different
units(each has a different activity).
I think it's a great way to teach spelling since it
actually feels like a game, and not like a learning tool.
2. Story maker
This is a fun and cute little app that allows you to create
your own story (you can even choose the type of story!). The learner chooses
the name of the characters, and some other aspects in the story, and it really
gives the feeling that you create your own story. I think the best way to learn
a language is through stories, and the cute animation and dynamic feeling makes
the learning even more effective.
3. SMS generator
This is an app that allows "creating" of SMS
conversation. I think this activity can really relate to the students, who pass
most of their day with their face stuck in a screen. This can also work on
their communication skill and allow them to create a made up conversation. This
conversation may contain new vocabulary, several grammatical structures, and
overall be fun and excited to the students.
4. Fodey's Newspaper generator
This site offers a wide range of text "designs",
one of them is an old fashioned newspaper. I think this is a great tool that
can help students actually experience different types of writing styles (for
example, a newspaper writing style will be different than a commercial writing style),
and the site makes it look authentic by giving it the designed touch. Who wouldn't
want to be a famous reporter??
5. Student publishing
In addition to what I wrote on top, who wouldn't want to be
a famous writer??
This site allows you to create and print your own book. When
I am thinking about teaching writing skills, I think the students will be very
excited if there would be an actual product in the end. This can be a yearly
project, in which the teacher teaches the fundamentals of storytelling, and at
the end of the year a book will be printed with all the stories that the
students will have written (The students would design it as well, obviously).
