Learn Songs (For ESL/EFL Students) Newest "Learn a Song" Podcast Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - March 23, 2012 Focusing on "linking" pronunciation and the "soft-T." Learn Songs Using the Teleprompter Player Learn Songs Using My Vidoes on YouTube Learn Songs Using the Flash Player Most of these are excerpts from recordings that I did a many years ago. Complete Podcasts Converted to Flash If you don't see the play button when you go to one of these pages, please reload the page and you should be able to see the play button. First, listen and repeat to learn the words and the melody. Previous Podcasts Split and Converted to Flash The "listen and repeat" part and the "sing the whole song" part have been split into two files. More About "Learn a Song" & History
Digital game-based language learning with Interactive Fiction (PART 1) Video games (also called digital games) are serious. While the people who play them have known this for a long time, it’s taken over three decades for society in general to accept them as something other than a way to pass the time in virtue of doing “more serious” work. The fact is, video games are serious – if not to the casual observer, then certainly to their players. What makes people want to spend so much time and money playing video games? Of course, the specific source of this ‘good’ feeling is subjective and depends on the person playing the game as well as the game being played, but in video games, feeling good can come often from: Taking on the identity of someone else and controlling their actionsBeing involved in the telling of a storyBeing put in a situation you would not normally be in (yet being safe)Facing challenges and having to overcome them Linguist James Gee (2012) defines a digital game as being: Digital Game-based language Learning What is Interactive Fiction?
Audio for ESL/EFL: Listen and Read Along (Flash/MP3) YouTube Videos Science and Technology This is 4 minutes long and use the Teleprompter Player.'Caine’s Arcade' Video Brings Fame to Creative Boy Words & Their Stories These are 5 minutes long and use the Teleprompter Player. American Stories The Tell-Tale Heart - Written by Edgar Allan Poe (Teleprompter) A Pair of Silk Stockings - Written by Kate Chopin (On YouTube.com)This is a playlist with 2 videos. (13:15) The Diamond Lens - Written by Fitz-James O'Brien (On YouTube.com)This is a playlist with 6 videos. (24 minutes) The Law of Life - Written by Jack London. President Obama Barack Obama's Weekly AddressesFor advanced students, we have a set of these. About "Listen and Read Along" These are all things that I adapted from material produced by the Voice of America (VOA). Some of these are in Flash, some are MP3 files played by a Flash player and some are hosted on YouTube.com.
Getting Started With Game-Based Language Learning Game-based learning (GBL) is an area of education that has been getting a lot of attention in recent times. It's easy to find articles and entire websites devoted to the power of games for engaging learners and providing a vehicle for their learning. However, many of these articles seem to focus on math, science, and language arts. But what about language learning? How can GBL help English-language learners develop their comprehension and communicative skills? The one question that I'm often asked, however, is: "How can teachers get started with GBL in the language classroom, especially when they have little experience of it?" Start a Conversation GBL is all about engaging learners, so your first step is to find out if they like the idea -- after all, there's little point in trying to push GBL with a class who are simply not into gaming! Ask your students what kind of games interest them and what their devices of choice are. The Power of Choice Set the Rules All Part of the Plan
Connect With English Introduction Introduction: An overview of the course and an introduction to the main characters in the drama. Rebecca's Dream Rebecca's Dream: The story begins as we meet Rebecca Casey, a 28-year-old Boston working woman, who dreams of becoming a singer. We also meet her boyfriend Matt who doesn't think much of her dream, and her 17-year-old brother, Kevin, who doesn't think much about the future at all. Rebecca considers applying for music school and pursuing her career full-time, rather than holding down a factory job and doing her music on the side. We also meet real-life immigrants and students who discuss the similarities between Rebecca's experiences and their own. Differences Differences: Rebecca starts to apply to music schools. A Visit To The Doctor A Visit To The Doctor: Rebecca's father has a worrisome checkup from his doctor. Breaking The News Breaking The News: Rebecca's father tells Rebecca that he is against the San Francisco plan, but Kevin supports her.
Crossword puzzle maker The Crossword puzzle maker is used to make simple crossword puzzles. It turns out that good crossword puzzles of the type found in newspapers are fairly hard to generate, and require a pool of lots of words, not all of which are used. This program puts all of the words you specify (no more, no less) into a simple crossword puzzle. The puzzle that is generated will remain on this server for about two months. If you want help with international characters, you can call up an Alphabet chart to use for cutting and pasting letters that are hard to type. The first part of this is for you to enter a list of words and clues. Once that part is done, hit the Make Puzzle button for a puzzle which incorporates your words. As the number of words you put in the puzzle, increases, the wait increases exponentially.
Make your own word search puzzle You can use this page to create your own word search puzzle with your own list of words. These puzzles are popular with different groups of people, especially teachers and students. Please enter a set of words. When you are done, hit the "Make Puzzle" button to generate a word search puzzle. Once the puzzle is displayed, you can use the "Printable HTML" or "Printable PDF" buttons to get a clean page suitable for printing with your web browser. The puzzle that is generated will remain on this server for about two months. Some users list their puzzles for all to see. If you want help with international characters, you can call up an Alphabet chart to use for cutting and pasting letters that are hard to type. Some people find this word list form too small, or want to have hidden words. Over the years, I've received many messages from students, teachers, and parents who have used the program for school work as well as a way to give a pleasant diversion from the normal grind.
Ocho videojuegos para educar a tus alumnos A lo largo de la Historia de la educación y la pedagogía, numerosas voces han destacado la importancia que el acto de jugar tiene en el desarrollo psicológico, social y/o cultural del ser humano, sobre todo en edades tempranas. Lo que, con la expansión de los videojuegos como una de las más populares formas de ocio de la actualidad y la aparición de escaparates como Steam y de organizaciones como Games for Change, basados en la responsabilidad del juego en valores respecto a sus usuarios en lo que a contenidos se refiere, ha diluido prejuicios y reticencias para dar paso a la proliferación de iniciativas, estudios y conferencias sobre el uso y programación de videojuegos en el aula como herramienta pedagógica. na vertiente que protagoniza este artículo en el que os proponemos un listado de ocho videojuegos cuyo valor pedagógico les hace merecedores de entrar en el aula como agentes educativos de efectividad comprobada además de ser, o eso esperamos, divertidos para vuestros alumnos.