storybird me!

What is it all about?

Storybird is a fun new collaborative storytelling website.  Storybird makes it easy to create and tell stories digitally.  Students and teachers can create stories together by combining imaginative artwork and text.  The final product can be printed, watched on screen, played with like a toy, or shared in an online library with the world. In short, it is a free online tool that helps you make short, art-inspired, stories that you can share, read, and print.


How to use it?


1. Firstly, once you have entered www.storybird.com, please select 'sign up' where you need to create your own account.

2. After confirming your email address. Select 'Jump in!' to start creating your own storybook.

3. The first step is to select an artist. Here we get a chance to see some of the artworks you have chosen.

4. Here we get a  Select “Start a Storybird”.


5. This is the storymaker. Drag illustrations onto the canvas, & then write the story in the text boxes. You can add additional pages at the bottom.

6. When you’re finished, select “Menu” & then “Publish this Storybird…”

7. Before publishing you can write a short summary of the book and select appropriate age range. Make sure to set the story to “public”. Then select “Publish”.

11. You have now finished and published a Storybird!



How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?

Teacher could initially give out a topic and ask students to brainstorm the idea together. For example, the topic of 'my family' and teacher would ask students questions like 'how many family members do you have?', 'what do you do with your family during leisure time' and etc. Then, teacher would demonstrate the storybird tool to the students. Firstly, teacher could start by selecting pictures that suit their description. For example, if the students say 'My family loves fishing', then teacher would choose picture of a man holding a fishing rod. Then, students are asked to be in pairs. Then, they could continue the topic by collaborating the stories with their partners.




Why is it good?

1. It creates a sweet memory with friends. Later on, even when they have graduated from school, students can still read the stories they have created online.

2. Teacher can use the great artwork and share them with other students not only online but also in the version of hard copy. Yes! The book can be printed out.

3. The tool has an intuitive interface and beautiful illustrations. It provides whole collections of artwork around a theme or topic. The artwork is by amazing artists and the collections are linked. So all the pictures have the same ‘look and feel’ and can be easily fitted together to create a very professional looking story.

4. This tool helps students who do not write well in language.  They will have to carefully select their own pictures before writing the stories, this will help them with the writing process because when selecting the pictures, they are actually building images and builds the story line in their mind. This will make them ore excited.




The weakness of it..

1. Time-consuming and it is not easy to have a collaborative story telling. Different students may want their stories to be told differently. My friends and I created a story together and ended up disagreeing with a lot of matters, for example, the name of the characters, the ending of the stories including the plot of the stories. It is very complicated to work with if you have a difficult partner!

Record your voice using Vocaroo!

What is it all about?

Vocaroo is a tool where you can record your voice and then save it in your computers or upload it online. Users do not need to create or log in or install any software in order to use it. Therefore, it is a very convenient tool to be used for students who hate the hassle of creating a new account.



How to use it?

First of all, you need to have a microphone. You can use the microphone built into the laptop to record. Then, click the record button and start talking! After completing your recording, Vocaroo gives you the choice to publish it or to scrap it and try again.

How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?

Teacher can start a topic about 'Myself'. Here, teacher would first tell the students about herself and then asked them to be in pairs and start telling their partners about themselves. This phase is important as it helps students to brainstorm the details about themselves. Then teacher would show students a podcast she made about herself to the class using Vocaroo. Teacher would then make it as a homework where students have to record their voice using Vocaroo and upload it into their class blog.


Very interesting idea from Kathy Cassidy has for students to practice reading smoothly (reading fluency) and record and learn from listening to themselves read using Vocaroo. Students can hear if they are reading fluently or not and compare it to what fluent reading should sound like. I think this allows students to take a bit of responsibility of their own learning and be able to identify their own growth. The program that she used to help her grade one’s improve their communication skills is Vocaroo, so it shows that using Vocaroo as a tool to improve communication skill is not a fiction! High five!



Here's an example my own recording describing myself. 

Audio recording software >>



Why is it good?

1. Users can use this recording tool without installing software.

2. Vocaroo provides the embed code for users, this provide an option for users to embed the recording anywhere.

3. Simple way of practice pronunciation skill. I think that since it is free, simple and easy to use, teachers could use it as a center for students to practice their reading independently and  to listen to it later on to assess their communication skills.




The weakness of it..

1. More suitable as a homework. It is quite difficult to use this tool in the class as everyone need to have a microphone. Without a mic, no recording can be made.

2. Only 5 minutes of recording!

3. Require internet connection.

4. Cannot edit the recording, you have to record everything from the start.

Mybrainshark; the coolest presentation tool!

What is it all about?


This tool is utterly amazing and I can assure you that you will never regret trying this out! Brainshark is a tool that allows users to turn PowerPoint slides, Microsoft Word documents, video and photo album into voice-enriched presentations. It is working absolutely fabulous for discussion since students can add their voice into it. It is so sophisticated that users could upload picture + powerpoint + video + background music into it.


How to use it?


After uploading the file, users may narrate and record their voice by the voice recorder. At this point, users could narrate on the particular slide they want. The best part is that you could redo the recording if you are not satisfied with your existing narration. You can also add background music of your liking.



How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?


1. Teacher could benefit this tool by asking students to produce a presentation about their family, hobbies or favourite food in a PowerPoint slide.

2. Students are asked to insert pictures to make the presentation more interesting. Then, teacher will ask students to add audio files or record their own voice into the presentation.

3. Students are asked to upload the presentation to their blog and later teacher will leave comments.


this is my example of using this tool :







Why is it good?

1. It  benefits both teachers and students in making presentations. In a way, it reduces students' stress when making live presentation.

2. Students could use it at home and it is like you have an online class going on. Since it is the combination of  both audio and visual presentations,  it is like we don't have to come to class any more. I would say it is a cool way of virtual learning.

3. Teacher can use this tool as a way of assessing students formatively. It can keep the presentation as the record to assess learnrers'progress in learning

4. Sometimes, we forgot about the lectures that we had an it is nice to listen to those same lectures again, especially during the examination. It can be an online notes for the students to refer back to.

5. Students have more time to practise on their own, and less intimidating as there is no real audience



The weakness of it...

1. In Malaysia context, it is hard to get students to use this tool as most students do not have internet connection at home.

2. Some students might face difficulties dealing with the tool
as it may be quite complicated for some students who are not good with computer.

3.  If teachers record their lessons in class, students may no longer pay attention during lessons in classroom as they think they may refer back to the presentation in the brainshark

Intervue.me

What is it all about?

http://www.intervue.me is a quick and easy webiste for publishers who are looking to gather short video responses online from anyone with a webcam.


How to use it?

It is simple, easy to use, and appealing.  Just pose a question or series of questions and ask for video responses from students.

You simply have to sign up, create a new intervue with appropriate security settings and set up the questions you intend to ask.  You can then send students a link to your intervue and they can record 60 seconds of video with their webcam whilst flipping through the questions.  The really nice thing is that as well as sharing the video on Twitter, you can download the video in ready to use mp4 format, isn't this tool awesome?

Step 1 : Choose your privacy setting.

Step 2 : Compose your question carefully. You can edit questions later but existing video

responses retain their original questions.

How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?

The teacher can go online and write some interviews topics. For example, ‘Social Problems in Malaysia’or more casual topics like ‘Your Favourite Music’, ‘Holiday’. Teachers have to be careful in choosing the topic, level of the students, students’ language proficiency and suitability of the topic have to be taken into consideration.

Firstly, teachers have to decide a general topic to discuss with the students. Then, create a series of questions to be asked. For example, ‘What are the factors that cause social problems in Malaysia?’  Preferably, teachers may ask the students to brainstorm the questions together in the class.

The most interesting part is the way students can respond to the interview questions!

Choice, level, objectives, what have you done in class.

Framework to use this tool :

Theme – questions – practice.

Teacher would do an example first. Teacher would give the students time to prepare and practice and ask the students to write down their points.

Why is it good?

1.       Students are happy to respond since it is private and it is recorded video and improve their video since students can do it at home.

2.       E-portfolio,  e-record

3.       Oral exercise at home. It is very hard to ask the students to speak English at home. This will enhance their accuracy.

4.       Real communication is happening between teacher and students. Some students will tell their private stories and opinions  in response to the questions given.

5.   Student will self-correct themselves because they know they have an audience.

6. Students enjoy talking, when we do it in class we are even smiling.

7. Teachers do not have to do a lot of work. Teachers have the chance to build personal connection with their students by listening to their stories.

The weakness of it...

1. Not all students like the chosen topic; some may think that it is boring.

2. This tool is not suitable for low level students as they might find it hard to speak in English.

3. Recording should not be done in the class because it will be very noisy and interference of others students.  Students prefer to do recording at home because they will be shy and intimidated by other students. At home, they can write it out and make an effort to make a perfect video. However, it is not spontaneous.

4. Not everyone are comfortable talking in front of the camera. 

BUBBLR; A new way of presenting in class!

What is it all about?

Have you ever heard of Bubblr? Bubblr is a tool to for students to create their own images with dialogue boxes for description.This is an interesting way for students to explore and expand their imagination as there are thousands of images you can choose from.


Using images in language classroom is a fun way to enhance students' interest towards learning. This happen when it allows learners to acquire the knowledge using visual stimulus.  Bubblr allows teachers to 'steal' photos without breaking copyrights, as it locates public images from Flickr database in such an accessible way and teachers are allowed to edit them by adding captions using bubbles to become comic strips. Since Bubblr does not have many features that is easy to be used, thus, it is appropriate to be used in the ELT classrooms.


The example of Bubblr comic strips that I have done, is as below:

 


How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?

Bubblr can be used to practice specific grammar points. For example, if teacher want to teach the students Imperative. The comic strips feature of Bubblr are suitable to practice this grammar point since dialogue can be inserted in every pictures. To drill Simple Future Tense, teacher could ask the students to produce a presentation of the places you are going to visit.

Next, after explaining the grammar point to the students, teacher then could assign it as students' homework to make a slideshow on Bubblr. Later in the next class, in pairs, ask students to write short comments on the pictures and let them be prepared to deliver a oral presentation in the next lesson with more details.
Encourage students to share their artwork to their pen pal in another city or country.


Why is it good?

1. Students can create a comic strip and dialogue with this tool.

2. Students will develope a sense of ownership because it is their arts work.

3. It allows language practice opportunity trough the appropriate task that can be created. Hence, it creates fluency.

4. It is practical since students do not have to sign up.



The weakness of it..

1. My own personal experience is that it does not work properly when embedded to my blogger account.

2. Not all students are accessed to the internet.

3. Pictures from flickr are not as nice as I expected.

4. The bubble in the pictures are sometimes not suitable in the size and can be very distracting and annoying since they are not adjustable!

Using Dvolver

What is it all about?



 Dvolver is a fantastic online tool which allows you to create your own animated film. Imagine the fun you could have in class! Users can make online movies and add funny dialogues for each character. According to Dvolver, "People have a lot to say, and they like to say it with animated characters."

Learners get to choose the background and characters and then they have to type in the script. This could be an awesome and wonderful way to practice writing skills and have fun at the same time. The instructions are clear and when students have completed the film they can send it to people via email or add it to their own blog.

How to use it?


I would say this is a very user-friendly website since users do not need to create an account to use it. You will see 'Create a Movie' link right away.

1. Firstly, users will begin by selecting the background and sky for the first scene according to the climate and culture of your own choice.

2. Then you can start choosing your characters. There are approximately 30 different characters available. Every character has their own description and profile. Characters include normal-looking folks, celebrities lookalikes, aliens, animals and more.

3. Next, you will need to create the dialogues for each character. The dialouges will then appear in a thought-bubble for every characters.

4. Lastly, you can choose the music you want for your movie. By clicking on the options, you can preview the sound and its recommendations for use. By choosing the same styles and characters, your video will appear as a continuous scene.

5. Don't forget to select a title for you movie!





How can teacher benefit this tool in the classroom?






Why is it good?

1. It is fun! and obviously free. Traditional way of learning language would be boring to students. With Dvolver, no more too much teacher talking time without students' participation in their own learning.

2. It supports the ideology of student centredness. When students are making their own video, the usage of Higher Order Thinking Skills in deciding the right characters with suitable background and suitable dialogue to be used .

3. Dvolver gives students the opportunity to explore and enhance students' creativity in creating their own favourite movie.

4. This is not just an exposure to a good communication skill, but Dvolver helps students to practice their pragmatic competence.



The weakness of it...

1. Time-consuming!
2. It is hard to do in class with too many students, they will easily lose focus.
3. Some of the characters' outfits are not suitable for younger learners, they are too showy!