Online reading tasks - How e-learning can save paper - no kidding

My English language students need to read a lot - fact, and I often want them to read something quickly which they can discard when they finish. What I don't want to do however is photocopy the same thing for each student only to have them read it once and then file it away neatly never to be seen again.(or more likely, thrown it in the bin.)

Here's where technology can help.

Armed with their smartphones that can access the internet students can read a wide range of material quickly and without wasting resources. (except maybe their monthly bandwith allowance)

Online Reading Tasks
I put my students into pairs and gave them the urls below. I then told them to go away and use their smartphones or any device that could access the internet to read the three stories and come up with three endings ...each ending being a single sentence or even just a word.

Story 1 - Joe and the tigers

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/joe-and-the-tigers-read-the-story-and-write-the-last-line/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

------------------------------------------------------------------

Story 2 - Joe and the hairdresser

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/joe-and-the-hairdresser-read-the-story-and-write-the-last-line/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

------------------------------------------------------------------

Story 3 - The workman and the beggar

http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/quick-stories-2-the-workman-and-the-beggar/

Write your ending to the story in one sentence here:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggested answers

A good ending for story one - 'I know, it works really well."

A good ending for story two - 'I'm the one who has to look at it all day.'

A good ending for story three - 'No'.

Further thoughts

When are we going to see 'electronic paper'? By this I mean a cheap, simple device that can use either a wi-fi or USB connection to show written content to students. I don't mean a set of expenisve laptops (or even a computer) or a trendy handheld device,I mean a cheap bit of plastic that will show words and pictures, that can be thrown around and used over and over and over again to show documents. Think of the amount of money that could be saved on paper. You'd never need to print exams, worksheets or home made books, or stories, or timetables

...actually, if students already have a smartphone then they've got this already.

The zombie lesson - reading and discussion lesson for Halloween

 

Can't be bothered to read the blog?  I wouldn't bother either, here's the worksheet:  http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-zombie-lesson.doc

I quite like zombie films and most of my pre-intermediate and intermediate students do as well. Here is a three part Zombie lesson to get them talking and reading about the most popular undead monster in modern culture.

Pre- reading. - You can dictate these questions or cut them up and ask students to read them together

Reading - You could dictate a few comprehension questions about this or blank out a few of the words to make it a gap fill exercise.

Discussion - ask students in pairs to make their own zombie apocalypse plan outlining what they and their partner would do to survive the zombies. I put a few sentences students could finish but they could write anything. Help them out by giving them some ideas. What would they do if there really was a zombie threat? Would they go to the supermarket to get food, the DIY store to get weapons? Where would they go long term? How would they really survive?

****WARNING**** I wouldn't do this lesson with students who aren't familiar with the Zombie genre, younger students or students who wouldn't like this kind of thing.

Here's the worksheet again http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-zombie-lesson.doc

Let me know if this lesson worked or not.

More of the same from: www.englishlanguagespacestation.com

Using Board Games with your language students

Playing a board game is fun and requires more than a little bit of language. You have to explain the rules, give advice on how to play, ask for tips, encourage, cheat, discuss and generally chat while you play. All the perfect ingredients for a language activity that might not be good for a full class, but might be great to fill a tutorial hour with a small group or engage an 'English Conversation Club'. Here are my best board games to play with your students

Scrabble
The king of board games where player make words to score points. This has the added bonus of already 'looking like' it will be good for learning English. Get students to play together and allow them to use a dictionary to help them - it's not cheating!
Risk
The world conquest game is legendary. Simple, fierce and easy to learn, it will have your students engaged straight away. Use the goal cards with higher level students to encouarage sneaky tactics.

Monopoly
Complex, iconic and involved. What better way to learn a language than to engage in trade? Encourage students to make deals with each other by buying and selling the properties they have. Also, you must use the 'Free Parking Rule' - this puts lots more cash up for grabs.

Card Games
Pontoon (or twenty one) - Quick game to encourage speculation and guessing. Lots of opportunity for fun and laughs, good for lower level students who need to practise numbers.

Games I wouldn't recommend
Chess - too much thinking and not enough chatting. It's a bit like boxing in that both players just want to crush each other - not good for a friendly language activity.

Poker - again, too much frowning and not enough chatting.

Purely dice games like snakes and ladders or ludo, there's no chance to speak here.

Anyone know any other good board games to play? Or can I hear my voice echoing round an empty virtual hall?

Ten good homework tasks to set.

Homework doesn't always have to be something that a teacher has to mark. Used correctly, it's the springboard to a great class with students doing most of the work before they even sit down.

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1. Go onto youtube and watch something... This is a classic homework. You will find something on youtube that will be relevant to your topic or grammar point. Mr Bean is great, Monty Python are funny for higher levels. For more videos that might be good check out this blog post, also www.teflclips.com is amazing.

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2. Think about something - to talk about..I've written about 'thinking homework' before and you can check that out by clicking here. Setting this kind of homework seems downright strange - but it's a great skill to teach your students and will definitely help them learn English.

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3. Bring something into the classroom - it's the old show and tell lesson, but in the digital age this could be a picture, a film as well as cuddly teddy. Students bring in an item and then tell the rest of the class about it.

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4. Talk to someone in English... Easy to do if you live in an English speaking country. If students can talk to each other then they might be able to find someone online using www.skype.com or a virtual language school like www.languagelab.com

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5. Listen to something - I've already blogged about using www.spotify.com (click here to read that post) but students could also listen to one of the many brilliant podcast websites out there or even the BBC.

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6. Draw something... a bit like going back to school and a little strange for adult learners. Check out Jamie Keddie's blog for some really good ideas. I got students to draw, among other things, their dream house, their dream car, an invention they would like to create, the perfect school, the perfect jail or the perfect hotel. Confident students who are creative love these tasks but other students might bitterly hate them.

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7. Take a photograph of something...I've blogged about this already here. Most phones have cameras on them these days and most students have a phone (try getting them to turn them off!) Ask students to take a photo of something that they will show to the rest of the class in the next lesson. It could be something they love, hate, need, an important possession, a person...anything... as long as they can talk about it with the rest of the class.

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8. Anecdotes...Little stories, be them amusing, scary or instructional are proven to help language learners. For homework, ask students to find a good annecdote in their language which they can then recount to the rest of the class. There are some great anecdotes at One Stop English, but if you have your own they will be much better

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9. Read something... There are lots of great little stories on the internet, the news, short stories,. Comics are also really go for reading online, click here for a list. There are also some good 'choose your own adventure' kind of stories at 'Choice of the Dragon'.

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10 Play a video game...Here's a list of my favourite flash games online. Ask your students to play them and then tell you what they enjoyed or didn't enjoy about them. Digital play is a fantastic blog that explores using flash games with students in different ways and is well worth a look.

More ideas for using Text Messages to teach English - Grammar Texts

After using text messages to try and get students to think in English (click here for the blog) and also to follow instructions outside class (click here to read that one) , I decided I could use the great power of the text to tackle grammar.

I used these texts as part of homework tasks, using an account at www.pageone.co.uk  to send text messages to students' own mobile phones.

1. Comparing two sentences. What's the difference? 

I sent these texts to students as part of their homework depending on what we were studying and asked them to come back with an answer next session. This gave them time to think about the problem, internalise it and come up with a solution. In class we could talk about possible answers. The following examples were very much applicable to my classes and you should use any sentences which are relevant to your students and lessons. I also haven't included any answers to the questions below - that would take too long...

- Tell us the difference between:' What is your brother like?' and 'What does your brother like?'

- Tell us the difference between 'I am living in London' and 'I live in London'.

- Tell us the difference between 'She is really depressed' and 'She is really depressing'

2. Fill in the missing word.

These are straight forward questions that I sent to students on their phones.

- 'Which one word will fit into all spaces? 1.  What's it ___ in  London? 2. Do you ___ football? 3. What would you ___ to drink?  (the answer is 'like')

- 'Which one word will fit into all spaces? 1.  Where are you ___? 2. Who are you ___ out with? 3. The price of petrol is ___ up. (going)

- 'Which one word will fit into all spaces? 1. Where are you ___?  My country is different ___ the UK 3. Where did you buy that beautiful coat ___? (from)

3. Correct the mistakes

Always a favourite, students have to correct the three sentences you send them and say 'why' they are wrong.

- Please correct these sentences! 1. He is speaking English very well. 2. She living in a big house. 3. We all lives in the USA 4. She no like football. (present simple and present continuous problems)

- Please correct these sentences! 1. I came to the USA before three years. 2. He doesn't come to class yesterday. 3. I did go to work last week.  (past simple errors)

- Please correct these sentences! 1. You mustn't come to work tomorrow it's Saturday. 2. You don't have to have a passport to travel. (incorrect use of modal verbs)

Low Level Grammar PowerPoints - The Present Perfect

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="286" caption="Ah the old favourite! He has lost his key."][/caption]

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/present-perfect-make-some-sentences.ppt

Here's a really quick powerpoint that gets students to make sentences in the present perfect. It could be used as a written task, but I think it's best as a spoken activity where students just shout out the answers. It's not a lesson in itself but more of a supplement to a lesson on the present perfect.

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/present-perfect-make-some-sentences.ppt

For more of the same, get yourself down to
http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com

Thinking homework

What is thinking homework?

Thinking homework is a task you set your students that only requires them to think - nothing else. No writing, no reading, just thinking. Sitting in the bath, driving the car, walking in the rain or laying in bed. All students have to do is think.

There is some work in preparing learners for this, firstly, explaining that this is something useful to do and secondly, how they should go about thinking.

How do students do it?

Students are only allowed to think in English. They can talk to themselves if they like or say words in their head, but it won't be any good unless the think in the target language. Secondly, they have to remember to do it, I use text messages with my students to remind them.  Thirdly, there has to be some evidence that students have actually done the task and some sort of assessment of how they well they did it, this is done by getting students to report back to you or the class about their ideas and what they've been thinking.

Where does it come from?

The idea for setting students homework where all they have to do is 'think about it' probably isn't anything new, I started setting this kind of task after thinking about Brian Tomlinson's ideas on students developing their internal voiceby talking to themselves, among his many books (click here for a list) you can find reference on how to develop this in second language learners. Brian also explains this theory very clearly in the The Journal of Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching which you can read online. I also had two students in my class who were taxi drivers, so, I used to send them their 'think homework' via text message to their mobile phone so they would not only remember to do it, but would be able to get on with thinking about whatever it was while they were driving. Here are some 'thinking homework' that I've set in the past:

Story thinking homework

1. Which famous person's life would you like to live? What kind of things would you do?

2. If you could live your life again, what would you do differently? ***we were talking about regrets ***

Some problem thinking homework

1. Your home is on fire. You can only save three things from the flames. What things would you save and why?

2. If could invite anyone to a dinner party, alive or dead, famous or not famous, who would you invite?

3.  What invention do you think the world needs? A teleport machine, a free power generator, a language learning chip that fits in your brain? or something else? Please tell the class your idea next week.

More complete lessons using PowerPoint - Health and Doctors

I love PowerPoint. It's easy to make and use and yet still powerful. If you can' t be bothered to read the blog post (which to be honest, is pathetically short) then click below for the lesson.

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/Health%20and%20illness.ppt

Here's yet another lesson from my endless back catalogue of complete PowerPoint sessions. This time focusing on health and visiting the doctor. You don't need any photocopies, only a projector that can play the show. http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/Health%20and%20illness.ppt

See, told you it was short.

If you liked this lesson then you can download loads more from the English Language Space Station.com or you could leave some feedback. http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

London 2012 - Olympic English - Low level Sports Worksheets

If you can't be bothered to read the blog, click here for the simple worksheet on olympic sports.

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/london-2012-the-sports.doc

The Olympics are set to be held in London 2012 will be here sooner than you think. Here's a really simple low level worksheet for English language students to practise the names of olympic and commonwealth sports.

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/london-2012-the-sports.doc 

For other really good materials about London 2012 visit the British Council's English for the Games website

Making movies with the PSP in the English Language classroom

As part of a Molenet UK project I was asked to use some PSPs including add on cameras with a group of ESOL learners - lucky for me. With a tiny camera that screws into the USB connector port at the top of the PSP, you can start to shoot video straight away. The wide screen makes it easy to see and playback what you have recorded and, when connected to a PC you can watch what you have made straight away.

In fact the PSP camera is so easy to use, I decided to make a small spelling video that I could show my students if I had to pop out of the classroom for a few minutes - click here to watch it.

So, students have got a video camera? What now?

Making videos might seem like a fun and interesting activity with the chance for learners to use their creative talents to produce something tangible. However, without strict instructions and guidelines, it can quickly become de-motivating and students will lose interest as they don’t know what to shoot. It’s worth remembering that this is not a media studies class and most students are not as creative as Steven Spielberg.

I put students into groups of three where the main language had to be English and gave each group a PSP with a camera attachment. In two minutes, students had figured out how to shoot and record video footage, I helped some groups and techie students helped less techie students. I then gave the tiny worksheet below to each group and had us all read it together.

**********************************************************************************************************

Make a movie to promote [where you teach]

Make a short film about [where you teach]. This will be an advert of what is there and why it is good.

In your film you should include

-          the library

-          the computers in the library

-          something else that is interesting

You should also interview at least one member of your group on the camera. Here are some of the questions you could ask:

1. What’s your name? Where do you come from? How old are you?


2. When did you come to [Where you teach]?


3. Tell me about your first day.


4. What are the good things about where you learn English?


5. Have you had any problems here?


6. Have you got any advice for anyone learning English? Is there anything they should do or shouldn’t do?

You can also ask any other questions you like!

*****************************************************************************************************

Students then had half an hour to shoot a film following the instructions above, which they did with varying degrees of success. 

When the students came back I plugged each PSP into our interactive whiteboard, and by selecting each media file by number, was able to show the student’s complete films, unedited and in the order they shot them.

Impact on teaching and learning

-         We’ve only just scratched the surface with this and the possibilities are really endless in terms of practising speaking and listening by working together as well as editing which would involve team work and literacy skills.

Learners’ reactions

-         Some learners really liked this and really got into the spirit of making a film. But other students found it more difficult to come up with idea – chatty and creative students need to be mixed with those who are less so.

-         Students loved watching their own and each other’s videos and were genuinely motivated by watching and laughing at each others work.

Teachers’ reactions

-         I was proud of what some students had achieved, others hadn’t tried very hard however. Mix the groups up so that stronger students are with weak students.

Lessons learned

-         mix ability and creativity in groups

-         Some people do not want to be filmed – this is fine, give them the opportunity to be the camera person. In this task, those shy students often asked the questions to the person they were interviewing. Some even found out that they were not shy at all and ended up on the video.

World Cup Football Lessons for ESOL / ESL and IELTS

It's World Cup again and students learning English often like to discuss the beautiful game in their lessons. Here's a worksheet containing lots of footballing verbs that students might need.

download the lesson on basic football words here

Students might also enjoy watching the new 'Nike' football advert below, featuring some of the world's most famous players. I love Rooney living in a caravan with a huge beard!

For more football lessons visit

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/world_cup_football.htm

Using Text Messages to teach English - Part 2 'Following Instructions'

The lesson

In this lesson I used 'text messages' to give students questions that they had to answer in pairs. They left the classroom and went out into the surrounding environment and received messages from me at three minute intervals. I made sure that each group got a different message. I managed this, in the business sense, by writing down the numbers of each question, one to eight, next to each team name and crossing out each number as I sent the messages.



The Rationale

Yes, it's nice to send text messages that students read on their phones but it wasn't so much the technology that I wanted students to communicate with, rather, each other. Students had to talk to each other in English to accomplish many of the tasks, and actually answering the questions correctly was not as important as talking to each other to find it.

Here are the rules

-         You must stay together.

-         You must answer all the questions

-         You can find out the answers anyway you like.

Here are the questions that were sent

1. Go and find a book from the library with the word ‘fish’ in the title, write the name and author.


2. Find a joke in English. Write it down.


3. Get onto the internet. What is the temperature in your country today?


4. Find out what films are on the TV tonight. Write them down.


5. Tell each other something you’ve done that you’re proud about. Write it down.


6. Have a chat together about something. Write down what you chatted about.


7. Teach each other an English word that you didn’t know before. Write them down.


8. Find out the principal of your institution. Write their name down.

How did it go?



- students loved the tasks. By putting outgoing students with slighly more shy students they were able to complete the activities well.

- Some quick students said that three minutes was too long to wait between each text message.

- There was a lot of cheating, which for us was good. My students live in the target language and so any speaking with local people they means they are improving their English. This might not work so well where students live in a country where people don't speak the target language.

Using a PSP to teach English - Flash Games

Putting Flash Games onto the PSP

To get flash games onto a PSP you need to somehow rip the .swf files from the websites that host the games. I used firefox to download the games and capture the them. More gifted and tecnically minded wizards explain this better than I can here http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-download-embedded-swf-files-using-firefox/

Using Flash Games on the PSP

Although playing flash games is a lot of fun (depending on the game of course); exploiting them for language learning is more difficult. I've blogged about using them before, but for really creative ways of using flash games in the classroom look no further than Digital Play http://digitalplay.info/blog/ where there are ideas on using individual games and wider links to education through video games. Digital Play has had  a real influence on my ideas and teaching.

The Lesson

I used this lesson with a group of intermediate students from various parts of the world.  Students were given one PSP between two and each PSP had a flash game pre-loaded onto the memory card 'Who killed Angela Spelling?' from the fantastic www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise. 

Students had to play the flash game together and fill in the worksheet which I also downloaded and printed off one between two - you can download it here

So, why not use a normal computer or laptop to do this activity?

- With a bunch of PSPs you can do these activities without an expensive IT suite.  Just pass out the PSPs and you can start.

- Students really focused in on their PSP and becaue they had to work together to see the tiny screen, it helped them work together on completing the tasks.

Problems and pains in the neck.

- Putting the same file onto twelve PSP memory cards is a hassle. Charging them up is even worse. This lesson took too long to think about for  simple  flash game.

Blocks with Letters - Simple Flash game for IELTS / ESOL / ESL

Here's a great game written by Martin Sears that really gets your brain working.

It's a simple game that hinges on moving blocks around the screen and making sure that words are spelled correctly.  I'm not sure I'd use this game with a class , but I might set it for homework and ask students how the got on in the next session. Although the words are quite simple to start with, they get tougher so I'd suggest using this with at least a pre-intermediate / Entry 3 / B1 class.

You might like to pre teach your students some of the vocab needed

Replay

Reset (very important - you can put things back to the way they were at the start if things go wrong)

Clue

Gimme a hint ( it should of course be 'give me')



Play the game by clicking here or the picture above.

Let me know how you get on.

Flash Games for ESOL / ESL / IELTS part 2 - The Gorillaz Website

Cartoon Band The Gorillaz were a breath of fresh air when they landed on the music scene a few years ago. With Blur front man Damon Albarn handling the music and legendary 2000AD artist and writer Jamie Hewlett , they created four distinct members of the band, Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russell.   Their first album, Clint Eastwood was released as an enhanced CD featuring a short flash movie and access to Murdoc's Winnebago which fans can explore, you can visit this today by visiting Kong Studios. Not afraid to use the internet to promote themselves, flash technology provided Hewlett with the perfect place to let fans explore the fictional lives of the band and the studio they worked in, Kong Studios is entertaining, informative and well designed and therefore perfect for students learning English.

The Lesson Plan.

I've never used this lesson as I felt that my students and institution might not be ready

Download the lesson here Gorillaz Reading Lesson

Writing Cards - Christmas Cards for ESOL, ESL and EFL

Can't be bothered to read the post - Click here for the lesson on Writing Cards http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/writing-cards1.doc

Sending cards is an enourmous business in the UK and the USA with the average person spending way too much time and money on them. There's also a lot of social pressure to send and receive them especially at Christmas time. Who hasn't been presented with a card for someone who is leaving the office, sick or getting married, and thought 'Idon't know what to write!'?

It's also pretty difficult for ESOL/EFL and second language English learners to write them to. I used this lesson with a group of pre- intermediate learners.

Here's the lesson again http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/writing-cards1.doc

Here are the lesson stages

1. Ask the students to tell you when they last recieved a card of any description. Write a list of the cards they tell you about on the board. It might look something like this. Anniversary, wedding, congratulations, birthday, valentines, get well soon, sorry, condolences...

2. Now pass out the sheet and have the students correct the mistakes then match the card messages to the people they are for.

3. Now ask students to write their own messages in response to the prompts. You could ask them to work in pairs or alone and could check the answers by getting to write on the board.

4. There are some really good electronic greetings cards on the net. You might like to show these to your students if you have an interactive whiteboad or projector.

http://www.jacquielawson.com/ 

Simle Box

English Language Spelling Mistakes - We are not alone - Spelling help for ESOL / IELTS and EFL

Quick spelling lesson for ESOL / IELTS /EFL

If you haven't got time or can't be bothered to read the post the spelling lesson is here:

The twenty five most common spelling mistakes in English. http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-25-most-common-spelling-mistakes-in-english.doc

The most pleasing things about making spelling mistakes when typing into Google is not that it offers you a handy correction,  but the fact that there are hundreds  of people who have also made the same mistakes, and have also gone the extra mile by putting these mistakes live on the web.

Websites that help with your spelling

There are some great webistes that can help your students with their spelling. The BBC have a really good Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check game as well as lots of others on their skillswise site. www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise

There are also some good flash spelling games at www.manything.org

Spelling Miatakes by Native English Speakers

There are lots of funny places to look at real life spelling mistakes in English, one great example from the north of England is by Prof. Vivian Cook who took photos of genuine spelling errors made by British people.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SpellingMistakes/MistakesStreetHand.htm

You can also find hundreds of honest spelling errors by visiting www.google.com and seraching for 'spelling mistakes' under images

Other Mistakes !

If you're looking for something a little bit more hardcore then there are a whole range of websites that make fun of Chinese spelling mistakes. These are in vogue at the moment but some are a bit rude so I wouldn't advocate showing these to your class.

http://www.squidoo.com/funnychinesesigns

Here's a good one from www.engrish.com



Help for your students

Here's a spelling video I made with the PSP camera, play it for your students while you go for a cup of tea.

Flash Games for ESOl / EFL / IELTS - Just a bit of fun

You can find some really good games at

www.superduperflashgames.com

Desktop Defence

Click here to play Desktop Defence. Defence games involve you building towers to defeat hordes of enemies. This one is quick, easy to learn and difficult to master. Desktop Defence is easily the best out there. Say goodbye to break time.

Fancy Pants 1 and 2

Click here to play Fancy Pants 2 This is a well animated and very simple platform game with added depth for more serious gamers. It's got a great feel to it and the humour is nice. Try Fancy Pants 1 as well...

Flash Tennis

Click here to play Flash Tennis. Simple and yet demanding, this is a quality tennis game. With after hit control on the ball and a tight serving regime needed this quickly become maddeningly addictive.

Dino Run

Click here to play Dino Run Stylish retro gaming, guide your dinosaur at top speed in front of the crashing boulder of extintion. Fast and engaging, the multi-player option lets you race other gamers from around the globe. Simple and fantastic.

Dolphin Olymipcs 2

Click here to play Dolphin Olympics 2 Swimming around as a dolphin and performing tricks to earn points seems fairly amusing, but if you get really good at this game then you can get much further. Pointless, engaging fun.

Could you use these games in your ESOL/ESL or EFL classroom. I've got a few ideas... would love to hear how you would use them.

for more great games get on down to www.superduperflashgames.com

Students taking Snaps - Ideas for Using Digital Photos in your ESOL / ESL / IELTS class.

 

If you haven't got time to read - here's the lesson

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/taking-digital-photos-photograph-these-objects-chris-speck.doc

Students and teachers alike enjoying having their mobile phones switched on in class so they can look at text messages recieved, share photos of new editions to their family or tweets from people they have never met. Sadly, convention causes us to have our ringtones on silent and to gently chuckle along to ourselves as we read, look at a picture or digest the philosophical tweet. What, as someone in teaching recently has probably said over and over again, we turned the tables on this and used the phones as a teaching tool?  I'll be looking at this in more detail in other blog posts but here, we'll deal with photos.

Most mobile phones have decent cameras in them these days and with that much power, students have the ability to snap away at anything they like, for free. Of course, none of us are the very talented and famous photographer, David Bailey so we don't really care what the photos really look like, what's more important is the language that will be produced by talking about then before, during and after the process.

Before we start - some possible issues.

- Not everyone will have a camera phone. This might make some activities difficult, especially homework tasks. Your institution or school might have some digital cameras you could lend students, or they might want to consider investing in some.

- How do you share or show the photos? The best way to share photos is if you have an Interactive Whiteboard or a projector, but even just a standard computer monitor will do. Students can gather round to look at the photos together.  Annoyingly, lots of mobile phones don't have standard USB connection ports and this might make it difficult to quickly upload photos from the phones as students will need their special connectors. One way might be to ask students to upload their photos to a repositiory, you might have moodle at your institution or something similar, but you could also use the fabulous www.flickr.com and ask students to store their photos there or even facebook. If you do have an interactive whiteboard or will use a central computer you could ask students to store their photos on memory stick which they could plug in. 

Using Photos in Classroom Time.

1. In pairs students go away and take photos of  a series of increasing ly difficult objects to find. This is the only idea I've had enough time to develop into an actual lesson -  I've made a worksheet for this here.

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/taking-digital-photos-photograph-these-objects-chris-speck.doc 

2. Signs. In pairs students take photos of signs.  They then come back and discuss these in class.

3. Where is it? Students take photos of familiar places that are not obvious, other students have to guess where it is.

4. Recreate these photos. Student have to try to reproduce famous photos or pictures. (not sure about this one!)

Outside class time - photo lessons that need some preparation.

1. Tell me about your favourite photo. Students bring in their own photo and talk about why it's important to them or why they like it.

2. A day in your life - in photos. Students take a sequence of photos showing a day in their life which they can them show and explain to the rest of the class.

3. What happened at the weekend? The same as the task about but this time about the weekend. This could also be extended to include a celebration or other party.

4. My favourite place/ food/ person.

Feedback- How did it go?

Will let you know. Please let us know of any other digital photgraphy lessons you've done.

Internet Research for ESOL / ESL / IELTS Part 2- Clothes Shopping

Despite the dot com boom and bust and the fear of criminals using ones credit card number, internet shopping continues to be big business reducing shopping streets across the world to ghost towns.  Next, www.marksandspencer.com , Topman and even Ebay have bright, engaging websites to sell their clothes. As always, there is opportunity to exploit these well designed resources with your English language students.

 

Download the lesson here. Clothes Shopping on the Net: http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/clothes-shopping-on-the-net1.doc

Materials Needed: 1 copy of the worksheet per student /One computer with the internet for each pair of students/ Interactive Whiteboard (optional)

Level: Entry 3+ / B1 + / Pre Intermediate +

What it's good for: Scanning, pair work, discussion, clothes, shopping

How long will it take: 40 minutes including introduction and feedback

Lesson Notes

**Note** The key to this lesson is making the introduction and the feedback after the worksheet meaningful. The task in itself is very straight forward scan reading from the internet but to make it more communicative you can use the front and back end of the lesson. It could also be intergrated into a section of your course on shopping and clothes.

1. Introduction. You might like to start by showing some pictures of clothes on the interactive whiteboard. The Leo Network has some nice images here here: http://www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/clothes.htm

2.  Ask students where they buy their clothes. Do they ever use the internet to buy clothes? What websites do they use? Show a glossy website like M and S and ask students what they'd like to buy. Search for the item using the search box and choose the item together.

2. Have students complete the worksheet  by searching on the internet for the items they want. It might be better to put girls together Circulate round the room loking at what students are doing offering comments, suggestions or help. Don't just leave them to it.

3. Feedback. Ask pairs to tell you how much they spent, also ask them to say what they liked and why. This might also lead onto a discussion on fashion or men and women's clothing, download my powerpoint for this here: Shopping Discussion for Interactive Whiteboard: http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/clothes-discussion.ppt