News in levels

                                             

The website I want to share with you is called: News in levels (www.newsinlevels.com). 

It is for everyone that wants to learn English as a second language. I have just started teaching the subject English, my major subject is textile craft. When I was presented with this task I asked my sister, who has been teaching for many years, if she had a website to recommend. She suggested this one and I understand why. She explained to me that her experiences of using it was that it catches the interest of almost every student, on all levels.

The website is full of interesting News stories and film clips but also other topics from all around the world. You can choose from topics such as: News, Sport, Nature, History, Interesting, Funny, Information and Exercises. New film clips and stories are displayed on the website every day.It is truly something for everyone!

This is how it works. The website is organized so you can read and listen to different news stories and other topics from all around the world in 3 different levels of difficulty. Level 1 is basic English, level 2 intermediate English and level 3 is advanced English spoken with a native tongue. The original story is always displayed at the level 3 page.

This is the home page where you select your level.

  This page shows level 1written and recorded text,(you press the play button).

   This page is level 3 and shows the written text, recorded text and full News story.

 To be able to use the website for teaching you will need a computer or an Ipad and access to the internet. If you want to use it as a class activity you will need a projector or an interactive whiteboard as well, to display the site in large scale.

 If the pupils work in smaller groups with learning, 1-3 students is appropriate with each computer or Ipad, so everyone can be involved with the task. Something to think about is the volume, the student need to be seated in different study rooms or wear headsets so they don´t disturb each other when listening.

As a class activity you might start with a News program in level 1, where you can read the text, listen to it and go through new words together. After that you move on to level 2 reading the same story on a more advanced level, looking at the differences and going through new words. You do the same at level 3 and then you look at the original film clip together.

This could be a good exercise to get familiar with differences in text according to knowledge requirements of the syllabus in LGR11.

The texts within each level use the same words that is repeated in different ways, that way you will get a deep understanding of the words. With each level the pupils will learn approximately 3000 new words. To be successful in learning English this way the you need to use the material regularly, if possible everyday according to the founders of the website, Lidor Skodik and Michal Hudecek.

There are lots of different ways that the students can work with this website as a base for learning English. By looking at the core content for English in LGR 11 you will find that by working with this website in an appropriate way it is possible to implement quite a few of the requirements and aims of the syllabus. By using the site it is possible to have fun and reach the aim for the course in English at the same time. I think  that is a very good way to learn and comprehend a new language!

// Charlotte Strandberg

Bring your classroom to life

Bring your classroom to life

I want to recommend a program I am using in my classroom with my kindergarten students.I have used the program for several years and my students love it and they can’t wait until it is their turn at the computer. You can use this program as a group activity and as a single activity. I have three computers in my classroom and I normally have six students working in pairs, to get the most out of the activity. You can use this program as homework for your students to play before each lesson to learn all the words. There are different themes and levels for all ages and interests.

Fact

The name of the program is Genki English and the founder’s name is Richard Graham. I am a big fan of his as he puts a lot of importance to students’ interests through games.

The program I use in class teaches students with energy, passion and gives them confidence to use what they have learned. As the key to learn a new language is to have fun as you are learning, it is very important to me that students like the activity I am proposing.

How to use it

Learn and play: It is important that the students have a basic grip on the target English before playing the games.

Songs instead of drilling: The game includes songs with actions instead of drilling words. 

Set the level: Make sure you teach the students at their level to avoid too difficult or to easy witch won’t be very effective.

Motivation: As students learn through playing it gives them extra motivation as they win the game if they learn new language.

It’s the kids: as the students play together in groups it becomes less teacher orientated.

Most of the games are for free, all you need is a computer with internet access.

click on the link to get to the games:

http://www.genkienglish.net/onlinegames.htm

Easy level: What time is it 

                                          




Higher level: Have you  ever…?

As a teacher I recommend you to start by reading the curriculum page first, to get at hint of what you can teach by using this program. There are also many lesson plans you can get access to for free.

http://genkienglish.net/teaching/where-to-start-with-genki-english-easy-as-123/

Enjoy !

Scribble press

 I´m going to write about an app for iPad that one of my friends, who is a teacher, recommended. I have not had the opportunity to test it myself in the classroom so this is information that she told me and information that I found on the Internet.

In Scribble press students can create books and practice their English. Inside the app students can both create books from scratch or create a book by filling in words. 

It is also possible to buy extra material, which gives students the tools to create own pictures to their stories. There are for example, 500 drawing tools (including markers, stamps, different colours and pencils).

When students work with the filling parts they can work together and help each other to understand what the text is about and how to fill in the words. This gives students the chance to develop their vocabulary and their social skills. They learn from each other or by using a dictionary. There are 50 different templates that students can choose from. For example, they can choose to write about themselves, their family or holiday.

Stories made in the app can be edit and students can also choose to write in English on one page and then have the translation on the other page. It is possible to create pictures, download own pictures, take pictures with the iPad or use photos that come with the app.

One part of this app is also a very good part! Teachers can create a certain account only for students in the class and this allows students to open up their stories at home and share them with their families and friends. This gives students the opportunity to practice English at home and to involve others in their education. Stories that are created can be uploaded in iBooks library but students can also choose to upload them to Facebook, Twitter or email them to others. It is also possible to print out the stories if you connect the iPad to a printer.

Scribble press can be used from an early stage and continue when students grows older. I also believe, that by using this app teachers can make students aware of their own develop in English. By saving students stories, they can go back and see how their English have been improved and make them feel proud of what they have done and accomplished. Scribble press can be used both by students that are very good at writing and reading and by students that have difficulties with writing and reading. The app can be used as a tool to develop fantasy and creativity. 

Scribble press is not only for English learning. Teachers can use it for teaching other different languages, create lessons in the app or make portfolios for the students. Students can use the app to create books about different facts, instructions or words. They can also for instance ,create reports or use it as a journal. Think outside the box and you will find many different ways to work with the app J

You can buy the app on Appstore for your iPad and it cost 40 Swedish crowns. It is also possible to use Scribble pass on the Internet where students can do some things for free and others are not for free: http://www.scribblepress.com

Here you can watch a information video about Scribble pass:

Hopefully you got inspired to try Scribble press in your classroom, I know I will ;) 

GoNoodle.com - a fun Place to be in...


I've been thinking quite a lot about what to share in this blogpost but ended up with telling you about the website GoNoodle. GoNoodle.com is an American website dedicated to get kids moving regularly and in a fun way. Short videos with exciting and interesting songs, dances, kinesthetic moves and more. The site is made up as a simple videogame where the class has got an avatar that changes/develops due to the pupils activities. One can make a free account and use very much of the content but there is a premium too called GoNoodle plus. I don't use that yet. So I'm not sure about how big a difference there really is.

Even though the basic thought of this website is exercise in different ways, there is quite a few more approaches to learning. GoNoodle is constantly developing by the help of its users. One can write and ask for new exercises for instance. There is also a blog to read and get new ideas from.

My reasons, for using GoNoodle.com, are basically two: To get my pupils moving now and then in a fun way but also to let them get to know the English language in an informal way and to listen to it and learn some. Through the semester with my 1:st graders, I've heard the children develop their language and pronunciation through having fun. I sometimes help them along with translations and pictures as a support. /Mickaela

Digital pedagogik

I am a big fan of  the ICT resource "Digital pedagogik" which is the new name of Mediapoolen's digital resource page for teachers and students. I have the fourtune to work in a municipality where all the schools are connected to several services provided by Mediapoolen. Your school need to have an agreement with Mediapoolen if you want to use "Digital pedagogik".

First you will need to register at their site with your workplace connected e-mailaddress and verify that you belong to a workplace with an agreement. When you have registered you can login from any computer and surf around the site. You can find streamable movies, shorter films and audio recordings for any subject. Make sure you have a good internet connection if you want to stream anything. You can search by resource type, age group, language and by theme. Say you are going to have a theme based teaching method in class for a week or two about Sweden. Then you can enter "Sverige" in the search field and click the theme named "Sverige", now you'll see this view:

 
At the left hand side of the screen you will see all the site's resources connected to the theme. Many resources come with a teacher's guide with examples on how you can use it in class. I use this ICT resource on a weekly basis mostly in the subjects general science and English. In my second grade English class the students love "Kids English Zone" and "Muzzy in Gondoland", both in very simple English. And they learn a lot bu them especially since we always do something practical to use the new knowledge connected to the English class. I really like the fact that I can look around for a suitable resource during my planning hours and attach the resource to my personal pinboard.

Students can also register to the site even if its regulated by the same rules as for teachers. If the students are connected and know how to use the site many new possibilities opens up. I think that I would use this choice mainly with older students. Since I really like the idea of flipped classrooms I could give homework to watch a short film or listen to an audio file which we then could discuss later in class.

As if this wasn't enough you can also create music and use the softwares Creaza and Vocalex right there on the site. Creaza lets the students create digital mind maps and their own comic strips. It is also possible to edit both video and audio clips within this software. Vocalex is an easy to use word translation / glossary software which is great to use for extra pracitce. It is also siutable with students from foreign countries. One thing that I like in particular is the fact that you can switch between different languages quite easily. You can also switch between different kinds of exercises like reading or listening comprehension.

To sum it all up. Digital pedagogik is a site with a lot of content. Try it and you will like it!

//Therese Ahl Lennartsson

K-5 Math Teaching Resources

K-5 Math Teaching Resources http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/ is a website where a teacher can find ideas for how to work with numbers, geometry, measurement and data. It provides complementary activities for each grade between K-5 and links to free games for students to practice. The website also sells some of their products for single use and multiplayer user license. 

Teachers´ can use the website as a source for ideas or they can simple just use the exact activities on the site. The website can mainly be used to complete books and other methods when teaching math. 

The website can be used by students with teacher´s help, since it can be tricky to find to the games. Number, geometry, measurement and data are categories which have activities and ideas for the different grades between K to 5. They also have something called IWB resources in each category of number, geometry, measurement and data. In these IWB resources you can find link to different games for students to practice for example the clock: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/BangOnTime/clockwordres.html

More over the website has a gallery where you can see some of the activities done by the students in their different grades: http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/1st-grade-math-journal-gallery.html

To have in mind when using this website as a resource: 

You need to have adobe reader to access the pdf files on the site. They do not give everything for free, so you need to pay for some things, like for example recommendations for books that you can buy through Amazon: http://astore.amazon.com/k5matteares-20 

It is always good to find new approaches and ways to develop your teaching methods and ideas. This website can open some new ideas how to teach to a specific group of students or a whole class something in a different way that you as a teacher are used to. 

//Tone Blomberg 

I’m sure that you already are familiar with the website https://glosor.eu/ but it is worth mentioning. This site give both you as a teacher and your students help learning the vocabulary. Until now I only used it together with my daughter because I don’t teach English yet.

You can become a member for free but certain parts of the site has a cost. The most part of it’s paid for by advertisements, there are ads on the website. It’s really easy to sign in, you just need to have an username, a password and a mailadress. It took me about to minutes. After you logged in you can start making exercises for your students.

I tested to use the glossary for the homewoork this week, and after I hade written the words in the column I got access to the exercises immediately. For example: You can write the words or sentences in English and have them corrected right away. You can translate in both directions.

If you want to listen to the words you can get direct speech for a cost of 9:- /student and semester. Most of the students like this function so they can work on their pronounciation. Further more you can play different games. My favourite game is multiple choice, you get a list of words and you should choose the right one.

You can also print out exercises so you can work whith the glossary that way. That’s perfect for the students to have a list of the words for the week correctly spelled and in form of an exercise. (Not everyone can write right off the blackboard.)

The students can log in wherever they are and take part in these exercises. They can use glosor.eu to practise English at school and/or att home, My own daughter  find this site useful because she can study the glossary for the week without help from me and she can go back and look on previous uploads when it’s time for an exam. It’s a resource for students, especially those who tend to misplace their homewoork.  With this site they always have acces to the homewoork and it’s also spelled correcltly. I think this is a part the parents appreciate.

This is a commercial website but I have not seen inappropriate commercial yet. I teach mathematics and I appreciate the function that you can make statistics/chart about the results on the exercises.

Please note! I would add that it is important to be careful when you add a task, make it grammatically correct and spelled correctly. Otherwise, it's a useless exercise. (Thank you David for reminding me of this.)

//Marie Karlsson

Sli.se

I want to tell you about this webpage called Sli.se.
It is a webpage which offers a broad spectrum of online videos and listening programs. If your school or municipality is connected to a media central that has this service you can get access to the content of this webpage. You can read all about the media centrals in you area on the homepage.

Once you get access to the page you are able to make an account. You can do one for your self and you can also make students accounts. The account is free. There are many selections available so you can find programs that is preferred for a specific subject,  choose which age you want the program to fit, language, length, texted or not texted.

To get to the webpage, write www.sli.se. You can also download it as an app, go to Apples App-store or Google Play and search for SLI.SE Play.

If you want to stream a program you must be sure that you have a good internet connection, or else could the program stop or not work at all. You can watch these videos and listen to the programs on computers, Ipads or smartphones, basically anything that has a good internet connection. It is good to know that if you are watching something from the webpage on an Ipad or smartphone the function with underline texts does not work. If you instead are using the app, these functions does work.

For some of the programs there are tutorials for the teachers about how to use the program in the class before or after watching/listening to something at the webpage. These tutorials you can download.

I use Sli.se as an complement to the teaching since I believe that everyone learn in different ways, and that this is one alternative. Some students maybe learn best when the teacher is writing or reading, but some also has to have something more concrete like watching and listening.

If you want more information or need help please visit www.sli.se/help

Kajsa B Nässlander

Smart Board

Smart Board

How does a Smart Board work?

A smart board is an interactive whiteboard with a touch screen. The Smart Board system includes the interactive whiteboard, a computer, a projector, and some whiteboard software, for instance Smart Notebook and a toolkit of plastic pens and an eraser.

The software program Smart Notes is installed in the computers (there are other software programs as well, but I use Smart Notes in this text as it is the software used at my workplace) making it possible to use the all the functions, such as writing and erasing text at the Smart Board. When you remove a pen tool from the pen tray, an optical sensor recognizes it´s absence, as the technology is in the pen tray (not in the pen tool as one could believe).

The basic technology in the Smart Board is based on communication between the computer and the projector, making the computer screen shown on the whiteboard. As the projector interacts with the computer, all computer programs and functions can be used with the Smart Board. This makes it possible to, for instance, write text, use the calculator, draw charts, use internet and open up maps with information etc. on the computer that is shown in real time on the whiteboard.

The Smart Board also got a “freeze” button making for freezing the projected display and still be able to use the regular display on the computer. This button makes it possible to show only what you want the pupils to see and still be able to, for instance, get more information, prepare a program and the like.

To get started you click at the power button on the remote control to wake up the projector. A green light is shown at the projector when the interaction between the computer and projector is ready to use. If you’re not using the projector for a while it can be powered off on the remote control.

How the resource can be used by teachers

At my workplace every classroom are equipped with Smart Boards and we use them every day as a teaching method in almost every subject. Using Smart Board is an easy way to integrate images, sounds, movies, internet and other computer functions in the teaching. Lesson plans can be done on the computer, be used in and changed during lesson and then be saved for continuing another time.

To give some examples from real life, we start every school day in Year 2 with a silent moment, laying back, listening to soft music and looking at quiescent pictures at the smart board to calm down and make it easier to concentrate. During December we used an interactive electronic advent calendar, where a window in the advent calendar is opened every day until Christmas holiday. The window hides a mission for the pupils to solve that is connected to either Christmas traditions or some school subject, for instance to sing a Christmas carol together, to so solve a riddle or do some mathematics together. Small missions like this can be used now and then in specific subjects during the school year to make repetition of tasks funnier, activate creativity and work on group dynamics or to get some energy into the class when appearing sleepy. For special occasions like the festival of Lucia or advent I hide special missions in a traditional paper advent calendar in the classroom. The calendar can include small gifts to the class as a whole, or a paper with a QR-code. When the pupils scan the QR-code with a tablet connected to the computer and the smart board, the QR-reader transforms the code into a message, picture or a video visible for everybody at the smart board. The last day before Christmas we have a Treasure Hunt where a mission solved is revealing the next one using QR-codes. This game is much appreciated and can be varied to other occasions and subjects, for instance doing sports. This text is severely biased to Christmas, but that is closest in mind right now!

How the resource can be used by pupils

My class has three tablets that can be connected to the computer and the smart board when a new game or assignment is presented. Thus everyone gets the same instructions and can help each other in small groups. The Smart Board is often used by the pupils as a complementary to the books and is linked to the subjects referred to in the book. As a new book is read every week, new characters are introduced and to every character there is a linked crossword. In order to get all children involved, they solve it together on the Smart Board. As they help each other to figure out what the associated image pictures and take turns to write at the smart board with the plastic pen, creativity, group work, cohesion in the class as well as friendship and respect between the individuals is stimulated which is helpful in the ordinary work.

Other considerations when using this resource

Technology doesn’t always collaborate instantly – or at all – as one might expect. It might be a good idea to have a plan B for occasional trouble, like power failure or a non-working computer or projector. A scheduled Smart Board interactive lesson should therefore easily be transformed into an “old-school” lesson without technology use. I have had to rethink my prepared lesson several times due to technology issues.

Another delicate area to pay attention to is texting with the pen. Using the plastic pen on the Smart Board is quite different from writing on a paper. The text is not likely to appear where you expect it on the whiteboard. Therefore you probably need some practice using the pen tool before getting into class.

Magic, textbook with exercises and website.

My name is Karin Kristina Pettersson and I'm working in class 2.

I like to talk a lot with my pupils and I have asked the teacher in class 4 what she thinks about the English education for the younger pupils. She told me that talking is very important and also to get a good pronounciation.  Three is difficult to say, for example.

In my classroom we don't have a smart board. We have a computer and a projector (kanon) that we use many times. For English lessons we use Magic.


                     by Cecilia Augutis (Studentlitteratur)


The class and I can see the pages as they are on the screen. It's big and colourful. Each chapter starts with a short movie and we see it together. Then there is a song. The children use to sing a long and if we want to we can click and see the lyrics. The children have their books as we study the screen. It's very inter active, They write in their books and I write on the computer. They can see what I write. Most of the exercises are to "circle" or "draw a line".

There are extra exercises on the website/the book/the computer for the children and they get their own code so that they can log in at home and do this together with their parents.

I like this material a lot.
Sometimes, unfortunately, I feel that the pupils lose their focus when they are watching the screen.

ICT Blog Post

Raz Kids and Bookabi

We live in a part of the world where Internet is available to all learners. It is even written as a right in the Social Services Act in Sweden. Younger pupils are growing up with the technology as a natural part of their lives. The big question is how to use all this technology in our schools and how to find good, successful tools among all the more unnecessary games and apps.

According to the syllabus we are going to teach our pupils to understand spoken language and text and how to communicate and interact. This year I have been working with mainly two different electronic materials which complements each other; “Raz Kids” and “Bookabi”. Both Raz Kids and Bookabi can be used by pupils from third to ninth grade.

Raz Kids A-Z  is a learning site where pupils may practice their reading and writing skills. Raz Kids is quite expensive and costs 90 dollars/10 licenses which can be used on a computer with Internet connection or as an app for iPhone/iPad. Using the app one do not need Internet connection after downloading.

Reading A-Z contains projectable and also printable books in 27 levels. The pupils can listen to a book of their choice, read the book by him/herself and record that reading. The books end with a quiz to let the teachers and the pupils know what they have learned. Every assignment will give the pupils the opportunity to collect stars which can be used to build their own space ship. At the teacher corner the teachers may manage their students and study their achievements and what they need to practice once again. The teachers decide which level the pupils are going to work at, but the readers can choose books by own interest at that level.

In my classroom we often use Raz Kids together, sometimes the whole class and sometimes in groups. The pupils with English speaking parents and the linguistically advanced pupils use the books by themselves and that allows them to make progress in their own speed. 

Bookabi on the other hand is a free app for iPad (of course with in-app purchase). Bookabi is a tool which gives the pupils the opportunity to write illustrated stories in a very easy way. In this app one will find different characters, backgrounds and objects to build their story or comic. The pupils can also draw their own pictures and use the iPad camera to take a photo to insert. Text can be placed anywhere and they can even be written into bubbles. Each book has a cover and the students are able to create as many pages as they (or the teacher) would like.  

Often my pupils get their inspiration to write from what they have read on the Raz Kids. When they are finished writing and drawing, they have the opportunity to record sounds to the story and share it via email with their parents. If the pupils’ don´t know how to write in English they may just record their voice when they are telling a story about the pictures.

No matter if we are working with Raz Kids or Bookabi I find it most important to log on to the smart board and talk about the experience together, about the pictures, the stories, the questions and so on.

Best regards

Martina Petrén

For more information visit

www.raz-kids.com

www.bookabi.com