Developing Language Skills with Learn English Podcasts App

The evolution of mobile technologies is very significant as it has revolutionalised the teaching and learning of languages. Currently, Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is taking the place of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). This shift has made made education more engaging, personal, fun and most importantly  accessible. There is more access to authentic materials for the teaching of languages in second language contexts. Most especially educational contexts where there is little or no access to computer devices. The use of mobiles for English teaching and learning has led to the popularity of podcasts. Podcasts are audio and video digital recordings of broadcasts which can be streamed online or downloaded on mobile devices.  The use of podcasts has become very popular in ESL because of its accessibility on mobile phones as such there are various podcasts for English langauge learning on the websites. This week, I will be discussing the LearnEnglish  podcasts.

Learn English podcasts contain audio clips of entertaining audio clips which ranges from English lessons, language learning advice and tips, jokes, and drama. The podcasts are categorised according to language skills, structures (pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary); types (everyday usage, business, news and drama) and; language level of users, (beginner level to upper intermediary); purpose (teaching). Along with the audio clips, users can complete practice questions which test any language structure. Although there is a subscription for the self-study, however, there a number of free podcasts with already prepared lessons and the downloading the mobile app version  provides the best learning experience.

Afordances and Benefits of the Learn English Podcasts

Access to already made listening lessons with authentic materials

For the English instruction series, news reports such as the one above are integrated in the instructions to teach vocabulary or language structures. In addition to this, instructors draw on real life situations such as their personal stories to describe the meaning and contextual appropriation of words or language structure. Hence, this learning experience benefits learners as they are able to understand the real-life usage of the English they are learning. 

Easy to access and free

With a good internet connection, podcasts are accessible and easy to use. Through the phone, learners are able to learn while being involved in other activities. All they need to do is listen and practice. The app version is also free to access and this is very significant as it ensures its circulation among people who might not have the financial means to afford subscription. Additionally, many of the podcasts are free to download.

More opportunities to practice listening

The Learn English podcasts contain diverse listening tasks in form of sentence completion, audio quizzes, matching pairs etc. Although, the tasks are often written, however, users might have to listen to some of the tasks in order to answer the questions. Hence, the tool is a good resource for developing active listening as learners as continuous practice of the listening tasks would help students to develop listening decoding skills which would be useful for their present and future lives.

Diverse interesting topic to learn language structures

There are many conversations on interesting topics such as technology, mental health, politics, global warming etc. all which are used to teach language structures. Through the conversations, learners can learn new words and grammar more so, when the presenters guide users to pick up the special elements.

Learner autonomy

The Learning English Podcasts app can encourage learner autonomy. Series on the app contain self-study lessons, which makes it possible for learners to take full charge of their learning. 

Challenges

Although the Learn English Podcasts app is available to download on mobile devices, in a situation where there is no access to internet, it becomes difficult to be an effective tool. Additionally, learners can become distracted easily with other activities on their mobile devices and forger to practice the tasks in the listening lessons therefore, using the podcast to learn requires that students are deliberate especially of self-studying.

Image acknowledgement according to order of use

Image by Firmbee from Pixabay 

Image from Learn English Podcasts App

Ensuring Lesson Authenticity, Learners' Collaboration and Engagement in the English Classroom with Nearpod

The teaching of English in second or foreign situations often calls for more intentionality on the part of the teacher so that learners can have more productive learning experience. Apart from the affective factors such as anxiety or boredom that learners may experience in such situations, learning another language often calls for authentic language teaching and learning opportunities that would make learners collaborate with one another in order to produce the language being learnt. This type of wholesome learning experience could be made possible with the use of mobile technologies, which are popular essentialities for both learners and teachers.

The unprecedented rise of mobile technologies such as mobile phones and tablets in recent years have made them potential tools for transforming the teaching and learning processes even in educational settings which had no prior preparation for technology use. 

Against this background, this week, I will be discussing how English teachers can integrate technology in their classroom by creating lesson activities with the use of mobile devices. According to Kearney et al (2021), the use of mobiles can transform teaching and learning by ensuring authenticity, collaboration and personalisation. These three features are affordances of the nearpod, a lesson creator app which is functional on mobiles.

Nearpod is a website, also operating as an app where teachers can stream already prepared lessons for students to join online using their mobile phones. It is a tool which requires that teachers create lessons usually using PowerPoint or Google slides and then integrate some tasks or lesson activities such as polls, matching tasks, quizzes etc. into the lesson content created. Nearpod has a free version tagged the silver tier and as a silver subscriber you have access to the basic features which is enough to create engaging lesson experience for your students. Also you have access to many already prepared lesson activities that can be utilised. Although instructors can display lesson activities from Nearpod via a projector and engage in the verbal demonstration of activities, however, it is best when students participate on the platform by using their mobile devices.

Affordances and Benefits

Authenticity

Nearpod provides teachers the opportunity to provide authentic tasks for learners through the integration of diverse audio-visual elements in the lesson. For instance, teachers can integrate pronunciation videos in the lesson content or videos showing how some  vocabulary are used in their specific context. Learners are able to understand how language works in the real-world. The various tasks students are exposed to on the platform also provides learners with opportunities to use the language in authentic ways and not in abstractions. For instance VR field trip can provide learners with teh authentic resource they need for a writing task. 

Collaboration

Teachers can encourage learners' participatory culture through the collaborative learning community that Nearpod provides. Students can express their ideas and improve their English skills through the collaborative affordance of this app. For instance, the use of Collaborate Board and Openended Question give students authentic ways to discuss and interact with each other so that their communication and collaboration skills can be practiced and improved. In addition, matching Pairs and Drag & Drop help  afford teachers and students more opportunities to evaluate and regulate the learning progress of the lesson. Furthermore, group work can be encouraged as nearpod provides a fun way of learning and reduces any language anxiety that might want to surface. As such the Nearpod platform supports the socio-cultural theory of language learning which describes learning in a social context.

Engagement 

Nearpod is an engaging website as a result of the diverse learning activities it affords learners. features like matching pairs and drag and drop can create a fun activity for students. Time to climb can provide competitions which learners can engage in and the Poll feature also encourage learners' interests in the lesson thereby, preventing boredom.

Challenges

Despite the discussed strengths above, Nearpod is not without some challenges. First, just like other learning website described for the past weeks, Nearpod relies on internet connectivity and availability of devices. As such, it will not work where there is lack of access to high-speed internet. Additionally, Nearpod can be time-consuming and it also requires more organisation as such, teachers have to be deliberate about its usage and understudy how it works while patiently creating lesson content and activities that learners would love.

However, in spite of these challenges, the amazing benefits: lesson authenticity, learner's collaboration and engagement it affords makes it worth being giving a chance in the English classroom. 

I have created a video on how to create lesson content and activities in Nearpod, watch this video below:

Have a go at this Nearpod lesson using this code:75K6C

Image acknowledgement according to order of use

Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay 

Image from nearpod.com

Developing English Fluency through the Speechling App

Unlike writing, spontaneous speech entails the cognitive, affective and pragmatic factors, all of which could affect one's fluency. Apart from thinking about the topic of discussion, which could be academic or not, speakers may have to deal with anxiety, as well as be conscious of the talk context. Fluency, in itself describes the speaker's speech rate or flow of expression and how intelligible his/her ideas are. Hence, fluency is different from accuracy as the former accepts that individuals could make some few grammatical mistakes and have some speech fillers, however, the efficiency with which the imperfections are managed is key.

Nowadays, technology has afforded us with diverse opportunities to help with fluency. Even now, computer-mediated communication  (CMC) has ensured asynchronous (spoken video) and synchronous (writing-talking). For this week, I will be discussing, Speechling, an online speaking tool.

Speechling

Speechling is a speaking app created by Hongyu, and the tool provides opportunities for developing speaking fluency in ten languages (English, French, Spanish, Russia, Korean, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Germany). 

                                            Speechling Affordances

Structured lesson according to learners' level

The lesson contents are divided into five: foundation, core curriculum, conversations, phrasebook and exam-based (IELTS, TOEFL and TELC) for beginners, intermediate and advanced learners respectively. Therefore, the lesson curriculum are structured accordingly to every learner.

Speaking feature

The study mode feature allows users to practise speaking by reading already prepared sentences, record it, then playback the recorded format and listen to their speech. This gives users as many chances as possible at  practicing speaking.

Listening feature

There is the listening feature which affords users the opportunity to listen to imitate English sentences pronounced by native speakers. Users can practice speaking the sentences as many times as possible before saving.

Complex speaking drills

Aside from listening and repeating already prepared lessons, the app also display some questions and images to which learners respond to. For English learners, this could be pictures of markets, houses or people doing somthing. Learners respond by describing what they see and this helps them to develop complex speaking skills such as, comprehension, pronunciation and fluency.

Types of lesson activities

Lesson activities include dictation, recordings, cards, flashcards, multiple choice quiz etc. All which learners can utilise to practice their speaking skills and develop their fluency.

Feedback feature

Learners can save all recordings to the app and then get it processed and feedback provided for them. To achieve this, the app pairs users with a personal coach once they sign up on the app. The coach listens to recordings made, then gives feedback.

Benefits

Encourages learner autonomy

With the features provided by the speechling app, learners can be encouraged to take more responsibilities for their learning, learn at their own pace and even monitor their learning. Learners can set goals for themselves and complete the full lesson curriculum using the many activities provided on the app's interface.

Affordable

Speechling was created as a non-profit tool for developing speaking fluency in English. The creator, Hongyu, made the app to ensure other language learners do not experience speaking problems like he did while learning other languages, therefore, most of its important features are free to use, even on the phone. 

Limitations

The app could be complex for beginner learners as it does not explicitly reveal language rules for them. However, the limitation superceeds its advantages,which I have summarised below:

• repetions-opportunites to correct mistakes
• connection to native speakers
• Free to use most of its improtant features
• available to utilise on phone

Image credit according to order of use:

Speechling clipings  from www.speechling.com

Speaker image by Peggy Macho on pixabay

Mobile image by ijimaki on pixabay

learner working on laptop image from pixabay

Enhancing Learners' Collaboration in Real-time with Scribblar

Language learning does not occur in isolation but through interactions among learners. As learners learn in classrooms, they not only interact with their instructor who supports their understandings through scaffolding but also, work together thus socialising with one another in order for the learning goal to be achieved. Thus, learning is a socially-situated activity which relies on the verbal and non-verbal interactions among students and between students and the teacher. Students are encouraged to collaborate more in the classroom, when they are given total control to accomplish engaging English tasks with the possibility of acquiring uniformed grades. Through this process of interdependence for a common goal, social relationships are formed which metamorphoses into a process of acculturation which then offers a potential to help construct their identity as a user of the English they are learning.

With the advent of ICT, ensuring collaboration in a fun and intriguing way is possible through the use of  technology. Therefore, this week, I will be discussing how English teachers can reinforce positive interdependence and collaboration through a virtual tool called Scribblar. 

Scribblar is an online collaborative tool that allows users to initiate and develop written academic tasks such as writing an essay on a topic, in real time. It is a tool used for editing, redrafting and completing texts in a virtual space whereby, users can make use of  the audio and text messaging features to communicate in order to enhance their understanding in creating a given task. 

Features and Functions

On the Scribblar tool, there is an interactive whiteboard which opens for every user. In addition to this, as shown on the left-handside of the image, there are 10 features which affords users with the possibilities of typing in their ideas, erasing, drawing, picking texts, inserting shapes, enter symbols, upload images or documents, and share smileys. On the topmost right corner are options for discarding new changes and copying any finished task to another location. Users make use of the 10 tools to create virtual written real-time conversations such as: to do list; brainstorming a given essay etc., whereby each user add their ideas while seeing that of others at the same time.

In addition to the features above, there are three other affordances that Scribblar  provides for users. These are: chatting, video and audio recording. While brainstorming on a given topic, users can collaborate by chatting with each other in order to seek further information that could help with the given task. The video and audio functions can also be used by the room members to record information which can be shared on the tool.

Benefits

Knowledge Construction

When teachers encourage students to use Scribblar for a given language task, usually to write a creative story or debate essay etc., students are able to co-construct knowledge hence, it is a tool which promotes the theory of constructivism. Through working together, learners can collaboratively share ideas to develop a whole new knowledge different from their individual perceptions or opinions.

Online Collaboration

With Scribblar, users are able to collaborate virtually with one another. As they brainstorm on a a given task, and attempt to complete it in real-time, they are able to ask questions from each other using the voice and text features, and afterwards, utilise the feedbacks got to achieve the particular task. 

Autonomy

When learners collaborate on Scribblar to accomplish a given task, they have more opportunities to share their ideas and learn from one another without the teacher's intervention. They therefore, take more responsibilities for their learning especially when  teachers avoid intervening and allow them to achieve the given tasks on their terms. 

Limitation

Just like any of its kind, Scribblar cannot work when there is no internet to back support it.

Interested in trying this tool out with your students? Sign up for a free account here. Also, to learn more about Scribblar, watch the Diese Stephan's video below:

Image credit according to order of use:

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

scribblar.com

free images from freepik.com 

video by  Diese Stephan 

Relinquishing Control with Tubequizard

For many teachers, having control is an essential part of their teaching principles and practice and any attempt at suggesting otherwise is usually seen in a radical light. However, enabling students to take some form of responsibilities for their learning make them autonomous learners thereby, inspiring their inner motivation which is an important affective factor that makes for effective learning. Nowadays, encouraging learners to become responsible learners and take initiatives in initiating and accomplishing their English learning goals have become more simpler especially when the activities they enjoy  are integrated into learning activities. For instance, imagine developing the essential English language skills while watching a movie or listening to a favorite music? 

Presently, this is possible through a free YouTube-based website called TubeQuizard, where the English listening skill could be developed through watching videos on YouTube, which is a fun-way of learning. 

TubeQuizard 

TubeQuizard is an online tool which contains a large collection of YouTube videos: movies, T.V. shows, interviews and music, with ready-made quizzes involving gap filling. It was created by a couple, Olya Sergeeva and husband and it made the finalist at the British Council ELTons Innovation Awards  in 2017.  As individuals watch these videos, they are exposed to many examples of authentic English vocabulary, pronunciations and grammatical usages. TubeQuizard has four filters; level, type, category and variety, which are explained below:

The videos and quizzes are categorised into levels using the CERF subscales, (A2 B1 B2 C1 C2) and users can filter the quiz content to the appropriate language level they.

 

Furthermore, learners can choose the specific English concept they want to learn, that is, grammar for listening, pronunciations for listeners, vocabulary in context, grammar in context and spelling. 

Though four varieties of English (British, American, New Zealand and Australian) were displayed on the website, however, presently, only YouTube videos of two varieties (British and American) are available on the TubeQuizard tool. 

There are also videos on diverse subjects, such as education, entertainment etc. Therefore, learners get to choose the specific video they find interesting. 

Merits

Includes authentic English usages

Since, it is YouTube-based, the online tool has a large collections of movies, T.V shows, documentaries, talks etc. hence, showing how English is used in real life. Learners can learn the appropriate contextual usages of some vocabulary, acquire more words. More so, the YouTube videos on the website are those with transcripts that are generated by humans and not the automatically generated ones, which could be filled with errors.  Therefore, the TubeQuizard is a reliable tool for developing the essential English skill.

Encourages learner autonomy

With TubeQuizard, learners can be encouraged to take more responsibilities for their language learning hence, it is closely associated with learner autonomy. Since the tool contains videos which are usually interesting for students, therefore, through aspiring to understand the movies they watch and completing the quiz to achieve this, they create learning goals for themselves.  In essence, as they have fun watching their favourite movies, documentaries, talk shows or even listening to a famous song, they begin to develop a conscious awareness of the language and its usages, hence, developing their language skills on their own. 

Improves active listening

The online tool is specifically targeted towards developing students' listening  skills.  Through the listening decoding quizzes created, learners can become active listeners. When watching YouTube videos, the ready-made quizzes can be useful to catch some complex grammatical pronunciations, such as contractions, and the use of articles in fast speeches. 

Limitations

It does not cover many varieties of English as only two varieties are available. As such, the pronunciation learners hear might be different from what they have been used to especially if they are beginning learners from a second or foreign language context. 

Secondly, learners might utilise the tool just for fun and not for learning English. As such, the objective of using the online app would be lost. Therefore, utilising TubeQuizard to give learners home-work might not be effective as learners that are not autonomous might skip the quizzes and watch videos only for enjoyment sake. 

Finally, while the TubeQuizard has its limitations, the amazing benefits it affords users as summarised below, makes it an interesting tool for improving the listening skill. 

• Provides authentic English usages

• Encourages students' autonomy

• Helps to develop students' listening skills

To learn how to explore TubeQuizard, watch the YouTube video that I created below:

Update: the video mentioned that TubeQuizard  contains YouTube videos in four varieties of English as highlighted on the website, however, further exploration, showed the YouTube videos on the tool are only in two varieties. 

Image credit according to order of use:

Image by Jess Foami from Pixabay 

http://www.tubequizard.com/

Image by Varun Kulkarni from Pixabay 

Making Reading and Writing more Purposeful with WebQuests

A recurrent worry that often troubles English teachers is the challenge of finding the best way to make their students develop higher order thinking skills while learning the required language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.  With the increase in the rate of mobile usage among students nowadays, incorporating an inquiry-based tool into the English lesson could help an effective way to encourage students to develop their language skills in an exciting yet purposeful way. More so, students are usually more interested in activities that are task-based because of the sense of accomplishment that usually result from the completion of such project-oriented activities. Hence, incorporating a set of task-based tool in the classroom can help develop their analytic and evaluative skills. 

Thank God! such online inquiry-based learning tool, called Webquests, exists and was started by Bernie Dodge and Tom March in 1995. Today, there is a website, The Quest Garden with a large repository of different lessons available for free on the internet that could be integrated into the English lessons as well as, resources to create new ones.  As such, this week, I will be blogging about a webquest, An English Holiday I found interesting and effective for teaching students reading and writing. 

WebQuest: An English Holiday

An English Holiday is a webquest created by Michelle Malone, GooIsby ES, which requires students to plan a trip to England and create a travel brochure and map which include detailed information of the lists of places, costs of transportation and activities they would embark on for such a trip. The webquest contains a set of interesting activities that would require learners to surf the internet about England, one of the favorite countries in the world for many second language learners.  Therefore, junior secondary school students can easily be taught reading and writing with the tool as it required them to visit the website links provided on the webquest to draw out the information needed to create the brochures and maps which they would present to the class.

Structure

Just like every webquests, An English Holiday also has both the  teacher and student pages. On the students' page, as shown in the image sideways, there are seven other pages which students are required to click on to get the appropriate information required for them to achieve the task given. The first page has the webquest's introduction where a brief  opening is given using the flag of England, a favorite country for many second language learners of English and a brief address which makes the webquest appealing. The task page gives a compelling overview of what the activities entail using some beautiful images about England while the process page reveals a well-detailed step-by-step activities, that students are required to execute to achieve their task. On the process page are inserted website links through which students can find information to solve each of the steps on the page. These links provide students with the necessary 

The evaluation page has the rubric that would be used to assess students' accuracy of content, organisation, spellings, knowledge and writing while the conclusion page congratulates students on their ability to complete the task with website links showing the teachers' feedback and more facts about England.

Benefits

Supports the development of critical thinking skills

Generally, webquests are associated with constructivism, which is a learning approach that believes that learners actively constructs their own knowledge. And judging from the list of activities and online enquiry students need to engage in to achieve the task in An English Holiday, students would have to draw out information, analyse, evaluate, synthesize, and extrapolate information got thus, constructing learning experience for themselves. Thereby helping to develop their higher developing their higher-order thinking skills. 

Encourages group-learning

Additionally, since learners would work in groups to create the brochure and maps, the webquest helps to develop group learning. As students search for information together and attempt to complete the task, they have to discuss, disagree at some point, make compromises in order to agree together and by undergoing these processes, they are able to develop critical social skills of collaboration and team work, which are useful preparatory skills for their future life.

Lastly, students get to develop their reading and writing skills. More so, since reading and writing have now become purposeful doable tasks, which requires them to learn and write about England, a country which most of them imagine to visit one day. 

Limitations

Just like any other ICT tool, the webquests can only be applicable where students have access to technological devices such as smart phones or laptops and the internet as any task-like activities without those devices are not webquests. 

Another constraint of webquests is that it is easy for students to get distracted if not well monitored since they have the freedom to surf the internet for information to execute their task. 

Lastly, the activities involved in accomplishing a task on webquest requires lots of time which might extend beyond the lesson period.

Conclusion

In this week's post, I have introduced and discussed an example of webquest, An English Holiday that English teachers can integrate in the classroom to make the reading and writing lesson an exciting and engaging task. Though it has its limitations, however, with irresistible strengths and benefits as summarised below:

• engaging opening

• enjoyable and doable task

• well-detailed process

• facilitate higher order-thinking skills in students

• develop learners' social skills

• improve students' reading and writing abilities.

To learn more about webquests, and how to create one for your class, watch Vincenzo Marranvideo below:

image credits according to order of use:

https://www.insightstoenglish.com/project/webquests-intro/

An English Holiday webquest on http://questgarden.com/147/00/7/120731094657/index.htm

critical thinking skills picture made from Canva

group working together by Rawpixelimages on dreamstime

video by Vincenzo Marranca

Literacy picture made from Canva

Channeling Students' Love Towards the Right Direction with Wordwall

People tend to avoid activities they do not enjoy while they  seek to give all optimum attention to things that excite them. Little wonder students nowadays, indulge in online games on their phones and give maximum attention to it since they derive pleasure from it. Such interests, could however be channeled in the right direction through integration with their education.

Therefore, as  teachers who teach English to second language learners, we need to ensure that our lesson activities are enjoyable and satisfying for students as this would increase their motivation for English learning. This week, I will be sharing an online learning game, Wordwall, which can be very effective for teaching students of any educational level sets of vocabulary.

                                                                

 WordWall

 Wordwall contains about 12 templates of games (crosswords, random wheel, quiz, anagram, drag and fit etc.) all of which are interesting and engaging. As such, teachers can utilise any of them to engage learners and ensure their participation. In addition, the images and themes on the game are attractive and are similar to the ones on actual game apps that students have been used to. Therefore, it puts off the pressure that comes with testing since, the templates are often for  recalling what students have been taught.

Benefits

The Worldwall game has many benefits for English learners as it mostly targets  the learning of vocabulary.  Vocabulary is the building block of a language, it becomes important for students to acquire a reasonable amount of English words so that they can conceptualise situations and things they need to talk about, avoid struggling when reading comprehension passages and also become excellent communicators. For many second language learners, vocabulary is a very significant aspect of language which they might have challenges with and which might hinder their acquisition of the target language. 

Therefore, the Wordwall tool can effectively help students to increase their lexical power. Through the vocabulary practice and visual cues provided by the colourful letterings, students are able to learn the correct spellings of words, get exposed to different words and their meanings in a fun manner. Thereby, reinforcing and internalising newly learnt words in their memory. In addition, students are engaged and just like they would while playing 'real games', there are lots of mental processes involved in participating in the game. 

The Wordwall is influenced by the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) approach, which expects students to  utilise the computer or technological device to improve their language learning. Additionally, students can play the game independently hence, increasing learners' autonomy, which is a principle of CALL. However, students can also be grouped to work in pairs or teams hence, encouraging team work, cooperation and competition all which energise students and increase their motivation.

                                                                

Limitations

Just like every other online games, the Wordwall can only function where there are conditions to facilitate it. Firstly, there must be devices such as phones and/or computers on which the games would be played. Secondly, there must be internet connectivity for the game to work. Therefore, if  those devices mentioned above cannot be provided, utilising the Wordwall in the classroom becomes an impossible task. 

To learn how to create vocabulary activities on Wordwall,  watch my demonstration below;

Image credit according to order of use:

Pricilla Du Perez on gettyimages

https://wordwall.net/

https://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/pre-teaching-vocabulary-and-vocabulary-instruction/

iqoncept on depositphotos

Christopher Gower on Unsplash