Illustrate your stories

  Maybe you are not a writer, but this tool is going to inspire you to write your own story. Just go check storybird.com and go with the flow!
Storybird.com is an interesting website which helps us to design and illustrate stories that can be for children or people in general. It could be used for illustrate stories that you already wrote, but the site presents a set of images related to different possible topics you want to write about and you can select them according to the sequence of your story. That is why the same images can serve as inspiration to write for people that maybe do not enjoy writing. As teachers we NEED to find the way to catch our student’s attention and make them interested in what we are trying to teach them.
I am going to give you a couple of ideas to use this website in class and as homework.
In class
Create your own illustrated story and show it to the children. Then ask them to read it and comment the story but also the illustration it has. It will be different and at the same time interesting for them to read a book written by their teacher. It would be an incentive to start reading.
Homework
Show them how to use the tool and ask them to use their creativity and create their own stories at home and then, present it to the rest of the class.

Let's check zunal.com

WebQuest

  It is important for us, as teachers to have some tools that make our classes more interesting and funnier for learners. One can think that those “tools” could be difficult to implement in classroom, but the truth is that if you take advantage of what is out there for us in the technological world, we will certainly change the way we teach.
 
There is an interesting one that helps us to get ideas and design our lessons in an attractive way for students. It allows us to start creating a lesson and even setting the evaluation right there. It gives you all the steps you must follow to make an appealing lesson that you can use later on the classroom or assign it to your students to do as a project.
I have created one lesson as an example. And this is the link for you to check it

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=258388

This WebQuest is a lesson focused on pronunciation. This is a lesson to teach two sounds of the North American English for a beginner level and especially design for children. I hope you like it and you can use it wherever you want with your students.

New Trends in Language Education

1. What should be the new trends in education?

As the time changes, educational trends must change. Instead of traditional ways of teaching or outdated methods of learning, the system education should seek innovative ways to teach and reach the interest of learners. Education should take advantage of technology as much as possible. “No longer on grammar, memorization and learning from rote, but rather using language and cultural knowledge as a means to communicate and connect to others around the globe.”( Eaton, S.E., 2010)

2. What is out in language teaching? 

Vague, hollow promises that can't be proven.

Saying that learning languages is easy.

Authoritative teacher attitudes.

Complaining about cutbacks and lack of funding.

Language labs.

3. What are the benefits of using technology in the classroom?

Learners are part of the technological era. Using technology in the classroom is the way we can catch their attention and engage them in the learning process. They do not learn in the traditional way. They are connected to the world and enjoy sharing, so they need that to learn and educational system must adopt this “trend”.

4. Beyond the digital skills what other essential skills do 21st century learners need? 

 “A comprehensive essential skill set is needed for employment.” ( Eaton, S.E., 2010) It is important for learners to develop interpersonal skills such as:

thinking skills

the ability to work well with others

leadership