ONLINE WAY OF "WRITE ON A STICKY NOTE AND PUT IT ON THE WALL" ACTIVITY

Hello my dear readers! You are now seeing my online board that I created with my friends Izel, Aleyna and Ecem. This online board is called Padlet. It is a great place for gathering ideas, sharing them and modifying them later. Users can add links, YouTube videos, files and images to Padlet notes. The good news is Padlet is a great classroom tool and there are plenty of ways to use it. Here is a poster of 30 ways to use it: 

As you see on the top, our task was using Padlet in KWL chart format. We had three columns to fill as "Know, Want to Know and Learned". Our topic was global warming. I know that our planet is warming up, ice sheets are melting and the sea level is increasing. One of the causes of global warming is the rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration. Burning fossil fuels, deforestation and even use of deodorants increases carbon dioxide levels. But I didn’t know how far it can go and if we don’t take actions how it will affect us. After my research I saw that there are a lot of organizations fighting against climate change and there are hundreds of small actions we can take. On the other hand, I saw what's at stake if we don't act now. 

This task made me notice what I don't know about global warming and enabled me to learn them. Since it was a collaborative work, I really enjoyed it. 

Check our Padlet wall to learn about global warming and to see an example of how you can use Padlet in the classroom. 

COLLABORATIVE + QUICK = WIKI

Hello my dear readers! In this post I will talk about a different and modern way for students to learn to work collaboratively while practicing English. Wikis can be useful both when being read or written.

As an example me and my friend Izel created a page in our classroom wiki. Our task was reviewing a movie. We chose Will Smith's movie Seven Pounds, you can read our review here. While we were improving our writing skills in English, we also enjoyed creating an internet page as a class.

If you are also looking for your students to see that it is so easy to put information on the internet and what they read is not always right, wikis will be useful for that matter as well.

A PERFECT HOMEWORK FOR SLL: PODCASTING

Hello my dear readers! As you see above I created a podcast with my friend Izel as a homework example which enables the teacher to hear all of the students talk in English. 

Podcasting is an amazing assignment for students to improve their both listening and speaking skills. The other advantage of podcasting is that the students have the freedom to talk about their interests which makes the homework more enjoyable.

When I was creating the podcast I noticed that since I can not make changes after I post it, I need to be more careful. Besides, before I started recording I needed to listen a lot of different podcasts to be able to create a quality one.

The hardest part was putting different audio files together and finding the best program to do it. Nevertheless, it is a modern way to improve speaking skills and a fun homework to do.

Briefly, if you are looking for an enjoyable, useful and contemporary assignment for your students, you have found it! It is podcasting. 

HELP OF RSS FEEDREADERS AND BLOGS IN ELT

Hello my dear readers! The image that you see above is my RSS feedreader’s screenshot. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary. It is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. It enables you to keep up with all the topics that you want in one place. There is a variety of RSS feedreaders available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers are: 

- FeedReader (Windows) 

- Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac)  

- My Yahoo (online) 

You can use them as a software or an online reader, it’s up to you. I am an IOS user and I use Feedly. One of the reasons why it is useful is because you save time by not needing to visit each site individually and you ensure your privacy by not needing to join each site's email newsletter. 

As I highlighted above Lesson Plays Digger is my favorite blog. The blog is based on lesson plans and teaching tips. All the activities posted on the blog are tried and shared with the materials. There is also a section as “Teacher’s Toolbox”. There you can find not only educational activities but also YouTube and Instagram accounts which will be helpful for ELT. Another useful feature of this blog is you can choose the proper activity for your class easily because the English levels are stated for each activity. 

I highly recommend this blog and the use of RSS readers to ELT teachers. Believe me they will help a lot. And if you have a blog to suggest, please leave it as a comment!