Tripppin.com

Tripppin is a platform that connects online and offline activities in a story around the world.

It’s been designed to complement English courses everywhere, from a low intermediate level to advanced.

What if learning were a trip? Find out for yourself on:

http://www.tripppin.com/

A good review on Tripppin.com

A presentation on Tripppin.com

Tripppin.com on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tripppin

Course designer: https://twitter.com/maubuchler

Tackk

Tackk is a simple tool that allows you to instantly create and share your content on the web. It is almost like designing a one-page website. What is most interesting is the fact that no design skill is required. You can personalize the look of your content, add tags, upload pictures, paste a link to a video, embed songs... 

To create a Tackk page you do not need to register for an account, but unregistered Tackk pages expire after one week. Free registration allows multiple Tackks.

https://tackk.com/education

Some ways to use Tackk in the classroom

https://tackk.com/20waystousetackkclassroom

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tackk

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tackk.it

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Tackk

On Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/tackk/

Tackk tutorial on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poildGfG8zY

How languages evolve

There are currently about 6000 languages, some spoken by millions, some by only a few people. How do they evolve? Evolutionary linguistics has studied both the origins and development of language inspired by the natural sciences.

In this four-minute video Alex Gendler explains how linguists group and study languages and language families.

You can view the full lesson with activities and extra resources on: 

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-languages-evolve-alex-gendler#watch   

Crickweb: free online education resources & games

More than 250 free educational interactive teaching resources and activities for Primary/ Elementary Schools. 84 free to use fun kids games/activities for kids aged 4 - 11. Links to free interactive teaching activities, educational games, image and software resources. 

Most are written with Adobe Flash and therefore can be used on any brand of interactive white board.

Subjects including: Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, R.E., D.T., I.C.T, French and Spanish. 

Available on: http://www.crickweb.co.uk/

Learn American Holidays. Christmas Day

Merry Christmas

Itellyouastory.com

Stories have an incredible educational value due to the their influence on memory, but also because they allow to face a wide variety of topics and contexts. Of course, this is very interesting when learning a new language.

On this page you will find a nice selection of tales and fables to read in English. The collection contains also audios and videos.

Webpage: http://www.itellyouastory.com/

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itellyouastory

App available on the AppStore: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/english-bedtime-stories/id595458766?l=it&ls=1&mt=8

Android App: 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.itellyouastory.android

Didapages

Didapages is a very useful tool for course authors. This software provides many opportunities, such as adding text, images, audio and video to create your own interactive book. It can be very interesting for self-study or distance learning, especially, I would say, for language learning.

Here you can see a selection of Didapages based resources to learn English:

As Christmas approaches...

http://chagall-col.spip.ac-rouen.fr/IMG/didapages/christmas/index.html

On vocabulary (French resource): 

http://histgeodaudet.free.fr/banque/didapages/site/didavocabulary.html

Symbaloo webmix on vocabulary and grammar:

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/didapagesanglais1?searched=true

ChronoZoom. Visualize time from the Big Bang to the present day

ChronoZoom is a free open source project owned by the Outercurve Foundation that visualizes time on the broadest possible scale from the Big Bang to the present day. Conceived by Walter Alvarez and Roland Saekow, this project has been funded and supported by Microsoft Research Connections in collaboration with University California at Berkeley, Moscow State University and University of Washington Information School (iSchool), and The Center for Web and Data Science (WDS) departments.

ChronoZoom is inspired by the study of Big History, and it approaches the documentation and visualization of time and history in the same way that Google Earth deals with geography.

ChronoZoom allows users to see the true scale of time over cosmic, geologic, biological and social periods.

(From Wikipedia “ChronoZoom”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChronoZoom) 

History Teachers

Simply awesome! An approach to teaching History by reworking lyrics to popular songs. The videoclips are entertaining and instructive.

Amy Burvall teacher of Le Jardin Academy in Honolulu, Hawaii and Herb Mahelona, also a teacher, have narrated some of the greatest events in History by rewriting pop songs.

Webpage (lyrics available): http://historyteacherz.com/

On YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers

On Twitter (hashtag): https://twitter.com/hashtag/historyteacherz

Amy Burvall: @amyburvall

Herb Mahelona: @HerbMahelona

An example:

Sesame Street. Sesame Playlists

Sesame Playlists are a collection of fun and educational games and videos organized around a curricular theme. Each playlist includes seven games and videos. You can choose a topic and age range in order to use this resource in a more individualised way.

http://www.sesamestreet.org/playlists#media/playlist_1204

Grammar Lessons With Food

Let’s learn a few important grammar lessons with the help of yummy, delicious food by Jeff Wysaski. More funny stuff on: http://www.pleated-jeans.com/

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It is observed on 1 December every year. This day is dedicated to raise awareness of the AIDS. As part of this effort, Education on AIDS prevention and control plays a fundamental role.

Visit these and other resources on AIDS and education available on the Internet:

Avert AIDS and HIV Education: 

http://www.avert.org/introduction-hiv-and-aids-education.htm

Students Stop AIDS Campaign:

http://students.stopaidscampaign.org/

HIV/AIDS Education/Awareness:

https://www.pinterest.com/liaac/hiv-aids-education-awareness/

Schools and Health:

http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/pages/hiveducation.aspx

Thanksgiving Day

Language is more than just the code. There is a fundamental relationship between language and culture. Maybe the best way to learn English is to be in frequent contact with English speakers' culture and learn to understand not only the code but the cultural significance.

Let me just take an example. We have seen in movies and on television how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated but, what do you know about this? How can we get the most out of it when teaching English?

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. It is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Although several other places around the world observe similar celebrations, it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (by the way, it is TODAY!!!) in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Its historical roots are religious but it is nowadays celebrated in a secular manner as well. (Source Wikipedia: Thanksgiving)

Here you have some Pinterest boards on Thanksgiving Day:

https://www.pinterest.com/virginiababy/3thanksgiving-decormore/

https://es.pinterest.com/lyndawhite/thanksgiving-ideas-i-love/

The Story of Thanksgiving (video on YouTube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYJ9fMiGg

ReadWorks

ReadWorks provides research-based units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to educators online, for free, to be shared broadly. Over 800,000 educators use ReadWorks' research-based curriculum to improve their students' reading comprehension

The ReadWorks curriculum is based on the most highly regarded, proven research on reading instruction, and includes:

Informational and literary passages and question sets for grades K-8

Skill and Strategy lesson units for grades K-4

Comprehension (close reading) units for grades K-5

Novel study units for grades 5-6

You can follow ReadWorks:

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/readworks

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReadWorks?ref=ts

On Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/readworks/

(Source: http://www.readworks.org/)

The following video shows how to effectively use ReadWorks' research-based lessons and passages.

The Story of Stuff

Very interesting video on the consequences of our economic practices and their impact in environment. In English (subtitled in Spanish). A good proposal to encourage debate in the classroom

 

Profesores Visitantes en Estados Unidos y Canadá 2015-2016

El pasado martes 11 se publicó en el BOE la Resolución de 30 de octubre de 2014, de la Secretaría de Estado de Educación, Formación Profesional y Universidades, por la que se convocan plazas para profesores visitantes en centros educativos de Estados Unidos de América y Canadá para el curso académico 2015-2016. 

Toda la información necesaria para solicitar plazas (requisitos, preguntas frecuentes, texto de la resolución, guías sobre los distintos destinos, procesos de selección y fases de la convocatoria...) la podéis encontrar a través del siguiente enlace:

https://sede.educacion.gob.es/catalogo-tramites/profesores/convocatorias/espanoles/exterior/visitantes-EEUU-canada.html   

El plazo de solicitudes está abierto hasta el día 26 de noviembre.

The English Alley (revisited)

In May 2013 we published a post on The English Alley, a 100% free website designed to help improve your English vocabulary. Here you can find plenty of drawings that show the different vocabulary terms. Everything is organized in themes (house, park, school...) and when you put the cursor over the drawings you will hear the pronunciation of the words, and if you click on many of them it will give you access to a new vocabulary page.

TheEnglish Alley has since developed new contents and has become an amazing resource for teaching and learning ESL by means of an easy navigation and a very visually-pleasing interface.

http://www.theenglishalley.es/

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEnglishAlley

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheEnglishAlley

On Google+: https://plus.google.com/101356800386076059512/posts

NASA Kid’s Club

NASA Kid’s Club offers information and resources about space science to the kids. It has activities and safe and funny educational games from the space agency. The website doesn’t require children to register or email address to post comment. 

Children can learn about math and science by playing and doing space-related games and activities. 

This webpage includes a section for educators with game descriptions and information about National Education Standards. 

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html#.VCOYU2RdVnF

The Best Language Learning Apps for 2015

The Best Language Learning Apps For 2015

View more lists from Terry Heick