The Use of 'Professor Garfield: Comic Creator' in the EFL Classroom

Activity

Group: 5th form
Age group: 11-12
Level: Intermediate
Name: Playing with Garfield and its friends

Warm Up: The teacher will stick a picture of Garfield, another of Odie and another of their owner, Jon Arbuckle. The teacher will ask the students to brainstorm what they remember about the characters and how the relationships among the characters are. The teacher will copy words and phrases the students say on the board.

Web: The teacher will show the students a cardboard bag with many slices of paper in it. The slices will describe a problem or a situation in which some or all of the characters mentioned before are involved. Each of the students will get a slice of paper and will read his or her situation aloud. The teacher will tell the students they will have to create a comic representing the situation they have received.
To do that, the teacher will show the students a tutorial video which explains how to use Professor Garfield’s Comic Lab. The students will go to that site and will log in with their names or usernames.

What Next: The students’ comics will be shown through a beamer, so that everyone can see. The owner of the comic, together with one or two more students will read the speech bubbles there are as if they are acting it. While students to that, the task of the rest will be not only to pay attention, but also to think about how the comic could be improved, if they consider it necessary.

Evaluation Criteria

• Apropriate and coherent use of the language
• Apropriate use of the tool
• Accurate representation
• Students' reading skills
• Students' writing skills
• Students’ speaking skills

Professor Garfield

The Professor Garfield Foundation is a not-for-profit educational collaboration between several companies and Ball State University, a nationally recognized leader in teacher training and digital education.
Their mission is to be a free delivery of innovative and motivational digital learning content with a primary emphasis on children's literacy and creative expression.
According to Thomas (200), Web 2.0 technologies signal the need to move toward a greater emphasis on digital literacy skills. Therefore, an online comic-maker such as Professor Garfield Foundation can make the writing process much more exciting and interesting. By creating comics, students can demonstrate their understanding of a topic. Also, the structure of this genre requires students to master clear and concise communication. 
Apart from that, according to Peachey (2010), one of the main perks of this webpage is that students can create genuine products, in a wide range and combination of media to high standards, which can have a real audience, such as their peers, parents or teachers.
In all, this webpage will accomplish this by creating fun and educationally interactive activities and games where kids like to play supplemented with standards-based resources for teachers, parents and mentors.

Below, you will find the tutorial of how to use 'Professor Garfield: Comic Creator':

In order to get an activity to use in the classroom, please click here

Bibliography

• Peachey, N. (2010) Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers. Retrieved October, 2016 from: http://es.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-2-0-Tools-for-Teachers
• Thomas, M. (Ed.). (2009). Handbook of research on Web 2.0 and second language learning.

The Use of Printable Crossword Maker in the EFL Classroom

Activity

Class: 4th form
Age group: 8-9
Level: Intermediate
Name: Guessing the words

Warm Up: The teacher will write romos of a house on the board in the form of a chart: Kitchen – Bedroom – Bathroom – Living Room. The students will play a game. They will be divided into two teams and will make two lines. The first students in line will have to go to the board and will have to write one item of a room in any of the columns. When they have finished writing, they have to run back to the line and hand in the marker to the next student. The first team that writes 3 examples in each column wins.

Web: The teacher will show the students a video tutorial on how to create a crossword. He will ask them to pay special attention to the clues. If students have no questions about its use, the teacher will proceed to explain his own crossword which is shown in a mimio. The students will have to complete the crossword with items of a house. For this, students will have to raise their hands and the one chosen will have to say the word out loud and, if he/she guesses, he/she will have to go to the front and write i ton the mimio with the interactive maker. The teacher will show them an example he himself has created, using the mimio and the interactive marker.

What Next: Students will make groups of 4 students and they will have to create their own crosswords on some area of language sttudied before. After having created the file, they will have to share it with the other groups, so everyone can work.

Evaluation Criteria

• Students' reading skills
• Students' writing skills
• Conscious research from the part of the students
• Appropriate use of the tool
• Respect towards their peers

Printable Crossword Maker

Crossword Maker allows teachers to make different types of crosswords from an easy level to a hard one. Then, teachers can print them for using in class, so that they can work on different areas of vocabulary.
Jones (2013) indicates that word puzzle solving involves several useful skills including vocabulary, reasoning and spelling. To solve any word puzzle, a person must be able to identify and understand the terms being used. This often involves acquiring new vocabulary or terminology. Another benefit of using word puzzles in the classroom is that they are associated with recreation, and can be less intimidating for students.

Moreover, Bromley (2012) states that words are the essential building blocks of comprehension and cognition. Research points out that students who have broad vocabularies achieve better scores on standarized tests and classrooms assessments. She also highlights that these types of activities have great potential for motivating students to develop their vocabularies. In all, these activities can also be used to help students reinforce and identify important words on topics they are studying.

Here goes the tutorial on how to use Crossword Maker:

In order to get an activity to use in the classroom, please click here

Bibliography

• Bromley, K. (2012). Using Word Clouds in the Classroom. Retrieved in February 2015 from: http://utahreading.org/index.php?page=using-word-clouds-in-the-classroom
• Jones, K. (2013). Teaching with Crossword Puzzles. Retrieved in February 2017 from: http://vocabulary.co.il/blog/learning_vocabulary/teaching-with-crossword-puzzles/

The Use of Vozme in the EFL Classroom

Activity

Class: 4th form
Age group: 8-9
Level: Intermediate
Name: Be your favourite character!

Warm Up: The teacher will go into the class with a comic he really likes. Before starting to read it, he will explain to his students why he likes the comic and a favourite character. After reading an important script from his favourite character, he will ask his students: “Which is your favourite comic or story?” “Who is your favourite character? Why?”

Web: The teacher is going to show a tutorial on how to use Vozme. After they have watched it, the teacher is going to guide his students with Vozme:

1. Firstly, go to Vozme.
2. Once you are in, choose the text you want to recreate about your favourite character and type it in the box. Remember yo pay attention to the text as you type it so that you do not make any tipo or mistake.
3. After you have typed the text, proofread it or call your teacher to read it.
4. Then, choose the type of voice you want for your character.
5. Finally, click on “Create mp3”. A new window will be opened and you will be able to listen to your audiofile.

Once his students have finished their audio files, the teacher will listen to them and, when everything is ok, they will be able to listen to their corresponding audio file several times and practise it so that they can produce it with the most appropriate pronunciation.

What Next: Every student will share their recreation with the class and the classmates will say what they think about the audiofile in an respectful way. The teacher will also evaluate their performances and congratulate them for their works.

Evaluation Criteria

• Accurate use of sounds
• Collaboration with less computer-literate classmates
• Correct use of the tool
• Meeting of deadline
• Students' listening skills
• Students' pronunciation
• Students' reading skills

VozMe

Vozme is a simple online 'text to speech' program that lets you type-in any English or Spanish text and then play it as an audio stream. According to Warschauer and Grimes (2007) Web 2.0 allows more interactive forms of publishing, participation, and networking. Therefore, as Picardo (2011) states, these types of programs can be accessed both at home and at school, facilitating the transition from teacher - centred, classroom - based learning to personalized learning in which the pupil begins to acquire individual responsability.

How to use Vozme:

In order to get an activity to use in the classroom, please click here

Bibliography

• Picardo, J. (2011). Voki in the Languages Classroom. Retrieved in December 2016 from: http://blog.voki.com/2011/06/03/voki-in-the-languages-classroom/
• Warschauer, M., & Grimes, D. (2007). Audience, authorship, and artifact: The emergent semiotics of Web 2.0. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics.

The Use of Evernote in the EFL Classroom

Activity

Class: 7° Grade

Age group: 12-13
Level: Upper intermediate

Name: Everyone knows something

Warm Up: As part of a project, students have been collecting important details and making notes of different subjects, such as Chemistry, Biology or History, for English Language. One day in class, students finally share their notes orally with their classmates and the teacher. The teacher also shares some piece of information that he learnt when he was a student.

Web: With the help of Evernote, students will prepare those notes and pieces of information in a more interactive and appealing way. For this, the teacher shows his students a tutorial of how to use Evernote and then he helps the students use Evernote and create their notes:

1.  First of all, go to Evernote and create your account (use the Gmail account you have created for this project).
2. Once you are in, choose the notes you like best about a topic and type it exactly the way you want. Remember you can add pictures to make it more appealing. If you feel you do not like your note, you can re-write it until you are happy with it.
3. When you have created your note, show it to your teacher or sent it to him by e-mail. Make sure you include: your name, your course and remember to include punctuation marks so that your sentence makes sense.
4. Once you have sent your note, I will correct it and, when everything is ok, everyone will show their notes to their classmates and share some piece of knowledge.

What Next: The students’ notes will be shown through a beamer. The owner of the note will read their note and show the pictures (is there is any). While he/she does that, the task of the rest will be not only to pay attention, but also to think about how the note could be improved. 

Evaluation Criteria

• Accurate use of structures and lexis, such as: like + V-ing/noun, connectors, punctuation
• Addition of extra information
• Correct use of the tool
• Meeting of deadline
• Collaboration with less computer-literate classmates
• Collaboration between classmates
• Students' abilities to summarize 
• Students' creativity

Evernote

Evernote is a cross-platform, freemium app designed for note taking, organizing, and archiving.The app allows users to create a "note" which can be a piece of formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten "ink" note.

Notes can also have file attachments. Evernote is available in a paid version or a more restricted free version. Use of the online service is free up to a certain monthly usage limit, with additional monthly use reserved for Plus subscribers, and unlimited monthly use for Premium customers.

Taking this explanation into account, it is possible to observe that this platform may increase the meaning of literacies. According to Sullivan (2010), technology has enlarged the meaning of literacies. He insists that a person can be considered literate in the twenty - first century only if he possesses a variety of skills and competencies. To reach this goal, readers and writers need to develop proficiency with the tools of technology and exposing students to Evernote may be a way of developing the new literacies.

Here goes a tutorial on how to use Evernote:

Please click here to go to a new entry related to activities for using Evernote in the classroom.

Bibliography

• Sullivan, S. (2010). Introduction: What's on the Other Side When You Finally Cross the Digital Divide. Lessons Plans for Developing Digital Literacies. Retrieved in December 2016 from: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/speak-teaching-with-voki-30884.html

The Use of Technology in the Classroom

More often than not, educators have been looking for independence and flexibility, two key elements for language learning and language teaching experiences. Thanks to the upcoming of Internet, this wish for autonomy has finally become possible. Nevertheless, as Paula Ledesma (2010) states, "the first implementations of the World Wide Web were rather passive websites where users could have access to valuable information through a system of hypertext links".

Fortunately, little by little, that passive learning environment started to evolve into a more dynamic one and teachers could apply some Internet applications to their teaching practice by resorting to some Web 2.0 tools. These tools allow the creation of multimedia material which can be used in combination with social networks, blogs or wikis (Ledesma, 2012).

Web 2.0 sites allow users to have a more active participation as opposed to the Web 1.0 where users were limited to the passive viewing of content; therefore, web 2.0 sites allow users to do more than just retrieve information. As Peachey (2009) points out, web 2.0 enable many characteristics, such as:

• Socialisation: Through socialisation our students can use the language and skills they are learning to build networks and develop relationships with real people.
• Collaboration: They can work together with others to construct and share real knowledge.
• Creativity: They can create genuine products, in a wide range and combination of media to high standards, that will have a real audience.
• Authenticity: The tasks and activities they do and the people they communicate with to do them are real and motivating.
• Sharing: They can share what they create and learn from each other.

Taking all these points into consideration, the purpose of this blog is aimed at acquainting teachers and students with Web 2.0 tools which are social in nature, inviting people to share what they find, what they do and learn in a wide variety of contexts (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007, p. 150). Even though this approach to the teaching of language might make you fell out of your element, this blog will offer you simple and easy web-based tools along with tutorial and possible activities to apply.

Bibliography

• Dudeney, G & Hockly,N. (2007). How to Teach English with Technology. Pearson Longman.
• Ledesma, P. (2012). Creative Applications of Web 2.0 Tools in ELT. Retrieved in November 2014 from http://es.scribd.com/doc/100215769/Paula-Ledesma-Web-2-0-Tools-in-ELT
• Ledesma, P. (2010). WWW.Teach:Employing Web 2.0 Techniques for Fostering Students' Creative Use of the Language in ESL and EFL Classrooms. In Swain, T. (Ed) Smart Teaching: A Transformational Approach. Open Page India
• Peachey, N. (2009). Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers. Retrieved in November 2014 from: https://es.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-2-0-Tools-for-Teachers