Posts

Seasoning 8 Bilibli --- An Informative learning platform for Chinese students!

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Good morning/afternoon/night, ladies and gentlemen 👫! Today I ’ m gonna introduce a Chinese version of YouTube--- Bilibili , nicknamed B Site.  What is Bilibili? It is a video-sharing website , where users can submit, view and comment on videos . It has become one of the major Chinese streaming platforms that programs critically acclaimed and popular documentaries, variety shows, and original programming. Here, you can reach out to tons of high-quality videos on various themes , including anime, music, education, dance, science and technology, movies, drama, fashion and video games. And English learners can find a great number of useful English materials posted by native speakers, non-native speakers, bilingual and multilingual speakers. The link is:  https://www.bilibili.com/  Blibli and English learning 💭 Although Blibli is not a platform that is established exclusively for language learning, it does provide abundant English learning lessons and tutorials. By watching these video

Seasoning 7 Bridge You and English --- YouGlish!

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Good morning/afternoon everyone💁! When you come across unfamiliar words or phrases, where will you go to? Dictionary? Corpus? Now you have another choice! Today I am going to introduce a magical English video corpus ---YouGlish!💗 What is YouGlish? YouGlish is an incredible platform helping EFL speakers improve pronunciation and learn usage of the words in context through thousands of YouTube videos . These are not just spoken by people from the local country though. Users can also get pronunciations from different places around the world. It allows you to pick the area you want from options. The link is : https://youglish.com/ YouGlish and English learning 💬 YouGlish is a facilitator to improve both the accuracy and fluency of spoken English . It is smart enough to trawl all that content to find the word or phrase you want to hear. It then offers a video with that word or phrase spoken in the language you selected. Once you give the keyword or phrase, it can automatically select an

Seasoning 6 Get your classroom interactive with H5P!

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Hi guys 😉! Nice day! Today the keyword is ‘interaction’, which is an essential element in the English classroom. Without active interaction, the lessons are definitely gonna be less enjoyable. So here, we got H5P in the house. Let’s check it out! What is H5P? H5P is an abbreviation for HTML5 Package. Using H5P, we can create richer content in existing publishing platforms, share and modify content in the browser at any time. It empowers everyone to create rich and interactive web experiences (e.g.  interactive videos, quizzes and presentations)  more efficiently for free. The link is: https://h5p.org/

Seasoning 5 Improve your speaking with Flipgrid!

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New seasoning is coming today! 😀We are going to explore Flipgrid, which is a useful platform where you can improve your speaking performance. What is Flipgrid? ‘ Flipgrid is social learning — because learning is more fun when we do it together. Our free video discussion app provides a safe, accessible space where students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can explore new ideas, connect with others, get creative, and contribute to meaningful discussions . ’ The link is: https://info.flipgrid.com/

Seasoning 4 Collect genius ideas through Scribblar!

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Today I am going to share a simple and useful platform called Scribblar for group collaboration. 😀  What is Scribblar? Scribblar is a virtual whiteboard – which also allows the playing of video and audio and the upload of documents and the presentation of details from websites.  It is designed to be an online collaborative effort that empowers users to develop and maintain a scholarly conversation at any time. Tools are optimal for the use of the online whiteboard, while the audio and text messaging features facilitate collaboration among users. Here is the link: https://scribblar.com/   Group work through Sribblar 😝 If you try to get students together to work on the same thing , you can take this platform into account! Sribblar provides you with a lot of beautiful templates to organise the group ideas . Opening the Sribblar, you can see a brand new whiteboard available to write down your thoughts . You can collaborate with your team members. (You can even see your teammates ’   m

Seasoning 3 Simple English Videos? Wow the platform is versatile!

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Today I am going to introduce you to an interesting English learning platform called Simple English Videos that contains hundreds of high-quality English videos. You can find amazing teaching materials here according to the proficiency level and needs of your students. 😀 What is Simple English Videos? Simple English Videos is a site by English language teacher and author Vicki Hollett. On this site, you can find hundreds of excellent language learning videos   made by professionals, to help you learn English.  The videos are categorized by genre. Each video comes with a handy clickable transcript that you can follow along with as you watch.  There are also optional teaching resources, including downloadable videos and worksheets that teachers can purchase for some of the language learning videos.  Here is the link : https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/videos/

Seasoning 2 Facilitate TBLT with WebQuest!

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Today I am going to introduce an amazing ICT tool for English teaching---WebQuest, which is especially useful when applying task-based language teaching (TBLT)! 💘 What is WebQuest? WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which students get all information from the web. It is an assignment students complete using the Internet to research a specific topic . Teachers provide their students with documents that include links to websites to use the information, according to the activity. The link is: http://questgarden.com/147/00/7/120731094657/index.htm An English Holiday Today I explore a Webquest called 'An English Holiday'. The WebQuest is mainly about working collaboratively to plan a trip to the UK.  If you are interested in it, please take a look at the following link: http://questgarden.com/147/00/7/120731094657/index.htm  Analysis from different perspectives: Reading 💬 1.  Students have a chance to read through some key points of the history of England together, and

Seasoning 1 Play Kahoot!

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Seasoning for ELT--- Kahoot! What is Kahoot! ? Kahoot! is a digital platform allowing educators to create game-like pre-made quizzes, discussions and surveys (Kahoot!, 2014).  It is a game-based classroom response system played in real time.  It benefits both educators and students due to its characteristics like user-friendly, multi-functional and accessible. 😀 Here is the link:   https://kahoot.it/ Kahoot! and English Learning 😝 Currently, both research and empirical data have borne out that game-based learning acts as an effective teaching tool in the classroom since it engages students in problem-solving, critical thinking and review of content knowledge through meaningful activities . Moreover, Icard (2014) suggested that the competitive nature of games can entice students to perform better in the teaching process. Therefore, as a competitive game resource, Kahoot! not only challenges and brushes up students’ thinking skills but also fosters a fun learning environment . A

Evaluation of Larry Ferlazzo's Blog

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Evaluation of Larry Ferlazzo's Blog 💗 Today I looked at Larry Ferlazzo's blog and I found something interesting! 😀 Organisation and Layout   Overall, the layout and organisation of the blog are desirable to some degree. But that is dependent on which page you are looking at.  The cover page (the first page) : The layout is clear. By using some short subtitles, and removing the sidebar, the blog is in good order and more spacious. The pictures are a little bit cluttered but I think it is still acceptable.  Clicking the subtitles (the other pages) : The layout starts to be messy and unclear. There are too many colour blocks and long titles without showing bullet points. Content and Features   The blog provides us with various teaching materials, including different domains (arts, economy, etc.), forms (chart, video, screenshot, audio clip, etc.), topics (racism, politic issues, teacher development, etc.), audiences (parents, teachers, and other educators). It is so inclusive