Virtual Fieldtrips

   It’s not always possible to take the people we are teaching a new language to the country where the language is actually spoken as a native language.But virtually it's possible!

Arounder

  Arounder is a site where many countries from many regions can be visited virtually. All that is needed is a computer and an internet connection.The site provides panaromic images of the famous touristic attractions in different countries around the world.Students will love visiting different countries as well as other planets all at once without even leaving the class. It does not include every country but it is worth giving a try!

3DMekanlar

   Since the previous one does not include Turkey, this one could be preferred if there are students who desire to take a virtual trip around Turkey.

   Historical palaces, museums and architectures in Turkey can be visited virtually.

Aurasma App

   Aurasma is an image recognition technology based augmented reality platform.The application provides animation to the static images through the videos embedded by the user.It can be used in education for learners of all ages. Learning does not have to be all about boards and chalks ! Aurasma provides reality to what you are learning and is going to remove questions such as "Where will I ever use this information ? " from students' minds. It will prove that what they are learning is in fact useful.

  In order to see how aurasma exactly works , you can print the image below , hover your phone over it with the Aurasma app launched and then enjoy your trip to Pisa Tower in Italy!

Aurasma is available on Google Play and App Store.

E-Safety / Search Engines

   Internet is a big virtual world where everything can be tracked and every information ( good or bad ) can be acquired. In order to protect ourselves from being tracked down or our kids from the content that contains adult material , there are search engines that we can make use of.

Startpage : Known as world’s safest search engine.Allows the use of proxies and sets cookies in a privacy-friendly manner.Your search history can not be tracked.

Google Advanced Search : Through the advanced search tool of Google , finding what you are looking for is made a lot easier.

Kidz Search: A search engine designed to protect kids from adult material while browsing the internet.

Safesearchkids: Another safe search engine for kids where you only come across the content that is appropriate for kids.

Tagul

   Tagul is a tool that can spice up the process of teaching  and learning with its colorful clouds.
 Tagul can especially be useful in language teaching. Learning new words is a whole lot more fun with these pretty clouds rather than looking at lenghty and boring vocabulary lists which is rather old - fashioned and simply not effective.


  An example Tagul cloud I created in order to teach some of the infinitive verbs.

Quiz Games (Kahoot , Socrative , Plickers )

   Kahoot is an online multiple choice quiz game that can be used to see the progress of the students while entertaning them at the same time. It can be quite competitive for the students and get them excited . They might even ask for it at the end of each class. The quizzez can be created over here.

 Here you can find an example  Kahoot quiz that we have created with a group of 5 classmates on Reported Speech.

 Socrative is an another quiz game like kahoot.Students are automatically divided into teams by the system.

 Here is the code to an example quiz that we have created with the classmates:
 
  FKUWITVG 

  Plickers can be used in cases where the students do not have computers , tablets or mobile phones.
Log into plickers , create a page for each student so that the name of the students will be codded.
Hand each student their plicker card ,ask a question and get them to hold up their cards according to their answers.Use your smartphone to check who replied what . This simple!

ESL Video Quiz

    eslvideo.com is a useful tool for English teachers as it provides quizzes  that help improve the vocabulary knowledge , listening and grammar skills of the students of all levels! The quizzes are created by excluding parts of the songs, documentaries and videos. Students have to fill in the blanks with appropriate words or sentences. In some videos , transcripts are also included and can be used as the answer key. The best part is , anyone can create their own quizzes of the videos they choose! Therefore we can even ask the students to create their own quizzes and share with other students.

    Below is an example quiz that I chose from the low-intermediate category.It is quite short and easy , why not give it a try? 

Storybird

 

 

“Digital storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling.”  

  Prof.Helen Barrett

STORYBIRD

 Storybird is one of the best digital storytelling websites and it can be taken advantage of in education. Kids love hearing and reading fun stories and that's where storybird comes into play. Kids simply do not like or pay attention to things that does not have any entertainment purpose which makes it harder to educate them. Through storybird though , kids will not only feel entertained but they will also learn . All we have to do is embed the information in the story and kids will not even notice they are trying to be educated !

You can go to the site by clicking here and start creating your own stories.

And you can see an example story that I started but didn't complete.