Wow, what another interesting week. I really feel like I"m learning so much about the 21st century.
My first and favorite activity is the website which promotes debating. http://idebate.org/view/top_100_debates. I've already used this website to run a night activity where I am a dorm counselor. I gave the guys the topic a few days notice and split them up into groups of 2 and ran an official debate, debating the "existence of God." It was a huge success.
I could also see this being a great activity being used in a high school class.
http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/sc.cgi?A1=s&A2=1
. This is another great activity that I liked which can be used to help improve spelling. This is an activity where you choose your level of difficulty and are presented with 4 words. You must choose the word which is spelled wrong and then spell it correctly. Some of the words were very difficult even for me to spell, and I won my school spelling bee when I was in the 8th grade. Even for students on a high level, this activity would need to be done on easy when teaching this as an EFL.
Another website which I really enjoyed seeing was http://www.teach-nology.com/gold/langorg.html. This websites has pre-made graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are so important, especially for teachers. This website has hundreds of different types. When having kids write an essay on a book, there are some really great graphic organizers on this site that really breaks it up. Charachters, plot, setting. It's a very nice site. Highly recommended.
It was also very nice to see that google docs was recommended this week. I was happy to see something that I am already using and familiar with. Google docs is great for so many things, especially when trying to organize an event, and things are constantly being edited.
Another fun activity I liked is from this website. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/Printing_Press/
This can help you with all sorts of ideas. If I want my class to make a newspaper I can show them this tool, and all the minor details have already been taken care of. They just need to come up with what to write. Such a great tool!!!
As always,
Thanks for listening.
Meir! Nice ideas! I liked the Google Docs one as well, although I didnt include in my post. I think there is also a way to connect your tasks with each other. Maybe for example creating a newspaper and afterwards letting the students spell out different words. I'm sure you have some ideas as well! Good job.
ReplyDeleteDid you also participate in the debate? ;)
Hi Meir,
ReplyDeleteI also liked the debate ideas site. Seems to me like a no brainier for very advanced students. The nice part is that you don't have to come up with topics to talk about...it's all right there for you.
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ReplyDeleteHi Meir,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you wrote about the "taechnology" website. I didn't really look at all the graphic organizers there. I focused more on WiseMapping. So you oppened my eyes. Thanks!
No wisdom as the experiece itself. If you did the debates and had a nice experience then I guess we can get advices from you how to do it properly...
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your blog Meir! Thank you very much for sharing
ReplyDeleteI'm going to check out the graphic organizer site. It looks interesting for mapping characters and their development.
ReplyDelete