LET'S HUG TECHNOLOGY

Hi everyone! I’m Solange Pinasco, and I'm an advanced student at the Profesorado de Inglés e Inglés Técnico in the UTN. The purpose of this blog was to start a PLE (Personal Learning Environment) as part of the ICT course, which is taught by Paula Ledesma at INSPT-UTN, Argentina. 

 

 

Concerning my experience in education, I've been working as an english teacher for 7 years now. I've taught English to children and adults.
I worked for two years in a School of Scrub Nurses, teaching general and health-related english. Besides, I've been working in language institutes since 2014.

Thanks to Multimedia and ICT courses, I've learnt a lot about the integration of technology into the classroom. Anyway, this is a never-ending journey! I'm always eager to hone my technology-oriented skills ;)

What will you find in this blog? 

 

Tanto en este blog como en mi cuenta de Instagram missolange_95 voy a compartir recursos que he usado y vaya a usar en mis clases. Teachers help teachers!

 PADLET FOR VIRTUAL WALLS

"The Magic Finger" by Roald Dahl is a story about respect for others and for nature. It's a book that touches our hearts💚

After reading this wonderful and thought-provoking story I asked my 11 year-old student to design her own Virtual Wall, answering "What would you do if you had a magic finger?"... (great for practicing conditionals in a funnier and more relevant way, right? 😉)

Padlet is a must for virtual walls! Once you register you can create up to 3 walls with a free account. These walls have a mutimedia format (pictures, audio, gifs, text, etc) which creates a much more interactive learning experience.👌🏻💻.

My student worked through my account, but each student can register and have their own Padlet account.

If you want to have a look at my student's virtual wall click here.

 THE FAKE iPHONE TEXT GENERATOR 

IOS.foxsash is a free tool that allows you to create fake iphone conversations, where you can also add emojis and pictures. It is a visually appealing tool that simulates real-life communication, and once the conversation has been created, it can be downloaded as a picture, or shared via facebook, twitter and pinterest.

Have a look at what educators say about this type of tool:

Here's an another review of an educator, Nik Peachey, who has been involved in education since 1990 and has worked all over the world as a language teacher, teacher trainer, technology trainer and educational technology consultant. Here's his opinion and some ideas to use the tool for:

Thumbs up!! Let's consider the benefits of this tool in Education:

-Nowadays, cell phones are part of our daily life, and of our students' lives as well. Therefore, using a tool that is related to a device that is part of our current world will make a more meaningful and real-life learning experience.

-Since most students are already familiarised with typing messages, using this tool will not represent a difficulty for them, so watching a tutorial will be enough to get them ready to use it.

- As far as there is internet connection and computers, teachers don't need to print any worksheet, what makes it money-saving and eco-friendlier, if we consider that teachers usually have to print lots of photocopies.

- Students can apply their creativity when typing the messages, and since the tool simulates a real-life communicative goal, our students will be able to transfer what they've learnt in the classroom to their lives outside school. The idea is to foster students' autonomy and provide them with knowledge that they would be able to use beyond the school borders.

Do you want to try the Fake iPhone Text Generator? Here you have a tutorial on how to use it:

STEP 1: Open the following link http://ios.foxsash.com/

STEP 2: Before changing the settings, click on the messages and the picture to erase them.

STEP 3:Click on Type to choose the iphone size

STEP 4: Ready to personalize the iphone? Click on Settings and change the name of your contact, the time, and more.

STEP 5: If you want to show the Battery, click on that word and select the percentage.

STEP 6: Now let's select the Connection settings.

STEP 7: Now you're ready to start typing the conversation. Click on Messages. Before typing the message make sure the bubbles are ON. The grey bubble will appear on the right, and you can choose the green or the blue bubble for the receptor, which will appear on the left.

STEP 8: Once the bubble in which you'll type is ON, type the message. You can add an emoji, just by clicking on one of the ready emojis, or on the Emoji list. When the message is ready click on Add message. It will automatically appear on the iphone.

STEP 9: If you want to add a picture select Click here to upload picture.

STEP 10: Have you finished the conversation? Now it's time to save the picture. Click on Download image

Just let me tell you that the cell phone frame will not be saved. This tool only saves the conversation.


STEP 11: Now you can choose to download the picture, or share it via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or via link. You can start from scratch by clicking on Build another.

THAT'S IT! Give it a shot! And if you want to have a look at a lesson plan where I used this tool click here

REFERENCES:

Using Fake Text Messages to Create Learning Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://quickshout.blogspot.com/2018/02/using-fake-text-messages-to-create.html.

FoxSash. (n.d.). Create Fake iOS7 iPhone Text Messages. Retrieved from http://ios.foxsash.com/.

Karaoglu, O. (2017, October 18). iFake Text Messages. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/12408.

Nik Peachey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/our-people/our-authors/nik-peachey/551829.article.

Technological tools in a lesson plan

In this post I'll show you how to incorporate a technological tool into your teaching practices.

LESSON PLAN

TIME OF THE LESSON: 90 minutes

CLASSROOM: Computer Lab (2 students per computer)

LEARNERS  

AGE: 11 years old  

LEVEL: pre-intermediate  

NUMBER: 18 students
 

GRAMMAR FOCUS: Will vs Going to  

Warmer: The teacher will give students the following photocopy. Students will be asked to find classmates that will/are going to perform some of these actions in the future. In the previous lessons, students have already been doing exercises related to the Future and the uses of will and be going to.

Once the photocopy is complete, there will be a brief class discussion about its results. The idea is that students revise the uses of WILL, and GOING TO, and remember they are used to express the future.

Web Session: The teacher will ask students to enter the following link for the next activity. (The teacher will monitor the activity and provide feedback and suggestions to the students)

What's Next: As a follow up activity, students will do a matching exercise which will sum up the USES of  WILL and BE GOING TO. Finally, the teacher will give students general feedback on their performance.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS THAT SUPPORT THE USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS IN MY LESSON PLAN

According to PLANIED, (Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital) which was drawn up by Ministerio de Educacion y Deportes de la Nación, ICTs are cultural shapes, that is to say, they are spaces in which information is not the only thing that circulates, but in which play, exploration, creativity, fantasy, critical thinking, and communication and collaboration converge as a whole. Creativity and Collaboration are 21^st century skills that teachers should foster in students, and in my lesson plan, the use of this tool will give room to exploration and creativity. As PLANIED states, students are the protagonists in the construction of knowledge (a message conversation), and they interact with each other during an activity that is mediated by a digital environment (ios.foxsash in my lesson). Besides, PLANIED considers that ICTs can be used to "role-play" a real life situation, with the aim of promoting students' autonomy in the use of digital tools in their lives, both inside and outside the classroom. The use of ICTs in my lesson will help students develop their digital citizenship and be ready to communicate in a digital environment.

On the other hand, Dolors Reig has brought up the term TACs (Tecnologías del Aprendizaje y del Conocimiento) which refers to the use of ICTs as formative tools, that have a impact on methodology and educational planning. In a nutshell, TACs are about LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY. In my lesson plan, my students will be using a technological tool as a means for learning and practicing the Simple Future. Instead of the typical worksheet with exercises such as fill in the blanks, match, or circle the correct option, my students will put into practice what they've learnt about the Future, at the same time they are working with technology to create a fake message conversation. The Fake iPhone Text Generator gives a clearer context, since students will not be working with isolated sentences, and it's a visually appealing tool that will make the learning experience more engaging and meaningful for the students. Therefore, TACs are about using technology in the classroom, and designing lesson plans that will include ICTs in our educational practices.

According to NAP (Núcleo de Aprendizajes Prioritarios) some of the aims of primary and secondary education is to establish learning situations that foster comprehension and production of diverse texts, development of strategies to comprehend and produce both oral and written texts, and a meaningful use of technology as learning tools.  That is to say, students should be able to reflect on their Language 1 and 2, and to use them both inside and outside the classroom, autonomously and with confidence. In my lesson plan, my students will be working with an informal type of text, through a guided process of planning and drafting. NAP highlights the importance of drafting to help students develop self-confidence and autonomy, and that's why they need exposure to the different types of texts and genres, before producing them. In my lesson plan, my students are given an example of a text message together with the abbreviations used in that kind of text. The idea is to help students reflect on interculturality, on the target language and its culture, and to highlight not just the differences but also the simmilarities among the different cultures and their languages. In my lesson plan, the students will realize that just as we (Argentinians) abbreviate when we type messages, English speakers do it as well in their own code. 


If you want to know what other educators say about this tool and if you want to watch a tutorial on how to use it, please click here.

REFERENCES:

Argentina flag images. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/search/argentina+flag?page=83§ion&sort=newest&search_source=base_related_searches.

Banner Stock Window Clip Art Vector - Window Clipart - Png Download (#293783) - PinClipart. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinclipart.com/pindetail/iRmJwh_banner-stock-window-clip-art-vector-window-clipart/.

FoxSash. (n.d.). Create Fake iOS7 iPhone Text Messages. Retrieved from http://ios.foxsash.com/.

Karaoglu, O. (2017, October 18). iFake Text Messages. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/12408.

Nik Peachey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/our-people/our-authors/nik-peachey/551829.article.

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-F9L9avcwo.

Portal, E. (2018, February 7). Presentación del Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital (PLANIED) - Ma. Florencia Ripani. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1o3AcEBenI.

Tablet Clip Cartoon Computer Vector Black And White - Battle For The Big B Tablet - Png Download (#527227) - PinClipart. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinclipart.com/pindetail/iJJiJT_tablet-clip-cartoon-computer-vector-black-and-white/.

Technology For Education. (2017, November 7). Retrieved from http://www.paesaggiocomesfida.com/technology-for-education/.

TIC, TAC, TEP. Tecnologías para aprender y para toda la vida. (2019, August 28). Retrieved from https://inclusioncalidadeducativa.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/tic-tac-tep-tecnologias-para-aprender-y-para-la-vida/. 

Using Fake Text Messages to Create Learning Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://quickshout.blogspot.com/2018/02/using-fake-text-messages-to-create.html.

TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

In this entry, I'll show you an example of how you can incorporate technology into your teaching practices.

 

LESSON PLAN

  

Course: Children 1. 
Number of students: 8 (9 years old ) 
Time of the lesson: 135 minutes (Tuesdays)
Book / Unit / teaching points: Young Achievers 1 Starters.
Unit 6: AT THE ZOO (monkey, hippo, elephant, zebra, giraffe, lion, tiger, crocodile, hamster) 
Grammar points: This-These vs That-Those + The (animal) has got (body part)
Vocabulary focus: Animals at the zoo/ Animals' body parts

WARM-UP

 

MONSTERS CALENDAR: Teacher chooses different students, and they have to go to the front and circle the day, date, month and weather.

EXERCISE 1: Student’s book Unit 6. LESSON 1  

EXERCISE 2: WORDSEARCH

 

EXERCISE 3: Student’s book Unit 6. LESSON 2 

 

BRAIN BREAK (students stand in a circle, and they clap their hands saying high 5, high 10, high 20)


EXERCISE 4: Student’s book Unit 6. LESSON 3 

EXERCISE 5: Students will go to the board and paste the correct part of the animals’ body

EXERCISE 6:  Students play BINGO  

 

EXERCISE 7: Write the animal’s body parts 

EXERCISE 8: Puzzles (Students solve the puzzles in pairs, and then they mention the animals)

FINAL TASK: Creation of a VOKI AVATAR

PART 1: The teacher will use a computer to show her students a talking avatar (a dog created with Voki), which will describe itself and its body parts. She'll tell students that they will give voice to a zoo animal they can choose, and that it needs their help to describe its body parts. 

PART 2: Students will have access to a laptop to work in pairs in the creation of the animals' description. Each pair  will be given a password to log into Voki. The tool's website will be opened in each laptop by the teacher, so that students just type the password to log in and then click on CREATE.

PART 3: Once Voki is opened, the teacher will tell students that there will be 9 steps to follow to give voice to the animals. The teacher will monitor and provide feedback during the whole task. On the board, students will have the following "tutorial" with the steps to use the tool:

1- Click on the boy.

2- Click on this picture. Choose a Zoo Animal.

3- Click on this picture. Choose the animal's home

4- Let's describe! Here you have an example

 

Students will prepare a draft of the animal's description on a sheet of paper. Once students have received feedback on their description, they will be told to follow step 5.

5- Click on this picture.Write your description here.

  






 

6- Choose your animal's voice. Click here

7- READY? Click on SAVE

8- Write your Animal's NAME
    Click on save

9-  Well done !!! Click here

The teacher will copy the URL links and will paste them on the wall of the Language School BLOG. Once all students have finished their VOKIS, the teacher will ask each pair to click on their Vokis to share their creations with their classmates.



EXIT WORDS (before leaving the classroom each student says a word he/she learned during the lesson)

  

WHY I USED VOKI IN MY LESSON PLAN

VOKI is a technological tool through which students are able to apply their creativity and imagination, at the same time they're working collaboratively. According to PLANIED, (Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital) which was drawn up by Ministerio de Educacion y Deportes de la Nacion, ICTs are cultural shapes, that is to say, they are spaces in which information is not the only thing that circulates, but in which play, exploration, creativity, fantasy, critical thinking, and communication and collaboration converge as a whole. 

In the lesson plan, my students will create the words of the talking avatar, and while they try to reach a communicative goal (body description), they will play with the language and the sounds (the different voices available in Voki).

Creativity and Collaboration are 21^st century skills that teachers should foster in students, and in this case, Voki is a technological tool that gives room to exploration and creativity, and as PLANIED states, students are the protagonists in the construction of knowledge, and they interact with each other during an activity that is mediated by a digital environment.

On the other hand, Doctor Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR model as a way for teachers to reflect on how they incorporate technology in their instructional practices. The SAMR model categorizes 4 different degrees of classroom technology integration: Substitution and Augmentation, in which technology is a tool to ENHANCE learning, and Modification and Redefinition, in which technology TRANSFORMS learning. Transforming learning promotes higher order thinking skills such as analysing, evaluating and creating. In the REDEFINITION step, technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable without technology. In my lesson plan, Voki is used to give voice to an animal that will describe itself; without technology, this would be impossible. Thus my students are at the top of the ladder, making the impossible  possible, and developing 21st century skills such as, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication.

Last but not least, Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, which is an updated version of the original Bloom’s Taxonomy, creates a hierarchy of learning activities in a digital environment. The aim of Blooms's Digital Taxonomy is to help teachers design lesson plans in which technology is used as a tool that will take students from lower to higher order thinking skills. According to this hierarchy, there are 6 levels of cognition expressed through verbs: remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create. This levels are dependent from one another, that is to say, students can't create if they don't understand first. In my lesson plan, the idea is that students create the words of the talking avatar, imagining its name and how it would describe itself.  Since my students are very young, they'll need prompts in order to create the sentences, and that's why they will rely on the sample of the animal's flashcard. My students will invent and construct a descriptive text, applying what they've learn about animals' body parts. 




References:

Education, C. S. (2016, July 12). What is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqgTBwElPzU.

Education, C. S. (2016, July 12). What Is the SAMR Model? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=106&v=9b5yvgKQdqE.

Portal, E. (2018, February 7). Presentación del Plan Nacional Integral de Educación Digital (PLANIED) - Ma. Florencia Ripani. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1o3AcEBenI.

Imgenes de Google. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com.ar/imghp?hl=es-419&tab=wi&ogbl.

Screenshots from: Teaching With Voki. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.voki.com/.