The countdown to Christmas& 2013 has begun and students are already thrilled and so looking forward to our holiday break! During this time of the year, we all tend to look back, cherish the good moments, leave the bad ones behind and take ambitious decisions for the New Year! In this context, I used two wonderful tools with my students- Animoto and Wallwisher– that I highly recommend if you plan to embrace technology in your ELT classes. So here goes:
Animoto is a F A N T A S T I C tool for creating videos and presentations! I personally love it! Teachers can apply for a free Animoto Plus account with extra features and no restrictions on the length of the videos. Students browse through the numerous templates and choose a style for their video. Then, they upload their clips, images, add text or captions and choose a suitable soundtrack. This way they make impressive, professional- looking videos only in a couple of minutes! Videos can be easily shared via email, on a classroom blog or website, on You Tube or even be downloaded to a computer.
I asked my students to create videos of their most special moments of 2012. Of course, I clarified that their content should be appropriate, inoffensive and copyright free. Below I have embedded the video I made and used as an example! This way you can get a small taste of the ‘wonders’ you can do with Animoto! You’ll find relevant advice on how to set up your students’ accounts here: http://bit.ly/cJmVLB. Animoto is also available on the App store so that you can create and share your videos on the go!
The second tool I picked for this holiday season was Wallwisher! It’s simple, fun and gives you great options! Teachers basically create a digital corkboard where students can post their messages along with images and videos! Go to http://wallwisher.com/, sign up with your email and build your wall. Give it a name, set your privacy settings and invite your students to work on it by emailing the wall url to them! You have the ‘power’ to approve as well as edit their posts!
Take a look at the wall my students and I built with our New Year’s Resolutions! You can also access the wall here: http://bit.ly/UFC8gO
If you teach very young learners, you could ask them to create their Christmas gift lists to Santa Claus :-)!
Finally, I’d like to thank you for visiting this blog and wish you all the best for 2013! Stay healthy, do what you love, get inspired by your students and the best is yet to come… :-)!
Christina
