Top-5 English blogs from people that I know

 Hello!

Today I want to share with you may top-5 blogs about English fro teachers and students. I hope you will find something interesting for yourself. Long stry short, let's move to the list.

1. SET:SINGING ENGLISH TOGETHER

It's so stylish, you have to visit it! I'm sure you will like the idea of this blog.
No more words, go and check it!

2. English For Kids 7-12

This blog also attracted me by its appearance. It's written really good. It contains lots of interesting topics, so I guess it can help in your learning process.

3. Phonetics - Take it easy!

I like the idea of the posts' numeration like "day 1" or "Day 8". Be aware that it is written in Russian, but still it's really informative and it will help you to gain some new knowledge.

4. SpeakEverywhere

This blog has a good structure and it's really easy to read. The title of the blog is really intriguing. There you will find some information about the MOOCs, QR codes, mobile learning and etc.

5. ENGLISH FOR YOU

I don't know what to say but the cat on the first page is fabulous! I've chosen this blog only because of him. Check it out ;)

Hope you will enjoy this blog. Have a good day!
See you) 

MALL, QR codes and Augmented reality

 Hello!

Have you heard about MALL? No?! So, read it carefully.

MALL stands for Mobile Assisted Language Learning. It can be generally considered as mobile lerning.

Mobile learning (m-learning) is education via the Internet or network using personal mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones to obtain learning materials through mobile apps, social interactions and online educational hubs.

What is essential about mobile learning is not the device but the mobility of the learner. We can learn across different contexts. We can learn across different locations. We can learn across different social contexts  as we engage with different communities and even within one location we can employ diffferent technologies. We can move from one technology to another.

So, the focus is on the learner and on the notion of the seamless learning.

If you want to learn more then watch this video and I'm sure you'll be more interested in mobile learning as a student or as a teacher who can integrate mobile learning in his educational programm. 

Also, today I want to speak about QR codes. I think that it's very important to keep up with the innovations that occure every day and to be savvy in learning and teaching. So, a teacher can try to "digitalise" his or her educational materials and share them via special "signs" even if they are printed.

Well, QR codes look a bit like barcodes but, instead of vertical stripes, are made up of square-shaped patterns. The patterns within QR codes represent binary codes which can be interpreted to reveal the data stored by the code.

A QR reader can identify a standard QR code based on the three large squares on the outside of the QR code. Once it has identified these three shapes, it knows that everything contained inside the square is a QR code.

Via such codes you can share:

• Internet address
• Сontact information
• SMS
• Geographical data
• Text
• Phone data

I think they are really usefull!

Actually, do you remember that I've mentioned once about the Quizlet? I've decided to try it on and created my own flesh cards. Hope that they will help me to learn some of the political terms :)
You can check it here. 

And the last point for today is the Augmented Reality.

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.

There are some services whci can help you to create your own augmented reality. They are:

• Aurasma Studio
• Layar and etc.

Hope that you liked this blogpost. If you have some questions, feel free to ask ;)
Have a good day!

MOOCs

Hi!
Today I want to speak about MOOCs. First of all, we should get the idea what is MOOC in general.

MOOC — Massive Open Online Courses are free online courses available for anyone to enroll. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale.

I have found a good pic which shows the most important features of MOOCs.

There are different resources like edX, Moodle, Udemy (free version), Versal (free version) and etc. which allows you to create your own courses.

I'd like to pay your attention on Coursera.org. It has lots of different courses connected to various topics, like Art, Business, Computer Science and etc. It's really convenient in usage. It has free access for student from all over the globe. And I think it's cool because it has video lectures from leading universities and companies like Yale, Google, IBM, and more.

For example, for us as a future teachers it can help in mastering our communicative skills with the course " Improve Your English Communication Skills Specialization" by Georgia Institute of Technology or you can prepare for TESOL with the help of some courses prepared by profeesor from different universities.

Highly reccomend you to visit it. Have a good day!

Speaking about Wiki

Hi! Today I want to talk with you about Wiki and what it can allow us.

First of all, you should know that Wiki is a web technology used for collaborative publishing on the web.

Wiki is a type of server software that allows you to work with data on a remote server on the Web.

Users interact with the software through a web interface that lets them read, edit and publish content.

Wiki can be also used for collaborative publishing:

 A group of co-authors can freely add and change the content of the wiki website: rewrite texts, add new texts and images, add and link pages and more. To do so, the group needs access to the website via the Internet and proper authorization. The wiki owner can restrict editing to a group of collaborators (e. g., students or colleagues), publish to a wiki individually or open it for global editing by everyone on the web.

How to use Wiki in Education?

Wikis have a wide range of educational applications, most of which can be combined within one wiki site. For instance, you can creat Student's Profiles, Student's Portfolios, Course Grade Book, Dynamic Syllabus, Course Authoring Environment, Project Space, Discussion Board, Dynamic Group, Vocabulary, Collaborative writing and Peer review.

I think, a good example of Wiki page for teachers of English is Teflpedia.

Remind you, that a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification is an internationally recognized qualification to teach English abroad and a critical component of your international teaching job application.

And Teflpedia is a collaboratively-written wiki and open educational resource covering everything associated with TEFL.

There you will find some materials which you can use in class. I guess that it has little infromation in it. May be it's been created recently or creators don't add new information, but in general if you like the idea of creating such page so you can create a new one and work on it with somebody. :)

 

That's all for today. Have a good day!
See you here next Thursday.)

Polls

 Hi!
Today I want to share my opinion about some services which can help you to integrate tests and polls in your classes.

• Google Forms
  I use this service really often, not only for studying, but also for some work projects. You can easily create, edit, and fill out forms on both your computer and mobile devices.You will find statistics of responses, including in the form of a chart, directly in the form, and responses of respondents - in the automatically created Google table. It's really good. I guess it has no disadvantages. 
  
  Here you can see the example of the poll, created in Google Forms
  Poll. I'll share the result later in the post.
  
  
• Socrative
  It allows teachers to develop their own quizzes for their students or choose some of the standard quizzes for classes. You can answer the quiz questions under your own name or anonymously, depending on the mode of use provided by the teacher.
  
  To create a quiz, you must have a special app for teachers installed on the teacher's mobile device. The app offers many different test options: in the form of questions that need to be answered "true" or "false", multiple-choice questions, and open-ended questions.
  
  If the quiz is not held anonymously, then each student is assigned a smartphone code, and at the end of the test, a summary table of results appears on the screen of the teacher's mobile device with correctly and incorrectly given answers, which are marked in green and red, respectively.
  
  We've used it several times during our classes, so I think it is also a good service.
  But for using it, you HAVE TO download the app from Google Play Market or App Store.
  
  
• Let's test
  The service specializes exclusively in online tests. Allows you to set up access to testing by password or pre-registration and control who will pass it.
  The constructor contains only six types of questions, but it is not so easy to understand the functionality and interface on your own. You can contact the support service and see a presentation of the service on the example of your own test. There is also no way to customize the design yourself. To brand the test with your logo, you need to submit an application.
  
  
• Quizlet
  Quizlet helps teachers engage students at all levels through interactive learning materials and games. Seven different learning modes give students the opportunity to choose the most appropriate one for their training. Quizlet tracks students ' progress and provides instant feedback on what they should pull up. It is much more interesting to work with interactive learning modes and games.
  I have never tried it, but I think it's really cool. May be I'll try ot one day myself.
  
  The results of my poll
  
  I have created a poll about the mental condition of my groupmates and colleagues. Here what I have.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And some feedback that I got :)
  
  
  Маша ты супер
  Have a good day 💜✨
  I love you, Masha <3
  Thanks, it gave me a smile:)
  It's the most relevant survey I've ever seen
  Be happy and smile brightly 😁
  Well, thanks for asking! *singing* We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year
  Have a good day )