Welcome to Issue 2!
Welcome to the second issue of Edtech News, a free monthly newsletter bringing you the latest in new technology for teaching English. Each month we look at the latest online resources for teachers and students, and introduce you to useful ICT tips and tricks. We also feature a multi-level interactive whiteboard activity in each issue. We hope you enjoy reading and if you have any comments please get in touch at tecnologica@britanico.cl. To read past issues, visit our archives.
In this issue:
- Great online comic for learning English -
- Teacher development resource: language testing videos -
- Top tech tips: useful
Microsoft Word shortcuts - The IWB activity series: Nº 2 - The Memory Game
- a comic superhero for the classroom
Grammarman is the first superhero dedicated exclusively to the world of the English language classroom. The caped crusader and his trusty friends fight a different grammar crime in each episode, against such fearsome villains as Sammy Colon, Anna Gramme and Wrongo! The comic is hosted online at www.grammarmancomic.com as well as appearing in newspapers and magazines from Beijing to Buenos Aires. You can find several episodes of the comic on the website and accompanying YouTube films of the stories. What's more, there are some amazing interactive stories such as 'The Hole', which really take the comic-book format to a new hi-tech level.
The comics can be used effectively in class or as a self-study resource for students, and there are some great examples on the website of class projects based around comics, which have come about as a result of teachers introducing Grammarman to their classes. In an exclusive for EDTECH News, Grammarman creator Brian Boyd has generously allowed us to reproduce an entire episode which is currently unavailable anywhere else on the web.
Click here to read the episode and take the chance to introduce your students to ELT's first superhero!!
- online video resource for language teachers and testers
Even though testing is an integral part of most of our lives as teachers, whether it be classroom quizzes, end-of-term tests, or preparation for international exams, it is very common to find teacher-training programmes without any real focus on the principles and practice of assessing our students. If you need help sorting out your objective testing from your subjective testing, or your clozes from your c-tests, you should check out the www.languagetesting.info website. As well as a wide range of downloadable articles on all aspects of language testing, there is a series of video guides recorded by some of the most distinguished experts in the field, on such topics as the assessment of speaking, listening, reading and writing, and how to ensure your tests have validity and reliability.
Check out the site and develop your language testing knowledge and practice ready for the next time you're asked to design a test for your students.
- top shortcuts for Microsoft Word users
There can be few teachers who have not used Microsoft Word at some point in lesson preparation or administration, and most of us are familiar with the basic keyboard shortcuts which stop you reaching for the mouse while typing - shortcuts such as Ctrl + C to copy text and Ctrl + V to paste it, for example. However, there are some other great keyboard shortcuts which you can use to avoid hunting through the drop-down menus.
Have a look at this short video on some useful shortcuts to save you time in front of the screen!
- The Memory Game (IWB activity series Nº2)
The second in our series of interactive whiteboard activities shows you how to create a pelmanism board game which can focus on a huge range of lexical or grammatical topics and challenges your students to match and remember the words or images hidden under the squares.
Click on the image to watch the video guide on creating and using this interactive activity.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the second issue of EdTech News. Watch this space for
the next issue, coming in January.