Gamig in Language Learning

Attention parents! This entry is especially for you.
Most of the time I hear parents complaining about the amount of time their children spend on the computer, just playing video games, and not studying. Today, I am here to advise you not to do that. Of course it is not healthy for children to spend hours by looking to computer screen but saying it is waste of time is also inaccurate.
Video games are actually quite useful for language learning. First of all, since the children do not see them as lessons, they are motivated to play and learn from them. Those games provide a huge source of vocabulary and besides do that in a context. For instance, in Minecraft they are supposed to build their own land and while doing that they unconsciously  acquire vocabularies like ''build, plant, improve'' and so on. Moreover, most of the online video games have chat rooms. And this gives them an opportunity to interact and communicate with others and thus using the language. To sum up, of course it is not logical that allowing your children to spend 5 or 6 hours on the computer. Yet, it might be better for them to be flexible (1 to 3 hours perhaps) instead of banning to play those games.

Second Life

Hi everyone, today I'm going to introduce you a new tool for education, Second Life. It is a virtual world where the objects and avatars (players) are created by users. The world is created by Linden Labs. However, it is not a game in the truest sense, as there are no goals to achieve. You just go into the game and act however you want. Joining the program is free but if you want to buy land and create your own place, you need pay some money.

Now, I'm sure you are thinking about how is it helpful for language education. First of all, it gives you the opportunity of interactive learning and teaching. For instance, think about a teacher who joins the second life and buys land from it. Then, she established 

her own classroom and asks her students to join the class as well. After that, those students and the teacher can have their lessons whenever and wherever they want. All they have to do is to connect the internet and make some time. Besides, since the second life gives you the opportunity to communicate either by writing or speaking, the students can participate the lesson however they want. It is great relaxation for students. No peer pressure, no teacher looking at you and making you nervous, just the student is his safe zone.

I have opened my own account and created an avatar. There is the selfie of my avatar for you to see.

And there is the link of Second Life for you to join: https://secondlife.com/

QR Code

Now, we are going to look at what is QR Code and how we can integrate it to our lessons. For the one who have not heard it before, A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by smartphones. It allows to encode over 4000 characters in a two dimensional barcode. It may be used to display text to the user, to open a URL, save a contact to the address book or to compose text messages.

How do we as teachers make use of it in the classroom?

 You find a material and convert it into a QR Code then bring it to the class. You may;

-either present a QR code during the lesson and students scan it with their smart phones or tablets, then have an access to the material, video, text or anything you have prepared before,

-or, prepare some QR code and hang them on the different parts of the class, then ask your students to check them out during the brake times.

To give you an example, I have created a QR code. First, you need to download the application QR Code Generator, and then scan it with your phone or tablet. If you do that, you can see a Youtube video about '' Introduction to phonology'' opening up. Try it and have fun!

QR CODE

You can create your own QR Codes by entering the links below

-https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/

-http://www.qrstuff.com/

-http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

-http://quikqr.com/

HP Reveal

Hi everyone, today I am here with a new application for you! HP Reveal is an augmented reality application in which you can create unique materials!

First of all, Augmented reality is the technology that expands our physical world, adding layers of digital information onto it. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), AR does not create the whole artificial environments to replace real with a virtual one. AR appears in direct view of an existing environment and adds sounds, videos, graphics to it.

So, basically you can take a photograph and then add some pictures or gifs to it. When students scan that picture with their phones or tablets, they see the thing you add to it.

In the example that I have created for you, I have used a picture of a forest to teach the unit of Animals. Of course it is a really short example because I'm aiming to show you how it works, not to design a lesson.

Here you can watch my video

As come to why we should use it in our classes;

-it increases learners' motivation,

-helps us to design our own materials,

-makes learning more contextualized,

-makes the learning experience more authentic which means real-life-like.

Role Play Activity Assigned with Pixton

Do you enjoy reading comics? I'm sure many of you do. As you do, keep in mind that your students would also enjoy reading comics. So instead of giving them assignments orally or in a written way, why not give them through comics?

By using Pixton, you can open a class and make your students join it. Then you can create your own 

comics and ask your students to do the same as well. 

I have created a little role play example for you to have an idea about it. You can see in the picture how it looks and have an access by clicking the link. Besides, it is all free in first 30 days! Have fun!

The activity link: https://share.pixton.com/pukzg6d

The link of my classroom: https://join.pixton.com/cbzzw

Online Lessons on Nearpod

Lets do one of our lessons on Nearpod!
Nearpod is an online platform in which you can do lots of different things. To begin with, you can add slides, presentations, pictures or videos. Then you can continue by creating activities such as matching or drawing. And finally, you can add some assignments like giving an open-ended question and asking your students to write down their answers.
In my lesson, I used the possibilities and imaginary situations. My students are supposed to do the matching activity in second part (matching the clauses with suitable ones) and then write a short paragraph at the and to my open-ended question. You can check it out by clicking the link below.

https://share.nearpod.com/E8egNqXWmW

Designing Materials with Canva

Does power points seem boring to you as well? Then Canva is perfect for you! You can create presentations, cards, posts, brochures, advertisements and bunch of other things by using it. In my example, I have designed a birthday card and I am going to ask my students to do the same. And I'm going to ask them to design according to their own birthdays then hang them on the walls. In this way, they will both have fun and use the language for a real purpose.

You can see my example below.

And if you want to create your own materials by using it, here is the link. You can sign up free for 30 days. Lets try it!

https://www.canva.com/design/DADY0ex2Wg8/gxXTc_R7AE8ZY34kwB1Nqw/edit