Let's Talk About This Term

                                                         picture taken from here

Hi everyone! It's me again 😊 Today I am kinda sad, because our course has ended this week.  In our Instructional Technology & Material Design course, I learned lots of informations about how to use technology actively in my lessons. In addition to this, I experienced how to work collaboratively while using technology. 

Let's summarize this term! 

This term was full of innovation because I realized that using technology actively in foreign language classes enhances the quality of learning. For me, What I liked the most about this lesson is that we can express ourselves freely. Sometimes we hesitate about talking even if we know the right answer or expressing our ideas, feelings etc. Of course there may be lots of  reasons of it; like shyness, peer pressure etc. But in this course, we had a chance to share, to talk, to write and to show what we know about technology.
There is hardly nothing I didn't like about the course because I had a great time while discovering the use of technology.
It contributes our future carrier positively, because we can apply what we learned in our own lessons in the future.
I think that it would be more beneficial for us, if we choose the topic by ourselves on the condition that topic is about technology. In my opinion it is important as not all of the topics appeal to every student.
As for the my favorite assignment, It was absolutely The Book Review. Because I really love reading and recommending my favorites to other people. That's why i liked it.

picture taken from here

Note: My message to one who will take this course next year is you will really have fun thorought the year with this course😉

Mobile Learning!

picture taken from here

Hello! It's me again. Now i am here to introduce an application that can be used for language learning and can used in our daily life. If you are interested in language learning, there are many options to use on mobile. The applications are very purposeful and full of activities. One of them is Quizlet.

picture taken from here

Quizlet is a mobile and web-based study application. It allow students to study via learning tools and games.You can sign up with your Facebook or Google account but if you don't have them don't worry😊 You can easily join the Quizlet. 

In Quizlet, there are several study modes such as flash cards, gravity, learn, long-term learning, speller, march etc. You can find the exercises related to the topic that you are working on.

 For example, I want to practice with french words. I wrote down what i want to practice and then i picked one of the options.

If you want to share content with classmates or students, you can

create your own sets too. To create sets, you first need to have an account. You can use texts and images while creating your sets.

It is very useful for teachers who are looking to get things set up for their students quickly and efficiently. You can create lots of sets related to topic that you are dealing with and students can follow them. Thus learning for students becomes more fun.

A Task Idea

You can ask the students to create their own vocabulary cards and to share them with other students. 

Talking Photos!

picture taken from here

 Hi everyone! Today, I'm gonna talk about how to create talking photos😁

picture taken from here

With my friends Tuğçe, Beyza and I made a presentation about Blabberize. And my friends made presentation about Voki and Fotobabble. They are different sites but they are all used to make talking photos. It is very simple to use them.

Why We Use It?

It is a free online tool which allows you to quickly create talking images, providing some great opportunities to foster student engagement and collaboration.

How To Use It?
First, for Blabberize, you have to have an account to save your outputs or to share them, and you simple upload a photo and record your voice or add a recorded voice, here there is.

 
pictures taken from here
In Blabberize, you can add a mouth while listening it, it moves. It is so fun especially when using animal pictures, anime pictures etc.
Here is one example
                          

      Advantages of Blabberize

Advantages of Blabberize are that students can make their pronunciations better as they have to record their voice and listen it. Their teachers can also hear all of their voices and it is very important because if there are shy students it gives a chance to show themselves. It can be suitable both individual and group work.

Limitations
It requires some tools to use it such as microphones and computer.
It has a time limit which is around 30 seconds. If you need more time, you can use Voki. Because it lets us 60 seconds to record.

Task Ideas

There a lots of task ideas two of them are;
 Introducing the family ⇨ students can add a photo and give information about their families.
Making greeting cards ⇒ they can add a new year-themed photo and wish their friends happy new year.

By using these tools, you can create an enjoyable classroom atmosphere but you should check it before using them in classroom. You should give step by step instructions so that students can benefit from them easily.
Hope you like my post and see you soon 😊

Who wants a story?

picture taken from here

Hi everyone, It's me again 😁 I hope you're all good because this week's project is full of fun. Our new task is the Digital StoryTelling. In this Project, I worked with my friend Tuğçe. I am gonna show you how we created the story and I'll give you some advices. Come on! Time to learn how to create a digital story.

''The stories that we tell others and ourselves reveal who we think we are along with identifiying out purpose, meaning, and worth in life. Telling personal stories publicly celebrates our life.''
                                                                   -Bernajean Porter

With the use of technology in the classes, digital stories take place in our lives enormously. It is a short form of digital media that allows every people to share aspects of their story and it is a relatively new term which describes the new practice of every people who use the digital story tools to tell their story. If you want to learn more details you can find it here.
 I think it is quite easy to use because i hadn't any difficulty. While narrating the story, you can add animations, sounds, pictures, texts etc. There are lots of digital tools but we preferred Carnegielibrary. Among the given tasks, we chose the fictional story. We had so much fun because working in pairs is always fun. First, we wrote the story and then we created visuals. And at the end, we recorded our voices and then we added it to the story. That's all😁
Using digital story tools in a classroom can create positive atmosphere and increase the student's attentions. There are lots of options to create a story so students can choose whatever they want. When they create a digital story, they force themselves to pronounce truly, to think creatively and to find different tools. In addition if they are given a pair work, collaboration among themselves will increase. They can easily express their emotions, opinions etc. For all these reasons, I would definitely use the digital story tools in the future to make my classes better😊
That's all what I want to share with you. See you next week!
Please don't forget to check our digital story :)