Using Photo Story as an ICT tool in school

A tool that we have had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about and use at the university is Photo Story. It is a tool that Microsoft has created and you can download it to your computer for free at Microsoft's website www.microsoft.com/photostory. To download this programme you need to have some version of Windows XP installed in your computer and to play it you need a programme called Windows Media Player.

Photo Story is easy to learn because you can follow it step by step in the way to create your own Photo Story. It is a programme where you can add pictures and decide in which order you want them to be shown. You can write a text to each picture, add music and record your own voice and add to the pictures. You can also edit the pictures. You can for example take away red eyes, turn the pictures in the way you want them and use different effects to create more dynamic pictures like using the zoom effect to zoom in or out in the picture. You can also choose how long you want each picture to be shown, maybe some of them need to be shown a little bit longer than others.

Both pupils and teachers can use the tool Photo Story. Teachers can use it to introduce a theme that the class is going to start working with or an assignment that the pupils are going to do. When a teacher is going to introduce the subject English to young learners it can be a good idea to create a Photo Story where you can add pictures on for example animals and add a text saying what the animals are called in English and also record your own voice so the pupils can hear how different words are pronounced.

If a teacher works with a picture book in a class the teacher can create a Photo Story and add the pictures from the book by scanning them into the computer or use a digital camera to photograph the pictures and then add them to the Photo Story. In this way the teacher can show the pupils pictures from the book at the same time that she reads it. Often there are a lot of things that you can discuss by looking at pictures and Photo Story is a great tool to use in exercises like this one.

Pupils can also use the tool Photo Story. They can include it in an oral presentation. Pupils who think it is scary to stand in front of the whole class can have good use of Photo Story. They can prepare themselves in advance, maybe this can help them in not becoming too nervous and thinking that giving an oral presentation is the worst thing in the whole world. Pupils can also use the tool when they are going to present other things like introducing themselves or their families and where they live or if they have other excercises that they are working with in school. By using a digital camera it is easy to take own pictures to include in Photo Stories. The pupils can also download Photo Story to their own computers at home so that they can use it when doing for example homework.

The tool Photo Story can be used in all subjects and there is no limit for when or how much it can be used. When using a tool like this, there are some things that you as a teacher must have in mind and inform your pupils about. You have to think about the fact that you are not permitted to download any pictures or music you want from the Internet and use them in your Photo Story because then you can be accused for stealing. That is something that teachers and pupils have to be aware about. The programme Photo Story includes some pictures and music when downloading it and these are of course totally okay to use like your own photos from a digital camera.

To be able to show Photo Stories in the classrooms there must be a computer connected to a projector so that the pupils can see the Photo Stories on the whiteboard or smartboard. Many schools have these functions in almost every classroom nowadays. If a teacher does not have these functions in her classroom maybe she can change with another teacher in some lessons so that class can be able to work with Photo Stories as well.

Photo Story is a really good tool to use in school and at the same time that it is fun and creative it is also of good use.

Using Power Point in ICT teaching

I will show you how you can use Microsoft PowerPoint to teach your pupils english. PowerPoint is a programe linked to the Microsoft Office package and most computers (at least PC) has got the office package bought and installed.


How PowePoint works

Microsoft PowerPoint is a program were you can construct and present. You can put text, pictures and sounds into a slideshow.

PowerPoint is very effective and easy to use when you want to present something for a group of people.

When using PowerPoint you can import pictures, videoclips and audio (both music and voices, and you can import it or record yourself). You can write text and put in animations and transits, you can also choose if you want animations or slides to move automaticly or by you clicking.

PowerPoint is easy to use and easy to learn. Therefor I find it usable in teaching, both teachers and students can use it.

How can PowerPoint be used in the teaching?

I find that PowePoint can be used with children in most ages and grades, the teacher just has to adapt the exercise so that it suits the students thats it's aimed for.

My thought is that you can use PowerPoint when you want your students to work either in groups, pairs or individualy. The students will have to have a subject to work with and then construct the PowerPoint. When the PowerPoint is finished the students are going to present it to each other and then they have to speak. The exercise will include reading, writhing and speaking, the PowerPoint will become a resource and aid when the students communicate.

Here is an example on how the exercise can be:
You and your partner are going to make a PowerPoint presentation about dubble decked buses. You will there after make a presentation and "teach" you classmates about the buses. The PowerPoint must include at least two questions that will require you "pupils" to discuss the question or topic at hand. You have to use both text, audio and pictures in your PowerPoint.

The aim with this exercise is for the students to use the English language in a communicative and interactive way. They will also have to find information about their topic for their PowerPoint and prepare for their presentation. This will require the students to use the English language.

Many more ways.

This was just one example of an exercise you can use PowerPoint in. I think PowerPoint can be used in many more ways. When teaching beginners you can make a PowerPoint presentation with pictures and then talk about the pictures with the students. Ask them to describe the picture. You can put sounds in to give the students more understanding of the word and what they are seeing/ hearing. This may help the students learn words and to speak and describe. Only the teachers imagination sets the limit for how to use PowerPoint in teaching.

// Joy Andersson

British Council

British Council

I have picked the website from British Council to write about in my Blog post. You can become a member but you do not have to. If the children become members on the page at home or in school there are “House rules”. These you  need to read together with your class before you start and keep the parents informed what the rules say!I have been working with young children in grade 1-3 and I find this website perfect for them. The layout is very easy to understand, the design feels very friendly, nice pictures and funny exercises.

www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm

This is how it works

There are many different activities like games and then you have a number of activities to pick from .Here you can learn about for example “The Rainforest”, Christmas game match words and pictures.Listen &watch with a number of things to choose from like, listen to stories, tongue twister, kids talk and more.

Read &write, make things and explore works in the same ways as games and Listen & watch. At the moment they have a Christmas story that is called “Santa´s little helper”. The children can listen to the story, play language games about Christmas, practice listening, sing Christmas songs and write with help from questions that is given about their own Christmases. I find this a good balance of activities.

How can I use it working as a teacher?

I find this webpage very useful, the children can work in pair getting to know the possibilities of the page. I can connect the page to the classroom Smartboard and the whole class can sing songs together, looking at the pictures and read the lyrics. Here I can decide the speed of the song that is very good when you learn something new. We can listen to the Stories and here I can click on “next” when we are ready for the story to continue. You can listen to the story first and then the whole class can read aloud from the text.

Other options

There are also words matching with activities and the songs and these can be used as homework. At the end of the page there is a possibility to print these out that is very good.

I also thought about the children that need to listen many, many times to things, this way of working if perfect for them. Then you always have the children that is very advanced in the subject and for them working with a web page means that they can challenge themselves.

Kommentar av:
Ann-Sofie Warringer

Storynory

In my blogpost I will tell you about an Internet page called Storynory. On this page you can find a great numbers of different Audio stories that you and your students can listen to and read. There has been a new story published every week since November 2005. Therefore, you have a great amount of stories to choose among. I think that the pupils in 5^th or 6^th class can be able to understand the stories.

You find the page on:

http://www.Storynory.com

To use the page you need a computer with Internet connection, headphones or loudspeakers. If you have a projector, it is an advantage, than you can work with the whole class on the same story. A printer is useful too, than you can print out the stories and use them to further work. You can also download the stories to iPods if you have iTune on your computer, or have it as an app on your iPhone.

I think this page is easy to use for the students. There are not a lot of commercials popping up, distracting them. It has a two-click system, first click on the kind of story you want, second click on the story you have chosen and now you can start listen. There are five different categories of stories:

Original stories

Fairytales

Classic

Educational

Junior

You can either just listen to the story or both listen and read at the same time, while the stories also are on your computer screen. They also have a translation tool on the site. If you double-click on a world, there come up a list of different languages, choose the language you want, and then double-click at the worlds you will have translated. All worlds have not a translation, but many have so I think it could be a good help for the children.

How the teacher can use the page.

On this page you can get a great amount of material to raise the pupils listening and reading skills. You can let the students’ just listen to a story that you selected. Before that I think you have to prepare a list of some words they have to know before they start listen to the story. To be sure that they have understood it you can give them some Task1 and Task2 questions (Harmer 2007). Since you have the story even on the screen it is easy to print it out and continue to work whit it. Many of the stories you can let the students’ dramatizes in groups and play for each other. They can also rewrite them into our time; many are old stories. Here they can get inspiration to write own stories in English, either one by one or in small groups. They can illustrate it and make a Photo Story, that they can show the class, their parents or publish on the class’ wikipage.

How the students can use the page.

They can listen and read the stories. Many of the stories are famous stories that are told all around the world. That makes them easier to understand, while they have got a pre-understanding of the stories. It can also be fun to compare how the story is told in Great Britain with the way we tell it in Sweden. The storytellers also give a small background to the story, which could be nice to know. Here they are given the ability to listen to how a native English speaker pronounces worlds and the intonation of the language. Even the children can download the stories to iPods and iPhones and just listen to them for fun before they shall sleep or on a long boring journey.

GoAnimate and Animatedcards

Goanimate and Animated cards
I work with the youngest pupils and I wanted to find something I could use for beginners. I have chosen the animation theme. That is because it appeals to my primary school students. I would like to recommend two different websites available on the internet: http://www.goanimate.com and http://www.animatedcards.org

This is how it works
Both of them are websites available on the internet. I will tell you about goanimate first. The basic version of it is for free, but it has limited possibilities. There is also a version you can use if your school is willing to pay for it. The pay- version gives you even more opportunities, but the free version is a great start, especially for young learners.
To be able to use it you need a modern version of Windows, like Windows XP and onwards.
You have to start an account the first time you sign up. Before you start using goanimate you can watch a short instruction demo. It will show you how to use the website.
With this programme you can create your own animations, like a cartoon or comic strip.
You can choose backgrounds, characters and how you want the characters to move. The free- version allows you to create one character of your own or you can use the ones already on the website.
One of the great advantages with goanimate is that you can make the characters speak and they will speak English. You just write what you want your character to say and it will say it. I think this is a valuable function for my young learners. They get to hear “real English”. You can choose from different voices or record your own voice. You can also add music or sound- effects either your own or use the ones on goanimate.
Once you have made your animation of maximum two minutes length, you can save it and play it over and over again. You can let it out on youtube, facebook or even make a DVD.
Animated cards are very much like goanimate. You can use the website for free. Animated cards is even easier to understand and use. It has several prepared themes to choose from, but also gives you free space to write personal greetings. When you have opened the website you choose a theme, a picture and then you can write whatever you want. When you are satisfied with your card you can send it to an e-mail address.

How can we use these websites?
Both these websites are very easy to learn and understand. I am not surprised that my pupils learned to work with them faster than me. We are quite short of computers in my school and these websites allows the pupils to create great things in a short time. I let them create in pairs and it has worked out very well.
The websites allows you to create suitable learning situations for beginners. They can be used for many different topics and subjects.
-I like…..
-Favourite food, colour, animal……
-To work with feasts and holidays.
-Nursery rhymes and poems
-Feelings and friendship
-Presentation of a friend, pet, family- member…..
-As a teacher you can create the beginning of a story and let the pupils end it.
Every pupil can feel success. You do not have to be an artist. They feel proud of their work.
They can show it to each others and to their parents. Their animated cards has a receiver. It is fun to send a card and it is fun to get one. They can send their cards to people outside school.

AlphaSmart

Teachers and pupils are priviledged nowadays since there are a lot of ICT resources available in schools. I have chosen to tell you about a brilliant and fun device for teachers and pupils. This device is called AlphaSmart.

What AlphaSmart is and what you need to make it work

AlphaSmart is a digital notebook, which gives you a lot of opportunities. You can write long texts or take notes wherever you are and whenever you want. It looks like a laptop, but can only be used for writing. This device costs about $200-300 US Dollars and weigh 1 kilo.

AlphaSmart is popular in school since it is very affordable. It is also ergonomic and durable, so it is a perfect educational aid for pupils.

You need AA-batteries in order to use AlphaSmart. It has excellent battery life since the uptime is about 500 hours! You also need a PC when you are finished with your text and want to edit something. At last, you need a printer in order to print out your text.

How AlphaSmart can be used by pupils and teachers

AlphaSmart is perfect for pupils who need to write stories and letters, for example. Pupils don't need pens, papers and rubbers to write long texts nowadays. This device helps pupils to increase their writing skills. AlphaSmart can't connect to the internet, so pupils don't get distracted with web surfing. Furthermore, this device is similar to a laptop, so pupils don't usually have a problem with using it. You can't hear when someone is writing on AlphaSmart since the keyboard is soundless, so it is not disturbing other persons in the room.

AlphaSmart is also a fantastic tool for pupils with dyslexia, dysgraphia or other learning disabilities. Pupils' motivation increases and they are often proud of their work. These pupils can print out their completed work and feel positive and satisfied. They also feel that their work is of a similar standard to the rest of their peers. In addition, AlphaSmart has an in-built spell-check, which is a support for pupils with dyslexia. The screen is small, so pupils can only see a few lines at a time. Therefore, they can focus better on their texts.

It is important for teachers to remember that AlphaSmart is not suitable for all pupils, since they have different conditions of learning. However, most teachers are positive to this device since it is easy to use for both them and their pupils. As already mentioned, AlphaSmart looks like a laptop, so teachers must teach their pupils that AlphaSmart is an educational aid and not a toy.

Other considerations

In conclusion, pupils and teachers have a large amount of opportunities in the classroom with AlphaSmart. This device encourages and motivates most pupils' lust to write. Hopefully, more teachers realize that AlphaSmart has a lot of advantages and start using this fantastic resource!

Wikispaces for K-12 educators

When I had read ”Lära engelska på internet” av Maria Estling Vannestål I sat for hours in front of the computer, and I got lost in cyberspace. I soon realized that I had to decide what my Blog Post would be about. I had great fun though. I asked myself; Is there a way to make it easier for my students to take responsibility for their own learning? I was looking for something that would be a challenge for me, and something that I would have use for in my teaching right away.

I always make my homework on a paper. I try to add some useful links to every homework, but I have noticed that many of my students think it is hard to get to them. So, I went back to the computer searching for information about wikispaces. I had read about it in “Lära engelska på internet” by Maria Estling Vannestål, and I thought it sounded interesting. After gathering information about wikispaces I decided to start a Wikispace for K-12 educators, where I can collect homework, links and other things that my students might find useful when they want to learn more about English. For those of you who like working with Storylines I can strongly recommend reading the article about wikis and storylines on www.multimediabyran.se.

What is a Wikispace for K-12 educators?

It is a wikispace, a space out in the cloud, which you can start for K-12 educational use. K-12 means kindergarten through secondary school. It is free and it is free from advertising. It is a web site, where you can make uppdates directly on the page just by pressing the Edit–button. Wikispaces require access to Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer. From the start you get 2 GB as space usage.

As the space organizer you can choose what kind of accessibility you want your wikispace to have. You can choose between public, protected and private. Public means that the page is completely open, and anyone can edit and make changes to it. Protected means that the page is open to the public to read, but only invited members can make changes and edit it. Private means that the wiki can only been seen and edited by spacemembers.

As the space organizer you can invite and create accounts for all your students, even if they do not have an email. You can also promote members to organizers when ever you need it. You can change look and feel on your wiki by setting colours and theme, and you can uppload a costumlogo.

If you want to create a wiki K-12 you can go to

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers.

It can be good to know that you can not change the name of your wikispace once you have named it.

How students and teachers can use it

On a wikipace you can write text, uppload images and files and add links. You can also embed media. When you edit your wiki there is a toolbar that reminds a lot of Microsoft´s Word. Under the Help link you can find many great documents and video tutorials that will help you to find out how to manage your wiki.

I look forward to use my wiki with my students. I can see a lot of possibilities to what it can be used for. I already have in mind to collect reviews and wordlists, from books my students are reading, into the page. We can make videos and add them on the wiki. The page can perhaps work as a ”classportfolio”. Hopefully our wiki will become a natural tool both for me and my students, but to begin with I must learn the basics. I know it will require a lot of patience on my part. One of my problems is that I always want to be able to understand everything immediately. Then it is very easy to seek help from my tech-savvy husband, but not this time. I will take one step at a time, and I will be good at managing the wiki. I have started to collect useful links on the page. Next step is to learn how to change size of pictures I want to add. I have done it before, a long time ago, so it would not be that hard. I just have to remind me how to do it. One thing leads to another, and I am on my way managing my wiki.