Autonomous learning. BBC wordmaster

Aim: practice vocabulary in context and listen to sentences.
There are 3 levels:

• Easy 
• Medium 
• Difficult

Easy is not that easy

Procedure (copied and pasted from the BBC page)  

1) Beat the clock to maximise point score.
2) Use the clues if you’re stuck, but be careful – clues reduce your time.
3) Get the right pronunciation – click listen to hear the sentence.
4) You can also use your keyboard to enter letters and characters such as hyphens (-.).

Access WordMaster  HERE

ESL teacher toolbox. Glogster

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.

• Use Glogster to create digital posters. Apart from photos and texts, students can upload videos, sound and images from their computer.
• The service is free although you must create an account. 
• The range of styles is pretty wide. This tool can be useful for both children and adults. 
• If Internet is slow ask your students to produce their poster at home and present it in class. 
•  See my very simple glogster underneath. It took me 10 minutes. 

  Thanks to Xavi  Gumà for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

ESL teacher toolbox. Teleprompter

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.

A teleprompter is a device used in television and moviemaking to project a speaker's script out of sight of the audience.

Procedure:

Teleprompter

• Open the teleprompter (see link underneath)
• Copy and paste a text
• Choose speed, font size, etc.

 Use a teleprompter for;

• Speed reading 
• Speed note-taking
• Lyric learning 
• Poetry reading 
• Guess what comes next

Access the teleprompter HERE

Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

Autonomous learning. Lingro webapage dictionary

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own.

 Aim: read any webpage with the option of having unknown words translated.

 Procedure: 

Copy the URL you want into box 1, choose your dictionary and click unknown words

• Copy the link of the webpage you want to read
• Open the lingro page See link underneath
• Paste the link of the page you want to read into BOX 1. See picture
• Choose the dictionary.  In our case we have chosen  English to Spanish.Feel free to browse other options
• Read  your webpage and click the unknown words to obtain a translation into the chosen language

Access the lingro website HERE

Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

Autonomous learning.What does your presentation sound like?

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own.

 Use a text to speech page to ensure the correct pronunciation of your speech.

Imtranslator: write your text and listen to it!

• Use any of the websites below
• Copy and paste excerpts of your speech into the window you'll on the right
• Choose speed, language (English) and avatar
• Listen and take notes 

Link to imtranslator  (see picture) page:  HERE  
Link to acapellla page: HERE  

Link to natural readers page:  HERE



Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to  the natural readers page. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

ESL Toolbox: find the script of a film

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.

Do you need  the script of a film? 

• Go to the script-o-rama page and find out if the script is available (see link underneath).
• Once you have found the script,  look for the except you need by going to EDIT (top tool bar) or by using the shortcut Ctrl +F. This will open a small window at the bottom of your page. Type a word/sentence that you know that appears in the except you need. 
• Copy and paste the excerpt in Word (or similar).

Access the link HERE

Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

Autonomous learning. Freerice quizzes on English vocabulary, English grammar, humanities, maths... etc

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own.

Aim: practice English vocabulary (from level 1 to level 60), your grammar (from level 1 to level 5) and also other topic such as Maths, Literature or Geography...

Participate!  you are donating 10 grams of rice every time you hit the correct answer.

Access the web HERE, choose your topic and start donating.


Freerice is a non-profit website that is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Programme. 

Autonomous learning. BBC crosswords

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own.

Aim: 

Students read a definition and find word. All crosswords are related to a topic.

Works better if students have dealt with the topic in class and use this as a revision task.

Level:  medium to high. Lower, if students have had prior contact with the topic.

Range of topics: huge: cars, whales, adverts, volcanoes, yoga, Easter, emotions, fast food... You name it!

It is possible to print the crosswords.
 
Access the link HERE

Autonomous Learning. Newsround. Read about current affairs in simple English.

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own.

Aim: read about current affairs in simplified English.
Level: The site aims at young native speakers of English, not at ESL students.
This site  is recommended for intermediate ESL students. 

Procedure:

• Access the link and read about current affairs 

Enter the site  Newsround HERE 

Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

Autonomous learning. Dictation. Intermediate to high

Choose your level under each provided dictation.

The Autonomous learning label contains tasks that students can carry out on their own. Level: this site works better with intermediate to high levels Skills: listening and spelling Type of task:  students listen to a recording and write what they hear

Procedure: 

• Choose your level  (in green). 
• Choose FULL mode if you don't want to sign in
• Choose QUICK mode or BLANK mode if you want to sign in

 You are ready to start your dictation. This is the link: HERE
Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

Second conditional prompt. If I were a boy by Beyonce

Download provided Power Point to guide your students through the task

Aim: fun practice of second conditional by using Beyonce's song If I were a boy.
Level: students need to have prior practise of  second conditional sentence structure.
Vocabulary: vocabulary needed for the task is provided in attached Power Point presentation. Vocabulary ranges form easy (go to drink beer, understand how it feels...) to medium (roll out of bed, take somebody for granted...).
This tasks is suitable for a multilevel classroom.

You can download the Power Point and videos from this site HERE

Materials:

For the students:

• If I were a boy video (download it or watch it on-line underneath)
• Tasks provided in attached Power Point
• If I were a boy karaoke video  (download it or watch it on-line underneath)

For the teacher:

• Lyrics for the song If I were a boy 

Procedure:
Follow the steps in the provided Power Point presentation.
Summary of steps in Power Point:

• Introduction to the vocabulary of the song by means of task 1. Are boys or girls more likely to...?
• Students watch first video, which tells us the story of what Beyonce would do if she were a boy. 
• Students answer question in task 2: What would Beyonce do if she were a boy?
• Students answer the same question about themselves.
• Students  sing along with the prompt of the second video so  as to memorize new vocabulary and remember the second conditional structure.

 
You can download the Power Point and videos from this site HERE

Did you finish the task? (View task in provided Power Point)

You are ready to watch the video

Beyonce. 

If I were a boy

 Now, sing along with Beyonce

KARAOKE 

You can download the Power Point and videos from this site HERE
 
Thanks to Mike O'Neill for this idea.
Mike O'Neill was our Teacher Trainer at the British Council. Summer 2012