StoryKit

Hello everyone! This week in my post, I will introduce you a digital storytelling application which you can download to your mobile device and create your own story. Its name is StoryKit. It can be easily downloaded from Apple Store. Once you have installed it, it is possible for you to make a story on your own, draw whatever you want, add different pages and narrate it with your own voice. Now, let's have a look at that application and know it better!


When you first installed StoryKit, you will see a page like this (look at the picture on the left). In this page, you can either read other digital books that were prepared before or select the "New Book" and start your digital story. After choosing the New Book option, there comes a blank page (look at the picture on the right). In this blank page there are some categories which I highlight them in the picture. These categories are Take Photos, Add Photos, Add Text, Record Audio and Draw/Paint.

When you choose Add Photos, you can easily upload any image from your mobile device. In this way, it is possible to prepare a background photo for your story. Also, text can be added on to the photograph and you can draw something onto the image.  On the left picture, I show you an example. I chose a school image, uploaded it and wrote a text.  If you do not want to add an image and say "I can draw my own picture.", there is an option for you. To show that for you, I drew a girl (sorry for my drawing, I am not very good at it). In this section, you can adjust the size of brush and choose whatever colour you like. 

After finishing your drawing or adding a picture,you can start a new page. These pages constitute your whole story. It is possible to edit them whenever you want. In the following picture, you can see the Edit Pages.

In the end, you can narrate the story with your own voice. Just by clicking the Record Audio, you are ready to speak. After recording your voice, a sound icon will appear on your page and if you want to listen the voice, you need to click on this icon.

Now, I want to show you some examples from the application. These examples were prepared before and they all come when you get the application.

When you finish your story, sharing is also possible. The application gives you a private web address and then you can send it to whoever you want. What I like most about sharing is that the website address because in this way, it is possible to add the URL to your blog.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE STORYKIT IN THEIR CLASSROOMS? 

I think this website can be used efficiently in classroom activities or for term homework. I created such an example for young learners. 

For example, as a teacher, I ask my students to make a digital book which tells a story of you and your animal friends. First please introduce your animal friends, add a picture of them and add your text. Your book should be 10 pages and after finishing it please e-mail  it to me.  On the left picture, you can see my example page.

In my post, I introduced you StoryKit and prepared an example. Please keep using technology! :)

Digital Storytelling Project

Hello everyone! I am back with an entertaining project. This week my friends and I prepared a digital story and narrated it. I worked with Armagan and Merve. First we made up a story which was about three girls who went to forest for playing, then we found a suitable website, and animated our story. 

Our website's name is GoAnimate. In this website, we could choose our characters, their emotions and movements, and also add background images. You can upload any image or audio you want. Also, the website gives you a chance to narrate your words, that is; you can write the sentence and the program vocalize it for you.

I should say that creating a digital story is very fun and there are lots of options you can choose while preparing your story. You can either make your story in a website like us or just print some images and record it with your mobile phone. So, in classrooms we as teachers make our lessons enjoyable with digital stories. For example: we might make a digital story, watch it to our students, stop it before the end and want our students to write the end of it or we might say them to prepare their own digital stories with a partner. In this way, I believe that we can improve both their interaction with each other and creativity. Seeing that they can product something may give students a sense of self-achievement,

We had difficulty only in sharing our digital story, as the website requires to purchase to give an embed code so I write the URL here. You can watch our digital story by clicking this  link .

Hope that you will enjoy :)

Livemocha

Hello again everyone! Today I would like to introduce you a website which can be used for English learning. Its name is Livemocha, and it is an online language learning website. After being registered with your e-mail, you can get lessons, do activities, help other language learners and have language partners. Livemocha aims to reach learners from beginners to advanced ones as there are lessons at all levels. It is available both for young and adult learners.The website was found in 2007 and now it belongs to Rosetta Stone. If you want to have a look for further information about the website , you can click here.

   When you go to the home page, first you need to create an account. 

After creating your account, you will see a page in which you can choose your lessons according to your level. In this page, you can also see the lessons you have received and there are "Help others" and "Language partners" sections. On the right side of the page, partner suggestion and notifications are available. 

Next, we choose a lesson. I chose a L6 lesson for you to show the activities. When we begin a lesson there are Introduction, Vocabulary, Usage, Usage Practise, Read/Write, Read/ Speak, Listen/Write, Listen/Speak sections.

In the Introduction part, there is a video with a sound and it tells a story while teaching grammar. Before doing your activities, you are watching the video and learn the subject. All the other activities are related to this video. For example in this video, there is a woman who cannot decide whether eat outside or cook at home so she asks for advice from her friends and family and they give recommendations by using If i were you, i would...'. So while you are watching this, you learn the grammar in a meaningful context and for communication.

After the Introduction part, Vocabulary section meets you, In this part, you are studying the words which are found in the video. The verbs are listed as cards, while one side of the card shows you the name and picture of the word, the other side gives the definition and examples. If you understand the verb, you should click 'Got it', but if you have some difficulties then you can click 'Still Learning'. At the end of this activity, Livemocha gives you a report, so you can see your situation.

The third part is Usage. In Usage, the website shows the rules, gives explanation and also teaches the grammatical structures.

The next one is Usage Practise. In this section, you are doing variable activities such as; fill in the blanks, listening etc. With the help of this activity, you are repeating some structures and it asks you to choose the correct pronunciation so your listening skills can improve and you may become familiar with authentic accent.

In the Read/Write part, the activity gives you a situation and asks for a response. This improves your writing skills and it offers you a real-life-like situation. 

In the Read/Speak part, you are the one who is talking. Just allowing Livemocha to use your microphone, it is easy to give your answers by speaking. After completing the activity, it is possible to get feedback from 3 different options and in this way  it is also possible to see pronunciation.

Listen/Write part allows you a real communication. First, you listen the audio and then give your response. In this activity you are both improving your listening skills and also learn how you should speak in a given situation.

The last section is Listen/Speak. This time you are not writing your response but rather give it by speaking so it is very helpful for your speaking skills and also you can get feedback in this activity.

What about  my opinions about Livemocha? 

I found Livemocha very useful and helpful for language learners. First of all, I really like that there are no advertisements in the website because this shows me that it is reliable and i can create my own page in which i am able to get lessons, study them over and over, see my improvement and get feedback. In Livemocha, you can study all language skills, listening, writing, reading and speaking. Also, I like the cooperative side as you can connect with other learners from all around the world. It is also possible to help  learners. Helping others and making the activities correctly give you extra points which mean that you can receive more lessons. Livemocha can be used individually or by a teacher in the classroom. For example, if the teacher teaches Conditionals in the classroom, he/she can use my example lesson. First the class watch the video and then the teacher can use vocabulary cards and make a game from these cards. English is not the only language; you can choose which language you want to learn. What I like very much is that there is a blog (you can go to the blog page by clicking here). In this blog, you can find a lot of sources created by other people. I want to finish my post by recommending you Livemocha and all other reliable online language learning websites. We have a lot of websites and sources so do not miss them! :)

My Wiki Project : My Favourite Book (1984 by George Orwell)

Hello my dear readers! I am back with a new project : Our Favourite Books in Wikispace. In this project, we were supposed to introduce a best-loved book of ourselves and write a brief summary about it, and finally add some photos or videos if possible. For this project I chose "1984" and gave the plot in my wiki paper.

 It is the first time for me to do such an activity, in the past of course I wrote summaries of books but they were just evaulated by my teacher but for Wikispace, everyone who has an acces to internet can see my paper, and they can even change it if I allow, So, I think it is very advantageous because people can add their knowledge and show what they know, in this way we can create an enviroment in which everyone can say something! But if you do not want this, you can keep it private and it is very easy. From this point I find using Wikispace very helpful. It can be applied in classrooms very easily for different purposes. You can ask your students write about their favourite books just like we did or you select a book to read then start a discussion on Wikispace about that book, everyone write their ideas and then talk about it in the classroom. Therefore, it can be used to develop students' writing skills as well as their critical thinking because they can both write their ideas and read others'.

If we talk about disadvantages of it, I can see almost no disadvantage except from students who cannot use internet or do not have a connection but today, internet is very common and I do not think it will be an important problem, Another disadvantage might be that it is open to change by everyone, that is; other people delete, remove, add or modify your post but this can be solved with the settings.

You can find my Wiki Project in this link, hope you will enjoy! :)

Please click the following link:

>>>1984 by George Orwell<<<

Mysterious Box (Podcast)

Today , I`m sharing with you my podcast that I prepared with my partner, Kübra. In our podcast, we vocalized a story written by us. We tried to embellish it with sounds and effects, hope we managed to do! In our story, there are two girls who found a mysterious box in front of their doors at a very late hour. Listen and learn the mystery about the box and find out what happens to girls! :)

As you know, in today`s world, the tehchnology is improving day by day and it becomes an inseparable part of our lives so we cannot keep ourselves from using technology in our classrooms. Podcast is the one of the best ways to integrate this technology to the learning environment. I found it very heplful for learners, especially for language learners because with the help of podcasts, students have a chance to listen a sound again again, wherever they are and whenever they want. They can improve their pronounciations in this way. Also, recording a podcast is very easy (you can do it even with your mobile phone) and it can reach whoever come across it.

But if you are recording a podcast, it is very important to have a native-like accent as your students can learn the pronounciation correctly and you must find a  silent area, We had difficulties in these two aspects, but it was very enjoyable in general. :)

Welcome!

Hi, welcome to my blog! I am Ecenur. This is my first blog and first post so i want to share some personal information about me. I am 20 and a student at Marmara University. My department is English Language Teaching. From now on,i will try to share anything that i can find in the field of English Language Teaching. So, i hope you will enjoy my blog and learn a lot from it. :)