MyBrainShark- a perfect tool to help our students make presentations!

In Greece students usually make their first presentations in front of the whole classroom when they attend secondary schools. They have to speak for 2 or 5 minutes in front of the teacher and their classmates while trying to remain calm, confident and remember what they want to say and in which order. Some shy students do not manage well and when they finish their presentations, they simply feel dispirited and demotivated. It is possible that in the future they might only remember this negative feeling and not the content of the presentation that they have made.

MyBrainShark can help our students gain the confidence they need. It is a free website that allows anyone to create and share video presentations. First, we need to register and choose the free package which contains all the basic features needed, of course if we want we can choose to pay for additional features. Then, we start by uploading powerpoint slides, documents, videos, pictures or other files from our computer and we can add voice narration to all or some of our powerpoint slides. Thus, MyBrainShark's website and our computer's microphone can help us transform our content into a voice enriched video presentation. Finally, we can share our presentation as a link through email or everywhere on the Internet.

How can we use MyBrainShark?

It is easy to navigate and use. Basically, we register and then we have to go through 3 main stages.

• Upload our powerpoint slide
• Add voice to all or some of our slides. We can record ourselves as many times as we wish until we are satisfied.
• Finally, when we are done we can choose the way to share our video presentation. It is really important to remember to make our presentation active so that others can actually see it!!!

Remember: We can edit our presentations anytime.

Here is an amazing website with images that guide you step by step in order to make a MyBrainShark video presentation. 

For those of you who would like to watch a detailed video about how to use MyBrainShark check Russell Stannard's teacher training video.

Why I do suggest MyBrainshark!

Our students need to parctice on one-way form of communication and more specifically on giving presentations. They will have to go through that procedure while attending school and maybe later on in their professional or academic life. MyBrainshark is the perfect tool for them for the reasons below.

• Relaxing way: First, our students will have the chance to practice while being at their homes without worrying that someone judges them.
• Unlimited time: They can record themselves again and again until their are satisfied. 
• A great scaffolding tool which leads to self-evaluation: MyBrainShark allows our students to add voice to each slide separately. Thus, our students will become more conscious about how they should organize what they have to say for each slide and the time they need to present it. Every time they finish one slide they will feel more confident to continue until they actually make their video presentation. Furthermore, MyBrainShark lets us to record a short amount and then stop to play it back. I am sure that most of our students will stop many times to listen to themselves and this can help them raise pronunciation awareness and notice grammatical errors or words they tend to overuse. Finally, our students look at the content while recording over and over again, so it more likely that they will be able to recall it easier while giving the actual presentation in the classroom.
• Self-evaluation leads to motivation: Our students will notice their weaknesses and many of them will seek to overcome these in order to make good presentations. The more they feel that they achieve the more motivated and confident they will become. In addition, this feeling to try more will be initiated by them and not by the teacher so there are better chances to last more. Finally, these presentations will always be there for our students to remind them what they have achieved. They can feel proud of them and we can increase their motivation even more by posting them on a blog or presenting them to their parents and classmates.
• Independent, autonomous and self-directed learners: The final conclusion is that our students might become more independent, they will not rely on us to tell them what they have done wrong and whether their presentations were satisfactory or not. They will have a clear image of their abilities and they will perform better when giving their presentations in class.

Practical uses!

Secondary school students can make presentations about lots of topics. We usually ask them to speak about their pet or their favourite animal. They usually have to gather information about the animal's characteristics and its environment. Basically, we can use every topic of our coursebook if we want them to give a presentation. Another idea is to speak about their favourite singer, actor or athlete. Furthermore, we can ask them to make a presentation about their favourite book or film. No matter which will be the topic of their presentation, we should always remember to guide them. For example, we can ask them to speak about the main characters, the plot and the reasons why they like the book/film.  

Tip: We can divide them into pairs so they can help each other. Sometimes we know that we are stuck and we cannot find a solution and sometimes we think we are on the right track but we are not actually. Our classmate's perspective can be enlightening!

Things to consider!

• MyBrainShark is a user-friendly website however I think that we should train our students for using it. Maybe we should make a video presentation with them in the classroom. So, we will need access on the Internet and computers enough for everyone. 
• If we have many students, we will have to give feedback to many video presentations as well. Of course, our students do not make presentations every day so we can arrange our timetable and have a whole weekend at our disposal.
• Keep in mind that MyBrainShark does not lead to communicative proficiency. There will be no interaction between our students. We use it to help them cope with making presentations. Nevertheless, the achieved confidence and language awareness might indeed make our students more courageous, thus, better interlocutors. 
• One last thing to bear in mind is that some of our students might actually write down everything they want to present and record themselves while reading these notes. However, I believe that even these students while gain a lot because they will also feel the need to record themselves over and over again and they will also notice some of their weaknesses. They will also become more confident and ready for their upcoming presentation in the classroom.

Picture source: Shutterstock

I higly recommend MyBrainShark because it can make our students eager to make presentations. No more sad and desperate faces! Let's help our students feel confident and enjoy every activity in our classrooms!!!

 Printscreen from MyBrainShark                                                                      

 Picture source: Shutterstock

Quizbean can make our students more independent!

It seems to me that we tend to focus on how to make our students independent through more engaging speaking, reading, writing and listening activities but when it is time to teach and practice grammar we use techniques like drilling, quizzes, multiple choices, fill in the gaps. All these activities are great and might make our students proficient in English. However, I have the sense that it is more like testing rather than practicing grammar. For example, when it comes to quizzes students rely on their teachers to give them feedback which sometimes they do not even notice, they just see the mark on their paper. Thus, I was looking for a web tool that allows us to create online quizzes and gives our students a sense of independence while using technology.

Quizbean immediately captured my attention because it is free and easy to navigate and use even for elementary students. It is a platform that allows us to create simple quizzes that our students have to complete online. Once we have created a quiz our students can head over to Quizbean and try it out. 

But how Quizbean does make our students more independent and why do I love it?

The most important thing is that our students get instant feedback on each question they answer, thanks to Quizbean's Instantscore feature. Namely, students while taking the quiz they will be able to see a running total of their score and percentage. This will help them pay attention to their mistakes as well as keep them focused throughout the quiz. Furthemore, Quizbean allows us to add exlpanations of the correct answer for our students to see immediately after answering each question. This can leave an impression on our students which can help them remember the correct answer. Moreover, we can add images to all or some of our questions making our quiz more interesting and vivid. All in all, quizzes generated by using Quizbean are interactive and engaging, our students do not wait for the teacher to give them the feedback which usually takes long but in a way they self- assess themselves and have the chance to see where and why they were wrong. 

How does Quizbean work?

Quizbean is free and registration is not required, however I suggest you to sign up so as to easily manage and share your quizzes. 

• First we visit Quizbean's website and after we sign up, we have three options: "Create a class", "Create a quiz", "Add students" . Namely, Quizbean lets you to add students quickly to your dashboard and assign them to classes.(Image 1). 

Image 1

• Let's choose to create a quiz. Then, we have to pick our quiz type. It can be either "Multiple Choice" (our students will have to choose the correct answer from many options) or "This or That" (our students will have to choose one answer between two options) (Image 2).

Image 2

• Let's choose "Multiple Choice". The next step will be to give our quiz a title and then we can add our first question. We can add as many questions as we need! (Image 3)

Image 3

• So, we click on "Add your first question" and then we can type in the question and the answer choices. Be careful to type in the correct answer first. Finally, we can add an image and an explanation. Our first question is now ready and we can add more questions. Once we have made our quiz we can click on "Save and continue" (Image 4).

Image 4

• Then, we have two choices either to click on "Send my Quiz" or "Save and send later" (Image 5).

Image 5

• If we click on "Send my Quiz" we have the option to randomize our quiz and to set an expiry date for it. The feature of randomizing the order of our questions will prevent our students from cheating (Image 6).

Image 6

• Finally, we click on "Step 2: Define Recipients" and we can send our quiz either to the whole class or to individual students. Adding classes and students is really straightforward! You do not have to worry about it! We also have the possibility to share our quiz via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc and copy its URL link. Here is an example that I have made!!!

• Two last features also important are Quizbean's reports cards. Our students can see their final score after completing the quiz (Image 7) and these results are sent immediately to the teacher's dashboard, so you can see who has taken each quiz and their score all on one screen. This can help us keep track of our students progress and realize their weaknesses.

Image 7

How can we use Quizbean in and out of classroom?

• Grammar and Vocabulary practice and revision: We can use Quizbean to make multiple choice, True or False or This and That quizzes and practice grammar and vocabulary like I have done in my example.
• Post-reading: We can also make quizzes to check our students understanding. For example, we can have critical questions related to a text that our students read in the classroom or at their homes.
• Another idea is to make quizzes about characters or storylines in our coursebook. We can make questions about particular characteristics or actions of these characters.
• Self-assessment: they are perfect for preparing our students for upcoming tests. This will help them to focus on the basic points and feel more relaxed and confident. 
• For further engagement we can ask our students to prepare their own quizzes, for example they can make a quiz with similar questions to those they have answered wrong. They can send it to us and we can distribute it to their classmates.
• For fun: We can make quizzes about everything for example about movies, songs, topics in news, facts . For example, we can ask them to listen to a song and complete a quiz or ask them questions about topics they do not know and let them guess. In this case, let them know that their score is a matter of luck. If they do not score well, they simply should not try gambling on this particular day. Maybe this can help them realize that sometimes bad scores do not mean anything at least they have tried and the next time they might do it better.

Limitations to bear in mind! 

Quizbean is an up to date web tool. Our students are used to Internet, TV and technology in general which is overwhelmed with images alternating fast. Thus, they might find it easier to concentrate on an online quiz rather than on traditional paper quizzes. However, the latter has one important advantage. We are able to touch and hold them. We can write notes on them or simply go back to them when we need to revise. There are students who usually do not do this and for them Quizbean's Instantscore and Report Card feature is their chance for feedback. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind that there are students who would like to have their quizzes printed so that they can have access to them whenever they are in need!

Other drawbacks are that they are completed online, thus, we need Internet in our classrooms and computers for all of our students. In case that our students have to complete them for homework, we might hear excuses like "I couldn't access the link". Of course, these students can say something similar for traditional paper quizzes for example "I couldn't find the quiz in my bag, my classmate next to me might have taken mine as well." Finally, Quizbean provides only two types of quizzes but that's why there are other types of activities.

I do suggest Quizbean because I find it unique and up to date. I am sure that our students will love it! Let's give it a try!



Printscreens from Quizbean

Lyrics Training- an alternative way of picking up English!

Sometimes traditional textbook based listening activities can be boring for our students. In addition, listening exercises are never enough. So, let's try out Lyrics Training, an amazing free website which allows our learners to practice their listening skills through listening to YouTube music videos. It is a user-friendly and amusing site. Basically, we watch a music video while the lyrics appear underneath and we try to fill in the gaps (according to the level we have chosen) line by line. The website is very well organized and there is a growing amount of content available in English. The most important feature is that it is very interactive in the way it works, we can repeat lines or skip words etc. I believe that it is one of the most interesting websites on the Internet and it will be very popular among our students because they love listening to YouTube videos and singing the lyrics of songs.

Basic tips on how to use Lyrics Training!

• We visit Lyrics Training website and then we have to choose between 7 languages. We are interested in YouTube music videos with English lyrics, so we will choose English (Image 1).

Image 1

• We can search for a particular YouTube music video by typing its title in the search bar or we can choose a song from the sections provided on the home page (Now Playing, New Lyrics, Top Lyrics (Today) (Image 2).

Image 2

• Once we have chosen our song we can choose the level of difficulty (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert). The level of difficulty (game mode) will decide how many words will be missing from the lyrics appearing underneath the video which our students will have to fill in. Then we can start the game, Bear in mind that if our students want they can choose the"Karaoke" option. This will display all the lyrics while listening to the song (Image 3).

Image 3

• Our students will have to fill in the missing words line by line. If they get stumped, they have 3 basic options they can listen again to the line by clicking on the "backspace" button. This will allow our students to listen to the line as many times as they want until they can come up with the word. Once they type the word the song will carry on playing automatically. Another choice is to use the arrow icon at the left corner so that they can listen to the previous line which may help them contextualise the missing word. Finally, obviously sometimes our students might actually cannot find the word. In this case they can skip the word by clicking on the "Tab" button (Image 4). Interactivity is the most powerful thing about this website. Our students can now have control over listening activities.

Image 4

• Moreover, our learners can see the score, the time they needed to find the words, how many words they found and how many they skipped. They can share it with friends on Facebook, Twitter or send it via email. Finally, registration is not required but students can sign up so that they can keep a record of their scores.

For more details you can watch Russell Stannard's teacher training video-Lyrics Training.

Some ideas about how to use Lyrics Training in and out of classroom!

In classroom
We can use Lyrics Training for warm-up or pre-listening activities.

• First we need to find a song that suits our needs, our lesson's topic. For example, if our lesson's aim is to practice past simple and "used to", we can choose a song with lyrics consisted of verbs in past simple and have our students listen to it by choosing the "Karaoke" option while writing down these verbs. Then, we can write everything on the blackboard and continue with our warm-up.
•  Apart from grammar points, Lyrics Training can be useful for introducing vocabulary. If our lesson's topic is the importance of protecting our environment we can use The Cranberries song "Time is Ticking Out" to introduce our students words like 'ozone layer', 'consequences', 'radiation' etc. This can be the starting point of brainstorming and discussion about environment.

Out of classroom

I believe that the real power of Lyrics Training website is what our learners can do with it outside the classroom. This site is perfect for independent study. Our students can listen to as many songs as they wish!

Why Lyrics Training website is great for independent study!

I guarantee that every human being listens to some kind of music, rock, pop etc. Lyrics Training website covers many such genres and our students can have the chance to listen to a wide variety of songs. They will choose the songs they like and listen to them while seeing their lyrics. Of course, we can guide them to watch particular videos but I am sure that they will do more than this.

Why I say 'yes' to Lyrics Training! 

•  Our students can practice their listening skills infinitely in a more relaxing way.
• I believe that even if some of them do not want to play the game, they will at least click on the 'Karaoke' button so that they can see the lyrics and sing the song. After all, most of us tend to search for videos in YouTube displaying also the lyrics. Furthermore, our students will try to sing the songs thus they can practice their reading skills, their pronunciation and a more natural way of speaking including contractions and reduced forms of language.
• Students with musical aptitude will be benefited.
• The songs are authentic and up to date so students might be more motivated to listen to them and learn English. 
• Music is culture, so our students can become familiarized with the English culture.
• The website is very interactive in the way it works so students can scaffold themselves by repeating or pausing the lines.
• Feedback is also provided and our students have the chance to play again the game trying to achieve higher scores.

Limitations to think about!

• There is only one type of activity, fill in the gaps. However, we can always use other listening activities to supplement it.
• We should be careful with videos containing inappropriate words, meanings or images.
• Some contractions may get our students confused. We should warn them as well as inform them about informal and formal way of writing.

One last tip

Even though Lyrics Training website is very interesting and I believe that most of our students will happily use it, we should find ways to check if they actually do this and give them our own feedback. In this way, their motivation will be even more increased. For example, we can make posters in the classroom with the songs that our students like, or we can ask them to make posters with interesting words that they have learnt!

So, let's go ahead and take advantage of our students need to listen to songs!


Printscreens from Lyrics Training

Padlet can make our students work together effectively!

Padlet allows us to set up an online interactive themed wall in few minutes and then we can share its URL link with our students who can express their thoughts on the topic, add YouTube videos, website links, photos and documents by adding visual sticky notes to it. So, the great thing is that the wall is not created by one person but we can have several students work on it. This is a perfect chance to have our students collaborate with each other and experience the benefits of group work.

Some years ago in Greece we used to work individually most of the times and the only pair or group work I remember as a student is when the teacher requested her/his students to create pairs or groups and discuss about a particular topic for a few minutes. Students used to talk to each other for a while and then because they were bored and the teacher could not check them all at the same time they continued in Greek saying about irrelevant issues. Of course, I am sure that nowadays English language teachers do more than this and try to promote collaboration in their classrooms. I believe that Padlet is a very good tool which can bring fun to our lesson and maybe help some of our students realise that they actually learn more by building upon each other's ideas than competing with each other.

How does Padlet work?

Padlet is a very user-friendly tool, it is free but we will need to make an account.

• So, first we go onto the Padlet homepage and we click on "Login or signup" button where we can fill in our email address and a password. 
• Then, we have two ways to build a new wall. We can either click on the yellow "Build a wall" button or click on the"+" button at the top right corner. Next to the "+" button there are 3 more buttons which can allow us to view our account and change our password, view all the walls we have created and finally log out (Image 1).

Image 1

• That was it! Our wall is now ready but before sharing it with our students there are a few things that we need to do. We have two ways to modify our wall either by clicking on the yellow "modify wall" button or clicking on the icon on the right side of the page (Image 2).

Image 2

• Once we clicked on "Modify wall" we will see that more option buttons appear on the right part of our screen which can help us costumise our wall. We can type a tittle, give a brief description to our wall and add a relevant portrait choosing from the ones offered by Padlet or uploading a photo from our computer (Image 3).

        

Image 3

• Then, we can add a wallpaper which is a background for our wall. Again we can choose among the ones offered by Padlet or upload one from our computer or even find one on the Internet. Remember to choose a wallpaper which is nice and simple so that students can read easily the content they are going to add to the screen (Image 4).

Image 4

• Afterwards, we can decide on our wall's layout namely on how our students posts are going to look like. There are two options either users can post anywhere "Freeform" or post below each other's post "Stream" (Image 5).

Image 5

• One really important feature of Padlet is its privacy settings. We can have a wall that other people can view but cannot add content to it. We can have a wall that other people can view and add comment to it and finally we can have a wall that our students can view and add comment to it but the content will be added once the teacher agrees "Moderate posts". Finally, we have the choice to add a password to our wall which will be required by anyone who wants to have access to it or we can make it completely private by choosing the first option "Private" and adding the emails of the students we want to have access to our wall. I suggest either to choose the "Private" or the "Password" option and tick on "Moderate posts". (Image 6)

Image 6

• What is more we can pick a new address for our wall and change the address already given to it by Padlet. We can choose a simple word which our students will be able to remember and write down (Image 7).

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• Finally, we can make our first sticky note by double clicking on the wall. If we want, we can write our name and give a title and then start writing content up to 160 characters. It is possible also to add a link to a webpage or add a video, an image either from the Internet by copying and pasting the URL or by uploading from our computer. Keep in mind that a sticky note can be edited or deleted only by its creator or by the owner of the wall. Students can also change the size and the shape of the post even its location depending on the layout we have chosen (Image 9).

Image 9

• One last thing I want to mention is that we can share the wall via email or Facebook, Twitter etc, we can embed it on a website by coping the URL code and we can export our wall as PDF, Excel file etc or print it (Image 10).

Image 10

For more details you can check Russell Stannard's teacher training video about Padlet, formerly known as Wallwisher.

How can we use Padlet in the classroom?

There are many possibilities for using Padlet in the classroom but I am mostly interested in activities which can foster collaboration, enable group work and establish a friendly, collaborative relation among my students.

Writing

• Starting the Lesson, Brainstorming, Group Discussion: We can put an image or write something on the wall and ask our students to work in groups or in pairs and comment on the topic. Students can brainstorm, use their background knowledge and their imagination. We can introduce almost every topic included in our coursebooks (science, environment, technology etc), for example healthy and unhealthy food and our students can simply write down food items or add videos and images or even better I would suggest to let them choose sides and support either healthy food or unhealthy food and work in pairs in order to find arguments and relevant videos. This can make our students really active, they will collaborate and negotiate with each other in order to create the sticky notes. In addition, the wall updates in a real time so students will feel the need to work and present something to their teacher and their classmates, so they might be quite motivated and they will probably not waste their time on irrelevant discussions. 
• Giving a different end to our lesson, checking for understanding: We can follow the above rationale and at the end of our lesson we can request our students to express their thoughts and feelings about what they have learnt. We do this most of the times in our classroom by asking questions and trying to elicit answers from our students. However, it is often the case that many of our students do not pay attention to their classmates answers. Furthermore, shy students will avoid to speak and share their thoughts. We can use Padlet to make them create a note, expressing their opinion about cyber robots for example and at the same time commenting on one of their classmates sticky note. Thereby, our students will have a motive to read and reflect on their classmates ideas (Image 11).
• Creating a story: We can put a phrase or a word on the wall and divide our students into groups and ask them to collaborate in order to create a story beginning with it. It is important to guide them through the whole procedure because collaboration does not simply happen. We should establish the rules for example each and every student will have to write a sentence and continue the story according to what their teammates have written. Moreover, we can ask them to choose roles, there will be a student responsible for the time, a checker, an organizer etc. Our students will have to sign a contract, promising that they will perform their roles. Thus, every student will be responsible for something and all of them will have to listen carefully to each other and collaborate for the shake of their story. 
• Peer reviews: I would like to point out that Padlet is a very good tool for an alternative type of assessment. For example, when all groups have created their stories (example mentioned above) we can ask our students to suggest their classmates ways to improve their story (other linguistic choices, better structure etc)
• Suggestions for further reading: Our students can create a note referring to their favourite book, they can include a brief review about the book, a photo or a video. Furthermore, we can ask our students to create a second post, selecting their three favourite book reviews on the wall. Students will have the chance to be exposed to different kinds of books and may develop an interest for some of these.

Vocabulary

• We can post a word and divide our students in pairs or groups and ask them to come up with as many synonyms as they can or create as many sentences as they can in 5 minutes. Another idea is to ask them to find pictures on the Internet which reveal the meaning of the word.

Image 11

Some Limitations to think about

First of all, we need to take into account the number of our students. If the students are many, it might be difficult for them and for us to work on one wall. The space may not be enough and students will not have the chance to reflect on what their classmates have written. In addition, too many sticky notes can make our wall look chaotic and us feel stressed. Finally, our students can upload only one photo or one video and the text can be up to 160 characters.

I would say yes to Padlet because it is a very good tool for collaboration. Our students do not need to create any account. They can have access to our wall simply by typing the wall's URL in the search box. However, we can make our wall password protected and choose to moderate all posts so that we can avoid other people from posting on it. Furthermore, our students can make personalised posts by adding pictures and videos. Finally, Padlet is very easy and free to use and no time is needed at all!

So, let's go ahead and use Padlet in our classrooms and give our students a chance to do funny yet formative collaborative activities!

Printscreens from Padlet