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

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