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Infant (5-7) junior (7-11)

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Some practical activities for your students (of all subjects)

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Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme explain how teachers can help language students get on top of their own learning by using mobile phones.
'The art of teaching', said the writer and English professor Mark van Doren, 'is the art of assisting discovery'. It's an idea at the centre of mobile pedagogy (PDF download, 1.4 MB), which asks how mobile devices can support our language teaching and improve the learning of our students. In particular, how can audio or video on today's smart phones help our students reflect on their learning?
What is reflection and why is it important?
To reflect on language learning, you need to make links between what you're learning now, and what you've learned in the past. The same goes for teaching: reflective teachers discuss with colleagues, or their online personal learning networks on Twitter or Facebook, how they approach teaching. Some of us keep a reflective journal, or share our reflections in a blog. But how often do we ask our students to reflect on how and why (rather than what) they learned, or failed to learn? This habit of reflecting on what is and isn't helpful is one of the most important qualities [link expired] expert learners possess.

We need to support our learners as they think through, evaluate, and act on what they have learned, then guide them as they apply their new knowledge to unfamiliar contexts. Here are some ideas for using mobile devices to help learners.
Reflecting on learning approaches using mobiles
Ask your learners to make a graph and mark on it how each language task over the course of the lesson or at home helped them learn something. For example, on the x-axis, they can record their level of motivation and on the y-axis the time of each activity (see photo below).

They could also take a photo, or make a video or audio recording of outcomes (e.g., in form of a presentation or a discussion) to share what they have learned at the end of a class, or the beginning of the next class. While they complete an individual writing or reading task, learners can make a voice recording of how they are getting on at five- or ten-minute intervals. They can say what they are finding easy or difficult, and what methods they use to understand or write a passage of text. Learners should listen to each other's recordings and use these to share tips with each other.

Rehearsing a presentation or communication in a formal situation
Rehearsing what they are going to say - in a presentation, for example - gives learners greater confidence. If you ask your students to share answers after group discussions or tasks, why not get them to record their first (and second) attempts beforehand? A few practice runs may increase their fluency and the quality of their answers. Many of the international students in our research project tried practising presentations by timing and recording a video of themselves with a smart phone. They found that it was helpful to observe and discuss their body language, facial expressions and gestures. Similarly, students found it invaluable to rehearse and record what they were going to say before visiting a doctor, making a phone call, or taking part in a job interview. One research participant told us he realised that, in order to be understood, it was better to speak more slowly. By recording himself, he noticed for the first time that he spoke English in a bit of a rush, believing that it made him sound more fluent. In fact, it made him harder to follow. This leads us to a related point.
Identifying knowledge gaps
Another way we can encourage and promote reflection is by asking our learners to choose a communication activity, and make an audio recording on their mobiles. Encourage them to listen to the recording afterwards in pairs, and stop or pause at times when the message becomes unclear. This can prompt a better understanding of what vocabulary, structures or conversation strategies your students are missing, or where your help is needed. Teachers can't always be everywhere they are needed in a classroom when students are speaking. Voice recordings allow us to rewind, replay, share and review their language performance. They draw attention to areas where extra guidance is needed, and mean we can answer our students' questions on the spot or later. Learners can also use recordings to get feedback from their peers or more expert language users. They can even record what you say, as a source of information or a model for pronunciation.
Giving learners a sense of progress and achievement
Making videos and voice recordings on their smart phones allows learners to capture lots of fleeting moments of communication and interaction, as well as more rehearsed language activities, like presentations. You can ask your students to create an e-portfolio with examples of their reflections and recordings of how they communicate in different situations. Collecting this evidence should give learners a sense of progress and encourage them to assess how well they've done.
Using recordings to assess your learners
You can also make your own audio/video recordings of tasks, as they happen in class, to assess later (but be sure to get parental/guardian consent). A great way to assess individual contributions to a group is to combine recordings made during interactive communication tasks with your verbal or written feedback on the app thinglink, which has private, safe modes for teachers.

Ask your learners to collect and record examples of language they come across, for example by taking photos of text from signs, notices, posters, advertising or labels. Encourage them to find online examples of language structures or vocabulary you are studying in class, and take screenshots to share and use with the rest of the class. Get learners into the habit of noticing examples of language in various contexts. Encouraging students to take charge of their learning will help them with the activities we've talked about.
Developing learners' digital literacy
Digital literacy includes being able to acknowledge online sources, publish with a Creative Commons license, and communicate safely and appropriately online. Ask your learners to cite references, acknowledge the sources of the images they use, and share their mobile digital skills with each other. Negotiate with your learners a class policy for using mobile devices, or ask them to create a 'how-to' multimedia class guide for various aspects of digital literacy, adding to it throughout the course.
Teachers, register for our webinar on mobile pedagogy on 19 July 2016, presented by Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme. Agnes and Lucy are the authors of the British Council research paper Mobile pedagogy for English language teaching: a guide for teachers (PDF download, 1.4 MB), which helps teachers design language-learning activities.

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Get your students to reflect on their learning using mobiles

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Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme explain how teachers can help language students get on top of their own learning by using mobile phones.

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Design thinking is a mindset. It is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education.

Classrooms and schools across the world are facing design challenges every single day, from teacher feedback systems to daily schedules. Wherever they fall on the spectrum of scale - the challenges educators are confronted with are real, complex, and varied. And as such, they require new perspectives, new tools, and new approaches. Design thinking is one of them.

We have a new resource- The Co-Designing Schools Toolkit, which supports educators to collaboratively create equitable change in schools through a community-led, equity-centered, and design-driven process.

You can still download the classic Design Thinking for Educators toolkits + workbook here.

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Design thinking is a mindset. It is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education.

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This activity is part of our Engineering in the Classroom tool for educators! Click to learn more about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for engineering, make connections to NASA and discover more standards-aligned activities.
› Explore the tool

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Educator Guide: Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta | NASA/JPL Edu

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Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.

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english profile cefr common european framework reference level descriptions

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English Profile - English Vocabulary Profile

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Welcome to English Profile -- setting industry standards for English language learners. Linked to the Common European Framework for Reference for Languages (CEFR), English Profile will provide a detailed set of Reference Level Descriptions for English language learners.

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Good for getting reluctant learners to talk

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Engaging content, created according to the highest standards, in ready-to-teach form is hard to come by. Voki Teach provides teachers with lessons crafted by certified teachers, that follow what we believe to be the best and highest curricular standards available today.

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for learners/teachers

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Your browser either doesn't support Javascript, or you've turned it off. To use Mentimeter, please make sure to turn Javascript on. How do I enable Javascript?

Our array of features will help you make a more effective and dynamic presentation.

So much more than just fancy slides

More control at your fingertips

Turn your smartphone into a presentation remote.

Collect data, gain insights

Use your data to help you improve, adapt, and become a more confident presenter.

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Free & Interactive Audience Engagement Platform. Check out all the features that can help you to engage your audience.

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free plug voice comments on iOS/chrome/android

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free plug voice comments on iOS/chrome/android

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I  used this to comment on your presentations;-)

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Your voice.
Anywhere.

Talk&Comment lets you create voice notes inside any service on the web, including Google Classroom, Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook comments, Gmail, YouTube, Reddit, Slack, and more!

Simply record your voice from the widget inside your browser, and paste the generated voice link anywhere you want.

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Talk&Comment is a free app that lets you make and send voice notes in any app or site.

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Integrated debating

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Find solutions you would never have dreamt of

Unleash the power of social networks and let the whole world come togther to solve your problem. You can set up your crowdsourcing campagne within minutes. It has never been easier to get loads of opinions and new ideas. Your clients and potential customers will love this new way of brainstorming and voting online.

Free and no registration.

Multiple channels to attract innovators

Where to find the best ideas or potential customers? No need to limit yourself: use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, E-Mail or Google to spread your question. Set up various points where people can find your crowdsourcing campagne: your blog, your website, your Facebook fan page or even the tricider Public Ideas Space. One fishing-rod with many hooks.

Let the crowdsourcing games begin

It's no secret: If there is something to win, we all put on a bit extra effort. But why not? Just add some small rewards to your question and give way for a brainstorming storm of great ideas.

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Brainstorming and Voting Amazingly Easy. Free Online Tool | tricider

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Collect ideas and vote. Free online tool for easy brainstorming and voting. For decision making, crowdsourcing and idea generation.

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Flipgrid - do we need it? Or can we use  padlets to do the same thing?!!

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Flipgrid - do we need it? Or can we use  padlets to do the same thing?!!

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S.A.M.R. which level?

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How important is please and thank you 🙏🏾 in order to sound polite in English? 

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How important is please and thank you 🙏🏾 in order to sound polite in English? 

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By: Federica Tedeschi

British English speakers may well be world leaders in saying 'thank you', an international study suggests.

The sample included eight languages over five continents: English, Italian, Russian and Polish as well as four small-community languages, including Murrinhpatha (Northern Australia), Lao (Laos), Siwu (Ghana) and Cha'palaa (Ecuador).

Overall findings show that the British offer thanks in 14.5 per cent of instances where it is possible to do so, shortly followed by the Italians (13.5 per cent).

The frequency of saying 'thank you' after a successful request in any of the other six languages was only 4.5 per cent or below.

Researchers also took into account alternative forms of expressing gratefulness, such as 'good job' and 'sweet', or non-verbal acknowledgement, such as nodding one's head. Overall, participants expressed gratitude in some way in 88 per cent of cases.

All the samples, collected through video recording everyday social interactions, provided 'evidence of a high degree of prosociality across cultures', the study said.

A peculiar example of gratitude comes from the Australian language Murrinhpatha, where it is common practice to thank someone with 'that's right, you're beautiful'. Cameras were placed in household and community contexts where participants interacted with family members as well as members of their community on a daily basis.

Each language's footage ranged in length from ten to over ninety hours over a two-year period.

Sequences were analysed by an expert in each language, with a focus on both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Findings suggest that 'the maintenance of social reciprocity does not depend on the verbalisation of gratitude' as gratefulness can be expressed in a variety of ways. American linguistic Lynne Murphy pointed out that Americans say 'thank you' twice as much as Britons. At the same time, in their conversational data, the British use 'sorry' four times more than Americans.

Dr Murphy, who also teaches at Sussex University, told the EL Gazette: 'Americans use "excuse me" for more things than Brits do, and "sorry" can be used in the same kinds of context as "thank you" sometimes. So, it's a word that's used more in one country than another, but that doesn't mean it's a sentiment that's used at four times the rate.' .

⇒ Universals and cultural diversity in the expression of gratitude, Simeon Floyd et al (various universities). Royal Society Open Science tinyurl.com/ycu7v9yp

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Research news: The British are world leaders in thanks - ELgazette

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By: Federica Tedeschi British English speakers may well be world leaders in saying 'thank you', an international study suggests. The sample included eight languages over five continents: English, Italian, Russian and Polish as well as four small-community languages, including Murrinhpatha (Northern Australia), Lao (Laos), Siwu (Ghana) and Cha'palaa (Ecuador).

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Speech to text - what aspects of speaking does this help with? 

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Speech to text - what aspects of speaking does this help with? 

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You can also use google search w microphone

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Use the magic of speech recognition to write emails and documents in Google Chrome.

Dictation accurately transcribes your speech to text in real time. You can add paragraphs, punctuation marks, and even smileys using voice commands.
Launch Dictation Voice Commands

Voice Dictation - Type with your Voice

Dictation can recognize and transcribe popular languages including English, Español, Français, Italiano, Português, हिन्दी, தமிழ், اُردُو, বাংলা, ગુજરાતી, ಕನ್ನಡ, and more. See full list of supported languages.

You can add new paragraphs, punctuation marks, smileys and other special characters using simple voice commands. For instance, say "New line" to move the cursor to the next list or say "Smiling Face" to insert :-) smiley. See list of supported voice commands.

Dictation uses Google Speech Recognition to transcribe your spoken words into text. It stores the converted text in your browser locally and no data is uploaded anywhere. Learn more.
Speech to Text

System Requirements

Google Chrome
Windows/Mac/Linux
Internet Connection

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Voice Dictation - Type with your voice using Google Speech Recognition

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Dictation is a free online speech recognition software that will help you write emails, documents and essays using your voice narration and without typing.

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Collection of games, exercises,
templates and tools to make them

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LearningApps - interactive and multimedia learning blocks

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LearningApps - interactive and multimedia learning blocks

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Cambridge University Press

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We talked a little about audience for writing

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We talked a little about audience for writing

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When was the last time you wrote an essay? When was the last time you read one other than for grading?

Now think about the frequency with which you read online articles, blogs, social media posts or listen to podcasts that inspire you or provide new information and perspectives. When did you last watch YouTube to figure out how to do something complicated, from cross stitch to car repair?

If you're like me, you've done much of your reading and learning through some kind of digital publishing platform-because it's easy, accessible and often free. Whether text, video or something else entirely, each of these mediums encompasses a form of writing.

The ubiquity and impact of digital writing can't be ignored. Nearly 70% of Americans get some of their news from social media; world views-impacting presidential campaigns and more-are shaped by these platforms. Yet most high school and middle school students are illiterate when it comes to online texts, and can't discern real information from fake news.

We can not omit digital literacy from our curriculum.

In addition learning how to read and consume digital texts, our students must know how to author and publish in the digital realm. What's at stake is our students' ability to become thoughtful citizens, and their ability to write and publish perspectives and information that will be crucial for their career success. The National Association for Media Literacy in Education has defined media literacy as being able to analyze digital texts as well as create them.

Redefining writing

We need to reframe our conversation about writing from one based on polarities of analog versus digital to one about purpose, passion and relevance. Just as the technological revolution of the printing press democratized the authorship and distribution of books, so too does social media and the internet allow for more voices to be heard and for a wide variety of authors-including our students-to connect with audiences around the world.

Increasingly, writing doesn't mean a five paragraph essay written by hand. And although the medium used to write can take many forms other than words on paper, the foundations of good writing are the same in any platform-critical thinking and analysis, structure, voice, tone, and audience.

Like its analog predecessors, digital writing can be used in formative and summative assessments, non-fiction writing, and for creative self-expression. Authoring with multimedia such as video, photography and sound introduces an entirely new set of grammar and vocabulary, not just a new set of tools. Students become savvy consumers of information and ideas when they understand how the messages they encounter are created.

How to help your students evolve from analog to digital writers

Start with simple assignments that are an easy transition from what you and your students are already familiar with. Try blogging, then build to more complex projects like podcasting or video storytelling. In addition to concentrating on the ideas and the writing itself, try to create situations where the students' writing takes advantage of the medium and the connectedness of the internet.

Some criteria I use to develop assignments include:

student agency

engagement and passion

audience impact beyond the classroom

authoring skills and experiences needed for success outside of academia

collaboration and connectivity with other authors and audience members

experiences authoring in a variety of media other than text

When we develop our writing assignments, we must ultimately come back to one main concern: purpose. Why are we giving specific types of writing assignments and how do they help our students convey their ideas in ways that resonate with their audience?

Resources on Writing for an Authentic Audience

Social media: The haiku of digital writing

A great way to introduce students to online publishing is to use social media. It's a familiar, relevant publishing platform and allows for quick access to a global audience. The brevity of the format (Twitter's 140 characters, for instance) forces students to synthesize their ideas down to the essential story elements.

For example, Larry Reiff, a high school English teacher in New York, uses Twitter to teach his students about Shakespeare by having them tweet in the voice of characters. Students learn the literature through public performance, understand social media tools, and become better writers.

"Knowing that the whole world may see their work forces students to step up," says Reiff. "They proofread a little bit more closely. They double check the punctuation. I soon as the students begin to post their work online, I noticed a gradual improvement in their writing."

Journalism students use Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to publish news, becoming familiar with the platform's immediacy and how to connect with audiences through tagging and mentions. Social media relies heavily on an awareness of voice and audience. Each social media app has a slightly different demographic, and the nature of a scrolling feed means that publishing content demands an awareness of timing and when audience members will see posts.

Blogging: The online magazine

An online publication can have one or many writers, developing assignments around student-selected themes. Digital 'zines can include expository and persuasive writing, each involving research, interviews, and analysis. Narrative writing is a great way to integrate creative writing in the form of short story or poetry, and is the next step in the publication of literary magazines.

Because blog entries are published on websites, they can easily incorporate photography, infographics, and embedded video. This is a great way to scaffold all elements of digital literacy, as student assignments become increasingly complex and build digital literacy skills over the course of the school year.

The best part about digital writing is that it is also its own portfolio. Because student-published work lives online-not in a file cabinet-it is easily collected into a resume with hyperlinks, or a Storify best-of collection of social media posts. Resumes are their own type of story, carefully curated for each employer (target audience) who is looking for a specific set of skills.

Blog reflection: Broadcast journalism students publish their reflections (self-evaluations) as companion pieces to their original articles. Image credit: Michael Hernandez

A picture is worth 1000 words: Video and multimedia writing

While scripts and interview questions form the foundation for multimedia projects, the real communication going on here is with the images themselves. Visual literacy, the understanding of and use of images to convey information, is where writing is headed.

Facebook predicts that in a few years the majority of posts to its site will be video. What's more, the presence of photos and video on social media posts increases audience interaction significantly. If one of our main purposes for writing is to have an impact on an audience, then this is going to be the best way to go.

Podcasts and explainer videos have taken off in popularity because they're relevant, packed with information, and are easy for a global audience to access. Explainer videos also let you assess student knowledge in a way that is dynamic and actually useful for an audience beyond the classroom. Rather than an essay or multiple choice test, students create videos to demonstrate their knowledge. After all, the best way to learn is to teach.

With a grammar all its own, video is so much more than recorded plays. Using visual evidence in documentaries and journalism is the ultimate skill for learning expository and persuasive writing. It can also be used to teach a variety of literary devices through creative visual storytelling.

Self reflection: Cinema students created a web site for their documentaries which we produced abroad; these included their reflections about the project and their experiences. Image credit: Michael Hernandez

As teachers, our goal is to instill a love for writing in our students, to get them to write in all of its forms, and prepare them to communicate ideas effectively to an audience in the real world. When we teach our students to write for digital media, it sends a message that our assignments are relevant, exciting and important.

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From Analog to Digital: Why and How to Teach Students to Write for an Online Audience - EdSurge News

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When was the last time you wrote an essay? When was the last time you read one other than for grading? Now think about the frequency with which you ...

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Grammarly makes sure everything you type is easy to read, effective, and mistake-free. Try it today:

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Find more ideas here

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Wordle

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not web 2.0 but useful

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Speechnotes - Speech To Text - Android Apps on Google Play

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Speechnotes - Speech To Text - Android Apps on Google Play

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Speechnotes - Speech To Text - Apps on Google Play

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Voice typing and taking notes, has never been so efficient and easy. Patent pending voice & punctuation keys-commands combo.* NEW: Bluetooth supported! Talk through your bluetooth microphone / earpiece / car -> Speechnotes will write down every word!* Super easy: Simply click the microphone and start dictating. No need to login or register.

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Read the simple English version of Facebook's T & Cs for 9 year olds

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Read the simple English version of Facebook's T & Cs for 9 year olds

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Make a critical infographic to show the data privicy/safeguarding issues

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Facebook’s terms and conditions in plain English

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May it be useful?

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Young people are reading and writing more than I ever did at their age, but they are doing it using their computers and mobile phones. The mobile is central, and will become even more so as time goes by.

-David Crystal

Digital devices encourage our learners to read constantly and read more than we could have in the past. Unfortunately, our students are inundated with content, which they quickly skim and often share before moving onto the next reading material. They rarely question what they read, fact check, or dive deeper. Additionally, many of our learners struggle with answering reading comprehension questions and lack critical reading skills.

If we want our students to read with a critical eye then we have to teach them how to use their digital devices to annotate, evaluate, research, fact check, and question the material they read. Below are ideas and free resources to help you motivate your learners to critically evaluate their reading materials.

Get your students to evaluate how keen they are at spotting false facts, fake news, and bias by playing the Fake It or Make It online game. Discuss why it is important for them to share stories, news, and articles, which are based on facts and the truth. Then introduce them to fact-checking websites like Snopes, Fact Check, and Politifact.

Saving important online resources is easier and more efficient than ever! With web tools and apps like Diigo, Pinterest, EduClipper, Livebinders, ScoopIt, and Pearltrees, students can save, collect, and organize their bookmarks for easy access later. Some of these web tools also allow students to create digital galleries or boards where they display their bookmarks in a visually stunning way.

Annotation means to digitally markup a document, website, pdf, or other content. Diigo lets you annotate pdfs and other saved bookmarks. I also like these web tools and apps for highlighting documents and leaving notes.

Newsela is a web tool, which provides reading material and news stories for students at different reading levels. Each article tests learners' critical reading skills with quizzes and writing prompts. Students also can highlight each article and leave notes about these highlights. I ask my learners to highlight the thesis, the main ideas, and supporting details. They also highlight in a different color the words they don't know and leave a note with the definition they looked up. They also note areas in the reading they agree or disagree with and explain why they agree or disagree. This helps students connect with the reading and dive deeper.

Owl Eyes is another web tool that has a library of literature and texts students read digitally. Students can annotate the classics and answer quizzes.

Read and Write is a web tool and Google Chrome extension students use to highlight web articles, pdfs, and texts. They can also look up any words, translate, and choose to have certain parts of the article read aloud to them.

Google Drive has the Kami app, which lets students highlight pdfs, their own writing, and other documents in different colors, add text comments, add shapes, and reads the article to them.

If you want your class to annotate and discuss an online article or text together then try Hypothes.is. Students can also like each other's comments and respond to each other while reading the text together.

An important part of literacy and critical reading is knowing about context clues. Language learners, especially, often come across vocabulary and areas of the text they just don't understand. Not being able to understand the text often frustrates readers to the point where they decide to give up on engaging with the text. We need them to know how to look for clues in the writing that can clear the confusion. For example, many texts will define a difficult word in the same sentence, which is indicated with commas.

Check out the following resources with more ideas on teaching context clues:

How do you encourage students to read critically?

Check out more of Shelly's tips for online resources for teaching English.

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Critical Reading with Digital Devices! 18 Resources & Web Tools

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Young people are reading and writing more than I ever did at their age, but they are doing it using their computers and mobile phones. The mobile is central, and will become even more so as time goes by. -David Crystal Digital devices encourage our learners to read constantly and read more than we could have in the past.

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Which way to swipe?

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Stereotypes for culture classes and your info 

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Stereotypes for culture classes and your info 

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Stereotypes, Series 1, Sweet Reason - BBC Radio 4

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Is it ok to make generalisations about travellers? Or generalisations about anyone?

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Look at this page for short dramas.

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Ext. Establishing shot of the street - Morning.
A long line of red-brick terraced houses in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. We focus down on one house - the curtains of the main window drawn almost closed. Int. Carol's house - continuous A cluttered front room in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The curtains are mostly drawn so it feels like evening. Carol, early 40s, is at her computer at a table, surrounded by notepads and Post-it notes, tapping away furiously. She uses a desktop computer and an Android phone interchangeably (rhythm is key here). Carol talks at a hyperactive, stream-of-consciousness pace. She sips from various cups and eats crisps.
Carol (at her screen): Go on you bugger, take the bait, that's it, take it, take it, take it. (A notification). YEEUUS! We have got a live one here...

(To us, as she types): Started tracking this one yesterday - "@GreenGenie" - proper fundamentalist Remoaner, without the "fun" part of course, zero sense of humour. I can smell 'em a mile off these days. Largely because that's Most People these days, that just is the internet.

She first appeared in the @ replies of Hannan, MEP, who was talking about growth, business being strong and forecasts were just scaremongering. And she was like "well we haven't fucking Brexited yet" - she has got a point, but.

I've put her on the radar of one of my most frothy-mouthed Leavers, "Dean".

I do wish that "troll" didn't conjure - you know, fat, ugly, festering under a bridge in the dark. I know it's dark in here, but I'm on nights this week if you must know.

Dean ran the "Mansfield Vote Leave" page, which was somewhat preaching to the ... We're the town with the 7th biggest vote for Leave in the country, 70.9%.

He's actually a massive leftie, which is the most fun to torment 'cause they're the most "tortured". To find themselves on the same side as the 'kippers. All I have to do is mildly suggest he's an anti-progressive racist and - buttons pushed.

Right I'm going to tag ...

We see a chart on the wall next to her - some profile photos, names, Post-its, scribbles ... a map of people and profiles connected together with lines and strings.
Who's a nasty piece of work? Luke Morris, formerly BNP - where did they all go, eh? We know where they all went, don't we. Luke's a long-term project of mine. He'll lob a couple grenades into this, get it going. I just know Luke is going to go off any second - so easy.

Clicks tweet, smokes, clicks on iTunes, a brief burst of music plays. She closes her eyes, disappearing into the music, just for a moment ...

... before clicking stop again.

My mum, she stood for the seat, round here, yonks ago, after the strike, '84. That other little "civil war". Proper mobilised her; dad a total waste o' space but she ... she was there, soup kitchens, picket lines, speeches, started reading "lit-e-ra-ture". Gran were the same, during the war, saw an opening, an opportunity, got stuck in. I'm like that ... well, I'm a warrior who's been waiting for a war. This is it. This is my time.

I am the agent of chaos and this is my weapon. ( Referencing her computer, firing off posts) Peeow, peeow, peeow!

And my God, are you lot easy to anger ...

Tucked away, in your little bubbles, where you say you're enlightened and in touch but then are like, "I don't understand, everyone on my timeline voted to stay, who are these people?!"
Now she looks at us, directly into the lens. Hard and unflinching ...

Well I'll show you, shall I? Let me introduce you. The blockers to the blocked. Great Britain, ladies and gentleman, ladies and gentlemen it's about time you said hello to one another ...

Because if you want the truth .... I get it. I get why it happened. "Think of all the things you might lose" - Oh right, really? What are those "things", exactly? Round here?

A notification catches Carol's eye. She frowns, confused at first ...Insert - a news story, shared on social media. "Luke Morris" and his social media profile.

Your one single unpickable argument was "beware the chaos you might cause", and that's why you failed, OK? That was the point ...
Carol's eyes shoot to her board - we see the same profile of Luke Morris, as new notifications ping, the story rolling in. And another, and another, and another ...Carol panics, moving from window to window on screen ...Carol starts to disconnect everything she can find - her computer, yanking the internet cable out, turning off her iPad, even turning off the lights ...She sits there, quietly for a moment, catching her breath in the semi-darkness ...Cut to black.

Chaos. Is. The point.

"LOCAL MAN ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT"

"WOMAN VIOLENTLY ATTACKED BY ONLINE TROLL - IN CRITICAL CONDITION"
Topics

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Ext. Establishing shot of the street - Morning. A long line of red-brick terraced houses in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. We focus down on one house - the curtains of the main window drawn almost closed. Int. Carol's house - continuous A cluttered front room in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

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Its name can be squeezed onto a tea towel, a decorative plate, a magnet, a mug, and other touristic souvenirs, but has the northern Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc been celebrated in song?

Indeed it has. The Great Big Story's Human Condition episode, above, has vinyl proof, though the tune's unlikely to give The White Cliffs of Dover, The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, or The Rocky Road To Dublin much of a run for the money.

Still, whichever outside-the-box Victorian thinker had the bright idea to attract tourists by expanding the village's original name - Pwllgwyngyll - by 46 letters was onto something.

Turns out you don't need natural wonders or world-renowned cultural attractions to stake a claim, when out-of-towners will make the trip just to take photos of the local signage.

Village Community Council Chairman Alun Mummery attributes the name-lengthening publicity stunt in 1869 to a local cobbler.

Or perhaps he was a tailor. That's what poet John Morris-Jones, author of 1913's A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, maintained, while refusing to outright identify this clever civic booster.

Wikipedia throws doubt on these origin stories by citing an entry in an ecclesiastical directory published a few years prior to 1869, which gave the full parish name as "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerbwlltysiliogogo."

(Close enough!)

Someone in the tourist information office told travel writer Dave Fox that it translates to "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the red cave."

It's tempting to think this little Welsh town has the longest name in the world, but that honor actually goes to Bangkok.

Wait, what?

The name by which most foreigners know Thailand's capital city is actually an archaic reference to its pre-1782 location.

Thai people call their capital Krung Thep - short for Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit.

It means "City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest" and looks like this, when written in Thai script:

กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochians still get to brag that they have the longest town name in Europe.

Their football club, Clwb Pêl Droed Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Football Club - CPD Llanfairpwll FC for short - might well be the longest named football club in the world if it weren't for that damn Amon Rattanakosin Krung Thep Mahanakhon Mahinthara Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Ayuthaya Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit Bravo Association Football Club (aka Bangkok Bravo FC).

Some of the fun of living in a town with such a cumbersome name must be amazing tourists by how casually it rolls off local tongues.

Pub owner Kevin Bryant obliges visitors from The Great Big Story by downing a pint on camera before rapping it out.

Anything for the local economy!

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc also got a boost from mentions on Groucho Marx's quiz show, You Bet Your Life, in a Bossa Nova-inflected Stephen Sondheim song, and in several films, including 1968's Barbarella.

As YouTuber Tom Scott points out below, long words are invariably shortened in everyday speech, and place names are no exception.

Postmaster Jim Evans advocates shortening the town name to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.

When not actively impressing tourists, local people say Llanfairpwll.

Which is still a pretty impressive consonant to vowel ratio.
Related Content The Medieval City Plan Generator: A Fun Way to Create Your Own Imaginary Medieval Cities The Atlas of True Names Restores Modern Cities to Their Middle Earth-ish Roots Fly Through 17th-Century London's Gritty Streets with Prize-Winning Animations

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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December 30, 2016
As we have pointed elsewhere, ' in a digitally focused world, education is getting more and more digitized pushing us, teachers and educators, to re-conceptualize what it really means to be a teacher in the 21st century. Whether you are a technological determinist or a digital instrumentalist, technology has become an essential force shaping much of our teaching and pedagogy. It has also placed a number of demands and exigencies on us and to meet these exigencies we need to develop a set of key digital skills '. The visual below, based on a chart we shared in the past, features what we believe are some of the fundamental digital skills every 21st century teacher should possess. We invite you to check it out and share with us your feedback in our Facebook page. Feel free to download, print, or share the visual the way you want provided you credit our blog as the source. Enjoy

You can download the visual below from this link.

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9 Fundamental Digital Skills for 21st Century Teachers

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December 30, 2016 As we have pointed elsewhere, ' in a digitally focused world, education is getting more and more digitized pushing us, teachers and educators, to re-conceptualize what it really means to be a teacher in the 21st century.

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Use these criteria to comment on the tools here (with voki?)

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Find and download a wide variety of research publications and resource books for teachers, trainers and other ELT professionals. In this section, you will find an extensive collection of publications that provide practical insights, perspectives and learning on current issues in English Language Teaching.

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Some practical activities for your students (of all subjects

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Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme explain how teachers can help language students get on top of their own learning by using mobile phones.
'The art of teaching', said the writer and English professor Mark van Doren, 'is the art of assisting discovery'. It's an idea at the centre of mobile pedagogy (PDF download, 1.4 MB), which asks how mobile devices can support our language teaching and improve the learning of our students. In particular, how can audio or video on today's smart phones help our students reflect on their learning?
What is reflection and why is it important?
To reflect on language learning, you need to make links between what you're learning now, and what you've learned in the past. The same goes for teaching: reflective teachers discuss with colleagues, or their online personal learning networks on Twitter or Facebook, how they approach teaching. Some of us keep a reflective journal, or share our reflections in a blog. But how often do we ask our students to reflect on how and why (rather than what) they learned, or failed to learn? This habit of reflecting on what is and isn't helpful is one of the most important qualities [link expired] expert learners possess.

We need to support our learners as they think through, evaluate, and act on what they have learned, then guide them as they apply their new knowledge to unfamiliar contexts. Here are some ideas for using mobile devices to help learners.
Reflecting on learning approaches using mobiles
Ask your learners to make a graph and mark on it how each language task over the course of the lesson or at home helped them learn something. For example, on the x-axis, they can record their level of motivation and on the y-axis the time of each activity (see photo below).

They could also take a photo, or make a video or audio recording of outcomes (e.g., in form of a presentation or a discussion) to share what they have learned at the end of a class, or the beginning of the next class. While they complete an individual writing or reading task, learners can make a voice recording of how they are getting on at five- or ten-minute intervals. They can say what they are finding easy or difficult, and what methods they use to understand or write a passage of text. Learners should listen to each other's recordings and use these to share tips with each other.

Rehearsing a presentation or communication in a formal situation
Rehearsing what they are going to say - in a presentation, for example - gives learners greater confidence. If you ask your students to share answers after group discussions or tasks, why not get them to record their first (and second) attempts beforehand? A few practice runs may increase their fluency and the quality of their answers. Many of the international students in our research project tried practising presentations by timing and recording a video of themselves with a smart phone. They found that it was helpful to observe and discuss their body language, facial expressions and gestures. Similarly, students found it invaluable to rehearse and record what they were going to say before visiting a doctor, making a phone call, or taking part in a job interview. One research participant told us he realised that, in order to be understood, it was better to speak more slowly. By recording himself, he noticed for the first time that he spoke English in a bit of a rush, believing that it made him sound more fluent. In fact, it made him harder to follow. This leads us to a related point.
Identifying knowledge gaps
Another way we can encourage and promote reflection is by asking our learners to choose a communication activity, and make an audio recording on their mobiles. Encourage them to listen to the recording afterwards in pairs, and stop or pause at times when the message becomes unclear. This can prompt a better understanding of what vocabulary, structures or conversation strategies your students are missing, or where your help is needed. Teachers can't always be everywhere they are needed in a classroom when students are speaking. Voice recordings allow us to rewind, replay, share and review their language performance. They draw attention to areas where extra guidance is needed, and mean we can answer our students' questions on the spot or later. Learners can also use recordings to get feedback from their peers or more expert language users. They can even record what you say, as a source of information or a model for pronunciation.
Giving learners a sense of progress and achievement
Making videos and voice recordings on their smart phones allows learners to capture lots of fleeting moments of communication and interaction, as well as more rehearsed language activities, like presentations. You can ask your students to create an e-portfolio with examples of their reflections and recordings of how they communicate in different situations. Collecting this evidence should give learners a sense of progress and encourage them to assess how well they've done.
Using recordings to assess your learners
You can also make your own audio/video recordings of tasks, as they happen in class, to assess later (but be sure to get parental/guardian consent). A great way to assess individual contributions to a group is to combine recordings made during interactive communication tasks with your verbal or written feedback on the app thinglink, which has private, safe modes for teachers.

Ask your learners to collect and record examples of language they come across, for example by taking photos of text from signs, notices, posters, advertising or labels. Encourage them to find online examples of language structures or vocabulary you are studying in class, and take screenshots to share and use with the rest of the class. Get learners into the habit of noticing examples of language in various contexts. Encouraging students to take charge of their learning will help them with the activities we've talked about.
Developing learners' digital literacy
Digital literacy includes being able to acknowledge online sources, publish with a Creative Commons license, and communicate safely and appropriately online. Ask your learners to cite references, acknowledge the sources of the images they use, and share their mobile digital skills with each other. Negotiate with your learners a class policy for using mobile devices, or ask them to create a 'how-to' multimedia class guide for various aspects of digital literacy, adding to it throughout the course.
Teachers, register for our webinar on mobile pedagogy on 19 July 2016, presented by Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme. Agnes and Lucy are the authors of the British Council research paper Mobile pedagogy for English language teaching: a guide for teachers (PDF download, 1.4 MB), which helps teachers design language-learning activities.

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Get your students to reflect on their learning using mobiles

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Lucy Norris and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme explain how teachers can help language students get on top of their own learning by using mobile phones.

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Seven Reasons to Pilot Game-Based Learning with Your Students

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Dual code theory & the picture superiority effect

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Stop Propagating the Learning Styles Myth!

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Stop Propagating the Learning Styles Myth!

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Seriously.

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quizlet

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Which one for you to polish your English

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Which one for you to polish your English

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"Too many to talk!" Oral interaction in large classes | Oxford University Press

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Getting students to talk to each other in a target language can be challenging. Having to do so in a large class can feel overwhelming, especially if you want to monitor progress and get some teaching done! The Webinar will aim to break down what the issues can be in large classes, before suggesting strategies for the English language teacher.

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Languages | Free Full-Text | Introducing the Special Issue: MOBILizing Language Learning in the 21st Century | HTML

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Introducing the Special Issue: MOBILizing Language Learning in the 21st Century

World Languages Department, Lycée Français de New York, 505 E 75th St., New York, NY 10021-3462, USA

Received: 11 January 2018 / Accepted: 24 January 2018 / Published: 30 January 2018

Mobilizing paraphrases as 'making mobile', alluding to people as well as resources being organized with a clear intent. What come to mind are military deployments and political rallies, but also crisis management programs and humanitarian relief efforts. At a physical level, a substance is mobilized when it can circulate as a liquid or through a liquid, such as certain hormones mobilizing energy reserves through the bloodstream. In sum, in order to render someone or something "mobile", a dynamic force is required in order to alter a routine state of things and set these things in motion toward the attainment of a goal.

Underpinning these studies is the assumption that technology mobilizes language learning by optimizing it beyond the confines of a traditional classroom. The students in Schenker and Kraemer ( 2017) created oral projects using Adobe Voice (Adobe Systems Incorporated, San Jose, CA, USA), a storytelling iPad (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA) application that enhanced oral practice outside the class, thus leading to beneficial effects on oral proficiency. The visually impaired students in Retorta and Cristovão ( 2017) used smartphones because of better screen readers. Despite heterogeneous levels of achievement, students learned how to operate smartphones for language learning and communication purposes, according to their various needs and goals. The model proposed by Burston et al. ( 2017) hinges on cloud-based resources to advance students to the level of independent users. McSweeney ( 2017) analyzed 44,597 messages and noticed that texting in English is linked to better academic English.

The studies underscore the limitations of a traditional language classroom, which are all too familiar: "too many students" and "too few teaching periods" are among the most recurrent complaints, coupled with "lack of authentic input" and "lack of student engagement". Not to mention that outside the classroom there could be few or no opportunities to practice and learn. Technology represents a force for change in overcoming said limitations, providing opportunities for more exposure and more practice, with learners feeling more in control and enjoying themselves in the process. Liakin et al. ( 2017) analyzed students' perceptions of using two mobile applications to improve French pronunciation. Students generally felt that both apps enhanced their practice as well as their confidence levels. Similarly, the students in Teeter ( 2017) reported increased linguistic self-confidence after practicing speaking with a shadowing technique on a mobile application.

Participants in these studies generally utilized tablets and smartphones to fulfill their tasks. Mobile devices exhibit well-known features such as cloud storage, computing, Internet connectivity, messaging, touchscreen, microphone, camera, text zoom, and geolocation. All of these features and even more are contained in lightweight, easily portable devices. The portability of the device together with its capabilities affords augmenting, contextualizing, audio and video recording, communicating, networking, just to cite some. Mobilizing language learning thus capitalizes on the many affordances of mobile technology, which enable learners to create their own learning environments "anytime anywhere", as the slogan goes.

The "anytime anywhere" slogan espouses ubiquity and therefore ubiquitous technology, which may or may not be mobile. Citing relevant studies, Burston et al. ( 2017) point out that, given the type of assignment, students would normally prefer to use a computer with a large screen and physical keyboard in a quiet comfortable environment. Regardless of device mobility or immobility, ubiquitous access mobilizes language learning by providing learners with more options and resources at their fingertips.

The above studies indicate that learners utilize technology successfully to supplement and optimize language learning beyond their regular classes. However, there is one study in the Special Issue that stands out for being none of the above. Isbell et al. 2017 relate the unsuccessful experience of three graduate students trying to learn Turkish ab initio relying solely on Duolingo, a self-directed CALL (computer-assisted language learning)/MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) language learning program. The researcher-participants kept logs and diaries to document their experience. Despite being connected to the Internet when using Duolingo, they had no opportunities for real communication in the target language. Furthermore, decontextualized exercises and aural drills led to persisting frustration and loss of motivation. Ironically, despite the label "computer/mobile assisted language learning", this program provided very little assistance to these learners in their effort to learn a new language from scratch.

"Mobile-assisted language learning" and "MALL" are used consistently in the articles of this volume. Several authors ( Barcomb et al. 2017; Isbell et al. 2017; Liakin et al. 2017; Teeter 2017) mention MALL alongside CALL, as it is generally acknowledged that the former derives from the latter. Therefore, the term "mobile-assisted language learning" and its acronym MALL are historically precise in their reference to "computer-assisted language learning" and CALL. Furthermore, with the exception of Isbell et al. ( 2017), all the studies show how technology can successfully assist language learners. It makes sense to conceive of technology as an effective tool that assists its users in the fulfillment of a task, so much so that "assisted" can be safely assumed.

For the purposes of this Special Issue, "assisted" has been removed and a new acronym has been created for mobile language learning, namely MoLL. This shifts the emphasis to "mobile" as an intrinsic feature of language learning rather than an attribute of the technology used for that purpose. Mobile generally implies a spatial denotation when it refers to easiness of movement or transport. However, mobile can also mean 'fluid', e.g., a mobile liquid is a liquid that flows freely, and 'changeable', e.g., a mobile situation is an unstable situation; a mobile face is an expressive face. Language learning is a process, and as such it is fluid and changeable. It is mobile in its instability. In fact, stability in language learning can be considered an oxymoron. It has been shown that language learning can reach plateaus, but such stabilization can hardly be defined as language learning. In sum, a mobile language learner is a learner on the move not just because they learn a language with a mobile device "anytime anywhere". A mobile language learner is a learner on the move because they keep their learning moving along in various environments, inside and outside the classroom, and through various resources, mobile and/or stabile.

Language learning is on the move because it keeps happening. Technology plays a key role in keeping it happening and will continue to do so. However, technology, no matter how cutting edge, by itself may not be sufficient. In the studies presented here, the most successful outcomes combine in-class instruction with out-of-class supplemental practice with technology. Despite the limitations mentioned above, the language classroom is essential in imprinting and structuring the learning. The teacher is at the heart of this process, providing guidance, support and feedback.

It is important to note that Barcomb et al. ( 2017) encourage teachers to overcome their technology-related anxieties and become more involved in the development of material for mobile language learning. In particular, the authors envision three overlapping levels of teacher involvement, from adapting premade resources, to customizing them, and finally to designing material to suit their own teaching contexts.

In conclusion, this volume on mobilizing language learning starts with a focus on technology, moves through language learning and ends with language teaching. Given their pedagogical expertise and their insights into the learner and the learning, teachers, more than engineers and developers, have a privileged vantage point that should be harnessed for the creation of mobile resources. Thus, in the final analysis, the mobilizing of language learning calls for the mobilizing of language teaching.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the authors of the Special Issue for submitting such interesting papers and for their work and dedication going through at least two rounds of peer review. I also would like to thank the Managing Editor of Languages Michele Cardani for his painstaking liaising with all parties involved. Finally, I am grateful to my co-Editor Bryan Smith for his expert advice and to the Editor-in-Chief of Languages Usha Lakshmanan for inspiring this Special Issue, for having chosen me as its Lead Editor, and for her wisdom, throughout.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

References

Barcomb, Mike, Jennica Grimshaw, and Walcir Cardoso. 2017. I Can't Program! Customizable Mobile Language-Learning Resources for Researchers and Practitioners. Languages 2: 8. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]

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Introducing the Special Issue: MOBILizing Language Learning in the 21st Century

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Introducing the Special Issue: MOBILizing Language Learning in the 21st Century World Languages Department, Lycée Français de New York, 505 E 75th St., New York, NY 10021-3462, USA Received: 11 January 2018 / Accepted: 24 January 2018 / Published: 30 January 2018 Mobilizing paraphrases as 'making mobile', alluding to people as well as resources being organized with a clear intent.

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TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

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Papperslopporna Flea och Bug träffas för första gången. De presenterar sig, leker loppleken och blir bästa vänner. "What's your name?" är frågan som gömmer sig bakom den blå fliken i Fleas loppa. Barnpanelen säger vad de heter och frågar varandra i stafett om namn och ålder.

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Almost 40 per cent of primary school pupils in England failed to meet the Government's expected standard in reading, writing and maths, results from national SATs tests show.

Figures released by the Department for Education showed 61 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in 2017, up from 53 per cent in 2016.

This means 39 per cent failed to reach the expected standard across all three subjects of reading, writing and maths this year.

More than half a million 11-year-olds across England took national curriculum tests, known as SATs, in May, with the results used in annual school league tables to assess a school's performance.

The figures show an improvement on last year in all areas with 71 per cent of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, compared with 66 per cent last year, while 75 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in maths, compared with 70 per cent last year.

The expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling was met by 77 per cent of pupils, compared with 73 per cent last year, and 76 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in writing, compared with 74 per cent last year.

To reach the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths, a pupil must achieve a scaled score of 100 or more in reading and mathematics tests and a teacher assessment outcome of "reaching the expected standard" or "working at a greater depth" in writing.

School standards minister Nick Gibb said: "Today's results show sustained progress in reading, writing and maths and are a testament to the hard work of teachers and pupils across England.

"Thanks to their commitment and our new knowledge-rich curriculum, thousands more children will arrive at secondary school having mastered the fundamentals of reading, writing and maths, giving them the best start in life."

The average scaled score for reading in 2017 was 104, up from 103 in 2016.

The average scaled score for grammar, punctuation and spelling was 106 in 2017, up from 104 in 2016.

The average scaled score for maths was 104 in 2017, up from 103 in 2016.

SATs tests have long proved controversial, with teaching unions arguing that they put too much pressure on children, and the results are not a reliable measure of how schools are performing.

Last year, pupils sat tougher papers based on a new national curriculum, and 53 per cent of pupils reached the new expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

The year before, under the old system, 80 per cent achieved Level 4 - the old level expected of the age group - or above in these core subjects. Ministers were at pains to stress that the results were not comparable.

But union leaders branded last year's results a "shambles".

Headteachers have warned that primary schools must not be judged on their SATs tests results alone.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said schools and parents know that the results must be taken with a "pinch of salt".

Russell Hobby, general secretary of NAHT, said: "Comparisons with last year are inevitable but they are also unwise, as last year's results were unexpectedly low and pupils were being assessed at a time when the curriculum and assessment methods had changed significantly.
Press Association
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40 per cent of primary school pupils are failing to reach expected standards

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Almost 40 per cent of primary school pupils in England failed to meet the Government's expected standard in reading, writing and maths, results from national SATs tests show. Figures released by the Department for Education showed 61 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in 2017, up from 53 per cent in 2016.

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Login or sign up for free on Socrative - your assessment partner for real-time assessments and instant insights.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.

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Application Downloads - Mobile Apps - Open University

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SK299 Human biology augmented reality heart is a unique application designed to support and enhance the learning of the structure and function of the heart as part of the Open University module, SK299, or as a stand-alone app.

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How can this help you/the students?

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Infographic Maker Trusted By 11 Million Users - Piktochart

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With Piktochart AI, you can create stunning infographics, reports, presentations, and more in seconds. No design experience needed. Start for free.

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Nuffield 11-14 cross-curricular STEM Projects encourage students to develop the skills to explore questions in depth using science, mathematics and design & technology. The projects are set in authentic STEM contexts which leads to a better understanding of how these disciplines (along with engineering) work together in the real world.

This collection includes two projects:

* Nuffield STEM Futures challenges students to rethink a future in which humans can thrive in spite of the global threats of increasing population and resource depletion. Students realize that by mimicking closed loop systems in nature it could be possible to plan a prosperous and waste free future for all.

* Nuffield STEM Games explores some of the fundamental principles that make games fun to play and exciting to watch.

Students investigate the impact of rules, scoring, equipment and training in order to invent a exciting new game of their own. Both of these projects are divided into themed modules called 'pods'. In the preliminary pods students are explicitly taught a set of learning skills focusing on information retrieval, communication, planning, modeling and teamwork. These skills help them to develop a STEM 'fluency' as they navigate between the knowledge, skills and understanding that make up the individual STEM subjects.

In the final pod groups draw on these skills in order to identify a key question, plan research and explain their findings. Both STEM projects conclude with an exposition where groups present their findings and reflect on their learning. This collection includes the power points that drive the learning in each of the pods. The full set of resources including video clips, animations, teachers' notes, students' sheets and CPD modules is available free at the Nuffield Foundation STEM Projects site.

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Nuffield 11-14 cross-curricular STEM Projects encourage students to develop the skills to explore questions in depth using science, mathematics and design & technology. The projects are set in authentic STEM contexts which leads to a better understanding of how these disciplines (along with engineering) work together in the real world.

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Good for getting reluctant learners to talk

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Engaging content, created according to the highest standards, in ready-to-teach form is hard to come by. Voki Teach provides teachers with lessons crafted by certified teachers, that follow what we believe to be the best and highest curricular standards available today.

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On a mission to educate: inside the OU's state-of-the-art online lab

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Fancy controlling a mountaintop telescope from afar, or remotely using a scanning electron microscope? The OpenSTEM Labs project makes these kind of interactions possible for distance-learning students